Just a bit about this course for now, more coming soon
I helped Steve run this course up at Farm2Grow near Stoke-on-Trent, it was really good fun. The guys teaching, Mark, Andy and Richie have lots of experience and have developed a really good system for making the wheel, roof bars and trellis that make up a yurt.
It's not just about yurt making though, it's about the bigger world of Green Woodworking, i.e. using freshly harvested rather than dried wood, using sustainable supplies from coppiced woodland and using hand tools such as drawknives and spokeshaves for the majority of the work.
These old tools are really versatile and obviously dont need electricity, but the other big bonus is the peace and quiet. Power tools like routers and rip saws make a horrendous racket. The atmosphere on the course reminded of spending time up in the violin making school at Newark tech college where fifteen students might be working away, all thoroughly dedicated to what they were doing, the only sound the rasp of razor sharp gouges and knives on beautifully figured maple...
