November-December 2010:
Confirm our 15 re-skillers as participants.
January 2011:
Meet to brainstorm the skills we want to learn.
Decide on commitment requirements.
Assign re-skillers to organize each month’s experience.
Name ourselves the Renaissance Women!
February 2011:
Bread-making, sourdough starters, and gluten-free baking with Tessa, Tanya and Jenn (two of which have apprenticed at True Grain Bread in Cowichan Bay).
March 2011:
Sewing with a machine from a pattern, with Maggie Beischer of Oh So Pretty!.
April 2011:
Fermented beverages (e.g. kombucha, fermented sodas) with Holly Howe. (Read more about my experience with Holly here.)
May 2011:
Beekeeping 101 with Bee Haven Farm in Duncan, BC.
June 2011:
Wild foods with Robert Foucher.
July 2011:
Soap-making with Marni Murphy.
September 2011:
Yogurt-making with Katie and Aaron of the Cowichan Recyclists.
October 2011:
Wine appreciation with Alfons Obererlacher, the Vancouver Island Sales Representative for Free House Wine & Spirits Ltd., and Mike Gelling, a sales representative for International Cellars Inc.
December 2011:
Cookie decorating party and hot-toddy lessons!
March 2012:
Had our “Annual General Meeting” (hee hee) and discussed what we liked about the Renaissance Women and wanted to keep for 2012. We like it a lot, so it’ll stay the same for now.
April 2012:
Met and brainstormed workshops for 2012.
Assigned workshop organizers.
May 2012:
Made pinch pots with Tara of Tara Firma Studios. (So much fun that we decided to go back for a second and third evening and pinch more pots.)
June 2012:
“Ladies Learn to Fish” workshop at the Cowichan River Wilderness Lodge. Learned to fly fish and use a reel line, plus lots of random interesting freshwater fishing facts.
July 2012:
Fitness bootcamp with Sheri Berard!
September 2012:
Canning lessons from the Somenos Women’s Institute. We made apple jelly, peach salsa and pickled vegetables. Amazing.
October 2012:
Life-changing lacto-fermented sauerkraut and vegetables workshop with Holly Howe.
January 2013:
Weaving and felting workshop at Leola’s Studio, where we learned to use a loom. Leola emphasized art as a lifestyle, rather than just a hobby we (sometimes) make time for. She got our mojo flowing.
February 2013:
Art month! We were inspired by Leola to take on the challenge of creating a piece of art every day in February, as a group. Check out our results here.
April 2013:
Our “AGM”! We brainstormed a whole new year’s worth of skills to learn, ate Maeve’s award-winning chocolate chip cookies and drank multiple cups of Teafarm tea. Some of our original Renaissance Women members have since moved on to new adventures (and/or cities), which left room to invite some of our more frequent guests to join us as permanent members. The Renaissance Women were excited to welcome Sheila Z., Linda and Cindy!