2024 Class Schedule
We will update this page with the 2025 class schedule when it is ready!
Below you will find the planned classes for this year’s event! Classes occur in morning and afternoon sessions. Please read the Overview if you are new to Earthskills.
Overview
Daily Postings
Classes will be posted daily on a sign-up board after dinner each evening. There you can find details on each class being taught the next day and sign up. There are usually one or two changes to the class schedule each day. Any changes to the class schedule will be reflected on the evening postings and will be announced at morning circle.
Class Sign-Ups
If you sign up for a class, please participate. If you sign up and can’t participate, please mark your name off of the list as soon as possible! Some classes have limited space. If you sign up but don’t show up, someone else may lose out on the opportunity.
"Drop-Ins"
“Drop-ins” on classes are generally welcome. Some classes take the full period while others may be shorter, allowing you time to drop in on other classes. Please check with the instructor whose class you wish to drop in on before joining it.
Class Duration
Most classes last only the 3 or 4 hours for that session. Some classes may take a full day or multiple days, such as hide tanning, primitive pottery, and bowl carving. Check with instructors if you have questions.
Class Requirements (age, materials, fees, etc)
Some classes have specific requirements. We do not include everything here, but everything will be included with the evening sign-up postings.
Age limits will be included on the evening posting. Usually, if a class has an age limit, it is 12 or 13 years old. Some classes are for adults only and other classes may require adult companions for minors.
Certain classes have materials fees to cover specialty goods needed for the class. We tried to include those on this page, but the fees may not be 100% accurate. In any event, please have cash for the fees.
Some classes have suggested tools to bring. A sharp knife is the most commonly needed item for many classes.
Lastly, most classes are limited in size to protect the quality of the learning experience. We included size limits for only the smallest classes on this page. This is why signing up is important!
Bonus Classes & Activities
Additional bonus classes and activities may be offered that are not listed below. This is the beauty of an earthskills gathering with many lifetimes of knowledge on hand! It’s also an opportunity for budding instructors to practice sharing their skills. There may also be additional classes added for children and youth that may not be finalized until the event starts.
Our instructors come from across the country and bring a lifetime of experience in the subjects that they teach. We are proud to bring them to Piedmont Earthskills to share their expertise. Please show them the love and respect they deserve. Our instructors and us would love it if you helped out with our Instructor Fund.
Class Schedule
Thursday Morning
Hand-Drill Friction Fire - Alison Williams
Age: 15+ or accompanied by an adult, 6 students
Materials Fee: $5
What to bring: Knife, Something to sit on, water, patience
Cordage College - Jeff Gottlieb
Everything you ever wanted to know about making rope, thread and other cordage using multiple methods, cool tools and a variety of natural fibers. Check out the “fibrary”!
Materials fee: $5. Book by instructor is available for $15 if desired
What to bring: sharp knife, notebook, camera, chair
Age: 12+
Spoon Carving - Barron Brown
From beginner to advanced, learn how to carve a spoon out of green wood. Don’t eat your soup with a fork!
Materials Fee: None
What to Bring: Sharp knife if you have one
Primal Pottery - Keith Turnstone
Meet dirt (an introduction) – you already know what it is, but wait, there is more! This is as earthy as an earthskill gets.
Finger Weaving 101 - Joan Candalino
Finger weaving of yarn into a hatband or bag strap, basic technique, as developed by the Native Americans of the north and south eastern US.
Class Size: 6 Students, Adults
Materials Fee: $5
What to Bring: Fingers!
Wild Awareness - Snow Bear
All ages
Thursday Afternoon
Flintknapping - James Clinkscales
Stone tools for practical stone age living. In this arena we will learn techniques to reduce stone by percussion and pressure flaking using various tools that stone age people used like other stones, bones, antler and wood. Some copper tools will also be utilized. Shape an arrowhead, spear point or effigy out of stone using proven stone age technology!
Materials Fee: $5 Suggested
What to Bring: Safety glasses and gloves will be provided
Hand-Drill Friction Fire - Alison Williams
Cooperation is our most important survival skill, but fire is pretty cool too! Learn the magic of making fire with two sticks.
Materials Fee: $5
Age: 15+ or accompanied by an adult, 6 people
What to Bring: Seat, knife, water, patience
Primal Pottery - Keith Turnstone
Free for all clay spree – come work on projects and learn the earthy skill.
Celtic Knot Carving - Barron Brown
Learn to lay out and carve a Celtic knot on a piece of wood
Materials Fee: (TBD)
What to Bring: Tools will be provided
Making Twined Bags - Joan Candalino
Small bags using the twinning (two weavers) technique, out of jute or cotton and yarn.
Materials Fee: $10 if using hemp or waxed cotton, none if using yarn
Age: Adults, Teens, Child w/ Adult
Intro to Flow Arts and Safety First Fire Dancing - Alexander Howe
Have you ever achieved that thoughtless bliss while, dancing, drumming, or doing a favorite activity?
There is a state of mind called Flow. Achieving Flow State is one of the reasons we recreate, and this mind state is shown to be nourishing medicine for our brains.
I found my moving meditation with poi, which is a native Maori dance of twirling pendulums. In the modern flow art, this is usually done with nice soft sock poi, or… We make them out of chain and Kevlar, soak them in fuel, and
BURN THEMMM!
(Safely and while hopefully not igniting ourselves!)
In this playshop you’ll be actively moving and learning beginners poi techniques. We will also explore a few other fire dancing/flow props. Be sure to wear natural finger clothing that you can move easily in.
We’ll also discuss such things as:
-How to be a good Safety, in detail.
-What to wear (hint: natural fibers or nothing) and Not To Wear (anything synthetic!)
-We will practice extinguishing a lit prop.
-If you/we achieve certain things you may spin fire in class!
Materials Fee: $5
Age: Children are welcome with parental supervision or directly given consent to my face.
Materials to Bring: If sign ups are full, you may join if you bring a pair of socks. They will be stretched out and get dirty.
Transistions into Cronehood - Momma Wendy
Transitions into Cronehood: An Open Discussion for Women coming of Age on the Other Side
There are so many beautiful ceremonies for young ladies coming of age. But what about the next phase? There are so many of us going through the next biggest transistion of our lives and feel a bit lost and unsupported through it.
This will be a time when all of us who are about to enter, currently experiencing or have already passed through to the other side to come together. Open discussion based, with all of us gathering to feel supported and held. To share what we have been experiencing and what has been working (or not working) to deal with our big feelings and symptoms. A place of no judgements, to share openly and to learn from each other.
This will be a closed container discussion so everyone involved can feel empowered to share their truths. Please respect that and arrive in a timely manner.
Although this should also be a discussion with the community as a whole, so everyone can have a better understanding and therefore support our community through all of their transitions, we respectfully request understanding, although we welcome all to our community and hearts, that this will be a womb carriers only circle at this time.
Participants: Womb-carriers
Rewilding the Psyche: Exploring Ecopsychology and Earth-Based Ceremony - Sarah Haggerty
Explore animism, ecopsychology and earth-based ceremony. Discover allies in the living world and observe how human experiences are mirrored in nature. Through story shares, nature time, meditations, and simple ritual practices we will cultivate meaningful relationships with non-human kin. Gain practical tools to engage with the spirits of place. Experienced a storied landscape. Explore synchronicities, symbolic resonance, and meaningful encounters with seemingly ordinary things.
Age: 15+
Fur on Hide Tanning (multiday) - Jason Lane
Step 1, Cleaning and Softening of hides
Class Size: <5 adults (TBD)
Materials Fee: $50-$75 (TBD)
What to Bring: Materials will be provided
Friday Morning
Birds Before Breakfast - Fuz Sanderson
Bird watching and identification is a great way to enhance your naturalist skills.
We’ll take a moment to listen and appreciate the world coming alive at Dawn. This is part meditation and part identification of who is singing. Bring binoculars if you have them, and a pad to sit on would be helpful in case the ground is wet.
Practical Herbalism - Alexander Howe
Practical Herbalism is all about Do It Yourself medicine knowledge that every person can benefit from and use. This class will be an overview of what you need to safely start making an experience with medicinal plants, the basics of herbalism, And crafting your own self tailored herbal medicines. We will discuss many topics, tools, and techniques, so that you can gain better control of your health and wellness.
This includes: what makes a good educational resource for you, ethical wildcrafting from nature with gratitude and intention, the food to poison spectrum: a conception of dosage, and extractions in the three most common solvents water, alcohol, oils. We will conclude with making a nourishing medicinal salve, the original medicine for human skin!
Materials Fee: $5
Working with Nature’s Primary Elements to Support Being the Person You Want - Leif Diamant
Earth, Air, Water, Fire: Working with Nature’s Primary Elements to Support You Being the Person and Having the Life That You Want
Since the beginning of time, humans have been honoring, exploring, and using these essential parts of Nature for help, healing, creativity, spirituality, and survival. We’ll spend time on the Flat River, in the forest, and by fire experiencing sacred methodology for personal growth and change. Participants will work individually and collectively to tap into the deep powers of Nature, and learn and/or expand elemental tools that can be easily incorporated into personal and spiritual practice.
Woods lore, Weeds and Useful Plants - Doug Elliott
Take a walk in the woods a world renowned Naturalist and Storyteller Doug Elliot~
We’ll check out the edible, medicinal, and otherwise useful wild plants. We will talk about the role of these plants among traditional inhabitants of the region and how we can use them for food and medicine in our everyday lives. We will notice the animal signs, bird calls, insects and other creatures which texture our outdoor experiences. You’ll likely hear stories, songs, and lore as well as fact stranger than fiction, about the plants and critters we encounter.
Primal Pottery - Keith Turnstone
Meet dirt (an introduction) – you already know what it is, but wait, there is more! This is as earthy as an earthskill gets.
Hand-Drill Friction Fire - Alison Williams
They say our ancestors learned to pray by getting on their knees and putting their hands together on hand drill. Thankfully you won’t need prayers for this class to grow a coal- just perseverance and a knife.
Materials Fee: $5
Age: 15+ or accompanied by an adult, 6 people
What to Bring: Seat, knife, water, patience
Gassifier Stoves - Joan Candalino
Using a quart paint can and tin cans, make a small gassifier camping stove. Discuss science of gassifier stoves. Class may run into the afternoon.
Class Size: 4 Adults
Materials Fee: $10
What to Bring: Leather gloves, eye protection, Cordless drill and bits, can openers, church key, punch if you have them.
Basket Weaving Class - Momma Wendy
Little things with no place to stare them? Messy shelves that need some order? Learn a useful traditional skill that will also help organize and beautify your life.
The history of basket weaving is one of the oldest primitive skills documented. Baskets were used to carry and store items, as well as to carry water and cook food out of! Hear the stories and history as you make your own basket.
We will be working together to each create a traditional flat bottom woven basket out of rattan reeds. Learn two different patterns and walk away with your own handcrafted basket to hold all your treasures in.
Materials Fee: $15
What to Bring: Kitchen scissors or pruners if you have. We will be sitting on the ground to work.
That's Not Going to Cut It: Sharpening Tools - Gray Taylor
We will be exploring the world of tools meant for sharpening the tools in your life, bring your garden shears, scissors, knives or any thing else that needs a sharp edge so that we may bring them back to life!
Materials Fee: $5
What to bring: Sharpening Stone, tools to sharpen
Ancestors and the Coming Generations - Snow Bear
Let us come together in remembrance reverence and council, to set intentions for including the ancestors and unborn generations in our daily lives.
Age: Teen to Adult
Friday Afternoon
Artisinal Salve Making: For Humans with Skin - Alexander Howe
One of the original topical medicines for human skin is often called Salve (or Balm). It has four basic ingredients: Skin nourishing oils, infused with potent plant medicines, thickened with raw beeswax, plus essential oils. Similarly, Bread also has very few ingredients. Yet you know the great variety of breads and cakes in the world. The same is true for salve!
Salve making has been my “bread and Shea butter” for over 10 years and I am going to teach you how to make truly superlative salve. Total beginners are totally welcome, but this class is so packed with hacks that it is valuable to all with an interest in natural skin and wound care.
We’re going to go deep, get oily, dabble in the chemistry of fats, and everyone will have a great hair day tomorrow!
Best part is you get to take home our own class co-creation! I’ll have many rare exotic carrier oils, and oodles of essential oils to play with.
Materials Fee: Free to attend.
$5 – Personalize your own custom salve.
Special family pricing for additional volumes.
Trades encouraged!
Age: 12+
What to Bring: Option to bring your own essential oil scents you like, though I do have.
Potions Class - Medicinal Plant Preservation - JT Stokes
Brew up a delicious infusion that also fights colds!
We’ll talk about the basics of crafting internally consumed plant medicines, maximizing shelf life, and selecting the most fitting solvent for your desired outcome. Alcohol is a great preservative, but let’s give attention to the other options we have: apple cider vinegar, salt, oils, and honey.
In addition to folk ways, JT will discuss standardized methods of tincture making. Herbal safety and recommendations for research methods will be highlighted. We’ll also cover low-tech, low-waste tips for home apothecary-building on a budget. Participants will craft a tincture in an 4oz jar.
Materials Fee: $6-12
Age: 12+
What to Bring: a chair
Wild Basketry - Jeff Gottlieb
Make a useful, beautiful basket from invasive vines and other renewable resources
Materials Fee: $10
What to Bring: Sharp knife, pruners, notebook, camera, chair
Age: 12+
Primal Pottery - Keith Turnstone
Free for all clay spree – come work on projects and learn the earthy skill.
Stone Tools for Practical Stone Age Living - James Clinkscales
In this arena we will learn techniques to reduce stone by percussion and pressure flaking using various tools that stone age people used like other stones, bones, antler and wood. Some copper tools will also be utilized. Shape an arrowhead, spear point or effigy out of stone using proven stone age technology!
Material fee: $5
What to bring: Safety glasses and gloves will be provided
The Human Journey: Development, Initiation and Rites of Passage - Sarah Haggerty
This class explores the developmental journey from before birth to after death. We will share about the many initiations that happen from conception to elderhood and ancestry. This class will include heart teachings, story shares and facilitated inter-generational dialog. You’ll get grounded philosophy about what initiation is, where you are in your life journey and how we can help people move through thresholds of change in their lives.
Age: 15+
What's in your Wallet? Crafting Bark tanned deer leather wallets - Gray Taylor
We shall gather together to learn the joys of Bark tanned deer leather and the sorrows of commercial tanned leather while we craft wallets using leather the instructor has tanned.
There are two choices if wallets that differ in price.
Materials Fee: 2 piece card holder $30, 3 piece bill fold wallet $70
Age: 13+
Fur on Hide Tanning (Day 2) - Jason Lane
***Fur Era Trade Blanket- Jeff Gottlieb***
After Classes & before Dinner- Bring items to trade or frog skins (currency)
Fur Trade Era trade blanket ceremony; bring goods to trade and have a great time!
Saturday Morning
Nature as Healer and Teacher:: Loss, Grief, Trauma, Death...Living and Thriving - Leif Diamant
Loss, grief, death are part of Nature as are resilience, beauty, vitality, joy, and vastness.Nature can help mediate and relieve grief and trauma through observation, intimacy and exploration of it. Its wisdom, adaptation, and nurturance assists us in whatever we are dealing with. It is an ally, teacher, healer and beloved as we connect with it in these ways. This will be an experiential workshop as we wander, pause, notice, and go deeper into ourselves and Nature exploration and connection.
Crafting Buckskin Belt Pouches (all day) - Gray Taylor
During this hands on class we will be exploring the versatility and beauty of brain tanned buckskin while we craft a buckskin belt pouch from patterns made by the instructor.
There will be two pouch patterns to choose from and we’ll be sewing them together with buckskin thong cut by your own hands.
Materials Fee: SM. Pouch $40, LG. Pouch $80
Age: 13+
Knife & Tool Sharpening - Jeff Gottlieb
Learn how to reliably sharpen tools, and the physics behind the process. Make your own 2-sided sharpening board to take home. Bring a knife or tool to sharpen.
Materials fee: $6
What to bring: dull knife or tool
Have Tarp, Need Shelter - Joan Candalino
Tarp configurations for shelter, including knots.
Primal Pottery - Keith Turnstone
Meet dirt (an introduction) – you already know what it is, but wait, there is more! This is as earthy as an earthskill gets.
Pack Basket Making (all day) - Momma Wendy
Evidence of pack basket usage dates back to 900 AC. Come learn about and create your own smaller pack basket to be a part of this long standing tradtional craft.
Traditionally made of ash bark, we will be using a more modern rattan reed. Used all around the world, each culture had different styles and purposes. We will be doing the Adirondack style. Which was made popular by the adaptations of the French settlers from the indigenous peoples.
This is a full day class.
Materials Fee: $50 – If the materials fee is a difficulty for you, please don’t hesitate or be shy to come talk to me directly. This is about Sharing the skills.
Age: Ability to focus and follow instructions
What to Bring: Kitchen scissors or pruners if you have them. We will be sitting on the ground.
Woods lore, Weeds and Useful Plants - Doug Elliott
Take a walk in the woods a world renowned Naturalist and Storyteller Doug Elliot~
We’ll check out the edible, medicinal, and otherwise useful wild plants. We will talk about the role of these plants among traditional inhabitants of the region and how we can use them for food and medicine in our everyday lives. We will notice the animal signs, bird calls, insects and other creatures which texture our outdoor experiences. You’ll likely hear stories, songs, and lore as well as fact stranger than fiction, about the plants and critters we encounter.
Advance Salve Making for Humans with Skin - Alexander Howe
Every participant shall depart not only enriched with skincare wisdom, but also a personally concocted salve, a product of our collective endeavor during the session. For those who wish to make and take, a nominal materials fee of $5 applies, and greater amounts of our co-created product will be available for purchase at “get it while it’s hot” discount.
Saturday Afternoon
Didgeridoo Making & Playing - Fuz Sanderson
Fuz Sanderson will teach you how to make and decorate your own bamboo didgeridoo. We’ll touch on the rich cultural history of Australian original peoples, ecology/uses of bamboo and how to use the tools to make your instrument. The class will finish with playing techniques and circular breathing. Each student goes home with their own didgeridoo.
Materials Fee: None
Age: 13+
What to Bring: All materials provided
Crafting Buckskin Belt Pouches (all day) - Gray Taylor
Continuing from the morning session…
During this hands on class we will be exploring the versatility and beauty of brain tanned buckskin while we craft a buckskin belt pouch from patterns made by the instructor.
There will be two pouch patterns to choose from and we’ll be sewing them together with buckskin thong cut by your own hands.
Materials Fee: SM. Pouch $40, LG. Pouch $80
Age: 13+
Primal Pottery - Keith Turnstone
Free for all clay spree – come work on projects and learn the earthy skill. Prepare to fire your projects.
Introduction to Dreamwork - Sarah Haggerty
Explore dreamwork as an art, science and ritual practice. Find out about the whats, hows, whys of tending nighttime dreams.This class will include basic foundations such as dream recall and simple dream tending practices that can help you tend and befriend your dreams. We will also explore deeper mysteries of dreams and animistic styles of dreamwork. You are welcome to bring questions and dream shares. Class participants are also welcome to join a morning dream sharing circle at breakfast where we reflect on dreams from the night before.
Pack Basket Making (all day) - Momma Wendy
(Continued from the morning session…)
Evidence of pack basket usage dates back to 900 AC. Come learn about and create your own smaller pack basket to be a part of this long standing tradtional craft.
Traditionally made of ash bark, we will be using a more modern rattan reed. Used all around the world, each culture had different styles and purposes. We will be doing the Adirondack style. Which was made popular by the adaptations of the French settlers from the indigenous peoples.
This is a full day class.
Materials Fee: $50 – If the materials fee is a difficulty for you, please don’t hesitate or be shy to come talk to me directly. This is about Sharing the skills.
Age: Ability to focus and follow instructions
What to Bring: Kitchen scissors or pruners if you have them. We will be sitting on the ground.
Wild Awareness - Snow Bear
Awareness techniques and challenges towards more complete observation in the wild.
All Ages
Spindle Spinning, An Intoduction - Suzy Hasanin
This Spindle Spinning Workshop will provide participants with hands-on experience and foundational skills in spinning wool using a spindle. This workshop aims to introduce the craft of spindle spinning, enhance participants’ understanding of wool preparation, and foster appreciation for traditional textile techniques.
Materials Fee: None
Age: 12+
Intro to Practical Herbalism - Alexander Howe
Hide Smoking (Day 3) - Jason Lane
***Saturday Evening Storytelling & Music around the Campfire - Doug Elliott & Billy Jonas***
This is an extra special evening of fun with Doug and Billy.
At 5 PM, we will be getting B-roll for a video Billy Jonas is making with Doug Elliot. Doug will be doing his Scat Rap and we all get to be his backing band! Buck skins are encouraged.
At 8 PM, Billy Jonas will be giving a full performance at the main fire.
Sunday Morning
Dreamsharing Breakfast Circle - Sarah Haggerty
Nature Spirituality and Sacred Ecology - LeIf Diamant with Sarah Haggerty
Nature is our Home and Wildness is our Roots. Nature is the source of many religions and spiritualities. Leif Diamant (licensed psychotherapist, ordained interfaith/spirit minister, lifetime naturalist and organic farmer) will facilitate deepening our intimacy with Nature. We will discuss and practice processes and behaviors that can expand our relationship with Nature as a source for peace, well-being, healing, creativity, wisdom, compassion, spirituality and love.
Pine Pitch Glue Making - James Clinkscales
We will learn different methods to collect pine sap and make the sap into a usable hot glue that our ancestors used for many different purposes on a daily basis. Key ingredients for different methods and uses for pine pitch will be used in this class.
Materials Fee: None
Finish Projects with Barron Brown (carving)
Finish your projects! Get some last help from the instructors before yall go home.
Primal Pottery Project Reveal! - Keith Turnstone
Let’s see how everybody’s projects came through the firing! We’ll look at what happened, discuss what went right and talk about what went wrong.
Mineral Pigments and Natural Paints - Jeff Gotleib
Prepare several types of stone and other natural pigments for use in painting on bark, paper or other medium. You won’t believe all the colors we will make and use! Take home some samples for later art projects!
Materials Fee: $5
What to Bring: paper, paint brush is you have them, small containers to hold take-home samples
Age: 6+
Ancestors and the Coming Generations - Snow Bear
Let us come together in remembrance reverence and council, to set intentions for including the ancestors and unborn generations in our daily lives.
Age: Teen to Adult
Forest Connection Walk - Morgan Fleming
This won’t be a class and I won’t be teaching you anything. Instead, I will be acting as a guide to help you connect with the forest. After several days of learning how to relate to nature as a resource for survival or bettering our lives, we’ll be taking the morning to simply connect with nature as it is. I’ll be guiding the group through a series of simple invitations to facilitate connection and relating with the forest around us.
Age: 12+
What to Bring: Whatever to be confortable in the woods, a cup for tea