Genesee Country Village: Domestic Skills Symposium Day 1

Aaaaannnd I'm back! This time with Jill and Meg, making the 7 hour trek to New York for the one, the only...Domestic Skills Symposium!

So I've seen posts around over the past few months, advertising a learning opportunity at Genesee Country Village and Museum. I've been dying to visit at some point, though I always seem to be busy. This time I put my foot down; with an amazing series of classes and workshops, I just couldn't say no! All held in an historic village too, just to add to the ambiance!

We hustled out of Michigan as early as we could, though 3:30 is a bit late for such a drive. An odd observation: upstate New York feels much like northern Michigan. The same gentle hills, fields and trees. The drive was incredibly relaxing because we avoided the turnpike and opted for a different route than google maps suggested. I highly reccomend doing this. The Red Roof Inn was comfortable, though we were about 20 minutes away. (Tony's Pepperoni has decent pizza and bread sticks!). Workshops began on Friday morning.

We were joined by Jennifer, another member of the 21st Michigan, for our first workshop: springerle cookies. Needless to say, they were pretty and we made a mess! Note: most of the pictures are mine, except the nice ones. Jillian or Jennifer took those...

Check out that adorable apron with that cool-kid leather jacket!

Old school molds.

Here were the examples that teased me with possibilities.

Going to town on that dough.

 It felt like buttery velvet. Also, dough rods. Who knew these were a thing?

Representing Michigan!

These are fantastically amazing cookies. It's the anise seed. 

History is messy but tastes delicious!

As you can see, I am an artistic genius.

 I'm still working on coloring in between the lines.

I do love the acorns though...

Meg and I signed up for a book binding class, so we hurried off to one of the historic houses. We settled in for a bit of history, punching holes, and sewing with waxed thread. There's not so many pictures from this workshop, but we did end up making a small folded paper booklet, a basic bound journal, and the final coptic bound book.

Buying these later...

 A lot of weaving and tying.

With 24 pages, it's actually a decently sturdy book

 And ta-da! I just made lesson plans for my classroom.

By the end of the day we were tired, but still found time to make it to a few antique shops in Mumford. There were so many antiques I don't often see in Michigan!

 We could tell from the window it would be good.

 It was multiple rooms of antiques.

 Don't tell my fiance, but we almost left with this couch

(which means someone would have to walk home).

Steampunk anyone?

 I am both horrified and fascinated by this sign.

While I didn't leave with the couch, I found these two little lovelies in one of the shops, complete with two hidden parents! I can't get the picture just right, but I imagine they'll be added to the display for the conference in March. 

Day one was pretty good.  Tomorrow will see historic food, outerwear, and well drinks.

~Kristen