Craft a practical and beautiful tool for your home under the expert guidance of locally renowned artisan Brad Huhta. This hands-on class is perfect for those looking to deepen their connection with traditional crafts, our community, and natural elements.

Creating a Turkey Wing Broom involves a bit more work than a basic whisk broom, making it a rewarding challenge for those ready to advance their skills. We recommend that participants first take the Whisk Broom & Pot Scrubber class offered in March to build a strong foundation in broom-making techniques.

Adults and 15+

Cost: $35

Introducing Kaniksu Stewardship Sessions, a Montana-based initiative of Kaniksu Land Trust.

Learn about how to make and keep your soil healthy with a hands-on lab with Jamie Schmidt, MSU Extension Agent. You’ll build a diagram to learn the mechanics of soil.

All ages welcome.

NOTE: Although sessions are listed here in Pacific time, they take place in Sanders County, Montana - Mountain Time.

Introducing Kaniksu Stewardship Sessions, a Montana-based initiative of Kaniksu Land Trust.

Ron Toretta, Wildlife Biologist in the US Forest Service Cabinet Ranger District, will present about the various wildlife we have in Sanders County.

All ages welcome.

NOTE: Although sessions are listed here in Pacific time, they take place in Sanders County, Montana - Mountain Time.

Unleash your inner artisan and connect with a rich heritage in this workshop led by the locally renowned weaving expert, Bri Larson. This immersive experience invites you to delve into the captivating world of tablet weaving, a time-honored craft with roots stretching back millennia.

More than just a workshop, this is an opportunity to weave connections – to yourself, as you discover the meditative rhythm of the craft; to your community, as you share in a collective learning experience; to traditions, as you master techniques passed down through generations; and to the landscape, as you create tangible art inspired by the natural world around us.

Adults and 15+. Children welcome when accompanied by a registered adult.

Cost: $55

Let your needle trace petals across cloth in Kaniksu Folk School’s Persimmon Flower Stitch workshop. Guided by artisan instructor Hillary DeCecchis, you will step into the elegant world of Japanese textile art and learn a beloved Sashiko pattern inspired by the layered geometry of a blooming persimmon flower. Considered an intermediate technique, this stitch offers a satisfying challenge for those with basic stitching experience and rewards patience with breathtaking detail.

As thread builds into pattern, simple fabric becomes something luminous and dimensional. The Persimmon Flower Stitch is wonderfully versatile. Use it to elevate visible mending or to transform everyday items into artful statements. Imagine jacket backs, cuffs, and pockets adorned with intricate geometry, or pillows, table runners, and wall hangings carrying the quiet rhythm of handwork.

Like all Kaniksu Folk School classes, this workshop is about more than technique. It is an invitation to reconnect with your own steady focus, to gather in community around a shared table, to honor traditions carried across generations, and to draw inspiration from the natural forms that surround us. In a small class of just 10 students, ages 15 through adult, you will stitch, learn, and create something both timeless and entirely your own.

This class is offered on-repeat May 12th.

Cost: $25

Discover the beauty and resilience of birch bark in Kaniksu Folk School’s Birch Bark Containers workshop, led by locally renowned artisan woodworker Shaun Deller. For thousands of years, people in northern climates have used birch bark to craft everything from canoes to storage vessels. In this class, you will create your own elegant container for tea, coffee, spices, or other dry goods, shaping a cedar base and lid with hand tools and attaching them to a formed bark cylinder. All tools and materials are provided.

Like every Kaniksu Folk School class, this experience connects us to our own capable hands, to one another through shared learning, to enduring traditions, and to the landscape that provides such remarkable materials.

Adults and 15+.

Cost:$40

We are growing in good ways!

Something beautiful is coming to Sandpoint.

Aster Garden Center is reopening — renovated, reimagined, and now proudly part of Kaniksu Land Trust.

Make plans to join us at the Grand Opening event with hourly workshops, plant shopping, raffles, and family crafts. OPA! Food Truck will be there too.

This is the garden event of the season. It’s free and open to everyone.

Paige Belfry leads an information-packed class where you’ll dig into how trees grow, how to establish clear pruning objectives, and which types of cuts to use and when to use them. You will explore how to set a realistic pruning budget, time your work to support tree health, set young trees up for long term success, and address structural defects with confidence and care.

Most of the session takes place in the classroom, where Paige will break down tools, safety practices, and the science behind strong structure and healthy growth. As time allows, you will step outside for a field demonstration to see proper technique in action and connect the dots between theory and real branches in the wild.

Learn to read the living landscape around you, care for the trees, and carry forward practical knowledge rooted in tradition and stewardship. You will leave with a well-rounded knowledge base, a sharper eye for structure, and the confidence that comes from tending the land with intention.

Adults and 15+

Cost: $30

Unlock the beauty of hand embroidery and give a favorite garment a new look! Hillary DeCecchis covers basic embroidery stitches and techniques for garment embellishment. Students should bring their own clothing item to embroider. All necessary materials and instructions will be provided, including "Stick and Stitch" botanical-themed patterns, though students are welcome to create their own designs.

Adults and 12+

Cost: $35

We provide the bar, you create the hooks! Come forge a beautiful and functional piece of kitchen hardware that will delight you and everyone that enters your home. Nick Belfry leads you in a practice of tapering, bending, and twisting iron to develop your craft.

Adults and teens 13+ (accompanied by an adult)

Cost: $42

KFS - Intro to Sashiko & Visible Mending

This workshop will be an introduction to Sashiko, an ancient style of Japaneses stitching, and how to apply this technique to your mending projects. All materials will be provided, just come ready to enjoy the motion of slow stitching and have patches ready to mend or embellish your favorite garments.

Adults and 12+

Twist, weave, and wind your way into an ancient art form. In Kaniksu Folk School’s Norse Weave Copper Jewelry workshop, you will learn to transform simple strands of copper into an intricate, flowing chain using a traditional Viking era technique. This style of knotless weaving creates supple, rope like jewelry that feels both timeless and strikingly modern. With patient guidance, you will craft your own bracelet or necklace, watching warm copper take on texture, strength, and story in your hands.

This class offers more than a beautiful finished piece. Like every Kaniksu Folk School experience, it is a chance to slow down and work with intention, to sit shoulder to shoulder with neighbors, to carry forward traditions shaped by human hands across centuries, and to draw inspiration from the resilient spirit of the landscape around us. Copper, pulled from the earth, becomes art through focus and care. Community forms in the spaces between shared tools and shared laughter.

Cost: $20 + $10 materials fee

Learn the basics of carving functional and beautiful wooden spoons. Shaun Deller will teach you how-to source and select the best woods for carving, how to safely use a knife, gouge and/or hook knife, and how to rough out, carve and finish a spoon. This is a beginner carving class. No prior experience required. Carving tools and a kevlar safety glove will be provided as well as a pre-cut spoon blank to work with.

Adults and teens 15+

Cost: $35

Sweep into an old world skill with Kaniksu Folk School’s Whisk Broom and Pot Scrubber Making workshop, led by artisan instructor Brad Huhta. In this hands on class, you will craft a beautiful and practical hand broom using traditional hand-powered tools. Learn to tightly wrap the handle, stitch the broom corn into its signature flat fan shape, and transform the extra fibers into a sturdy pot scrubber. The result is both useful and gift-worthy, a small masterpiece built for daily life.

Broom making is a craft rooted in land and labor. The scent of broom corn, the pull of twine, the steady rhythm of stitching all invite you to slow down and work with intention. Like every Kaniksu Folk School class, this experience connects us to ourselves through focused hands on learning, to one another through shared effort and conversation, to traditions passed down through generations, and to the landscape that provides the raw materials we shape.

Moderate hand and arm strength is required. Open to adults and teens ages 15 and up.

Cost: $30 + $5 materials fee

Kaniksu Stewardship Sessions is a series of presentations and workshops about living in Sanders County, Montana.

Join Kaniksu Land Trust educator, Shaun Deller, for a fur trade history display and slide show presentation following the trail of the explorer, cartographer and fur trader, David Thompson. Shaun will discuss Thompson's travels into Montana, Idaho and Washington and his interactions with the indigenous cultures he met and was guided by along the way. Shaun will bring a large display of historic trade goods and furs to show, while also sharing photos of his recent horse packing trip up to Howse Pass, where David Thompson crossed over the Rockies in 1807 to establish trade with the Kootenai Tribe. 

Shaun Deller is an assistant educator at KLT and coordinator of the Kaniksu Folk School. He is also a member of the American Mountain Men and the Northwest Fur Trade Historians. He enjoys learning about history through participating in historical treks and rendezvous where modern individuals go into the wilderness carrying only the clothing and gear used by the men and women in the early 19th century. Shaun believes that through this travel on foot, canoe or horseback, one can better come to understand the hardships and the reality of what life was like in this earlier time of our nation's history. 

Let your needle trace petals across cloth in Kaniksu Folk School’s Persimmon Flower Stitch workshop. Guided by artisan instructor Hillary DeCecchis, you will step into the elegant world of Japanese textile art and learn a beloved Sashiko pattern inspired by the layered geometry of a blooming persimmon flower. Considered an intermediate technique, this stitch offers a satisfying challenge for those with basic stitching experience and rewards patience with breathtaking detail.

As thread builds into pattern, simple fabric becomes something luminous and dimensional. The Persimmon Flower Stitch is wonderfully versatile. Use it to elevate visible mending or to transform everyday items into artful statements. Imagine jacket backs, cuffs, and pockets adorned with intricate geometry, or pillows, table runners, and wall hangings carrying the quiet rhythm of handwork.

Like all Kaniksu Folk School classes, this workshop is about more than technique. It is an invitation to reconnect with your own steady focus, to gather in community around a shared table, to honor traditions carried across generations, and to draw inspiration from the natural forms that surround us. In a small class of just 10 students, ages 15 through adult, you will stitch, learn, and create something both timeless and entirely your own.

This class is offered on-repeat April 15th, and May 12th.

Cost: $15 + $10

Link by link, ring by ring, step into a craft once trusted on medieval battlefields and now reborn as wearable art. In Kaniksu Folk School’s 9 in 1 European Chain Maille workshop, you will learn the fundamentals of this ancient technique, historically used to create dense yet flexible armor. Locally reknowned artisan metalworker Weezil will lead you in creating your one-of-a-kind craft. Beginning with copper wire, you will form your own rings and weave them into a classic European pattern, creating a small band of chain maille that can become a bracelet or the first chapter in a much larger project.

Chain maille is patience made visible. The steady rhythm of opening, linking, and closing rings draws you into focused calm, while the growing weave becomes a testament to persistence and design. Like all Kaniksu Folk School classes, this workshop connects us to ourselves through skill building, to one another through shared curiosity and conversation, to traditions forged centuries ago, and to the enduring spirit of craftsmanship shaped by the landscapes we inhabit.

Adults and teens ages 15 and up are welcome.

Cost: $20 + $10 materials fee

Tuck a garden into your pocket and let your stitches bloom. In Kaniksu Folk School’s Pocket Full of Posies workshop, you will learn the basics of hand embroidery and transform a favorite garment into something freshly personal. Instructor Hillary DeCecchis will cover foundational stitches and simple techniques for embellishing clothing, using provided “Stick and Stitch” botanical patterns or your own inspired designs. Bring the shirt, jacket, or jeans you are ready to reimagine. All other materials and guidance are included.

This class is more than thread and fabric. Like every Kaniksu Folk School gathering, it is an invitation to slow down and create with intention. As needles rise and fall, we reconnect with our own creativity, share stories across the table, honor traditions passed from hand to hand, and draw inspiration from the wildflowers and forests that shape our landscape. Each stitch becomes a small act of care, for our clothing and for one another.

Class size is limited to 10 students to keep the experience welcoming and hands on. Open to adults and youth ages 12 and up. Come ready to stitch, connect, and carry a little handmade beauty back into the world. This class will be repeated on April 8th and May 20th.

Cost: $15 + $10 materials fee

Fire up your imagination and shape steel with your own two hands. In this Kaniksu Folk School workshop, you will design and forge a set of custom shelf brackets from raw steel, learning the fundamentals of layout, tapering, scrolling, punching, bending, and twisting along the way. Under the guidance of a skilled instructor, Nick Belfry, sparks will fly and straight bars will curl into strong, sculptural hardware that is both functional and beautifully one-of-a-kind.

Blacksmithing is an ancient craft rooted in place and purpose. At Kaniksu Folk School, working at the forge is more than metal and muscle. It is a chance to slow down, focus your energy, and feel the satisfying rhythm of hammer on steel. Like all KFS classes, this experience connects us to ourselves through hands on learning, to one another through shared effort and laughter, to traditions carried forward through generations, and to the rugged landscape that has always relied on skilled makers.

Adults and teens ages 16 and up, accompanied by an adult, are welcome. Bring drinking water and a snack, and come ready to trade the hum of screens for the ring of the anvil. By the end of the day, you will leave with handcrafted brackets and the quiet pride that comes from building something meant to last.

Cost: $60 + $20 materials fee

Thread your needle and step into a story stitched across generations. In this Kaniksu Folk School workshop, you will learn Sashiko, an ancient Japanese style of decorative reinforcement stitching born from practicality and elevated to art. Artisan instructor Hillary DeCecchis leads you through bringing beauty to mending, turning worn places into constellations of pattern and purpose.

All materials are provided. Just bring a garment ready for patching or embellishment and a willingness to settle into the steady rhythm of slow stitching.

Like all classes at Kaniksu Folk School, this workshop is about more than technique. It is about reconnecting to your own hands and breath, gathering in community around a shared table, honoring traditions that travel across time and culture, and grounding creativity in the landscape we call home.

In a small group of just 10 participants, you will stitch, learn, and laugh together. Adults and youth ages 12 and up are welcome. This class will also be offered April 1st.

Cost: $30 + $15 materials fee

Friends of Scotchman Peaks, Kaniksu Land Trust, and Mountain Mamas are excited to host a fabulous Hiking with Kids presentation and trek up Munson Creek.  You won’t want to miss these stories and insights on hiking with kids in the mountains! We hope you can join us for a hike up Munson Creek after the presentation. Bring a carry pack if you have babies or toddlers.

Event will run from 10am-2pm MST (9am-1pm PST)

Sign up HERE.

Winter Carnival Wild Trivia Night

KLT is taking over this Winter Carnival edition of Idaho Pour Authority’s Trivia Night and it’s going to be wild.

Test your nature knowledge and winter carnival wisdom for prizes and posterity.

IPA is generously donating $1 from every beer sold and proceeds from raffle tickets will go toward KLT’s conservation, connection, and community resilience work. Get raffle tickets: $5 each or $10 for three for hourly drawings.

Immerse yourself in the entire Sandpoint Winter Carnival experience February 13-22.

Join Friends of Scotchman Peaks and KLT for a winter snowshoe hike under the light of a full moon. We will trek up the Cabinet Ski Trail across from the Cabinet Ranger Station just outside of Trout Creek. This outing will also include forest management and ecology education!

Don’t have snowshoes? We have some you can use! Although we will have the Storm Moon to light our way, please bring a headlamp or flashlight as well.

Please register here https://www.scotchmanpeaks.org/hike/snow-moon-snowshoe-hike/

Stop by to say hi. We have moved into our new digs!

Pop in any time between 3-6 to tour our new office building (made possible by local volunteers and supporters). We will have light sips and bites for you!

6 Reasons To Join The Chamber

1. Networking. The chamber is a melting pot of potential customers/participants, board and committee members, and volunteers.

2. A Seat At The Table. Chamber events and meetings are places to hear about local issues and topics from decision-makers, giving you insights on how you bring value to the community.

3. Visibility. A presence in the member directory and at chamber events gives your organization added positive exposure.

4. Resources. Chambers often offer trainings, advertising co-ops, and other member benefits.

5. Advocacy. The chamber recommends member orgs. It can help connect potential partnerships and funding.

6. ☕ Coffee. Sip delicious Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters beverages and savor treats while you mingle your way through Friday morning.

RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/g_jyGFg6

Learn the basics of “flat plane” carving, a Scandinavian style where most of the shaping is done with a knife and small gouge, creating beautiful, faceted details. Each student will get a pre-cut wooden blank to work on, plus knives, wood, and safety gloves. Take home a one-of-a-kind art piece to keep or give.

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Learn the basics of pine needle basketry in this hands-on class. You’ll decorate a wooden block with paints and natural materials, then coil and sew pine needles around it to make your own little masterpiece to keep or give.

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Stitch together colorful, one-of-a-kind pieces with simple hand embroidery and sewing techniques, then take home a handmade gift to yourself or someone else!

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Learn the basics of metal forging like tapering, scrolling, twisting, and bending metal and create your own version of this ancient Scandinavian symbol of protection for a gift or to keep.

Sorry to say, this class is now full. Email Shaun to get on the waitlist: shaun@kaniksu.org

Learn how to twist and bend the wire into both flat and 3D designs, then take a sparkling star ornament home or give it as a gift.

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