Living Arts Discovery Days

Our Living Arts Discovery program is an exciting hands on learning experience offered through 5 domains: Gardening & Land Arts, Animal Arts, Forest Skills, Traditional Arts, and Eco-Contemplative Arts. These programs offers participants an opportunity to explore and enliven their relationships with the natural world through active engagement with activities, practices, and skill building.
This program is open to homeschoolers ages 15 and up, as well as adults. Programs and workshops are typically offered on Fridays. contact us to arrange your visit or inquire about upcoming offerings.

Participants explore and learn in 5 domains:

Gardening & Land Arts:
This domain includes the opportunity to be a part of building, planting, tending, and harvesting a garden, learning the alchemy and practices of biodynamic or homeo-dynamic agriculture and permaculture. Participants will also enjoy tasting and cooking food from our gardens.

Traditional Arts and Handicrafts:

This domain honors our past and present human ingenuity and creativity, by presenting learning opportunities in the realms of traditional arts, handicrafts, and wildcrafting. Activities include ceramics and clay-work or pottery, basketry, fiber arts, making herbal teas and medicines, processing wool from our sheep, spinning it into thread and knitting a small project, woodworking and carving, or other traditional wildcrafting using our hands and natural materials available from our region.

Animal Arts:
This domain gives participants the opportunity to build relationships with and learn to care for the animals that live at SOLA. Human-to-animal connection almost always invites a sense of wonder, empathy, and connection. Participants will learn to feed, groom, and take care of the animals. They will learn to listen and observe animal behavior and communicate through body language, sound, and energy.

Eco-contemplative Arts:
This domain gives participants an opportunity to experience nature with all of their senses, exploring and discovering hidden wonders in the natural world. Participants are invited into activities that enliven their awareness and deepen connection to the greater natural world. They will reflect on their experiences individually and collectively through journaling, poetry and art.

Forest Skills:
This domain gives participants an opportunity to feel at home in the wilderness, learning regenerative and sustainability skills that allows us to live in harmony with the Earth. Participants will learn about tracking and navigation skills, how to make fire and create a shelter, use or prepare wild edible plants as food and medicine, archery, and more.