Our Instructors
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Cami is a librarian by trade and a crafter at heart. She is currently located in North St. Paul, but was born and raised in Brainerd, MN, and draws inspiration from the “Up North” lifestyle and natural aesthetics. Her undergraduate degree is in Psychology and Scandinavian Studies, and she was fortunate enough to study in Sweden twice during her time at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Cami has always been artistic, but it was only after she finished her Masters in Library Science that she discovered her love of cross stitch and took a deep dive into crafting. Cami loves playing with color, using recycled materials, and drawing on themes related to books, cats, and hygge (the art of being cozy). Cross stitching is her favorite means of relaxation, especially on chilly evenings sitting beside her husband and senior cat, Frieda.
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Gary is a long time resident of Central Minnesota. Gary retired in 2020 after a 38 year career in piano tuning and rebuilding. In 1996 he began building traditional style frame drums as a hobby which has grown into an avocation. He lives in St. Joseph with his wife Brenda.
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Kerry has been “bending wood” for about fourteen years to create snowshoes and furniture for himself, friends and family. A veteran of the US Navy and a retired law enforcement officer, early in his career Kerry worked in Cook County, MN in and around the North Shore, BWCA. During that time he made winter camping trips into the BWCA that were often too cold, with too much snow, pulling overloaded sleds with snowshoes, cross-country skis. Too many trips to count and yet in reflection, not enough.
Kerry is retired now and living in central MN with his spouse Lynn, who according to Kerry has all the talent in the family. When not bending wood and sharing his passion for creating Kerry can be found under the surface of lakes and oceans as a scuba diver and instructor. He can also be found helping Santa during the busy season.
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Brittany is a Minnesota native and St. Cloud State alum with a background in accounting, now working at the intersection of holistic psychology, yoga, and community care. She holds a degree in psychology, is a registered yoga instructor (RYT-200), and is a qualified neutral under Rule 114 of the Minnesota State Supreme Court. Her recent work with the Avon Hills Folk School explored how hands-on learning and outdoor play support confidence, curiosity, and a sense of agency.
Through her organization, True Treatment, she offers physical and mental hygiene(yoga), private education, nature-based childcare, and family and civil mediation. Brittany also co-operates The Porchlight Collective with Megan Sieben, creating space for connection through retreats, talking circles, and practices rooted in indigenous history and women’s wisdom. She believes everyone deserves a life that feels gentle and true to who they are, like they belong. At home, Brittany enjoys gardening, foraging, reading, and crafting; she’s passionate about sharing the magic of plant medicine, community support, and mental wellness.
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Jamie grew up canning and preserving foods with her mom and grandma. The foundation was set, but she really became passionate in her 20’s, after she started her own garden. With the abundance from her home garden as well as local farmer’s markets, she has almost infinite raw materials to work with.
Jamie turned her chemical engineering background and passion for recipes into a cottage food business in which her specialty is unique granola and a variety of preserved foods.
When she isn’t actively cheering on her two student athletes, or volunteering with local groups, she loves being creative with the bounty that comes from her garden.
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Ariel Bonkoski is a mushroom identification expert that resides in Duluth, Minnesota. She has been studying fungi since 2016 and is now one of the most active mushroom identifiers in North America. Ariel has taught mushroom identification courses and led forays for colleges, public schools, mycological societies, and nature centers all over North America. Ariel is best known for her friendly and enthusiastic approach to teaching about mushrooms. She is an active Master Naturalist, with a passion for learning, giving back to nature, and connecting people to nature. Ariel spends much of her free time camping, hiking, and foraging.
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Lily Brutger is a teaching artist based in Central Minnesota. Her interest in fiber and textile arts is generational stemming from her maternal grandmother, aunts, and family friends who were avid sewists, quilters, knitters, and embroiderers and mentored her at a young age in the crafts. Lily has been sewing since she was a young teen and started to embrace felting through teaching middle school art. She noticed that the simple repetitive movement of poking a ball of fiber is calming and a fast favorite of most students. Lily is a licensed K12 art teacher and holds a bachelor's degree with majors in studio art and art history.
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Clark took his first timber framing class in 1997, and was instantly hooked. He was a professional timber framer for 10 years, and served on the board of the Timber Framers Guild. A former computer programmer and researcher at Bell Labs, he now designs timber frames when he's not teaching and leading workshops. Clark lives in NE Minneapolis with his wife Mia.
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Leslie is a shepherdess, spinner, and wool lover who believes the best fiber stories start in the pasture. For the past 15 years, at Les’s Moor Farm, she has been caring for a lively mix of fiber animals—alpacas, Angora goats, a variety of sheep, and the occasional Angora rabbit—each one offering its own unique, beautiful fiber. What began as a love for the animals quickly grew into a passion for the craft, and she started taking classes to learn how to make the most of what they so generously provide.
The journey from raw fleece to finished textile is fascinating, especially those first essential steps: shearing and scouring to reveal its true potential. As a shepherdess and fiber enthusiast, Leslie is excited to share both the practical skills and the deep satisfaction that come from transforming fiber straight from the animal into something warm, wearable, and handmade, sharing tips, tricks, and plenty of farm tales along the way.
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Blaine Cross crafts websites for the University of Minnesota. Blaine started writing pysanky about 10 years ago, and has been teaching at Avon Hills for the past 3 years as part of a group of fellow crafters, including his wife Katie Cross, along with Sarah Peterson and Carol Lane Fortier. We love sharing the methods of crafting beautiful pysanky designs.
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With over 15 years of experience as an educator, including Montessori certification, Amy brings a passion for creativity, curiosity, and participant-led exploration to every learning experience she facilitates. She sees herself not as an instructor with a fixed outcome, but as a guide—creating space for individuals to follow their own ideas, take creative risks, and discover what inspires them.
Her artistic journey is ever-evolving—she often jokes that her favorite craft is simply the next one she signs up to learn. While paper crafts and painting are where she is most comfortable, she also enjoys experimenting with fabric and a wide range of materials and mediums (especially Sharpies and washi tape). For Amy, creativity isn’t limited to what can be made by hand—she also finds deep creative fulfillment in reading, writing, and discussing literature, with a special place in her heart for poetry. Almost every project she creates includes inspiration or elements from the natural world.
Amy’s connection to creativity is deeply rooted in the outdoors. Her earliest memories are of playing outside, camping, jumping in the lake, and exploring the natural world with curiosity and wonder. Her first job as a teen was working with the Minnesota DNR Summer Conservation Corps, an experience that strengthened her appreciation for nature and hands-on learning. Throughout her career in education, she has consistently found ways to bring learning outside—often holding classes outdoors to encourage observation, movement, and inspiration from the environment.
She believes deeply in the power of curiosity to drive authentic learning and strives to create environments where exploration is encouraged, creativity is unrestricted, and participants feel free to follow their own path without fear of imperfection.
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Norwegian Rosemaler
Michelle fell in love with Rosemaling when she saw a traveling Vesterheim exhibit in 1992 and then began taking classes. She is a member of the Twin Ports Rosemaling Society in Duluth, MN and Wisconsin State Rosemaling Association in Stoughton, WI. She enjoys learning from Vesterheim Gold Medal Rosemaling teachers in the many different styles such as Rogaland, Telemark, Vest Adger, Os and Gudbrandsdal.
She works full time as a Real Estate Broker / Property Manager at Mike Ives Realty in Grand Rapids, MN. Blessed with a loving and supportive husband, Guy, as well as her daughter, Marissa, currently studying Architecture at University of Minnesota. She enjoys painting, gardening, piano, traveling and time with family on the lake.
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Rev. Genjo Sam Conway, MS, LPCC, is a Zen priest in the lineage of Dainin Katagiri Roshi, ordained by his teacher, Byakuren Judith Ragir, Roshi. His practice stands at the confluence of Zen and psychoanalysis, where stillness and speech, emptiness and form, reveal their shared demand for truth. A psychoanalyst by vocation, Rev. Genjo’s work calls for an unflinching intimacy with the real — the courage to face what we most fear and what we most long for.
His teaching joins the discipline of zazen with the fierce tenderness of inquiry, each a way of remembering what it means to be fully human. Rooted also in his Irish ancestry, he walks an ancient path, honoring the old ways of land, weather, and kinship with all beings. This ancestral devotion infuses his Zen with earth and myth, wind and song — a reminder that awakening flowers not apart from the world, but intimately within it.
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I have been a woodworker most of my life and enjoy making just about anything from wood. I was born in South Africa and have lived in Minnesota for over 25 years. My passion is furniture making and I now mill my own Lumber on my sawmill and enjoy recycling logs that many times would be firewood or wood chips. I have taken a few Timber Framing classes at AHFS and hope to build a timber frame one day. I live in St Augusta with my wife Julie. Julie and I enjoy hiking and traveling.
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Josie is enamored with all things craft since childhood, when she attended programs at the local nature center making sumacade and wild blackberry jam with churn butter. In her twenties, an inordinate amount of time was spent in the pursuit of wild edibles and wild wine making, joined shortly thereafter by an insatiable interest for all things baskets. Throughout this, fiber has been the constant companion, a compendium of knowledge and experience on a slow boil. In backwards fashion, from knitting to fiber studies, to growing her own flax, the journey continues. Craft in all forms is the path to a greater connection with the earth, ourselves, and each other, all of which could use greater unity.
Each year she teaches at the Lake Superior Traditional Ways Gathering, and taught/assisted classes as an intern at North House Folk School. Currently, she occasionally renovates turn of the century houses and endeavors to have a life full of learning, teaching, and creating craft.
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We are a mother/daughter beekeeping team and have a combined experience of 30+ years of keeping bees. Therese's experience began within a commercial beekeeping environment and has shifted towards a smaller scale approach when Melissa joined her in 2016. This smaller scale approach allows the space and time to slow down and enjoy the process fully. We are continuously working towards more bee-centric practices and strive to learn more every year. The growing and deepening connection with the bees and the land is the most rewarding part of bee guardianship and any sweet golden elixir the bees share is a bonus!
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Tony Dingmann is former State of Minnesota fish biologist, now a hydrologist for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. His work includes collecting water quality samples from streams and rivers in north-central Minnesota and assessing whether those water bodies need improvements or protections based on the pollutants found within the water. He also uses fish and aquatic invertebrate (bug) information to further analyze the rivers and streams. He lives in Sartell with his wife Meghan, two daughters Aubrey and Sophia, black lab Izzie and is an avid outdoorsman including hunting, fishing, camping and canoeing.
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Sue Flanders first touched clay her senior year, 1981, at the College of St. Benedict, in St. Joseph, Minn. Under the watchful eye of Sr. Dennis Frandrup, she learned technical throwing skills. Frandrup wouldn’t allow students to keep any pots in the first month; she would slice each “masterpiece" to expose imperfections and lead her students to understand the goals of pot construction.
Sue maintains a studio in Mora, Minnesota and is currently working with white stoneware and firing her pots to cone 6 in one of her two electric kilns. “I get great satisfaction from working every step in the ceramic process”, says Sue.. Her studio name is “Kilns of Flanders”, where she shares the studio with her potter husband, Chuck.
She also enjoys teaching workshops in East Central Minnesota at Sapsuckers Farms, Annandale Art and Textile Center, American Swedish Institute and Avon Hills Folk School.
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Zach Fritz found his love for all things canoeing and the outdoors when he went on his first canoe trip when he was four years old. Since then, he has paddled thousands of miles through some of the last remaining wild places left in North America. Zach is passionate about sharing his love for the outdoors, seeking adventure, and the importance of getting out of your comfort zone. When off the water, Zach has found a love for building his own canoe paddles, bird hunting with his dog Scout, or anything else that will get him outside! Zach is currently living in Madison, WI while his girlfriend pursues her PhD at the University of Wisconsin.
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Shelley Getten has been creating block print art since 2005, when she learned basic printmaking from Grand Marais artist, Kelly DuPre. She loves sharing the joy of creating something new and believes it is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and our youth. Her first full-length poetry book, Of Cows and Crows, was published by Nodin press in the fall of 2024. It combines her art (cover and sections) with her poetry of growing up on a farm near St. Cloud, MN.
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Peter Gillitzer is small business owner and orchardist from St Joseph, MN. His educational background includes undergraduate and graduate degrees in forestry and agriculture from the University of Minnesota.
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MacKenna Hanson is a Midwest-based artist, educator, and writer. Born in 2003 in Jacksonville, Florida, she's lived in Georgia, North Carolina, Chicago, and Stockholm, Sweden. Hanson uses her art to explore critiques of identity, taste, power, and culture. She works with oil paint, ink, gouache, and other various mediums. She's a triplet sister, a pop culture enthusiast, and an enjoyer of fun.
A Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Hanson was assigned to SAIC's 2023 Dean's List for Outstanding Sophomores and was admitted into the School's 2024-2025 Advanced Painting Program. While at the School, she served as a Teaching Assistant to both high schoolers and college freshmen, gaining a love of arts education in the process.
She found her way to Avon Hills Folk School after returning to Minnesota to live with her family, reconnecting with her familial roots in the Stearns County area.
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Beth Homa Kraus uses sustainably harvested and hand processed bark from White Paper Birch tree to make woven items that can be used in everyday life, as well as in a gallery. By teaching classes and facilitating other learning opportunities in this handcraft, Beth focuses on building communities and celebrating the weaving traditions rooted many different cultures.
After studying painting at Hamline University and working as a caseworker for the homeless in Baltimore Maryland, Beth became an intern at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota. There they learned many traditional crafts including many styles of boat building, but their focus shifted to basketry and their obsession with birch bark was sparked. Birch bark quickly became Beth’s principal medium.
Beth has taught birch basketry classes at North House Folk School, the American Swedish Institute, the Weavers’ Guild, and many special engagements. Through communal learning, public demonstrations, and facilitating harvests, they share their love for this durable and beautiful material with everyone with a desire to learn. Check out Beth’s work HERE!
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Dan Horan is the craftsman behind Merchant Leather, a self-taught maker who found in leather the perfect balance of creativity, function, and timeless craft. Based in Minnesota, he builds each piece entirely by hand, emphasizing simplicity, durability, and the honest beauty of traditional techniques.
Teaching is central to Dan’s work. He has shared leatherworking with more than 1,500 students—from children to adults—in settings ranging from folk schools to galleries to the American Craft Council. His classes are designed to be approachable for anyone picking up leather for the first time, while also structured to help students steadily build higher-level skills, confidence, and creativity with each project.
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Broommaker. Artisan. Friend to the bees.
Rooted among the rich soil of the Midwest, Rebi creates work that hugs the line between craft and art, bringing beauty to everyday functional items through her business Rooted Apricity. Broom making has become the perfect balance of her desire to make, her love for plants, and her passion to live as close to the earth as possible. In 2013, she graduated from Carleton College with a B.A. in Studio Art, and her brooms have made appearances at art fairs across Minnesota and North Dakota. All of her brooms are handcrafted with traditional broom making techniques, weaving patterns, warmth, and love - providing a natural alternative to the synthetic brooms often found in stores. A huge supporter of the slow living movement, Rebi feels blessed by this opportunity to share her passion and inspire other creatives.
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Betsy Johnson has been practicing yoga for over two decades, and she has taught everywhere from a 103-degree yoga studio to her dentist's office. Her meditations have been downloaded over 300,000 times on Insight Timer, and she has published five books.
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A lifelong student of art and nature, I live by the seasons. Spring brings new growth & energy. Summer is buzzing & busy. Fall is a place to calm down and winter a time for rest, rejuvenation, reflection and, for me, creating. In summer’s rush of garden compositions, both personally & professionally, I excitedly dream about fall & winter’s artistic explorations. Each winter is a dive into myself and memories of the other seasons through oil painting, printmaking and needle felting.Primarily self taught after attending an arts high school, I fell deeply in love with oil painting landscapes in 2021. In October 2023, I took a felting class and was smitten. Needle felting as fine art has allowed me to stretch and grow in new ways as an artist. Using the same principles & elements of design, color theory, and eye for detail that I apply to my paintings, I’m on a quest to blend and layer fibers to render realistic scenes in wool.
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In college, Shane began taking hands-on courses. He discovered a passion for making. It changed his life. He loves it. He wants others to also.
Motivated by this, he creates and provides hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning experiences. By doing this, he harnesses the teaching power of direct experience.
His making skills are plentiful. He’s done many forms of metal work. Primarily, he studied silversmithing and fabrication. For several years he taught at the Reno Gem and Mineral Society.
As an artist, he focuses on found object sculpture, interactive art and automata.
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Lisa Meyers McClintick is an award-winning writer and photographer, longtime contributor to the Star Tribune and USA Today, and author of Day Trips from the Twin Cities guidebook. She’s also a teaching artist at The Loft, Paramount Center for the Arts, and other venues with a specialty in mental health, visual and nature journaling. She’s been a Minnesota Master Naturalist since 2021.
She makes jewelry, beads, embroiders, and practices wet and needle felting when she needs a more tactile creative endeavor than writing, photography and drawing.
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Trinity Muller, the Minneapolis based natural dyer and textile artisan behind Petal & Hank, uses homegrown, foraged, and food waste dyes alongside traditional dyes from around the world to transform cotton, silk, wool, and other natural fibers. Trinity’s multi-disciplinary approach to creating textiles incorporates natural dyeing, foraging, and gardening, alongside processing raw wool fleeces, spinning, knitting, weaving, sewing, and surface design.
Trinity’s professional and academic background in education and her love of handmade goods shape her workshops. A lifelong learner herself, Trinity aims to deepen her students’ connections to fiber, textiles, and nature through hands-on experiences that welcome questions and encourage curiosity.
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A Wisconsin native and alumnus of St. John’s University, McCutcheon has gone on to write hundreds of songs and garnered more than his share of accolades. His eclectic catalog of ballads, historical songs, children’s songs, love songs, topical satire, fiddle and hammer dulcimer instruments, and even symphonic works are among the broadest in American folk music. His forty-six albums have earned 6 Grammy nominations. His songwriting has been hailed by critics around the world; his song Christmas in the Trenches is considered a classic and was recently named one of the 100 Essential Folk Songs.
In addition to his own writing, John has collaborated with some of the major songwriting talents in the folk music world including Tom Paxton, Si Kahn, Holly Near, Carrie Newcomer, Zoe Mulford, Steve Seskin, and Tom Chapin. With his deep roots in American traditional music, his approach to writing reflects both a simplicity and a layered complexity that creates songs that are always more than they seem. “He is a master at the difficult craft of the ballad,” touted the Boston Globe. “Storytelling with the richness of fine literature,” added the Washington Post. “One of our country’s best songwriters,” said Pete Seeger.
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Born and raised in the Midwest, I have had an interest in birds since early grade school. I had an older brother who inspired me with an enthusiasm for birding and helped me learn the sights, sounds and behavior of birds. After graduating from college and getting into the workplace my hobbies tended towards my 3 children; when they were old enough I took them to the state park near our house to observe wildlife and participated in the park’s bluebird monitoring program.
My wife [Mary] and I took the University of Minnesota’s Master Naturalist Volunteer course in the spring of 2021, and my capstone project was an Eastern Bluebird nest box trail at Crow Wing State Park. Since moving to St. Joseph last summer I have become a member of the Central Minnesota Audubon Society
Recently retired from 33 years with the US Army, I now have the time to spend doing more with wildlife. I have a passion to instill enthusiasm and participation from students so that they can learn, grow and enjoy the outdoors, birds in particular. I have found that the students’ questions and conversation also inspire me to learn more along with them. Curiosity is a quality which should be encouraged as it leads to life-long learning.
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I grew up in the wild beauty of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I find myself deeply rooted in the dense woods & big water & simple farm to table meals my mama made. Like most Yoopers, I am passionate about sharing how magical the UP is, yet am intensely protective of it. These days, you can find me at the coffee shop I part own with my friend Annette, playing barista.
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A timber framer, boat builder, and avid forager— Alo is most in their element when outside, learning processes for transforming raw elements into functional art. They started timber framing as an apprentice in Cherry Valley, NY in 2020 but started their carpentry work much earlier as a public artist and later a crew leader for students, volunteers, and artists at Summit Academy, Steger Wilderness Center, Historicorps, and Visitor Center Artist Camp. They are always looking for ways to connect people to place and love teaching aspiring craftfolk about local organic material with curiosity, patience and play.
When they’re not carving timbers, they enjoy mushroom forays, gardening, mask-making, and learning languages.
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Sam Oschwald Tilton is a former vegetable farmer and passionate hort educator.
He taught horticulture at Lakeshore Technical College and was the Direct-Market Vegetable Specialist for UW-Extension. He works as an organic farm advisor, helping farmers improve their weed management, soil, and machinery systems. Through his business, Glacial Drift Enterprises, he also delivers hands-on trainings to farmers and organizations around the Midwest. He organizes the Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day and lives in Minneapolis, where he enjoys gardening with the neighborhood.
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Gigi Risberg Stafne has a lifelong passion for the plants, people, and this precious planet. This has translated into a personal path and profession spanning over three decades as a Naturopath and Master Herbalist. Her adventures range from coordinating health care delegations in Cuba to setting up urban and rural Free People's Clinics for folks in need in the U.S.
Gigi is Director of Green Wisdom School of Natural & Botanical Medicine and guest instructor at many schools in North America. Other meaningful projects have included founding Herbalists Without Borders International, addressing issues of health and social justice globally, and creating the first United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary in Wisconsin.
Gigi is a recipient of the North American Medicinal Plant Conservation Award (2007 United Plant Savers) and the National Service Award with American Herbalists Guild and Herbalists Without Borders (2017).
Earth ethics, ecology, sustainability, and environmental health are woven throughout Gigi's courses.
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Jenna Pollard has taught timber frame workshops in Minnesota, Washington, and Arizona, and has been timber framing since 2010. She has built or assisted with building over a dozen timber frames, from her own small cabin to large pavilions for community gatherings. Her passion for teaching has led her to offer women’s timber framing courses as a way to grow the number of women in the trades and provide a supportive learning environment for other women.
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Kate Running and Laila Simon are knitters with a love of whimsy. That's why they started Knit & Gather to teach others the craft they love. They have both been knitting for over twenty years and love to experiment with different mediums. Coming from Norwegian cultural backgrounds, it is folk art and craft that connects them with their heritage! Together they design patterns and have partnered to teach fiber arts. Their goal is to share knowledge, connect with others, and offer high quality patterns, tools, and more. Follow along and take a class with them!
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Laura Ruprecht is an award-winning stained glass mosaic artist based in St. Cloud, Minnesota. After earning her BFA in Painting from the College of St. Benedict, she discovered her passion for mosaics while assisting on public art projects downtown St. Cloud. In 2020, she launched her full-time studio, Laura Liz Mosaic Biz, where she creates intricate works inspired by nature, particularly birds and MN species. Beyond her studio practice, Laura is a dedicated educator, leading community art residencies and teaching mosaic techniques through Minnesota.
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Karen is a retired Minnesota master gardener having grown primroses for 30 years along with perennial flowers, rock gardens and vegetable gardens. She has spoken and presented on primroses and rock gardens across the midwest for the American Primrose Society, North American Rock Garden Societies, and local garden societies in central Minnesota. She has had articles published in the bulletins for both national societies, and is a member of both.
Karen has lived on the same land south of Avon, MN for the past 50 years, tending to her gardens including a small primrose nursery where she grows and sells Primroses to others wanting to grow their own in their woodland garden.
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A self-described all-around artist and avid skill collector, I am an extremely curious person and have a lifelong goal to gain knowledge and skills in all things.
Growing up in the woods around the Avon Hills, I loved exploring nature, building forts, creating adventures, and getting dirty. My interest in all things Indiana Jones inspired me to attend college to study archaeology, but ultimately got distracted by the arts and graduated with a dual degree in Art and Archeology from the University of Minnesota.
For the past 20 years I have been running my own small business as a professional woodworker in Saint Paul, building everything from wooden toys to expansive butcher block countertops. Teaching all ages of folks is incredibly fulfilling and I work to encourage, embolden, and promote others to achieve success in their endeavors. “We’ll figure it out” is my favorite motto!
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Greetings my name is Grant, most call me Granch. I use he/him/his pronouns and I am a creative with big passion for teaching. I found my way to it working with troubled teens in the wilderness and there was nothing more rewarding to me than seeing my students marvel at their own talents and creative capabilities. I primarily work with leather and waxed canvas; but I love carving spoons as well. I look forward to meeting you and seeing what we can make.
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Jenny Stice is an educator and artist who has been practicing and teaching in Minnesota for over ten years. They believe that a meaningful art practice isn’t defined by age, ability, or experience and are passionate about guiding others to recognize their own creative potential. Stice’s current body of work began with a single line of lyrics that sparked an unexpected and ongoing exploration: painting rats in various forms. What began as a curiosity has evolved into a deeply personal and expressive journey.
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Jeffrey is an Embodiment Coach who helps people feel more grounded, connected, and at ease in their bodies. His work blends movement, mindfulness, and honest conversation to support people through change, stress, or just the messiness of being human. He creates spaces that are warm and spacious—where you can slow down, listen in, and reconnect with what matters.
He’s a certified Embodiment Coach and has studied and trained in multiple somatic modalities including Embodied Toolkit and the Feldenkrais Method.
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Megan Sieben is a 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher and Karuna Reiki Master Practitioner. She has a deep love for the healing arts, and is currently studying Ayurveda and Integrative Health. Her journey began in 2019, when she first noticed the sacredness within my own heart and within all. She started to see life in a new way and became devoted to this understanding. Her passions deepened through traveling in Central and South America, where she was immersed into ways of life and being that transformed her. Her intention is to foster spaces of authenticity and belonging, encouraging our true selves to emerge and guide us. We are all our own greatest healers and teachers, and this connection is available to us always. Through community, connection, and these ancient teachings, we are remembering together. It is an honor to walk this path alongside you.
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April Ogimaakwe Stone, an Ojibwe Black Ash basket maker from the Bad River reservation in northern WI, has been working with black ash since 1998. She spent one year studying a basket in use before attempting to weave her first basket in the spring of 1999 and ended up falling in love with all things connected to this craft including live harvest and log processing of raw material into usable splint for weaving. Since 2000, she has researched and traveled extensively, sharing her skills with young and old.
April harvests all of her raw materials for her own basket making and for various programming from the ceded territory swamps and forests of northern WI. and processes all of this material by hand. She has received much recognition for her working knowledge of Black Ash basketry, while being thought of as a patient and gentle educator.
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Bill grew up in the St. Cloud area and now lives in St. Joe. When he retired in 2016 he took up soap making as a hobby. That hobby has grown into the Rubber Ducky Soap Company and has produced thousands of bars of soap. In the process Bill has developed and tested dozens of recipes that included countless ingredients and methods. Today, Bill still enjoys the craft and is eager to share some of what he has learned.
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Tom Wicks spent 34 years in Youth Development work at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota. As Director of Operations, Tom was part of the team that helped the organization grow from one Boys & Girls Club to three new Boys & Girls Clubs and 12 school based program sites serving over 1,500 youth and teens per day. The more Tom heard and read about TimberNook the more he thought about his childhood that was spent mostly outdoors. With great enthusiasm he looks forward to sharing this opportunity to be outdoors with youth around Central Minnesota.
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Learn the magic of transforming wool into 2 and 3 D objects from an experienced needle felting artist. Karen has been an avid needle filter since 2016. She finds working with wool to be a very tactile and sensory experience, and the process of felting wool is all hands on. Besides the texture of wool under her fingers, she also finds the repeated rhythmic motion of interlocking fibers extremely soothing. In her years of learning, teaching, and experiencing, Karen has come up with lots of tips and tricks, from what kind of supplies to buy, to how to create one of a kind pieces of art. Karen hopes her work will inspire people to look for new ways to create, and hopefully also experience the soul soothing calmness that comes form working in this art medium. If you’d like to know more about Karen’s work, you can find her on Facebook as ‘I Felt It’.
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Maria has been gathering wild edibles and tracking animals since 2004 and loves sharing these skills with others. She has spent over 15 years organizing and teaching nature-related programs in the Upper Midwest. Through her business Four Season Foraging, she offers foraging and wildlife tracking workshops, creating spaces where people can learn to interact with urban and rural environments in meaningful and sustainable ways. She is a certified wild mushroom harvester in the state of Minnesota and holds a Professional Track & Sign certificate from CyberTracker North America.