Make a long week out of your visit to the Northwoods and get more than just a vacation. This year, pre-convergence workshops are being offered to provide travelers with opportunities to dive deeply into specialized subjects for prolonged periods of time. These half to multi day workshops afford the opportunity to gain hands on experience and more embodied knowledge than a one hour class could offer. Participate in building a rocket mass heater, harvesting and processing wild rice, implementing syntropic agriculture, dyeing fabric with plants, and processing flax into fiber.

Choose your own adventure during Friday’s transition zone with a variety of sustainable local tours and activities.

Pre-Convergence Workshops

Temperate Climate Syntropic Agroforestry

September 4th-5th, Rinelander, Wisconsin

Learn the theory and practice of syntropic agroforestry in a temperate climate. Syntropic agroforestry is a method of regenerative agriculture that optimizes natural processes to generate high yields, disease resistance and drought resistance. We will cover the theory of syntropic agroforestry, and we will plant some tree lines on location.

Wild Rice Harvesting

September 3rd, Rinelander, Wisconsin

Wild rice has been a staple crop in this area for thousands of years. Join us to collect wild rice along with the ducks and swans. We'll spend around 2 hours on the water filling our canoes with yummy rice.

Wild Rice Processing

September 3rd, Rinelander, Wisconsin

Processing wild rice is the tricky part of foraging for wild rice. In this workshop we'll parch, dance and winnow rice to turn it into a finished product using semi-traditional techniques. You will go home with some of the rice we process.

Rocket Mass Heater Build ($42)

September 2nd - 5th, Rinelander, Wisconsin

A Holiday Acres cabin could use an improved heating system. A Rocket Mass Heater will reduce wood usage by a significant amount while providing a more even heat profile and removing chances of creosote build up. We will install the guts of an RMH in the workshop, and apply a coating of cob over the weekend sessions to make a true heated hearth for this cabin.

Flax to Fiber (Free)

September 4th, Eagle River, Wisconsin

Learn to process flax fiber. Flax grown at the Northwoods Community Garden will be processed using hand tools. After fiber processing, there will be a chance to make some handmade paper samples out of flax to take home.