April 2022 Newsletter
Paradise Lost
We’ve all heard it. Most of us have said it. “When I was a kid we made our own fun.”
My neighbor’s mother would send the kids outside after breakfast and say don’t come back till supper time. And they didn’t.
But increasingly even adults today can no longer say these things. The youth of today have had guardrails put up around them that are increasingly narrow. No longer is it the rule for children to venture out on their own. To explore the back woodlot, the ravines and creeks that flow nearby.
What happened when kids got outside into nature and explored? When they had to “make their own fun?”
They discovered things. About the world and about themselves.
They discovered they could make their own fun. They could be creative - creating their own worlds metaphorically and literally - building forts and huts out of whatever they could find.
Children discovered nature - in a myriad of forms. From the bugs under logs to caterpillars on the trees to the untold aquatic creatures in creeks - even puddles.
When we were children we knew the joy of the mud puddle. Of mud. We knew the thrill of climbing a tree - higher than we thought we could go. Or probably ought to have climbed.
But through it all we gained much.
We learned about nature, how we could push ourselves physically and creatively. We became resilient and brave.
When children do not have these experiences they fail to gain something foundational and fundamental. Something wonderful. Something that will allow them to increasingly see, experience and enjoy a much larger world around them than they otherwise would have been able to appreciate.
We at the Avon Hills Folk School seek to begin changing that trajectory for the children of our community. This summer we will begin to introduce something special, something important, valuable and vanishing.
It is called TimberNook- and we are bringing it to Central Minnesota.
Check back for more information soon.
Chris Schellinger
Executive Director, Avon Hills Folk School
This month, we hosted a Beginners Beekeeping workshop with Jamie Jensen at Milk and Honey Ciders in St. Joseph.
Bring on Spring!
Upcoming Classes and Experiences
Basic Timber Framing - May 11 - 15
Creating a Memory Shade Garden with Karen Schellinger - May 21
Being in the Woods: Practices to Help you Ground and Grow with Betsy Johnson - June 4
TimberNook Experience (Ages 3 - 12) - June 13 - 15
June Youth Hand Camp - June 21 - 23
Hand Camp - September 16 - 18
Upcoming Classes with Dates to Be Determined
Mushroom Foraging in the Avon Hills
Meet Our Instructors!
Clark Bremer will be with us this May for Basic Timber Framing
Clark’s wife enrolled him in the first timber framing class offered at North House Folk School, and immediately he was hooked. He later turned his hobby into his job and timber framed professionally for 10 years. Clark has also worked as a researcher at Bell Labs, a computer programmer, and served on the board of the Timber Framers Guild. He has been a timber frame instructor for two decades.
Combining his passion for timber framing and software skills, he pioneered the use of Sketchup in drafting timber frame plans. In addition, he has envisioned, designed and led volunteer teams to beautiful public timber frame structures for numerous organizations.
Avon Hills Folk School’s very first class offered was a timber frame class led by Clark. It was scheduled for the third week of April to avoid the snow and the bugs. It started snowing on the second day and did not stop for three days. We received a foot and a half of snow during that class in the third week of April 2018. There were no bugs.
Clark and his wife Mia live in Northeast Minneapolis, where they enjoy spending time with their grandkids, volunteering, mountain biking, and generally doing their own thing.
