This spring timber frame construction workshops are returning to Hidden Valley Nature Center (HVNC). The first class of the year will be held Thursday to Sunday, April 28-May 1. These perennially popular workshops are designed for students of different backgrounds and experience levels.

Students spend the four days working intimately with professional instructors and graduates of previous timber frame workshops. The group is usually limited to eight students so that there is plenty of hands-on time for everyone. Each student will help transform the building from un-milled logs to a finished, raised frame on the final day.

Most of the workshop is dedicated to the work of cutting beams, but students will also have opportunities to learn about sustainable forestry, saw mill operation, and building design. The last day of the workshop students will raise the frame at a local farm and celebrate their work.

For more information about Timber Frame Construction and other forestry related classes visit www.hvnc.org/registration/, or write to news@midcoastconservancy.org. The cost for this workshop is $450 for Midcoast Conservancy and MOFGA members, $500 for all non-members. Scholarship assistance may be available upon request.

HVNC, which is part of Midcoast Conservancy, is an education and recreation center in Jefferson and was named the 2014 Outstanding Tree Farm of Maine. HVNC is open to the public three hundred and sixty-five days a year, dawn to dusk. Comprised of 1,000 acres of diverse habitat, and laced with nearly thirty miles of multi-use trails HVNC makes a great classroom for nature-based learning and non-motorized recreation. For more information: wwww.hvnc.org, news@midcoastconservancy.org, or 207-389-5150.