We had a wonderful session of Basketry and Burden unloading with Elder Taz Bouchier. Here are the details with a photo of my finished basket at the end. 

​Burden Basket for Beginners - ​Join Elder Taz Bouchier and weaver Maryann Borch as we learn about traditional basketry and create a burden basket. " Too often we carry burdens that hold us back from experiencing the joyfulness of living.And in this workshop you will be invited to fill your Burden Basket to start this New Year with a Ceremony to let go resulting in an increased sense of Joy as you walk into 2019. " Elder Taz Bouchier
Your basket will incorporate many spirits from many raw materials, pliable and not so. We will learn a basic base weave and add as many natural Fibres as can be gathered for the walls of this beauty. Please feel free to bring any items you wish to weave into your burden basket . Shells, feathers, bells, fibres of all sorts. Functional and spiritual art!
Please indicate your commitment by sending payment of $60 to borchfam@hotmail.com
Maximum class size: 10

Woven into this Willow skeleton are Grasses, Bullrushes, Grapevines, unknown woody shrub, yellow, and red willows, Red osier Dogwood, Hemp, Horsetail, clay, bell, , Turkey Boy Feather, Elliott tailbone, rock, wool, clay, horse fiddle bow hair and a piece of leather.  All these Spirits here to help with your burdens when you come visit Good Note Community Farm .

It has been a very long time. I have been leaning of other social media to promote and teach the farm/music/food/basket passions of my life. But, at the moment I am feeling rather tied and addicted. So here I go with bit of the last years endeavours. Starting with the best! The Borch Brothers busking at the Christmas Market, 

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I am so fortunate to have Rae Hunter in my Life! She was asked to reproduce an antique willow cradle for the early 1900s for the Ukrainian village, based on one donated from a family near Mundare. She then asked me to help her. Here are a few pictures of the process:

First we spent a few days driving around Eastern Alberta looking for just the right willows to make the reproduction as true to the original as possible. We even visited the original homestead which they are trying to portray near Innisfree.