2018 Workshops

Workshops listed below with limited room for people will have sign-up sheets at our Information Booth posted at 8am of the morning they are scheduled.

Acorn processing for food and medicine

We will discuss safe and productive harvest, and get hands on with all stages of processing and transformation from raw form to tasty food and powerful medicine. We’ll cover multiple techniques, and sample a few favorite acorn based recipes.
Child friendly
Instructor: Ian Hamilton

Natural Cottage Build out

In this cottage build out you will be able to learn the fundamentals of building your own cottage. We will be working through three steps throughout the weekend. First, framing with natural and post industrial waste wood. The next one will be insulating with straw and clay and waste products. The final one will be natural paints and plasters.
Child Friendly
Instructor: Chris McClellen (Uncle Mud)

Zero Waste 101

Zero Waste is a set of practices aimed at avoiding as much waste as possible. We can change our practices to buy less, create less waste, & leave less of an impact on our earth.
Please view my zero waste book for an outline of the workshop. (http://emily-poor.squarespace.com/zero-waste/). I bring physical examples from each category for the workshop (single-use plastics, reusable containers, common recyclable items, compost materials). Participants can ask questions, contribute ideas, and help sort materials into each category.
Workshop is flexible depending on the skill level of our group, and what information they’re interested in talking about 🙂
Child Friendly
Instructor: Emily Poor

DIY Herbal Oils : Make Your Own Salve & Botanical Scrub

Come learn about herbal-infused oils — how to make them, why they are different from essential oils, and ways that they are used. You will learn the basics of how to make your own herbal oils at home and then use pre-prepared herbal oils to make a soothing herbal salve and botanical salt scrub to take home.
Materials Fee: $8
Child friendly
Instructor: Christine Cassella

Natural Husbandry of The Dairy Herd – Caprines Well-Kept

Considerations and protocols for on-pharmaceutical dairy goat management.
Instructor: Sandra Hess

Gifts from the Hive: Honey as Medicine

I would share my experiences about the many amazing gifts from the Honeybees. I would spend time talking about historical uses of Honey, Propolis, Wax, Pollen as medicine and how in my herbal practice I currently use those gifts. I’d give examples of uses and would like to have a hands on experience for folks to make a simple honey /herb infusion, a honey scrub (and possible a throat spray).
Child Friendly
Instructor: Jo Feterle

Wild Mushroom Identification

Join wild food enthusiast Don King on a hike to find and identify some of the many wild mushrooms that are native to Ohio.
Child Friendly
Instructor: Don King

Friction Fire 101

Learn to make fire by rubbing sticks together.
Child friendly
Limit: 10 people
Instructor: Jacob Norton

Democratic schools as a model of social permaculture

After a brief description of the democratic school model and the basics of permaculture design and relevant concepts, I will give a presentation of Chagrin Valley School at Kelly’s Working Well Farm as an example of social permaculture. I will then facilitate a discussion of questions raised by the presentation. I expect to have a couple of students and perhaps a parent or two present to contribute their perspectives as well.
Child friendly
Instructor: Kelly Clark

Building Your Own Herbal Apothecary

Making your own herbal preparations is easy and empowering. You will save money, know exactly what they contain, where they came from, and how fresh they are. There will be demonstrations so you leave confident in knowing what to make and how. We will cover the use of fresh and dried herbs in teas, infusions, decoctions, syrups, tinctures, elixirs, and vinegars. You will also learn how to identify common local plants and how to sustainably harvest them. We will also cover some history, uses and medicine making techniques for each plant we discuss.
Instructor: Lynn Abbey Zukowski

Compost! Love in Action

Join us for a lively and meandering discussion and demonstration of composting, the soil food web, and the interconnected systems of life that humans can partner with to regenerate our soils, selves, and communities.
Child friendly
Instructor: Nathan Rutz

Cooking with Wild Mushroom

Wild food enthusiast Don King will demonstrate how to cook and preserve seasonal wild mushrooms that are native to Ohio.
Limit: 15 people
Child Friendly
Instructor: Don King

Biohacks for Vibrant Health

Biohacking is strange sounding name and a new trend for something that is common in all of us – seeking to be the absolute best version of ourselves. This presentation will cover an introduction to biohacking, including simple and practical natural health tips to improve the way you look and feel for optimal energy & wellness. Topics to be discussed will include air, light, water, magnetism, self-massage, movement, diet and more. 
Child Friendly
Instructor: Ian Mungall

Direct action 101

Learn how direct action has shaped the world we live in and how you can learn to use direct action to fight for the earth. If we don’t stop the destruction now, there will be no later for us.
Child Friendly
Instructors: Cusi Ballew and Madeline Fitch

Introduction to Foot Reflexology

Learn the major points of foot reflexology and basic practical applications for common ailments. Hands-on!
Child friendly
Instructor: Brandon Drabek

Introduction to Nonviolent Communication

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a tool for communicating that helps bring us closer together with other people so that we can have a better chance of having our needs met. NVC is a mode of communicating and a philosophy about how to communicate effectively. It emphasizes compassion and recognizes our mutual desire to give our gifts to one another from our hearts. NVC aims to help us connect with the part of our humanity that wants to work with others to build up mutually nourishing communities, and for this reason it can be very powerful for us as we work to develop social structures that move away from dominant narratives of competition and isolation. In this workshop we will explore the basic components of NVC, then we will brainstorm around real examples that can help us to develop our skills surrounding communication and empathy.
Child friendly
Instructor: John L. Clark

Sustainability is Illegal – Building the Community Rights Movement to Legalize Sustainability

We’ll show what’s happening in two Ohio communities (Ashtabula and Portage) and then answer the question, “Who gets to decide what happens in the communities where we live?”   We’ll describe why we, the people, can’t choose sustainability—introducing the idea that to build sustainable communities, we need to secure our rights and the rights of nature.  We’ll finish by describing the Community Rights Movement, which is working from the grass roots, pushing changes up into our structure of law and governing system.
Instructors: Mardy Townsend, Gwen Fischer and Tish O’Dell

Children’s Junk Parade (Parts 1 & 2)

Children’s “Junk” Parade: Part 1 – planning & building
We will use loose parts and junk materials to build costumes, instruments, and whatever else our imaginations lead us to creating. This first workshop will consist of discussion, planning and beginning to bring our ideas to life.

Children’s “Junk” Parade: Part 2 – finishing touches & parade!
In our second workshop we will put final touches on our costumes, instruments and performance plan. The parade will start directly after our workshop Sunday night around the closing ceremony.
Geared for Children
Materials Fee: $3-5 donation would be appreciated
Instructor: Che Leetch

Interpretive Hike of the Phelps Creek Gorge

This hike will wind from high, shady hemlock bluffs down into the bottomlands along Phelps Creek. We’ll see different forest types, wetlands, awesome sandstone and shale outcrops, and splash through the cool water habitat of Phelps Creek. Interesting plants, fungi, and wildlife will be discussed along the way.
Instructor: Sarah Brower

Basics of Edible Garden Designing

Want to grow your own? Not sure where to start? Come begin your design today!
Instructor: Melissa Shuck

Dinosaur egg making

Using some basic household ingredients, kids can imbed small plastic toys in a muddy mixture and dry it ‘rockhard’ . Make great gifts or a fun (and stress relieving) to smash them open to find out what is inside.
Geared for Children
Materials Fee: $2
Instructor: Greg Boulos & Evelyn

Pastured pigs as farm workers

Learn about using pigs to clear land and prepare for permaculture installs such as swales, edge clearing and other functions! And at the end of the job… Fabulous bacon. Child friendly
Instructor: Greg Boulos & Evelyn

Beginning Blacksmithing

Join me to learn about setting up a small forge, sourcing raw materials, sourcing and using tools, basic techniques. Learn about forging a useful object like a hook or a corkscrew.
Dangerous for small kids
Materials fee: $10
Limit: 10 people
Instructor: Pete Betchik

Random Weave Basket

We will be reusing up cycled agricultural drip tape to weave a 5″x6″ basket, using  a plating, weaving technique. 
Materials fee: $5
Child friendly
Limit: 15 people
Instructor: Isaac Coblentz

Bug Foray

We will walk into the woods and identify native and non native species of insects. We will identify the plants they use, and we will learn what impacts they have.
Child friendly
Instructor: Rachael Toth

Water Management and Building an A-frame level

In this course you will learn about water management techniques using slope, contour and swales. Solutions will be discussed for a variety of site types – flat, sloped, boggy and dry. Each person will construct an A-frame level and practice marking contours.
Materials fee: $3 
Instructor: Jessie Jones

Introduction to Natural Poultry Keeping

Are you interested in starting your own home flock? Looking for natural ways to support your birds? New to poultry keeping and seeking advice? In this class you’ll learn about breed selection, housing, safety, healthcare, diet, social concerns, anatomy, reproduction and egg handling. We keep a small flock of 12-20 standard and bantam chickens and ducks for egg production and land services, not meat. Possibly to include animal exhibit(s).
Child friendly
Instructor: Jessie Jones

Hand-bound Nature Journal

In this workshop you will bind your own small leather journal. You will learn about different kinds of leather and paper, how to properly cut, fold, and sew your pages, and the tools needed.
Children should be supervised and sharp tools will be used.
Materials fee: $15
Limit: 10 people
Instructor: Layli Lukeman

Intro. to Wild Carrot Family Plants

The carrot family of plants (also known as Apiaceae) is one of the most edible plant families in our region. Unfortunately, it can also be one of the deadliest. Not because carrots, parsley, fennel, and others are dangerous, but rather because the toxic lookalikes to these plants are also abundant and often grow right next to their edible counterparts. On the flip side of things, it can also be quite simple to identify these plants in the wild with a handful of clues about which is which.  Join me for a wild carrot family introduction, where I will discuss some key identification points for these plants! I’ll discuss the area’s most common carrot family plants, their lookalikes, and how to tell them apart.
Instructor: Jen

Essential Oils, Safety, and Sustainability Issues

There is a lot of hype on the internet and from sales reps about essential oils being “good for everything” and “natural, so they cannot hurt you”. They also claim you can drink or cook with the oils, apply them undiluted, and such. In this workshop, Lily teaches the science behind aromatherapy to debunk some of the unsafe and practices touted on the internet. Especially helpful for families or families-to-be. Bring your own glass jar to take some home. 
Child Friendly
Materials fee: $3-5
Instructor: Lily Kunning

Plant and Mushroom Walk

As a group we’ll explore the fields and forests to become familiar with the plants and fungi and learn how using them can improve your health and the health of the forest: including food, medicine, fuel, fiber. I will emphasize learning the patterns of plant families to help further your own education beyond our walk. This course is for participants of all skill levels, please bring water.
Child Friendly
Instructor: Ben Shapiro

The Way of the Caretaker: permaculture and beyond

Care-taking of the land using permaculture, wilderness survival skills and more will be discussed as well as techniques for observing and reading your land. Exercises in observation will be performed by all. Children must be of at least 12 years old and/or able to walk into nature and be alone quietly for at least 15 minutes at a time. Besides a folding chair please bring a small sitting pad (ie. garden kneeling pad) that will be used for the observation exercises. This four hour session will be broken into two parts which will flow together for an amazing experience but can be done separately in case of time restraints, but all participants must be there at the beginning of either session. The first session will concentrate on permaculture and how it relates to land care. The second session will have more practical skills in reading the land as well as other strategies. Both sessions will have observation exercises which build on each other and will not be a repeat experience for those staying the whole four hours.
Instructor: John Stupica

Intro to home-fermented foods

We’ll make sauerkraut/kimchi together and learn about fermentation best practices, philosophy, safety issues, and how to use the techniques we learn as the basis of a fermented lifestyle. I’ll also introduce and give you all the tools for kombucha, kefir, sourdough, and rennet-free cheesemaking (among others) so that you’ll leave ready to take on a new fermentation project of your own.
Child Friendly
Instructor: Josh Handley

The Incredible, Optimal Chicken — Back to the Jungle

Optimal meat and/or layer production, while diversifying and improving your landscape. Chicken evolved in the jungle, but you couldn’t tell by the way they are raised. Now we have fine tuned control of all aspects of production and marketing, but breeding and efficiency are denying us important benefits. The pastured chicken is touted as the way to go, but is it? You may want to ditch the chicken tractor by the end of this workshop.
Instructor: Glenn Gall

Upcycled Jewelry: Paper Beads 101

Paper bead jewelry making
Materials fee: $5
Instructor: Alysin Montgomery

Intro to Solar Electricity

We will cover the basics of using solar panels to create electricity off the grid. Learn the basic system types, the names of the components, and what those things do. Learn how much energy your stuff uses as well as how big of a system you need to power your electrical needs with the sun.
Instructor: Matt Ellison

Cuddle Party and Consent Workshop

Cuddle party is a social workshop for creating a safe space for non-sexual touch and building better boundary and communication skills. Practice saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ with clarity and kindness as we learn and play in an atmosphere of respect. Wear comfy clothes and consider bringing a pillow or blanket!
Ages 18+ only
Instructor: Cecilia Li

Soil Alchemy: How & Why to make Terra Preta

Terra Preta is an ancient and unsurpassed method of soil building, used for thousands of years in the Amazon to convert the least fertile soils on earth into black “supersoils” that remain fertile for millenia. The knowledge of this method was lost after 1492, but has very recently been reconstructed through an interdisciplinary research effort involving hundreds of scientists. We will discuss the history, significance, and properties of Terra Preta, as well as how we can use this system to create the ultimate soil while safely processing food waste and humanure.
Instructor: Lee Golos

Primordial Movement

This class incorporates somatic awareness, breathwork, meditation, and movement practices from the tradition of T’ai Chi Chuan to guide participants to rediscover a youthful, natural, effortless style of movement.
Child friendly
Instructor: Lee Golos

Historic masonry made simple

Repairing historic masonry structures.
Limit: 10 people
Instructor: Joseph Butterbaugh

Celestial Navigation: Using the Sky as Your Guide

Participants will learn the basics of how to navigate the old-fashioned way–without GPS or cell phones. We will make our own emergency navigation kit, including DIY sextant and compass.
Child friendly
Materials Fee: $5
Instructor: Lauren Schricker

Talking Trees

This session will be an introduction to trees, covering their benefits, basic anatomy and physiology, proper planting and pruning, and the care they need to grow and thrive.
Child Friendly
Limit: 15 people
Instructor: Diana Sette

Seed Stewardship and Plant Breeding

This workshop will touch on the basics of seed saving and plant breeding, as well as the ethics/emotions/cultural connections between humans and our plant and seed relatives. Hoping to foster an open discussion about the importance of right relationship with seeds and how seed saving is an important way to reconnect with the natural world as well as prepare ourselves and our decedents for a changing environment. Also looking to connect those who may already be stewarding seeds, or those who would like to, to instigate new regional efforts at breeding and sharing regionally adapted varieties.
Child friendly
Feel free to bring seeds to exchange!
Instructor: Jessica Burns

Herbs for Digestive Health

Cultures around the world have used herbs to aid digestion for generations. This is why meat is often paired with rosemary, fennel is eaten after meals in India, and jasmine mint tea is served after a heavy Moroccan tajine. In this class we will discuss and sample herbs that can be appropriate to ease indigestion, gas, constipation, diarrhea, and queasiness. We will also discuss the role that bitters can play in healthy digestion. At the end of the workshop anyone who is interested can make a digestion-supporting vinegar for $8, while supplies last. This portion of the workshop will include an overview of tincture making.
Child friendly
Instructor: Aniko Zala

Mushroom Walk

Walk in the woods at a mushrooms pace to notice our mycological allies. Who knows what will be found? It may include edibles, poisonous types, and medicines. We will discuss the lifecycle and identification markers of the mushrooms we come across, sustainable harvesting practices, and general tips for seeing mushrooms while out in the world. As always, there is a chance we won’t find any mushrooms at all, but we can still have a wonderful slow walk in the forest, commune with the underground mycelium and talk about these wonderful distant cousins. (Bring your ID Book and walking stick if you have one.)
Child friendly
Instructor: Brad Williams