Education | sacred-earth-

Education - Families, Communities & Schools

Sacred Earth Initiative seeks to engage, teach, train, entertain, and inspire your group by providing a knowledgable, hands-onopportunity for ecological restoration and social transformation. Our expertise is widely varied, ranging from organic heirloom vegetable production (both small and large scale), homestead arborculture, herbal medicine making, wilderness survival skills, native flora conservation, and edible and medicinal landscaping.

We work with people of all ages, and offer a variety of workshops that specifically cater to your needs. We work with all experience levels, and help facilitate the creation of gardens and landscapes that will serve you mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Please get in touch if you want us to lead a workshop.

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Example WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

All workshops will take place on Laughing Linden Farm near Frankfort, MI.

Workshops hours are 2pm-5pm, rain or shine!

Cost: $20 per person, or $60 for attending all four workshops.

Please register at least 48 hours prior to workshop.

Families are welcome!

March/April_________________________________

*Apple Tree Pruning – Learn all the basics, including various pruning methods. We will work you through restoring abandoned apple trees, making remnants of old orchards healthy and productive once more!

*Sheet-Mulching – Essential skill for any plow maintenance, high-yielding perennial gardening and landscaping. Sheet mulching involves creating new garden and/or landscape beds without tilling or removing any organic matter. This method builds up healthy soil, and creates an instant "canvas" in which to plant your landscape. Learn how to build soil, keep your plant roots hydrated, attract earth worms, eradicate weeds, and disperse sunlight evenly at this workshop!

MAY________________________________________

*Wild Foraging – Walk through the rolling hills and deciduous woods and learn about the wild edible and medicinal plants that grow in our bioregion. You get to leave the workshop with a bounty of knowledge, as well as healthy nutritious wild foods and medicine!

*Planting Guilds – Guilds are a magical series of companion plants that find their home at the base of your fruit tree, and greatly increase productivity, health, longevity, and beauty of the landscape. Plants include, but are not limited to, Comfrey, Chives, Yarrow, Lupine, Red Clover, and Nettle.

Families

Why not get the whole family involved in building your new garden?

We love working with kids! Encouraging them to get their hands into the soil and play with the worms and bugs! And, hopefully not eating too much dirt (but just enough).

A family workshop can look all kinds of ways, whether it entails spending an hour together in the final stages of implementation, or dedicating an entire week towards creating your landscape from scratch.

In any case, we are there to help guide you through the process, all the while educating your family on the various uses of plants, and their ecological contribution to the Eco-system as a whole.

We also offer families, and kids especially, opportunities to learn many life skills such as sewing, crafts, carpentry, wilderness survival, in addition to farming and urban homesteading.

Communities

Bringing together your community for any purpose is generally a good thing. Whether it's a city block, a group of friends, co-workers, or a cooperative, we will develop a workshop that blends the diversity of the group with the various teachings we have to offer. Plant identification, wild foraging, garden and landscape installation. The opportunities abound.

If you have an idea for a community workshop, but are lacking the community, we will help by spreading the word throughout our contacts.

Community workshops almost always involve a pot-luck, and you often go home with a momento, such as a plant, tincture, seeds, salve, etc...

Most of all, getting together with community is rewarding, and FUN!

Schools

Students can spend less time sitting, and more time digging!

When working at schools we always go outside and get active. Hands-on learning is the best way to retain information. Our workshops most often involve a combination of gardening knowledge, survival skills, and music. Becasue let's face it, who doesn't like to sing while they work?

Having gone through the public school system, we are intimately familiar with the rigors and challenges of the daily lives of students. We hope to create a positive experience that will encourage youth to connect with the world around us in all its natural beauty.

Sacred Earth Initiative can help your school plant a garden and/or landscape that will be there for years to come. We will make sure that every student recieves the opportunity to be involved in the creation process, whether it's digging holes, spreading mulch, building raised beds, or planting. And best of all, the homework that comes out of a garden is edible!