Evergreen Folk and Forest Community
Our next monthly gathering… May 17-18.
Our May Gathering is a little different…
Evergreen will happen as usual, but we’ll be sharing this May weekend with our annual Mountain Lights event. This is a family camp, a fundraising event, and an “opening weekend” for our summer camp season. Evergreen guests are still welcome to join us for Friday night potluck and activities and meals on Saturday at the pay-what-you-can fee level. BUT - you’re welcome to stay the whole weekend if you’d like to join in the Mountain Lights festivities!
There will be dinner on Saturday night followed by live entertainment and a raffle. Breakfast and lunch will be served on Sunday. A traditional Episcopal worship service will happen after breakfast at the Chapel of Transfiguration and a walking camp blessing will happen after lunch. There is a $50 fee for the additional night and meals. Reach out to rebecca@campmitchell.org if you have questions about this extended weekend option.
WHAT HAPPENS AT A TYPICAL GATHERING?
Participants gather on Friday evening (after 5:30pm). Each person or family is asked to bring a potluck dish to share with the community for the supper meal if they can, but it is not required. Friday evening is typically unstructured time centered around community and enjoying the natural beauty of the mountain.
Guests staying overnight can choose to pitch a tent on the grounds or grab a bed in the bunk cabins (when on main campus) or in Canterbury House (when at Canterbury). Guests may contribute a donation as they are able for these lodging options.
Private lodging may be available on the retreat side of the main campus when other groups are not on site. This type of lodging is not guaranteed and must be booked in advance with a contract from our reservationist. Regular rates apply.
A camp fire breakfast is hosted by Travis Short and company on Saturday morning between 8:15ish -9:00 am.
Activities will begin at 9:00 am. Participants select their activity for the morning. Choices will vary and you can switch activities at any point!
Evergreen Forest Community activities are available for young children who are dressed for the weather (parent or caregiver required for kids under 3.)
Farm-to-Table Corps is an option for older kids and adults who want to work in the garden area and occasionally assist with preparing lunch.
Service-to-Camp volunteers help with a variety of projects around camp.
Featured Workshops will offer a variety of subject matter such as personal wellness, arts & crafts, and nature knowledge such as birding or medicinal plants.
Folk Society gatherings conclude with a shared meal around noon.
On occasion, speakers or session leaders may offer additional programming on Saturday afternoon. Overnight accommodations can typically be extended through Saturday night if desired, but this depends on other bookings.
Upcoming Gatherings…
May 17-19
Stand by for possible summer dates!
August 9-10
September 20-21
October 18-19
November 15-17 (Folk Festival Weekend)
December 20-21
Forest Community
"Forest School is a child-centered inspirational learning process, that offers opportunities for holistic growth. It is a long-term program that supports play, exploration, and supported risk taking. It develops confidence and self-esteem through learner inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting."
Did you know we offer a weekly Baby and Me group for caretakers and our tiniest forest explorers (designated caretaker required, ages 0-2+) and a simultaneous Forest Play Group for ages 3+. It is $10 an explorer. Need financial assistance? Just let us know! Money should never be a reason to not come to Forest Play! We have scholarships available.
There are lots of ways to give to the Evergreen Forest Community. The third weekend of every month is the Evergreen Folk and Forest Society Gathering. These weekends are an opportunity to give back to camp as a volunteer. We accept donations of money, time, and/or skill. Whatever is right for your family.
As Forest School facilitators, we consider ourselves "Protectors of Childhood." The Evergreen Forest Community's mission is to foster curiosity and play in kids and grown folks alike. We will continue to adapt and grow to create a safe space for anyone who wants to join in on the fun! We hope to see this program continue to grow in it’s size and it’s vision in the coming years. If you or someone you know is interested in volunteering for the Evergreen Forest Community, there will be opportunities available for both teenagers 15+ and adults. Please reach out to larnie@campmitchell.org about how to get more involved.
Preparing for the forest…
Past Workshops…
Sarah Alayne Martin is a Black, gender-fluid poet, yoga teacher, storyteller, and healing artist from Little Rock, Arkansas. As a certified 200-hour yoga teacher, Sarah blends poetry with yoga into a novel healing practice to support trauma recovery. Currently engaged with the National Endowment for the Arts military healing initiative, Creative Forces, Sarah has also been recognized as a 2022 Anaphora Arts Poetry fellow and a recipient of the Young Black Climate Leaders Youth Futures Fund grant. Inspired by nature and their lived experiences, Sarah's work offers spiritual ascension and opens portals to other worlds of being.
Follow their journey on Instagram @poeticportals.
Class Description: In this beginner-friendly yoga class, we return to our roots by celebrating the foundational yet often overlooked mountain pose. Through a sequence inspired by its strength and stability, we will explore a grounded yoga flow and meditation, inviting you to reconnect with the Earth and your body. Join us in the serene surroundings of Petit Jean State Park and discover the peace and presence within you in the embrace of nature.
Ukulele Skills & Song-writing
Brought to us by our dear friend, Mel, and Trust Tree, a nonprofit organization working to uplift girls in Central Arkansas through music and art.
In every aspect of our songwriting, music, and art programs, Trust Tree aims to create a space where girls feel respected and validated. Trust Tree programs are facilitated by a team of women artists and musicians with the goal of helping girls to bring their creative visions to life and overcome self-limiting beliefs.
Folk Society participants learned the basics of playing the ukulele using instruments provided by Trust Tree. The group played together and then explored their own songwriting ideas.
Mushroom Inoculation
Generously hosted by Travis and the Short Family, the spring mushroom workshop contained all the supplies and knowledge needed to send participants home with logs that will produce shitake and blue oyster mushrooms in the Fall. Camp’s pool trail now contains rows of logs which should produce in time for retreat group menus this Fall. We look forward to hosting this workshop again next year!
Yoga with Sunny
Sunny Baker has been practicing yoga since youth, but really became a "yogi" after moving to Oxford, MS in 2012 from Boulder, CO. The studio became her home away from home where she learned to connect to her breath, care for herself, and heal from all life has to offer. She completed teacher training in May, 2016, at 4 months pregnant! Sunny loves a deep restorative practice as much as a vigorous and challenging vinyasa class. She especially loves teaching prenatal yoga and introducing the joy of asana while pregnant.
Off the mat, Sunny is Senior Director of Programs and Policy at the National Farm to School Network and is passionate about connecting children to their food via school gardens and better school lunches. Her favorite pose is poet's pose in half moon and she hopes to help each of her students find their way to shine on the mat.
"Santosha: When we begin to acknowledge what is inside of us, we can begin to accept what is outside of us." ~ Wanderlust
Earth Prayers
This art and spirit morning is dedicated giving thanks to the earth. We will begin with mediation and prayer then to on botanical flag making! The flags are made using a wonderfully accessible botanical print making technique that is at once magical and awe-inspiring while being amazingly easy. Each participant will make a series of botanical print flags that we will stitch together in a strand, we will also make a collective set to adorn Camp Mitchell - each flag is imbued with our prayers and wonder for the beauty of Camp Mitchell, and earth, our island home.
Lisa Thorpe (she/her/hers) is a mixed media artist, educator. She works in any medium sparks her curiosity – with primary focus on fabric and paper collage, paint, print, and stitch combined in the form of art quilting. She has been an arts educator for over 30 years. Thorpe currently calls Little Rock and Trinity Cathedral home, while traveling the country leading surface design, fiber arts and art & soul workshops for parishes, women’s groups, quilt guilds and at large creative conferences. Last year she was a workshop facilitator and lecturer at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and a featured artist on “The Quilt Show” (Episode 3002). In 2023 she is leading workshops, giving lectures, and participating in forums at Craft Napa, Gulf States Quilt Association Seminar, and at SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) International Conference. Thorpe has published technique articles in Quilting Arts and Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazines. Her work has exhibited nationally at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, and at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show to name a few. In her home state of Arkansas, Thorpe has shown at Acansa Gallery, New Deal Gallery, and currently at Boswell Mourot Fine Art. Thorpe received her Design degree at University of California, Davis, and a teaching credential at San Francisco State University.
Bees & Winter Bee Balms
Rebecca Roetzel has been a backyard beekeeper for the past decade after falling in love with bees on her honeymoon. She has picked up knowledge from avid beekeepers in New Zealand, at the Heifer Ranch, and around Central Arkansas. This casual bee-centric course will introduce some basics of starting a backyard hive and demonstrate how to create simple beeswax balms and lotion bars. Participants are invited to bring old or almost used up lip balm (chapstick) containers for reuse during the session.
Aside from her bee bonnet, Rebecca wears the hat of Executive Director of Camp Mitchell. Prior to this new adventure, she was the Outreach Director at Ferncliff Camp in Little Rock and a previous manager at the Heifer Ranch in Perryville. She is a native of Western Kansas, a food lover, and a mother of two young children.
