empowering women & non-binary makers through the art of woodcraft

CURRENT FAQ NEWS:

6/25/2021

Fireweed is pausing on classes this summer to make a start on our little library of FREE video tutorials.  We are hoping to grow it as time progresses.  What kind of content?  It is all centered around woodworking of course!  We are going to start with a set of four videos released by next year.  We have plans for three of them, but we would also like some feedback from you - our community!  Head over to our Instagram (@fireweedwoodshop) to share your ideas with us.  We will take a vote in the next few months.  

We are also using this time to partner St Paul Public Parks to offer spoon carving classes for the BIPOC community.  It's been a wonderful expansion and we are super pumped!

6/2020

Dear Ones,

BLACK LIVES MATTER. Unequivocally Black lives matter.  We mourn the death of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others that were murdered by the police. The shop actively believes in dismantling white supremacy and supporting the BIPOC community, in particular Black lives right now.

We know you haven’t heard from us in a minute because we have paused to focus on the Minneapolis and St. Paul community in real life, not the digital realm. We are slowly coming back together to keep working on our new structure as non-profit and making sure we build anti-racism actions into our very foundation so we can address the vast inequities in the woodworking world. We hope you too are looking at your role in white privilege and how to deconstruct the injustices woven into this country’s framework too.

We do intend to offer classes again but there is a lot of work to do behind the scenes and there is still a pandemic and unfortunately touching and sharing tools is a big part of our classroom. Please be patient with us and support organizations that are changing the world for the better right now.

Black Visions Collective

Black Women Build

Crafting the Future

Black Lives Matter

4/2/2020

Dear Students, fans, friends, and family,

We have big news to share...we’re changing gears and going mobile!!! Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we made the challenging decision to leave our current location and offer a smaller array of classes while focusing on developing a better community woodshop after this thing passes. 

As many of you know, our little storefront on 38th street has always been considered our starter home. It's a charming space, but over the past 3 years we have outgrown the physical space and the electrical limits (if you have been in a power tools class, you have experienced us blowing the breakers!) We need more space and more power to keep supporting the community and expanding as y’all have shown up in droves and our instructors keep proposing more awesome classes.

As the shop navigates the current situation with Covid-19, we have faced some obstacles and been given the gift of seeing our blindspots. Financially, we have depended on our in person classes to pay rent, pay instructors, and keep the lights on. It’s always been a makeshift diy space doing it month to month. We have been hit hard by the crisis and have spent some time reflecting on what actions make the most sense. 

The month of April we will be moving into storage and simplifying our course offerings until we can find a better home. We see this time as a “wildfire” ferociously taking down broken models and systems, but leaving fertile soil for the future. Instead of trying to resist, we are going to let this one take us and turn us into that soil that we can emerge stronger and brighter for the long haul.

We have been building an incredible non-profit board of brilliant minds and will be spending the next few months focusing on regrowth. More to come soon once we are done moving! Stay tuned.

If you are currently signed up for classes we will be in touch about a pop-up location to host or a cancellation with full refunds. Our small summer offerings will go live once we find a host. If you know a host that could share space during this limbo phase, please reach out:)

If you want to purchase wood, tools, workbenches, we will be posting things we are not able to keep on our instagram and will be offering contactless pick up after the Stay Home mandate expires...if it expires. 

Thank you for all your love, support, and hunger for woodworking!

More soon,

Jess & the crew

UPDATE: 3/24/2020 WE ARE OPEN ONLINE! We are working on fun virtual ways to do woodworking while our current space is closed. We have a brand new page that hosts our online offerings. The first offering is a free downloadable coloring sheet, updated daily! We are also offering our first VIRTUAL OPEN SHOP this thursday 6:00-9:00. A link will be posted shortly and this will be a free get together to talk through your projects you are working on at home with two woodworkers/makers Meena Mangalvedhekar and Jess Hirsch. See you on the internet!

UPDATE: 3/16/2020 WE ARE TEMPORARILY CLOSING! Due to the pandemic we believe it is our social responsibility to flatten the curve and advocate for social distancing. We are postponing our classes as the news comes out. If you have courses scheduled we will be emailing you about rescheduling opportunities and refunds. Its a bit of a dance to re-arrange all the classes so please be patient as we work through the upcoming classes for this week. We will most likely be rescheduling all classes through April 10th, but have to do it in batches. Thank you for your patience.

What actions are you taking for Covid-19?

• We are staying up to date with information. Here are some of the local resources:

• • http://www.minneapolismn.gov/emergency/coronavirus

  • http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19

  • https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/situation.html

• We are asking everyone that visits the woodshop to stay home if you feel even minor symptoms of cold, flu, fatigue, upper respiratory uneasiness. In such cases, we will allow you to reschedule any class for up to 60 days of your missed class (for any future date class). You can still cancel your classes 14 days in advance with no penalty.

• We are upping the game and keeping our shop even cleaner before and after each class.Since COVID-19 can survive on surfaces for up to 9 days, it is important to disinfect surfaces and often.

• All products leaving our shelves will go through the disinfection process for worry- free product owning or gifting experience.

• If an instructor is ill, they will cancel classes and you will be fully refunded or can transfer your class credit immediately. 

• Notifications of class cancellation will be via email.

What is your cancellation policy during the Covid-19 crisis? You may transfer your class credit for up to 60 days of your cancelled class (to any future class). If the course costs less than you cancelled class we will not be able to refund the difference, and if it costs more, we will request the additional amount.

If you are taking a multi-day class and need to cancel for 2 or more sessions due to illness, you will be offered a credit for the percentage of courses you missed.  Example: if you miss 2 of the Handy Person Kitchen Class ($40/ class) you will be able to transfer $80 credit to a new course. If you miss 1 class, we will help you catch up with notes, photos, and in some cases video documentation.