A Wilder Way: Midwifing the World to Come in an Age of Extinction
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?
Why this? Why Now?
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 experiences 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. 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!
Childcare and Youth Programs
We have an experienced youth leader to lead activities for youth and kids during portions of the event. There will be an afternoon workshop that is appropriate and available for families and youth participation
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 and description of available beds on site, as well as other local options, is available at this link or you can book directly here.
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
Teachers / Facilitators / Cultural Workers
Jay Beck is a percussionist, performer, ritualist, educator and spiritual-activist
Tevyn East is a cultural organizer, facilitator, and director of Dreaming Stone
Chris Grataski is a naturalist, wilderness guide, farmer, and educator.
Dr. Sarah Nahar (she) is an organizer, scholar, activist, nonviolent action trainer, and interspiritual theologian.
Trainer Bee (they/them) is steeped in community medicine, community safety, and direct action support.
Jen Friedman is teacher, youth rites of passage leader and storyteller
Cassandra Lam (she/her) is somatic practitioner, liberatory rest educator, and community grief-tender.
April Rainsong is a kitchen creatrix, community and event organizer, and a private chef and caterer.
Lianna Constantino is a storyteller, ritualist, and retired emergency medicine instructor
Zev Friedman is a writer, researcher, and educator, building a regional mutual-aid and cooperative-economy network.
Saro Lynch-Thomason is an award-winning singer, song leader, folklorist, documentarian.
Todd Wynward is a father, community organizer, author, wilderness educator, and Mennonite minister for environmental justice
Adama Dembele is a master djembefola, teacher, and a 33rd-generation musician from his family from the Ivory Coast
Jolaade Grace, is a ceremonialist, song carrier, and village auntie, who convenes and leads Earth Church in Asheville, NC
Jonathan McRay is a farmer, facilitator, writer, teacher, and conflict transformation mediator.
Workshop Topics
* Mead-making * Songs for Resistance * Eco-Socialism * Mutual Aid * Wildlife Tracking * Wild Edible Weeds * Conflict Resolution * Cooking over Fire * Forest Ecology * Nixtamalization * Community Preparedness / Resilience * Somatics of Liberation
Work-trade and Accessibility
We are available to set up a payment plan if needed.
Work-trade is available for additional kitchen support and facility cleanup at $15/hour.
We have a limited number of partial and full scholarships awarded on a rolling basis as funds allow, and priority will be given to those who have been disproportionately impacted by racial capitalism.
To learn more or submit your interest in payment plans, work-trade, or scholarships, please visit this form.
You may also reach out to Aliza at info@dreamingstone.org with any questions about the above.
Registration Costs
We have a three-tier sliding scale, with incentives for early registration. Please pay the highest amount you can afford.
Suggested $625.00
Choose this option if you are financially stable (for instance, you have savings and budget for extracurricular activities or travel). This option covers event expenses and labor.
Sustaining $750.00
Choose this option if you are financially well-off (for instance, if you have received inheritance, you own your home and have savings). This option supports lower registration fees for those who need it and makes the event possible.
Supported $475.00
Choose this option if you wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend (for instance, if you live paycheck to paycheck despite working full time). This amount does not fully cover the event’s expenses, and the number of spots at this tier is limited.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
- Full refund minus a $75 admin fee before July 1st
- 50% refund from July 1st to August 5th
- No refund after August 5th
- Partial refunds will be considered on a case-by-case basis for emergencies and unexpected illness.
