Sustainability & Leadership Apprenticeships at Hawk Circle

The timberframes we cut are made by Ricardo Sierra, Hawk Circle staff and our Sustainability & Leadership Apprentices, who are young men and women who come to Hawk Circle to learn wilderness skills such as shelters, native crafts, tree & plant studies, firemaking, wild edible foods, tracking and survival tools and hunting techniques.  

They learn about teaching these skills to children and youth in intensive camps as well as afterschool programs.  Learning about timberframing takes place alongside organic gardening, forest gardening and community building.   Students learn the basics of sharpening heirloom chisels, drawknives and axes, then move on to split and carve hardwood pegs, which hold the frames together.   They then learn to cut a straight line for sawing beams by hand.  Carving tenons and mortises is next, following the'square rule' approach to timber framing.   Marking, layout and drilling peg holes is next, along with assembling the frame for raising.

Most students cut beams for cabin beds, chairs or bunkbeds prior to working on larger timbers for houses or cabins, to get experience and gain confidence in their carving skills before tackling more challenging projects.

Timberframing is a powerful building technique that is the foundation for most natural building techniques, such as straw bale, clay cob, wood chip/clay, cord wood masonry, natural earthen plasters and many more sustainable building methods.   It is strong, beautiful, aesthetically pleasing and creates spaces that are more than just square footage:  they become buildings, homes, studios or barns with soul.

The learning of these skills give apprentices a foundation of real experience that they can apply in their daily lives, along with work skills that can help them, no matter what the future may bring.

A purchase of a Hawk Circle Timber Frame Cabin, House or Barn supports our program, allowing us to purchase tools for students to use, wood to practice on, materials for making beds, chairs or bunk beds, or smaller projects.   Your support allows us to spend time carefully teaching our young people a skill without the pressure of a modern construction company.    It means we can cover our expenses and go on field trips to working organic farms or old barns or buildings to see how the frames were built years ago.

Thank you for your support, either through the purchase of a Hawk Circle frame or through a donation to our non-profit organization.   We can't do it without you!
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