Kids Tent
For Ages 5 and Up
It may be that the kids at the Faire have more fun even than the rest of us. The Great Lakes Herb Faire provides an inspiring learning environment for our next generation of herbalists. Many of the kids have been coming since the beginning and we are blessed to watch them grow. Others come for the first time and find the atmosphere welcoming with a weekend full of activities of herbal lore and knowledge.
Register early as the kids tent fills up fast.
Register early as the kids tent fills up fast.
2022 Kids Tent Class Descriptions
Camouflage and Stalking/Scout Skills
with Asher Lake McLaughlin
This is a fun playful exploration into moving over the earth undetected. We will practice hiding, stalking, and observation primarily through games and play. We will get muddy, crawl on our bellies, and get close to nature.
with Asher Lake McLaughlin
This is a fun playful exploration into moving over the earth undetected. We will practice hiding, stalking, and observation primarily through games and play. We will get muddy, crawl on our bellies, and get close to nature.
Green Basket Weaving
with Greg Monzel
Learn to weave simple baskets from green vines and sticks. These are great for storing special items, nuts and fruits, stones, skulls, and other nature collections. We’ll start small and show you how to scale up to bigger creations.
with Greg Monzel
Learn to weave simple baskets from green vines and sticks. These are great for storing special items, nuts and fruits, stones, skulls, and other nature collections. We’ll start small and show you how to scale up to bigger creations.
Herbal Art!: Paint with Mother Nature's Palate
with Joan Jach
This will be a fun, hands-on class for kids! We will learn about the way our ancestors made paints and pigments, then make some of our own using found and prepared ingredients. Students will paint their very own Herbal Art piece to remember their time at the Faire. I plan to have some sourced ingredients for making paints in addition to taking students on a short walk to gather (non-poisonous!) plants/berries/nuts for making pigments. My goal for this class is to introduce students to the ancient process of making art (specifically painting) using raw materials from Nature. Other art supplies like pencils, crayons, ink and pigment from rocks will also be discussed/demonstrated. Safety and ethics of wildcrafting will be explicitly discussed during this class.
with Joan Jach
This will be a fun, hands-on class for kids! We will learn about the way our ancestors made paints and pigments, then make some of our own using found and prepared ingredients. Students will paint their very own Herbal Art piece to remember their time at the Faire. I plan to have some sourced ingredients for making paints in addition to taking students on a short walk to gather (non-poisonous!) plants/berries/nuts for making pigments. My goal for this class is to introduce students to the ancient process of making art (specifically painting) using raw materials from Nature. Other art supplies like pencils, crayons, ink and pigment from rocks will also be discussed/demonstrated. Safety and ethics of wildcrafting will be explicitly discussed during this class.
Herbal Recess
with Kristine Brown
Let’s play some games! Learn about herbs while playing herbally adapted games such as Weed, Weed, Herb (Duck, Duck , Goose), Hot Garlic Bulb (Hot Potato), Genus Species (Marco Polo), and What herbs are you picking Mr. Wild Crafter? (What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?).
with Kristine Brown
Let’s play some games! Learn about herbs while playing herbally adapted games such as Weed, Weed, Herb (Duck, Duck , Goose), Hot Garlic Bulb (Hot Potato), Genus Species (Marco Polo), and What herbs are you picking Mr. Wild Crafter? (What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?).
Herbal Syrups & Sodas
with Lea Pfeifer, John & CiCi
Cici and John, together with their mom, will present a soda extravaganza! Learn how to use ingredients like vanilla, lemon, lime and more varied herbs to make sodas that are refreshing, sometimes medicinal and always a treat.
with Lea Pfeifer, John & CiCi
Cici and John, together with their mom, will present a soda extravaganza! Learn how to use ingredients like vanilla, lemon, lime and more varied herbs to make sodas that are refreshing, sometimes medicinal and always a treat.
Honor Mother Nature with Drum and Chant
with Janice Marsh-Preslenik
Participants will learn simple earth-based chants and simple drum rhythms to accompany the chants. Drums will be provided, but bring your own if you have one. Come to drum! Come to chant! Come to drum and chant! Or come and listen! No musical experience is necessary.
with Janice Marsh-Preslenik
Participants will learn simple earth-based chants and simple drum rhythms to accompany the chants. Drums will be provided, but bring your own if you have one. Come to drum! Come to chant! Come to drum and chant! Or come and listen! No musical experience is necessary.
Hula As Storytelling
Schantell Puamaeole Taylor
In this class children will learn about e huli makou, a children’s song that will teach them Hawai’ian words and directions. Huli means “to turn,” but it also refers to when life turns over and you’re facing a challenge. We’ll talk about how to find tools to move forward, looking back at the past and knowing that it is the future. We will be telling our stories and healing through dance.
Schantell Puamaeole Taylor
In this class children will learn about e huli makou, a children’s song that will teach them Hawai’ian words and directions. Huli means “to turn,” but it also refers to when life turns over and you’re facing a challenge. We’ll talk about how to find tools to move forward, looking back at the past and knowing that it is the future. We will be telling our stories and healing through dance.
Our Eight Senses
with Breezy Barcelo
Did you know that you have eight senses? Your brain and your body work together so closely, that you can even change how you feel by using your senses! In this class, we will explore and play with our five senses we may have already learned about, and we are going to learn about three more! Our bodies are amazing. When we begin to understand how our sensory systems react and intertwine with the beautiful world around us, we can connect with nature to explore, listen, watch, and learn a lot of cool stuff!
with Breezy Barcelo
Did you know that you have eight senses? Your brain and your body work together so closely, that you can even change how you feel by using your senses! In this class, we will explore and play with our five senses we may have already learned about, and we are going to learn about three more! Our bodies are amazing. When we begin to understand how our sensory systems react and intertwine with the beautiful world around us, we can connect with nature to explore, listen, watch, and learn a lot of cool stuff!
Our First Herbal: These Are Our Voices
with Leslie Alexander
In this workshop we will explore our sensory perceptions of herbs, first through group activity. Then, using a series of prompts, regarding sight, touch etc kiddos will be divided into ‘sensory groups’. Each person will be offered an opportunity to draw, print, sculpt or write about their experience. Each will leave with their creation, but only after they have had a chance to sign the authors page of "Our First Herbal: These are Our Voices" and have their work photographed. After the conference, I will have the cumulative work bound (Flicker or some such), and I will gift a copy to the GLHF library. Families will also be able to order copies for their kids.
with Leslie Alexander
In this workshop we will explore our sensory perceptions of herbs, first through group activity. Then, using a series of prompts, regarding sight, touch etc kiddos will be divided into ‘sensory groups’. Each person will be offered an opportunity to draw, print, sculpt or write about their experience. Each will leave with their creation, but only after they have had a chance to sign the authors page of "Our First Herbal: These are Our Voices" and have their work photographed. After the conference, I will have the cumulative work bound (Flicker or some such), and I will gift a copy to the GLHF library. Families will also be able to order copies for their kids.
TWIGLOO Construction for Youth
with Deanne Bednar
Come create a "stick tipi structure" with wood and rope! To make a "twigloo": ...lean sticks together, tie them up, decorate with natural materials, climb in them and Enjoy!
with Deanne Bednar
Come create a "stick tipi structure" with wood and rope! To make a "twigloo": ...lean sticks together, tie them up, decorate with natural materials, climb in them and Enjoy!
2022 Tween/Teen Class Descriptions
BANG, SNIFF, GRAB - The Story of your Senses at Night
with Chad and Lexi
Get ready to enjoy the mysteries of the darkness when sensory awareness is heightened and storytelling can be most impactful. Many folks fear the darkness due to an insecurity in their own abilities to sense what is happening without vision. This evening's activity will prove them wrong. We will encourage students to step out of their comfort zone, connect to their awareness of the other four senses and explore the beauty of the nighttime. Depending upon the weather, there are 5 different potential senses activities that would be performed this evening engaging the uses of sound, touch, or smell. We will provide a safe environment where limiting the students vision, they will be asked to ‘find their way’ to the ‘end’ either via listening, smelling, or touching.
“Playing outside isn't just something that we all did as kids - the reality is being outside enhances our awareness, makes us healthier and happier." -Unknown
Playing outside at night propels us with confidence into the daytime.
with Chad and Lexi
Get ready to enjoy the mysteries of the darkness when sensory awareness is heightened and storytelling can be most impactful. Many folks fear the darkness due to an insecurity in their own abilities to sense what is happening without vision. This evening's activity will prove them wrong. We will encourage students to step out of their comfort zone, connect to their awareness of the other four senses and explore the beauty of the nighttime. Depending upon the weather, there are 5 different potential senses activities that would be performed this evening engaging the uses of sound, touch, or smell. We will provide a safe environment where limiting the students vision, they will be asked to ‘find their way’ to the ‘end’ either via listening, smelling, or touching.
“Playing outside isn't just something that we all did as kids - the reality is being outside enhances our awareness, makes us healthier and happier." -Unknown
Playing outside at night propels us with confidence into the daytime.
Herbalism for the Young Woman
with Abigail Ruby
This workshop is for the girls who are starting to look after their bodies like women. We will discuss what herbs can support them during this significant point in their lives. We can also have a small tea ceremony for the new women.
with Abigail Ruby
This workshop is for the girls who are starting to look after their bodies like women. We will discuss what herbs can support them during this significant point in their lives. We can also have a small tea ceremony for the new women.
Medicine Burn Bowls
with Asher Lake McLaughlin
This class teaches the skill of making a bowl with coals and a knife. Each participant will leave with a bowl to hold medicine, smudge/burn plants, or grind and process herbs. My goal is for people to walk away with work they are connected to that feels meaningful and sacred to them. This class touches on fire, woodworking, and a bit on ceremony.
with Asher Lake McLaughlin
This class teaches the skill of making a bowl with coals and a knife. Each participant will leave with a bowl to hold medicine, smudge/burn plants, or grind and process herbs. My goal is for people to walk away with work they are connected to that feels meaningful and sacred to them. This class touches on fire, woodworking, and a bit on ceremony.
Sacred Order of Survival - Primitive Skills Workshop
With Chad and Lexi
You’ve gone for a walk in the woods. Woods you know so well you decided not to bring your compass. But you catch sight of some Chaga off in the distance, on an otherwise pristine Birch and decide to harvest some. It’s brisk outside, but you figured you’d only be gone for an hour and decided to start cold knowing you’d work up a sweat on your hike. A light snow has begun to fall as you start towards the Chaga. You notice another few edibles around the Birch, and by the time your harvest is complete the ground is blanketed in a thin layer of snow. You head back towards the unmarked trail and notice how beautiful the scenery is. Ten minutes later you realize you must have passed the trail and head back, chilly now, only to find that your tracks are already covered up. The snow is falling harder and you start to panic. Can you survive in the woods?
This intensive will focus on the first two fundamentals in the Sacred Order of Survival: Shelter and Fire. Using Native American philosophies, non-traditional methods and the materials that nature provides, students are challenged to learn necessary outdoor & primitive skills, accomplish collective tasks, & meet the physical demands made on them by Mother Earth. Students will learn how to feel comfortable and confident in nature when all else seems to be lost.
With Chad and Lexi
You’ve gone for a walk in the woods. Woods you know so well you decided not to bring your compass. But you catch sight of some Chaga off in the distance, on an otherwise pristine Birch and decide to harvest some. It’s brisk outside, but you figured you’d only be gone for an hour and decided to start cold knowing you’d work up a sweat on your hike. A light snow has begun to fall as you start towards the Chaga. You notice another few edibles around the Birch, and by the time your harvest is complete the ground is blanketed in a thin layer of snow. You head back towards the unmarked trail and notice how beautiful the scenery is. Ten minutes later you realize you must have passed the trail and head back, chilly now, only to find that your tracks are already covered up. The snow is falling harder and you start to panic. Can you survive in the woods?
This intensive will focus on the first two fundamentals in the Sacred Order of Survival: Shelter and Fire. Using Native American philosophies, non-traditional methods and the materials that nature provides, students are challenged to learn necessary outdoor & primitive skills, accomplish collective tasks, & meet the physical demands made on them by Mother Earth. Students will learn how to feel comfortable and confident in nature when all else seems to be lost.
Send Some Herbal Love to Ukrainian Refugees (Tween/Teen)
with Janice Marsh-Preslenik
We will create heart healing remedies to send to friends in Poland that are caring for Ukrainian refugees. Think rose for the heart, milky oats for the nerves, nettles for nourishment among others. Roll up your sleeves and we will craft tea blends, elixirs, and more herbal love.
with Janice Marsh-Preslenik
We will create heart healing remedies to send to friends in Poland that are caring for Ukrainian refugees. Think rose for the heart, milky oats for the nerves, nettles for nourishment among others. Roll up your sleeves and we will craft tea blends, elixirs, and more herbal love.
Kids Tent Teachers
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My name’s Leslie Alexander and I’m interested in practicalities. I enjoy bending ideas and shaping protocols to make them accessible and interesting. I think that this is most apparent in my clinical work, the mentoring I do and the Round Tables we teach. I work holistically, with an interest in many aspects of the mouth. In my clinical practice, I enjoy working with others to sustain well-being, to address chronic conditions and acute health-related challenges. I’m very interested in maritime medicinals and I enjoy making cyanotypes (sun prints) as well as weaving. I like food, kitchen medicine, talk, laughter and oh, I’ve a very cute dog!
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Breezy Barcelo is a mother of 7 and an occupational therapist, specializing in mental health, sensory integration, and nature-based therapy. Her previous work as a birth and postpartum doula for over ten years led her to a deep love of caring for children and their families. Breezy’s connection to the earth and herbalism has led her to a variety of studies with local herbalists taking plant walks and making medicine. While obtaining her degree in occupational therapy, she focused numerous research projects on the healing effect of nature on our minds and our bodies. Breezy lives in Kalamazoo and is currently offering outdoor OT for children in partnership with Creative Nature Academy, a nature enrichment program in Grand Rapids: www.creativenatureacademy.org
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Deanne Bednar says, "I have been sharing natural building skills since taking my first course with the Cob Cottage Company in 1996 (after retiring from Middle School Art & Sustainable Future teaching) and since then have overseen many intern & volunteers on various projects. From 2003 to the present, have coordinated and taught at the Strawbale Studio, was part of the teaching team for the Natural Cottage Project which provides 2 week start-to-finish building workshops and have been a co-teacher for 10 day workshops with the Cob Cottage Company. I have also made many presentations at Bioneers Detroit, Earth Day Events, Re-skilling Conferences, Colleges and other educational venues. Illustrator of several books on natural building: The Hand-Sculpted House, The Natural Plaster Book and the Cobber’s Companion. I LOVE to forage for materials!!"
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Based out of Troy, Illinois, Kristine Brown RH (AHG) is a traditional community herbalist. She has studied with Rosemary Gladstar, Isla Burgess, and her mentors Leslie Alexander and Leslie Williams, as well as spent countless hours in research and study. She sees clients, teaches classes, hosts a study group focusing on the use of local herbs, and creates online/digital content teaching children about herbs, Herbal Roots zine and Herb Club. In addition, Kristine is the author of four books. In the past Kristine has facilitated a summer herbal workshop out of her home for children as well as coordinated the kid's camp for 4 years at the Midwest Women's Herbal Conference. She has also taught both adults and children around the country at conferences such as Traditions in Western Herbalism, Montana Herb Gathering, and Great Lakes Herb Faire. www.herbalrootszine.org
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As a child, Joan Jach was always outside: building forts, picking flowers, watching animals and communing with Mother Nature. She tries to reclaim that feeling of complete wonder in her art and my products. My work runs a broad line between the cultivated and the wild, the well-planned success and the successful fail, the grit of real life and the magic of make believe. "Whatever you find in my work, I hope it makes you feel more connected to Nature and full of Wonder!"
Joan Jach owns and runs Old Town Flowers, an herbal products/art studio in Champaign, Illinois. She teaches the art and craft of living a beautiful life at Common Ground Co-op, Hopscotch Bakery and HER Creative Collective. |
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Janice Marsh-Prelesnik has been a life long observer and lover of nature, natural processes and natural health care. Since 1981 her business, Creative Health Arts, has offered the services of home birth midwifery (now retired), herbalism, body work therapies and expressive arts/music therapy. The Kitchen Table Herbalism class has been taught by Janice for over 35 years! In 2022/2023 school year she will be teaching an herbal course through the Gull Lake Community School Virtual Partnership. In the winter Janice is found exploring the Andes mountains, Amazon rain forest and coastal areas of Ecuador. While there she learns from shamans, herbalists, midwives and other traditional healers. Most importantly Janice is the mother of grown children and four grandchildren.
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My name is Asher McLaughlin and I am deeply passionate about reconnecting to the wild, playful, and vital parts of ourselves. I truly believe one of the fastest ways to get there is by re-kindling a connection with the natural landscape around us and the skills that are deeply seated in us from our ancestors. My goal in classes is to create a space for people to gather in community, play, create, and connect to the things that make us human.
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Greg Monzel is a community herbalist, foraging instructor, permaculturist and cofounder of Wild Persimmon School of Wellness in Indianapolis, Indiana. He has been practicing clinical herbalism and teaching plant-centered skills since 2007; more info at www.persimmonherbschool.com and greg@persimmonherbschol.com
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Chad & Lexi O'Kulich
Coyote and Lexer from Texer have been guiding Wilderness Expedition trips for a combined total of over 30 years. They both enjoy enhancing their awareness in Mother Nature and sharing their experiences with all those willing to learn. Growth occurs when you step out of your comfort zone and both Coyote and Lexer are always teaching and learning from students of all ages. Coyote is also a Spanish teacher, Varsity Soccer coach, Director of the Horizons-Upward Bound Wilderness program and leadership coordinator at Cranbrook Schools, and Lexer is a Repair Manager for Patagonia and a lead guide for the Horizons-Upward Bound Wilderness program. Miigwetch! |
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Lea Pfeifer is an educator, herbalist and homeschooling mom who believes that child development is human development. She makes herbal goodies that her kids love to consume, and her favorite thing, both as an herbalist and a mom, is sleep. Cici is a budding herbalist, a dancer and a Cricut enthusiast who combines her love of nature and her love of creating to bring beauty to her every day. John is expanding his plant ID skills and is a drummer, dancer, Nerf enthusiast and a good friend whose energy keeps us all going.
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Abigail Ruby is an herbalist in Madison, Wisconsin. She was raised in the North Woods on Menominee land. She spent five years traveling and studying herbalism in Arizona, where she received a Western Herbalism degree under JoAnn Sanchez. Settling into her plant path, Abigail is now an herbal teacher, medicine maker, and always, a steward and student of the land. Her focus is on women’s health and wellness, folk medicines, and pregnancy and labor.
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