HIDDEN FOREST
Ten weeks in the wild spaces surrounding Hudson.
How do we take care of ourselves, each other, and our surroundings? How do we create safe spaces for ourselves out in the world? With our bellies full of hot cider and warmth from our own campfire, we will wind our way through the trees and plants of Hudson’s nearest wild surroundings.
We’ll spend our days outdoors, preparing for the weather, feeling the seasons shift, noticing and sharing observations of the natural world. It’s a time of transition, just before the darkness of winter, when fall gives way to the first frosts. We’ll find and make a home-base in the forest that we’ll continually return to: to tend our fire, to make our tools, and to return to again at the end of the day.
And we’ll spend our days in exploration: following traces and tracks of animals, listening to the plants around us, identifying what we see and hear. Building shelters. Using tools. Foraging. Making wild snacks and drinking wild cider around the fire.
We’ll work with biologists, naturalists, ecologists, and a network of organizations -- including the Farmscape Ecology Program and the Agroforestry Resource Center -- to understand and engage with the work of our local stewards. We’ll visit the wild spaces and open fields surrounding the Kress family farm, learning how their family stewards the land, how they care for domestic and injured wild animals, and how they understand and perceive the whole. Alongside these community partners, we hope to develop real, experiential links between the spaces we call farm, forest, city and home.
We want to cultivate a different way of being outside together: one in which we can safely explore our fears, feel empowered by our curiosity, celebrate our natural inclination to explore the unknown, and feel at home in its wildness.
A workshop by Nick Zachos and Nicole Lobue.
Born and raised in Columbia County, Nick attributes his love of the outdoors to the countless hours he has spent exploring the wild spaces of this region. Nick is a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and the Carpenter’s Boat Shop in Pemaquid, ME. A craftsman, boat-builder, and educator, Nick is the founder of the Hudson Sloop Club.
Nicole brings to this workshop her experience as a trained herbalist with a passionate focus on food and nutritional healing. As an avid naturalist and wildcrafter, Nicole has been teaching classes about the use of plants for medicine, wild-food foraging, and cooking for the past ten years. She also is mother to and biggest fan of 8-year old Sylvain LoBue, who constantly inspires her and is the main motivation behind her passion for positive learning environments.
