Experience Level: Beginner

Learn to make your own soap at a Soap Making Demonstration on Saturday, Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Greenhouse Auditorium.

Artist Sally Walsh will lead students through the process of making soap, including the science, safety, ingredients used and the herbal benefits. Students will take home a bar of soap in addition to a booklet of instructions and recipes.

$45/person*. Registration will close Oct. 11 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

*Students should wear old clothes.

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

Sally Walsh is a retired art teacher from Richland Community College in Decatur. She has more than 30 years of teaching experience and has led previous art classes at Allerton.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn the basic mechanics of using a spinning wheel to make your own yarn at Learn to Spin Yarn on Wednesday, Oct. 29 and Thursday, Dec. 11 from 5 to 8 p.m. in The Studio. 

After a brief introduction from instructor Stephanie Block, students will have time for hands-on spinning practice and the opportunity to spin alpaca fiber into yarn using Ashford scotch tension Traditional or Traveler wheels. Discussion of fiber production and preparation methods will also be included.

$130/person. Registration closes one week before each course begins, or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

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

Stephanie Block is the co-owner of Sundrop Alpacas near Bement. She has been producing popular yarn from her own alpacas for more than nine years. Stephanie’s spinning style is self-taught, and she is continuously learning so that she can share that knowledge with others.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn more about the ethics of agriculture at Food for Thought: Are You Willing to Make That Trade? on Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Mansion Library.

Retired professor and lecturer of plant pathology Dr. Jack Paxton will talk about agricultural ethics and correct farming practices, using clips from “The Price of Bounty,”a video produced by the University of Illinois Department of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES).

$15/person. Registration will close Nov. 5 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

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

Dr. Jack Paxton is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign after serving as a Professor of Plant Pathology from 1964 to 1996. He earned his bachelor’s degree from University of California-Berkeley and his PhD in Plant Pathology from University of California-Davis. He was also a lecturer at University of California-San Diego from 1997 to 2020.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn the difference between a shrew and a mole; a mole from a vole; a rat from a mouse; and a weasel from a mink — and more — at Mammals of Illinois on Saturday, November 22nd from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in The Studio. 

Instructor Frant Harty of the Land Conservation Foundation will bring a collection of study skins and skulls to help students learn how to identify wild mammals in Illinois by their appearance, skulls, furs and habitats. All students will receive a hand lens and a copy of a field guide to mammals.

$45/person. Register by November 9. 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

Fran Harty has taught dendrology at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and similar classes for Allerton Park Corps of Discovery in 2009 and the Illinois Audubon Society in 2015. Fran currently works with the Land Conservation Foundation.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn how to winterize a beehive and how to care for bees in the winter a

Instructor and master beekeeper Maggie Wachter will demonstrate the main steps for preparing hives to withstand winter so bees can emerge strong and healthy in the spring.

$20/person*. Registration will close Nov. 21 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

*Students should dress appropriately for beekeeping (loose-fitting long sleeves and pants, no open shoes) and bring a protective bee veil and unscented rubber gloves.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia 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

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 honey bee 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, 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.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn the basic mechanics of using a spinning wheel to make your own yarn at Learn to Spin Yarn on Wednesday, Oct. 29 and Thursday, Dec. 11 from 5 to 8 p.m. in The Studio. 

After a brief introduction from instructor Stephanie Block, students will have time for hands-on spinning practice and the opportunity to spin alpaca fiber into yarn using Ashford scotch tension Traditional or Traveler wheels. Discussion of fiber production and preparation methods will also be included.

$130/person. Registration closes one week before each course begins, or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

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

Stephanie Block is the co-owner of Sundrop Alpacas near Bement. She has been producing popular yarn from her own alpacas for more than nine years. Stephanie’s spinning style is self-taught, and she is continuously learning so that she can share that knowledge with others.