Workshops
Workshops for the Weekend Conference
Soil Regeneration through Intensive Ruminant Management
With: Greg Brann, Eric Smith, Derek Lawson, and Dylan Kennedy
Day: Friday
Time: 2pm
Place: Solar Barn
In this pasture walk Greg Brann’s extensive experience and knowledge of grass species and insights into ruminant grazing will be augmented by a few other experienced grazers. Eric Smith from Bugtussle Farm, and Derek Lawson from Fox Hollow Farm plan to share their practices. Dylan Kennedy, from Mt. Folly Farm will offer insights into Allan Savory’s Holistic Management System.
Garden Tour
With: Jeff Poppen
Day: Friday
Time: 3pm
Place: Woodshed
The garden tour is a free wheeling trip around the farm. We will stop at various spots around the farm to look at what is going on. This will include the gardens, compost piles, biodynamic preparations, orchards, ponds, woods, pastures, animals, animal handling facilities and other farm infrastructure. It’s a great time for questions and answers in a smaller group with Jeff.
Biodynamics and Permaculture
With: Mark Shepard
Day: Saturday
Time: 9pm
Place: House
Details to come
Soil Regeneration through Intensive Ruminant Management
With: Greg Brann, Eric Smith, Derek Lawson, and Dylan Kennedy
Day: Friday
Time: 9am
Place: Solar Barn
If you missed yesterdays pasture walk this is another opportunity to walk with these experienced graziers and ask questions. Greg Brann will share his extensive experience and knowledge of grass species and insights into ruminant grazing. His insights will be augmented by a few other experienced grazers. Eric Smith from Bugtussle Farm, and Derek Lawson from Fox Hollow Farm plan to share their practices. Dylan Kennedy, from Mt. Folly Farm will offer insights into Allan Savory’s Holistic Management System.
How to Recover from the Effects of Dominant Western Though:
Weaving Together Language of Morphogenic Fields, Biodynamics and the Nature of the Brain’s Hemispheres
With: Luke Frey
Day: Saturday
Time: 9am
Place: Barn
Details to come
Earth and Man
With: Anne Nicholson
Day: Saturday
Time: 9am
Place: Front Porch
In this workshop we will explore the key concepts presented by Dr. Karl Konig in his classic book “Earth and Man”. This will include the relationship between man and the four types of farm animals who have partnered with us for thousands of years to sculpt not only the surface of the earth but also the climate. We will also take a look at Rudolf Steiner’s imaginations of Lucifer and Ahriman as combined animal-human forms. “We should keep animals in order to be near to the wellsprings of all existence and creation.” – Karl Konig
Using the Biodynamic Preparations as Healing Herbs
With: Kenyon Keily
Day: Saturday
Time: 10pm
Place: Front Porch
In this session, we will investigate the primary value of each of the Biodynamic Preparation herbs as medicine for body and spirit.
You will come away with ways to incorporate these herbs into you life as living presence, and in the form of teas and extracts.
Reading Lecture One from The Agriculture Course
and
Stuffing Cow Horns
With: Jeff Poppen and Friends
Day: Saturday
Time: 10:30am
Place: Barn
This is the beginning of the Re-Enactment of the Agriculture Course given by Rudolf Stiener in 1924 which resulted in Biodynamic Agriculture. The lecture will be read aloud and discussed. We will also stuff cow horns to make the Biodynamic 500 preparation
Conservation Land Trusts, Community Land Trusts, and Commons Land Trusts. What’s Best for the Future of My Farm?
With: Kristina Villa
Day: Saturday
Time: 11am
Place: House
In this workshop, with Kristina Villa, you will learn about the tools and options that have been used for land protection and preservation and how they could support you and your land today. Participants will also learn about a new type of land trust, the commons land trust, centering relationship with land with those most connected to it, healing injustices, and building a collaborative, resilient future for land, food, people, and Earth. In this dynamic and engaging workshop, you will hear how The Farmers Land Trust is evolving beyond solely conserving land to address ownership, access, tenure and stewardship through the Farmland Commons, and is making it open-resource for all.
Holism and Biodynamics:
The Potential Opened Up by the Closed Farm Idea
With: Hugh Williams
Day: Saturday
Time: 2pm
Place: House
On Threshold Farm we have established ‘proof of concept’ for Steiner’s fundamental idea: the individualization of a closed farm, technically, economically, and financially, over a 30 year period. Hugh will present these findings and their implications for soil fertility, resilience, and financial wellbeing. A lively discussion is anticipated.
Biodynamics in Urban Agriculture; Growing Good Food in the City
With: Daron Jaffe
Day: Saturday
Time: 2pm
Place: Woodshed
Details to come
Making Biodynamic Preparations
With: Jeff Poppen and Friends
Day: Saturday
Time: 2pm
Place: Barn
In this workshop we will make the Biodynamic preparations that are traditionally made in the fall. This will include making camomile sausages, making the oak bark preparation, making the dandelion preparation, and burying all of these. We will also bury the yarrow preparation that was made in the summer.
Elemental Beings and Nature Spirits : A Remembering
With: Shabari Bird
Day: Saturday
Time: 2pm
Place: Front Porch
Tune into the beings that make up the Elemental kingdom. Experience for yourself the subtle flow of energies within the earth. Shabari will give practical exercises for us to joyously rediscover our connection to the world of nature spirits, elemental beings and the Four Wind Beings of our Atmosphere. Class will be held by the Creek in the shade. Bring a blanket to lie on. The more we connect with nature, the more her elementals and spirits will assist us in developing aliveness for our planet.
Resilience of Change
With: Gaby González
Day: Saturday
Time: 3pm
Place: House
In this thoughtful workshop, Gaby González invites you to investigate the relationship with our personal direct environment and how it is constantly evolving and changing us from within. This reality evokes in Gaby the recognition that change itself is the biggest lesson of resilience. It is never ending and always depicting itself in profound and beautiful ways in our personal lives and as the expression of its purest essence, in nature. Change is coded within our spirits, though we are sometimes afraid of it, or confused by the shock of abrupt change upon our minds and spirits. Gaby invites you to explore and embrace the experience of change inside ourselves and through the rhythms in nature around us, so that we may become more resilient and work with nature in a way to build resilience in the relation to land stewardship.
Supporting Health and Resilience with Anthroposophical Medicine
With: Mark Hancock
Day: Saturday
Time: 3pm
Place: Woodshed
Details to come.
Beneficial Microbes: How to Grow On-Farm Biofertilizers and View Them Under a Microscope
With: Steve Diver
Day: Saturday
Time: 4pm
Place: House
Steve Diver is setting up a microscope this year, so we can explore the microcosm of soil life. Steve’s work at the University of Kentucky is inspirational, and we have mad respect for his experience bridging biodynamics in the ivory tower. His practical explorations of high-quality farming practices in the midst of our macro-cosmic experiences of biodynamic and anthroposophical theory are always enjoyable.
Permaculture and Biodynamics – Closing the Loop at Home
With: Susana Lein
Day: Sunday
Time: 10:30am
Place: House
Details to come
Reading of Lecture Two of Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course
With: Jeff and Friends
Day: Sunday
Time: 10am
Place: Solar Barn
In this event someone will read aloud the second lecture from Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course as part of the Agriculture Course re-enactment that will be taking place all week at the farm. There will be a discussion of the lecture and time for questions.