Reeds and Roots Skillshare Kent - Workshops
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All workshops have limited capacity, so register early to reserve your spot! (registration starts at 9am)
All workshops are free unless otherwise noted
Several of our awesome teachers will be vending – bring cash for the vending booths!
Workshop 1 (10 – 11:30am):
- Wild Mushroom ID (Small Stage)
- Boundaries and Consent (Shelter 3 – Blue Shelter)
- Culinary Wildcrafting of Black Walnut (Shelter 1 – Purple Shelter)
- Making Kombucha (Shelter 4 – Green Shelter)
- Backyard Meat Rabbits (Shelter 5 – Yellow Shelter)
Workshop 2 (1 – 2:30pm)
- Fermented Compost and Your Gut (Shelter 5 – Yellow Shelter)
- Planting Mini-forests in Northeast Ohio (Shelter 1 – Purple Shelter)
- Fun with Fragrances (Shelter 4 – Green Shelter) *$20
- Plumbing: Learn to Fix Your Own Sink, Faucet, & Drain (Shelter 2 – Red Shelter)
- How to Egg Tan a Rabbit Hide (Shelter 3 – Blue Shelter)
- Foraging for Nutrition and Survival (Small Stage)
Workshop 3 (3 – 4:30pm)
- Introduction to Earthen Building with Uncle Mud (Main Stage)
- Hydroponic Growing (Shelter 2 – Red Shelter)
- Homesteading 101 (Shelter 1 – Purple Shelter)
- Fun with Math (Shelter 4 – Green Shelter)*$20
- Permaculture: Saving the World One Backyard at a Time (Shelter 3 – Blue Shelter)
Workshop 4: (6 – 7:30pm)
- Winter Sowing : Veggies, Herbs, and Flowers (Shelter 2 – Red Shelter)
- Stop Treating your Soil Like Dirt (Shelter 1 – Purple Shelter)
- Solar Panel Applications for Home, Farm, or Business (Shelter 3 – Blue Shelter)
- Fire Making (Small Stage)
- Drum Circle 101 (See Map)
- Afro Corn Flour Fermentation for Various Foods (Shelter 5 – Yellow Shelter)
Ongoing tables/demonstrations:
- Hedgehogs 101 (1 – 2:30pm, Shelter 4 – Green Shelter)
- Don’t throw those jeans away and sew a button on it! (10 – 11:30am, Shelter 4 – Green Shelter)
- Handspinning to Weaving: Then and Now
- Knife sharpening station (3:30pm – 6), Next to the Registration/Info Booth)
- How to Raise Backyard Chickens (10 – 11:30am, Shelter 2 -Red Shelter)
- Supporting Native Insects in Your Backyard (10am – 3pm, Vendor Lane)
- Mushroom Identification and Information Booth (6 – 7:30pm, Vendor Lane)
Fun With Fragrances
Kofi Khemet (Blackfacts)
*$20, bring the frangrances home with you!
Most people have no idea how fragrances are used for pleasure, healing and spiritual edification. This workshop seeks to demystifying the most mystique that has left people confused and mystified, when it comes to the fragrances we all know and love and even some which we may not like at all. This will be an introduction to fragrances from around the world, their uses, origins and historical significance using games based on Japanese Incense listening games. At the end of the workshop participants will be able to take some of the items used in the workshop with them to prolong the experience beyond the “classroom.”
Don’t throw those jeans away, and sew a button on it!
The Socially Responsible Sweatshop
The Socially Responsible Sweatshop will show what can be done with jeans after they no longer are worn as pants .Also, come and learn how to sew a button on a garment.
Plumbing: Learn to Fix Your Own Sink, Faucet & Drain
Stephanie Blessing (Red Beet Row)
In this hands-on workshop, we’ll have a few sink models to try your hand at taking apart faucets, drains, and sink pieces so you can see how to replace what and when. Learn to deal with stubborn stuck parts, what tools you need, and what materials to buy. Take plumbing repairs into your own hands!
Winter Sowing – veggies, herbs & flowers
Melissa Celko
Use this inexpensive and low maintenance approach to seed prolongation for vigorous and productive annuals, perennials, herbs and veggies!
Introduction to Earthen Building with Uncle Mud
Uncle Mud
Get Muddy with Uncle Mud. This is a hands-on exploration of how sandy clay and straw have been used for thousands of years to build houses and furniture, furnaces and even pizza ovens. Fun for children of all ages.
Wild Mushroom Identification
Don King (The Mushroom Hunter)
Learn how to find, identify, prepare, and preserve the many different edible wild mushrooms we have here in NE Ohio.
Drum Circle 101
Don Wade Davis
* a camping/folding chair is recommended for this workshop
* a few instruments will be available, but bring your own if you have them!
We are all born with rhythm…our very own heartbeats. We will guide you through the exploration of your own natural rhythm as we create a polyrhythm with the group. This meshing of unique beats requires listening to those around you, and when channeled properly, creates a space for meditation, dance and celebration. You will learn the basics of hand drumming techniques, a few simple drum patterns, and how to weave the patterns into polyrhythms. You will be surprised to learn just how easy it is to play a simple rhythm and quickly become an integral part of a complex polyrhythm which when played for a period of time can literally sooth your soul.
Elijah Willis (Kelly’s Working Well Farm)
Hedgehogs 101: What to do if you find a hedgehog outside or one in need
Amber Ollis (Heavenly Hedgehog Retirement Home)
I have been rescuing hedgehogs for close to ten years and am in the process of making my rescue a 5013C. Heavenly Hedgehog Retirement Home is located in NE, Ohio and takes in several dozen hedgehogs each year. As of 2020, hedgehogs are endangered and more individuals need to be educated on what to do if you find one in the wild. I would like to bring two of my current hedgehogs to educate others (they will be able to touch the hedgehog if they wish, look at quills that have been shed, and tons of books and informational pamphlets)- on how to help preserve this species and help the ones we have here in America. (They are not native to America, so it is almost always a death sentence if they are found outside).
Fun with Math (the world’s oldest game, from Africa)
Kofi Khemet (Blackfacts)
*$20 , you keep the game!
The world’s oldest game comes from Africa. I have been able to document it’s continued popularity in over 100 countries on nearly every continent. There are many versions of this game that have been developed since the days of the Pharoahs of Egypt, some of the oldest players of the game. My brothers and I taught ourselves the game when I was 12, after visiting Uganda, in East Africa. The version we learned is infinitely more complex than the version I’ll be teaching. But, even the simplified version participants will learn is complex enough that computer programmers still use a digital version of the game to calibrate the processing speed of modern computers. Young children who learn this game are among some of the most successful in school and in life. One of the most famous players was Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania. His playing skills drew a lot of attention insuring his father would send him to school. The game has also been used to squelch internecine violence in various parts of Africa, historically.
Making Kombucha
Kelly Clark (Kelly’s Working Well Farm)
Kombucha is a fermented tea that is full antioxidents and probiotics, and has many other health benefits! This workshop will show how to begin the fermenting process. Registered participants will leave with a starter batch. (Seats are limited, come early to register.)
- Each registered participant brings home a quart of kombucha, ready to ferment!
Renee Ruchotzke
Max Adjei
Randy Ruchotzke
How to Raise Backyard Chickens
Frances Penney and Zoe Mistur
We will discuss how to raise chickens in your very own backyard! Mother and daughter, Frances Penney and Zoe Mistur, discuss how to raise chickens from chicks, what to feed your hen(s), possible predators to watch out for, and more. Have questions about raising chickens or just simply want to learn a little more about backyard flocks? Join us!
Foraging for Nutrition and Survival
Tom Lacerda
Join us as we explore edible plants growing in the park and near where you live. Learn and share tips for time and labor saving ways to prepare food. The class will have an eye towards nutrition, avoiding poisonous plants, understanding scientific papers on edible plants, and getting the most calories out of foraging compared to the time put in.
Composting Revolution!
Ben McMillan (Rubber City Reuse)
Glenn Gall and Kelly Clark
Solar Applications for Home, Farm, or Business
Tom Rapini and Valerie Garrett (A’s and O’s Farm)
From lighting a path, to powering your entire house, there are all levels of ways you can bring solar generated electricity into your life. Doing so will not only save you money in the long run, it can provide you with measures of energy independence while also helping the environment and the planet!
This workshop will give you ideas and knowledge that you can take home and apply to energy-demanding tasks around your home or farm. Need to light a shed? Power a remote water pump? Open a door on a hot greenhouse? Automatically turn on a fan to cool the garage? Or how about installing (or having a professional install !) an array large enough to power your entire home, farm or business? All these will be discussed conceptually and practically.
Most importantly, you will have a chance to go hands-on, wiring up solar panels yourself so that you can learn enough electricity fundamentals to possibly tackle a do-it-yourself solar project, or at the least converse intelligently with a solar installer.
Rabbi Lee Moore
Hydroponic Growing
Lyndsey Smith (Smith Urban Farms)
I build hydroponic towers for growing food. I will teach the audience how to build the towers, start seeds in an incubator tray, harvest, and teach them all about the benefits of using hydroponics for growing their food. There are a ton!
Backyard Meat Rabbits
Brittian Bollenbacher
Knife Sharpening Station
Andrew Rome
Bring in your knives, blades, and/or tools, and learn how to sharpen them! There will also be knives available for practice.
Fred Richmond (Mother Father Farms LLC)