Adirondack Pack Baskets

Yesterday I drove up to Craftsbury to learn how to make an Adirondack-style pack basket from Jody Stoddard, one of the very talented teachers at the college where I used to study sustainable agriculture, called Sterling College. She is the fiber and farmstead arts teacher there and has done a lot of workshops on pack basket making over the years. I contacted her a week or two ago to see if she had any upcoming workshops - she didn't, but instead she offered to give me an individual lesson at her house. So kind of her!

Adirondack pack baskets were originally made of black ash and used for hunting, hiking, trapping and anything else you can think of! They're quite sturdy. I plan to use mine as a sort of all-purpose backpack and maybe for some wildcrafting (morels, anyone?) It's made from a reed called rattan (a type of palm) that comes from the Philippines - rattan is both more flexible and cheaper than black ash, because it's a super common plant that grows in abundance in tropical places.

It was such fun to make - I've never made a basket before and I didn't know anything, but I found the actual weaving quite intuitive and meditative. I really hope to make more, and who knows, maybe I'll end up selling a few myself or teaching others how to make them.