Kids Tent 2025
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 (10 years now!!) and we are blessed to watch them grow and others have come for some years and have moved on to teach the younger ones!! Others come for the first time and find the atmosphere welcoming with a weekend full of activities of herbal lore and knowledge.
Space is limited! Register early as the kids tent fills up fast.
Space is limited! Register early as the kids tent fills up fast.
Kids Tent Class Descriptions Coming Soon
For Kids ages 5-12 (scroll down for the tweens/teens classes)
Tween/Teen Class Descriptions Coming Soon
Kid's Tent Teachers
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!
https://leslie-alexander.net/ |
Breezy Barcelo is an occupational therapist (OT) 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. While obtaining her degree in OT, she focused research projects on the healing effects of being in nature. Breezy lives in Kalamazoo and provides support for non traditional college students at the Jeannette Rankin Foundation. She also teaches in the Holistic Health department at Western Michigan University.
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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 I have overseen many interns & 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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Tricia Bellew is a Traditional Naturopath, a folksy family herbalist, an intuitive Reiki practitioner, and a magickal mama to two beautiful wildflowers. She is passionate about helping others to craft their own inspired healing rituals, fueled by the glowing embers of empowered self-care. A believer that we were all born to live a life of vibrant energy, Tricia is dedicated to helping the sacred healing arts that she has studied, to take root once more, by planting seeds of knowledge within her community.
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Kristine Brown, RH(AHG), is helping parents teach their kids about herbalism, one herb at a time. A practicing traditional community herbalist and mother of four children and two stepchildren, two of whom she homeschooled for 11 years, Kristine created the only children’s herbal curriculum that uses all four learning styles (visual, auditory, reading, and kinesthetic). She has taught classes for homeschooled children locally and coordinated numerous herbal conference kids’ camps both locally and nationally. She is the writer and illustrator of the online children’s publication Herbal Roots zine, which she began publishing in 2009, and the creator of several online courses that teach children about botany, drawing, and herbs. Her latest venture in teaching herbalism is her membership offering, Herb Club, which gives kids and parents video lessons, expanded curriculum for preschool through high school, and a member forum for parents and for kids. She is also the author of Herbalism at Home, The Homesteader’s Guide to Growing Herbs, and Nature Anatomy Activities for Kids and Nature Anatomy Guided Journal for Kids books. Teaching others about plants and drawing and sharing her knowledge with children—our future—is her passion.
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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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Colleen Donahoe is a yoga teacher, environmental educator, and herbalist from Indianapolis, IN where she and her husband run Persimmon Herb School out of their home. They have two children, two cats, one Great Pyrenees, some chickens, and LOTS of plants. www.persimmonherbschool.com
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Michael Marie Schofield is a basketmaker and funerary artisan located in Dexter, Michigan. She owns a small farmstead growing native plants and basketry willow. Her journey into basket and casketweaving was driven by a rapidly growing affection for growing and tending plants and a deep love for a family member preplanning their eventual green burial. Michael now weaves baskets, caskets, burial trays, and urns following traditional European wicker techniques.
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Angela McElroy BSHS, Naturopathic Practitioner and Equine Specialist. Angela is the founder of Dorr To Eden & Dorr To Eden Freedom Camps. She has been involved in social work and infant mental health since 2005 and a certified naturopath since 2014. She specializes in emotional and behavioral concerns using holistic approaches to mind, body and soul healing which includes using herbal programs and equine assisted growth and learning. She believes everyone should have access to holistic services which led her to create the non-profit Dorr To Eden Freedom Camps for grief and loss and offers other low cost and donation based services.
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Ashley Meek is a Forest School Guide, Naturopathic Doctor, Massage and Craniosacral Therapist, Birth Doula and Reiki Practitioner at Mother Nurture Holistic Wellness LLC and Strong Roots Forest School near Grand Rapids, MI. She is passionate about living a life where we nurture our connections to the land and each other, listening to the wisdom of the Earth, living in partnership with nature and in loving community. She practices bodywork and energy therapies as well as naturopathy on a converted school bus on her land located on the Flat River. She also leads forest school classes, foraging and nature art camps, herbal medicine classes for adults and children, sacred circles and ceremonies, and handcrafts nature inspired art and jewelry and apothecary remedies.
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Janice Marsh-Prelesnik is excited to once again lead classes for our amazing kids and teens! As a mother of four, grandmother of four, and home birth midwife (now retired) to hundreds of babies and their families, Janice has spent a lifetime cherishing the next generation. She teaches a year-long herbalism course to K-12 students at the Gull Lake Virtual Partnership, which is a combination of online and in person herbal learning. Janice also leads earth based song circles and practices music as medicine in which she offers music and herb events for people in hospice and memory care.
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