To some extent, a weekend with the grandparents feels similar to a weekend at the Folk School (minus an excess of photos of me in my awkward phase on the walls). The time with them centers on conversation, sharing generational knowledge, passing along tools and the skills to use them properly, eating together and watching the wildlife. We talk about the secrets to living a long, healthy, happy life. And about the things that people used to know that have been lost to modernity. They have never heard the word “foraging,” but they do know which ferns to eat and when to harvest them and how to cook them. They haven’t heard of “homesteading,” but they do know how to pickle vegetables and mend clothing. They also have a list of songs at-the-ready that they could rock in any karaoke setting, Sweet Caroline being at the top of that list.

Anyway, before I go on for too long about my sweet grandparents, I’ll get to my point, which is that I really look forward to singing with folks during the upcoming Community Weekend at the Folk School, and that now is a great time to let us know if there are workshops you hope we’ll continue and/or add to our calendar for 2027.

Please, please, in the comments below or in an email (just hit “reply”), let us know what workshops you’d like us to continue and if there are any you’d like us to add. We also welcome any other feedback that we can incorporate into our planning.

Leave a comment

Death is intrinsically part of community life.

For some of us, there is a desire to become more adept (and comfortable) with end-of-life transitions. I don’t want my fear of death or discomfort to get in the way of my being connected to the people I care about at the end of their lives.

These are all questions that I have asked. And questions that I have been comforted to have answered in past workshops offered by Julia Hartsell of Heartward Sanctuary in Silk Hope, NC.

Natural burial is a topic gaining more traction in the US. Come learn about it and build your capacity to talk about death in a healthy way.

Green Burials Workshop with Julia Hartsell

Saturday, October 17, 2026, 1-4PM

Natural and green burials offer options to express our care for the earth, even in death. Additionally, they open doorways to community-driven care with a personal, intimate, non-dogmatic, pragmatic and spiritual approach to returning to the earth and the mystery. In this workshop, we will explore earth-loving options for your body’s final act.

Learn More & Register

$40 before Oct. 1.

This past weekend we gathered for a 3-day, sold out Natural Building workshop with Greg Allen of Mud Dauber School of Natural Building. Clay soil, straw, sand/grit, water. That’s it! Plus hands and feet.

Several workshop attendees commented that the workshop was soothing and felt like a mental health refresher. Now we can’t wait to see what you all make with your new skillset! Keep us posted.

At the bottom of this article, I’ll share a few of my favorite photos and videos from last weekend. But I want to focus the majority of this message on the opportunities ahead of us!

Coming Up This Weekend

Saturday morning: Designing Outdoor Spaces and Natural Cooking. In the afternoon: Bikes, eBikes & Peddle Power and Forest Bathing (Shinrin-Yoku). On Sunday afternoon: Waste-Less Living.

Intentional Community Weekend: October 17-18

Living Well Ecovillage is eager to answer oft-asked questions about what it’s like to live in an intentional community. They are sponsoring five workshops at Deep River Folk School, which brings the price down to $40 for each workshop during this Early-Bird window. Register now for the early-bird price!

Workshop 1: Community Singing

with Beverly Goldston, Harvey Harman, and Linwood Watson

Making music together is an essential part of being human. The voice is the first musical instrument. Singing together is a form of deep communication and connection, a way of joining harmonically and soulfully with others, a way to unify by all singing the same words with the same melody and rhythm pattern, a way of remembering story and history, a method to encourage and strengthen us during difficult times, a creative way to express emotion and feeling, a form of entertainment and fun, and a way to remember and pass on important life lessons.

Pulling from folk, gospel, African, bluegrass, and other musical traditions we will explore the universality of music and how it helps people come together and create a stronger Community. We will explore the most common types of songs for group singing. We will also look at the song patterns that are the easiest to sing along with or lead including call and response, songs that have a lead part and an echo or refrain part, songs with motions, songs that have easily repeatable phrasing, songs that tell a story, songs with humorous or silly components, songs that tell a spiritual or universal truth, and songs with a memorable or catchy melody or rhythm. Additionally, we will look at ways a song leader can use hand and body movements to help guide the group singing experience. We also will explore singing acapella (just voice) vs. singing with various instrumental or percussion accompaniments. And we will look at the issue of movement as it connects with singing and how this issue varies based on culture, religion, or background.

Register Now

Workshop 2: Starting or Joining an Intentional Community or Co-Living Situation

with Living Well Ecovillage, Tahz Walker, and others

Learn more about Intentional Communities and whether being part of a community is a good fit for you. Hear from a panel of communitarians about their experiences living in an intentional community and also what is involved in starting an intentional community. Hear about the benefits and the challenges, and what are the most important aspects of making a community successful. Learn to evaluate if you are a good fit for community living or whether a specific community is a good fit for you. Learn the most important obstacles to overcome and how different communities have done so.

Register Now

Workshop 3: Green Burials

with Julia Hartsell

Natural and green burials offer options to express our care for the earth, even in death. Additionally, they open doorways to community-driven care with a personal, intimate, non-dogmatic, pragmatic and spiritual approach to returning to the earth and the mystery. In this workshop, we will explore earth-loving options for your body’s final act.

Register Now

Workshop 4: Troubleshooting Strong Points, Weak Points in Community Living

with Linwood Watson, Tamara Sanders and others

Connection to others and a sense of community with others has profound physical and emotional benefits. Let’s look at ways to evaluate how much community you have, specific tools and skills to develop more community, and things that fracture or discourage community. We will look at central themes around which folks often build community (e.g. geographic proximity; shared values or interests like woodworking, contra dancing, vegetarian, etc.; or specific identity like Native American, veteran or specific spiritual group, etc.)

We will also explore how communities develop cultural norms and handle conflict or disagreements and also ways to improve communication within communities and improve community dynamics overall. The workshop will also identify common ways that communities strengthen their ties with each other through things like shared meals, regular or occasional gatherings, mutual support, singing (and dancing), shared work, resource sharing, and much more. The workshop will also address the challenges, hard parts, and even the potential negative elements that can be part of unhealthy communities. Come be inspired and go away with ideas and tools to build more community wherever you are.

Register Now

Workshop 5: Micro-lending and other Mutual Support Strategies (only $10)

with Harvey Harman

Successful Strategies for Mutual Self Help from Around the World: Micro-lending, Savings Clubs, Barn Raising, Mutual Aid Societies, Cooperatives, Informal Networks, Cultural Traditions related to wealth and risk sharing, and more.

Register Now

Natural Building Photo Highlights from this Past Weekend

If the idea of a tiny house has crossed your mind, you’ve probably already imagined a dozen versions of it and pondered various practical questions, like:

• Where would you put it?

• What would the inside look like?

• Would you loft the bed?

• Off-grid or hook up?

In this workshop, we address many of those questions with particular focus on question number one: how would I actually build one?

This October, we’re hosting a three-day, hands-on Tiny Home Building Workshop with Harvey Harman, who brings years of building experience and a very practical way of teaching.

My partner Jason and I took this workshop last year and were genuinely impressed. Harvey is clear, patient, and deeply knowledgeable. By the end of the weekend you walk away with a much better sense of what building a tiny home really involves.

What we’ll cover

This workshop walks through the fundamentals of building a small structure, whether it’s:

• A Tiny Home on Wheels (THOW)
• A Tiny Home on a foundation

Topics include:

• What defines a tiny home

• Legal considerations (zoning, codes, insurance, financing)

• Safety and construction basics

• Essential tools and how to use them

• Foundations and floor systems

• Wall framing, windows, and doors

• Roof framing

• Insulation and energy efficiency

• Plumbing, electrical, and HVAC basics

• Estimating costs and financing

We’ll also discuss alternative building systems, including natural building, SIP panels, and post-and-beam structures.

Hands-On Building

Participants will work together on real, hands-on building tasks including:

• Building a floor system
• Installing subflooring
• Wall framing
• Window and door installation
• Basics of roof framing

Working through these steps makes the whole process much easier to understand.

Field Visit

We’ll also visit several examples of tiny homes and building systems so participants can see how different designs come together in real life.

Special session: Renovating campers and RVs

A guest speaker will share insights about renovating older campers and RVs into tiny homes — an approach many people overlook.

Who this workshop is for

This workshop assumes participants have basic carpentry skills or have taken our Carpentry for Newbies workshop.

You don’t need to be a professional builder, but you should be comfortable using basic tools.

Workshop Details

How to Build Your Own Tiny Home
3-Day Workshop: October 9-11

Building a small structure is a skill that is easily transferrable. Tiny home, shed, gazebo, outhouse, and onward.

Learn more and register

Recap: 3-Day Home Maintenance Bootcamp

The 2nd weekend in July, we hosted our inaugural 3-Day Home Maintenance Bootcamp. It was the first time we’d offered the class, and I have a feeling it won’t be the last.

As someone who is in the middle of major home repairs myself, I found the class incredibly valuable. Harvey has a gift for demystifying the things that so many homeowners find intimidating. We covered plumbing and electrical systems—both of which have been front and center in my own renovation—as well as drywall repair, including little tricks like how to accurately cut holes for electrical boxes before hanging drywall. (That one alone was worth the price of admission.)

We talked about building code and inspections. Mold, moisture, and humidity. Crawlspaces. Insulation. Preventative maintenance. It was practical from beginning to end.

Adding value to the whole experience was the group itself. One participant works at Lowe’s and shared all kinds of insights from years of helping DIY homeowners solve problems. Everyone else brought stories, questions, and lessons from projects they’d tackled themselves. It was helpful to get a range of perspectives and experiences and to also feel the camaraderie of shared tribulations.

It seems that, if you own a home, you will face myriad repair projects over the years and can benefit from a class like this and from having a cohort of fellow homeowners to form a support network.

Harvey also brought a table full of home repair books for us to browse. I am borrowing a copy of the Home Repair Almanac, and it’s already got me dreaming up a better system for keeping up with routine maintenance.

It’s probably aspirational on my part, but it’s true: a little preventative maintenance can often save you from much bigger repairs later.

Woodworking Weekend

The following weekend, we invited participants to a variety of workshops, such as: Spoon Carving, Wood Joinery, Natural Building, Forest Crops and Carving a Walking Stick.

I’ve got photos from Mozzy’s woodworking class, where students learned traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery. I’ve wanted to learn that technique for years. Note to self: there really isn’t a shortcut. This is enjoyable because it takes a lot of time.

Since I was lucky enough to sit in on Mozzy’s class, I missed getting photos from the other workshops, so please feel free to share yours in the comments or via email if you got good photos while you were here.

Piedmont Earthskills Gathering

Before I wrap up, I also want to give a shout-out to our friends at Piedmont Earthskills Gathering, who are busy preparing for their annual event. If you’ve never been, it’s one of the most inspiring weekends of the year. Learn traditional skills, meet wonderful people, and spend time immersed in a community that values craftsmanship, connection, and the natural world. Many of us DRFS’ers will be there, and we hope you’ll join in as well.

Piedmont Earthskills Gathering

I’m grateful to everyone who joined us over these two weekends. Seeing people learn together, encourage one another, and leave excited to keep building, repairing, and creating is exactly why we do this. Plus, a huge THANK YOU to Nancy Harman for cooking for all of us yet again. Fantastic!

See you at the next workshop.

View Upcoming Workshops

— Morgan

Learning to ride a bike is an important right of passage for a young person. I remember the day I first learned to ride a bike. I felt so proud of myself. Back then riding a bike was an important part of the rest of my childhood. It was my primary mode of transportation. How I got places. I depended on my bike to go to hang out with friends, to go to a baseball game or practice, and later to get to and from my summer jobs.

When I visited Cuba in the late 1990s I was surprised at all the bicycles. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s Cuba no longer got highly subsidized petroleum from the former Soviet Union, so one of essential transportation options they instituted was to import thousands of bikes, and bikes became an essential part of the everyday transportation system for a whole country.

With the recent spike in gasoline prices, bicycles are an important option again in the United States. Even if only used for some trips, the savings can be substantial. In addition, using less gasoline and diesel fuel has tremendous environmental benefits in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The physical exercise involved in riding a bike creates important health benefits, too. And now with the addition of e-bikes, the feasibility of longer journeys by bike is greatly increased.

Join us for an important workshop on August 15

At the Deep River Folk School, we’ll explore at all things bike-related, including:

• maintenance

• types of bikes

• accessories that increase the usefulness and capacity of bikes

• e-bike alternative

• and what bike is the best solution for your situation.

If you have a bike, bring it! There will be an opportunity to work on it at the workshop as we explore the most important maintenance tasks for each bike type and what tools and skills you need to maintain your bike.

Reacquaint yourself with the many benefits of bicycle transportation. Get excited about how bikes can be an important part of your and your communities future and how owning and maintaining a bike is an incredible opportunity to save money, improve the environment, and play a part in improving your overall health.

Register Now

We can all feel the way that stepping into a garden or a forest shifts something in us. Even in a few minutes, our minds may feel a little calmer, and we may sense a more regulated heart rhythm and deeper breaths. When we stay with it a little longer, or with regularity, research shows the benefits can become more substantial. Better cognitive functioning. Better sleep. Better mental health. Reduced inflammation. Improved immune function.

Sound like pharmaceutical commercial yet? I’m joking, but I’m not.

How many of the ails of our modern lives might be relieved, or even mended, by a little more time in nature?

My life has put this question to the test more than once. Many years ago, struggling with burnout while working in a collapsing community mental health system, my spouse and I started a garden at home. I wasn’t thinking about healing myself when we undertook the project, but once I was out in the smells and sounds of the gardens, touching the dirt and plants with my hands, letting my body adjust to spaciousness around me, I noticed feeling a lot better. I started to think more clearly, to see choices I could make on my own behalf that had been hard to see in the press of my life.

Inspired, I sought out learning that incorporated nature and mindfulness into my mental health work, while also deepening my personal practice.

I’d like to share some of these learnings with you in the upcoming Forest Bathing class at Deep River Folk School. My co-teacher (Frankie Entzel) has done the same, following her own path with the healing power nature in her own life, and in support of others. We each have found practices that enable people to deepen connection with the natural world in ways that nourish body and mind deeply.

We hope you’ll come share some of these practices with us on August 15, for yourself most of all.

Join us for Shinrin-Yoku (aka, Forest Bathing), August 15, 1-4PM.

— Your Friend, Jen Snider

More Upcoming Workshops at Deep River Folk School

All of the classes at the Folk School give us time in nature, making them rich in both community with people and with the life all around us. Some of the other offerings coming up soon include:

July 10-12: Home Maintenance Bootcamp

July 18: Making a Japanese Wooden Box using the Art of No-Nail Wood Joinery, 1-4PM

July 19: Carving a Walking Stick (just $10)

Sept 19: Making Herbal Oils & Salves

Oct 17: End-of-Life & Natural Burial

Nov 14: Lavender-Chamomile Soap Making

He is a man who does things by the book. If a maintenance manual says that a filter needs to be changed every so often, he’s on it.

I remember him showing me a few basics like changing lightbulbs, patching holes, “cutting in” when painting a wall. Mostly, though, things just got fixed and maintained while I ran around in the sprinkler, blissfully unaware of how much maintenance a house truly requires.

On Sunday, I called my dad to wish him a Happy Father’s Day and give him an update on my latest home repair project.

As I described what I was working on and what I was learning, I found myself smiling. I could sense the pride in his listening.

The conversation gave me a chance to reflect on something I hadn’t really put into words before: I genuinely enjoy this kind of work.

No one asks for a home repair project. But it is, admittedly, satisfying to learn a new skill, solve a problem with my own hands, and see the results right in front of me.

Looking back, I spent a fair amount of money hiring people to do things that I probably could have learned to do myself.

Which brings me to a new workshop we’re offering at Deep River Folk School.

From July 10–12, Harvey Harman will be leading a three-day Home Maintenance Bootcamp. The workshop covers the kinds of things that seem mysterious until someone takes the time to explain them.

• How do household plumbing systems actually work?

• What causes common electrical problems?

• How do you repair a damaged wall?

• What should you understand about insulation, energy efficiency, radon and indoor air quality

• When is a project suitable for a determined beginner, and when is it time to call a professional?

Over three days, Harvey will help participants build a practical understanding of the systems that keep a home functioning.

Harvey has spent decades as a builder, licensed contractor, plumber, educator, farmer, and community leader. And, just as important as his vast qualifications is that he teaches with patience, practically, and without making anyone feel foolish for not already knowing.

The workshop is hands-on and designed for learners. No prior experience is needed. Come join us and take the opportunity to learn from someone with decades of experience.

Home Maintenance Bootcamp

July 10–12, 2026
Deep River Folk School

There are currently two spots remaining. I’ll be there.

Learn More & Register

Warmly,
Morgan & the folks of Deep River Folk School

We are feeling this drought, one of the most extreme in 20 years in central North Carolina. Our hearts ache as we think of the trees and little-r plants all thirsting for a sip of water.

It seems an unfortunately apt time to be discussing Climate Emergency Prep, which is one of our workshops this Saturday. The discussion includes how to prepare for drought, flood, hurricanes, fire, extreme temperatures, winter storms, and crop failures.

It’s also apt timing to develop the skill of Rainwater Catchment. Even with the current lack of rainfall, it’s valuable to understand the methods for capturing, storing, and using water in myriad ways when it does fall from the skies.

Additionally this weekend, you have the opportunity for hands-on learning of Food Preservation and/or Home Butchery.

We hope you’ll join us Saturday. As always, we hope you’ll join us for lunch, which is included with your registration.

Workshop Registration

Herb Day, September 19

Looking ahead, there are so many workshops that we’re excited to invite you to. In this moment, we’ll focus on Herb Day — September 19. Herb Day features 4 hands-on workshops, all of which are still available at their early-bird rate:

Immune System Support, 9-noon

Making Herbal Oils & Salves, 9-noon

Gut Health: Nurturing your Digestive System, 1-4pm

Making Tinctures & Herbal Extracts, 1-4pm

We look forward to sharing these skills with you.

Congratulations!

Congrats to our newest cohort of Tiny Home Builders who just completed the 3-day Tiny Home Building workshop. We had a great time, and we salute you for braving the heat.

If you’re interested in taking this workshop in the future, now is the time to register. Please note that there is a prerequisite to either have basic carpentry skills or to first take our Carpentry for Newbies workshop, which currently has just 3 space left.

Carpentry for Newbies, Sept 11-13 (only 3 spots left)

How to Build your own Tiny Home, Oct 9-11

From Japanese temple carpenters to European timber framers, generations of craftspeople created structures using carefully shaped joints that locked together through precision, geometry, and an understanding of the material itself. Many of those buildings are still standing today.

Workshop: Build Your Own Japanese Wooden Box

Saturday, July 18, 1-4 PM
Register now.

Participants will assemble a wooden box using traditional joinery techniques, relying on wood-to-wood connections instead of modern hardware.

As you work, you’ll learn some of the principles behind traditional joinery and gain experience shaping wood so that individual pieces fit together, snug and strong.

Register

More workshop highlights:

• Tiny Home Building Workshop, June 12-14: Just 1 spot left. Claim the final spot!

• Preserving the Harvest, June 20: Register.

• Forest Crops, July 18: Register.

• Natural Cooking, August 15: Register.

• Carpentry for Newbies, Sept 11-13. Register.

• Community Singing & Storytelling, Oct 17. Register.

• Basketmaking, Nov 14. Register.

If Your House Fell Down 500 Years From Now, What Would Be Left?

I’ve been watching a show lately about archeology. When I compare the structures that ancient civilizations have left behind to the modern developments we see going up around us, I am keenly aware that we are mostly building things that will be unpleasant, at best, to uncover for future civilizations.

Imagine your house abandoned for 500 years. The roof has collapsed. The windows are gone. Trees have grown through the floor. Rain, wind, and time have reclaimed the site. What’s left behind?

Would future generations find earth, straw, wood, and clay quietly returning to the landscape they came from? Or would they find piles of synthetic materials, plastics, adhesives, foam insulation, and construction debris that still haven’t broken down?

According to the EPA, construction and demolition projects generate roughly 600 million tons of debris every year in the United States. That’s more than twice the amount of ordinary household trash.

What if we built things that could either stand the test of time, or safely return to the earth when their useful life was over?

3-Day Natural Building Workshop

“I love drywall.”

...said nobody ever.

As I continue on my own home repair project, I have a chorus of people around me all saying more-or-less the same thing when I tell them what I’m up to. I say the words drywall or insulation, and the chorus chirps with words like “hate, despise, detest and worst nightmare.”

And yet we’ve largely accepted these materials as normal.

But there are other options.

Clay. Straw. Wood. Lime. Bamboo. Stone, etc. Materials that don’t require a chemistry degree to identify, and that you can often source close to home. Materials that, when their useful life is over, can safely return to the earth.

Earthen Walls Are the Opposite of a Cubicle

Somehow, at some point, for some reason, we decided that buildings should hide the evidence of human hands. The ideal wall became perfectly square, flat, straight, and uniform.

When I stand in front of an earthen wall, though, I instinctively run my hand across it. When no one’s looking, I put my cheek against it. I try to inhale its scent. I like the cool, earthiness.

I actually feel LOVE welling up in me. For the space, for the earth, for the way the earth provides materials for us to have homes, for the loving hands that packed the clay, for the obvious flow of creativity.

It feels gooooooood to be in an earthen home. Truly good.

Natural Building vs. Conventional Building

Modern construction starts with a set of assumptions. The studs are 2x4s. The insulation fits between them. The drywall gets screwed onto them.

The wall itself isn’t really a wall. It’s a hollow space with a cover-up!

That hollow space then needs to be filled with insulation. The drywall is there to hide everything. It has neither structural value nor R-value (thermal value).

With natural building, the wall is the wall. It is structural, insulative and aesthetic.

A World-Class Resource in North Carolina

Few people realize that one of the country’s leading natural building schools is right here in Central North Carolina.

People travel from around the country—and sometimes around the world—to learn from Greg Allen and Danielle Ackley of the Mud Dauber School of Natural Building.

We’re really lucky that the Mud Daubers will be leading our upcoming 3-Day Introduction to Natural Building Workshop.

Learn more & Register

Workshop Details

Friday, August 7 - Sunday, August 9

Early bird rate ($500) ends July 1. That’s a $150 discount off the regular rate of $650.

Register now.

In this 3-day Introduction to Natural Building workshop, you will get a hands-on experience with earth and straw-based wall systems. We’ll be installing Light Straw Clay (AKA Slip-straw), Wattle and Daub, a Straw Bale wall, and Clay Plasters. These traditional building methods have been used in various forms throughout history, and remain relevant today. They are all great options for using local, minimally-processed materials to create beautiful, long lasting, non-toxic structures.

Hands-on experience is the best way to learn these techniques, so at least half of each day will be spent working on site, where we’ll be installing natural walls in a small post-and-beam shed. To supplement our hands-on work sessions, there will be time allotted for a tour of some natural buildings on the property, plus discussions/presentations on essential topics. We will also provide informational handouts to take home with you.

Expect to leave the workshop with an understanding of which techniques are most appealing to you and most applicable to your future natural building projects!

Discussions/talks:

• What is Natural Building?

• The benefits and shortcomings of natural building

• A comparison of some common natural building techniques - why use one versus the other?

• Brief discussion around codes/permitting

• Thermal mass vs. thermal insulation

Demonstrations:

• mixing plaster w/ drill + wheelbarrow

• installing a wattle framework

• trimming a bale with chainsaw

• an outlet in a strawbale wall

• mixing clay slip

Group Hands-on activities:

• Mixing cob

• Mixing and Installing slip-straw in a stud-frame

• Mixing and installing daub (of the wattle and daub wall)

• installing a basic strawbale wall

• mixing plaster by foot

• applying plaster on either strawbale, or the CEB guest house, or both

Come join us, August 7-9, and learn to build with natural materials!

There’s a growing disconnect between people and the food they eat.

Most meat now arrives wrapped in plastic, far removed from the animal, the farm, and the skills required to process it well. For generations, though, home butchery was ordinary knowledge. Families, neighbors, and communities knew how to harvest animals carefully, use every part well, and preserve meat with skill and respect.

That knowledge is becoming rare.

For homesteaders, hunters, small farmers, cooks, and curious beginners alike, it’s simply useful knowledge to have.

On June 20, Deep River Folk School is hosting a Home Butchery workshop with Jason Powers of Left Bank Butchery, recently featured in Our State magazine, and one of the only butcher shops in North Carolina working exclusively with whole animals.

Each week, Left Bank brings in whole pigs, cows, and lambs from local farms and breaks them down entirely in-house. Nothing arrives pre-cut. Every chop, roast, sausage, and cured meat begins with skilled hands and a full understanding of the animal.

Jason will introduce participants to the foundations of whole-animal and seam butchery, a traditional approach that follows the natural seams between muscle groups rather than relying on rough cuts. Good seam butchery improves yield, preserves meat quality, and minimizes waste. It’s both practical and deeply respectful.

Before working full-time at Left Bank, Jason helped neighbors and small farms process pigs, sheep, and goats for home use here in central North Carolina. That kind of local, small-scale processing knowledge matters more than ever.

Learning even the basics of home butchery changes the way people think about food. It deepens understanding of animal husbandry and local agriculture.

If you get him talking, Jason will tell you about the meat that comes in after the first week of Spring, when the grass is bright green after winter. The fat is yellow, not white, at that time of year. And if you haven’t yet had the delight of tasting a cut of steak from a pastured cow in early Spring, it tastes like it was doused in butter, when it was not.

Participants are encouraged to bring questions about processing, cooking, curing, sausage making, and working with local farms.

Workshop details:
• June 20, 1-4pm
• Lunch included
• All materials provided
• Youth under 18 attend free with a registered adult (1 youth per adult)

Early-bird registration ends June 1.
Current rate: $55
Regular rate after June 1: $75

Register for Home Butchery

This workshop pairs well with Food Preservation, offered in the morning before Home Butchery in the afternoon. Make it a whole day, and stay for lunch!

More workshops in June, shown below. Only 1 spot left in the Tiny Home Building workshop.

Presently, the nation’s housing stock is aging. Due to new construction not keeping pace with demand, the average owner-occupied house was built in the 1980s or earlier — 42 years old on average. Quite a change from 20 years ago, when the average house age in the United States was 31 years.

As houses age, they need repairs, maintenance, and periodic upgrades. If these are deferred or not done, then even more expensive repairs are required. Also, systems in a house age and need to be replaced. A shingle roof lasts about 20–25 years on average. An electric water heater typically lasts about 12 years, and most heat pumps need replaced after 12–15 years. Then there are issues like mold and mildew, poor indoor air quality, or low energy efficiency that can add cost or add additional health risks if ignored.

Learning basic maintenance skills can save hundreds or thousands of dollars. Knowing more about the systems in a house and how to maintain those systems can expand the useful life of those systems and help one make good choices when they do need upgrades or replacement.

The more you know, the more options you have and the better choices you can make.

Empower yourself to be able to do maintenance tasks on a house yourself.

In the long run, regular maintenance, repairs, and upgrades save time, save money, lead to healthier living spaces, and also secure an important essential asset — the house that shelters and protects you.

—Harvey Harman

I started learning to do my own home repairs out of necessity. The cost to hire for the work was out of reach. But beside that, no one would even take the job - builders and contractors are quite busy these days, and prefer to take big budget work (like building new housing developments), and so my little home repairs were not an appealing project for them. Thus, I’m doing it myself, with the help of friends. I’m learning as I go, and very excited for the upcoming home maintenance bootcamp with Harvey. So far as I learn, I’ve got two reflections:

1) It feels empowering to know how to Do It Myself!

2) The real key is having community — people to call for advice, help and borrowing tools. That’s part of the beauty of becoming part of Deep River Folk School: it’s a community learning experience, so you’ll have folks to reach out to when you hit a wall… perhaps literally ;)

I’ll definitely be joining for the Home Maintenance Bootcamp, and I hope to meet you there.

— Morgan Siem
DRFS Marketing Helper & Home Maintenance Learner

Camp & Carve Weekend, FREE
May 29-31

Join us for a weekend of community and creation, hosted by Ben Harman. The vibe will be low pressure: just craft enthusiasts hanging out, making crafts together. Share skills, share tools, enjoy the quiet.

RSVP: https://www.deepriverfolkschool.org/workshops/campandcarve

Making and tending a fire has been an important skill people have been using for thousands of years. Learn beginning and intermediate fire building and tending skills that are important for present uses and also for emergency situations. We will cover different ways to start a fire using primitive to modern methods. We will also cover the basic chemistry of fire to better understand how fire works. And participants will learn and use different fire building techniques, including the 3 basic stacking methods and learn when to use which method. The workshop also covers safety with fire, the properties and best uses of different wood species for different kinds of fire, common outdoor fire cooking techniques, simple techniques for increasing and better capturing and directing the heat and light from fire, simple wood stoves to increase the heat efficiency of fires, and much more.

Additional Information

• Saturday, May 16, 9am-noon

• Join us for lunch (included), from noon-1pm

• All workshop materials are included

• This workshop is eligible for use with a season pass.

• Youth, under 18, may attend free with an adult registered for the same workshop (1 youth per adult)

• Instructor: Harvey Harman

Other Upcoming Events & Workshops at Deep River Folk School

Camp & Carve Weekend (FREE)

May 29-31. Learn more & RSVP.

How to Build Your Own Tiny Home

June 12-14. Almost sold out. Learn more & register.

Home Butchery, Hands-On Animal Processing

June 20. Early bird rate still available. Learn more & register.

Woodworking

July 18. Early bird rate still available. Learn more & register.

Natural Building

Aug 7-9. Early bird rate still available. Learn more & register.

What’s so wonderful about the Folk School is that it actually feels like a step into serenity and sanity, even if just for one day a month.

In April, I was in the middle of a major home repair project and nearly convinced myself I couldn’t break away to come to the Folk School. I’m grateful for the nudge from Harvey, because I hadn’t realized how much I needed it.

I got there and felt my heart rate start to settle. The energy felt un-rushed. Welcoming. I recognized a few people I was happy to see, and felt just as embraced by the new faces I encountered.

For the first time in a month, I put down the constant feeling of needing to “get more done” before I could rest.

I wandered over to visit the sheep, there for the shearing workshop. They sniffed my hand and let me pet their soft wool.

I ended up sitting in on the Slow Stitching & Mindful Mending workshop. The instructor, Spring, helped me put down my perfectionism and just let creativity and intuition flow. The person across from me, with bright pink hair, talked as she stitched—someone easy to be around, clearly living an interesting life. Someone else at the table had just published a children’s book and asked about how to get the word out. Others chimed in.

I remember sitting back and thinking, this is how it’s supposed to be. People around a table, crafting, chatting, sharing stories and ideas. It felt natural. Easy.

I took a deep breath and felt renewed before heading back to my beloved (and hectic) home-in-repair.

Consider if some time here is something an important mom in your life might really appreciate. Maybe as time for herself. Or maybe as a shared experience with her child.

If she’s looking for a meaningful mother-child experience, it’s worth noting that youth can attend free with an adult for most of our workshops.

Some upcoming workshops include learning to build a fire, preserving the harvest, natural building, carving a walking stick, natural cooking, and a gathering for community singing and storytelling.

You can browse the upcoming workshops and events here.

In the spirit of the conversation around the stitching table, let’s share ideas and help each other come up with great gift ideas for Mother’s Day. If you have something that made a great Mother’s Day gift, share it in the comments. I think a lot of us would be grateful for a fresh idea.

Leave a comment

If you’d like to join us, please go ahead and register here: Carpentry for Newbies, May 8-10

And, if next weekend is too soon, this is a friendly invitation to register for the session in September while the early bird rate is still available.

Carpentry for Newbies Sept 11-13

New Event Added (FREE)

Camp & Carve Weekend
May 29-31
Link to RSVP

Herbal First Aid, May 15
early bird rate ends Friday

Join Henrietta Cummings, local herbalist and herb farmer, for a hands-on workshop and discussion on herbs for first aid.

We will make poultices, compresses, essential oil blends in carrier oil preparations for first aid and much more, while we discuss traditional first aid from multiple cultures and learn what herbs and herbal preparations to include in your first aid kit/apothecary, both at home and while away from home.

During the workshop, we will walk to nearby local plants that can be used while out and about when first aid is needed, and also can be harvested to make preparations for your first aid apothecary.

Register for Herbal First Aid

Connection #1:
Being more connected to nature and the natural world.

Connection #2:
Being prepared for emergencies, natural disasters, and the unexpected.

And now that’s let’s move on with additional connections and how they relate to two vital senses that many of us have been underutilizing in our modern world: hearing & smell.

Connection #3: Sharpening our senses

Being out in the natural world, and especially being in a wooded environment, helps us sharpen our senses, especially our sense of smell and our sense of hearing. It isn’t that we do not use these senses at all when we spend most of our time indoors, it is just that we do not fully utilize and develop them like we do when we spend more time outside, and especially when we spend time in more natural areas and areas that are primarily wooded.

In wooded areas specifically, our sense of smell and sense of hearing are important because in forests and areas more densely vegetated our sense of vision is restricted by the vegetative cover. We often hear or smell something before we see it. We often hear a bird’s call or song before we actually see the bird. We also notice when the bird stops singing, and this information is important as well. A heightened sense of smell gives us important information about what is around us even when we cannot see it.

I was walking in the woods with a friend of mine who grew up in a rural village in Africa. As we were walking, I reached out my arm to stop him because a snake was slithering across the path just in front of us. He was a little surprised and thanked me for stopping him. Then he said something that surprised me. He said, “I can’t believe I didn’t notice that snake. In my village growing up, me not noticing that snake would never have happened. I would have smelled it long before it was visible.”

I read about a woman who circumnavigated the Great Lakes by canoe, camping each night in a different location, often in remote, wooded places. After three months alone, with only herself, the canoe, the lake, and the woods, she returned home. What struck her was how intense all the smells in her home seemed. It wasn’t that the scents had grown stronger, but that her time in a natural setting had recalibrated her senses.

Connection #4: Feeling at ease in the woods

I have been surprised by how many people in modern America have a fear of being in the woods, or even being outside in any setting other than one that is highly manicured. It seems that people have less and less experience being in natural environments, and being in a heavily wooded environment, specifically.

Many people today feel relatively comfortable walking on a wide path through the woods, where several people can walk side by side, but are often less comfortable on a narrow path that requires walking single file. Most people prefer having more open space in front of, behind, and beside them with longer sight lines, rather than a tighter path with more limited visibility.

Spending time on wide paths in the woods is a start to getting more comfortable. Over time, as comfort levels increase, and as powers of observation, woodland knowledge, and other senses beyond just vision develop, people become more comfortable going on paths that are not as wide, or even going through the woods not on a designated path at all.

One person has said, “we fear what we do not know.” The more we get to know about trees, woods, and natural settings, the fewer fears we have about spending time in these environments.

Join us for May 16 workshops—Early Bird Pricing Ends Friday

Join us for workshops on May 16 that focus on getting more familiar with natural environments and building practical outdoor skills:

• Herbal First Aid: Join Henrietta Cummings, local herbalist and herb farmer, for a hands-on and discussion on a herbs for first aid workshop. We will make poultices, compresses, essential oil blends in carrier oil preparations for first aid and much more, while we discuss traditional first aid from multiple cultures and learn what herbs and herbal preparations to include in your first aid kit/apothecary, both at home and while away from home. During the workshop, we will walk to nearby local plants that can be used while out and about when first aid is needed, and also can be harvested to make preparations for your first aid apothecary.

• Beginning and Intermediate Fire Skills and Campfire Cooking: Join Harvey Harman in making and tending a fire, an important skill people have been using for thousands of years. Learn beginning and intermediate fire building and tending skills that are important for present uses and also for emergency situations. We will cover different ways to start a fire using primitive to modern methods. We will also cover the basic chemistry of fire to better understand how fire works. And participants will learn and use different fire building techniques, including the 3 basic stacking methods and learn when to use which method. The workshop also covers safety with fire, the properties and best uses of different wood species for different kinds of fire, common outdoor fire cooking techniques, simple techniques for increasing and better capturing and directing the heat and light from fire, simple wood stoves to increase the heat efficiency of fires, and much more.

• Backyard Solar with Ed Witkin: We will put together a basic Solar PV (electric) System for use on a Home orHomestead. We will connect Solar PV panels to a charge controller, and the controller to battery storage. Then we will connect the batteries to an inverter to run various AC (alternating current) loads like you would need in a standard home or homestead. This system also works well as an emergency backup system during power outages.

• Essential Tools for Emergency Situations and how to choose, use, and care for them with Tad Kepley: Together let’s explore the ways to choose, use and maintain a knife, hatchet and folding saw. These are considered the three most essential bushcraft tools for emergency situations. You’ll get an opportunity to test out a variety of each, learn to sharpen them, use them, and repair them.

  Learning how to use a knife, hatchet, and saw together can turn an average camper into a capable bushcrafter. With the right tool for the job, tasks like building a shelter, processing firewood, or carving become easier and take far less effort.

Browse All 2026 Workshops

New Event Added:

Camp & Carve, May 29-31. Free! RSVP here: https://www.deepriverfolkschool.org/workshops/campandcarve

It started with mold in the HVAC and ductwork. That spawned a 101-level education in airflow, insulation, humidity and moisture. From there, I reviewed my options: replace the system, or rethink the whole setup.

Since the house is small, I decided to switch to mini splits. And once I started pulling on that thread, other things followed. Walls came into question next.

So, as of Sunday, my 3-bedroom house is now a 2-bedroom house. Well, it’s actually just a construction zone until further notice, but I digress...

My partner and I took down an interior wall, and now we’ve got a few holes to fill:

• Replace drywall

• Replace insulation

• Replace flooring

• Replace trim

Then, the decor part! Painting and hanging art. The finishing touch will be hanging the mirror. It has been leaned up against the wall since I moved in 5 1/2 years ago. I’m eagerly awaiting Harvey’s Home Maintenance workshop in July before I attempt such a feat myself.

The cost of not knowing

I could hire all of this out. I still might. But it adds up quickly.

And honestly, I want to understand the place I live in.
Not just call someone when something breaks.

Learning to do this work myself feels like a kind of freedom. And, unexpectedly, a kind of joy.

Most of us are somewhere on this path

You don’t have to be tearing out walls to feel this.

It’s the loose trim.
The faucet that drips.
The shelf you never quite hang because you’re not sure how to do it right.
The mirror that stays on the floor.

If you know, you know.

This is the never-ending work of living in a building.

A place to learn (without pressure)

This summer, Harvey Harman is teaching a 3-day Home Maintenance Bootcamp at Deep River Folk School (July 10–12).

It’s a space for learning the things many of us were never taught, but end up needing anyway.

Over three days, we’ll get into:

Day 1

Most Common Interior Repairs to Walls and Ceilings

• Essential Tools

• Painting

• Caulking & Spackling

• Sheetrock Repair (including nail pops)

• Hanging things on the wall (pictures, mirrors, shelving, cabinets, etc.)

• wall and ceiling coverings

Most Common Flooring and Interior Trim Issues

• wood floors

• Laminate and LVT (luxury vinyl tile)

• sheet flooring and carpet

• Tile

• Interior Trim

Most Common Exterior Repairs

• Painting and caulking

• Minimizing water damage issues

• Crawlspaces and Basements (if present)

• Gutters and Downspouts (also leaf guards on gutters)

• Ladders, scaffolding, safety equipment

• Window and Door Repairs

Day 2

Basic Plumbing systems

• Water Pipes: Materials, Size, Pressure

• Waste & Vent Piping: Traps, Slope, Pipe size

• Shut Off Valves

• Repairing water pipes, vent pipes, or waste pipes

• Minimizing freezing issues

• Basic repairs: Toilets, Sinks, Tubs, Showers

• A little about Plumbing Codes

Basic Electrical

• Volts, Amps, Ohms, Watts

• Direct Current and Alternating Current

• 120 volt/240 volt

• Reading a meter

• Breakers and fuses

• Switches

• Receptacles

• Light fixtures

• Appliances

• Basic wiring

• Electrical codes

Basic Heating, Cooling, and Venting

• Changing and/or cleaning filters

• Thermostats

• Why vent stoves, bathrooms, dryers, etc.?

• Fresh air or make up air?

Day 3

System Issues

• Mold and mildew

• Water or weather related damage to materials

• Termites and insect damage (carpenter bees, ants, etc.)

• Insulation, energy efficiency, radon, indoor air quality

Well and Septic Systems

More Extensive Projects

• Reroofing or repairing roofs

• Structural repairs and/or foundation repairs

• Moving Walls (load bearing or non load bearing)

• Kitchen and/or bathroom remodels and upgrades

When to get professional help

Big projects and small ones

It’s not about becoming an expert in a weekend.

It’s about getting your bearings.
Understanding what you’re looking at.
And feeling more capable in your own space.

This workshop will help if you’re in the middle of something big, like I am.

But it’s just as much for the small things that feel harder than they should, and that get easier once someone shows you how.

If you want to learn

If home maintenance is something you’ve been meaning to get a handle on, this is a good place to start. July 10-12. ($200 off for the next person who registers.)

Home Maintenance Bootcamp

On a different note, we’re wildly excited for Fiber & Folk Weekend this weekend! If you haven’t registered yet, there are still spots in some of the workshops if you register now! There are incredible workshops, such as:

Growing a Dye Garden — Wet Felting (3 spots left) — Spinning in the Grease — Drop Spindle (1 spots left) — Simple Weave (1 spot left) — Slow Stitching & Mindful Mending (3 spots left) — Colors from the Kitchen (1 spot left)

Fiber & Folk Weekend

Connection #1:
Being more connected to nature and the natural world.

A study published in 2001 and funded by the EPA found that Americans spend 87% of their time indoors and an additional 6% in an enclosed vehicle (on average). I was having a conversation one time with someone about environmental conservation, and he was talking about the Creation story and how important the issue of “naming” the plants and animals was. He said once you give something a “name,” it is not a nothing—it has a name and thus is known to you, and then starts to have meaning and value and is part of your conscious awareness. You begin to notice it more, see how it connects to other things, see how it connects to you.

We depend on the natural world for so many things that are essential for daily life, yet we are more and more disconnected from it. Being out in nature more, learning skills and knowledge about nature, helps reconnect us.

What we know, we learn to value and notice. It expands our world and expands our caring.

I personally have a goal of learning the name of another new plant each month. It is not a huge goal or even a particularly difficult goal—learn 12 new plants each year. If I do that for 10 years, that is at least 120 more plants I know something about. And it is so much more than knowing the plant’s name. Once I know a plant’s name, then I automatically pay more attention to it, learn more about it, notice when it flowers, when it fruits, what other things grow near it, what area it grows in, where it thrives, its connection to other things around it, and my increased connection to it.

Connection #2:
Being prepared for emergencies, natural disasters, and the unexpected.

I have friends that do not handle the unexpected very well. But life is not always predictable. The unexpected will happen—maybe not today or tomorrow, but it will happen. One way to prepare for the unexpected is to have skills and knowledge. Sometimes that can be knowing how to cook over an outside fire if needed or desired, or how to create your own electricity through a simple solar PV system powered by the sun. It can also include training yourself to stay calm, think creatively, and problem-solve a solution when faced with a sudden surprise or unexpected outcome.

While I do not go looking for unexpected situations, I also use them to help me improve my ability to problem-solve complex or unexpected situations. I also work to be prepared for the unexpected, and life has sent me a good number of unexpected situations. Some of them are extreme, like being lost in the woods because of unclear directions and needing to figure out how best to proceed. Others are less severe but also challenging, like a vehicle breaking down and needing to figure out the best way to get done what I needed to still get done that day and also get the vehicle to a place where it could get fixed.

Join us for workshops on May 16 that deal with both bushcraft and ways to better face the unexpected. We have workshops on May 16 on: 1) Herbal First Aid, 2) Beginning and Intermediate Firecraft, 3) Backyard Solar, and 4) Bushcraft tools for emergency situations.

Register for May Workshops

P.S. We recommend registering early for these workshops in order to secure the early-bird rate.

Our practice class was, for me, the sweetest afternoon of my week: sheep close to lambing, fresh wool on the table, neighbors who are also friends, dogs in the mud room, violets blooming beside the porch, and the creek just beyond the window.

Wet felting, as it turns out, is a forgiving process. Hallelujah! It leaves plenty of room for creativity, and for things to go a little off-script. I especially enjoyed crafting alongside others, seeing how unique and beautiful each person’s bowl turned out.

A full-circle experience

Partway through our class, Mary’s husband stepped in to share an update: “no lamb yet”.

“It doesn’t get better than this,” I thought, holding that wool, knowing where it had come from, and knowing that just outside, the cycle was starting again. You can’t manufacture an experience like that.

Workshop Details

Saturday, April 18, 1-4pm
Link to register.

In the wet felting workshop, you’ll make a felted bowl from start to finish. All materials are included.

More Fiber Workshops

I don’t mean to call so much special attention to one workshop over the rest. It’s just a bit of happy happenstance that I was asked to participate in Mary’s run-through. Her workshop is part of a full weekend: Fiber & Folk Weekend, a collaboration with Piedmont Fibershed.

Fiber & Folk Weekend will be full of incredible workshops. We encourage you to come for the full weekend, which includes workshops on both days, lunch, and Saturday evening programming. There will be workshops and demonstrations on spinning, dyeing, shearing, working with fiber animals, mending, weaving, and more.

Fiber & Folk Weekend

More details and registration here:
https://www.deepriverfolkschool.org/fiber-folk-weekend

April 18–19 at Deep River Folk School