A Walk in the Woods
Carol Judy
We will walk through the woods, discussing our relationships with plant and animal communities and seeking ways to build our own communities of place that hold all forms of life in highest regard. We will pay special attention to non-timber forest products and medicinal plants.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Air Layering: A Way to Clone Fruit Trees
Robbie Guggenheim
Learn hands-on about air layering fruit trees from branches, to make clones of the mother plant. This is a way to produce fruit-bearing trees the next year! We will use simple steps that everyone can use, remember, and teach to their neighbors and friends.
Appalachian Paranormal Traditions
Diane Satterfield
A facilitated story-sharing and group discussion of paranormal experiences, both first and second-hand, using traditional Appalachian storytelling styles. Diane will initiate the workshop with a story of her own and allow the discussion to evolve organically as people share their own stories and experiences.
Appalachian Storytelling
Hannah Sue Cooper
Come hear old-time stories and find out why they were told. Keep our oral history alive with mountain folk tales.
Astronomy 101
Lacy and Brenda Thomas
We will prepare you for night time observing, helping you to learn the sky with an unaided eye. We will cover what you can and can't see with your naked eye, how to choose your first telescope, and more.
Backwoods Herbalism Part 1: Growing, Harvesting, & Processing
Michelle and Lotus Blair
In this first of a two-part workshop, we will cover all the basics from planning and caring for your herb garden to foraging and processing your bounty. We will also discuss drying, storing, syrups, and candies.
Class limit: 10 people
Backwoods Herbalism Part 2: Making the Remedies
Michelle and Lotus Blair
In this second of a two-part workshop, we will focus on traditional preparations and when and how to use them. We will cover a variety of different preparations including infusions, dried verses wilting, tinctures, teas, and salves.
Class limit: 10 people
Materials fee: $10
Ballads and Songs of Appalachia
Saro Lynch-Thomason
Saro will share and lead songs from over 200 years of social and environmental movements in Appalachia. We'll learn ballads, hymns, and folks songs that paint a picture of the Mountain South’s experiences of slavery, miner’s revolts, mountaintop removal, black lung, outmigration, the Civil Rights movement, and more. Share your own movement songs!
Bark Basket Making
Jeff Gottlieb
We will peel a fresh poplar log and make beautiful, useful, traditional baskets. Learn bark peeling and handling techniques and take home a keepsake.
Materials fee: $5
Class limit: 10 people
Required equipment: Small, sharp, non-serrated knife
Basic Bookbinding
Tasha Carina
We will make leather-covered journals using the five-hole pamphlet stitch. All tools will be provided.
Materials fee: $5
Basic Canoeing
Bill Gordon
A canoe is an awesome way to explore a lake or river. Paddling is quiet, graceful, non-polluting, and good exercise. Learn the basics: launching, landing, safety, canoe handling, and basic strokes. Proper technique is an art and beautiful to see. We will practice on land and in the water, then take a leisurely paddle around the lake observing wildlife and enjoying the moment. Swimming ability is necessary.
Materials fee: $5 per person
Class limit: 10
Basic Survival Skills: Firebuilding
Bill Gordon
Making fire is one of the essential skills everyone should know as part of your life-skills toolbox. Learn ten ways to get a fire going wherever and whenever you need it, from materials that will surprise you. This is a highly engaging and informative workshop: you'll be practicing as well as observing. Suitable for all ages.
Basics of Everyday Fermentation
John Capps
We will discuss the health benefits of consuming fermented foods, preparation and ingredient/equipment selection, different types and methods of fermentation (i.e., vinegar pickles vs. fermented pickles), and what can go wrong and what to look out for. There will also be a hands-on demonstration of preparing vegetables and herbs for fermentation. All materials will be provided
Basics of Wilderness First Aid (handout)
Chris Smith
Learn to identify and treat life and limb threatening emergencies that may occur in remote settings with a lightweight, inexpensive first-aid kit. Special emphasis will be placed on rescuer safety and improvising and re-purposing outdoor equipment for first-aid uses.
Bluebirds
Bill Gordon
Bluebirds are beautiful, voracious insect-eaters, people-friendly, wonderful singers, and in dire need of our help. Learn about their history, how to attract them to your homestead, and participate in a worthwhile conservation project. Participants will make a bluebird nesting box to put up in your yard. All proceeds support wildlife habitat restoration programs at the Highlands nature preserve. Suitable for all ages.
Materials fee: $10 (per box; make an extra as a gift!)
Required equipment: Cordless drill (if you can bring one to the festival; not mandatory for participation)
Build Your Own Zen Camp Stove
John Phillips
Zen stoves are highly efficient, lightweight, alcohol-burning camp stoves. Using a recycled aluminum can and a hand tool, you will learn how to build your own camp stove that can boil water in under 5 minutes! All materials will be provided.
Cloth Diapering 101
Tatum Green
The modern cloth diaper world can be overwhelming to navigate; however, choosing cloth is a wonderful way to reduce your carbon footprint and is a chemical-free option for your little one. Learn about various types of cloth diapers, how to use them, and wash routines. Plus we'll debunk cloth myths!
Developing a Community Care Network
Elias Attea
Our physical, mental, and emotional health can relate not only to our interactive environment, but also the strength of our social circles. Get inspired or explore the possibilities of creating a network dedicated to mental health-based community care.
Drop Spindle Spinning
Miranda Coonrod
We will learn how to use a simple hand drop spindle to put twist into fibers to make yarn. Drop spindles have been used by cultures all over the world to turn raw material into something useable. No prior fiber experience necessary. All materials will be provided.
Egyptian Bowdrill & Tinderless Fire Starting
Tod Kershaw
We will explore the Egyptian bowdrill method including how to make one and what materials to use. Embers will be transferred to charcoal for fire starting instead of using tinder bundles. All materials will be provided.
Field Trip to the Highlands
Bill Gordon
The Highlands is a 500-acre nature preserve back in the deep hollers near Red River Gorge (30 minutes from the festival). For twenty years we have been working to restore the land to its former pristine condition, hand-building a totally off-grid home from repurposed materials, establishing organic gardens and orchards, encouraging and protecting wildlife, and living lightly on the land. The land is a certified stewardship forest, carbon offset property, and registered wildlife sanctuary. The ridges and valleys contain a rich and diverse community of plants and animals, accommodate my homestead cottage, and serve as the base for High Adventure Wilderness School. This field trip will include a one-mile walk to observe a few ponds, bottomland woodlands, stream restoration work, watershed restoration work, and a glimpse at the off-grid lifestyle. You will see examples of historical and present-day environmental problems, various corrective measures, and examples of habitat restoration. Carpooling is advised.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Flintknapping
Johnny Faulkner
Johnny will demonstrate the manufacture of chipped stone tools, including spear points and arrowheads.
Foragin 'Round
Mat Hansen
Let's wander around and identify and interpret the land as it relates to meeting our needs for health, warmth, and community. We'll learn some uses for local plants, trees, mushrooms, critter parts, etc. and how to ethically harvest and tend a forest ecology.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Foraging and Gathering
Andrew Bentley
We will learn how to sustainably and safely harvest plants from the wild.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Forest Alchemy: Form, Function, and Transformation in the Forest Ecosystem
Jim Scheff
Learn how the form and function of organisms in the forest community reflects the ways by which nature harnesses energy in opposition to entropy. We'll look at mushrooms, bugs, squirrels, trees, and whatever else we find and discuss how those organisms fit into the cascading web of energy, from sun to soil. We will use our observations to come up with hypotheses about how evolution and natural selection shaped the things we see.
Class limit: 15 people
Forest Watch 101: How to Monitor and Protect your National Forest
Jim Scheff
Learn how to monitor and challenge problematic management activities including logging and oil and gas development on our national forest lands. We will discuss public participation, legal frameworks, tools to use in mapping and field surveys, ecological considerations, and a variety of strategies and tactics used to defend our public lands.
Fracking and Pipelines in Kentucky: New Threats to the Commonwealth
Katie Gardner & Xyara Asplen
As King Coal is dying (though not quickly enough), the push towards further extreme extraction continues. This puts Kentucky and Appalachia under new and different threats, including fracking and the infrastructure that accompanies it. We will discuss these technologies and the risks associated with them as well as strategies of resistance and community education.
Friction Fire Free for All
Jason Drevenak
An introduction to bow and hand drill fires. We will focus on the wood and plants that are best for fire boards and spindles, different techniques and body mechanics, the socket and notch relationship, natural tinders, and how to put all this together to produce a coal and fire. Stay for the whole class or stop by and work on something specific.
From Fatigued to Fantastic: Balancing Stress with Herbs
Karena Harmon
Do you feel tired all the time? Do you find yourself drinking more and more coffee just to get through the day? Having constant stressors - like work, school, unhealthy relationships, city noise, the condition of the planet, and more - wear your adrenal system down and deplete your energy. Learn how you can incorporate herbs into your daily routine that directly combat these effects by nourishing and strengthening your nervous system.
Garden Tools: Proper Use, Selection & Maintenance
Joel Dufour
Learn proper uses and applications of various garden tools, how to tell good tools from substandard ones, and how to care for and maintain tools to maximize your investment. Gardening should be fun, and good tools go a long way toward making that a reality!
Gardening for Your Heathcare
Deanna Riggan
We will discuss the vision of gardening for your healthcare including the healing properties of simple plants you can grow at home as well as the edible/medicinal weeds that also reside there. We will explore how the act of growing your own food and herbs as medicine can help to create a mentally healthy environment at your home.
Ginger Bug & Other Ferments
Colleen Casey
Learn how to make and use a ginger bug to create a starter for making fermented beverages, gluten-free sourdough, and other tasty ferments.
Ginseng Planting & Native Medicinal Plant Walk
Terry Black
Learn about ginseng: how to plant, care for, and harvest this powerful plant. We will take an herb walk to see the habitat of ginseng and other native medicinal plants.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Green Woodworking
Paul Borntraeger
An introduction to natural wood use and traditional tools, including the development and use of broad axes, draw knifes, froes, and other traditional tools.
History of Hemp in KY
KY Hempsters
Hemp was Kentucky's primary cash crop until the early 1900's. The industry led to the success of many early Kentucky pioneers and became a driving economic force for the state. Learn about the industry's evolution along with the current status of industrial hemp in Kentucky. Industrial hemp can be grown for seed, fiber, or flower. These end uses require different cultivation methods, varieties, and processing. Learn about each component of the hemp plant and how to grow for a specific end product as well as its economic, environmental, agricultural, and nutritional benefits.
How to Make a Basic Salve
Courtney Shaw
Learn how to make an herbal infused oil and turn it into a salve using simple ingredients.
Human Scale Farming
Daniel Aisenbrey
We will discuss farming and market gardening tools and methods that can make you more productive, efficient, and sustainable; from walking tractors to broadforks to stale seed-bedding. Bring your wisdom and questions to share with the group.
Hummingbirds
Bill Gordon
Every homestead, urban or rural, needs a direct connection with nature. Birds are one of the best ways to make that connection, and hummingbirds are easy to observe and one of our most fascinating local bird species. See the world through the eyes of this incredible bird, learn about their habits, habitat needs, nesting, and how to feed them. New research is revealing awesome insights about hummers: you'll be amazed, thrilled, and eager to attract them to your yard after this workshop. Suitable for all ages.
Insects in Kentucky
Blake Newton
We will study live insects and spiders from Kentucky and beyond, plus have questions and answers. Suitable for all ages.
Intersectionality and How to Be an Ally (handout)
Rae Jones, Tracey Gilbert, and Thomas Coward
We will dig deeply into the concept of Intersectionality - the idea that one person's oppression is linked to our own, regardless of our identities. We will move beyond identity politics and explore these connections using hands-on activities, individual reflection, and group discussion. You will leave with new tools to truly ally with intersectional movements such as Black Lives Matter, immigrant rights, and queer liberation. Everyone is welcome to attend!
Introduction to Herbalism
Liane Ventura
This will be a conversation to explore the big questions of herbalism. We will discuss where we find support when we’re sick and what we consider medicine. We will also discuss how to begin incorporating plant remedies into our daily lives: where to find good quality herbs, how to prepare infusions, and how to identify companions for our individual conditions. Suitable for people interested in beginning the journey with plant medicine or for those already on the path who want to learn more.
Introduction to Pasture-Raised Pigs
Sarah Longstreth
Looking to raise a few pigs for home production, or a couple dozen for market sales? Learn about acquiring, raising, assessing, and marketing pigs. We'll delve into pasture assessment and the equipment needed for getting started with rotational management.
Join the Circus (for Adults)
Jake Weinstein & Lissa McLeod
Turn off the TV. Create a culture of independent and mutual entertainment. Come learn aerial circus skills, stilt walking, and juggling.
Knot: A Class
Eric Blevins
Learn several knots, hitches, and bends useful for camping, climbing, tying things down to vehicles, and many other applications.
Lacing Buckskin Bags
Jason Drevenak
Learn to design, lay out, cut, and lace your own small buckskin bag. Choose from a small possibles bag, medicine bag, or tobacco pouch. Modern and primitive tools will be available to try out. Everyone will take home a finished bag.
Materials fee: $8
Class limit: 8 people
Let's Build a Worm Bin: The Importance of Vermiculture
Roots of Progress
We will demonstrate how to make and take care of a Red Tiger Worm bin and how to get the most out of the organic soil fertilizer that they produce. Also, learn about the science behind the worms and worm castings as an organic soil amendment.
Lichen Biomonitoring for Air Quality
Roberta Burnes & Susan Brown
Did you know that lichens can give you clues about how clean the air is? Learn how to identify the common types of lichen and practice collecting data on lichen living on trees. Find out which lichens are sensitive to air pollution, and how their presence or absence can help us understand the importance of clean air to forest communities.
Make Your Own Field Guide
Roberta Burnes
Field guides help us bring order to our world. Discover your own patterns in nature found on a gentle walk in the woods, and then illustrate your own mini field guide that reveals your unique perspective. Absolutely no art skills are required – just a willingness to explore new ways of seeing the natural world. All materials will be provided.
Make Your Own Hot Sauce
Tim Green
Learn how to make homemade hot sauce from seed to sauce! We will explain the ins and outs of growing peppers, the fermentation sauce process, and various ingredients that can be used for creative flavors and varying heat levels.
Making Drawing Charcoal
Colleen Casey
Learn how to find a stick, pick it up, and make charcoal for your next drawing project!
Making Grain Leather
Tod Kershaw
Come learn how to use tree bark to make grain leather for shoes and boots. All materials will be provided.
Making Park Benches from Wooden Shipping Pallets
Dave Cooper
We will convert discarded wooden shipping pallets into simple park benches using hand tools. After painting them in festive colors, the benches will be donated to Lago Linda Hideaways or the local community following the festival. For more information, see https://www.facebook.com/KYPalletArtist/?fref=ts.
Medicinal Lichens
Andrew Bentley
Native lichens are amazing medicines. We will learn how to identify native species and how to use their unique, immune-boosting, and often antimicrobial properties in medicine making.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Movement & Meditation: An Exercise in Self-Care While Saving the World
Cheng Liu
We will learn self-care: stretching the body, breathwork, guided meditation, and self-compassion exercises. Come to re-ground, stay centered, and leave with relaxation tools for the festival environment or everyday life.
Naalbinden
Miranda Coonrod
Naalbinden is a Scandinavian word meaning needle-binding and refers to a looping technique that dates back to the 4th century BCE which has been found at archaeological sites all over the world. This method can be used to make hats, socks, mittens, bags, or anything you can imagine!
Natural Cordage
Austin Hollis
Using natural materials, we will learn the invaluable traditional skill of creating cordage by hand, using the reverse-ply twining method. Participants will first practice with raffia palm fibers to learn the basic technique, before learning how to process and use fibers such as nettle, milkweed, yucca, and sinew.
Organic Beekeeping
Kellie and Aarron Burns
We will discuss our organic approach to modern beekeeping. We'll share our experiences, tips, suggestions, and management methods that have worked for us and our bees. Bring your ideas and questions and be ready to browse equipment, photos, books, and educational materials. We'll also have a small table-top hive available for observations. We will also display children's books, bee anatomy coloring sheets, and other educational materials for the younger ones.
Race and Privilege 101 (handout)
Rae Jones, Tracey Gilbert, and Thomas Coward
Deepen your understanding of the intricate systems of race and privilege in the US by working through definitions, exploring how our identities are intertwined, and participating in hands-on activities to better understand how race and privilege work in our society, both individually and as a part of a greater system. You will leave with tools to confront individual racisms, to begin conversations about race in your community, and to further explore these topics.
Raising Backyard Chickens & Ducks
Amanda Bourassa
From picking the right food to what to do with all the eggs! Receive answers to your toughest chicken/duck questions.
RELAZENSHIPS Yogic Communication: Sustainable Yoga On & Off the Mat
Kim Lauch
Learn to speak a virtues-based language in order to cultivate yogic virtues in yourself and others. Clear the chakras with a radiant Kundalini and Vinyasa based asana and pranayama in order to prepare the body for the virtues-based communication exercise. Class will close with meditation and reflection in order to sustain yogic communication on and off the mat.
Required equipment: Yoga mat, towel, or blanket
Simple Rocket Stoves
Joan Candolino
Learn the basics of rocket stoves while constructing several different types. Then, we'll have a boiling water competition: may the best rocket, gassifier, or sawdust stove win! All materials will be provided.
Skills for Earth Friendly Dying
Katie Gardner
We will discuss the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of caring for terminally ill loved ones, managing grief through all its stages, and the legalities and logistics of green burials.
Solar Cookers 101: What Are They, and Can One Work for You?
Joel Dufour
Learn what a solar cooker is, how they work, and basics on how to build your own if desired. If it's sunny, we'll cook something on site!
Solar Electricity 101 (handout)
Matt Ellison
An introduction to using solar panels. We will discuss applications for solar electricity, different system types, off-grid system design, necessary components, and off-grid electrical load analysis.
Songwriting for Social Causes
Nicholas Penn
We'll discuss a basic approach to songwriting for any instrument, including process, imaginative practices, and song structure. We will structure our conversation in the context of music for social causes, and the power of song to influence our society.
Stories of the Stars: Astrology & Astrophysics
Martin Mudd
The stars have stories to tell. The ancients observed the movements of the planets and used them as a divinatory tool for understanding the evolution of individuals and entire societies. Their observations eventually led to the science of astronomy. Contemporary astrophysicists have constructed stories of their own: from theories of the origin and destination of the universe, to descriptions of the formation and evolution of star systems and entire galaxies. We will share some of these stories and contemplate what they mean to each of us.
Survival Shelters
Elet Hall
Knowledge weighs far less than a tent. Why carry on your back what you can carry in your mind? We will explore shelter, from basic to more permanent, constructed from brush and debris or easily found man-made materials. Site selection, knot tying, and materials will be covered. Learn to provide for one of your basic needs in any environment.
Thai Massage
Eric Blevins
This ancient form of massage is very interactive and healing to both the giver and receiver. It involves assisted stretching and using many parts of the body to apply pressure. Bring a partner or find one in class!
Required equipment: Yoga mat, towel, or blanket
The New Civil Disobedience
R. "Zack" Zachary
A dialogue workshop on designed and un-designed individual and collective tactics, that's safe and completely outside the box.
Traditional Appalachian & Alchemical Herb Walk
Andrew Ozinskas
An herb walk featuring in-depth, practical information about traditional and modern medicinal usage of wild plants. The walk will include a meditative experience to connect with our senses and an introduction to several forgotten/lost herbs.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Unschooling
Martin Mudd
Conventional, compulsory schooling has become a stalwart institution across much of the world. But does it really confer to its students a complete education, one that nurtures the full range of each learner's unique potential? We will discuss some core principles of unschooling, an alternative approach to self-cultivation, its challenges, and our experiences.
Weaving Place-Based Culture Through Storytelling
Xyara Asplen
We will discuss the importance of storytelling, as a cultural technology, to the development of our sense of place, our sense of self, and our relationships to this living earth. We will explore folkloric traditions from our own lineage, how they are shaped by and rooted into the land we currently inhabit, and the importance of listening directly to the land and creatures with whom we share our lives and giving voice to those stories. Ultimately, our goal is to plant the seeds of story that may help to facilitate the weaving of functional, place-based culture.
Wonders of the Night Sky (handout)
Lacy and Brenda Thomas
Weather permitting, we will use a medium aperture telescope to explore the night sky: viewing planets, galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and double stars. Please no white lights - red lights are ok (red filters will be available).
Woodslore, Weeds, and Useful Wild Plants Walk
Doug Elliott
We will roam the forests, fields, and wetlands of the festival grounds focusing on the medicinal, edible, and otherwise useful and interesting wild plants - their botany, natural history and folklore, as well as their traditional and contemporary uses. We will also observe birds, insects, and other critters, look for their tracks, and signs. We’ll hear traditional legends, lore, stories, and songs associated with them.
Writing Your Place: Connecting Ecological Experiences to Words
Jessica Dean
Drawing on Johanna Macy’s practices of Deep Ecology, we will consider despair, hope, and re-imagination to engage participants in creative writing exercises connected to their ecological experiences. We will read and draw inspiration from the greater time and space of writers. Create and share your own writing to foster connection to the world body of writing and each other.
Required equipment: Notebook or journal; pen or pencil
Yoga for Anatomical Empowerment
Leah Van Winkle
Explore proper postural alignment in various manual labor tasks. Learn how moving more effectively can help decrease issues of back pain and other physical ailments that often come up with living an earth-based lifestyle. We'll move through a yoga class as we get to know our bodies and how to treat them well.
Required equipment: Yoga mat, towel, or blanket
Yoga for Self Care
Leah Van Winkle
Move through a partner based yoga/Thai Bodywork class and learn how to prepare for and wind down from a day of hard labor. Come with a partner or find one in the class. Come to learn and relax!
Required equipment: Yoga mat, towel, or blanket
Note: These workshops are specifically designed for kids; however, we cannot provide childcare. Kids must be accompanied by an adult. Come learn something new with your little one!
Bee Anything You Want To Bee
Kim Lauch
An introduction to the virtues innate in all of us. By following the exciting path of a young bee on its journey to believing it can fly, children learn about the value of bees in our environment and about one’s virtues through the art of storytelling, "animal" asana, guided meditation, craft, and a game. Suitable for 3-11 year olds.
Children's Folk Games
Sarah Smitha
Let's go back to the good ole days of jump ropes, hand clapping games, cat's cradle and other string games, and all the silly rhymes, songs, and stories that accompanied them. Traditional and Chinese jump roping techniques will be featured as well as Native American storytelling as told with string play. Suitable for all ages and all materials will be provided.
Creating Nature Mobiles
Maryl Burke
We will create hanging mobiles from natural objects like sticks, leaves, feathers, seeds, nuts, etc. You will have the chance to alter the color, shape, or form of these materials. Everyone will take home a mobile. Suitable for all ages.
Join the Circus
Jake Weinstein & Lissa McLeod
Turn off the TV. Create a culture of independent and mutual entertainment. Come learn aerial circus skills, stilt walking, and juggling. Suitable for kids and families.
Musical-Based Nature Play
Sarah Smitha
Children of all ages will delight in interactive musical play sessions featuring songs, rhymes, instrument exploration, games, prop play (scarves, parachutes, etc.), and tons of learning about flowers, plants, bugs, weather, and more. Songs and activities are mindfully presented with connections in Montessori and Waldorf educational philosophies. A perfect way for children to begin connecting to the world around them through music.
Nature's Color Wheel
Roberta Burnes
Nature is filled with colors, common and rare. The color wheel can provide an experiential lens for introducing young learners to the natural world, and for deepening connections in older learners. Construct your own color wheel using objects found on a gentle walk in the woods. Suitable for all ages.
No-Sew Doll Making
Lauren Hulse
For centuries, kids all over the world have played with rag dolls. Learn how to make your own without sewing! Suitable for all ages and all materials will be provided
Carol Judy
We will walk through the woods, discussing our relationships with plant and animal communities and seeking ways to build our own communities of place that hold all forms of life in highest regard. We will pay special attention to non-timber forest products and medicinal plants.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Air Layering: A Way to Clone Fruit Trees
Robbie Guggenheim
Learn hands-on about air layering fruit trees from branches, to make clones of the mother plant. This is a way to produce fruit-bearing trees the next year! We will use simple steps that everyone can use, remember, and teach to their neighbors and friends.
Appalachian Paranormal Traditions
Diane Satterfield
A facilitated story-sharing and group discussion of paranormal experiences, both first and second-hand, using traditional Appalachian storytelling styles. Diane will initiate the workshop with a story of her own and allow the discussion to evolve organically as people share their own stories and experiences.
Appalachian Storytelling
Hannah Sue Cooper
Come hear old-time stories and find out why they were told. Keep our oral history alive with mountain folk tales.
Astronomy 101
Lacy and Brenda Thomas
We will prepare you for night time observing, helping you to learn the sky with an unaided eye. We will cover what you can and can't see with your naked eye, how to choose your first telescope, and more.
Backwoods Herbalism Part 1: Growing, Harvesting, & Processing
Michelle and Lotus Blair
In this first of a two-part workshop, we will cover all the basics from planning and caring for your herb garden to foraging and processing your bounty. We will also discuss drying, storing, syrups, and candies.
Class limit: 10 people
Backwoods Herbalism Part 2: Making the Remedies
Michelle and Lotus Blair
In this second of a two-part workshop, we will focus on traditional preparations and when and how to use them. We will cover a variety of different preparations including infusions, dried verses wilting, tinctures, teas, and salves.
Class limit: 10 people
Materials fee: $10
Ballads and Songs of Appalachia
Saro Lynch-Thomason
Saro will share and lead songs from over 200 years of social and environmental movements in Appalachia. We'll learn ballads, hymns, and folks songs that paint a picture of the Mountain South’s experiences of slavery, miner’s revolts, mountaintop removal, black lung, outmigration, the Civil Rights movement, and more. Share your own movement songs!
Bark Basket Making
Jeff Gottlieb
We will peel a fresh poplar log and make beautiful, useful, traditional baskets. Learn bark peeling and handling techniques and take home a keepsake.
Materials fee: $5
Class limit: 10 people
Required equipment: Small, sharp, non-serrated knife
Basic Bookbinding
Tasha Carina
We will make leather-covered journals using the five-hole pamphlet stitch. All tools will be provided.
Materials fee: $5
Basic Canoeing
Bill Gordon
A canoe is an awesome way to explore a lake or river. Paddling is quiet, graceful, non-polluting, and good exercise. Learn the basics: launching, landing, safety, canoe handling, and basic strokes. Proper technique is an art and beautiful to see. We will practice on land and in the water, then take a leisurely paddle around the lake observing wildlife and enjoying the moment. Swimming ability is necessary.
Materials fee: $5 per person
Class limit: 10
Basic Survival Skills: Firebuilding
Bill Gordon
Making fire is one of the essential skills everyone should know as part of your life-skills toolbox. Learn ten ways to get a fire going wherever and whenever you need it, from materials that will surprise you. This is a highly engaging and informative workshop: you'll be practicing as well as observing. Suitable for all ages.
Basics of Everyday Fermentation
John Capps
We will discuss the health benefits of consuming fermented foods, preparation and ingredient/equipment selection, different types and methods of fermentation (i.e., vinegar pickles vs. fermented pickles), and what can go wrong and what to look out for. There will also be a hands-on demonstration of preparing vegetables and herbs for fermentation. All materials will be provided
Basics of Wilderness First Aid (handout)
Chris Smith
Learn to identify and treat life and limb threatening emergencies that may occur in remote settings with a lightweight, inexpensive first-aid kit. Special emphasis will be placed on rescuer safety and improvising and re-purposing outdoor equipment for first-aid uses.
Bluebirds
Bill Gordon
Bluebirds are beautiful, voracious insect-eaters, people-friendly, wonderful singers, and in dire need of our help. Learn about their history, how to attract them to your homestead, and participate in a worthwhile conservation project. Participants will make a bluebird nesting box to put up in your yard. All proceeds support wildlife habitat restoration programs at the Highlands nature preserve. Suitable for all ages.
Materials fee: $10 (per box; make an extra as a gift!)
Required equipment: Cordless drill (if you can bring one to the festival; not mandatory for participation)
Build Your Own Zen Camp Stove
John Phillips
Zen stoves are highly efficient, lightweight, alcohol-burning camp stoves. Using a recycled aluminum can and a hand tool, you will learn how to build your own camp stove that can boil water in under 5 minutes! All materials will be provided.
Cloth Diapering 101
Tatum Green
The modern cloth diaper world can be overwhelming to navigate; however, choosing cloth is a wonderful way to reduce your carbon footprint and is a chemical-free option for your little one. Learn about various types of cloth diapers, how to use them, and wash routines. Plus we'll debunk cloth myths!
Developing a Community Care Network
Elias Attea
Our physical, mental, and emotional health can relate not only to our interactive environment, but also the strength of our social circles. Get inspired or explore the possibilities of creating a network dedicated to mental health-based community care.
Drop Spindle Spinning
Miranda Coonrod
We will learn how to use a simple hand drop spindle to put twist into fibers to make yarn. Drop spindles have been used by cultures all over the world to turn raw material into something useable. No prior fiber experience necessary. All materials will be provided.
Egyptian Bowdrill & Tinderless Fire Starting
Tod Kershaw
We will explore the Egyptian bowdrill method including how to make one and what materials to use. Embers will be transferred to charcoal for fire starting instead of using tinder bundles. All materials will be provided.
Field Trip to the Highlands
Bill Gordon
The Highlands is a 500-acre nature preserve back in the deep hollers near Red River Gorge (30 minutes from the festival). For twenty years we have been working to restore the land to its former pristine condition, hand-building a totally off-grid home from repurposed materials, establishing organic gardens and orchards, encouraging and protecting wildlife, and living lightly on the land. The land is a certified stewardship forest, carbon offset property, and registered wildlife sanctuary. The ridges and valleys contain a rich and diverse community of plants and animals, accommodate my homestead cottage, and serve as the base for High Adventure Wilderness School. This field trip will include a one-mile walk to observe a few ponds, bottomland woodlands, stream restoration work, watershed restoration work, and a glimpse at the off-grid lifestyle. You will see examples of historical and present-day environmental problems, various corrective measures, and examples of habitat restoration. Carpooling is advised.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Flintknapping
Johnny Faulkner
Johnny will demonstrate the manufacture of chipped stone tools, including spear points and arrowheads.
Foragin 'Round
Mat Hansen
Let's wander around and identify and interpret the land as it relates to meeting our needs for health, warmth, and community. We'll learn some uses for local plants, trees, mushrooms, critter parts, etc. and how to ethically harvest and tend a forest ecology.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Foraging and Gathering
Andrew Bentley
We will learn how to sustainably and safely harvest plants from the wild.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Forest Alchemy: Form, Function, and Transformation in the Forest Ecosystem
Jim Scheff
Learn how the form and function of organisms in the forest community reflects the ways by which nature harnesses energy in opposition to entropy. We'll look at mushrooms, bugs, squirrels, trees, and whatever else we find and discuss how those organisms fit into the cascading web of energy, from sun to soil. We will use our observations to come up with hypotheses about how evolution and natural selection shaped the things we see.
Class limit: 15 people
Forest Watch 101: How to Monitor and Protect your National Forest
Jim Scheff
Learn how to monitor and challenge problematic management activities including logging and oil and gas development on our national forest lands. We will discuss public participation, legal frameworks, tools to use in mapping and field surveys, ecological considerations, and a variety of strategies and tactics used to defend our public lands.
Fracking and Pipelines in Kentucky: New Threats to the Commonwealth
Katie Gardner & Xyara Asplen
As King Coal is dying (though not quickly enough), the push towards further extreme extraction continues. This puts Kentucky and Appalachia under new and different threats, including fracking and the infrastructure that accompanies it. We will discuss these technologies and the risks associated with them as well as strategies of resistance and community education.
Friction Fire Free for All
Jason Drevenak
An introduction to bow and hand drill fires. We will focus on the wood and plants that are best for fire boards and spindles, different techniques and body mechanics, the socket and notch relationship, natural tinders, and how to put all this together to produce a coal and fire. Stay for the whole class or stop by and work on something specific.
From Fatigued to Fantastic: Balancing Stress with Herbs
Karena Harmon
Do you feel tired all the time? Do you find yourself drinking more and more coffee just to get through the day? Having constant stressors - like work, school, unhealthy relationships, city noise, the condition of the planet, and more - wear your adrenal system down and deplete your energy. Learn how you can incorporate herbs into your daily routine that directly combat these effects by nourishing and strengthening your nervous system.
Garden Tools: Proper Use, Selection & Maintenance
Joel Dufour
Learn proper uses and applications of various garden tools, how to tell good tools from substandard ones, and how to care for and maintain tools to maximize your investment. Gardening should be fun, and good tools go a long way toward making that a reality!
Gardening for Your Heathcare
Deanna Riggan
We will discuss the vision of gardening for your healthcare including the healing properties of simple plants you can grow at home as well as the edible/medicinal weeds that also reside there. We will explore how the act of growing your own food and herbs as medicine can help to create a mentally healthy environment at your home.
Ginger Bug & Other Ferments
Colleen Casey
Learn how to make and use a ginger bug to create a starter for making fermented beverages, gluten-free sourdough, and other tasty ferments.
Ginseng Planting & Native Medicinal Plant Walk
Terry Black
Learn about ginseng: how to plant, care for, and harvest this powerful plant. We will take an herb walk to see the habitat of ginseng and other native medicinal plants.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Green Woodworking
Paul Borntraeger
An introduction to natural wood use and traditional tools, including the development and use of broad axes, draw knifes, froes, and other traditional tools.
History of Hemp in KY
KY Hempsters
Hemp was Kentucky's primary cash crop until the early 1900's. The industry led to the success of many early Kentucky pioneers and became a driving economic force for the state. Learn about the industry's evolution along with the current status of industrial hemp in Kentucky. Industrial hemp can be grown for seed, fiber, or flower. These end uses require different cultivation methods, varieties, and processing. Learn about each component of the hemp plant and how to grow for a specific end product as well as its economic, environmental, agricultural, and nutritional benefits.
How to Make a Basic Salve
Courtney Shaw
Learn how to make an herbal infused oil and turn it into a salve using simple ingredients.
Human Scale Farming
Daniel Aisenbrey
We will discuss farming and market gardening tools and methods that can make you more productive, efficient, and sustainable; from walking tractors to broadforks to stale seed-bedding. Bring your wisdom and questions to share with the group.
Hummingbirds
Bill Gordon
Every homestead, urban or rural, needs a direct connection with nature. Birds are one of the best ways to make that connection, and hummingbirds are easy to observe and one of our most fascinating local bird species. See the world through the eyes of this incredible bird, learn about their habits, habitat needs, nesting, and how to feed them. New research is revealing awesome insights about hummers: you'll be amazed, thrilled, and eager to attract them to your yard after this workshop. Suitable for all ages.
Insects in Kentucky
Blake Newton
We will study live insects and spiders from Kentucky and beyond, plus have questions and answers. Suitable for all ages.
Intersectionality and How to Be an Ally (handout)
Rae Jones, Tracey Gilbert, and Thomas Coward
We will dig deeply into the concept of Intersectionality - the idea that one person's oppression is linked to our own, regardless of our identities. We will move beyond identity politics and explore these connections using hands-on activities, individual reflection, and group discussion. You will leave with new tools to truly ally with intersectional movements such as Black Lives Matter, immigrant rights, and queer liberation. Everyone is welcome to attend!
Introduction to Herbalism
Liane Ventura
This will be a conversation to explore the big questions of herbalism. We will discuss where we find support when we’re sick and what we consider medicine. We will also discuss how to begin incorporating plant remedies into our daily lives: where to find good quality herbs, how to prepare infusions, and how to identify companions for our individual conditions. Suitable for people interested in beginning the journey with plant medicine or for those already on the path who want to learn more.
Introduction to Pasture-Raised Pigs
Sarah Longstreth
Looking to raise a few pigs for home production, or a couple dozen for market sales? Learn about acquiring, raising, assessing, and marketing pigs. We'll delve into pasture assessment and the equipment needed for getting started with rotational management.
Join the Circus (for Adults)
Jake Weinstein & Lissa McLeod
Turn off the TV. Create a culture of independent and mutual entertainment. Come learn aerial circus skills, stilt walking, and juggling.
Knot: A Class
Eric Blevins
Learn several knots, hitches, and bends useful for camping, climbing, tying things down to vehicles, and many other applications.
Lacing Buckskin Bags
Jason Drevenak
Learn to design, lay out, cut, and lace your own small buckskin bag. Choose from a small possibles bag, medicine bag, or tobacco pouch. Modern and primitive tools will be available to try out. Everyone will take home a finished bag.
Materials fee: $8
Class limit: 8 people
Let's Build a Worm Bin: The Importance of Vermiculture
Roots of Progress
We will demonstrate how to make and take care of a Red Tiger Worm bin and how to get the most out of the organic soil fertilizer that they produce. Also, learn about the science behind the worms and worm castings as an organic soil amendment.
Lichen Biomonitoring for Air Quality
Roberta Burnes & Susan Brown
Did you know that lichens can give you clues about how clean the air is? Learn how to identify the common types of lichen and practice collecting data on lichen living on trees. Find out which lichens are sensitive to air pollution, and how their presence or absence can help us understand the importance of clean air to forest communities.
Make Your Own Field Guide
Roberta Burnes
Field guides help us bring order to our world. Discover your own patterns in nature found on a gentle walk in the woods, and then illustrate your own mini field guide that reveals your unique perspective. Absolutely no art skills are required – just a willingness to explore new ways of seeing the natural world. All materials will be provided.
Make Your Own Hot Sauce
Tim Green
Learn how to make homemade hot sauce from seed to sauce! We will explain the ins and outs of growing peppers, the fermentation sauce process, and various ingredients that can be used for creative flavors and varying heat levels.
Making Drawing Charcoal
Colleen Casey
Learn how to find a stick, pick it up, and make charcoal for your next drawing project!
Making Grain Leather
Tod Kershaw
Come learn how to use tree bark to make grain leather for shoes and boots. All materials will be provided.
Making Park Benches from Wooden Shipping Pallets
Dave Cooper
We will convert discarded wooden shipping pallets into simple park benches using hand tools. After painting them in festive colors, the benches will be donated to Lago Linda Hideaways or the local community following the festival. For more information, see https://www.facebook.com/KYPalletArtist/?fref=ts.
Medicinal Lichens
Andrew Bentley
Native lichens are amazing medicines. We will learn how to identify native species and how to use their unique, immune-boosting, and often antimicrobial properties in medicine making.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Movement & Meditation: An Exercise in Self-Care While Saving the World
Cheng Liu
We will learn self-care: stretching the body, breathwork, guided meditation, and self-compassion exercises. Come to re-ground, stay centered, and leave with relaxation tools for the festival environment or everyday life.
Naalbinden
Miranda Coonrod
Naalbinden is a Scandinavian word meaning needle-binding and refers to a looping technique that dates back to the 4th century BCE which has been found at archaeological sites all over the world. This method can be used to make hats, socks, mittens, bags, or anything you can imagine!
Natural Cordage
Austin Hollis
Using natural materials, we will learn the invaluable traditional skill of creating cordage by hand, using the reverse-ply twining method. Participants will first practice with raffia palm fibers to learn the basic technique, before learning how to process and use fibers such as nettle, milkweed, yucca, and sinew.
Organic Beekeeping
Kellie and Aarron Burns
We will discuss our organic approach to modern beekeeping. We'll share our experiences, tips, suggestions, and management methods that have worked for us and our bees. Bring your ideas and questions and be ready to browse equipment, photos, books, and educational materials. We'll also have a small table-top hive available for observations. We will also display children's books, bee anatomy coloring sheets, and other educational materials for the younger ones.
Race and Privilege 101 (handout)
Rae Jones, Tracey Gilbert, and Thomas Coward
Deepen your understanding of the intricate systems of race and privilege in the US by working through definitions, exploring how our identities are intertwined, and participating in hands-on activities to better understand how race and privilege work in our society, both individually and as a part of a greater system. You will leave with tools to confront individual racisms, to begin conversations about race in your community, and to further explore these topics.
Raising Backyard Chickens & Ducks
Amanda Bourassa
From picking the right food to what to do with all the eggs! Receive answers to your toughest chicken/duck questions.
RELAZENSHIPS Yogic Communication: Sustainable Yoga On & Off the Mat
Kim Lauch
Learn to speak a virtues-based language in order to cultivate yogic virtues in yourself and others. Clear the chakras with a radiant Kundalini and Vinyasa based asana and pranayama in order to prepare the body for the virtues-based communication exercise. Class will close with meditation and reflection in order to sustain yogic communication on and off the mat.
Required equipment: Yoga mat, towel, or blanket
Simple Rocket Stoves
Joan Candolino
Learn the basics of rocket stoves while constructing several different types. Then, we'll have a boiling water competition: may the best rocket, gassifier, or sawdust stove win! All materials will be provided.
Skills for Earth Friendly Dying
Katie Gardner
We will discuss the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of caring for terminally ill loved ones, managing grief through all its stages, and the legalities and logistics of green burials.
Solar Cookers 101: What Are They, and Can One Work for You?
Joel Dufour
Learn what a solar cooker is, how they work, and basics on how to build your own if desired. If it's sunny, we'll cook something on site!
Solar Electricity 101 (handout)
Matt Ellison
An introduction to using solar panels. We will discuss applications for solar electricity, different system types, off-grid system design, necessary components, and off-grid electrical load analysis.
Songwriting for Social Causes
Nicholas Penn
We'll discuss a basic approach to songwriting for any instrument, including process, imaginative practices, and song structure. We will structure our conversation in the context of music for social causes, and the power of song to influence our society.
Stories of the Stars: Astrology & Astrophysics
Martin Mudd
The stars have stories to tell. The ancients observed the movements of the planets and used them as a divinatory tool for understanding the evolution of individuals and entire societies. Their observations eventually led to the science of astronomy. Contemporary astrophysicists have constructed stories of their own: from theories of the origin and destination of the universe, to descriptions of the formation and evolution of star systems and entire galaxies. We will share some of these stories and contemplate what they mean to each of us.
Survival Shelters
Elet Hall
Knowledge weighs far less than a tent. Why carry on your back what you can carry in your mind? We will explore shelter, from basic to more permanent, constructed from brush and debris or easily found man-made materials. Site selection, knot tying, and materials will be covered. Learn to provide for one of your basic needs in any environment.
Thai Massage
Eric Blevins
This ancient form of massage is very interactive and healing to both the giver and receiver. It involves assisted stretching and using many parts of the body to apply pressure. Bring a partner or find one in class!
Required equipment: Yoga mat, towel, or blanket
The New Civil Disobedience
R. "Zack" Zachary
A dialogue workshop on designed and un-designed individual and collective tactics, that's safe and completely outside the box.
Traditional Appalachian & Alchemical Herb Walk
Andrew Ozinskas
An herb walk featuring in-depth, practical information about traditional and modern medicinal usage of wild plants. The walk will include a meditative experience to connect with our senses and an introduction to several forgotten/lost herbs.
Required equipment: Walking shoes/clothes; water bottle
Unschooling
Martin Mudd
Conventional, compulsory schooling has become a stalwart institution across much of the world. But does it really confer to its students a complete education, one that nurtures the full range of each learner's unique potential? We will discuss some core principles of unschooling, an alternative approach to self-cultivation, its challenges, and our experiences.
Weaving Place-Based Culture Through Storytelling
Xyara Asplen
We will discuss the importance of storytelling, as a cultural technology, to the development of our sense of place, our sense of self, and our relationships to this living earth. We will explore folkloric traditions from our own lineage, how they are shaped by and rooted into the land we currently inhabit, and the importance of listening directly to the land and creatures with whom we share our lives and giving voice to those stories. Ultimately, our goal is to plant the seeds of story that may help to facilitate the weaving of functional, place-based culture.
Wonders of the Night Sky (handout)
Lacy and Brenda Thomas
Weather permitting, we will use a medium aperture telescope to explore the night sky: viewing planets, galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and double stars. Please no white lights - red lights are ok (red filters will be available).
Woodslore, Weeds, and Useful Wild Plants Walk
Doug Elliott
We will roam the forests, fields, and wetlands of the festival grounds focusing on the medicinal, edible, and otherwise useful and interesting wild plants - their botany, natural history and folklore, as well as their traditional and contemporary uses. We will also observe birds, insects, and other critters, look for their tracks, and signs. We’ll hear traditional legends, lore, stories, and songs associated with them.
Writing Your Place: Connecting Ecological Experiences to Words
Jessica Dean
Drawing on Johanna Macy’s practices of Deep Ecology, we will consider despair, hope, and re-imagination to engage participants in creative writing exercises connected to their ecological experiences. We will read and draw inspiration from the greater time and space of writers. Create and share your own writing to foster connection to the world body of writing and each other.
Required equipment: Notebook or journal; pen or pencil
Yoga for Anatomical Empowerment
Leah Van Winkle
Explore proper postural alignment in various manual labor tasks. Learn how moving more effectively can help decrease issues of back pain and other physical ailments that often come up with living an earth-based lifestyle. We'll move through a yoga class as we get to know our bodies and how to treat them well.
Required equipment: Yoga mat, towel, or blanket
Yoga for Self Care
Leah Van Winkle
Move through a partner based yoga/Thai Bodywork class and learn how to prepare for and wind down from a day of hard labor. Come with a partner or find one in the class. Come to learn and relax!
Required equipment: Yoga mat, towel, or blanket
Note: These workshops are specifically designed for kids; however, we cannot provide childcare. Kids must be accompanied by an adult. Come learn something new with your little one!
Bee Anything You Want To Bee
Kim Lauch
An introduction to the virtues innate in all of us. By following the exciting path of a young bee on its journey to believing it can fly, children learn about the value of bees in our environment and about one’s virtues through the art of storytelling, "animal" asana, guided meditation, craft, and a game. Suitable for 3-11 year olds.
Children's Folk Games
Sarah Smitha
Let's go back to the good ole days of jump ropes, hand clapping games, cat's cradle and other string games, and all the silly rhymes, songs, and stories that accompanied them. Traditional and Chinese jump roping techniques will be featured as well as Native American storytelling as told with string play. Suitable for all ages and all materials will be provided.
Creating Nature Mobiles
Maryl Burke
We will create hanging mobiles from natural objects like sticks, leaves, feathers, seeds, nuts, etc. You will have the chance to alter the color, shape, or form of these materials. Everyone will take home a mobile. Suitable for all ages.
Join the Circus
Jake Weinstein & Lissa McLeod
Turn off the TV. Create a culture of independent and mutual entertainment. Come learn aerial circus skills, stilt walking, and juggling. Suitable for kids and families.
Musical-Based Nature Play
Sarah Smitha
Children of all ages will delight in interactive musical play sessions featuring songs, rhymes, instrument exploration, games, prop play (scarves, parachutes, etc.), and tons of learning about flowers, plants, bugs, weather, and more. Songs and activities are mindfully presented with connections in Montessori and Waldorf educational philosophies. A perfect way for children to begin connecting to the world around them through music.
Nature's Color Wheel
Roberta Burnes
Nature is filled with colors, common and rare. The color wheel can provide an experiential lens for introducing young learners to the natural world, and for deepening connections in older learners. Construct your own color wheel using objects found on a gentle walk in the woods. Suitable for all ages.
No-Sew Doll Making
Lauren Hulse
For centuries, kids all over the world have played with rag dolls. Learn how to make your own without sewing! Suitable for all ages and all materials will be provided
