willows and Our Rivers 3:
Wild Willows and SOil Health
Saturday, September 12 - 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
MEETS OFFSITE at Lake Hiawatha/ Bde Psin
2701 E 44th St, Minneapolis, MN 55406
On the shore of Lake Hiawatha / Bde Psin, we will take a look at the ways willows support ecological restoration around our urban waterways. We will visit a wild willow site, discuss ethical harvest practices, observe the coppicing work done by beavers, and talk about willow tending practices for continued ecosystem health. Soil scientist Alex will guide us through some soil identification and testing.
Our time outside will be followed by a weaving activity indoors: garlic baskets and herb drying trays! We will do some soil painting and potentially cyanotype printing as we discuss restoration and biology.
This workshop is part of a continuing Willows and Our Rivers series; you can register for any or all of the classes.
Tuition: $33 per participant
Materials Fee: $25 to be paid to instructor.
Tools to Bring: Students should bring their favorite pair of garden clippers, a notebook, and a pen or pencil, and rain boots for accessing the willow stand.
Age / Ability Level: Beginners, ages 16 and up, or ages 8 and up with an adult.
Contact Bozena here if cost is a barrier to your participation
-
In this offsite class, learn about willow ecology and ethical harvesting at a stand of wild willows, followed by hands-on weaving of garlic baskets and herb drying trays.
-
We will be wading around in some potentially mucky spots!
Please contact bozena bozena.scheidel@gmail.com with any additional accessibility questions
CENTER FOR PEOPLE AND CRAFT is committed to building a diverse, inclusive learning community where people of all backgrounds feel welcome and able to participate. As we launch our first workshop series, we are dedicating space in each class for reduced-tuition scholarships to support anyone facing financial barriers. As we build a more robust scholarship program, we hope this initial launch will remove barriers and expand access to hands-on learning for all.
Anyone with financial need is encouraged to apply for a half-tuition scholarship. To be considered, please submit a brief online application. Please note that CENTER FOR PEOPLE AND CRAFT is operating with limited financial resources and an entirely volunteer staff. Therefore, we cannot guarantee a spot for every applicant. Each class has one scholarship slot available. Applicants who are not selected in this current round are welcome to reapply. Apply here
-
CPC is able to provide refunds up to two weeks before the start date of the class for which the registration was submitted, though we do retain a $20 fee for return payment processing. If you need to cancel your class within the two week window, a refund is not guaranteed, but will be considered based on several factors.
If CPC needs to cancel a class due to low enrollment, teacher illness, or other factors, you will receive a full refund. Read our full set of policies.
meet your instructors
Bozena Scheidel lives in Minneapolis. She weaves willow baskets and is interested in developing relationships to places where willows grow: floodplains, wetlands, lakeshores, ditches and farms. She is excited about the ways handwork informs practices of care and ecological restoration. She works in childcare and construction and plays fiddle.
Alex Griffin is a soil scientist and restoration ecologist, and her work asks the question: how can we restore soil health and function to support native plant communities? She cares deeply about the role of both scientific ecological knowledge as well as human values and relationships in answering this question. She’s excited to help the public explore soil properties and plants in floodplain and riparian ecosystems, and learn about the ability of certain plants to perform phytoremediation in soils that are contaminated by heavy metals and other pollutants. .