2023 Kent Workshops
Event Schedule
10:00 am Registration open
10:30 am – Noon Workshop 1
Noon – 12:30 pm All-Community Circle
12:30 – 2 pm Lunch
2 – 3:30 pm Workshop 2
3:30 – 4 pm Break
4 – 5::30 pm Workshop 3
5:30 – 7 pm Dinner
6:45 pm Closing Circle
7 – 8:30 pm Community Song Circle
8:30 – 10:30 pm Campfire/Music
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Workshop 1 (10:30am – noon):
- Culinary Wildcrafting of Black Walnut (Shelter 2 – Red Shelter)
- Fermenting with honey – 3 ways! (Shelter 3- Blue Shelter)
- Small Scale Beekeeping (Shelter 5 – Yellow Shelter)
- Touch and Consent (Old Jail)
- Getting from A to B with the least impact (Main Stage)
Workshop 2 (2 – 3:30pm):
- (NEO) Earth Restoration Community and Collaborative (Shelter 1 – Purple Shelter)
- Backyard Potions your Plants Will Love (Shelter 2 – Red Shelter)
- Herbal Medicine: Doctrine of signatures! (Shelter 3- Blue Shelter)
- Solar applications for home, farm, and business (Shelter 5 – Yellow Shelter)
- Handmaking Paper from your Junkmail (Old Jail (booth ongoing))
- Fox-Walking (Main Stage)
- Build Something with Uncle Mud (Main Stage)
- Foraging for Nutrition and Survival (Small Stage)
Workshop 3 (4 – 5:30pm):
- Low-Impact Preservation of Food & Herbs (Shelter 1 – Purple Shelter)
- Hand stitching for creation and repair (Shelter 2 – Red Shelter)
- Cultivating Native Forest Medicinals (Shelter 3- Blue Shelter)
- Moving Heavy Things (Shelter 4 – Green Shelter)
- Survival in the 21st century (Shelter 5 – Yellow Shelter))
- Fire making (Main Stage)
- Wild Mushroom Identification (Small Stage)
Ongoing tables/demonstrations:
- Portage parks
- Intro to Citizen Science
- Education Program Coordinator
- Humanuer
- Seeing the world around us: the joy of tracking, trailing, and mapping
- Kent Free Library: Seed Library info table
Backyard Potions your Plants Will Love
Jim Matalik and Melissa Celko, Fennel and Frog
With just a few simple recipes and a little effort you can create beautiful rich soil, healthy pest resistant plants and high yields – inexpensively.
Survival in the 21st Century
Kofi Khemet (Blackfacts.org)
Kent Free Library: Seed Library Info Table
For 8 years, the Kent Free Library has offered a successful Seed Library, distributing over 1,500 seed packets to gardeners and replenishing the collection with donations. Through the Seed Library, The Kent Free Library hopes to encourage the tradition of seed saving, nurture locally-adapted plant varieties, and foster a community culture of sharing. Meet the Seed Library coordinator and experienced gardener, Kristen Pool, ask questions about seed saving, pick up donation forms, and see examples of how to save different types of seeds.
Build Something with Uncle Mud
Hey Kids of All Ages: Your body is Nature’s very own 3D printer. No need to buy expensive equipment. The materials are also completely
recyclable, cheap and easy to get. You might say they are directly under foot. Join Uncle Mud for a small group session where you will learn and practice all the steps required to go
home and build something fun for yourself out of sandy clay and straw.
Humanure
Julia Fouty
Continuous composting of human manure on a small scale.
Small-Scale Beekeeping
Jen Hillman
Fox-Walking
Gavriel (Gabe) Goldman
Moving Heavy Things
Pete Betchik
Tom Lacerda
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.
Frederic Vigne, Vigne Leather Studio
Touch and Consent (adults only)
Handmade Paper from Junk Mail
Gaille Ruhl
Kindergarteners through adults can learn to turn junk mail into handmade paper. Make a piece of paper to take home with you!
Cultivating Native Forest Medicinals
Brenna Dobos
This class will focus on plant history and cultivation information of a few very important native medicinal herbs in our region. If you have a shaded yard or own woodlands, this class will give you the tools to start forest farming or gardening these special plants contributing to their conservation. Plants we will talk about: American Ginseng, Goldenseal, Ramps, and more.
Fermenting with Honey – 3 Ways!
Kelly Clark (Kelly’s Working Well Farm)
Low-Impact Preservation of Food & Herbs
Leah Wolfe (Trillium Center)
Austin Cannon
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.
American Solar Energy Society
Ohio “ Wish You Were Here TOUR ”
October 6th, 7th, and 8th www.nationalsolartour.org
SOLAR, WIND, Electric Cars
Learn how your neighbors find energy independence and lower their fuel bills by harnessing solar, wind, and geothermal energy to power their homes and cars !!
Electric Vehicle Rally, Guided Bus Tours, Open Houses
Culinary Wildcrafting of Black Walnut
Carla and Chris Kirtley
Tim Herda
Erin Adams
Learn to read the language of the medicinal plants. All plants have qualities that match what they are able to do in the body. Some plants are cooling, moistening, or activating. We can learn a lot about the healing properties of a plant just by looking, tasting, touching and paying attention to how it grows. In this class, we will learn about several medicinal plants and the ways the plant is communicating its healing properties through its unique qualities and ways of growing.
The mission of the Northeast Ohio Earth Restoration Community is to strengthen and widen participation in regional networks of folks engaged in regenerative projects/initiatives/education/skillbuilding, to support the growth of communities of practice, and to catalyze the emergence of new modes of being in right relationship with each other, our non-human relations and the world around us. The (NEO)ER Collaborative is a group of permaculture practitioners combining efforts to educate/design and implement regenerative projects while developing a model for right livelihood for its members. Come to this session to learn more about these initiatives and how you can get involved.
Rytz Bowman
Portage Park District
The mission of Portage Park District is to conserve the natural heritage of Portage County and provide opportunities for its appreciation and enjoyment. Formed in 1991, we offer 6 parks and 3 multi-purpose trails, educational programming, and recreational opportunities. We have conserved over 2,700 acres of land, which protects habitats and watersheds throughout the county. Stop by our table to learn more about all the ways you can enjoy Your Portage Parks.