On this first day of summer, I’m so happy to announce that registration is open for the next Retreat!
We’ll spend two nights—September 19 to 21—camping by the Santa Ynez River in Santa Barbara, gathered in creative and collective celebration of the Autumn Equinox.
Enjoy guided hiking, swimming, and ecologically immersive workshops, including (of course) seasonal natural dyeing.
Attendees who carpool together (and sign up together) automatically receive $50 off their seats. Learn more below, and reply to this email or leave a comment with any questions.
Two nights of camping on the Santa Ynez River near Santa Barbara
Seasonal food & drink included
Creating with nature: natural dyeing & herbal tea workshops
Hiking & swimming
Open to first-timers and seasoned campers alike—no camping experience is necessary to attend, but you’ll need some basic supplies.
We’ll meet each other and get acquainted with the plants growing around our campground—some of which happen to be edible and medicinal. You’ll create your own signature tea blend to take home, and we’ll brew a communal pot of tea to share before settling in for our first dinner around the campfire, then stargazing under the new moon.
After breakfast, we’ll caravan to our hiking destination—an oak-filled canyon by the Santa Ynez River brimming with a spectrum of plant life on the cusp of seasonal change. We’ll spend time interpreting the land’s expressions, sharing stories and exploring natural history, ecology, ethnobotany, and other forces and relationships which shape the natural world around us. Cool oak oases and fragrant hillsides of drying sage may tempt us to linger… but we’ll leave the canyon and travel together to a deep pool along the Santa Ynez River, where we’ll swim and cool off before an afternoon of natural dyeing under blue oaks at camp.
With dyestuff collected throughout the summer—both from the wild and from the garden—we’ll create brews of natural dye expressing the colors of the peak growing season. Together we’ll craft blends of plants to achieve specific hues: Golden yellow from a blend of marigold, sagebrush, pericón… Warm terracotta from eucalyptus bark, dyer’s coreopsis, sulphur cosmos. Combined with mineral iron—which can be cleverly and carefully harvested from the wild—a palette of autumnal olive green and deep caramel emerges. We’ll utilize these dyes, brewed with river water, to layer a spectrum of color onto US-grown organic cotton socks and other goods.
All meals—seasonal, plant-based, garden-to-table—are included on the retreat, made by Hannah of Golden Heron.
Welcome Snack: herbal iced tea and roasted banana hazelnut snacking cake
Friday Dinner: French provincial brothy beans with fresh bread and garden salad
Saturday Breakfast: coconut tahini chia pudding with homemade preserves and fruit, earl gray tea & coffee
Lunch: fresh veggies with hummus and beet dip, olives, garden tomato salad, and seeded crackers, protein bites, and herbal lemonade
Dinner: vegan piperade, fresh bread and garden salad
Sunday Breakfast: oatmeal with nut butter, homemade preserves and fruit, earl gray tea & coffee
Registration for the Retreat opens June 20th and closes July 20th.
Happy Solstice! Enjoy your summer, and I hope to see you at this end of season celebration!
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