Social Forestry Workshop with Hazel Vaarde

How do we build reciprocity with the places we care for?

How do we love the land as an active practice?

How do we learn to listen and start speaking the quiet language of place?

Slowly. Quietly. Clumsily. And sometimes in a big rush all at once.

If you find yourself asking these questions, or steward a place, or simply aspire to, join us and Permaculture Elder Hazel Vaarde July 12-13 for a weekend of Social Forestry, as we practice reading land, tending to the needs of its inhabitants and building an adaptive vision to manage our places ever closer towards ecological health and plenitude.

This event is tailored for folks all along the spectrum of stewardship or permaculture experience. You can expect discussion of social forestry principles, use of hand tools and active practice with various methods of tending. The intent is for participants to walk away better prepared to perceive and attend to the needs of their own place, as well as weave themselves deeper into this bioregional network of stewards.
 

“Social forestry is tending the land as people of place. How do we cooperate with each other to do useful things in these places? It’s always site specific, and it’s always culturally specific."

Hazel Vaarde is a long-term resident of Southern Oregon and is deeply situated in place and permaculture.  During this 2-day event, participants are invited to join Hazel at Elkenmist – a 120 acre span of farm, forest and wetlands in Southern Washington – to learn through stories and hands-on workshops bringing Hazel's latest book, Social Forestry, to lived experience. 

About Hazel

Hazel (Friend/They/She pronouns)  has been advising farms, stewarding forests, and teaching Environmental Sciences for more than fifty years. After having earned degrees in Forestry and Systematic Botany from Syracuse University and SUNY College of Forestry in 1969, Hazel taught Wild Edible Plants and Woods-lore at Laney College in Oakland, California in the early 1970’s. Since helping Bill Mollison teach the first Permaculture Design Course at Evergreen State College in 1982, they have been instrumental in teaching and spreading Permaculture practices ever since.

Hazel has taught dozens of Permaculture courses over the last 37 years, primarily in Southern Oregon and Northern California. These include the PDC, Permaculture Teachers Training, and advanced courses in Optical Surveying, Social Forestry, and Farm Planning. They were a frequent guest instructor for Toby Hemenway Permaculture design courses offered in the Northwest.

Hazel's latest book (published April 2023) is Social Forestry: Tending the Land as People of Place – an acclaimed guide of practical placemaking advice and ancient lore – a culture building manual for anyone wanting to have a reciprocal relationship with their communities, themselves, and the places they inhabit.

About Elkenmist

Elkenmist is a lush green forested farm land where elk and mist invite humans to become alchemists. Or at least to transform some of their baggage into beauty and transmute some of their garbage into gardens.

The humans here aspire to symbiotic relationships with the land, plants, animals, mushrooms and each other. We invoke intention through time and patterns that rhyme to bring the bounty of the beautiful world we all know is possible. We let go of what no longer serves us. On good days. When we are feeling brave.

We are practicing becoming people of place, even through all the difficulties and mistakes, cultivating a spirit of joy and serendipity. 

Logistics

When

Participants are invited to arrive in the afternoon of Fri, July 11 to set up camp in our campground. Contact us about tent and gear rentals if needed. July 12 and 13 will be full days of workshops with Hazel. The event concludes in the evening of July 13. 

Food & Accommodation

A light breakfast and lunch will be provided July 12-13. A full dinner will be served July 12 and will be a time for gathering together after the day's activities and socializing, sharing stories. The food hosting team will prioritize local and organic ingredients when possible, and vegetarian options will be available. If you have further dietary needs, let us know when you register and we'll do our best to accommodate.

 In the spirit of co-creation, participants are expected to contribute to the preparation or clean up of one or more meals. 

Participants staying on-site will need to camp in our spacious campground. Amenities include shared bathroom facilities with hot shower, flush and non-flush toilets, as well as a wood-fired sauna in the evenings.

A variety of off-site accommodations are nearby.

Contact Sara at Elkenmist (elkenmist@gmail.com) if you have any questions or want any help planning your accommodations! 

Where

On farm at Elkenmist, 90 minutes northwest of Portland, Oregon in Skamokawa, WA 98647, United States (Map). Venue address will be shared with registered participants.

Financial Transparency

Money collected from ticket sales will first be paid to Hazel and their team for hosting this workshop. Other expenses include purchasing food and materials for the camp, paying Elkenmist for use of the venue, and paying support staff for preparing and running logistics for the event.

We've tried to make this event as financially accessible as possible and hope to offer scholarship opportunities. If you are financially able to purchase a Supporter Ticket, it makes it possible for us to subsidize the cost for other participants who may be otherwise unable to afford a ticket.

If you have any questions, can consider a donation, or need further financial support contact us at elkenmist@gmail.com 

Or for more info on the land and its inhabitants visit https://www.elkenmist.com