The Houston Dze L K’ant Friendship Centre’s indigenous early years program held a moose and deer hide tanning workshop on April 28. Twenty three children from the Beanstalk Daycare Center ages three to five walked to the A Rocha Nature Center to witness Benjamin Laurie, instructor, teach a workshop on moose tanning. The children were allowed to touch and feel a display of furs and tools. Laurie said, “Jackie, from the friendship center, organized this workshop. We started the deer hide in the fall, removed the hair, removed the grain layer of the hide after soaking in wood ash, then we used a brain mixture (we actually used oil and soap) and then softened it once the winter was over. I have taught numerous courses that bring people start to finish on hides over the last 10 years.”(Angelqiue Houlihan photos/Houston Today)
