What Mission Statement What We Do History Looking Forward Facilities Get Involved Employment Apprentices Contribute Teach Why Who Founders Stewards Fellows Advisory Board Supporters Honorary Members Faculty Heroes Where Programs Year at a Glance Calendar By Category By Instructor Past Programs When Year at a Glance Core Curriculum Seasonal Activities Register Register in Program Login to Account Gallery People Farm Woods River Lake Facilities Events News Store On Site On Line Links Contact		From Soil to Society: Celebrating the Essential Connections Between All Living Things   FACULTY                     Patricia Amero             Patricia Amero, a Registered Professional Forester, and forest technician is married to and partnered with Sandy Hyde. Together they have owned Picea Forestry Consulting & Woodlot Services for ten years. Picea works with private woodlot owners and contractors throughout Nova Scotia, offering a full range of services that can be as simple as a guided hike through the woods or as comprehensive as a full-fledged management plan that meets Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification standards. Patricia and Sandy understand the diverse range of forest conditions and ecosystems that are present throughout Nova Scotia and the challenges of management in this setting. They believe that our forest has provided and can provide a wide range of non-economic benefits while also producing high-quality timber and non-timber products. They enjoy working with private woodlot owners and are passionate about helping them realize the full range of values and benefits our forest is capable of providing.Picea recently developed the FSC Forest Management Plan for the Chanterelle Forest, which is a key part of the Pollination Project. The plan clarifies and enables the management objectives for Chanterelle Forest and will thereby help the forest to achieve its full potential for recreation, education, and production of high-quality products.Patricia and Sandy recognize the great importance of education and believe in promoting awareness of the value of managing forests for multiple uses. They plan to help the Pollination Project design and implement workshops on forest management and the various benefits and uses that can be derived from the forest.       Owen Bridge             Owen Bridge recently formed his own company, Annapolis Seeds, at the tender age of 16. He has quadrupled the selection of seeds his company offers in two short years. Specializing in open-pollinated and heritage varieties, Owen is determined to share his knowledge and love for seeds with as many people as possible.       David Buchbinder             David Buchbinder is an award-winning trumpeter, composer and cultural inventor. He leads numerous music groups including the Flying Bulger Klezmer Band, composes for concerts, film, theatre and television, presents large-scale performance projects and has toured extensively in North America and throughout Europe. David is currently a resident artist at the prestigious Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto where he has just completed the launch of his multi-disciplinary extravaganza, Tumbling Into Light.       Delia Burge             Learning to spin in BC forty years ago led Delia to move to Nova Scotia where she raised a flock of Romany sheep and other wool breeds. Delia has an extensive knowledge of the attributes of different types of fleece and often acts as a fleece judge at agricultural exhibits. As an accomplished spinner, colour artist and educator, Delia produces a highly regarded instructional video on spinning for the Rural Route series. Delia was instrumental in the 1982 opening of the Water Street studio co-operative craft shop in Pictou where she continues to sell her wonderfully creative felting, knitting and hand-dyed yarns.       David Cohlmeyer             David Cohlmeyer came to Canada from the United States in 1972 and quickly became a gentle but powerful alternative voice, as chef and restaurateur at Beggar�s Banquet, as food and agriculture columnist of The Globe and Mail, and as the founder of the Toronto Culinary Guild. But he is best known as a farmer. He founded Cookstown Greens in 1988, a farm supplying our leading chefs with fantastically inspiring produce�everything from edible flowers to heritage vegetables to obscure herbs and perfect asparagus. A tireless advocate for locally grown foods, a generous contributor to innumerable causes and events, he is a pioneer, a leader and the environmental conscience of everyone who knows him.rn       Anne Everts             Anne Everts is an experienced spinner who has a particular passion for working with natural dyes using the flowers and plants around her home. This has taken her down many roads and the processes and outcomes continue to fascinate her.       Camelia Frieberg             Camelia Frieberg has been a filmmaker and producer for close to thirty years based first in Toronto and for the last decade in Nova Scotia. Her own film, A Stone's Throw features a character who is a felt artist and whose work is seen throughout the film. Camelia has also been felting both functional and art pieces for the last fifteen years and has enjoyed teaching many young and young at heart the joys of working with wool through this joyous medium.       Sherry Goede             Sherry Goede received her Early Childhood Education degree from St. Joseph's in Halifax and has taught in various parts of the world from Japan and Korea to B.C. and Nova Scotia. For the last number of years she has run a Waldorf inspired home-based daycare on the South Shore of Nova Scotia where her lifelong love of craft making has been happily wed to her love of teaching young people. Sherry and her husband, photographer and artist Mike Goede have been selling their own delightful nature-based craft work that often integrates wool, wood, seeds, and other plant objects at markets from Lunenburg to Halifax.       Patti Hetherington             Patti Hetherington is a Food Stylist and Food Producer with over 10 years experience. Originally from Toronto, Patti now calls Nova Scotia home. She has built a career based on her passion for all things food. Trained at one of North America's top chef schools, Patti won award after award for her outstanding culinary skills. She has worked as a chef, pastry chef, sous chef and entremetier at restaurants and as a private chef in Ontario and Nova Scotia for years. She combines her culinary skills and artistic sense to make food look beautiful and delectable for both television and print where her work is seen in the most popular food television shows.       patti hetherington             Patti Hetherington is a Food Stylist and Food Producer with over 10 years experience. Originally from Toronto, Patti now calls Nova Scotia home. She has built a career based on her passion for all things food. Trained at one of North America's top chef schools, Patti won award after award for her outstanding culinary skills. She has worked as a chef, pastry chef, sous chef and entremetier at restaurants and as a private chef in Ontario and Nova Scotia for years. She combines her culinary skills and artistic sense to make food look beautiful and delectable for both television and print where her work is seen in the most popular food television shows.       Dan Jason             Dan Jason has been promoting organic and sustainable agriculture for over 20 years. He started Salt Spring Seeds in 1986 and sends seeds around the globe (www.saltspringseeds.com). He is President of the Seed and Plant Sanctuary of Canada, a non-profit foundation dedicated to preserving heritage seeds and initiating community seed banks across the country (www.seedsanctuary.com). He is the author of many gardening manuals and cookbooks about growing and preparing locally grown foods and medicines.       Tristan Kelley             Tristan Kelley has been working with draft horses for ten years in both woodlots and market gardens. He works with his team of horses as his primary tool in his impressive market garden in Petite Riviere along with his wife Denyse, two young children and many other happy animals with feathers and fur.       Regine Kurek             Regine Kurek holds a degree in anthroposophical Art Therapy from the Kunststudientstatte, Ottersberg, Germany, and a diploma in Biographical Counselling from the Goetheanum, Switzerland. She has worked for many years as an artist, therapist, and adult educator in Canada, United States, and Europe. In 1989, she established Arscura, School for the Development of Art in the Healing and Social Fields in Toronto where she remains as acting director. From 1995 -1997, Regine was one of the carrying teachers in the final year of the diploma program at the Tobias School of Art, England and is now a coordinator of its international network for the research of art in the healing and social fields.       Carole Langille             Carole Langille is the author of three books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and children's books. She has been nominated for The Governor General's Award in poetry and The Atlantic Poetry Prize. Six poems from her last book, "Late in a Slow Time" have been put to music by the composer Chan Ka Nin and will be on Duo Concertante's next CD. She has given workshops at Maritime Writer's Workshop, Tatamagouche Centre and Humber School for Writers Summer Session and has taught poetry in the fall semester, for the last three years, at Dalhousie University.       Linda Maxwell             An award winning fibre artist of twelve years experience, Linda is an enthusiastic spinner, weaver and dyer who believes that learning should be fun. She has explored the use of a number of native plants and led dye workshops within Nova Scotia.       Tony McQuail             Tony McQuail together with his wife Fran have farmed in SW Ontario for over 35 years. They developed a mixed livestock and vegetable/apple operation that sells directly to their consumers. They were first introduced to HM in 1995 and have since trained in the teaching and facilitating of HM courses and regularly run 6 day workshops in Ontario and beyond.       Jane Morrigan MSc, PAg             After moving from Quebec to Nova Scotia, Jane spent 16 wonderful years milking gorgeous high-producing cows, keeping sheep and making hay at her homein Pictou County. Jane returned to University in 1996, and completed an MSc in Agriculture (Animal Behaviour). After graduation she taught in the Animal Science Technician program at NSAC. In 2002, she was hired part-time by the OACC (Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada) as a content developer for their new website and now works full time as a website co-ordinator. Jane also teaches a third year MSc course in Animal Welfare and Organic Livestock Production at the Nova Scotia Agriculture College.       Sharon Orpin             Sharon is known as a facilitator and enabler. She and her husband had a small alpaca farm, "BOULDER BROOK ALPACAS" for 14 years, so naturally she had to take up spinning. During that time she acquired a wealth of knowledge in the art of spinning all types of fibres. In addition she also has a great deal of historical information in the ancient ways of spinning and use of fibre. Sharon is the resident spinner at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg and is the       John Pece             As traveling Design/Builder, John Pece studied and worked on different environments and construction systems on projects across the US and Canada, Costa Rica and El Salvador covering modern to traditional and experimental materials and construction techniques. His work with sustainable architecture and (re)building community, culture and environment led to roles with a grass roots First Nation group and Dr. Patch Adams' Global Outreach. Teaching architectural design and building at the university level and through venues including the Institute for Social Ecology, Yestermorrow Design/Build School, and Upward Bound, John has designed and led courses on Sustainable Design, Building and Land Use for adults, college, and primary and secondary school students. John has lectured extensively and been a visiting critic at architecture schools in Vermont, New Jersey and India.       Marilyn Rand             Marilyn Rand is a farmer, artist and teacher living in the beautiful Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. Following a thirty year career in textile production, Marilyn has gone back to the grass roots of the industry. Marilyn spins novelty yarns, felts, knits and creates textile pictures from fibre. She teaches spinning, dyeing, felting and knitting courses on a regular basis, sharing her enthusiasm for the versatility of her medium.       Roula Said             Roula Said has been teaching bellydance and Sufi dance for 20 years and has developed the popular Seven Waves Movement System that brings the body into a state of wave. Om Laila, her school of dance is widely recognized as amongst the foremost schools of bellydancing art in Toronto. Roula is also a singer and dancer, specializing in Middle Eastern music she performs with many Toronto world music groups, including her own wildly popular Roma Funk outfit, Nomadica.       Jef Saunders             Jef Saunders offers biography counselling for individuals and couples, using art and art therapy in private practice and with Pegasus Therapeutics. A graduate of both the Arscura Art for Life and Biography counselling programs he has 25 years experience both in the psychodynamic and anthroposophical fields. As a co-director of Arscura he carries a particular responsibility for the Core Studies program parts, in which he also teaches.       Pia Skaarer Nielsen             Pia is a self-propelled weaver, spinner, fibre artist, tapestry weaver and small flock shepherdess who lives in Port Williams, Nova Scotia and is well known to the thousands of visitors to the Wolfville Farmer's Market who delight in her wonderful wares. She dreams, eats and lives through experiments and experiences of colour, feel and texture. The looms, spinning wheels and related paraphernalia in her home are seldom idle, used by herself and the numerous inquisitive students who regularly come to participate in the joyous mayhem which exists in the warm welcome of Pia's love for textile, texture and life.       Tom Stearns             Tom Stearns started growing organic seeds for sale as a hobby before he left college. Today, High Mowing Organic Seeds is a $1.6 million business with 30 employees, operating out of a 13,000-square-foot facility in Wolcott.rnrnStearns is also the president of the Center for Agricultural Economy � a Hardwick nonprofit he helped start. It was recently featured in Gourmet magazine and The New York Times and, he says, is a subject of a PBS documentary in the works. In addition, he�s the coordinator of Slow Money Vermont � also an organization he had a hand in founding � focused on socially responsible, alternative investing, on which he has been giving talks across the country.       Kim Thompson             Kim Thompson has been pioneering construction of plastered straw bales and other natural building systems since 1993. Her work in recent years has become increasingly directed towards improving existing building stock by employing natural building techniques, with an eye to health, environment, aesthetics and affordability. She teaches at the School of Architecture, Dalhousie University, and has a varied design/build practice working with community groups, businesses and home-owners.rn rnKim has written and produced resource materials on natural building for books, videos, curriculums and journals. Most recently she authoured an extensive report for Canada Mortgage and Housing looking at best practices for straw bale construciton in Atlantic Canada.rnrn       Kevin Veinotte             Kevin Veinotte raises a herd of happy and healthy Belted Galloway cows, sheep and chickens for both meat and eggs. He also runs an award winning woodlot certified with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and produces eco-friendly Christmas trees.rnrn       Susun Weed             Susun S. Weed is the author of four highly-acclaimed books on herbs and women's health: Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year, Healing Wise, New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way and Breast Cancer? Breast Health! the Wise Woman Way. Ms. Weed lectures world-wide on women's health and herbal medicine. From her home in New York State's Catskill Mountains, she directs the activities of the Wise Woman Centre, acts as editor-in-chief of Ash Tree Publishing, personally oversees the work of 400 correspondence students, and trains herbal and shamanic apprentices. Susun has lived the simple life for nearly 40 years as an herbalist, goat-keeper, homesteader and feminist. She has been called "a true radical... deeply rooted" "a modern pioneer" and "one of the founding mothers of herbal medicine in the United States."       Mike Wolter             A longstanding member of the NS Basketry Guild, Mike Wolter has been an organic farmer for most of his adult life. Known throughout the South Shore and beyond for the wonderful specialty greens and full range of organic produce, Rumtopf Farm has also been home to a growing collection of common and rare willow species. The willow is carefully coppiced each year so that Mike can make the sturdy and beautiful baskets that he sells and uses at market to display the bounty of the garden. Mike started making living fences years ago and uses them throughout his farm as a windbreak, trellis and support for other plants and as a visual treat. He has taught this workshop a number of times in previous years, always to sell out crowds.