If you were able to attend the Mid-Missouri Horse, Mule & Ox Farming & Historical Craft Days (Mule Days) this weekend, you were able to watch artisans recreate skills that predate electricity.

Spinning, weaving, grinding, cooking and food preservation were all on display.

Each craftsman was happy to explain their process to visitors.

One of the most interesting booths showed the preservation of deer hides use the brain tanning method. Dick Walsh from Foristell explained the days-long process. First the flesh is scraped from the hide which is put on a frame and stretched tight. Then the hair and epidermis is removed from the other side. This leaves behind rawhide, a very stiff material that feels almost like plastic.

The rawhide is then rolled up and put into a solution of the animal’s brain matter. The rawhide softens almost immediately upon touching the solution, allowing the whole roll of rawhide to be submerged.

After a good soak, the hide is removed from the brain solution and cleaned. The resulting white buckskin is one of the most soft and supple materials you will ever see. However if the white buckskin gets wet, it reverts to a stiffer material again. To prevent this, the buckskin must be suspended over a fire and smoked.  This not only turns the buckskin to beautiful shades of tan and brown, it also makes it water resistant. This mean if it gets wet, it will stay soft and supple.

All this was learned in just a 15 minute stop at one of the many booths at Mule Days.