A three day workshop/retreat on transforming your worldview for regenerative abundance.
April 27-30, 2023
Ness Creek Festival Site [20 Km NE of Big River, SK]
What if…?
What if human beings could do more in response to the ecological crisis than “shrink their environmental footprint”?
What if human settlements could actually be of benefit to the Land and the wider family of Life upon which we all depend?
What if our lives could revolve around managing abundance, rather than struggling against lack?
What if we could create vibrant communities of mutual care that are more than just sustainable, but regenerative for all those who will come after us?
The answer is that we can, but we need to change the way we perceive, think, and relate to the world.
“Across the great span of geological time, the moment we are living through now on Earth is characterized by the human-created impacts that pervade the planet’s biosphere. We are experiencing the apogee of the Anthropocene – living & breathing & suffering the detrimental effects of our own making, along with the rest of the Earth. And yet, here we are, gathering & learning, trying to cultivate the changes that could see us through. There is desperate hope. There is beautiful uncertainty. There is innate possibility.”
– Kjelti Katherine
Come Together
Gather with us to explore the Relational Worldview which underpins Permaculture, and which can anchor us to the Indigenous ways of being which have sustained People in right relationship with Land since time immemorial.
Spend three days in the beautiful boreal forest, learning, sharing, celebrating, and connecting. Deepen your relationship with the Land, and build your foundations for regenerative living.
Your investment includes
– Over 16 hours of instruction time with experienced Permaculture practitioners, and Indigenous wisdom keepers
– Delicious meals featuring local/regenerative growers+producers, prepared by a red seal Chef
– Hands on Permaculture design practice
– Evenings spent around the campfire
– Documentary movie night
– Guided forest walk
$495.00
Instructors
Jesse Selkirk
Instructor
Jesse Selkirk is a permaculturist, educator, and community organizer from Saskatoon, SK. He received his Permaculture Design Certificate from Verge Permaculture in 2019 and has spent the last half decade experimenting with Permaculture principles and techniques in his home, garden, and life.
Maggie Blue-Waters
Instructor
Maggie Blue-Waters is an Iskwesis (Cree Woman) of the William Charles band at Montreal Lake, SK. She is a Chapan (Great Grandmother), a Kokom (Grandmother), a Mother, and a fellow student. A survivor of the 60’s Scoop, Maggie’s blood memory of her childhood with her family on the Land is a source of deep inspiration, reverence, and persistence in the journey of her Life. Guided and fueled by Vision, today Maggie acts as a teacher, a healer, and a tender of the Land. Having spent much of her life in Colonial society, Maggie has come to see that all of us – both Indigenous peoples and Settler peoples – suffer the wounds of colonization, displacement, and deception. She has dedicated her life to Reconciliation, and brings her teachings in the spirit of reconnection with the Earth.
Steven Wiig
Instructor
Steven Wiig received his Permaculture Design Certificate at the Panya Project in Thailand in 2011, then continued to work and learn on various Permaculture projects around S.E. Asia until 2014. That year he made the move to Kenya where he completed a Permaculture Consulting training and worked with others to found the Oltumo Maasai Project. This was a demonstration and education site which worked with the Indigenous Maasai people to find solutions for their transition from nomadic to settled living. While spending winters in Kenya, Steve also managed his Saskatoon based regenerative landscaping company, Holistic Landscape and Design.
Kjelti Anderson
Instructor
Kjelti Anderson moves with a profound sense of belonging to this world – with intrinsic affinity to the serene song of the meadowlark or the harrowed howl of the wolf, she too seeks to resound. Her voice echoes in the living litany ringing through the forest as an ode to the unfolding of all creation within, through, & around us. She cultivates a passionate relationship with Mother Earth as a herbalist, permaculture homesteader, artist, & mama. She creatively resists the resignation that humanity’s fate is ultimately one of dominance & depletion by tending to the new earth becoming through the critical inner & outward action needed at this time in human history.
Schedule – April 27th to 30th
7pm – Registration, Orientation and meet+greet
8am – Breakfast (continental)
8:45am – Opening Ceremony and Land Acknowledgment – Jesse, Steven, Maggie
9am – The Indigenous Worldview in the Modern Age – Maggie
Maggie will lead the first session of the retreat as an Invitation. Recognizing and honouring the trauma that lives in all of us, she will bring the group together to sit and talk about possibilities. She aims to offer a gentle nudge out of the rigid routines of commerce and distraction. She intends to present an opportunity to connect with the Land as an alternative form of Medicine, for the healing of our spiritual, cultural, and ancestral wounds.
Noon – Lunch
1pm – Permaculture Philosophy, Ethics, and Principles – Jesse
Jesse will expand on Maggie’s ideas around the Indigenous Worldview, bringing in exercises and imagery relating to complexity theory and the phenomenon of emergence. From here, participants will explore how the Ethics and Principles of Permaculture are derived from the Relational (Indigenous) worldview, and finally how the Ethics and Principles shape the Techniques that are employed on the ground in day-to-day life.
5pm – Dinner (potluck)
7pm – Documentary Screening
8am – Breakfast (continental)
9am – Permaculture Design Process – Steven
This session will be a walkthrough of the Permaculture design process to give participants a basic understanding to apply to their own spaces. Beginning with a demonstration Element Analysis, Steve will illustrate how the inputs, outputs, and characteristics of each element of a design can inform the connections between these features. From here, Steve will guide participants in a Sector and Zone observation walk on the Ness Creek site, emphasizing how these factors affect the placement of elements in a design.
Noon – Lunch
1pm – Tour of the Ness Creek Forest Garden – Jason Glasrud
2pm – Holistic Goal Setting – Steven
Steven will present on the Holistic Goal Setting framework, and guide participants in exploring their own goals for regenerative living. The important relationship between goal setting and the design process will also be examined. Clearly articulated values, principles and goals are essential for a successful design, and participants will gain insight into the systematic process of cultivating that clarity.
5pm – Dinner
7pm – Campfire (bring your musical instrument!)
8 am – Breakfast (continental)
9am – Beyond the Home Site, Social Permaculture for Cultural Transformation – Jesse
This session will inform participants on the ways that Permaculture can be applied at the group level. Jesse will explore the concepts of Diverse Forms of Capital, and the various classes of resource. Local currencies, non-monetized exchange, and gift economies will also be examined. Finally, Jesse will use Re:Generation Land Commons as a case study in bringing together an effective “Village”, and working with a variety of stakeholders to implement Permaculture in a way which is considered legitimate by regulatory bodies within the existing system.
Noon – Lunch
1pm – Tending Your Inner (H)EARTH – Kjelti
We have the greatest capacity to create positive, and lasting change when we are whole and at home within ourselves. This is the all important & often neglected zone zero of Permaculture. We need to tend to our own wellbeing in order to cultivate the fortitude & strength we need when the going gets tough in the long game of creating resilient, regenerative structures in our communities & society.
Forging a feminine path with wisdom embodied through over a decade of practicing permaculture, Kjelti will guide us to remember ways of tending to the inner Hearth and the inner Earth, to cultivate a sense of peace & purpose amidst the chaos of the late-stage capitalism, climate change, and biosphere disruption.
We will close with a sharing circle for reflection and integration, moving into our final meal together.
5pm – Dinner
6pm – Good-byes
Accommodations
Whether you’re looking to book a luxurious private cabin or bunk with a buddy dorm style, Ness Creek has what you need. A wide range of accommodations can be arranged through the Discover Ness Creek website.
Please contact Discover Ness Creek to book your accommodations for the workshop.
Contributing Partners
