Lime Plaster Workshop
Gathering Ways is spotlighting local Chonkush “Tusa” dePalatine in this two day Lime Plaster workshop!
This workshop will take place within the city limits of Port Townsend, WA.
Join us for this hands-on application of basic lime plaster over a small light-straw-clay (or slip-straw) structure built onto a trailer, intended to be a tool shed. This class will give you experience in what it would take to build your own mobile tiny house or use the same technique on a permanent structure. Lime is an excellent finishing application for our bioregion, as it is both durable and breathable. We will work together to lay the base plaster using lime, sand, straw, manure, and water.
What will this course cover?
- site and building prep
- how to apply lime plaster on earthen and conventional materials. This structure is straw-clay. We will talk about differences and similarities applying over straw-bale, conventional, and lath.
- we will also talk about other ways to protect exteriors of straw-clay structures and why lime was chosen
- earthen building on trailers - considerations for this special circumstance
- reclaimed and upcycled materials usage
- how to make and use “bottle bricks” made of trash
- what kinds of things can be used as aggregates other than sand
- vapor barriers - when to use and when not to use them
- structural reinforcement materials such as fiberglass mesh - when to use and when not to use them
- mixing, consistency and application of the material
- how to go about detailed edging
- the magical cycle of lime, how it’s made and its uses
- hands on experience
MEALS
Tuition includes lunch for both days, made from local organic produce and organic or better meat.
AMENITIES
This class is held within the city limits of Port Townsend and there is no onsite camping at this location. The nearest designated camping area is about 1 mile away (20 minute walk, some on charming foottrails) at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. Other lodging is also available throughout the town of Port Townsend. Recommended to book accommodations well in advance in the summertime.
Lovely beaches to explore, bask, and swim within walking/ biking distance, including areas where wild clays can be harvested for buildings and pottery among the herons, eagles, otters, kingfisher, wild yellow lupines, and a fascinating geological rainbow of beach stones.
CLASS SCHEDULE AND WHAT TO BRING
Class runs from 9 AM - 3 PM
Bring a water bottle, comfortable clothes that cover your arms and legs fully that you don’t mind getting stained, and closed toed shoes.
Vinyl gloves will be available in various sizes, but you may want to bring your own for a guaranteed good fit. They should be entirely waterproof all around, not just the palm.
Drinking water, snacks, and access to a bathroom will be available throughout the day.
$100-200
Work-trade positions are available.
Work-traders are fed lunch on the days they help.
10% off if registering for more than one workshop
Chonkush Tusa dePalatine bio:
“Tusa” loves working with her hands, coaxing connection from the loam of human and Earth as a body-worker, artist, and builder. Her 15+ years of relationship with wild clays began with neighborhood projects and home construction, and now extends into pottery.
Tusa lives in the Salish territories of the interior tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, where mountains meet sea with marvelous marl. She tempers her passion for somatic connection with nature and the healing arts through the practice of ancestral skills, as an amateur herbalist, fiberist, foodie, composer, and instrument maker.
For some past project photos:https://www.facebook.com/placecraft/photos_albums
Animal Harvest Handcrafting and Folk Magick Class
One day animal slaughter class
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Full Animal Harvest Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Wild Clay Workshop
Gathering Ways is spotlighting local Chonkush “Tusa” dePalatine in this Wild Clay & Pit-Fire Pottery workshop!
October 6-11th
This intensive 5-day workshop will be hosted in Jefferson County, WA, near Quilcene. Details TBD.
This class will be utilizing entirely hand-building techniques, no wheel. Pinch pots, free form, coil, and corrugated techniques will all be touched on. We will not be using glazes, but instead a finishing technique called burnishing using very smooth stones. Etching, embedding, or reliefing designs at different stages. Clay paints will be available for adding colours and designs. Even without glazes, you will learn how to produce lasting kitchen and cookware. You are welcome also to sculpt any other shape you like within the parameters of what can be safely fired. We will discuss the benefits of unglazed low fire pottery, and tips and troubleshooting for wild clays and pit fires. For the pit-fire, we will play with pulling pieces out to burn designs onto them, or oxidizing them to be completely black. This workshop will encourage experimentation and play over perfection and product. There is never a guarantee when we step into the transformative world of fire and clay that a finished product will result from the process. This is a process-oriented class that will help you learn what it takes to engage in the process and give you the confidence to be curious about the wild clays you encounter on this wild and beautiful Earth.
What will this course cover?
- harvesting wild clays - ethics and practice
- assessing wild clays for their uses
- hands on processing wild clays
- hands on sculpting with multiple types of wild clays
- blending clays for different properties
- ceremonial low-fire pit-firing
- talking about wild clays and their uses in many types of kilns
- & grog is more than a pirate’s drink :)
MEALS
Tuition includes lunch and dinner for 5 days, made from local organic produce and organic or better meat.
You bring your own breakfasts or talk with us if this will be too difficult for you.
AMENITIES
The location for this class is still TBD, but we will be near Quilcene, WA.
CLASS SCHEDULE AND WHAT TO BRING
Tuesday 6th-Thursday 8th Sculpting Friday 9th Processing clays, prepping for the fireSaturday 10th, pit-fire, weather permittingSunday 11th departure
Comfortable clothes for indoor/outdoor setting in all weather
Any hand-building pottery tools that you like to use (we’ll have plenty to share)
If you are local and can bring firewood to contribute, that is awesome
If you have any wild clays you are curious about, bring them!! Let’s play
Work-trade positions are available.
Work-traders are fed lunch on the days they help.
10% off if registering for more than one workshop
$350-450
$50 non-refundable deposit in order to hold your spot.
Payable through Venmo to @chonkush or paypal chimacumcircle@protonmail.com
sign up for JUST the day of the firing ($40):
Questions???
Chonkush Tusa dePalatine bio:
“Tusa” loves working with her hands, coaxing connection from the loam of human and Earth as a body-worker, artist, and builder. Her 15+ years of relationship with wild clays began with neighborhood projects and home construction, and now extends into pottery.
Tusa lives in the Salish territories of the interior tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, where mountains meet sea with marvelous marl. She tempers her passion for somatic connection with nature and the healing arts through the practice of ancestral skills, as an amateur herbalist, fiberist, foodie, composer, and instrument maker.
Samhain Rabbit Harvest
Two day introduction to slaughtering small animals with Harmony
Learn what it means to harvest an animal for your food
Magick Retreat
Enliven your connection to the more than human world.
In a time when dominant culture is attempting to wash animist practices of their rightful, necessary place, not just through the erasure of once deeply rooted traditions but from everyday life, this 4 day retreat will orient each student to the living tapestry and spiritual ecology that we are all woven into and weaving.
As a living being we inherently participate, knowingly or unknowingly, in the affairs of this often unseen world, and yet so many of us stumble through this quiet and veiled realm without knowing if our actions are harmonious or dissonant towards the spirits around us. Learning to listen, see, feel, and communicate with the conscious spirits of the places we dwell is necessary for the continuation and sustainability of life on this planet. May it be your house spirit, a cherished (or frightening) plant in your garden, the spirit of the land you live, local animals, the sun, the moon, the sea, or the weather, all hold wisdom, guidance, and tuition for those who approach with respect, patience, and integrity.
Each student will be guided through a series of exercises, experiences, and practices that can be made to fit their own personal cosmology or any preexisting praxis. This immersive retreat will provide the tools to begin or deepen one’s personal magickal and spiritual journey. This retreat is for complete beginners and experienced practitioners alike. Each day will have in person Q&A’s that will aid in guiding you on your unique path, giving way for emergent lessons that cater towards the induvial student.
This retreat teaches:
Offering Practices
Spirit | Plant Communication
Establishing and deepening connection to one’s spirit allies and familiars
Protocols for reaching out to and tending your beloved dead
Spiritual Cleansing
Magickal protection work
How to consecrate objects
Establishing sacred space
Creation of Talismans | Charms | Inspiriting Objects
Spellwork
Astral Travel | Hedge Riding | Transvection (Spirit Flight)
Sigil work
How to be in relationship with the Spirit of Place
How to structure a magickal practice that is true to you
The forest in which this retreat takes place was logged 39 years ago. It was not replanted, and was left to grow back without human intervention. It is quite beautiful to be able to observe almost 40 years of natural regrowth; a true testament to the virility and fertility of these seaside mountains. The 20 acres that this class takes place upon has been stewarded, tended, loved, and fed by Theodore Saint and Harmony Cronin since they began to homestead here in 2024. Densely wooded by alders, big leaf/vine maples, sword/bracken ferns, Oregon grape, ocean spray/iron wood, trailing blackberries, nettle, elderberry, lichen, moss, and cedar, this land beckons us to know and witness it’s teetering between fragility and strength, to feel it’s thirst for balance and to acknowledge the human’s role in this more-than-human world.
October will be a potent month for this retreat, as this time of year the veil is thinning. The seasons will be in flux, the leaves of the trees will be letting go, the winds of the sea and breathes from distant lands will be blown across our lips and into our words, inspiring us as we are blown upon and into.
This 4 day retreat will provide 2 meals a day for students (one meal on the last day). There will be one very large communal canvas-bell-tent set up that can sleep around 8 people, which is first-come-first-serve (and a fun way to share ideas and grow community with the other students). Each student is encourage to bring their own camping supplies and provisions. The bell-tent will have a wood fire stove in it to keep you warm or warm you up as needed. The class is taught in Quilcene, WA on a 20 acre, off grid, heavily forested plot of land. We are 3 miles from the Olympic National Forest, seated in the foothills of the Olympic Mountain range. There is a small grocery store with organic produce, ready to eat food, snacks, gas, and beverages 2 miles away.
TO BRING:
a large water bottle
any additional snacks and food you’ll want
a notebook and a couple of pens
a few changes of clothes in case its rainy. Bring clothes for warm weather and clothes for cold wet weather (the weather in October can be a little unpredictable but this could potentially give us more opportunity to magickly work with a wider variety weather patterns)
tent if you plan to NOT sleep in the community bell-tent
sleeping supplies, bedding, camp/cook stove
camping chair
any personal magickal items you wish to bring
The class will be taught by Theodore Saint, the creator of the Death Doula Oracle deck. He has been practicing magick for almost 20 years, having been trained in European cunning folk practices, Neo-pagan sorcery / mysticism, Trolldom, and American folk magick.
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL:
(Sliding scale)
Sign up before September 17th and only pay $650 - $750
—
After September 17th the price will go up.
The retreat is a sliding scale of $800-$1100.
The cost of the retreat can be less if you supply your own food.
Each student will leave the retreat with more than just foundational skills, taking home with them an effective, tangible, animist based practice aimed at deepening one’s connection to the spiritual ecology and latticework network of beings that we find ourselves immersed.
This is a retreat to remember, reignite, and reconnect with the parts of ourselves that have been shunned by the over-culture; a place that welcomes all, working to put competency, wisdom and dynamism back into your hands to take home to your communities in order to heed the calls of the more-than-human world.
A deposit of $300 is needed to reserve your spot. Limited to 12 students.
Deposits can be made via Venmo to: @x_sonikspike_x
Please email deathdoulaoracle@gmail.com with any questions.
Samhain Rabbit Harvest
Two day introduction to slaughtering small animals with Harmony
Learn what it means to harvest an animal for your food
Roadkill Small Animal Processing and Hide Tanning In person and Zoom Combo
1 in-person day, plus a 2 hour zoom call.
A perfect introduction to whole animal processing! Come learn a whole lot of skills with us as we transform small roadkill critters into soft, supple leather.
Small animal furs like squirrel, chipmunk, mink, and others have a long history of being highly prized by European and Scandinavian cultures. They are found in clothing, bags, ornamentation, and were so important that they were buried with the dead. Many of us have a deep ancestral link the these animals and the leathers they provide.
Unfortunately, there are thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of animals killed by cars every day, and most of them are left to rot on the pavement. Once you learn the skills of how to assess and process roadkill, there is an sorrowful stream of animals that we can tend to and honor by turning them into beauty.
In this class, each student will receive a whole, frozen/defrosted small animal (squirrels, a chipmunk, and a weasel are available).
TOPICS COVERED
roadkill 101 - assessing freshness and viability, transporting, and storing
skinning
gutting and exploration of the myriad uses of the bounty inside
butchering (when applicable)
hide storage
fleshing
identifying, collecting, and preparing wild plants for bark tanning
two methodologies for bark tanning: precise and measured with scientific explanations, and/or animistic sensory guided folk magick and intuition (both work equally well)
bark tanning, including pickling to ensure the integrity of the fur
finishing (dressing, slicking, softening)
bone cleaning
show and tell of the many uses of tanned leather, bones in jewelry and art, and other strange and wonderful animal technologies
CLASS SCHEDULE
Saturday November 7th
9 am - Class begins. Introductions, roadkill 101, skinning, gutting, and butchering
12 ish - lunch
1 -530 - continuing animal processing, including fleshing the hide, mixing the pickle, mixing the bark tan solution
By the end of Saturday, each student will have their hide in a pickle solution, and will leave with a batch of bark tan solution to complete the tanning at home.
5:30-7 - Dinner and closing
Tuesday November 10th
Follow up email to guide students through the next steps of bark tanning.
Friday Nov 20th
10 am 2 Hour zoom call to guide students through the finishing of their bark tanned hide.
What’s included in the class
One day of in person instruction with Harmony, plus one follow up zoom call and instructional emails to guide you
On-site rustic camping available if needed (see FAQ’s)
One whole roadkill animal to process and take home with you
Pickle and barktan solution
**No meals are included with this class
Things to bring
A sharp knife (and ideally a way to sharpen it)
A camp chair or blanket to sit on
Breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner
water bottle
layers of clothing for variable weather and bugs
mosquito spray (we will have access to several zones depending on the bugs)
2 separate gallon sized containers with lid (preferably with a wider mouth opening - not a milk jug)
OPTIONAL BUT ENCOURAGED if you want to continue tanning hides. If you are short on money, the green one is priority
a fleshing tool like this one: https://braintan.com/product/wetscraper-and-flesher/
a softening cable https://braintan.com/product/softening-cable/
a barkometer - a tool for measuring the strength of bark tan. Very important for using wild/hand collected materialshttps://braintan.com/product/barkometer/
pure citric acid
pure bulk salt (try to avoid the ones with additives)
scale for measuring precise amounts
(You can also wait to purchase these items until after the class when you will know more of what style you are drawn to - exact science or folk intuition - both work! I was a bark tanner for a decade with only a fleshing tool).
TUITION
Sliding Scale $250-350 (for squirrel and chipmunk)
Sliding Scale $285-385 (for weasel)
A non refundable deposit of half the tuition is required to hold your spot, payable through Venmo @x_sonikspike_x
Please note that the animals are very limited and are offered on a first come first served basis.
Please pay the deposit and email us here to register:
Gatheringwaysschool@gmail.com
Pressure Canning Meat and Off-Grid Living Workshop
Have you ever wanted to learn how to pressure can meat, but have felt intimidated by it? We are here for you!
Harmony Cronin has been running large scale off grid meat camps for 13 years, and has safely pressure canned over 700 GALLONS of meat. This class is designed to demystify and simplify the process, so that you leave feeling secure in preserving your own bounties.
Why pressure can?
Many of us know about water bath canning, our grandmother’s way of making pickles and preserving veggies. But meat needs heavier processing to make it shelf stable, and that’s where pressure canning comes in.
Pressure canned meat is shelf stable for many, many years. It is incredibly helpful when the freezer is full, but the meat is still flowing.
Hungry and tired and forgot to defrost meat for dinner? No worries - just pop a can of meat and heat it in a skillet. Dinner is served.
Once you learn the process, you can pressure can all sorts of other foods that aren’t safe for water bath canning, like bone broth, beans, soup with meat in them, pasta sauce with meat, etc.
What will this class cover?
all the ins and outs of SAFELY pressure canning meat, following all the guidelines
we will be using the largest 21 quart All American Pressure Canner
together we will butcher sheep meat, pack quart jars, and can a whole round together start to finish (raw pack method)
while the meat is canning, we will also pick meat from a round of previously cooked bone broth, and will pack pulled cooked meat and bone broth for another round of canning (hot pack method)
As we wait for the canners, we also invite you to learn about our newly budding off grid homestead! We can show and tell all of our systems for electrical and food soverignty, our cob house, and whatever else you are interested in.
$45.00
Please email gatheringwaysschool@gmail.com
to register
Full Animal Harvest Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
FINISH LAYER EARTHEN FLOORS
Gathering Ways is hosting local Placecraft Collective in this two day earthen floor workshop!
Work together with us to lay the finish top coat of our earthen floor using clay, manure, straw, and water.
What will this course cover?
-finishing techniques
-disussion of oiling and waxing
-application techniques for different textures
-hands on experience
-ingredients, recipes, and trouble shooting
Tuition includes lunch and dinner for all days, made from local organic produce and grass fed meat.
AMENITIES
We are located 4 minutes away from the Quilcene Village Store and several farmstands that have organic produce, good quality meat, yummy snacks, and hot food ready to go.
Lodging in the town of Quilcene is a 5 minute drive.
There is a beautiful swimming hole in the Quilcene river 6 minutes away, and a salt water tidal beach with oysters and clams 8 minutes away.
On site rustic camping is included in tuition. Car camping spots are limited, and there are plenty of walk in tent sites.
We provide simple composting toilets, a handwashing station, and fresh spring water for drinking.
Please read our FAQs if you have any questions.
Sliding Scale Tuition
$200-$340
10% off if registering for more than one workshop
We require a non-refundable deposit of half the cost to hold your spot.
Payable through Venmo to @x_sonikspike_x
Placecraft Collective is Cai Bierwirth, Sam Chonko, and Chonkush "Tusa" dePalatine - a group of artists and builders based on the Olympic Peninsula. They are invested in sharing community oriented regenerative building practices through hands-on workshops. For some past project photos: https://www.facebook.com/placecraft/photos_albums
BASE LAYER EARTHEN FLOORS
Gathering Ways is hosting local Placecraft Collective in this two day earthen floor workshop!
A perfect way to dive into simple, achievable earthen floors. Work together with us to lay the base of our earthen floor using local clay, manure, straw, and water.
What will this course cover?
-soil assessment
-site prep
-drainage techniques
-vapor barriers
-gravel
-new experimentations using local charcoal as gravel
-mixing, consistency and application of the material
-hands on experience laying a floor
Tuition includes lunch and dinner for all days, made from local organic produce and grass fed meat.
AMENITIES
We are located 4 minutes away from the Quilcene Village Store and several farmstands that have organic produce, good quality meat, yummy snacks, and hot food ready to go.
Lodging in the town of Quilcene is a 5 minute drive.
There is a beautiful swimming hole in the Quilcene river 6 minutes away, and a salt water tidal beach with oysters and clams 8 minutes away.
On site rustic camping is included in tuition. Car camping spots are limited, and there are plenty of walk in tent sites.
We provide simple composting toilets, a handwashing station, and fresh spring water for drinking.
Please read our FAQs if you have any questions.
On site rustic camping provided. Car camping spots are limited, but there are plenty of walk in tent sites.
$175-390
10% off if registering for more than one workshop
We require a non-refundable deposit of half the cost to hold your spot.
Payable through Venmo to @x_sonikspike_x
Placecraft Collective is Cai Bierwirth, Sam Chonko, and Chonkush "Tusa" dePalatine - a group of artists and builders based on the Olympic Peninsula. They are invested in sharing community oriented regenerative building practices through hands-on workshops. For some past project photos: https://www.facebook.com/placecraft/photos_albums
FINISH LAYER EARTHEN PLASTER WORKSHOP with Placecraft Collective
Join Placecraft Collective to learn how to finish clay plasters
Join us to finish what we started by applying the final finishing plaster layer to our cob house!
As working animists, we approach the building of our home in ways that are deeply rooted in ancestral and land based traditions.
What will these courses cover?
-What separates finish plaster from base plaster?
-Sourcing local materials from the land around you
-using clay, manure, sand, straw, and water
-How to process, mix, and apply natural finish plasters
-Using pigments to create different colors
-lots of hands on experience!
-Plastering on different materials
-How to achieve your desired final texture
Tuition includes lunch and dinner for all days, made from local organic produce and grass fed beyond organic personally harvested meat.
AMENITIES
We are located 4 minutes away from the Quilcene Village Store and several farmstands that have organic produce, good quality meat, yummy snacks, and hot food ready to go.
Lodging in the town of Quilcene is a 5 minute drive.
There is a beautiful swimming hole in the Quilcene river 6 minutes away, and a salt water tidal beach with oysters and clams 8 minutes away.
On site rustic camping is included in tuition. Car camping spots are limited, and there are plenty of walk in tent sites.
We provide simple composting toilets, a handwashing station, and fresh spring water for drinking.
Please read our FAQs if you have any questions.
Sliding Scale Pricing
$175-340
10% off if registering for more than one workshop
We require a non-refundable deposit of half the cost to hold your spot.
Payable through Venmo to @x_sonikspike_x
Placecraft Collective is Cai Bierwirth, Sam Chonko, and Chonkush "Tusa" dePalatine - a group of artists and builders based on the Olympic Peninsula. They are invested in sharing community oriented regenerative building practices through hands-on workshops. For some past project photos: https://www.facebook.com/placecraft/photos_albums
BASE LAYER EARTHEN PLASTER WORKSHOP with Placecraft Collective
Gathering Ways is hosting local Placecraft Collective in this four day clay plaster workshop!
Join us in the lush rainforest of western Washington to learn the art of natural plasters from start to finish. If you have ever wanted to work with non toxic, beautiful, local, sustainable materials, this workshop is for you! Even if you have a conventional house, you can use still these techniques to bring earthen finishes into your home.
We will be working together to plaster the interior and exterior our monolithic cob house. As working animists, we approach the building of our home in ways that are deeply rooted in ancestral and land based traditions.
What will these courses cover?
-Why clay plasters? - The benefits, beauty, and magick of clay in the home!
-Sourcing local materials from the land around you
-How to process, mix, and apply natural plasters
-Using key, creating base coats and discussion of finish layers
-Plastering on different materials
-Tools and techniques for different finished textures
-lots of hands on experience working with plaster!
Tuition includes lunch and dinner for all four days, made from local organic produce and grass fed beyond organic personally harvested meat.
AMENITIES
We are located 4 minutes away from the Quilcene Village Store and several farmstands that have organic produce, good quality meat, yummy snacks, and hot food ready to go.
Lodging in the town of Quilcene is a 5 minute drive.
There is a beautiful swimming hole in the Quilcene river 6 minutes away, and a salt water tidal beach with oysters and clams 8 minutes away.
On site rustic camping is included in tuition. Car camping spots are limited, and there are plenty of walk in tent sites.
We provide simple composting toilets, a handwashing station, and fresh spring water for drinking.
Please read our FAQs if you have any questions.
Sliding Scale Pricing
$570-625 Early Bird Rate (register by April 20th)
$630-760 Regular Rate
10% off if registering for more than one workshop
EARLY BIRD WHOLE SERIES PACKAGE: Register for all four of the cob house series by May 1 and only pay $1100!
We require a non-refundable deposit of half the cost to hold your spot.
Payable through Venmo to @x_sonikspike_x
*Saturday is a big community plaster party day - where everyone can join in for free if you bring a potluck item!
Placecraft Collective is Cai Bierwirth, Sam Chonko, and Chonkush "Tusa" dePalatine - a group of artists and builders based on the Olympic Peninsula. They are invested in sharing community oriented regenerative building practices through hands-on workshops. For some past project photos: https://www.facebook.com/placecraft/photos_albums
Beltane Rabbit Harvest
Two day introduction to slaughtering small animals with Harmony
Learn what it means to harvest an animal for your food
Easter Rabbit Harvest
One day introduction to slaughtering small animals with Harmony
Learn what it means to harvest an animal for your food
Winter Camp (FULL)
Our winter camp is officially full! But you can signup to be put on a waitlist.
Pop-up winter village animal processing camp.
Can you feel the cold kiss on your skin? Do you hear the Raven’s cacophony and the sounds of camp livening up the valley? Do you see yourself there in the rugged Montana winter, amongst the wild elk, deer, buffalo, and wolves and all the gifts they give?
Good! Because Winter Camp 2026 is officially ON. So mark your calendars and get your thick wool and warmest fur outfits together.
Come join canvas camp in the snow speckled valley north of Yellowstone. We love that land, the roadkill, the river, the animals, the locals, and each other - and will gather in our popup village once more!
This five day immersion will be focused on winter camping and all things meaty.
Skills covered:
off grid, long-term winter camp setup and systems
roadkill deer and elk processing (very likely) OR domestic sheep/goat processing
nose to tail: use of every part of the animal including bladders, heart bags, intestines, poop, testicles, eyeballs, spleen, and more!
Meat Magick - an animistic approach to everything meaty: practical butchery, off grid meat preservation, brining, salt curing, smoking, grinding, jerky making, family traditions
culture making through material skills
collaborative ritual song, story, and ceremony
hide tanning
sewing and craft projects using hides
running woodstoves/chopping wood
camp kitchen witchery
bone and stone tool use
knife sharpening techniques
Montana winter weather is beautiful and often unpredictable. It can plummet to 30 below one week, then warm up to the 50's the next week. We prepare for weather of every fashion (the gear list will help!)
THIS IS NOT GLAMPING. Be prepared for cold nights with potential wind gusts up to 40 mph that could pull the stove pipe out of the woodstove. Tents will be wood fire heated to keep warm, but canvas can only hold so much heat.
Class includes:
Five days of hands-on instruction with Harmony, Karissa, Epona, Fern, Matt, Erik, and more of the home crew
All meals provided (a great opportunity to learn our favorite recipes, tips, and tricks!)
Communal camping. Be ready to pack into bell tents to keep warm and share hearty meals and many stories
Sliding Scale $1500-1950
Non-refundable deposit of $500 required.
venmo: @erik-knudsen-30
Limited spots available.
Please email gatheringwaysschool@gmail.com for information or to register.
Rabbit Harvest
Two day introduction to slaughtering small animals with Harmony
Learn what it means to harvest an animal for your food
Chicken Harvest Class
Two day introduction to slaughtering small animals with Harmony
Learn what it means to harvest an animal for your food
Samhain Ancestor Feast Class
One day animal slaughter class
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Full Animal Harvest Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Full Animal Harvest Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Animal Harvest, Handcrafting and Folk Magick Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Animal Harvest, Handcrafting and Folk Magick Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
SOLD OUT Beltane Rabbit Harvest
Two day introduction to slaughtering small animals with Harmony
Learn what it means to harvest an animal for your food
Full Animal Harvest Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
SOLD OUT Full Animal Harvest Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Animal Harvest Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Animal Slaughter Locals Only Discounted Class
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Rabbit Slaughter
Two day introduction to slaughtering small animals with Harmony
Learn what it means to harvest an animal for your food
ANIMAL ANCESTOR: PRACTICAL BLOOD RITES FOR REMEMBERING KINSHIP
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Animal Slaughter Class (sheep or goat)
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Whole Cow Processing Workshop
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter
Lamb Slaughter Class
Three day animal slaughtering class with Harmony
This is a workshop for those yearning for a more magickal, spirited, mysterious, and mycelial approach to animal slaughter