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Aaron is the creator of The Movement Sanctuary in St. Petersburg, a circus gym that attracts people from around the world, and with the new addition of The Creation Station, a art lab/fabrication studio. Partner Acrobatics was the inspiration for the construction of these spaces, and also what will be shared here.

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Certified dog trainer, with five years of experience. Committed to force-free, least-harm methods.

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Long-time wellness advocate and freebirth mum, Aileen ‘Nettle’ Peterson is the face behind Awilda We’Moon. She is a staff-carrier and druid poet, womxn's wellness practitioner, traditional + full-spectrum birthkeeper, bodyworker + intuitive healer, folk herbalist, permaculturist, dancer, equestrian, and priestess. Her personal and professional work revolves around ancestral living and rewilding, remembering our connection to and facilitating exchange with the Earth and the Spiritworld, practicing sustainability and activism, reclaiming undisturbed primal birth + parenting and our autonomous bodily sovereignty. She has been studying and actively participating in womxn's mysteries and priestessing for thirteen years; dance for twelve years; natural childbirth, midwifery, and herbalism for ten years; and bodywork and traditional / ancestral nutrition over the last eight years. Aileen has also been featured on multiple podcasts including Birth Works! and The Freebirth Society, as well as having written articles for SQUAT Birth Journal and is currently writing books on Freebirth, the Nettle plant, and poetry.

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Akitchitay is a descendant of the Taino Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean, Cherokee also runs on my fathers side.
"Spending time in Boriken, now known as Puerto Rico with Those who were willing to share the medicine way with me
and gave me the pathway to an encouraging life"

Akitchitay is a spiritual practitioner and ceremonial facilitator for over 20 years. Taino high prayer dances, Caribbean Purification Ceremony
and several seasonal ritual times. Also spreading the music of the Taino and introducing Indigenous issues.
Join Akitchitay for a community connection through song and spiritual discussions.

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Alan Muskat is the founding director of No Taste Like Home, the largest wild food education organization in North America. He serves on the North Carolina State Wild Mushroom Advisory Committee and has been featured on Bizarre Foods, The History Channel, The Outdoor Channel, and many other major media. When it comes to bringing out the fun in fungi, he's the champignon.

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Alea Rosinblum is a full time teacher of science at a public high school, but her career incarnations have included such illustrious titles as "staff biologist," "environmental consultant," "landscape ecologist," "landscape designer," and just plain ol' "scientist." You're most likely to find her chuckling at chickens, goosing the geese, and detangling burdock from her donkeys at Tangle Cove, a communal homestead in Mars Hill. Other distractions often include banjo pickin, foraging, and divining shapes in the clouds.

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Alena Applerose has been teaching art, craft and cooking for over 15 years. She is a resident of Celo Intentional Community in the beautiful South Toe Valley, located in Yancey county, NC, at the base of the eastern side of Black mountain range. Currently she works as the in house baker for Penland School of Craft, is a Teaching Artist for the Penland School of Craft Community Outreach program and teaches a kids baking camp as part of the Penland kids Summer Camp . Alena finds a profound sense of joy in making things with and for others; be it food, jewelry, art or mischief.

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Alex Bergdahl has a been working in sustainable agriculture, ecological design, and intentional communities for nearly a decade. He believes strongly in the food sovereignty movement and sharing skills that empower us to care for each other and the natural world. He currently works with Grass to Greens, an edible landscaping program of Bountiful Cities. Bountiful Cities is an Asheville-based urban agriculture and social justice organization that works to create abundant and food sovereign communities.

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Alexander Howe is a passionate herbalist and flamboyant performer. He has been adventuring South(ern) Africa for most of the past 7 years, and attending Gatherings at home whenever possible. He earned the moniker Bush Ninja while having many wild African experiences. He also honed a number of interesting travelers survival skills. Including fire dancing/flow arts, teaching practical herbalism techniques, making artisan salves, and South African mysticism and traditional healing. He's delighted to be sharing these passions, as well as offering a special rendition of The Lorax around the camp fire, and an inflammatory fire dance to accompany the music!
Don't forget to see the amazing African treasures he has for trade!

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Alexandra Tait is a lifelong traditional Archer using recurve bare bows. She is a level two professional field archery instructor with USA Archery- the National Association. Alexandra is the owner and lead instructor of "Artemis Archery Asheville" located at the "Blue Ridge Bow Hunters Club" in the Asheville area. She teaches archery to everyone with a specialty in women and children's empowerment. She brings 20 years experience in the healing arts, dance and meditation to her embodiment archery practice and is a Qigong instructor with Healing Tao USA. She runs "Sisters of the Wild Wisdom" teaching Archery, Women's empowerment, survival skills and Nature mysticism in adult women's weekend intensives. A lover of history and mythology she enjoys sharing the lore of archery. This summer is the 10th year of her Artemis Archery Adventure Day Camp in the Asheville area for co-ed 8-15 year olds. Kids learn pro archery, survival skills and the RADkids self defense and empowerment program. "Keeping kids safe and thriving in the streets and out in the wild." She loves teaching themed Archery at special events, parties, festivals and conferences and has done so in the UK, Mexico and the USA.

See ArtemisArcheryAsheville.com

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MSc: Sustainable Use of Natural Resources, U. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; BA: Environmental Studies,Warren Wilson; International Consultant for small scale sustainable agriculture projects; Permaculture teacher and practitioner; Endangered Species observer; Naturalist; Home Orchard Consultant; Natural foods chef and teacher; Broom maker (Southern Highland Craft Guild); Home brewer and baker; all around Biophile...

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Ill think about it...

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Aphieme (she/her) is a full time Seer using the Zen Tarot living and practicing in Asheville since 2004. She uses this tool to disrupt systems of oppression inhabiting our minds and bodies, the images invite us to become conscious of, and divest from identification with, any false cultural programming clouding our true nature. You can find her reading Tarot for tourists coming from all over the Eastern Seaboard most Saturday afternoons in downtown Asheville at a shop called Earth Magick. Aphieme has traveled and lived in Thailand and India extensively since 2001. Since 2001 she has been studying academically as well as face to face in oral traditions of Thai Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta Tantra, and the Baul of West Bengal. She has also worked in Public Schools as a Yoga Teacher and Enrichment Specialist for 7 years, been a caregiver to her ailing parents for 5 years, and a loving community member of the Barnardsville Unintentional Community since 2010.

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Appalachian Medical Solidarity is a network of people and groups across the Southern Appalachian region involved in medical care and support of communities in crises and struggle.

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Ashley is a licensed massage therapist, specializing in Arvigo Maya Abdominal Therapy and fertility awareness education. She became drawn to work with women after her first daughter was born in 2007 and became a doula, childbirth mentor and placenta specialist. Years later she was called to move to the Appalachian mountains and life took a very different turn. Through her experiences she learned that many women needed guidance with their reproductive health well before pregnancy, and her focus is on helping women transform their menstrual realities through bodywork, reproductive health education & practical self-care rituals

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Asia Suler is a writer, teacher, energy worker and herbalist who lives amongst her gardens and large apothecary in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western NC. She is the creator and concoctress of One Willow Apothecaries an Appalachian-grown company that offers lovingly handcrafted medicines. A unique combination of western and energetic herbalism, stone medicine, earth-centered shamanism and intuitive healing, Asia’s work includes private consultations as well as workshops + mentoring. Asia teaches locally for The Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, The Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine and Ashevillage as well as at her workshop + apothecary studio on The Island in Marshall, NC. She is honored to have offered classes at gatherings and conferences across the country, and is perennially blessed to work with people and plants, spirit and stones www.onewillowapothecaries.com

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Ayal Hurst is a Shamanic Practitioner, Reiki Master, Energy/Light Worker, Spiritual Counselor, and mixed media artist who has offered delightful and transformative workshops, classes, and personal healing sessions to people for over 35 years. Along with her husband Hawk, she created a magical retreat center near Asheville, NC, called Homestead Retreat, where they continue to offer the healing power of Nature and Wisdom Teachings to many. She is the author of Clearing the Way, an online website that answers personal questions on healing from people from all over the world.

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Becky Beyer started her crazy love affair with all things homesteading while growing up on a farm in central New Jersey. After getting her BS in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Vermont, she moved to Asheville, North Carolina to explore all the amazing work being done in this beautiful bioregion. She teaches spoon carving, all aspects of organic farming, is a practitioner of natural horsemanship, a burgeoning illustrator and musician. Want to know a crazy historical fact about a plant? Ask her, she just might know. You can get Becky's take on folk magic, rewilding and local plantlore by visiting her blog at www.BloodAndSpicebush.com

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Bimms (they/them) has been a scatterling of service for most of their adulthood and attempts to live into and work within the confluences of decolonization, community adaptations to unavoidable climate/political chaos, and front-line support through a biodiversity of tactics that include safety, security, wellness, education, and holistic direct action practices.

Bimms' ancestral/earth/place-based skills consist of deep 'wilderness' immersion (both as a seeker as well as a facilitator for groups of those seeking), 'scout' skills with emphasis on recontextualizing, queering, re-storying skills as practitioners on occupied Indigenous lands (water, shelter, fire, food, spirit, and beyond), accessible disaster/austere/trauma medicine, bioenergetic healing therapies, internal martial arts, search and rescue human tracking basics, abduction avoidance & escape skills, camouflaged/discreet movement for individual and groups, mutual aid and solidarity organizing practices, armed and unarmed community defense/safety preparation (village/ecovillage threat assessment and planning), navigating violence with other principled human beings, interfaith & non-denominational social justice organizing, climate science & related direct political action, and on-the-ground support of frontline encampments of various forms throughout this continent for the past 15 years.

Other topics to brighten these days: playing the fiddle with friends, knerding out with knots, community song sharing with good historical/political analyses, seed saving, growing medicinal plants, trees & woodcraft, building temporary treehouses, ethical foraging, embracing so-called 'invasive' plants for their naturalization potential, ethnobotanical pyrotechnology, global traditional medicine studies and their practical applications, caring for goats & chickens, ecosensual theologies and experiential ritual spaces, 'Wilderness Vigils', linguistics and pun-ishing wordplay, uncyhood, speculative fiction, and folklore. Please feel free to engage them in any of these areas of interest and beyond.

Bimms emphasizes the importance of students teaching others beyond workshops, sharing the wealth of knowledge amongst ones neighbors and social circles, and simply having humbling conversations as often as possible.

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Boots is a student of herbal medicine currently studying at the Terra Sylva school. They apprenticed with permaculturist and gardener extraordinaire, Patricia Alison, and spend most of their time in the woods. They work as a teacher, photographer, and a mentor for at risk youth. Boots is excited about earthskills, plants, smashing cisheteropatriarchy, all things DIY, radical love, and helping people gain the tools they need to care for themselves and their communities. They teach writing workshops, leather craft, hide tanning, temporary structures, zinemaking, Sticknpoke, bookbinding, and some other stuff. They're stoked to offer a safer space for queer folks to gather, and encourage classes to be held in this space. Come visit, host a conversation, and help co create this new addition to firefly.

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Brian Winslett has been teaching classes and leading workshops for 10 plus years in WNC on topics of energy, sustainability, permaculture, and environmental systems, as well as facilitating yoga classes, grief healing ceremonies, and trantra work. Brian has helped initiate several projects and businesses in the area, including founding Blue Ridge Biofuels that sustainably manufacturers biodiesel ONLY from used cooking oils. His classes are often very technical, yet accessible understandable for all levels of knowledge and learning; blending science, permaculture, cultural relevance, spiritual relevance, and whole systems thinking.

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Hey Y'all, I'm Bubbles Cuckoo (formerly Jason Taylor), and I am from Louisa, VA. I have worn many hats in my life, including graphic designer, printmaker, teacher, professor, old house restorer, boatbuilder, treehouse maker, robot mechanic, and festival organizer. I fell in love with printmaking at VCU where I was a graphic design student. I screen printed show posters for my favorite bands, and I spent countless hours carving block prints and hand setting type instead of using the computer for my design projects. Later on I acquired a treadle powered printing press that was built in 1906, and started a business around it that I ran successfully for about 5 years. I have taught hundreds of people how to make art, build things, and be more self sufficient, and I look forward to passing on what I’ve learned you as well. BubblesCuckoo.com

In my personal life I live in a collection of school buses that we have converted into an off-grid tiny-house compound. My partner and I purchased a piece of land a year and a half ago and are starting a small collective homestead with our friends that is focused on nature, education and creativity. http://bramblecollective.xyz/ if you wanna learn more.

My friends and I started a skillshare event out here in Louisa, VA, and it has been one of the coolest experiences of my life. Collective Embers is completely free, entirely crowdsourced, community driven, and somehow simultaneously chill and a spectacle. I hope you can make it
https://collectiveembers.xyz/

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Clinical Functional Herbalist Cameron Strouss is an herbalist, medicine maker, wildcrafter, and teacher dedicated to educating and empowering people in reclaiming health, community, and connection to the land through herbal medicine and foraged foods. She is the owner and founder of Deep Roots School of Foraging and Herbal Medicine and has been formally studying herbal medicine for 14 years. She has over 4,000 hours of Sciences and Herbal Education under her belt along with 9 years of clinical work. Cameron is a graduate of the University of Montevallo (with a Biology Degree and Environmental Studies Minor), the Southeastern Institute for Traditional Herbal Studies and The Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine with her Clinical Herbal Certification and has been awarded her FH and RH (AHG) and is a Level 1 Aromatherapist.

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Charity Cimarron (they/them) identifies as white, disabled, queer, jewitch, and solo parent. Their community offerings include the roles of performing musician (Mother Marrow), songleader, craftsperson, ritual artist, tarot reader, somatic practitioner and educator. 

They have been inviting groups into communal song, facilitating rituals, and teaching nature awareness and ancestral arts (weaving, buckskin sewing, book-binding, basket-making etc.) at earth skills gatherings for 17+ years. Since 2016, they have been teaching music and ancestral arts at the Asheville Waldorf School.

Charity’s favorite way to pass the time is hiding out in the underbrush, listening to plants and birds, eating wild foods, and making medicine. They spent many years living off-grid, in small structures and vehicles across the country, and are currently focused on exploring how to bring the skills acquired through these lifeways into alignment with liberation ethics (meaning freedom from oppression for all people, not just those with the privilege to explore alternative lifestyles).

They recently completed a 3-year training with Somatic Experiencing International, and have a private practice in Asheville, NC.

BEHELD RITUAL ARTS (@beheldritualarts) - somatic coaching, ritual support, ancestral craft

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Charlie Oak is a wild, magical kindred who hails from Central Texas and is now nestled in these beautiful Appalachian mountains. Their passions are Soil, Bees, Plants and the Otherworldly. They are a transgender, non-binary human who has been keeping bees for over 12v years. During the Great Shift of 2020 they fully committed to the bees and started their own beekeeping company called WilderKin Beekeeping. They offer beekeeping consultations, hive troubleshooting, farm apiary management and backyard beekeeping. Catch them on Saturday’s selling their honey at the ASAP farmers marktet in downtown Asheville.

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Chelsea lives in Barnardsville, where she grows food, cooks up magical nourishment, ferments and preserves the bounty and regularly embraces the Earth in gratitude for the abundance. She feels most alive when she is dancing on the Earth, swimming and canoeing, singing her heart out, and feeding people.

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Chloe has a background in environmental activism including a Bachelors in Permaculture and Ecovillages. Her passions include permaculture and intentional community living. Every day she aims to embody those passions; through her work with Austin Permaculture Guild and other like minded organizations including the Global Ecovillage Network.

Her path arose during her involvement with the Valhalla Movement, a growing tribe that spreads awareness of alternative living through social media and action! She quickly began immersing herself in the intentional community world, understanding the importance of community in society.

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Chloe is what some folks call a second generation river rat. Raised by raft guides and kayakers, she was on the water young. The river is her most sacred place, where she feels most at peace and connected to the Earth. Since she was a teen, she has been teaching folks how to safely navigate whitewater. She has taught introductory whitewater courses for both kayaking and canoeing, has trained whitewater guides, and has led expeditions domestically and overseas. She has taken several swiftwater safety courses and has assisted in teaching them. Most importantly, she remembers what it is like to be a beginner and is experienced with teaching students at their own pace.

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Christina Bertelli is a Certified Clinical Herbalist and Feminine Ecology Mentor. She is passionate about infusing modern culture with ancient wisdom. Christina is extremely fond of her friendly bacteria and loves learning how to create a healthy ecosystem within as a way to greater mind-body wellness. She received her certificate in Clinical Herbalism from Paul Bergner at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism, a school based in Boulder, CO and steeped in the Vitalist tradition. Christina’s work includes helping women navigate their feminine health journey with the support of herbal medicine, self care strategies, holistic nutrition, and traditional Maya healing wisdom. She gets her herbal inspiration out into the world through her company, Femme Botanica.

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Christina Gordon - Coordinator and Founder of Women's Wilderness Workshops and Animal Phat Christina has worked as an Organic Farmer, Brain Tanner, Veterinary Assistant, Soap Maker, Cheese Maker and Educator since 2003. She co-owns/operates Fun Frolic Farm with her partner in Burnsville, NC where she hosts a variety of workshops on sustainable living, dairy goats, soap and cheese making, traditional brain tanning and more. Christina has taught and demonstrated for both public and private schools, national parks, state parks, festivals, community colleges, High Museum of Art and a variety of Primitive Skills events. She also has created a line of all-natural, hand made, old fashion bath and body products based from their farm's goat milk. Please go to www.animalphat.com or www.womenswildernessworkshops.com for information or year round learning opportunities!

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Christopher "CritteR" Watts has loved the natural world all his life and has been studying primitive skills actively since 2007 and teaching for nearly as long. He cultivates a very diverse skill set spanning the continuum from survival to wellness and encompassing homesteading, storytelling, cooking, botany, landscaping & tree care, health care, construction, building and making various things. His favorite artistic mediums include rope, wood, metal and leather. For a day job, he currently practices medical massage in waynesville North Carolina and tends a large garden.

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Two time Distinguished Toastmaster, Winter Survival Instructor, Vineyard/farm owner growing native cold-hardy Katuah Muscadines & Scuppernongs, Eagle Scout, Scoutmaster, outdoor cooking specialist.

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CJ O'Reilly is an avid communitarian, dancer, forager, gardener, and linguist. They completed a permaculture certification in Taiwan in 2012. They have been living and working in democratic and sociocratic communities and organizations since 2014. They are a working member of Sociocracy for All (a nonprofit that teaches sociocracy, does organizational consulting and publishes sociocracy resources). They are also on the board of the Firefly Gathering. CJ is a nonprofit, IT and organizational consultant by trade.

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I am the class coordinator. I am awesome.

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Cora Singer is an ERYT500 Yoga Instructor and has been teaching yoga for over 10 years. Cora specializes in teaching yoga to people with physical disabilities, but also enjoys teaching all ages of all abilities.

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CoreyPine Shane RH(AHG), founder and Director of the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine near Asheville, NC, has spent over 25 years helping clients and teaching people by artfully blending Chinese and Western herbal traditions with a focus on local plants. His new book “Southeast Medicinal Plants” covers how to identify, ethically harvest, and use the wild plants of the Southeast. CoreyPine has taught across the United States and in Europe, at many national herb conferences, and is a Professional Member of the American Herbalists Guild.

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Longtime skillsharer, freeskooler, WSFM 103.3fm Asheville Community Radio DJ, & Vaudevillain Comedian Corr de Joch wants to learn what you're teachin and trade some wonderful tricks he's collected.

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DaLisa is a Certified Ayurvedic Wellness Coach & RYT-200 Yoga Instructor. She is trained in women's health, feminine-form Ayurveda through Shakti School of Ayurveda & the founder of Blooming Luna Wellness where she leads private & group wellness coaching centered around self-awareness, self-love, & restoration of the nervous system. Taking a mind, body, soul approach to holistic wellness- DaLisa uses seasonal foods, spices & herbs, self-care and daily routine practices to bring balance to her clients lives and reconnect them to their natural rhythms.

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David is an artist, orator, poet & linguist with a passion for the extemporaneous art form of freestyle rap. He lives in Asheville & is a lifelong student rooted in the movement of hip hop culture.

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It all started with a mistake! When our brand new goat got into our laurel bushes she did me in. I had visions of delicious goat cheeses dancing in my head, but because laurel bushes are toxic to goats, we had to give her an antitoxin shot. It rendered her milk undrinkable for 10 days. So what was there to do but make soap and The Thankful Goat soap and bath business was born! That was 2009. Since then we have become an agritourism farm complete with wwoofers and have built our own living structure.

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Debbie lives at Earthaven Ecovillage and is co-owner of Useful Plants Nursery.

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artist. activist. witch. gramma. geek.
My teaching / training experience stems from many years of providing highly technical training during a decades long career in the financial industry. During that time, I developed and conducted related seminars. Also, in those years I actively lobbied congress for affordable housing and housing purchase funding options. Upon 'retirement', I accepted the opportunity to teach dance, yoga, and music appreciation to "at risk" elementary school aged children and teens in extended day programs at inner city and rural schools, after school day care facilities, YWCA, Homeless, and Domestic Abuse Shelters via a grant-funded program. As a life long human, civil, and women's rights, environmental, anti-war, and equality-for-all activist, my more recent years have been devoted to creating and advocating for greater political awareness and fairness. The class which I am offering at Firefly Gathering 2019 is a culmination of my experience as a child of the 50's, a teen in the 60's, beginning motherhood during the 70's, career driven vocation and teaching avocation through the 80's and 90's, entering grand-motherhood in the 90's through today as I provide daily care to my youngest grandchildren. I wish to honor my ancestors by carrying on the wisdom of their cultivated habits and philosophies intrinsically viable today. Additionally, I have distilled many well-founded, well-researched, and well-lived discoveries and practices that contribute directly to creating a truly sustain-ably enduring living culture locally to globally. All information being provided pertains to the most proactive methods for our times to self perpetuate sustainable living.

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Whether he's singing about catfish, pontificating on possums, extolling the virtues of dandelions, cawing with crows, pondering the “nature” in human nature, telling wild snake tales, or wailing out a jivey harmonica tune, storyteller, Doug Elliott will take you on an unforgettable, multifaceted cultural tour celebrating North America’s back country. His walks and talks include amazing tales, lively tunes, traditional lore, outrageous personal narratives, and natural history fact stranger than fiction.
Elliott is a naturalist, herbalist, storyteller, basket maker, philosopher, and harmonica wizard. He has performed at festivals, museums and schools from Canada to the Caribbean. He has been a featured storyteller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN and has conducted workshops and programs at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and the Smithsonian Institution. He has trained rangers for the National Park Service and guided people on wilderness experiences from Down-east Maine to the Florida Everglades. He was named harmonica champion at Fiddler's Grove Festival in Union Grove, N.C.
In recent years he has received a variety of honors. The National Storytelling Network (the largest storytelling membership organization in the world) inducted him into their Circle of Excellence for “exceptional commitment and exemplary contribution to the art of storytelling.” The International Herb Association presented him with the Otto Richter award honoring his work with herbs and useful wild plants. The National Association for Interpretation (the professional organization of park rangers, naturalists, museum curators, etc.) gave him the Master Front Line Interpreter Award for his “mastery of interpretive techniques, program development, and design of creative projects” celebrating the human connection to nature.
He has written articles for regional and national magazines. He has authored five books, produced a number of award winning recordings of stories and songs, and is occasionally seen on PBS-TV, and the History and National Geographic Channels.

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Elijah Strongheart is an artist and philosopher, currently diving deep into the study of Tracking, Ritual, Play, Communication. We are not vessels, we are more like whirlpools, transponders of energy and information. How can we track the metaphors of our inner landscape, and the nourishment within the outer landscape?

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Elise (she/her) is a holistic clinical herbalist of over 10 years, a therapist with a focus on somatics for healing trauma, a yoga instructor and a licensed massage therapist specializing in pain relief and lymphatic drainage.
Connection with and love for nature are core driving forces in her life as well as her healing practice.
You can book a massage, therapy session, or herbal consultation with her in the Asheville area, if you like!
www.moonflowerwellnessavl.com

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Elisha Bixler rescues honeybees in the Tampa Bay Area, Florida, as the owner of How's Your Day Honey. She sells honey and beeswax candles locally and tends to a 1/2 acre permaculture homestead with tropical fruit trees, vegetable gardens, chickens, ducks, and honeybees. Elisha also offers classes and presentations to her community, sharing her knowledge and passion for sustainable living.

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Elizabeth Foley is an artist, author and creativity coach. She helps people make creativity a priority in their lives instead of an afterthought via online and in person workshops, retreats and one on one coaching. Elizabeth believes everyone has an inner creative spirit and expressing that inner creative is the key to living a joyful, purposeful, free life.

Elizabeth is a certified Intentional Creativity Teacher® and studied fine art/ceramics at the University of Oregon. If Elizabeth isn't busy creating something in her painting or pottery studio you'll likely find her foraging for wild edibles or relaxing in a hammock by a magical waterfall near her home in Asheville, North Carolina. You can find out more about Elizabeth's work on her website at www.radiantearthstudios.com

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Descended from a long line of grandmothers whose bones now rest in the Appalachian mountains, Emileigh has chosen to reclaim her ties to her heritage through a craft of hand tied brooms. She views her work as practical art: one that embodies beauty, simplicity, tradition, and functionality.


When we truly belong to ourselves and to a place, we find grace and rhythm in the day to day tasks. Emileigh's handmade brooms are an invitation to the beauty of presence in the everyday.

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Eric is a native of Tennessee and the Katuah bioregion. He has been practicing yoga for 17 years and Thai massage for 14. He fought the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains by mountaintop removal coal mining for 10 years with the group Mountain Justice. The first primitive skills event he attended was the first Firefly in 2008. He enjoys intellectual combat, especially of the philosophical and spiritual variety. He is a vinyl DJ and loves to DJ ecstatic dances.

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Eric Lewis is a plant lover and aspiring greenman who dedicates much of his energy to deepening the relationship between people and plants. Inspired by the wise words of world renowned ethnobotanist Frank Cook, Eric is continually encouraging people to respect the plants as people and eat something wild every day.

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Erika Howsare is a writer based in the Blue Ridge of Nelson County, Virginia. After many years of writing poetry and working as a reporter, she turned her attention to nonfiction book writing and in early 2024 published The Age of Deer, a book about the relationship between humans and deer. She also teaches writing online and in the community. She is a homeschooling parent, a gardener, and an investigator of the places where word and world collide.

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Forest Hilyer apprenticed under Mark Warren of Medicine Bow Wilderness living skills school in North Ga. He currently works as a nature specialist for two Montessori schools and helps at the wilderness school when needed. Among other things he also works for a river outfitter, has a small mushroom farm, and chairs an organization (Lumpkin Coalition) that puts on Hemlockfest (3 days of music & activities)each Nov. as an awareness and fundraiser to help save the hemlock trees form the invasive woolly adelgid, help restore blight resistant chestnut trees to our forests, and to help keep our rivers clean among other ventures. Forest has been both an instructor and student at various earth skills gatherings around the south east.

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Frea (pronounced FREE-yuh), a potter, tanner, weaver, and forager, is the craftswoman and creator of Wild Earth Crafts as well as the founder of W.E.A.V.E. Village School.

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Fuz latched on to Earthskills at his first gathering in 1995. That feeling of being able to learn a skill and make something with your own hands is empowering, and now he loves helping others experience that empowerment. Fuz is a wildlife biologist, Earthskills teacher, musician and storyteller. He has followed his calling as a naturalist and wilderness instructor working for the National Wildlife Federation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, US Forest Service, US Park Service, the Green River Preserve, and the NCDOT. Fuz coordinated the Earthskills Rendezvous for 7 years, and is founder/event coordinator for the annual Piedmont Earthskills Gathering. Don’t be surprised if he randomly tells you what bird is singing!

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Gary is an author, the founder of The National Society of Leadership and Success (a leadership organization currently at 500+ colleges), and a sought after speaker nationwide - he has presented this info at Harvard, Cornell University (audience of 1,500), and hundreds of others. He is the winner of the “Best Lecturer of the Year” award from the prestigious collegiate association APCA. High energy, interactive, fun, and prizes! One session you don’t want to miss.

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Glenn is a naturopathic doctor and certified permaculture designer. He teaches anatomy and physiology in the nursing program at Blue Ridge Community College. He is an avid woodworker using traditional techniques and tools to build gates, simple furniture, and whatever else needs to be built. Glenn is teaching classes on building simple rustic (or not) furniture with round mortise and tenon joints. This method can be used to build chairs, tables, benches, stools, and many other items with a relatively small number of tools.

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Grant loves Earthskills events and being a part of the community. He has a diverse skillset and many different interests like Blacksmithing, Farming/gardening, Mead Making, Food Preservation, Butchering/Charcuterie, and Chinese Martial Arts to name a few. He is constantly exploring new concepts, art forms and methods in the never ending quest for knowledge. He has been involved in Firefly since 2009 and on staff or instructing for many events up and down the East Coast.

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Raised in NC
Feral child wrangler
Community builder
Rewilding 4 life
Troll Model
Wild tender

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hannah schiller is a wandering herbalist and medicine-maker, currently based in the mountains of North Carolina. She runs a small herbal business called Foliage Botanics, made up of a bunch of different herbal endeavors including classes, products, and pop-up free first aid and foot care. She is passionate about plants, affordable and accessible healthcare, and community-oriented herbalism.

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Hawk Hurst has served in the field of environmental education and as an artist in residence in both schools and camps, for over 35 years. He has specialized in sharing stories, music, and folk art inspired by Native American and African cultures. He continues to lead exploratory hikes, teach primitive living skills, and share stories and songs at a number of outdoor educations centers and summer camps across the Southeast. Hawk and his wife, Ayal, currently own and operate Homestead Retreat - a beautiful, permaculture farm and holistic healing center, West of Asheville, NC. They host a variety of workshops and spiritual retreats, as well as hosting WWOOF interns on their farm. www.HomesteadRetreatatHorseFork.com

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After 15 years of environmental work I'm just trying to keep my hands dirty.

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Ionsul is a teacher, facilitator, and mother of two. She believes that listening is an act of love that just might save the world.

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Isa Whitaker came on board of the Firefly Staff in 2018 after a lot of discussion around needing a Community Equity Advocate. He has been managing our Scholarship Program and this year 2019 holding discussion and support space for People of Color at The Firefly Gathering.

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Ishka lives in western NC, is a therapeutic cuddler and has a passion for teaching people to ask for what they want and express their boundaries. Ishka believes that consent and authentic communication are essential for healthy relationships and community. For more information, check out holdmeavl.com

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Jacks Genega is an avid adventurer and full-time van-lifer who travels across the country teaching various wilderness skills with a focus on tree medicine and camp craft. Her journey into exploring outdoor skills began when she encountered an earthquake, witnessed an avalanche, and fell into a crevasse on just day one of her solo hike across Iceland’s Landmannalauger region. It was then that she thought to herself, “I really need to amplify my survival skills.” She didn’t shy away from other solo travels across the UK and Europe having traversed some of the Alps’ highest peaks, glaciers and rivers while also studying bushcraft with Woodland Ways (UK) leading up to the completion of their Northern Forest Year, a year-long intensive in Scotland’s East Lothian region, home to the famous mountaineer, John Muir. She then carried her love for the craft back to the U.S. training with and working for various experts in the fields of emergency and wilderness survival. Jacks hopes to share her love of all things bushcraft and survival to not only help others develop a shared skill set, but to aid in a sense of resilience through self-reliance through her school and brand, Wildcard Wilderness. In the wilderness, one can encounter a wildcard situation albeit a storm, getting lost, wildlife encounters, etc; but with skills, wisdom and guts one can become the wildcard and overcome any situation against all odds.

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Jacqueline has been living and working as a visual artist in the Asheville area since 2012. Thanks to this community, she is also a student of herbalism, botany and the local ecology. Her artwork can be seen at jacquelinemaloneyart.com and at her studio, in the Phil Mechanic Building in Asheville's River Arts District.

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Practicing primitive skills for more than 35 years. My mother was a midwife from Madrid Spain she taught me about plant medicine among other things. My father and his father taught me how to hunt, fish and make snares and enjoy nature. I spent most of my childhood days in the woods where I made friends with animals and learned that we are all part of the living world. I enjoy sharring ancestral knowledge such as; fire by friction, flintknapping, atlatl dart, fiber arts and whatever is fun!

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Child of the Southwest come to the Southern Appalachians for the water and the woods - now 2 children in tow. Degree in Human Ecology from Goddard College. Self taught evangelist and born again prophet of loss. Becoming aware more of my breath and my words and my thoughts and their consequences for my body, the bodies of those I am surrounded by and claim to love, and the body of the earth. Live on 6 acres with kids, dog, chickens, a passel of other good folk who tend to come and go. Carpenter, arborist, poet - own a tree-service. Would like to be a better fly fisherman, and prognosticator of the weather, and to ride my moods and the moods of my children with grace.

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Jamie is a lover of fiber, plant magic, woodland crafts and beauty. As an artist, herbalist, forager, massage therapist and dreamer she heals and creates with her hands daily, while trusting that she is held by the hands of the earth. She is the founder and owner of Herban Farmacy, a local herbal business that creates herbal shares and education to further support connections with the medicine of the natural world. She teaches classes for many gatherings, massage schools, herb schools and from the gardens of Herban Farmacy. You can order shares, schedule an herbal session or herbal message and learn about classes at www.herbanfarmacy.org

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My bio

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Janet Aardema co-owns and operates Broadfork Farm with her spouse and partner, Dan Gagnon since 2011. Broadfork Farm provides Certified Naturally Grown produce and flowers to the greater Richmond, VA community. With their four children always nearby, Janet and Dan manage two acres of intensively cultivated crops to harvest and fill 200 Farm Shares each week of the season, plus two farmers' markets, two natural food stores, and their popular self-serve FarmStand, conveniently located in the middle of their abundant farm. Janet draws on her Bachelor's Degree in Biology from Davidson College as well as her Master's Degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to inform the deliberately educational program offered to staff each year at Broadfork Farm. Teaching properties of soil, proper farming ergonomics, plant physiology, and the need for constant thinking about interacting farm systems, while always balancing mothering and homeschooling, Janet helps learners think through processes that allow deep understanding. Broadfork Farm staff finish a season understanding the "why" behind all farm decisions. Janet brings this mindset to all classes that she teaches. Join her to practice thinking about adaptive farming decisions, mindful and compassionate parenting while farming, and learn various homestead arts such as lacto-fermented vegetables.

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bushcraft for bipeds instructor

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Jeannie guides people in experiencing greater joy and presence in their lives through Energy Medicine sessions, Sound Journeys, and Chi Gung classes. She offers Chi Gung and Plant Sensing workshops, and delights with her participants in the messages that come forward with this deep listening to the plant world. She also wears the hats of musician, artist, writer, teacher and farmer. As the founding steward of a collectively run urban farm in Oakland CA (Land of Ohlone people), Jeannie feels the importance of sharing her deeply rooted connection to this beautiful planet in all that she does.

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Jeffrey Gottlieb, MS (in Biology), has been a Naturalist, Outdoor Educator and Primitive Skills Instructor for more than 30 years. He works with school groups, nature centers, museums, scout troops and summer camps, builds full-sized wigwams and longhouses and replicates primitive tools and artifacts for display. His areas of special interest include fiber arts, flintknapping, basketry, edible and utilitarian plants, and nature awareness. He travels widely in the Eastern U.S. teaching at rendezvous, gatherings and historic fairs. He has written a how-to manual on building wigwams, and an instructors' manual entitled Teaching Primitive Skills to Children. His new book on natural fibers and ropemaking is available directly from him.

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Jen Hyde is passionate about movement and play as modalities for social change and personal liberation. She has trained in a wide array of practices all over the world, including Contact Improvisation, Acroyoga, Aerial Silks, Clowning, and Capoeira.

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Jess has her Masters Degree in Crafts Education and has taught textile and fiber arts classes up and down the East Coast and online for 20 years. Jess's business, WAXON Batik & Dye Studio, is on Haywood Rd. in West AVL and she spends most of her time there, doing dye stuff. Knitting has been her main passion since 2007. A prolific teacher, Jess loves to instruct folks of all ages in edifying projects that are practical and whimsical. Singing a capella polyphonic folk songs from around the world is a side hobby that has taken her to more than a dozen countries.

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Joel Wind Fox Boyle is a Clinical Herbalist certified through the Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism. He has completed courses in Native American healing through The Good Medicine Society, worked as an herbal extraction technician for Gaia Herbs, and is an avid organic farmer and gardener. He currently teaches classes and plant walks for Chimney Rock Park, leads plant walks for the Botanical Gardens at Asheville/UNC, has taught programs through the Appalachian Trail Conservancy / Western North Carolina Alliance, teaches at the Firefly Gathering, and is a regular teacher for the Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism and the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine.

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John is a recent PDC graduate and has 1 year of outdoors hands on permaculture experience after moving to Elk Park, NC. He has been reading about earth skills, foraging, etc... for years and is always eager to continue learning in an effort to return our planet to grace.

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John R. F. Lewis, a Roanoke, VA native, has more than 18 years of experience working with inner-city youth and communities in Richmond and Roanoke City in the fields of public education and nonprofit management. His areas of skill and experience include academic instruction, preventative counseling in violence & substance abuse, agriculture & food sustainability, positive life-skills coaching, and nonprofit management and leadership, WuShu/Kung Fu Martial Arts training, and positive life-skills coaching.

As Founder and former Executive Director of the urban agricultural education nonprofit Renew Richmond for over 7 years, John developed diverse programs focused on food access, managed budgets, oversaw daily operations, served as the organizations ambassador throughout the Greater Metro Richmond Area, and led fund development efforts for organizational sustainability. As an educator, Certified Prevention Specialist and Qualified Mental Health Professional for over 15 years, John has engaged communities in evidence-based prevention and enrichment programs. The major focus of his efforts was to help youth develop fundamental life skills and protective factors. Mr. Lewis has provided effective educational programs for children as well as parents/caregivers/community residents addressing risk-factors and potential problem behaviors of at-risk youth. John’s experience working in the areas of community health and empowerment have prepared him to take Apple Ridge Farm into the next generation of social change advocacy and support.

Apple Ridge Farm has had over 40 years of success engaging underserved youth in unparalleled educational, cultural and outdoor experiences, effectively addressing risk factors that limit educational success and revolutionizing the manner in which these types of services are delivered. By using the groundwork laid before him as a strong foundation, John is working to develop the position of Executive Director into a mechanism to assist in the evolution of Apple Ridge Farm as a community service organization. A great deal of Apple Ridge Farm’s achievements in youth education and philanthropy can be attributed to the leadership and direction of John’s predecessor and father, Peter Lewis. The organization would not be where it is today without Peter’s vision, devotion and organizational proficiency. Peter Lewis is a living example of compassion and diligence, someone we compel our youth to emulate as they grow into adulthood. John learned from and continues to lead by his example.

Lewis believes that hands on experience with the responsibilities of making good choices about their health and working with their peers to maintain safe and responsible communities, offers children invaluable knowledge and skills that they can utilize for a lifetime. Using Apple Ridge’s guiding principles, John plans to build upon their slogan of “Helping Kids Grow” so that youth can develop their talents with no limitations and be given an opportunity to discover and maximize their true potential.

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Jon runs Wild Mountain Apiaries in Madison County NC producing hundreds of nucleus colonies, local queens, and literally tons of fine local honey for sale each year. He has been a beekeeper for 12 years and made most of his income from bees for about 9 years. Volumes of experience and a fine lecturing and hands on teaching ability will make his classes a must see for anyone interested in the art and fine craft of not just keeping bees, but keeping bees alive, in our current challenging environment!

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Starting from the age of 7 when he found his moms guides to wild edibles, Josh Barnwell has been hopelessly in love with the natural world and how peoples have connected with it to meet their needs for surviving and thriving. passionately studying from any resource he could find he went to his first earthskills gathering at the age of 16 and was instantly hooked. after a brief hiatus to start a family for the last few years, he is so happy to return and share and learn with this gathering and the beautiful people who make it so wonderful.

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Fox has built a life around the healing powers of plants, people, and community. He weaves herbs, song, and acupuncture into his private healing practice, and writes music that uplifts the heart, honors his plant allies, and tickles the human spirit. With the same gentle, grounded nature he receives patients, he regularly holds group ceremony space around grief, heart-healing, and song-sharing. Find out more at: http://www.foxhealing.com/

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Josh Roberts discovered his passion for wilderness survival skills in Vermont in 1998. Through Tom Brown Jr's books he was inspired to practice survival skills which lead him to pursue these skills as a vocation. For over 15 years he has gained experience in this field with various summer camps, organizations and schools in over ten states. These include The Vermont Wilderness School, The Wild Earth Programs, The Roots School, The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, ancestral knowledge, trackers earth and living earth school among others. Josh's goal in life is to share his passion for the benefits of wilderness survival skills and nature connection. He has also been involved earth gathering since 2013. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Adventure Education and Environmental Studies from Prescott College in Arizona. Currently Josh is living in Asheville North Carolina and working with forest floor Programs.

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Joshua Miller (more often called Osier) is a knifemaker, solarpunk homesteader, artist, and educator from eastern Pennsylvania. Veteran teacher at primitive skills, plant medicine, nature education, and online alternative lifestyle education. Recent areas of focus have been bushcraft knifemaking, bow making, food foresting, passive solar greenhouses, and making wearable art from plants.

Instagram: @corvidae_creek

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Ecospiritualist since childhood, Jillian-Taylor Stokes has shaped her path as an ethical & heartfelt response to the imbalances of the 21st century. After a few years working within the slow gears of climate policy, she decided to pursue a more hands-on approach to living a nature-based life and lean in to being “kind of a prepper.”

Now seven years a student of self-sufficiency, off-grid skills, and permaculture, life has become an adventure in learning how to live more simply. JT also loves exploring ways to engage people with ecological literacy, hands-on stewardship, and conservation.

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Julia Orquera Bianco was born in Argentina and lived in Mexico before moving to the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Universidad del Museo Social Argentino (Buenos Aires, Argentina) in 2012. In 2018 she graduated from the MFA program at Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. In 2020, Bianco earned a Certificate on Sustainability from University of California, Los Angeles. A Yoga instructor, trained in Medicinal Plant Conservation, currently finishing a Permaculture Design Certificate, Bianco's artistic and human explorations happen in the intersection of the personal history and the history of the Land, and in the space between the Science and the Sacred. Bianco's teaching practice aims to open humans to gain a growing understanding of Place through direct action and observation. Ideas around Love in an expansive and inclusive sense, Equanimity and Reciprocity inspire these direct entanglements, in the hopes to inspire cultivating a deep, respectful relation with the Earth.

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Justin Vettel has had a lifelong interest in natural systems and the rhythms that govern our lives. This naturally led to many lessons and discoveries that can only be taught through observing and interacting with nature and the world at large. Justin received his Permaculture and Design Certification from Sow-Permaculure in 2017. He has spent the past few years digging deep into permaculture systems and environmental regeneration, bringing these concepts to life in residential and commercial landscapes in his home town of Greensboro. Most recently he has become aware of the unseen universe of microbial life that exists in and around all things on our planet. Teaming up with indigenous microbes and specific cultures that have been isolated had enabled his family of four to completely eliminate food waste in their household. He is very excited to share the methods that have allowed for this in his life with the Firefly family.

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Justin is an ecotherapist, nature mentor and writer. Justin was the previous executive director of Two Coyotes Wilderness School and has mentored hundreds of adults and teens in discovering who they are, claiming their personal power and in finding a deep sense of belonging within their own communities and the more-than-human world.

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Justina is an Earth-loving mama, poet, priestess, therapist on a serious mission to re-align human consciousness with life affirming, Earth honoring values and practices. Justina has home-birthed, home-schooled, and attachment parented for 30 years, and formerly practiced as a home birth midwife. This wild being lives in community on a beloved mountain and has practiced as a transformational therapist for over 10 years, and is also a former Firefly Gathering Board of Directors member and an instructor at the gathering since 2017. Justina is in deep reverent relationship with Earth, practices everyday magic and kitchen witchery, and draws from an eclectic array of healing and therapeutic traditions to cultivate gentle loving support for personal and cultural healing. Let's thrive, y'all!

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Kat is dedicated to resurrecting the connection that is Woman to Blood to Earth through Red Tent Gatherings. She facilitates Women's Circles and Ceremonies which assist women in releasing authentic expression. Kat is an intuitive healer who studied Energy Work and Emotional Release Therapy in the Sacred Valley of Peru. Breathwork and Song are integral vehicles in this process. Kat is currently traveling in the States to share the medicine of Cacao and to hold space for people who are ready to illuminate their Truth.

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Inspired by exploring the full range of being, Kate walks the verdant earth with curiosity, playfulness & reverence. Practicing ancestral lifeways informs her ultimate inquiry: “How do we tend to our longing for belonging?" Her hands and heart craft myriad responses to this question—forming them into being, tending them to harvest, transforming them through fermentation, and witnessing them through the thresholds of death and transformation.

Kate’s art & ritual practices include spinning, card weaving, shoemaking, papermaking & printmaking, harvesting roadkill, hunting, hide tanning, archery, vision fasting, fermentation, food forestry, wild-tending, herbalism, and community leadership as the general coordinator for Earthskills Rendezvous.

Kate’s home, craft & workshops : ourwoodlands.org
Rivercane and Falling Leaves Earthskills Rendezvous : primitiveskills.org

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Kearsley "Mama Bear" Schweller is a Wild Medicine Witch sharing her love for food, plant, & womxn's medicines. She has studied and traveled the world sharing workshops, ceremonies, & circles on the radical reclamation of womxns wisdom & wellness. A very potent shift for her began when she deepened her relationship with her menstrual cycle & began shifting her diet, lifestyle, & energy to reflect the lunar rhythmic flow. Following the lineage of the Goddess Temple of Ashland, Kearsley carries the Womxn's Blood Mysteries with a devotion to educate and empower those around her. At the core of her work lies the belief that nature guides us to remember how to heal ourselves.

Trained in India as an Ayurveda Counselor, Kearsley weaves the elementals into her way of life & her teachings in ways that are practical, accessible, & radical. She studies Appalachian Witchcraft, Bioregional Nutrition, & Folk Herbalism under Becky Beyer of Blood and Spicebush & is a Kitchen Witch Creatrix of Goddess Ghee, a locally womxn-run business making grass fed butter oil with medicinal herbs & spices.

For more information about her work, find her on Instagram as @mamabearmedicine or shop any of the nourishing medicinal ghees at www.goddessghee.com

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Kelly Moody grew up in a small town in southern Virginia spending time with her grandma on the family tobacco farm and hanging out with her dad and other grandparents at the family nursery business. Her family is full of horticulturists, gardeners and homesteaders. After gleaning a degree in Philosophy and Religion from Christopher Newport University in 2009, she has been trying to translate those studies into learning real-life skills for living with the earth in order to try to explore another way as a society we can exist with land and each other. She has worked on organic farms up and down the east coast, interned at the United Plant Savers in Ohio for a spring and summer, studied herbal medicine in Vermont and apprenticed with Juliet Blankespoor of the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine. She ran a small neighborhood vegetable CSA for a couple summers in the Barnardsville, NC area. Lately, she had been traveling around the country studying plants in different bioregions, hiking, biking, exploring, harvesting wild food and getting really into hide tanning.

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Kennedy OneSelf is a meditation enthusiast, instrument maker and sound artist whose intention is to lessen the suffering of humanity by facilitating experiences of serenity that can remind us of our divinity. After years of trying to spread spiritual wisdom, he found that a single moment of peace can communicate what no words can say. Discovering the power of intentional resonance, he has devoted the last decade to cultivating a sonic symphony that encourages tranquility.

Kennedy makes and plays his own Didgeridoos, and leads didgeridoo making retreats, and music and meditation retreats.

With a deep focus on relaxation and awareness, Kennedy encourages serenity to blossom from within, teaching meditation in places like substance abuse treatment centers, drug rehabs, juvenile detention facilities, trauma programs, and prenatal alcoholism programs. Coupling a uniquely charismatic approach to the subject of awareness with the potency of mind-easing tones, countless seeds have been planted in troubled youth to discover their own empowered path.

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Keri Evjy is a creative entrepreneur, teacher, permaculture designer, author, artist, and community revitalist, committed to assisting healing for people and planet. Her recently released book, Regenerative Life Design, is a personal growth program for Earth stewards at large to engage with life-affirming strategies for an integrated life. Founder and CEO of Healing Roots Design, LLC, and Regenerative Life Design, LLC, she lives in service to the whole, tends community land, and thrives in the southern Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina.

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Esoteric philosopher, christian mystic, cultural nomad, writer, explorer and eternal student of everything, Kevin Jenson has spent the past decade unravelling Platonic, or Kantian, dualism, which divides material from spiritual reality for for western thought and theology. The re-uniting of the physical, spiritual, psychological, and social dimensions of human identity have shaped his educational theory of human-centered learning, his moral philosophy of truth and love, and his studies in sexuality and ecology, which include a PhD in socioecological learning and an upcoming book exploring sex and spirituality from a Christian perspective. Kevin draws on a breadth of experience and study to facilitate accessible, wholistic, collaborative explorations of complex topics, helping students discover and communicate the truth they already know.

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Kimber was introduced to yoga and ayurveda in 2011 after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (it's IBS- but on steroids!). Since 2018, she is not only completely off of all pharmaceutical drugs, but is 100% symptom free using the wisdom of ayurveda!

Finding ayurveda was like getting the owner's manual to her body. She finally knew how to work WITH her body instead of against it. Ayurveda is holistic, preventative, and totally individualized medicine that comes from the Vedic traditions of Ancient India, alongside yoga. After being let down by Western Medicine, it's a relief to find a system based on reattuning to natures rhythms.

Kimber now teaches Yoga not as a workout but as a spiritual practice and Ayurveda in Asheville, NC through her business Moksha Yoga & Wellness. She is a teacher in her heart of hearts, and she hopes to share this knowledge with her students and connect them to the ancient sciences in a modern and meaningful way.

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I began my tattoo career in 1991, as part of a wave of art school grads and other enthusiasts who embraced this intriguing and very social art form as it experienced its renaissance at the turn of the Millennium. My practice was shaped by the 90’s body-modification scene, and I adopted with a strong bent toward personal process, weaving in a spirit-infused perspective. At the time, the body modification scene was based primarily in San Francisco, and its adherents researched and explored the transformational power of body art. Almost three decades later, tattooing holds a unique cultural position and role in contemporary identity.

Concurrently, I trained in a variety of shamanic and earth based magical practices, and various energy healing techniques. In the early 2000’s, I formalized my commitment as a shamanic tattooer, became initiated into the lineage of sacred tattoo practitioners, and have continued over the years to renew my vows and commitment to the practice. I am trained in Reiki, Soul Focused Healing, Ecstatic Body Posture, Dianic Wicca, Body Balancing, Taoist energy work practices, and the Elements of Ritual.

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Sean Kennedy is a fluid and gracious mentor who teaches from the heart. He has followed martial arts as a lifelong path for over 45 years and has been training Budo Taijutsu since 1995. As head instructor of Budo Mountain Family Martial Arts, he shares his understanding of the authentic arts of Japan’s ancient warrior lineage combined with his lessons from a life lived fully and closely with the earth. He holds a Master Instructor level 10th Degree Black Belt in Budo Taijutsu and also holds black belt ranking in Tae Kwon Do and Chinese Kenpo Karate.

Korie Kennedy has been training in the Bujinkan since 2008 and holds a fourth degree black belt in Budo Taijutsu. A lifelong student of dance, yoga and fitness, she is also certified in personal training and dance fitness. Her greatest feat is mothering her three outstanding girls! She is an avid cheerleader for martial arts education and healthy living for all ages. In addition to her background in body movement, she has extensively studied children’s education and women’s sociology.

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Lark is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher and Registered Children's Yoga Teacher from Asheville, NC. They love bringing a spirit of playful exploration into yoga classes for people of all ages and abilities. Lark believes wholeheartedly that yoga is meant to be a doorway to meeting yourself exactly where you are- right now, here, today!- and never about appearances, idealized versions of ourselves or achievements. Lark loves pushing the envelope of 'what is yoga?' as a way to encourage incorporating of yogic wisdom and ethics into all corners of life. Lark enjoys holding a space that is welcoming and encouraging to all to discover their expression of their authentic self. Classes with Lark are trauma-informed, playful, and are known to incorporate surprising creative elements like art, music or games.

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My name is Laura Roscoe. I am originally from the sandhills of South Carolina where there is an abundance of long leaf pine trees. I learned to coil using kudzu and with the help of several teachers over the years I have developed a coiling technique all my own influenced heavily by my South Carolina roots. I make rustic, functional baskets from the materials found growing freely in North and South Carolina.
Recently my husband and I moved to be closer to our beloved mountains. Wild foods, leather work, chair caning and gourd work are some of the additional skills I have had the opportunity to develop, but I am interested in developing additional skills and I am always ready to learn new things.

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Lee Barnes (Ph.D. Environmental Horticulture).
Lee is a widely experienced Southern Appalachian Mountains horticulturist/naturalist and has written about and taught workshops on regional natural history, old growth forest preservation, permaculture, seed-saving of heirloom, native and medicinal plants, and wild-world of dowsing intuition.
Lee’s passions include saving our ancestors cultural and culinary gifts through seed saving and maintaining local genetic plant diversity. He sees our crippling loss of identity with local place, and is inspired by sharing local “Sense of Place” knowledge and supporting “Respect for Place” by taking full responsibility to regenerate our future. Lee has been honored as the 2012 Dowsing Educator of the Year from the American Society of Dowsers; 2001 Southern Seed Legacy Award, and the 2014 Activist of the Year from the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, for his 20 years support of open seed exchanges.

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Lee Golos is a biologist and ethnoecologist on a quest for human potential. Over the past decade he has studied human evolution, nutrition, biochemistry, neurobiology, sociology, shamanism, mysticism, ecology, permaculture, and more. His passions include busting paradigms, living free, and finding abundance in unlikely places. He teaches on a variety of topics and is currently writing a book about the ecology of paradise.

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Deeply committed to the Earth Path, Lena is passionate about celebrating this life on amazing planet earth. Lena was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Lena graduated from University of North Carolina at Asheville with a degree in Cross Cultural Sustainability. She has her Permaculture Design Certificate, and graduated from the Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness Program at the Regenerative Design Institute. She is the founder and director of Non- Profit Earth Path Education, where we help grow a culture of listening to the earth as our wisest mentor through teaching Nature Connection to children and adults and guiding girls through their Rites of Passage into womanhood.

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An experienced exercise scientist, coach, and consultant with a demonstrated history of supporting athletes and coaches in refining their training and recovery strategies. Amazed by the nuanced and individual response to training, Lesli applies yoga principles as active recovery strategies to increase awareness and enhance physiological performance and wellbeing. Lesli is enthusiastic to connect and engage others toward discovering their optimal health and performance in body-mind through yoga-informed recovery strategies and individualized training methods. She has a diverse background and enjoys applying her experience and expertise in a variety of contexts. https://www.tunedtorise.com

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More than a Botanist, Luke Cannon is an avid naturalist and long time pursuer and teacher of our astounding natural world. His passions for exploring the ecological intricacies of our living planet have inspired his studies of plants, birds, insects, lichens, fungi, deep ecology and more. Luke offers regular classes and walks in Western North Carolina to share his knowledge of the local ecology and his enthusiasm for building closer relationships with the wilds around us. For Walks, Workshops and Classes check out: www.AstoundingEarth.com

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Luke McLaughlin is a naturalist rewilding mentor, survivalist, and founder of Holistic Survival School. Luke has committed his life to mastering and teaching ancestral living skills in order to help people find their balance and connection to the Natural World. Luke has mentored hundreds of people in the wilderness and has witnessed first hand how nature connection helps bring about growth, health, and vitality to everyone’s life. Luke believes that it is every human’s birthright to have a deep physical, emotional, and spiritual connection to our Earth.

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Luna, aka the Pussy Witch, is a pleasure positive Sex Educator, healer and writer. Her main mission is helping humans cultivate consensual relationships with their bodies, their sexuality, and the Earth. She seeks and holds spaces for experiences that invite growth, deepen intimacy, and restore hope. Luna's background is in Chemistry and she loves bridging logic and activism with mysticism and sex. Passionate about passion, you can often find her cackling loudly, dramatically dancing or deep in a discussion on the complex nature of culture, money, and oppression. Luna has been featured on vice and has supported over 1,000 students going through her online courses in reclaiming their sexuality. For more juice, find her prancing on the internet at www.lunadietrich.com

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After finishing up her associate's degree in Communications at Boise State, Trinity spent five years traveling and living in different parts of the U.S. giving her the chance to learn more about people and the wondrous bliss that comes from recreating yourself. Throughout her travels, she worked as a music journalist for an International Entertainment company. One day while she was doing her personal Yoga practice, something inside of her began to ignite as if a powerful force starting guiding her to see a different path. She moved to Costa Rica after visiting numerous times throughout 2015. It was there that she began to expand her knowledge in Yoga, Energy healing, and Shamanic practices. She completed her (Multi-Style) 200-hour YTT Certification while also finishing all levels of Reiki Mastery courses. After building a school and teaching Yoga and Meditation throughout Central America, she journeyed back to the states. A few months into teaching chakra workshops and corporate Yoga, an urge came over her to expand her knowledge in Yoga even more. She spent a month & a half in Rishikesh, India studying with numerous Gurus and Masters. She finished her 300 YTT certification in Ashtanga Yoga, Ayurveda, and Emotional Blockage treatments. Her loving intention is to one day become a Yoga Therapist so that she can work with people individually in all areas of Yoga & plant healing. She loves incorporating sound into her classes and will often write her own music and play it on the ukulele at the end of class. As a fire dancer and artist, Trinity is incredibly passionate about any form of creative expression that allows the inner child to fly. One the side she is a freelance journalist who contributes to many different online/print publications covering topics like sacred geometry, esoteric teachings, meditation, energy work, and transformation. Yoga has gifted her with learning the power of presence and how it is the essence of all life. As a clairvoyant and intuitive channeler. Trinity openly shares insight with people about the tools that she has discovered on her yogic path.

Philosophy:
Trinity believes that true teachers can show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see. She feels that real healing takes places when we learn to merge the mind, body, and spirit. Through the practice of Yoga and mindfulness, we can learn to become alchemists of our own lives; learning to transmute emotion, energy in motion. She see's this process as a way of helping release repressed pain while aligning the chakras and guiding one to become fully aligned in the flow.

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Johana was born and raised in Colombia, and is the sole person behind Mama Tortuga.org, a multicultural, eco-conscious, and mindful bilingual website for parents and community that want to raise and support global citizens, regenerative systems and arts for the last nine years. She is an avid urban gardener and just finished creating a sustainable medicine garden at her home in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, USA, where she supports BIPOC herbalist circles and medicine making. Right now she is receiving a year long apprenticeship of natural Muisca traditional Gynecology with Escuela de Sabiduría y Salud Femenina from Colombia, South America. She offers classes in English and Spanish, creates cohorts for herbalists that want to learn Spanish, speak at conferences and support and organize events that are mindful, eco-conscious and look to bring justice and awareness to our multicultural connections and relationships. She also organizes focus Spanish learning groups online or on site to develop herbalism, sustainability and social permaculture.

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Ethnobiologist Marc Williams has studied the people, plant, mushroom and microbe interconnection intensively while learning to employ botanicals and other life forms for food, medicine, and beauty in a regenerative manner. His training includes a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies concentrating in Sustainable Agriculture with a minor in Business from Warren Wilson College and a Master’s degree in Appalachian Studies concentrating in Sustainable Development with a minor in Geography and Planning from Appalachian State University. He has spent over two decades working at a multitude of restaurants and various farms and has traveled throughout 30 countries in Central/North/South America and Europe as well as all 50 states of the USA. Marc has visited over 200 botanical gardens and research institutions during this process while taking tens of thousands of pictures of representative plants and other entities. He has taught hundreds of classes to thousands of students about the marvelous world of people and their interface with other organisms while working with over 100 organizations and particularly as a Board of Directors member of United Plant Savers, Plants and Healers International and online at the website www.botanyeveryday.com. Marc's greatest hope is that this effort may help improve our current challenging global ecological situation.

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Marion Hearth is a freebirthing mama of three who is passionate about setting up the next generation of families with secure attachment : understanding birth options, attachment parenting (breastfeeding, co-sleeping, elimination communication), pregnancy and postpartum nutrition, and more. She is a mentor for parents-to-be, supporting them through 1-1 guidance and group facilitation. She is also the mama of Goddess Ghee, a local business making artisan ghee and herbal ghee.

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Mateo Ryall has been learning about plants, mushrooms and trees for the past 20 years. I apprenticed with Juliet Blankespoor in 2005, whine spending over a decade attending walks, classes and worshops with clinical herbalist Sevensong. Also , I spent years attending walks workshops , events and periods of travel with Frank Cook for 9 years . While traveling , meeting and learning about plants across North America, I've spent time learning with Green Light & Christopher Hobbs about mycology, Herbalism and botany in California.
I've also studied permaculture with Chuck Marsh, Patricia Allison, Star Hawk, Penny Livingston in the Southern Appalachians.
I currently own and run an organic nursery and permaculture design business that I started called Herb and Roots , which focuses on propagating and grueling medicinal, edible and useful plants, shrubs & trees using strictly organic methods . I am a certified permaculture designer working with landscapes and water systems. I offer apprenticeships and interns at the nursery , & I am currently designing a learning institute where students learn about plant propagation, botanical identification , nutritive and medical use of plants, plus education in permaculture design & implementation.
I started studying capoeira in 2000, first learning the Regional art in Florida, but then discovered Angola in Seattle, and later in Asheville. I have a personal practice that incorporates yogic techniques and Qi qong awareness with a focus on the Angola style of capeoira . I've played in numerous states of the country in different rodas, while meeting and taking classes from many maestros and professor during the last decade and a half.

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eater of deliciousness. i migrate curiously, navigating subsistence patterns and seasonal harvests.

#wildlifoodin

wildlifoodin@riseup.net

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Matt Wright is the owner/organizer of Rock House Farm, an intentional permaculture homestead in Highlands, NC cultivating perennials and mushrooms and shepherding Shetland sheep, Angora goats, chickens and ducks. He is certified in permaculture design and wild mushroom harvesting with a passion for all things wild and free.

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Matthew enjoys helping humans harvest energy from sunlight. He's always building things, either on the homestead or as construction manager for Community Housing Coalition of Madison County. Matt loves sharing his experience integrating solar energy into energy efficient buildings, farms and homesteads, especially for off-grid independent applications.

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Matthew is on a journey to becoming a human being, a true adult, one who lives their soul's purpose: this is not a linear path. Some part of this path seems to be practicing and teaching Earthskills, which he has been doing since 2015. Another part is exploring and diving into the rich territory of feeling and emotion that is within him and each of us. The exploration part has been happening since birth. He has been diving intensely into the deeper waters of his emotional body and holding space for others for the past 2 years. Matthew can be found singing and making music, growing/preparing food, experimenting in new ways of relating, writing, working and playing with kids and improvising life/making a home with his friends. He lives in the city of Asheville, located on the ancestral lands of the Cherokee people. You can find more out about Matthew at www.matthewcolombo.com.

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Addicted to two wheels between my legs with any surface under those wheels. Never tiring or not in awe of where those wheels can take me. Over 20 years experience teaching bicycle mechanics and ride safety training to youth and adults so that they can sprout wings and fly!!

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My bio is great!

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Asheville Food Fan Awards Winner For 2019’s “Food Maker of The Year”, And 2022 Good Food Awards Finalist: Fermenti Provides Living, Probiotic Rich Fermented Foods, Hand Crafted In Asheville at our new store at 175 Weaverville Highway, Unit G Asheville, NC 28804. These Vegan, Raw, Plant Based Foods Are A Rainbow Of Flavors, From Our Bright “Ginger Turmeric Pink Kraut” To Our Sharp “Sichuan Carrots”! We Actively Use Organic Practices To Grow Herbs and Select Produce On Our Farm In Marshall, NC- Providing #farmtoferment Goodness. We Have Paired With The Utopian Seed Project In 2020 To Grow #heritage Varieties With The Intention Of #growtoferment Well-Seasoned Table Collaborates With Us On Our Apple Carrot Kraut, In The Addition Of Their “Zatar Seasoning” Which Gives It A Tangy But Balanced Appeal. We Exclusively Use Arden, NC Based Selina Naturally Celtic Sea Salt.
CEO Meg Chamberlain Created The WNC Fermentation Festival To Bring Together The Community In Honor Of Fermentation, Food Preservation, Farming and Food Resiliency In Madison County, Benefitting The Beacon Of Hope Food Bank. You Can Find Free YouTube Tutorials On Our “Fermenti Mountain” Page… Giving You The Option To Ferment In The Comfort Of Your Home! Check Us Out-#idfermentthat
#growtoferment #farmtoferment #diyfermentation #youcanfermentthat

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Melisa has been dowsing for over 20 years. She has been trained in the Wise Woman Tradition, as well as Medical Radiesthesia- Tesla based energetic technology that uses dowsing to interpret bio-energetic information and ancient Egyptian Energetic Sciences that use many different pendulum designs to detect subtle variations of frequencies in our environment. Melisa has applied dowsing as a valuable tool to speak with spirit, learn from Spirit and to serve all beings in their evolutionary process.

Anything with a life force has a consciousness that can be communicated with; trees, plants, animals, birds, the Ocean, a mountain,the soil, crystals, baby humans, the dying, the dead, other Spirits, planets......By practicing dowsing techniques a pendulum becomes a tool that navigates through the unseen frequencies and guides our intuition into a very conscious interaction with the vast energetic universe.

"Join me as we explore the possibilities."

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Melissa has a degree in the science of education and was a teacher for many years. When her dog was dying of seizures she started inventing new types of herbals ways to help her. This sprouted into a full company; Hemp Magik. Now she is in a program to become an Unshaming practitioner at the Institute for Shame based studies. She is passionate about helping people on their healing journeys and is excited to share some of what she has been up to!

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Mel DeBoer is a rebel RN, Naturopath, Breathwork facilitator, and Reiki practitioner in West Michigan. She is the owner of Rooted In the Wild, a revolutionary healthcare practice with an approach to wellness through physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. After working in the traditional health care system for years, she found herself disillusioned and began to wander. She studied meditation and Ayurveda in Sri Lanka and began a journey into the school of naturopathy and traditional healing modalities. She currently provides one on one supportive naturopathic consults, breathwork ceremonies, and sacred sexuality somatic work.

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Belly dancing now for over 16 years, Michele has found this dance to be a subtle language that emanates her own relationship with the Goddess both within and without. She joyfully shares her interpretation of human as channel between heaven and earth using the intricate rhythms and melodies that arise from ancient times. Michele has had the unique opportunity to practice that expression with a variety of talented musicians, primarily focusing on improvisational dance, which has been an invaluable and treasured experience.

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Miranda Coonrod has been following her fibery heart strings from a
very young age and that path has taken her from crochet, knitting,
spinning, felting, sewing, weaving to learning about our own textile
past and exploring the inner cloth of ourselves and cultures. She
strives for connection and beauty in our simple daily material and the
landscape we are inescapably part of. You can find her creating things
for Wild Bergamot Hand Crafts where she is top reed sleyer, lace
stitcher, buckskinner, and twill walker...

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Plants, blood, and song have been Monica's guiding forces on the path of remembering how to walk on this Earth with grace. She has ardently studied agri/permaculture, herbalism, energy medicine, sound healing, and traditional blood-moontime practices for the past 5 years. After completing her degree in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of Missouri, she took off onto the open road and has been traveling and learning every since. In 2014 she attended The School of Forest Medicine in Oregon, where she learned, amidst wildcrafting and medicine making, to listen to the forest. She brings this perspective to her work with healing dance in the Butoh lineage and through song as medicine. In 2015 she traveled through Central and South America, where she held healing space at Equilibrio, Envision, and Organika festivals, as well as in the Sacred Valley of Peru. She has been co-facilitating Cacao Ceremonies and Women's Circles, including Red Tents, Moon Rituals, and Water Ceremonies, for the past year and a half. In the realm of rewilding, she helps the inner-self mirror our external actions. As we rewild our bodies with native plants, she helps us give rise to the sounds and movements that are innate to our beings. She helps reawaken the wild soul through the vehicles of plant, movement, and sound medicine.

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A bit about myself: As a child of the woods having found an old abandoned homestead along a creek I used to play in up in Ohio...I had found heaven on earth. I carry my inner child in me trying to create somewhat of a similar dream to have abundance of cultivated foods and wherever I go wild foraging as I've done since I was about 5. So after being a nuclear operator in the Navy; going to get environmental engineering and then a masters in ecological engineering at UF, I settled on a homestead in N Fl called Finca Mycol. This is where the FL Earthskills was born and where I've hosted many a volunteer over the years. I try to be a good steward of the land working on organic native restoration, perennial food forests, natural building and am off-the-grid cooking over fire and being an advocate of humanure composting. I worked a 7 year period across the state of FL as a biologist/botanist; spent about 3 years on various journeys throughout C and S America. I've been tapped into the permie world since the late 90's where I've had amazing mentors (Bob Hunsucker, Ken and Cindy Crouse, Marc Williams, Doug Elliot, Frank Cook, Seven Song etc) have all shared knowledge nuggets with me. I've been teaching ethnobotany since around 2000 and mycology a few years later (I started learning mycology in Wa state at the Olympic penninsula mushroom club in the early 90's..have eaten many a shroom and haven't died yet as of this writing!) I know my plants and shrooms pretty well across the board from across the SE and eastern US but the learning never ends! I also am a lover of music and play percussion (hand drums, balafon, and COW BELL!), and strings (guitar, ukelele, charango, harp, etc. I am a lover of puns and strive for eye rolls.

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Nancy Gildersleeve makes baskets using Florida natural materials. She teaches basketry and palm weaving at Florida state parks, local museums and libraries, primitive skills gatherings and at the John C Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC

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Natalie is the founder and former director of the Firefly Gathering. She now focuses her energy with her family and at her school, Wild Abundance, where she teaches tiny house building workshops, foraging classes, deer hide tanning, and permaculture design courses, where people can earn there permaculture design certificates.

She lives in her lovely, growing homestead nestled deep in community in the Southern Appalachians. She spends her time harvesting in the wild, building, gardening, planting, putting up food, growing, teaching, and scheming about how to introduce more people to Earth-based living, all while worshiping the beauty around her.

She and her partner Frank run an herbal, natural building, permaculture apprenticeship. These days she is especially focused on women's primitive skills, permaculture courses , and home building workshops.
She’s passionate about teaching and sharing skills that are essential for living harmoniously within the natural systems of the earth.

Natalie Bogwalker has built and lived in all sorts of natural buildings and tiny houses, including a bark hut, a straw-clay shack, and a round log cabin.


www.WildAbundance.net

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We are a community of men seeking brotherhood, mentorship, eldership, connection, support, challenge, growth, and love through the Spirit of Brotherhood.

We believe that the patriarchy has demonized all forms of masculinity. The true nature of masculinity is far more nuanced than that, and we seek to rewrite this narrative. We hold space for men to individually find their own truths about masculinity and to explore a more balanced form of it, a sacred masculinity that celebrates and integrates the feminine.

Our society is disconnected and has forgotten the pillars of what it means to walk this earth with integrity, connection, respect, and sacredness that our ancestors lived and breathed daily. We seek to re-member these pillars and to integrate evolved versions of them into the modern world.

We are here to create brave spaces for men to step into vulnerability in order to feel liberated. We celebrate men in their highest, most authentic expressions while encouraging autonomy, empowerment, and choice. We invite men to take a break from the thinking mind and to drop into the innate healing wisdom of their bodies. We aim to create a space that allows men from all ages, races, sexual orientations, and backgrounds to have an open, honest, evolving discussion so that we may learn from one another.

Alongside the Spirit of Brotherhood we will be providing the Spirit of Intergenerational Wisdom this year at the Firefly Gathering.

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A dirt kissed troubadour
Nich uses poetry, word play, and deep listening reflecting back their observations in imaginative-improvisational ways. They believe each person, plant, and living creature is inherently creative and has the ability to tap into creative expression. One of Nich's goals is to be the reed which the wind makes music with, as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī wrote, illuminating reminders for what you already know.

Nich's love of word play comes from having a mixed cultural composition, and a tongue too big to speak coherently when they were little.

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A student of life, whether crafting or crying, finding the lessons in all things is something I strive to see in world. 2017 firefly was my first gathering and I realized in minutes I’d found my chosen family.

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Since he was a kid, Nico's always wanted to live in the woods. For the last 10 years, he's been fulfilling that dream, living off-grid in the mountains around Asheville, and studying the skills and knowledge it takes to meet his own needs from the land. That "simple" act, of meeting a need for himself, ties him closer to the land and all the beings around him. His main areas of focus have been hide tanning and woodworking, and he now runs a business tanning hides, carving spoons and bowls, and teaching these skills to the local community. You can see what classes are coming up, and what products he has available, at woodlandworkshopnc.com, or by finding him @woodlandworkshopnc on Instagram.

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Osker and his family manage Glorious Forest Farm in Madison county, where the goal is to re-establish humans as a responsible keystone species. This work involves deepening relationships with nutrient dense wild foods like hazelnut, acorn, hickory, and mullberry. It also includes domestic animals as a management tool, and a means for harvesting less edible wild plants and turning them into milk and meat.

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Paeonia's passion for fiber arts was sparked around the campfires of primitive skills gatherings in the west. Many teachers, students and personal experiences have stoked this fire over the past 6 years, and it is with great joy that she passes on the embers.

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Papillon DeBoer is a licensed counselor (LPC) with the Agency of Change. He also contracts with Our Voice, providing free counseling for survivors of sexual trauma, and for their loved ones. Some people call him Poppy. He is also a wizard, drummer, poet, artist, husband, father, and friend. www.agencyofchange.net www.ourvoicenc.org

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Parker has been working with the healing powers of plants as nutrition and medicine for 5+ years. She was born and raised in Appalachia with her favorite teacher being her naturalist Papa, showing her God in each plant and ecosystem and also learning to PLAY with the earth. She knows the earth can provide the deepest healing and wants to show others how easy and fun it can be to get connected. Picking flowers and leaves is her prayer as she believes it heals the world. There is nothing else she would rather do than be swept away in a spring breeze of Cherokee Rose or swoon at Golden Rod as Autumn approaches. Parker is also the queen bee of her herbal business Honey Goddess Herbs, where she shares her creations among farmers markets in the Atlanta area.

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Richmond VA 41 Male

Earthen Builder specializing in Cob Ovens and Rocket Stoves. Including portable rocket stoves.

Experience with disaster relief and international development.

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Born and raised in North Florida panhandle, I spent the first half of my life trying to figure out how avoid living inside and still subsist.
I've been a counselor at a wilderness therapy camp in Hawaii, and a Geothermal driller in my home state.
Recently I spent 2 yrs running a nonprofit throwing range/farm, and I currently Manage
a locally sourced CSA-supplied restaurant in Kingsport Tennessee.

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Working with organic seeds since 1990 Peter is the founder and seedsman of Sow True Seed in Asheville. Combining a passion for the preservation and improvement of open pollinated seed varieties he will discuss techniques and strategies for home and farm scale seed saving.

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Phil Ferguson is the leader of The Wandering Swordsmen, an organization dedicated to the facilitation and growth of padded full contact combat sports, also known as boffing. He started training in boffer swordplay in 2006, started the Asheville team and community in 2011, and has been teaching professionally since February 2014. Currently he teaches at many schools and festivals around Asheville, as well as weekly by donation at Carrier Park on Sundays, and travels to national events to compete numerous times throughout the year. His goal is to travel the world with The Wandering Swordsmen to help professionalize the sport, while using his training methods to teach people how to engage in compassionate combat, and by doing so help humanity learn how to resolve conflict more effectively.

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R.J. spent many hours in the woods growing up learning the ways of the forest. After a stint in the Marines, he has spent a career studying the healing arts from massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, martial and movement arts.

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Rachel Shopper is a counselor, naturalist, and ceremonialist. Growing up, she spent much of her time in the forest, finding solace and inspiration in wild places. Rachel's passion for healing, harmonious connection, and self-discovery have led her to explore many traditions that lead us toward weaving a web of regenerative human culture—a culture wherein each of us can bring our gifts to the world in the truest embodiment of ourselves. Rachel spent a year diving deep into the study of nature connection, mentorship, and primitive skills at the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, WA. She is a Kripalu-certified yoga instructor, a vision fast guide, and has studied permaculture design, animistic healing practices, and creative writing. She currently lives in Asheville, NC, where she offers individual and couples counseling and uncoupling ceremonies. In her spare time, Rachel enjoys wandering in the woods, reading and writing poetry, and cooking ancestral foods.

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Radical parent with passions for camp life, subsistence food gathering/preserving, and freedom of creative expression for practical crafts.

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Rebecca Playfair aka Solairah (she/her, they/them) had a somewhat blended upbringing and experiences across diverse social, economic, cultural, geographical, and work environments. The parents who raised Rebecca (father and stepmother) were both born and reared in Nigeria as children of missionaries. Rebecca's father later went to live on a Kibbutz in Israel, learned and taught Hebrew, and studied theology. He spent his life working in social services for those with head and spinal cord injuries. Rebecca's stepmother spent her life work as an elementary school special needs teacher in an all-black school in Fairfield County, S.C. Rebecca was raised with her brother on Turtle Island in what is currently called Columbia, S.C. In childhood, she attended Baptist and Evangelical churches as well as Conservative and Orthodox Jewish Synagogues. When Solairah was twelve, she began exploring spirituality in all its forms. She has worked as a waitress, massage therapist, mother, community farmer, traveling physical therapist assistant, and somatics educator. For much of Rebecca's life, she struggled immensely with self-destructive patterns stemming from early childhood /ancestral trauma. Solairah is happy to report that while they are most certainly a work in progress, the depth of suffering once experienced from frequent bouts with anxiety, depression, addiction, or self-harm no longer haunts them as they once did, and instead, they enjoy guiding others out of their traumatic patternings. Solairah recognizes that there was a significant amount of white privilege involved throughout her lifetime that helped her to do things like access trauma healing resources. Although Solairah no longer identifies as white, believing that "whiteness" is a toxic construct she would rather put in the trash, she recognizes that her fair skin continues to grant her white privileges such as increased access to resources and decreased barriers to health and wellness due to the color of her skin. She has committed to work toward dismantling white supremacy and colonizing practices or beliefs to the best of her ability and to encourage reparative actions. This includes but is not limited to the following: speaking up when racism is evident and rooting out any subconscious racist or ableist beliefs that have been programmed into their mind, developing relationships with ecosystems, seeking to understand and practice sustainable solutions, and speaking out against the military, police, and prison industrial complexes. Her Lifework is focused around Somatic Schools/Spectrum Healing which desires to make trauma healing accessible to *everyone* by utilizing equitable exchanges based on compassionate relationships with self and others. Some equitable exchanges include free or donation-based services, commitments to action, sliding-scale, and bartering through Time for Time Banks. To determine what is an equitable and compassionate exchange requires knowing some of the context of a person's life, culture, history, financial situation, work, and intentions. For example, if a "white" person who makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and owns several houses with little history of using their financial resources for their community would like to receive somatic services from me, a single mother seeking to work through non-profit motives, then an equitable exchange might be for that person to pay a thousand dollars or more for an hour of services. As another example, a Hispanic single mother without current work receives somatic services from me free of charge and has a commitment to use their healing for the community and to sign up for a Time for Time bank when she feels able to. Equitable exchanges require understanding and an agreement that when one person's situation or circumstances change financially, emotionally, or physically, reassessing the exchange is needed.
Rebecca currently identifies as a Neurodiverse Israelite Celtic Christian Jewish Queer Pagan Animist Radical Faerie Femme Conservative-Liberal Anarchist who does her best to participate in behaviors intended to assist All Children Everywhere with receiving their basic needs in a Loving community. Her email is somaticschools@gmail.com and her main web address is spectrumhealing@gmail.org, somaticschools.com is still under construction.

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I worked as a Caretaker at the Tracker School, and began teaching kids primitive skills up there with The Children of the Earth Foundation. Once I moved back to North Carolina, I began teaching with Arthur Bernier and David Martin at a summer camp we started called True Nature Camp. I am also a seventh grade language arts teacher, and I have just recently started a podcast called Balanced Warrior which is focused on bringing people information to help them find balance in their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual lives.

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Ren Zatopek here! I'm your mystical Mary Poppins, complete with inclination to burst into song, magic purse of infinite depth, and ability to turn chalk drawings into doors to the Hidden World.

I've spent more than fifteen years guiding folks deeper into the mysteries as a teacher, ritualist, and in my private practice as a spiritual guide and healer. I've lead and collaborated on hundreds of rituals, journeys, and spellweavings at shops, festivals, and gatherings.

I'm an initiate of Ced Tradition, a working coven of mystical, magical heretics with more than 40 years of history in its current incarnation, arising from one of the surviving magical streams of Britain. (Not that you can kill a witch stream. You can just...make it temporarily non-corporeal.)

I’ve also studied death midwifery with Sacred Crossings, faery lore and folk magic with House of Brigh, and have a certification in bodywork, energetic healing, and somatics from the Institute of Psycho-Structural Balancing.

I'm the stable master and spirit wrangler at Hedge+Riders, an accessible online training ground for folks who are ready to build trust and skill in their relationship to trance.

+ find me on the web at www.renspiritwork.com +

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Camperbob Jarrell has been walking the Earth teaching art and wilderness skills since way back in the last century. He still knows a thing or two and likes to spread the good skills around.

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Robin Greenfield is an activist and humanitarian dedicated to leading the way to a more sustainable and just world. He embarks on extreme projects to bring attention to important global issues and inspire positive change. His work has been covered by media worldwide including National Geographic and he’s been named “The Robin Hood of modern times” by France 2 TV.

Robin's life is an embodiment of Gandhi’s philosophy, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” In a time when many feel disempowered, he believes that our actions really do matter and that as individuals and communities we have the power to improve the world around us. Robin donates 100% of his media earnings to grassroots initiatives, primarily Indigenous and Black Led. He has committed to living simply and responsibly for life. www.robingreenfield.org

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DeLesslin George-Warren is an artist, researcher, and educator from Catawba Indian Nation whose work ranges from performance to installation art to community education to food sovereignty to language revitalization. From 2017-2019 he was the Special Projects Coordinator for the Catawba Cultural Preservation Project where he facilitated the Catawba Language Project (including developing and programming online digital assets such as the Catawba Language App), several food sovereignty initiatives, and other community education projects. Since 2019 he has continued to work for his tribe as a consultant on many projects including: language revitalization, food sovereignty, educational sovereignty, cultural healing, teacher training, grant writing and much more. He has performed, lectured, and exhibited throughout the U.S. including the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, College of Charleston, Vanderbilt University, Ithaca College, and more. In 2018 DeLesslin was recognized as a 2018 “40 Under 40” by the National Council on American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2017 he was selected as a Dreamstarter by Running Strong for American Indian Youth and in 2016 he was recognized as a “25 Under 25” by United National Inter Tribal Youth. Roo is an alumnus of Vanderbilt University (B. Mus., 2014), Humanity-in-Action (Copenhagen Fellowship, 2014), and Columbia University’s Indigenous Studies Summer Program (2016). Some of his work can be seen at delesslin.com

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Ryan Milt is a Katuah Bioregion native and feels blessed to have been mentored and impacted by many of the areas wise elders in the fields of ethnobotany, botany, herbalism, sustainable wild-crafting, and useful plant cultivation. These include Joe Hollis, David Bruce Leonard, Frank Cook, 7Song, Alan Muskat, Two White Feathers, and so many more. Ryan currently makes a living wild-crafting for Asheville area chefs, creating value added foods from the wild for farmers markets, and teaching the art of sustainable wild-crafting. He is the owner of Asheville Wild Foods.

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Ryan began as a student of the North American Bushcraft school. It was there he fell in love with the world of plant based dyes. He began with simple, solid colors and has expanded into "eco prints." Now he spends his days scouring thrift stores with his partner, Kim, for natural fibers he can add color and designs to.

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Sara Callaway loves a good conversation about things that matter. Her past lives include farmer, nature mentor, and adult program director. Her current passions include dancing, plants, and navigating major life changes. Invite her to join you on a fun adventure.

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Sara Hosburgh has been weaving fabric for 16 years. She attended a Penland School of Craft summer session in 2004. She had a solo textile exhibit in 2006, participated in events at Foosner Art Museum, and has won awards at outdoor art festivals.
Sara has offered weaving at various locations to homeschoolers for the last 5 years. She has taught children and adults weaving at the Florida Earthskills Gathering for the last 2 years. She lives in Melbourne, Florida with her other half Noah and two kids. They homeschool, garden, and run their woodworking business together.

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Sarah Haggerty - MA, LPC, WFR

Sarah is an award-winning community leader, ceremonialist, speaker and licensed psychotherapist. She has served as Director of Education at several acclaimed environmental institutes. She has supported thousands of people on the path of deep nature connection and personal growth. Sarah is a psychotherapist and soul guide in private practice. She is an initiate priest and a lifelong practitioner of ritual arts from multiple cultural lineages. Her work is based in wisdom traditions from around the world. She offers a framework that is cross-cultural and non-dogmatic. She is a student and practitioner of the art of mentoring, cultural healing and deep nature connection. She has a BA in environmental education and an MA in Transpersonal Counseling.

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Sarah Jordan has been an artist and face painter for 10 years so far. Before Sarah decided to focus on visual arts, she created a hoop dance curriculum and shared it with thousands of students worldwide. Sarah has been featured in Asheville Made Magazine and her local clients include The Asheville Tourists, The Omni Grove Park Inn, Accents on Asheville, The Hendersonville Aquarium and more.

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My music, art, dance, and herbalism co-arise as an ecosystem of care. Whether I am carving wooden bowls for gathering herbs or sculpting ceremonial clay cups for making herbal medicine, my visual art supports my connection with the Earth. I sing and dance as embodied listening practices, exploring how my body relates to different plants and places. I translate these sensations into visual information, which I paint and felt. Although I have learned about edible and medicinal plants and mushrooms from books since childhood, my own embodied expression as it relates to these beings is my most important teacher. I have toured extensively across Europe and North America, supporting my albums that have been called “Mystical” by the New York Times and “In tune with the thrust of existence” by NPR. Living in the mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina, I devote myself to learning from the Earth and helping others use their own expression as a means to listen. springfromsoil.com

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Sarah Plonski is a holistic fulfillment coach. Her practice uses a combination of life coaching, shadow work and embodiment practices to help her clients bring greater ease, joy and fulfillment into theyr lives.
Learn more at www.sarahplonski.com

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Sarah has been helping folks remember how fun it is to get naked in nature since she was a kid. Now she leads retreats, classes and playtime to guide others into deeper communion with themselves, nature and each other. She’s passionate about consent, pleasure as medicine and the joyful and shadow-laden path of getting to know the wildness of your Divine Soul. She has served as an administrator and associate faculty for the Body Electric School, one of the country’s oldest and most trusted names in erotic education. She is also an entrepreneur, embodiment coach, Women’s Temple Facilitator, Professional Cuddlist, Certified Cuddle Party Facilitator, Akhanda Yoga teacher, founder of the Red River Gorge Play Ashram and a teacher of NVC, Non-Violent Communication. She is an avid rock climber and can usually be found playing in her natural habitat, the moss and ferns of the Red River Gorge, Kentucky. You can learn more about her work at www.sarahbelzile.com. Sign up for her newsletter and you will receive the password for the “erotic playground” section of her site where you will find an eco erotic self pleasure practice and other treats.

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Saro is an award-winning singer, song leader, folklorist, documentarian, and illustrator from Asheville, North Carolina. She has studied and taught traditional song and balladry from Appalachia, the American South, the British Isles and Ireland for over 15 years. She uses teaching, documentary, illustration and more to explore the amazing people and history behind songs ranging from Appalachian lullabies to American labor anthems, Southern work songs and Scottish ballads.

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Seren Petrichor has been growing and breeding Pawpaw trees since 2012. He lives here in the mountains of Appalachia in the town of Bat Cave in an intentional community called Entwoods Evermore. Seren has made it his life mission to bring the Pawpaw tree and it's delicious and nutritious fruit back into popularity. Seren is also a glassblower and loves to make glass or plant trades for your awesome goods at the trade blanket and bazaar!

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Seth Grube was a Navy SEAL operator for SDV Team One where he was the pilot of a wet submersible and was in charge of the diving deparment. Underwater hydrographic reconnaissance and demolition required a sound skill set in knot tying, and in his training he was required to pass a test of tying different knots at a depth of 15 feet on a single breath hold. He's taught scenic design and construction at Warren Wilson College where a week was dedicated to tying knots for general rigging of sets on the fly system. His past experience in rock climbing and wilderness rescue required a firm grounding in rope work of a mission-critical nature. He is currently a member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers where he continues to cultivate his passion for the art of knot tying while staying on the cutting edge of developments in this field.

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"Sheefra’s passion for living a handmade life and for directly experiencing the wilderness has led her to become skilled in, for example: butchering wild game and making jerky, trekking in the wilderness using only a blanket for shelter in rain and hail, cooking meals from scratch for a dozen people over a campfire, and sewing her own clothes from deer hides she tanned herself. Through many camping and canoeing trips, as well as in daily cooperative living practice at the farm, she has also expanded her capacity to patiently seek solutions in a group setting while feeling hungry, cold, or tired. She has demonstrated not only the great tenacity and patience required to learn these skills, but the generosity to teach them to dozens of visitors and interns with magic and grace.”

From 2013-2016 Sheefra co-managed interns at Nagdeo Farm (www.nagdeofarm.wordpress.com, where she practiced and taught primitive and homesteading skills. The program also focuses heavily on emotional work and cooperative living.
Sheefra has practiced as a clinical herbalist since 2012 when she graduated from Paul Bergner's North American Inst. of Medical Herbalism in Boulder, Colorado. She enjoys growing and making medicines.
Sheefra also facilitates therapeutic movement through somatic dance and through yoga.
Additionally, Sheefra loves to write stories, tan hides, and cook for her friends. She enjoys being outside and dipping into creeks and streams. Though she is an internationally sought instructor of Kabalistic thought, she considers herself an animist and currently practices vitalist medicine, guiding others to a place of balance through stor-ywork (procabular.org), food and herbal medicine, movement, and ritual.
You can contact her to schedule a free initial 15 minute consultation at secretsofembodiment@gmail.com or visit her website at secretsofthedoe.wordpress.com

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I’m an LCSW therapist, coach, consultant and teacher with decades of practice with individuals and groups of diverse identities, ages and life stories in a wide array of settings including years in Brooklyn, NY community based organizations. The heart of my work is helping humans reconnect with themselves, each other and the natural world to enable deep individual and collective healing. I weave together a range of therapeutic healing modalities including IFS, Hakomi and other somatic, nature-based and anti-oppressive practices to delve into themes including shame, group facilitation, supervision, giving and receiving feedback, empowering practice with youth, tending to self as a practitioner and other trauma-informed and oppression-informed practices.

Among the many humans who inspire me are Robin Wall Kimmerer, Resma Menakeem, Gloria Steinem and Asia Suler, Among my many passions are connecting with humans, trees, wildflowers, insects, abundant laughter and lots of chocolate.

My approach is collaborative, intuitive and full of heart and rooted in my own lived experience of healing, learning and emerging!

www.shirasameroff.com

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Spencer 2 Dogs Bolejack operates Land of the Sky Wilderness School and Dojo in Western North Carolina where he lives with his wife and three kids. He has loved being a part of Firefly since the Old Coggins Farm days and hopes to bring unique and interesting elements to the class line up. Spencer is an author, media/video producer, musician, had a show on Discovery channel and has been both a student and teacher around the world. He continues his learning and teaching in a variety of environments, cultures, and paradigms - preparing as many as possible for time when we will live again on the Earth in harmony, in relationship with one another and the Creator.

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I have always been a passionate drummer, my spirit is drawn to the rhythmical vibrations that link us to the universe. I started participating in drum circles over 20 years ago at rainbow gatherings.Since then I have performed, taught classes, and studied drumming/rhythm, particularly Traditional West African rhythms. It is my belief that drumming is health; Mind, body, spirit, and links us to our ancestry. The word Djembe has been translated to "bring together". Drumming is a vital tool to any living community.

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Sully is a leather worker, artist, professional musician, hunter, forager, lover of nature and all Her many facets.
Sully has been involved in primitive, earth and survival skills for over 2 decades now.
From an early age as a traveller across the US living and camping in various wilderness areas across the country, to living in intentional communities and homesteads.
He's been teaching leather work at Firefly and other earth skills gathering for the last 10 years.
Sully is of Puerto Rican/Boricua/Taino ethnicity who is in continual reintegration and re-membering of his indigenous roots and familial culture.

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Taija Ventrella (they/them) is an anti-diet fitness trainer who specializes in working with women and queer folks who want to get strong and reject diet culture. They are nonbinary and are using gender-neutral parenting to raise their baby and a nonbinary stepchild. In their personal life, they’ve been educating folks on gender for many years, and are excited about queering Earthskills and all of the spaces they exist in. You can find them online at taijaventrella.com or @taijaventrellafitness on Instagram.

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Talcon Quinn is 8+ generations from the Appalachian hills of South Eastern Ohio. She has studied traditional crafts, survival skills, herbalism and midwifery all over the states and even abroad. Her Appalachian folk art,, fusses old traditional craft work; like natural leather tanning, basket weaving and beading; with modern esthetics. Gatherings like FireFly are important to Talcon, because teaching, being, sharing the old ways, to her is a vital part of our human connection and helps us stay focused on creating a positive path for our future.

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Curabitur ornare ultrices lacinia. Sed finibus nunc lacus, laoreet commodo nisi tincidunt eu. Nullam luctus velit ac diam auctor, nec laoreet ligula luctus. Maecenas viverra quis leo non ullamcorper. Maecenas vitae tortor ac tortor venenatis finibus in placerat lacus. Suspendisse pharetra nunc ac tellus euismod, sit amet eleifend tellus dapibus. Sed laoreet ipsum nisi, vel commodo ligula venenatis id. Nam accumsan lacinia purus, ac dictum elit bibendum vitae. Cras in ipsum scelerisque, laoreet nulla ac, dignissim dui. Sed imperdiet, tellus ut viverra efficitur, neque lectus placerat ex, eget ornare nulla libero et libero. Aliquam blandit nisl in justo luctus volutpat. Proin vitae purus nisi. Sed ac consequat quam, quis faucibus lorem.

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Todd Elliott is a naturalist, biologist, musician, and forager from western North Carolina. Todd's passion for the natural world has led him to pursue research projects on six continents. He is particularly interested in understanding human uses and relationships with the organisms around them. He is author of the Timber Press field guide, Mushrooms of the Southeast(USA) and Todd has also written numerous peer-reviewed publications from his various research projects. Most recently, Todd’s been studying the interactions between birds, reptiles, mammals, and fungi in Australia. To learn more follow Todd on Instagram (@toddfelliott) or Twitter (@toddfelliott1).

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Endlessly curious human, student of all things ancient and passionate teacher.

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Trevor has been a lover of trees, and a wide variety of craft traditions that utilize the varied and amazing properties of wood.

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Nose to the grindstone (sometimes literally), Tyler lives for the opportunity to work with his hands. Whether it be weaving baskets, sewing buckskin, fletching an arrow, it is in this realm of focus and awe of creation that he truly revels in.

He first fell in love with Southern Appalachian ecology as a student at Warren Wilson College, graduating with a degree in Environmental Education. Through reading the children's novel "My Side of the Mountain," Tyler began to follow the rabbit hole of traditional skills and wild foods. Since then he has been blessed with many teachers and mentors to continually draw his attention to greater layers of mystery and possibility in crafting a handmade life.

Over the past 10 years Tyler has apprenticed and taught with many traditional skills schools and events including Wild Abundance (NC), The Roots School (VT), Living Earth School (VA), Turtle Island (NC), Forest Floor (NC), Exploring Joara, Earthskills Rendezvous, Firefly Gathering, Florida Earthskills,, and more. He has worked with hundreds of children and adults through public/private schools, homeschool cooperatives, and special events.Tyler is devoted to understanding material use in context of it’s ecological niche—unveiling ancient and scientific wisdom to appropriate technologies. Whether it be putting by wild foods or working with stone tools, bows and arrows, hides, baskets, fiber or woodcraft, Tyler orients his life by the skills that have kept our ancestors alive for thousands of years.

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Inventor

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Wendy (She/they/momma/hey you) has been studying all things homestead and primitive culture related for over a decade now, with her interests primarily focusing on the creative and agricultural themes. It has always seemed like a great mountain adventure; with every plateau there is a realization that there is always another level to be obtained, another goal to reach. For more than a handful of years now, she has been building up her own homestead full of chaos, critters, lots of hard work and happiness with her now extending family. Heart and Homestead focuses on becoming a creative self sufficient homestead and teaching others how to do all of this for themselves as well! Which takes a number of skills and a great community to be successful but obtainable by everyone! Bring back the skills!

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Friends of Big Ivy is a federal 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Big Ivy section of Pisgah National Forest. We focus on U.S. Forest Service management, trail maintenance, and watershed protection.


We are a grassroots coalition of local farmers, families, landowners, teachers, artists, attorneys, local business leaders, clergy, hikers, equestrians, hunters, mountain bikers, anglers, and other outdoor enthusiasts.


We oppose commercial logging in Big Ivy and support responsible, sustainable management of the forest.


We organize volunteer trail maintenance, trash pickups, and creek cleanups. We also work together with various user groups to ensure the long-term health of the forest resources.

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Zee is a Warrior Healer, a teacher, mentor, and guide. Zee has been referred to as the Warrior of many colors. He is a Kung Fu Master and instructor with over 2.5 decades of training, competing, and teaching in multiple disciplines as well as a former US Marine. He is Certified in Medical Biomagnetic Therapy by Escuela Superior De Biomagnetismo Medico, and has greatly improved the physical health of many members of our community, clients and their family members. Zee is also a very powerful spiritual and energy healer. He has dedicated his life to healing and shining Light & Love to all beings. In addition, Zee is an avid organic gardener and Permaculture Designer at the Garden of Zeeden.

Amongst many other areas of skilled practice, Zee has helped to relieve chronic muscle pains caused by blocked emotional energy. Detoxing the body, and physical aliments caused by bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic infections. Zee has also healed animals emotionally, as well as physically.

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Zev Friedman dedicates most of his time to finding ways to grow diverse life-sustaining cultures in our bio-region. His work as a permaculture educator, consultant, and researcher living at Earthaven Ecovillage is all related in one way or another to this mission. He seeks to inspire and empower others to find the skills and mentorship they need to support them in finding a meaningful role in this process of re-connecting humans to nature in a way that takes good care of both. After growing up in a patch of kudzu in Sylva, North Carolina, Zev earned a B.S. in Human Ecology at UNC Asheville in 2004. Through a 2-year permaculture teaching apprenticeship with Patricia Alison, he then began working as a professional permaculture educator and consultant in 2007. Zev now specializes in hands-on, in-depth education in permaculture and earth-skills, and seeks to grow community and multi-generational village culture through his consulting work and land projects. See www.livingsystemsdesign.net, schoolofintegratedliving.org and www.earthaven.org for more information.

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