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.”

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.”

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn a variety of hand embroidery stitches and create a unique craft item at Embroidery 101: Summer Flower Sampler on Saturday, July 12 from 12 to 4 p.m. in The Studio.

Instructor Billie Theide will introduce students to the history of embroidery and samplers and help them learn about transferring designs to fabric, different threads and yarns, and creating a variety of stitches, as well as how to finish and care for embroidered samplers.

$95/person. Register here by July 3. 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 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

Billie Theide is a former chair of the Crafts Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she is Professor Emerita. Theide is a metalsmith, jeweler and ceramicist. Her work is in public art collections around the world including the Smithsonian, Museum of Arts & Design in New York City, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the Racine Art Museum, among others.

She is the recipient of a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and five Artists Fellowship Grants from the Illinois Arts Council. Theide has been recognized for her excellence in teaching and is a Distinguished Member and Past-President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths.

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.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn all about the magical world of mushrooms at Mushroom Identification for Beginners from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Sundays, July 6, 13, and 20 in The Studio and outdoors. Participants will learn about mushroom anatomy, toxicity, edibility, and common uses. Instructor Lee Schuler will also share information on safety and sustainability.

Classes will begin with a short lecture and slide presentation, then move into the woods for identification practice outside. Question and answer periods will also be included.

$100 for the entire series or $45/class. Register by July 4 or one day prior to subsequent classes*. All sales are final.

*Individual class links:

— July 6
— July 13
— July 20
— Full Series

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

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.

Week 5: Jul 14-18

Ages: 8-11 (Adventurers)

Travel back in time to learn the history of Allerton and its people. Putting on their explorer hats and using various methods of “travel” around the park, campers will dig into the search for Allerton of yester-year, always returning each day to the present to showcase their findings!

Camp hours are 8am to 3pm. Early Arrivers and After Care extended day options are available for an additional fee, with earliest drop off at 7am and latest pickup at 5:30pm. Extended day option - $15/AM; $35/PM (includes an afternoon snack)

Two snacks, a camp T-shirt and all necessary materials are included. Campers will need to bring their own water bottle, sunscreen, bug spray, and a change of clothes/shoes. Lunch can be purchased for the week as an add-on to the registration or a lunch can be sent from home. Lunch - $25/week

Adventurers go to the Monticello Family Aquatic Center twice a week. Rider intake forms and payment directly to Piattran are required for pool transportation. Pool entrance is included in camp registration fees.

A limited number of partial scholarships will be available this year. Scholarships will be awarded as a percentage of camp fees, based on need, as decided by Allerton. To apply for a scholarship, please complete the application here: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/1676504062

Week 5: Jul 14-18

Ages: 5-7 (Acorns)

Travel back in time to learn the history of Allerton and its people. Putting on their explorer hats and using various methods of “travel” around the park, campers will dig into the search for Allerton of yester-year, always returning each day to the present to showcase their findings!

Camp hours are 8am to 3pm. Early Arrivers and After Care extended day options are available for an additional fee, with earliest drop off at 7am and latest pickup at 5:30pm. Extended day option - $15/AM; $35/PM (includes an afternoon snack)

Two snacks, a camp T-shirt and all necessary materials are included. Campers will need to bring their own water bottle, sunscreen, bug spray, and a change of clothes/shoes.Lunch can be purchased for the week as an add-on to the registration or a lunch can be sent from home. Lunch - $25/week

A limited number of partial scholarships will be available this year. Scholarships will be awarded as a percentage of camp fees, based on need, as decided by Allerton. To apply for a scholarship, please complete the application here: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/1676504062

Experience Level: Beginner

Explore the botany, natural history and flavors of several local wild edible plants at Edible Midwest Natives on Wednesday, July 16 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the Studio.

Heidi Leuszler, the owner and head chef of Berries and Flour in Champaign, will focus on native plants that are harvestable at the time of class. Those could include spicebush, common milkweed, nettles, sweet Cicely, black raspberry, American persimmon, common prickly ash and violets.

Students will learn ethical and sustainable foraging practices, look at different types of harvesting gear, and take a short walk into the woods to find, identify and forage edible parts from selected species. Students will then clean, process and eat what was foraged, and will go home with a handful of recipes, samples and plants (resources permitting).

$65/person*. Register by July 7. All sales are final.

*Students should bring work gloves and snippers/clippers.

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

Heidi Leuszler grew up harvesting and foraging wherever she lived: mangos in Florida, morels and mustang grapes from the back acre in Missouri, wild strawberries and holly grapes in the Colorado mountains and chokecherries in North Dakota. Those passions remained as she added culinary skills in addition to becoming a professor of environmental science, ecology and botany at Parkland College.

She started Berries and Flour in Champaign as the synergy of several passions: culinary, ecology, growing of plants, foraging and teaching people about the plentiful Midwest land. Berries and Flour teaches how to harvest, process and consume regional foods, collaborates with others to promote food accessibility and justice, and produces value-added products from its commercial kitchen.

Experience Level: Beginner

Gather with your fellow dulcimer musicians and create some music at Mountain Dulcimer Jam Sessions on Saturday, July 19 from 10:30 to 12:00 p.m. in the Studio. This gathering is perfect for those who have taken Beginner Mountain Dulcimer at The Farms and want a space to practice with fellow players.

$5/person. Register a day prior to each jam session. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

About the instructor

Lou Ann Koebel currently leads a weekly dulcimer jam for the East Central Dulcimer Illinois Dulcimer Club at Lincoln Square. She also plays in a local band that visits and performs at local assisted living facilities.

Last fall, she taught a beginning dulcimer class for The Farms, where she had a wonderful time teaching the group and realized her love of teaching and passing on the tradition of playing a mountain dulcimer. Lou Ann also plays at area music festivals.