Each year Hidden Valley Nature Center hosts three Timber Frame Construction workshops in which students work with professionals to learn the basics of a classic New England building tradition. Students will learn about and participate in each essential step of the process from milling the logs to raising the structure in just four days. The workshop is intended to give students a detailed introduction to building design, layout, and tool use and to maximize the amount of hands-on learning.

Join HVNC October 2-5 for our final workshop of 2014. The building design for this workshop is a 20 by 20 camp that will become the new lakeside cabin at HVNC. Students will spend the first three days at HVNC in a workspace shaping and cutting each joint, and on Sunday the building will be raised right on the shore of Little Dyer Pond. The raising will be followed by a cookout on the lake.

HVNC is in its fourth year of timber frame education. This workshop will be led by Bob Lear of Bob’s Beam’s in Whitefield. More than ten student-built projects are scattered across Maine and even Vermont. Previous projects have become HVNC buildings, barns, sheds, studios, and sugar houses. Students leave these workshops excited at the prospects of designing and building their own structures, and emboldened by their newly honed skills.

If you are interested in participating in the Oct. 2-5 Timber Frame Construction workshop visit www.hvnc.org for details. The cost of the workshop is $450 for HVNC and MOFGA members, and $500 for non-members. Scholarships are available by request. This workshop is sponsored by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assoc., Woodmizer saw mills, and Hancock Lumber. For more information visit www.hvnc.org, call 207-200-8840, or write to info@hvnc.org.