Blog - Page 21 of 37 - Brown County Forge

As a native, here are my top 5 things to do in southern Indiana.

First, a little background on me:

I grew up in Brown County, easily one of the most beautiful parts of the state. (It’s pictured above.)
I’ve traveled around the world and decided to come back to Indiana to live on purpose.
Vacations that involve sitting on a beach for hours or never leaving a hotel room sound awful. (No judgment, just personal preference.) So you won’t find recommendations like that here. Besides, Indiana doesn’t have much of a coastline.

5 Things to Do In Southern Indiana

5. Go hiking

Southern Indiana is home to thousands of acres of woods from the Hoosier National Forest to Brown County State Park on down to Clifty Falls and New Harmony State Park.

My personal favorites for hikes close to Bloomington are:

The Deam Wilderness
Ogle Lake and Lake Strahl in Brown County State Park
Morgan-Monroe State Forest – Low Gap Trail

All of our state parks and national forests are historic. You’ll find CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) era structures, steps, and bridges in many of them.

4. Explore Some Historic Architecture

Things to Do in Southern indiana 2 - Brown County Forge — New Harmony, Indiana

Indiana has been a state for a long, long time (since 1816).

We’ve had a lot of time to build things in those 200+ years.

Most of the original log cabins are gone, but some of the buildings built out of sturdier stuff are still here.

West Baden Springs Hotel is one of them. It was built over 100 years ago and was once referred to as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

Not bad for a small town with a funny name. (French Lick, IN)

If you’re more interested in the rustic side and pioneer life, New Harmony is worth a trip.

I spent many Spring Breaks there as a kid, learning about early settlers and enjoying the peace and quiet.

3. Do A Self-Guided Eating Tour of Bloomington’s Fourth Street

Bloomington isn’t just a college town, but it definitely benefits from having Indiana University in it.

The city has become a cultural melting pot of people from many different nations around the world.

I love getting to know different people and I especially enjoy eating food with them.

If I’m ever looking for a food-based adventure, all I need to do is start at one end of 4th Street and eat my way to the other end.

Along the way I’ll hit everything from Tibetan to Creole to vegan donuts. (As a non-vegan I put them up there with the best of ALL donuts.)

If you run out of options on 4th Street, you’re still right in one of the densest pockets of amazing food in the entire state.

A quick Google Maps search will show you a full list of microbreweries, Afghan food, traditional Irish fare, and a lot more.

2. Take an Art Class

If you enjoy laughing, painting, and sharing a little bit of wine, Bloomington’s Wine and Canvas classes might be a good choice.

You don’t need to have an art background to make something fun that looks good. And the people there are bound to be good company.

Not technically an art class, but the Sculpture Trail in Solsberry is an open museum of metal arts. (Fair Warning: The video below contains heavy metal music. I’m more of a Sinatra guy myself so feel free to keep it on silent.)

Pretty. Freaking. Cool. =]

1. Make It All One Epic Trip

There’s no shortage of awesome, interesting things to do in southern Indiana.

We didn’t even touch on the Madison Regatta (like super-fast boats?) or the historic houses down there by the Ohio.

If you’re from out of town, add all of these things together and throw in a dash of spontaneity and you’ve got yourself quite a trip.

If you’re from here, hopefully you got some new ideas from this article.

Gone are the days of just sitting around waiting for something to happen.

It’s time to get into it and Enjoy!

Have you ever wondered about how to become a blacksmith?

In this post, we’ll talk about what it was like “back then” and compare it to what it’s like now.

How to Become a Blacksmith “Back Then”

If we were living 150 years ago, you could become a blacksmith’s apprentice before turning 10 years-old.

The blacksmith would likely be just down the street in your small town so you would know him or your parents would.

Your job as an apprentice would involve these daily tasks:

Keeping the shop organized and clean.
Starting the forge fire and operating the bellows.
Fetching water.
Shoveling coal.
Learning the trade through simple, repetitive projects like making nails.

Your decision to become a blacksmith wouldn’t necessarily have been yours to make and you wouldn’t necessarily love it.

But you would be in it for the long haul as most trades relied on the apprenticeship to journeyman to master path.

How to Become a Blacksmith Now

The process for becoming a blacksmith is quite a bit different in the 21st Century.

The demand for blacksmiths is drastically lower due to our advancements in machine technology.

What was once made by a blacksmith can more quickly and more precisely be made by a machine.

The one exception: Shoeing horses still requires a human blacksmith. There are no robot farriers. For this reason, becoming a farrier is one of your best bets for a steady income as a blacksmith.

Farrier Work

To become a farrier or horseshoer, it’s recommended that you do formal training.

There are multiple farrier schools across the country that specialize in getting people up to speed with horseshoeing.

Here’s a good resource for Farrier Schools:

U.S. Farrier Schools

Let’s look at one school to get an idea of time commitment and cost.

The Arkansas Horseshoeing School offers:

8-Week Course: $6,900
12-Week Course: $7,900
16-Week Course: $8,900
24-Week Course: $15,900

Comparing costs for a college degree from the University of Arkansas, you’re looking at $35,280 (in-state) $92,672 (out of state).

The benefits of going to horseshoeing school are spending a lot less money and walking away with the training you need to start earning money after a few weeks versus a few years.

Maybe you’re not interested in doing farrier work, though.

If you’re looking at traditional blacksmithing, knife making, etc. we’ll talk about those next.

Traditional Blacksmith Work

Becoming a successful, professional blacksmith in the traditional sense is much harder than farrier work.

Since these skills aren’t in demand, you need to spend a lot of time networking, marketing, and finding a specialty within blacksmithing to focus on.

To get a broad base of blacksmithing skills, there are classes and blacksmith schools in almost every U.S. state.

The Blacksmith School Map is a good resource for finding what classes are available near you.

Personal Story:

I learned how to forge at a school in western North Carolina called The John C. Campbell Folk School.

I was fortunate to be accepted into one of their 9-week Work/Study programs that allowed me to:

Enroll in three weeks of blacksmithing classes at no charge.
Live on their campus for free.

In exchange, I worked with other work/study students to keep the grounds and garden in good shape and welcome regular students each week.

My only expenses while I was there involved class materials costs. Thankfully, steel is relatively cheap and they have a large scrap bin that can be used for experimenting.

I was taught by extremely talented professional blacksmiths in each of my three classes and came away with a great foundation to get started on my own.

How to Become a Blacksmith in 3 Steps

Find a school or classes near you that teach the skills you want to learn.
If you can’t afford the tuition, they often offer financial assistance.
Absorb as much information as you can while you’re there. Ask questions. Most blacksmiths are happy to share their knowledge.

After taking the time to learn from people with experience, you’ll be in a better position to get started.

At that point, you might begin your research into where to buy forges, anvils, hammers, and tongs.

If you’re already there, you might find these articles helpful:

Where to Buy Anvils

Where to Buy Forges

Buying Hammers

I’m Here to Help!

If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email.

browncountyforge@gmail.com