Who can resist the smell of fresh bread baking?  In this one-night class we will learn how to mix, knead, proof and shape yeast dough into both savory and sweet treats. Participants will learn how to create cloverleaf rolls, butter crescents, cinnamon swirls, tea rings, caramel pecan rolls and whole-wheat buns as well as an economical savory braid that comes together quickly.  You will learn what gluten is about! Various yeast bread tricks will be shared and discussed. Each student will go home with a basket of yummy warm sample as well as dough to bake at home. All baking levels are welcome for this hands-on class. Bring an apron, and a container to fill and take home.

Debra Arter learned how to bake and shape from her Home Ec. Teacher mother in Minnesota. She participates in cooking contests regularly and her loaves of bread often get blue ribbons at local fairs. Her enthusiasm for food and fun is contagious. Autumn in Maine was made for an activity like this.  You will have a fun delicious evening! ($55 includes $10 materials fee)

Participants will learn how to season, care for, and use a Chinese wok and cleaver. The recipes for the class will include stir-frying, oven-roasting, and preparing steamed rice. Each student will take home a specially selected kit including a lightweight cast iron wok, wok spatula, carbon steel cleaver, honing steel, a heavy-duty cutting board, and one of Chris Toy's 6 cookbooks. The retail value of the kit is $230.  (Those in the know bring containers just in case!)

Your instructor, Chris Toy is the author of 6 popular cookbooks, a private chef, and has taught Asian-fusion cooking for several Maine community education programs. 

This three-hour course is NOT about installing an alarm system. It is about adjusting your awareness around you as you move through your day and your home. It is about doing mental exercises to handle the “what if’s” to keep you and your loved ones safe. Learn situational awareness, conflict avoidance, and how to access your home’s defense.

Students must have an audio- and video-enabled laptop, desktop, or tablet with reliable internet to participate in class. We do not recommend using a smartphone.

Participants will make a batch of hot press goat milk soap using a variety of molds and having many scents and extra add-ins to choose from. Each person will come out of the class with 4-8 soaps, depending on the choice of mold and the recipe and know-how of how to make future batches at home. Each student will need to bring a dedicated crock pot and submersion blender/hand mixer to the class that night. All molds, scents, and soap materials will be provided by the instructor. Soaps will be ready for pickup the following week, due to curing time. The fee includes all materials.

Learn how to design and carve your own fishing handline. Each student will get materials to make up to two handlines, though only one may be completed during the class. Supplies include wood, line, hooks, and weights. We will go over everything from how to use your handline and cast it properly. 

We’re spending more time outside and that is good. Learn how to integrate weather forecasts and your own reading of the weather signs to plan ahead and to best manage your outdoor activities - walking, biking, hiking, camping, paddling, boating, playing and exercising. Learn from a Master Maine Guide & Total Weather Spotter. Course is presented on Zoom.  Students must have an audio- and video-enabled laptop, desktop, or tablet with reliable internet to participate in class. We do not recommend using a smartphone.

Your instructor, Chris Toy is the author of 6 popular cookbooks, a private chef, and has taught Asian-fusion cooking for several Maine community education programs. Cooking students will learn how to prepare a variety of recipes from Asia, Europe, and the Americas incorporating traditional and local ingredients. Each meal will actively engage cooks with the tools, techniques, and stories behind the dishes being created.

Escape to a Grand Victorian Inn, the Harbor View House in Prospect Harbor on the coast of Maine, with an intimate group of artists, cooks, and creatives! All meals are included in the workshop fee plus special activities to extend your learning from the day’s workshops, including a private house concert by Grammy balloted singer-songwriter, storyteller, and author Gordon Ward. 

Day students are welcome. For more information about the workshop, call Mary at 207-632-2251. To book your stay at the inn call 207-963-9122 or visit https://harborviewhousellc.com/  

Feedback from recent participants:  “I learned so much from Chris that I can use immediately at home in my own kitchen.”  “Great kitchen hints!”

Your instructor, Mary Laury is an accomplished watercolorist and highly esteemed teacher. She encourages all her students to believe they can be successful. Painting is an exciting medium; it flows and moves and does beautiful things. If you have never painted in watercolors, we will start at the beginning. If you have painted before, you will pick up some new tips and tricks as well. We all learn together!

Painting Flower Portraits in Watercolor is the focus of this retreat.  

Paint flower portraits realistically. You will paint pictures of flowers in detail, but more painterly than a scientific illustration. We won’t count veins, but we will count petals! Painting flowers is a wonderful exercise in observation.

Learn brush stroke and value

White on white flowers

Leaves, long and short

Iris, narcissus, orchids, tulips, and other spring flowers.

Materials list:

We will paint on smooth paper; Strathmore Series 500, one hundred percent cotton paper, either plate or vellum. This paper can be bought at Artist and Craftsman in Portland in large sheets, which we will cut up.

Bring a #2 round brush and a #6 round brush, pencil, palette, tube watercolors in the 3 primary colors and perhaps a green. Paper towels and water container. And bring a plant or flower specimen with no more than 9 petals. This is a slow and careful process and 9 petals and some leaves is enough happiness for us all.

Escape to a Grand Victorian Inn, the Harbor View House in Prospect Harbor on the coast of Maine, with an intimate group of artist, cooks and creatives! All meals are included in the workshop fee plus special activities to extend your learning from the day’s workshops, including a private house concert by Grammy balloted sing-songwriter, storyteller, and author Gordon Ward. Day students are welcome.

For more information about the workshop, call Mary at 207-632-2251. To book your stay at the inn call 207-963-9122 or visit https://harborviewhousellc.com/.  

Feedback from recent participants: 

“Great instructor!-Mary acts as a guide to develop our own style.“ “Easy no stress instruction.”