Make Your Day
At the Self-Made Shoppe
The Self-Made Shoppe was inspired by Fredrick Douglas and his speech given during the Reconstruction Era in 1859 on the Self-Made Man. The idea was a precursor to the American Dream. Douglas believed that each and every person is what they make of themselves.
Benjamin Franklin in his Autobiography revisits the idea of the Self-Made Man ultimately expressing an opinion in favor of education for self-improvement and growth.
Many of our workshops in the Self-Made Shoppe are connected to themes of sustainability, environmentalism and stewardship in the outdoors. Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweet Grass, writes, "Plants are our oldest teachers...while they were working on the land, the land was working on them. Teaching them.” We may facilitate the experience, but it's the land that shows us who we are.
The Self-Made Shoppe offers programming and classes for all people to build their skills and express their own sense of curiosity for learning new things. We operate under the belief that when we make things with our hands we better understand ourselves and the world around us.
