First Ever 65Willows course offering. . .

I started to build this website at the end of 2020 at the same time I was building its sister business’ website—Willow Run Stables wrstables.com That business needed to be up and running immediately, while this website and its blog was a hopeful thing, a space holder for future dreams.

I have spent the last nearly 3 years, renovating the physical infrastructure and the more nebulous business character of the horse boarding business located on my family’s farm. I kicked out the old managers, gave it a new name, and buckled down cleaning and fixing all of the buildings—sometimes out and out rebuilding. I studied up quickly on horse care and pasture care and made a point of modeling kind and generous behavior in the barns.

I didn’t win all of the old boarders over. I’m actually certain some percentage of the boarders I inherited when I took over the business now keep me on a permanent list of their least favorite people in the world. It’s okay. I don’t mind. Not everyone is a fit for everyone else. It can’t be helped.

So backbreaking physical work and heavy emotional lifting have been my full time work while resuscitating life and gentleness back into the horse boarding barns. It’s been good work— satisfying, exhausting, sometimes deeply frustrating, occasionally sad beyond all measure, work, but it has been rewarding and challenging and mostly (taking the average over three years) a joyful process.

While doing that work full time, I snuck in creating willow beds and planting and harvesting on the unused margins of the farm. I started taking classes online with Hanna Van Aelst, just watching before I had any actual basket willow to play with. I would play her course videos over and over and over again, letting my mind learn what my hands would have to wait to master.

I purchased harvested willow and stayed up late trying to weave after my young son went to bed—poking my husband with the ends of rods in our small TV room while we watched the Great British Baking Show and I trained my hands.

On and on, in stolen moments. And when I couldn’t weave because there wasn’t the time—willow weaving is incredibly time consuming—I would weave out of wild willow bark or cattail or iris leaves and corn husks, or try carving spoons out of leftover Black Walnut logs from tree fall in the horse pastures.

I have learned so much and met many interesting and lovely people along the way in this journey. And I finally am on the verge of stepping away from the horse barns and moving to making and teaching making full time.

My first class will happen on the 7th of December. A class in weaving will baskets that can be used either for suet birdfeeders or as wallmountable kitchen storage for onions or garlic or fruit. I don’t even know if anyone will sign up. I hope so. I’m so excited to finally get on to the next steps.