Join us August 19th – 23rd as we nurture community and build resilience amid the intersecting crises of our time. We’ll spend 5 days charting a wilder path together through storytelling, skill-sharing, songs, ritual, and homegrown feasts.

Are you seeking a place-based life that weaves accountability with land and community? What do we discover when we deepen into seasonal living that learns from and serves the watershed? What are the cultural practices that honor our interlocking communities, pasts, and futures? What are the earth skills and land practices that grow our resilience while helping us heal our bodies and renew our spirits and minds?

Together, we will tend all of these questions and sow seeds for a world beyond crisis and collapse We will reckon with the obscenity and severity of historical and current levels of oppression, so as to dive into the grief work needed to usher us through this age of premature death and competition, toward a culture of life-affirming cooperation with the regenerative powers and sacred mysteries of the earth. Together we will practice deeper intimacy with our food, our shit, our waterways, and the seasonal arcs that recycle us. Meals will weave abundant connections, integrating foraged ingredients with locally grown, storied food. Together we will experiment in creating a new/old bioregional culture attuning to the land, our bodies, the collective, and sacred presence.

We welcome all faith traditions, cultural lineages, gender expressions, and experience levels with these ideas. We will center the needs of those disproportionately impacted by our racist state and actively build trust and capacity for collective liberation.

Logistics

We come together for five days, August 19th – 23rd, starting Wednesday afternoon and concluding after Sunday’s lunch. That’s four nights under the stars and 12 meals together. There are full-group experiences at the start and end of each day, and smaller-group learning breakouts in the afternoons.

Meals

All meals are included from Wednesday dinner through Sunday lunch. We can accommodate your dietary preferences. Our meals will be a treasured part of your experience as they are abundant, locally sourced, and delicious! 

Sleeping

Camping is included in the event registration costs. Campers have access to showers and toilets at the Mothership. There are guest bedrooms in the Mothership and additional residential dwellings on the land that carry additional costs. A list of available beds on site, as well as other local options, is available at this link.

After registering, you will be immediately invited to reserve accommodations on site.

Schedule

There are regular breaks in the scheduled program to get to know each other, take dips in the river or pond, or for spontaneous organizing or offerings to emerge.

Wed

• Registration opens at 1 pm – Land tour & time for setting up camping.
• 3 – 5:00 pm Break Out into small groups for land projects (Optional Ice Breaker)
• 6 – Dinner – 
• 7:30-9 pm – Opening Evening

Thurs

• Optional early practice or asynchronous rituals
• 8 – 9 Breakfast
• 9:30 am – 12 pm Morning Session
• 12-3 pm Lunch/Break – optional activities
• 3-5:30 pm Afternoon Session (Split into two or more groups)
• 6 Dinner
• 8- Evening Cultural Event

Fri

• Same structure as Thurs w/ different offerings

Sat

• Same structure as Thurs and Fri w/ different offerings and an afternoon space for emergent opportunities.

Sun

• 8:30 Breakfast
• 10 am-1 pm Morning Session and closing circle
• 1-2 pm Lunch
• 1:30-4 pm – Goodbyes and Departure

Resourced Guides

Chris Grataski

Chris Grataski is a naturalist, wilderness guide, farmer, and grassroots educator who’s spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of social and ecological issues. Rooted in a reverence for the mystery and complexity of the earth, and with an enduring commitment to justice and decolonial futures, his work revolves around sowing seeds for a world beyond crisis and collapse. He is the founder of Stone River Institute, a guide and educator, passionate about weaving connections between ecology and embodied practice, and helping folks discover their innate kinship with the wild. He and his 12-year-old son live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where they can often be found looking for animal tracks, swimming in local rivers, or hanging out at the skatepark.

Stoneriverinstitute.org

April Rainsong

April Rainsong is a mother and kitchen creatrix living in the mountains of western North Carolina. Her greatest culinary passions are centered around preserving seasonal produce and all things fermentation! Starting with a life-changing jar of kimchi from a friend’s garden over a decade ago, her fermentation journeys have ranged from pickles and sauerkraut to cheeses and vinegars to tempeh and miso, with plenty in between. Sourdough bread baking holds a special place in April’s heart and is a favorite to teach and share. April freelances as a community and event organizer, as well as private chef and caterer. Nurturing and nourishing community connections is a multifaceted process—feeding the people might just be her favorite path to take.

Tevyn and Jay Beast

Saro Lynch Thomason

Zev Friedman

Todd Wynward