Mineral-tanned Sheepskin Rug | October 11-13, 2025
Step away from screens and routines. Join us for an immersive, hands-on course where you’ll learn the process of hide tanning, connect with land-based craft, and walk away with your own hand-crafted sheepskin rug.
Come prepared to work hard, sink into hide time, and be on the land + out of your usual rhythms. Then take home your transformed creation at the end.
Scroll down for more details
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Your Hide Camp Details Here
What You’ll Gain
In this 3-day workshop, you will:
✔️ Transform a local farm-raised sheepskin into a soft, usable rug you’ll cherish
✔️ Learn a time-honoured embodied process step by step
✔️ Gain confidence in traditional skills you can practice again at home
✔️ Leave with a finished sheepskin - made ethically by your hands
Course Details
📍 Location: North Saanich, W̱SÁNEĆ Peninsula, BC
📅 Dates: October 11–13, 2025
⏰ Schedule: 11am–4pm each day
💰 Investment: $435 CAD (payment plan available)
🎁 Autumn Special: Choose a white or brown sheepskin
All our hides are ethically sourced + re-routed from waste streams to contribute to a healthy fibreshed. A portion of all courses goes toward the WSANEC Lands Trust.
Your facilitator
I’m Mara. Fern + Roe is my Vancouver Island-based, all-natural leather tannery. I founded Fern + Roe in 2017 and have taught over a thousand students how to tan hides.
I found hide tanning at a time in my life when I was hungry for rootedness. was learning all I could about wild foods, herbal medicine, and hunting. Through hunting, came hide tanning. I was hooked. This craft called me in and took centre stage in my life.
The rhythmic motions of hide tanning are soothing to the body, the collaboration with animal through tending life-after-death is meaningful journey. I invite you step into this ancestral craft that has connected people to the land, to their well ancestors, and to their bodies worldwide for millennia. It is needed in our contemporary lives more than ever.
Words from our hide tanning students
“I tried tanning on my own and never understood it. After coming to one of the hide courses, I understand the process, and what went wrong with my previous attempts.”
Dallas
“Mara’s gentle guidance made me feel at home in hide camp.”
Tahlia
“I tanned my first hide with Fern + Roe and I loved everything about it!!”
Skylar
Choose your FLEECE
After signing up, we’ll email to ask which colour of fleece you want to tan + take home.
Chocolate brown Romney sheepskin
or
Classic white fleeced sheepskin
The Process
.Day One: Choose your sheepskin + frame it into a traditional hide rack
Day Two: Learn mineral-tanning (alum-tawing) + begin softening
Day Three: Clean, comb, and shape the wool for loft and beauty
Join us on the land during your hide tanning course.
Camping is in a spacious + secluded meadow that is fully fenced. There are trails and lounge spots around the farm you can relax at, and if you’re brave, a jump in the cold pond on summer days.
We are a few blocks from Coles Bay oceanside park and adjacent to the YVR airport bike trails.
Amenities of Meadow Camping:
indoor bathroom with shower
dry food storage
shared indoor fridge
electrical outlet at the entrance to the camping meadow
water spigot at the entrance to the camping meadow
picnic table and chairs
hammock
BYO camping gear, kitchen supplies, and everything you need to enjoy the camping meadow.
Your spot in this hide course includes:
Your salvaged, cleaned and prepared sheep skin
Rental of hide tanning tools and equipment use
Hot drinks in the morning and at lunch
Discount of 10% on Fern + Roe tools to take home
How to Make the Most of your Hide Camp
Leave your routines behind
Work hard, rest well
Bring a notebook if you’re a note-taker, a camera if you’re a photo-taker
Visit the farm animals and the garden
Wander the beautiful WSANEC Peninsula, visit the ocean, spend time in our amazing local community
What to Wear
Clothes for all weather - it’ll be hot indoors, cold outdoors
Outdoor or waterproof shoes/sandals
What to Bring
Water
Lunch and snacks
Personal knife (we like Mora brand, for ex)
Mineral-tanning Gallery
Check out each step in the smoke-tanning process below by clicking the arrows left or right!
