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Focaccia Art
with Leah Bodine
Experience Level: Any
Learn how to make Focaccia bread from scratch at Focaccia Art on Tuesday, August 12th from 5:30-7:30pm in the Mansion Carriage House.
Students will learn how to make Focaccia bread and then "paint" it with vegetables and herbs to make stunning yet edible designs.
$50/person*, Register here by July 29th. All sales are final.
Learn more about the space where your course will take place here.
If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
Bonnie Rideout wover her first basket in 1994 and quickly caught the "basket bug." She created a business--Bonnie's Baskets in Decatur--in 2006 to teach others to weave. She is also a traveling instructor and has taught weaving in 18 states. Find out more about Bonnie on her website, Facebook, Instagram and Etsy pages.
About The Farms
The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.
See the complete Summer Session schedule here.
Basket Weaving: Bloom
with Bonnie Rideout
Experience Level: Any
Great for beginner and experienced basket weavers, students will learn to weave the Bloom Basket on Friday, August 15th from 12pm-4pm in the Greenhouse Auditorium.
"Bloom" will begin by weaving a woven filled base using a D handle. Other techniques will include twining, start/stop weaving and the use of overlays. The accent colors are chocolate brown, gold, and reseda green. A pretty sunglower charm will adorn the front.
$85/person*. Register here by Aug. 8. All sales are final.
Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
Bonnie Rideout wove her first basket in 1994 and quickly caught the “basket bug.” She created a business — Bonnie’s Baskets in Decatur — in 2006 to teach others to weave. She is also a traveling instructor and has taught weaving in 18 states.Find out more about Bonnie on her website, Facebook, Instagram and Etsy pages.
About The Farms
The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.
See the complete Summer Session schedule here.
MELT with Mary (Aug. 15)
with Mary French
Experience Level: Beginner
Learn how to ease your foot, back, or hip pain, and hike without pain at MELT with Mary on June 27 & 28, July 11 & 12 and Aug. 15 & 16 in The Studio.
Instructor Mary French will lead this introductory workshop to the MELT (Myofascial Energetic Length Technique) method, a self-treatment system that uses soft rollers and balls to improve the body’s connective tissue, nervous and lymphatic systems.
Students will use MELT soft balls and soft rollers as they learn simple techniques that can be done at home to remain active and healthy, and help provide relief from low back pain, arthritis, bunions and plantar fasciitis.
Friday class schedule: (Registration includes all three hours, but students may choose to attend all/part when registering):
— 2-3 p.m.: MELT feet
— 3-4 p.m.: Hike
— 4-5 p.m.: MELT roller
Saturday class schedule:
— 9-10 a.m.: MELT roller
$25/person. Register one day before each class. All sales are final.
— Friday, June 27
— Saturday, June 28
— Friday, July 11
— Saturday, July 12
— Friday, Aug. 15
— Saturday, Aug. 16
Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
As a walker and runner with plantar fasciitis, Mary French received relief from the MELT Method and became a MELT instructor in 2014. She now shares her passion for the self-care method at various health events, including at Allerton.
“If hikers MELT their feet before hitting the trails, they will reduce their risk of injury and aches. Then MELTing afterwards will reduce the soreness from hiking.”
Intermediate Mushroom Foraging--Aug. 16
with Lee Schuler
Experience Level: Intermediate
Those who completed beginner mushroom foraging classes at The Farms or have experience in identification can continue their journey at Intermediate Mushroom Foraging on Saturdays, Aug. 9, 16 & 23 from 9 to 11 a.m. outdoors (rain or shine). Meet at the Greenhouse Cafè Patio (in case of rain meet inside the Visitor Center).
Instructor Lee Schuler will lead two-hour hikes to find, collect and come together to identify mushrooms from the property. Classes will also cover environmental and growth habit, morphology, and edibility for each species that is found. The class will also log every species found to begin a wild fungi survey for Allerton.
$120 for the entire series or $50/class*. Register here by Aug. 6 or three days prior to subsequent classes. All sales are final.
*Students should bring a knife or scissors for collecting samples and wear clothing appropriate for walking up to two miles in various weather conditions.
PLEASE NOTE: Foraging at Allerton is not allowed except as part of this Farms class.
Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
Lee Schuler recently moved from Illinois from Pennsylvania, where she taught fungal identification and edibility at environmental education centers for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and for private land owners. She is certified as a wild edible mushroom expert and licensed to harvest and sell to restaurants and markets in the State of Pennsylvania. Schuler is also a contributing culinary author for a wild mushroom trade journal.
A graduate of East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, Lee has worked as a field biologist and environmental educator and currently works in public health. She is an artist and cook and enjoys acquiring new and useful skills as much as she loves sharing them.
About The Farms
The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, outdoor education, science, storytelling, and wellness. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.
Find the complete Summer Session schedule here.
MELT with Mary (Aug. 16)
with Mary French
Experience Level: Beginner
Learn how to ease your foot, back, or hip pain, and hike without pain at MELT with Mary on June 27 & 28, July 11 & 12 and Aug. 15 & 16 in The Studio.
Instructor Mary French will lead this introductory workshop to the MELT (Myofascial Energetic Length Technique) method, a self-treatment system that uses soft rollers and balls to improve the body’s connective tissue, nervous and lymphatic systems.
Students will use MELT soft balls and soft rollers as they learn simple techniques that can be done at home to remain active and healthy, and help provide relief from low back pain, arthritis, bunions and plantar fasciitis.
Friday class schedule: (Registration includes all three hours, but students may choose to attend all/part when registering):
— 2-3 p.m.: MELT feet
— 3-4 p.m.: Hike
— 4-5 p.m.: MELT roller
Saturday class schedule:
— 9-10 a.m.: MELT roller
$25/person. Register one day before each class. All sales are final.
— Friday, June 27
— Saturday, June 28
— Friday, July 11
— Saturday, July 12
— Friday, Aug. 15
— Saturday, Aug. 16
Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
As a walker and runner with plantar fasciitis, Mary French received relief from the MELT Method and became a MELT instructor in 2014. She now shares her passion for the self-care method at various health events, including at Allerton.
“If hikers MELT their feet before hitting the trails, they will reduce their risk of injury and aches. Then MELTing afterwards will reduce the soreness from hiking.”
Bee Hive Observation 8/17
with Maggie Wachter
Join us on a bi-monthly basis as we observe how honey bees manage hive activity during the summer at Bee Hive Observation on August 17. Classes will include an overview of seasonal influences, followed by a peek inside the hives to observe honey bees at work. Traditional and Flow Hives will be discussed.
Participants should wear long sleeves and pants, loose-fitting garments and no open shoes. You should also bring a protective bee veil and unscented rubber gloves.
$20/class. Register two days before each individual class. All sales are final.
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.
About the instructor
When Maggie Wachter began her social work degree at the University of Illinois in 2008, she had no idea that she would become a beekeeper. As for honey, she kept a single jar in the back of her kitchen cabinet for recipes. Today she is a master beekeeper who never eats sugar.
Maggie received her first hive as a gift in 2008. By 2010, she was enrolled in the Master Beekeeper course at the University of Florida. From there, things happened quickly to turn her life around. In 2012, she started teaching beekeeping for Parkland Community Education and today she is a beekeeping teacher, honey judge, mead maker and master beekeeper.
She has also participated in honeybee research at the University of Illinois and the USDA.
About The Farms
The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, wellness, outdoor education, storytelling, and science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.
See the complete summer session here.
Watercolor Travel Journal
available
with Deb Marett
Experience Level: Beginner
Do you have a bunch of vacation photos on your phone that go ignored? Then make them into works of art at Watercolor Travel Journal from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Aug. 22-24 in The Studio.
In this three-day workshop, instructor Deb Marett will teach the basics of watercolor painting, drawing skills and putting a layout together to create pages in journals that capture memories and turn them into a cherished keepsake that can be expanded.
First, students will experiment on practice paper, focusing on how to break down images into simple shapes to make drawing easier, the principles of watercolor, painting light to dark, mixing colors, handling brushes and other basics.
The second day, students will put together a page layout with thumbnail sketches and create page in their journals, as well as a painted page.
$190/person. Register by Aug. 11. All sales are final.
If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.
About the instructor
Deb Marett is a professional artist whose work focuses on equestrian scenes, figurative scenes, and portraiture. She always travels with watercolors and a travel journal.
“It is an amazing way to remember moments of the trip, and spend time soaking up the places I visit,” Marett said.
She loves sharing her knowledge and teaching, and finding ways to make painting and drawing fun and accessible to anyone who wants to explore their creative side.
Intermediate Mushroom Foraging--Aug. 23
with Lee Schuler
Experience Level: Intermediate
Those who completed beginner mushroom foraging classes at The Farms or have experience in identification can continue their journey at Intermediate Mushroom Foraging on Saturdays, Aug. 9, 16 & 23 from 9 to 11 a.m. outdoors (rain or shine). Meet at the Greenhouse Cafè Patio (in case of rain meet inside the Visitor Center).
Instructor Lee Schuler will lead two-hour hikes to find, collect and come together to identify mushrooms from the property. Classes will also cover environmental and growth habit, morphology, and edibility for each species that is found. The class will also log every species found to begin a wild fungi survey for Allerton.
$120 for the entire series or $50/class*. Register here by Aug. 6 or three days prior to subsequent classes. All sales are final.
*Students should bring a knife or scissors for collecting samples and wear clothing appropriate for walking up to two miles in various weather conditions.
PLEASE NOTE: Foraging at Allerton is not allowed except as part of this Farms class.
Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.
By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.
About the instructor
Lee Schuler recently moved from Illinois from Pennsylvania, where she taught fungal identification and edibility at environmental education centers for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and for private land owners. She is certified as a wild edible mushroom expert and licensed to harvest and sell to restaurants and markets in the State of Pennsylvania. Schuler is also a contributing culinary author for a wild mushroom trade journal.
A graduate of East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, Lee has worked as a field biologist and environmental educator and currently works in public health. She is an artist and cook and enjoys acquiring new and useful skills as much as she loves sharing them.
About The Farms
The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, outdoor education, science, storytelling, and wellness. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.
Find the complete Summer Session schedule here.