2024 Harvest Moon Festival Workshops

Workshop schedule for the 23rd Perennial Harvest Moon Festival (Sept 13-15, 2024 in Clearwater, MB)

The Harvest Moon Society’s Education Committee is really proud of how our workshop line-up came together this year. We’re really looking forward to doing some shared learning!

We have been working to improve the Festival Workshop experience this year by moving around some venues. Workshops that are being held in ‘Tent #1’ will be in the courtyard of the former United Church, located across the street, just northwest of the Harvest Moon Learning Center. ‘Tent #2’ will be in the vacant lot just north of that church, and the venue labelled ‘Clearwater Museum’ is located west of the Clearwater Junction Restaurant and the Restaurant Stage.

Scroll down to learn about each workshop and its presenters.

Sourdough Bread with Gabby will be in the Clearwater Museum at 4pm.

Beginner's Guide to Sourdough Bread with Gabrielle Lint

Using in person demonstrations and posters/handouts Gabby will take attendees through the steps and necessary materials to successfully make sourdough bread.

Gabby is a chronic DIYer who loves to learn the ins and outs of any given topic. Her background in environmental science leads to her using the scientific method on almost everything, including the science of sourdough! She has been baking sourdough for about five years and has taught several workshops online and in person using this method.

Beeswax Wraps with Charlotte Blackburn will be in Tent #2 at 12pm.

Beeswax food wraps - a natural alternative to to plastic wrap with Charlotte Blackburn

Charlotte started a beeswax food wrap company in 2018. It began as an educational endeavour while homeschooling her kids. They were exploring alternatives to single-use plastics, particularly in the kitchen and it led them to discover beeswax wraps. They made some for themselves and some friends and family and it has grown to a six year long adventure.

Charlotte will offer a recipe and demo of how to make the beeswax wraps and offer a diy kit to guests along with information about how beeswax wraps are a natural alternative to plastic wrap for food storage in the fridge and why people may want to consider stepping away from single-use plastics in their kitchens.

Weaving Landscapes with Harvest Moon Artists-in-Residence Leah Gertzen and Molly Regan will be in Tent #2 at 2pm

Weaving Landscapes with Leah Gertzen and Adelle Rawluk

Harvest Moon’s Recent Graduate Artists-in-Residence for 2024 will lead a workshop that combines weaving and nature. In this workshop attendees will learn to create a woven landscape image out of found materials collected from nature, and an assortment of other collected items. Unfortunately, Adelle is unable to join us, so Molly Regan will be filling in.

Green Burial with Quinn Hunter

Return to the Earth is a consumer advocacy group, sharing information and bringing people together. Our presentation would cover topics such as:

What is green burial?
Is green burial legal in Manitoba?
Where can I access green burial?
Can I be buried on my own land?
How to plan a green funeral
Being an informed consumer (ie: what are your rights)
How can I be involved?

We will provide information on projects currently underway in the province, as well as touch on other sustainable and family-centered death care initiatives.

Beginner Songwriting for a Jam with Bridget Shaw will be in the Clearwater Museum at 10am.

Beginner Songwriting for a Jam hosted by Bridget Shaw, average guitar player and simple singalong songwriter.

An introduction to my process for writing a song that can be played at a jam for easy participation and singalong fun.

Idea inspiration
Lyric process
Chord progressions with a basic introduction to the circle of fifths
How to make the song jam worthy
How to edit words and chord progression
How to collaborate with others

Join in on a simple informative workshop to get your creative songwriting juices flowing and ready for your next jam session!

Patriarchy on Trial - a reader’s theater, crowd participation production will be in the Clearwater Museum at 12pm.

Patriarchy on Trial - a reader’s theatre play starring you, the audience

We’re putting the patriarchy on trial and we need your help. Volunteers from the audience will play the key figures and lyric sheets will be provided for the audience singalongs. Join us to put on this play written by Carolyn Pogue and Loretta Biasutti. You can preview the script at carolynpogue.ca. Here’s a synopsis:

“A woman dreams of a court room and finds an obelisk in it. Examining the obelisk symbols, she realizes who is on trial: the patriarchy.

Three witnesses step up to testify for the prosecution: Eve, of The Garden of Eden fame, Emma Amethyst, a time-travelling healer and herbalist and Jane Doe, an overwrought working mom in today’s world.

In the end, it will be up to you, the audience-jury, to pass judgement, to sing-a-long with a few feisty songs. and finally, to join a conversation about your dream for the future.”

Soil Science and Lessons from Native Plant Gardening with Matt Morison and Kristian Budowski will be in the HMS Secret Garden (in the schoolyard) at 2pm.

Intro to Soil Science and Lessons Learned from Native Plant Gardening with Matt Morison and Kristian Budowski

The first part of this two-part, hands-on workshop will teach participants some basic theory and practice of soil science, including textural classes of soil and how to assess them, as well as basic chemical properties of soil and how they relate to both agricultural practices and ecological health. Folks taking this workshop will have a chance to have a look at (and feel of) digging and examining a soil pit in the Harvest Moon Society Secret Garden.

The second part of this workshop will be a tale of lessons learned and an overview of the benefits, challenges, and rewards of native plant gardening in Manitoba across a variety of scales, from one’s backyard to a recent larger-scale native plant garden project at Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg. There will be a particular focus on the case study of the example of growing milkweed and attracting monarch butterflies. We will offer skills for plant identification, how to get started, and how to connect to communities of support for doing so. Participants will be able to take home some milkweed seed and have a good idea of how to get it established in a variety of gardening situations. Throughout, we will highlight key connections between both parts of the workshop (plant and soil) and how they work together to build a resilient ecosystem that connects our feet to the sky.

Explore the Night Sky from the Secret Garden with Kenton Dyck of the Pembina Valley Astro Club will be at the Clearwater Skyway (the bridge) after dark.

Explore the Night Sky from the Secret Garden - Kenton Dyck from Pembina Valley Astro Club

Come observe the Moon, planets, nebulas, galaxies, binary stars, and much more. Let's talk about space and astronomy! Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the wonders of the cosmos up close!

During the Festival, we should be able to get good views of the moon to the south. Saturn will also be visible as soon as it's dark. During the course of the night there will be five planets visible: Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter and Mars (that's the order of the planets as they rise). During the course of the night there will be all sorts of galaxies, star clusters, binary stars, and nebulas that we can see.

Celestial Curiosities with StarGirl will be at the Clearwater Skyway (the bridge) at 11pm and 1am.

Celestial Curiosities with Star Girl, the Wandering Astronomer

Join StarGirl at the Clearwater Skyway and she’ll be your narrator on a sky tour, with the stars as her movie screen. Everyone wishing to participate can all gather together and share sky maps and binoculars. After a decade of teaching Astronomy at the Planetarium star theatre, StarGirl once again takes her show on the road and brings her curiosity for space and the wonders of the night time sky to the Harvest Moon Festival.

Fibre Farming in Manitoba will be in Tent #1 at 4pm.

Fibre Farming in Manitoba - A Panel Discussion

Join us for an informative panel discussion with Manitoba fiber farmers to learn about the Manitoba Fibershed, and the challenges and success of the people who farm the materials that make the clothing we wear. Featuring Anna Hunter (Longway Homestead), Kathryn Laframboise (The Raspberry Roost) and Kara Burrell (Dunrea Farming Company.

Kathryn Laframboise, born and raised on Treaty 1 land in Manitoba, combines her passions for education, mental health, and sustainable farming, which includes her adventures in fibre farming. Kathryn realized her dream of integrating her interests when she and her husband founded The Raspberry Roost in 2017. Sharing her journey online through @raspberryontheprairie, this mixed farm focuses on fibre animals, sustainable fashion, mental

wellness, and community education. Kathryn champions local fashion, upcycling, and natural

fibres, while promoting mental wellness and environmental stewardship.

Anna Hunter is a first generation sheep farmer and wool mill owner in Eastern Manitoba, Treaty One Territory. Anna, her husband Luke, and their two kids raise Shetland sheep and run the only wool mill in Manitoba. Anna is passionate about building community and connecting rural fibre farmers with urban consumers, fibre artists and crafters. Anna believes that regenerative agriculture and climate beneficial food and clothing is integral to moving forward as farmers, fibre artists and Manitobans. Anna is passionate about growing a vibrant Canadian wool industry and has recently published her first book Sheep, Shepherd and Land. To learn more about Anna and her farm/wool mill, check out www.longwayhomestead.com

Kara Burrell is a farmer from Manitoba, Canada. She has a passion for farming and for sharing in conversations about farming and farm life. She believes that it takes community and many hands to farm sustainably and in a way that is healthy for people and the environment around us, and believes in attracting more people out into rural farming life as a part of regenerative farming.

Harvester Economic Security in Remote Communities with Chris Debicki from Oceans North

This workshop aims to explore the concept of a minimum guaranteed income for harvesting families in northern indigenous communities. Oceans North is presently building a policy case for harvester economic security in remote communities across Canada. We are guided by a belief that harvester support contributes broad social and economic benefits and provides communities with alternatives to non-renewable development options that can sometimes compromise ecosystemic (and by extension human) wellbeing. My aim with this session is to truly “workshop” the concept and provoke dialogue with the aim of identifying challenges and weaknesses with a view toward strengthening the general argument.

An avid naturalist and wilderness explorer, Chris Debicki works with Inuit communities to secure greater protections for critical Arctic marine habitat in places like Lancaster Sound and the beluga estuaries of Western Hudson Bay. He supported the creation of the North Water Polynya Commission, a binational body that is collaborating with Inuit in Greenland and Nunavut to preserve this region. Before joining Oceans North, he worked with the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway on oceanographic research in Greenland and sailed through the Northwest Passage to raise awareness about the impact of climate change on Inuit communities. He also served as the executive director of Maliiganik Tukisiiniakvik, the Nunavut legal aid organization that serves the eastern Arctic. He has a law degree from McGill University and is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Music & Munchkins with Sage Stoyanowski and Penny Helgason

Sage and Penny have been singing together since Sage was a baby….. We are a mother and daughter who share a love for music and being silly and joyful!

Please join us on Saturday at 10 am with your Littles. We will all sing, play some simple percussion instruments, dance and frolic about. We hope that some of our rhymes and tunes will be familiar favorites. We will also introduce some new songs and games to add to your family’s repertoire. Let us delight in being with each other through music making!

Sage grew up surrounded by family jam sessions and performing at various community events along with her dad, sister, and cousins. She began playing piano at age 7, ukulele at 12, and guitar at 14. Song writing became a creative and expressive outlet that has served her well while growing up and navigating her move away from home. At age 16, Sage began teaching beginner piano and voice lessons to a studio of nine students. Since moving to Winnipeg, she has joined the indie-folk band, STELLAR, on bass and has recently completed her Bachelor of Music (Music Education) studying classical percussion at the University of Manitoba. Sage is passionate about sharing her love for music with folks of all ages: creating community and sparking joy in the simplest of moments!

Penny is an Early Child Educator II, a Circle of Security trainer, and she is the Provincial Coordinator for Roots and Seeds of Empathy in Manitoba. She also facilitates a community-based music program for parents with their children 0-6 years. She believes in the power and infinite benefits of music and its organic ability to foster connection, unity, co-regulation, creativity and playfulness. Some of the things we could all use more of.

Saturday Morning Yoga with Derek Yang will be in the HMS Secret Garden (in the schoolyard) at 10am.

Saturday Morning Yoga with Derek Pang

Derek Pang is a well certified Yoga teacher, Onnit Academy trained fitness teacher and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with over 20 years coaching and leadership experience. Join him on Saturday, September 14 from 10-11am at the Harvest Moon Festival for morning Yoga & mobility session inspired by The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the teachings of Ram Dass. The class will be suitable for all levels and will be designed to help participants attune their Now frequency to Love, inner peace, freedom and joy. If you’ve a Yoga mat, bring it, but not required.

Sunday Morning Mindfulness - Journey to the Centre of You with Janine Schellenberg will be in the Secret Garden (in the schoolyard) **ON SUNDAY** at 10am.

Sunday Morning Mindfulness - Journey to the Center of You with Janine Schellenberg

Janine is a Somatic Mindfulness Instructor/RMT/Acupuncturist and has been a Harvest Mooner for 17 years. She was raised where the Pembina River crosses into North Dakota and stewards 192 acres of the Valley. Janine will present about the power of Cranial Nerve X, the Vagus and deliver the self care skill of abdominal massage to anchor that, it's a sweet support for nutrient absorption and fluid movement. There will also be a compassionate mindfulness meditation for gut health.

Low Carbon Transportation with Jennifer deGroot

Moving ourselves from place to place is a significant part of our carbon footprint. The challenges in reducing our energy use in transportation are significant for Manitobans, particularly for those of us who live rurally. There are no quick or easy answers yet change is necessary. The third in our Low Carbon series, this workshop will again be interactive and reflective. We will work together to creatively brainstorm alternatives and support each other as we each pledge to do what we can.

Reading Through Reconciliation

Elder Dave Scott (and illustrator Jonathan Dyck) discuss their new graphic novel "The Secret Treaty" along with Sandra Hayes-Gardiner and her book "Crossing the River: An Unsettling Memoir" in a panel moderated by Diane Guilford.

Weaving Together Art Display will be in the Clearwater Hall on Saturday and Sunday.

Weaving Together - Weaving Art, Weaving Community

This past year, HMS partnered with United Community Arts (UCA) in Pilot Mound on a collaborative community weaving project. The pieces produced from that venture will be on display in the Clearwater Hall on both Saturday and Sunday.