Adult Nature Classes
Spring 2013 Schedule
Scroll down for registration information
March
The Art of Identification
March 2, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Have you ever cracked open a field guide hoping to find an unknown flower or insect only to find that that the layout was confusing or the technical language was off-putting? You are not alone. Field guides are helpful tools for anyone interested in understanding nature, but the learning curve for beginning to use them is steep. Almost everyone who has begun to explore the world of plants or animals through field guides has had the same experience. Save yourself a few headaches! Join us on this field guide exploratorium and go home equipped with the skills to deepen your knowledge of nature one plant or animal at a time. Learn what field marks to look for, how to remember them, which books to invest in and how to use them. This accelerates the process of learning about nature and puts it where it belongs: right in your hands, anytime, anywhere!
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Art of Fire I: Modern Fire Methods
March 3, 2:00 – 4:00
The Art of Fire is a three part series designed to offer a step by step approach that will culminate in fully primitive friction fire. The first class is in March and the followup classes are in April and May. Our focus in March lays the foundation of modern fire making methods. It provides the fundamentals to mover deeper into semi primitive and primitive fire making skills in future classes. We will explore various fire lays such as the A frame and tipi structure and then we will move onto tinder bundles, harvesting from various sources such as cedar, poplar, cattail, dandelion, grasses, and more. Lastly, we will learn the best ways to light our tinder bundles and fire lays with various modern tools such as matches, magnesium and steel, ferro rods, and many others. Each class in this series may be registered separately but attendance in all classes in the series is encouraged to progress through all of the levels.
Instructor: Al Whitted
Plant Guild
March 6, 6:00-8:00 pm
In the plant guild, we gather every other week to share experiences in field identification, wild harvesting edible and medicinal plants, botanical medicine making and more. This is a hands-on course designed to facilitate learning about plants season by season. This ongoing series includes many take-home projects such as making plant medicines, plant collections and potlucks from wild foods. The Plant Guild meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Newcomers always welcome.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Archery Club
March 9, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
This club is designed to teach members how to shoot a traditional bow, using many time-honored techniques. We will use different and unusual targets that you won’t see anywhere else. Here, you will learn finger-drawing techniques, from the Mediterranean loose to the Apache draw to styles of thumb draw used in Mongolia, China, and Japan. You will learn just how surprisingly difficult it is to aim a traditional bow without a sight or a scope. We will demonstrate instinctive shooting, point-of-aim or gap-shooting, and string-walking, to name but a few. We will teach you how to find a firm anchor point that is suited to your bow and your body. You will learn proper posture, and what we mean when we say “I cant.” All of these techniques will be taught in a friendly and supportive club environment to help you achieve your dreams of hitting that perfect bullseye with nothing more than a stick, a string, and a lot of skill. The archery Archery Club meets on alternate Saturdays.
Instructor: Alina Boyden, State Archery Champion
Wild Harvest Series V: Spring Greens & Ephemerals -WILL BE HELD at Sandy Creek Park, Durham, NC
March 16, 2:00 – 7:00 pm
Learn how the earth sustains and nourishes us. Abundant food is growing around us for free in the wild! All we have to do is learn how to use it. This practical, hands-on series will focus on wild food harvesting, processing and preservation with a particular focus on ways to extend the harvest through the year. Gain hands-on experiences gathering food from the wild. The first half of each class will focus on identifying and harvesting plants and the second half will focus on processing the wild materials into wholesome and delicious foods. Anyone can talk about wild foods but true learning comes through direct experience. These intensives pick up where other plant walks leave off. They are highly recommended for anyone who is interested in understanding wild edible plants through personal, hands-on experience. Find out how you can bring home the best of each season. This month we will explore spring ephemerals.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Piedmont Earthskills Gathering March 20-24 at Shakori Hills
Earthskills gatherings have been happening for many years around the world and they are now coming to the Triangle area for the first time! Together, we will recreate an ancient village and share the skills of our ancestors, gather around the fires in the evening for community and experience the power of classes well beyond anything that has been offered in the Piedmont up until now. We are excited to welcome the Earthskills community to our area and we encourage all people who are interested in our classes to join us in this extraordinary experience. To find out more, click on the link above.
Plant Guild
No Plant Guild this week: Meet us at the Piedmont Earthskills Gathering!
Archery Club
March 30, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
This club is designed to teach members how to shoot a traditional bow, using many time-honored techniques. We will use different and unusual targets that you won’t see anywhere else. Here, you will learn finger-drawing techniques, from the Mediterranean loose to the Apache draw to styles of thumb draw used in Mongolia, China, and Japan. You will learn just how surprisingly difficult it is to aim a traditional bow without a sight or a scope. We will demonstrate instinctive shooting, point-of-aim or gap-shooting, and string-walking, to name but a few. We will teach you how to find a firm anchor point that is suited to your bow and your body. You will learn proper posture, and what we mean when we say “I cant.” All of these techniques will be taught in a friendly and supportive club environment to help you achieve your dreams of hitting that perfect bullseye with nothing more than a stick, a string, and a lot of skill. The archery Archery Club meets on alternate Saturdays.
Instructor: Alina Boyden, State Archery Champion and Women’s Longbow National Champion
Plant Guild
April 3, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
In the plant guild, we gather every other week to share experiences in field identification, wild harvesting edible and medicinal plants, botanical medicine making and more. This is a hands-on course designed to facilitate learning about plants season by season. This ongoing series includes many take-home projects such as making plant medicines, plant collections and potlucks from wild foods. The Plant Guild meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Newcomers always welcome.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Spring Ecology - WILL BE HELD at Sandy Creek Park, Durham, NC
April 7, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Come and joins us as we explore the signs of early spring in the Piedmont. Birds are moving, salamanders are breeding and flowers are starting to peek above out of the leaf litter. Nature is starting to wake up and that awakening is subtle sometimes, but will bring all our senses to bear to seek it out. Explore the forests and vernal pools, see the unfolding spring through the eyes of a naturalist and discover its little known secrets.
Instructor: Nate Swick, Naturalist
Archery Club
April 6, 1:00-3:00 pm
This club is designed to teach members how to shoot a traditional bow, using many time-honored techniques. We will use different and unusual targets that you won’t see anywhere else. Here, you will learn finger-drawing techniques, from the Mediterranean loose to the Apache draw to styles of thumb draw used in Mongolia, China, and Japan. You will learn just how surprisingly difficult it is to aim a traditional bow without a sight or a scope. We will demonstrate instinctive shooting, point-of-aim or gap-shooting, and string-walking, to name but a few. We will teach you how to find a firm anchor point that is suited to your bow and your body. You will learn proper posture, and what we mean when we say “I cant.” All of these techniques will be taught in a friendly and supportive club environment to help you achieve your dreams of hitting that perfect bullseye with nothing more than a stick, a string, and a lot of skill. The archery Archery Club meets on alternate Saturdays.
Instructor: Alina Boyden, State Archery Champion, and Women’s Longbow National Champion
Art of Fire II
April 14, 2:00-6:00 pm
The Art of Fire is a three part series designed to offer a step by step approach that will culminate in fully primitive friction fire. The first class is in March and the followup classes are in April and May. Our focus in March lays the foundation of modern fire making methods. It provides the fundamentals to mover deeper into semi primitive and primitive fire making skills in future classes. We will explore various fire lays such as the A frame and tipi structure and then we will move onto tinder bundles, harvesting from various sources such as cedar, poplar, cattail, dandelion, grasses, and more. Lastly, we will learn the best ways to light our tinder bundles and fire lays with various modern tools such as matches, magnesium and steel, ferro rods, and many others. Each class in this series may be registered separately but attendance in all classes in the series is encouraged to progress through all of the levels.
Instructor: Al Whitted
Plant Guild
April 17, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
In the plant guild, we gather every other week to share experiences in field identification, wild harvesting edible and medicinal plants, botanical medicine making and more. This is a hands-on course designed to facilitate learning about plants season by season. This ongoing series includes many take-home projects such as making plant medicines, plant collections and potlucks from wild foods. The Plant Guild meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Newcomers always welcome.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Wildlife Drawing – Postponed until summer, date TBD
April 20, 1:00-4:00 pm
Sitting with a pencil and sketchbook can be one of the most satisfying ways to observe
nature. When you take the time to draw a plant or animal, you have to look at it with
care, focus and truly open eyes. Exploring a variety of tips and tricks for capturing the
natural world on paper, we will begin with no-pressure drawing games to warm up our eyes
and our hands. We will then move on to drawing the animals in residence, seeing what
turtles, snakes and raptors can teach us about the art of drawing nature.
For all experience levels, from novice to expert.
Instructor: Emma Skurnick
Archery Club
April 20, 1:00-3:00 pm
This club is designed to teach members how to shoot a traditional bow, using many time-honored techniques. We will use different and unusual targets that you won’t see anywhere else. Here, you will learn finger-drawing techniques, from the Mediterranean loose to the Apache draw to styles of thumb draw used in Mongolia, China, and Japan. You will learn just how surprisingly difficult it is to aim a traditional bow without a sight or a scope. We will demonstrate instinctive shooting, point-of-aim or gap-shooting, and string-walking, to name but a few. We will teach you how to find a firm anchor point that is suited to your bow and your body. You will learn proper posture, and what we mean when we say “I cant.” All of these techniques will be taught in a friendly and supportive club environment to help you achieve your dreams of hitting that perfect bullseye with nothing more than a stick, a string, and a lot of skill. The archery Archery Club meets on alternate Saturdays.
Instructor: Alina Boyden, State Archery Champion and Women’s Longbow National Champion
Wild Harvest VI: Flowers
April 27, 2:00 – 7:00 pm
Learn how the earth sustains and nourishes us. Abundant food is growing around us for free in the wild! All we have to do is learn how to use it. This practical, hands-on series will focus on wild food harvesting, processing and preservation with a particular focus on ways to extend the harvest through the year. Gain hands-on experiences gathering food from the wild. The first half of each class will focus on identifying and harvesting plants and the second half will focus on processing the wild materials into wholesome and delicious foods. Anyone can talk about wild foods but true learning comes through direct experience. These intensives pick up where other plant walks leave off. They are highly recommended for anyone who is interested in understanding wild edible plants through personal, hands-on experience. Find out how you can bring home the best of each season. This month we will discover edible flowers.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Coil Basketry – To be rescheduled at later date (TBD)
April 28, 2:00-4:00 pm
Pine needle basketry and coil basketry are two similar traditions that incorporate wild plants from the Piedmont into beautiful finished products using a sewing process. With pine needles, grasses, rushes and more, we will explore the art of Pine Needle and Coil basketry from harvest to finished result.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Plant Guild
May 1, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
In the plant guild, we gather every other week to share experiences in field identification, wild harvesting edible and medicinal plants, botanical medicine making and more. This is a hands-on course designed to facilitate learning about plants season by season. This ongoing series includes many take-home projects such as making plant medicines, plant collections and potlucks from wild foods. The Plant Guild meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Newcomers always welcome.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Bird Language I - postponed to a later date (TBD)
May 4, 10:00-2:00 pm
Birding By Ear. What if the movements and calls of birds were not random sound and motion but actually coded behavior that reveals otherwise undetectable activity in the landscape? What if bird calls indicate where the grey fox is sneaking or where the weasel runs, hidden in the brush? This series of two classes offers an uncommon perspective on the power of watching and listening to birds. In our first class, we will walk through the forest at Mason Farm, watching bird calls and behaviors. We will share the skill of reading the voices of the birds for clues about what’s happening in the surrounding landscape. We’ll learn the 4 calm voices of the birds as well as what a bird alarm sounds like and how its shape and character changes depending on the reason for the alarm. In our second class, we will put all of this into practice by sending teams out into the surrounding landscape to observe and interpret the interplay of predators and prey across the forests and fields. As a form of advanced awareness, knowing bird language can completely change the way that we relate to the world of sound and motion in nature.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Bird Language II - postponed to a later date
May 5, 10:00 – 2:00 pm
Language of the Birds II: Concentric Rings. Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, Director of Education. What if the movements and calls of birds were not random sound and motion but actually coded behavior that reveals otherwise undetectable activity in the landscape? What if the bird calls revealed where the grey fox is sneaking or where the weasel moves, hidden in the brush? This series of two classes offers an uncommon perspective on the power of watching and listening to birds. In our first class, we will walk through the forest at Mason Farm, noticing bird calls and behaviors. We will practice reading the voices of the birds for clues about what’s happening in the surrounding landscape. We’ll learn the 4 calm voices of the birds as well as what a bird alarm sounds like and how its shape and character changes depending on the reason for the alarm. In our second class, we will put all of this into practice by sending teams out into the surrounding landscape to observe and interpret the interplay of predators and prey across the forests and fields. These two back-to-back intensives will change the way that you relate to the world of sound and motion in nature.
Art of Fire III
May 5, 2:00-6:00 pm
The Art of Fire is a three part series designed to offer a step by step approach that will culminate in fully primitive friction fire. The first class is in March and the followup classes are in April and May. Our focus in March lays the foundation of modern fire making methods. It provides the fundamentals to mover deeper into semi primitive and primitive fire making skills in future classes. We will explore various fire lays such as the A frame and tipi structure and then we will move onto tinder bundles, harvesting from various sources such as cedar, poplar, cattail, dandelion, grasses, and more. Lastly, we will learn the best ways to light our tinder bundles and fire lays with various modern tools such as matches, magnesium and steel, ferro rods, and many others. Each class in this series may be registered separately but attendance in all classes in the series is encouraged to progress through all of the levels.
Instructor: Al Whitted
Canceled: Conservation Series: Beginner Birding
May 10, 5:30-7:30 pm
We will discuss the major issues regarding bird conservation and enjoy a short bird hike. We will also build a bluebird house – a little late for this year – but you will be ready for next spring!
Instructor: Sara Marschhauser
Wild Harvest VII: Shoots and Summer Greens
May 11, 2:00-7:00 pm
Learn how the earth sustains and nourishes us. Abundant food is growing around us for free in the wild! All we have to do is learn how to use it. This practical, hands-on series will focus on wild food harvesting, processing and preservation with a particular focus on ways to extend the harvest through the year. Gain hands-on experiences gathering food from the wild. The first half of each class will focus on identifying and harvesting plants and the second half will focus on processing the wild materials into wholesome and delicious foods. Anyone can talk about wild foods but true learning comes through direct experience. These intensives pick up where other plant walks leave off. They are highly recommended for anyone who is interested in understanding wild edible plants through personal, hands-on experience. Find out how you can bring home the best of each season. This month we will focus on shoots and summer greens.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Archery Club
May 4, 1:00-3:00 pm
This club is designed to teach members how to shoot a traditional bow, using many time-honored techniques. We will use different and unusual targets that you won’t see anywhere else. Here, you will learn finger-drawing techniques, from the Mediterranean loose to the Apache draw to styles of thumb draw used in Mongolia, China, and Japan. You will learn just how surprisingly difficult it is to aim a traditional bow without a sight or a scope. We will demonstrate instinctive shooting, point-of-aim or gap-shooting, and string-walking, to name but a few. We will teach you how to find a firm anchor point that is suited to your bow and your body. You will learn proper posture, and what we mean when we say “I cant.” All of these techniques will be taught in a friendly and supportive club environment to help you achieve your dreams of hitting that perfect bullseye with nothing more than a stick, a string, and a lot of skill. The archery Archery Club meets on alternate Saturdays.
Instructor: Alina Boyden, State Archery Champion and Women’s Longbow National Champion
Plant Guild
May 15, 6:00-8:00 pm
In the plant guild, we gather every other week to share experiences in field identification, wild harvesting edible and medicinal plants, botanical medicine making and more. This is a hands-on course designed to facilitate learning about plants season by season. This ongoing series includes many take-home projects such as making plant medicines, plant collections and potlucks from wild foods. The Plant Guild meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Newcomers always welcome.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Archery Club
May 18, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
This club is designed to teach members how to shoot a traditional bow, using many time-honored techniques. We will use different and unusual targets that you won’t see anywhere else. Here, you will learn finger-drawing techniques, from the Mediterranean loose to the Apache draw to styles of thumb draw used in Mongolia, China, and Japan. You will learn just how surprisingly difficult it is to aim a traditional bow without a sight or a scope. We will demonstrate instinctive shooting, point-of-aim or gap-shooting, and string-walking, to name but a few. We will teach you how to find a firm anchor point that is suited to your bow and your body. You will learn proper posture, and what we mean when we say “I cant.” All of these techniques will be taught in a friendly and supportive club environment to help you achieve your dreams of hitting that perfect bullseye with nothing more than a stick, a string, and a lot of skill. The archery Archery Club meets on alternate Saturdays.
Instructor: Alina Boyden, State Archery Champion and Women’s Longbow National Champion
Wild Foods Gourmet
May 25, 1:00 – 7:00 pm
Wild foods are one of the most prized ingredients used by top level chefs to
create stunning and expensive showpiece dishes. Learn to prepare some of
these dishes with ingredients available in your own backyard, and enjoy the
delicious results at the end of the class. Preparation techniques will be showcased as a primary focus in this class. Simple and easy to duplicate as well as more complex molecular gastronomy techniques will be demonstrated.
Instructor: Tanith Tyrr, NCSU Wild Foods Competition First Place Winner
Poisonous Plants
June 1, 2:00-4:00 pm
From the irritating itch of poison ivy to the deadly toxin in water hemlock, the Piedmont region has several poisonous plants that are lurking in our midst. These plants have much to teach us about awareness and accurate observation. Discover the details that separate wild carrot from its deadly poisonous look-alikes. Find out what kinds of toxins lurk in plants, why they are there and how they effect the human body.This class is essential for anyone interested in edible plants because the study of edible wild plants would never be complete without a respectful awareness of the poisonous ones.
Instructor: Sarah Haggerty, 2012 North Carolina Environmental Educator of the Year
Registration Information
Fees:
- 2-hour classes are $10 members and $15 non members. These classes are designed to share new experiences and explore new skills.
- 4-hour intensives are $20 members and $25 non members. These intensives go deeper and more in depth into each skill.
- 6-hour immersions are $30 members and $35 nonmembers. 6-hour immersions to allow us to dive in and fully experience the subjects. In our immersions, we bring lunches and share the day together, deepening our skills and our community.
Please register at least two days ahead of time.Drop-ins are also welcome if the program is not already full.An additional $5 fee is added to the cost of the class for drop-ins.Drop-in students should make sure to check on this web page before coming on the day of the program in case of class updates or cancellations.
Directions:
All weekend programs take place at Leigh Farm Park in Durham except for the Owl Prowls, which take place at Mason Farm Reserve in Chapel Hill (Mason Farm is also accessible by entering “100 Old Mason Farm Road” in most GPS units). Enter the parking lot for Finley Golf Course Clubhouse off of Old Mason Farm Road, or Finley Golf Course Road (it’s the corner where they merge) – we will meet at the back of that parking lot and proceed into the preserve from there.
If you would like to join our email listserv for the nature series programs, please send us your contact information, and we will email you an announcement when each program season is ready to begin.