You are invited to join Open Hub Singing Club

6 Sundays this Spring from 3:30-5 pm at the Pulpit Rock Brewing Company Events Space!

Whether you are an experienced singer or someone new to singing, community singing offers a "no practice, no performance" experience. We celebrate uplifting songs with meaningful messages taught in the simple and ancient aural tradition so that everyone is singing together in no time. We learn by listening as a group. No singing experience or training is required – just a desire to sing with others in community. All voices are welcome, including yours!

REGISTRATION FORM

Harmony happens in community! Songs sow solidarity. Songs sung with intention, like seeds planted with care, can take root in an individual or community and flower into unexpected fruits: simple joy, healing balm, increased sensitivity, awe and wonder, a re-enchanted and revitalized spirit, a grounding and centeredness, a deepening of compassion. The art and practice of community singing draws us outside of ourselves and at the same time deepens us within.

As Bobby McFerrin says, “One of the simplest and most direct ways of praying and meditating is through singing, and singing in community is especially powerful. You get people together in a room singing, and you instantly knock down all the walls—the creeds, the gender, age, and race differences, everything. You’re all one at that point, lifting your voices.”

In singing together we give voice to our shared humanity. Our common joys, longings, sorrows, and hopes fly from our mouths and mingle in the air. Come, help us sing in harmony to enliven spirit, build community, and create personal and cultural change.

Dates

April 14, 28

May 5, 12, 19, 26

Registration and Payment

Sliding scale $30-60, pay as is generous and affordable for you by PalPal here using the 'Family + Friends' option. Please write ‘Open Hub Singing Club Spring 2024' and share your e-mail. Or, send us a check at:

The Center For Belonging / Liz Rog 

1591 Manawa Trail Rd. Decorah, IA 52101

No one turned away for lack of funds

You are invited to join Open Hub Singing Club, 10 Sundays this winter from 3:30-5 pm at the Pulpit Rock Brewing Company Events Space!

You are invited to join Open Hub Singing Club, 10 Sundays this winter from 3:30-5 pm at the Pulpit Rock Brewing Company Events Space!

Whether you are an experienced singer or someone new to singing, community singing offers a "no practice, no performance" experience. We celebrate uplifting songs with meaningful messages taught in the simple and ancient aural tradition so that everyone is singing together in no time. We learn by listening as a group. No singing experience or training is required – just a desire to sing with others in community. All voices are welcome, including yours!

REGISTRATION FORM

Harmony happens in community! Songs sow solidarity. Songs sung with intention, like seeds planted with care, can take root in an individual or community and flower into unexpected fruits: simple joy, healing balm, increased sensitivity, awe and wonder, a re-enchanted and revitalized spirit, a grounding and centeredness, a deepening of compassion. The art and practice of community singing draws us outside of ourselves and at the same time deepens us within.

As Bobby McFerrin says, “One of the simplest and most direct ways of praying and meditating is through singing, and singing in community is especially powerful. You get people together in a room singing, and you instantly knock down all the walls—the creeds, the gender, age, and race differences, everything. You’re all one at that point, lifting your voices.”

In singing together we give voice to our shared humanity. Our common joys, longings, sorrows, and hopes fly from our mouths and mingle in the air. Come, help us sing in harmony to enliven spirit, build community, and create personal and cultural change.

Dates

*please note that the dates are not consecutive*:

January 7 January 14 January 21 February 4 February 11 February 18 February 25 March 3 March 10 March 17

Registration and Payment

Sliding scale $50-$100, pay as is generous and affordable for you by PalPal here using the 'Family + Friends' option. Please write ‘Open Hub Singing Club fall 2023' and share your e-mail. Or, send us a check at:

The Center For Belonging/Liz Rog 1591 Manawa Trail Rd. Decorah, IA 52101

No one turned away for lack of funds.

REGISTRATION FORM

Sat, October 21, 2023/ 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Followed by an optional 5pm potluck!

You are welcome to come for the whole day or just for any part that you can.

Event Description:

Join co-hosts Liz Rog and Ida Rotto for a day of singing, playing, and making community together. We will play games, explore, busy our hands with wild crafts, listen to one another and the voices of the woodland, and lean into our innate human capacity to be at home together on the land.

Singing is an ancient form of human connection that helps us to remember on a cellular level that we are not alone. The songs we sing will be playful and silly, songs with heartful messages, songs for the earth and her creatures, and more, and do not require prior musical experience. Spending time outside brings our senses alive in ways for which they have been wired for millennia. By waking up our curiosity and engaging our bodies with meaningful tasks and exploration (not to mention having FUN!) we will build relationships with the more-than-human world, remembering that we are a part of the song of the wild.

Our day will rotate between whole-group time, separate kid/parents activities, and breaks. Come alone or come with friends or family. Whether you have children to bring along or you simply love being outside or singing or both, this place is for you!

Agenda:

A one-day event with free camping offered on either end

10:00 am-10:30: Arrival

10:30-12:30 pm: welcome and singing!

12:30-1:30 pm: lunch (bring your own)

1:30-4:30: Activities including whole group games, kids adventure on the land, adult conversation circle and more singing

4:30-5:00 pm: Closing Circle

Location:

Center for Belonging Folk School, 1591 Manawa Trail Rd, Decorah Iowa 52101

7 miles from Decorah, Iowa

Parking: in the driveway and on the road.

Directions on arrival: We’ll be there to greet you and show you the way!

Accessibility:

• Depending on where you park, there’s a 3-5 minute walk on natural earth including a slight downhill slope for about 15 yards. It is also possible to drive right to the site; if you are planning to do this please let us know in advance so we can show you the way.

• We will be in the woods and under the roof of the gazebo, rain or shine.

• Outhouse nearby.

Donation:

Please choose the level that is generous and affordable for you. If you prefer to bypass Eventbrite ticketing fees you can PayPal here using the 'Family + Friends' option. Please write ‘Song of the Wild' and share your e-mail, names and ages of everyone in your party. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Individual: $30, 40, 50

Family: $50, 70, 90

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/song-of-the-wild-a-family-day-of-music-and-nature-tickets-702348201377?aff=oddtdtcreator

Accommodations: If you are coming in from out of town, you are invited to camp on the land of the Center for Belonging for no-cost. Please be in touch with Liz (liz@decorahnow.com) beforehand to reserve your campsite.

You are invited to join Open Hub Singing Club, 8 Sundays this fall from 3:30-5 pm .

Whether you are an experienced singer or someone new to singing, community singing offers a "no practice, no performance" experience. We celebrate uplifting songs with meaningful messages taught in the simple and ancient aural tradition so that everyone is singing together in no time. We learn by listening as a group. No singing experience or training is required – just a desire to sing with others in community. All voices are welcome, including yours!

Harmony happens in community! Songs sow solidarity. Songs sung with intention, like seeds planted with care, can take root in an individual or community and flower into unexpected fruits: simple joy, healing balm, increased sensitivity, awe and wonder, a re-enchanted and revitalized spirit, a grounding and centeredness, a deepening of compassion. The art and practice of community singing draws us outside of ourselves and at the same time deepens us within.

As Bobby McFerrin says, “One of the simplest and most direct ways of praying and meditating is through singing, and singing in community is especially powerful. You get people together in a room singing, and you instantly knock down all the walls—the creeds, the gender, age, and race differences, everything. You’re all one at that point, lifting your voices.”

In singing together we give voice to our shared humanity. Our common joys, longings, sorrows, and hopes fly from our mouths and mingle in the air. Come, help us sing in harmony to enliven spirit, build community, and create personal and cultural change.

Open Hub Singing Club meets in the Pulpit Rock Brewing Event Room for 8 Sundays from 3:30-5pm.

Dates *please note that the dates are not consecutive*:

1. September 10th

2. September 17th

3. September 24th

4. October 8th

5. October 22nd

6. October 29th

7. November 12th

8. November 19th

Cost is on a sliding scale: $40-$80. Pay as is generous and affordable for you.

In each session, we will…

• Learn joyful, diverse, easy-to-memorize songs

• Connect with our singing community through a shared joy of song

• Build confidence in our voices in a welcoming, supportive space

• Release the stress of living and open space for the week to come

• Exercise our bodies and minds through the practice of group singing

• Build memory retention through oral tradition singing

• Enjoy a fun, relaxed, and accepting environment

Please join us! Register online via Eventbrite, or send a check to:

The Center For Belonging/Liz Rog

1591 Manawa Trail Rd.

Decorah, IA 52101

We are grateful to host Aimée Ringle and Samara Jade at the Center for Belonging for a concert and song circle. Aimée is coming to us all the way from the west coast, and Samara all the way from the east coast!

This concert and song circle takes place in the beautiful outdoor gazebo at the Center for Belonging Folk School just north of Decorah, IA. This event will be from 6-8pm.

Tickets: Sliding scale $10-$20, pay as is generous and affordable for you. If you prefer to bypass Eventbrite ticketing fees you can PayPal here using the 'Family + Friends' option. Please write ‘Aimée and Samara' and share your e-mail. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Address:1591 Manawa Trail Rd, Decorah Iowa 52101

Parking: in the driveway and on the road.

Directions on arrival: We’ll be there to greet you and show you the way!

Accessibility:

• Depending on where you park, there’s a 3-5 minute walk on natural earth including a slight downhill slope for about 15 yards. It is also possible to drive right to the site; if you are planning to do this please let us know in advance so we can show you the way.

• We will be in the woods, under the roof of the gazebo, rain or shine.

• Outhouse nearby.

Kids: Children are welcome as long as they're not disrupting the circle -- so yes, we welcome playing on the periphery and/or participating in the singing.

Accommodations: If you are coming in from out of town, you are invited to camp on the land of the Center for Belonging for no-cost. Please be in touch with Liz (liz@decorahnow.com) beforehand to reserve your campsite.

Come circle up in the woods under the sheltering roof of the gazebo at the Center for Belonging for Songs+Beauty+Play+Nature+Relaxation.

We'll sing to connect with each other, to bear witness, to make beauty, to share stories, to grieve, to celebrate. We'll sing because we are alive together and we have voices to put to use. We'll sing because there are important things to say, and song brings them power. We'll sing because it makes us laugh, and cry, and this feels good. We'll sing because we have been doing it for millenia. We'll sing because we love to sing!

The songs that we sing are easy to learn, and are taught to everyone who wants to learn them. They are often not long, but once they have been taught they become a playground that we can explore for as long as we want. Most often songs are taught using call-and-response. Whether you are a classically trained singer, a bathroom shower singer, or have never sung before, you will be able to follow along with the group, held up by the many other voices singing alongside you.

We love harmony, we love improv, we love listening for the places to be quiet together and the places that call for loudness, and finding our way as a group of listeners in creation together. You are welcome to join us in this continual experiment!

There will be two song circles with a break for lunch:

• 10:00-10:15am arrivals

• 10:30 am-12:30 pm song circle

• 12:30-2:00 pm lunch, relaxation, walking, games

• 2:00-4:00 pm song circle and closing circle

Folks are welcome to come Saturday night and camp on the land. Contact Liz for details at liz@decorahnow.com

*Please pack your own picnic lunch.

We are grateful to host Alexandra "Ahlay" Blakely who is coming to us all the way from Seattle on her midwest tour, Ahlay teaches easy-to-learn songs in an a cappella style and the group echoes them back. These songs are sung together collectively as invitations to move stagnated emotions in the body and to be in our bodies as we notice what arises for us as we sing together.

This workshop takes place in the beautiful outdoor gazebo at the Center for Belonging Folk School just north of Decorah, IA.

Tickets: Sliding scale $22-$66. If you prefer to bypass ticketing fees you can paypal here. Please write ‘Ahlay Song Circle' and share your e-mail. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Schedule:

• 6:00-6:30 pm Arrival: get settled in and connect

• 6:25 pm Gates close and we open the circle.

• 6:30-8:30pm Song Circle led by Alexandra "Ahlay" Blakely

Address:1591 Manawa Trail Rd, Decorah Iowa 52101

Parking: in the driveway and on the road.

Directions on arrival: We’ll be there to greet you and show you the way!

Accessibility:

• Depending on where you park, there’s a 3-5 minute walk on natural earth including a slight downhill slope for about 15 yards. It is also possible to drive right to the site; if you are planning to do this please let us know in advance so we can show you the way.

• We will be in the woods, under the roof of the gazebo, rain or shine.

• Outhouse nearby.

Kids: Your children are welcome as long as they're not disrupting the circle - so yes to playing on the periphery or participating in the singing. Please be mindful of this.

About the Songleader

Ahlay (she/her) is a song carrier remembering that which was meant to be forgotten in her lineages: song technology as connective tissues of the communal body. She blends song, body percussion, dance, stillness, breath & silence with the intention to support others in remembering their inherent birthright to song which she believes is fundamental in the expansion of one’s internal capacity to participate in the collective shift towards life-affirming conditions. Website. Wails Summer gathering.

Some of her mentors: Whale, Mycelium, Rue, Lightning, Rain, Oak, Redwood & Rosemary

Learn more about Ahlay at her website here

UPDATE: This event is full

"Grief is natural: to grieve the loss of what we love is as natural as peeing, eating, singing, dreaming, running, or looking under rocks for bugs to feed your frog. More importantly, grieving is necessary: when there is real loss, grieving should never be avoided or postponed; grieving is absolutely necessary. Without grief the world would cease to renew itself; the world would cease to exist. Grief is not a preference, for choosing to not have grief when grief is there is to defer and burden someone else with having to do your grieving. This makes the world a sick place. To truly and freely grieve as an entire people can revive an entire culture just as much as it can bring back to life an individual.” ~Martín Prechtél  

Where does it hurt?

Let’s aim our love, our listening, our Song, our care right there.

Welcome to this natural, necessary, liberatory work.

Together we are powerful to tend and move the grief that heavies our souls ~ from the particular losses and traumas of this lifetime to the terrors inside the lineages we each inherited. Collective grief ritual is a cutting edge of soul activism, a way to support each other in moving energy that otherwise might stagnate or get repressed. It’s way too much heavy lifting to do alone – but when we join together in community and ceremony, we alchemize suffering into tremendous bandwidth for Love.

Come explore with us, where your tender places are welcome ~ held in connection, community, and lots of Song.

Facilitated by Joanna Laws Landis and Lyndsey Scott, this 2-day embodied grief ritual will welcome us into co-created sacred space through altar craft, ancestral honoring, land connection, and ritual practice. Our bodies already know how to do this —- in all of our bones’ is the knowing of how to let go through wailing, drumming, dancing, holding, being held. We will spark this remembering in a brave and clear container that includes solo reflection, sacred witness, somatic practice, song medicine, solo time in nature, and rest.

+++ Your full participation for the entirety of both days is required. +++

The ritual is inspired and informed by the Dagara tradition as carried to the states by Sobonfu Somé and Malidoma Somé. With humility and profound gratitude, we intend to honor this lineage by stewarding the technology they brought as much needed medicine for the western world. We are also weaving wisdom from teachers Francis Weller, Martín Prechtél, Laurence Cole, and Joanna Macy.

 Details: 

Option to come early for evening song circle and camping, Friday June 16. (More info upon registration.)

Ritual:: 9am Saturday to 5pm Sunday, June 17-18, 2023

Free camping is available on-site.

COST:: $282-444*

282 ~ community supported

383 ~ break even

444 ~ community supporting

6 meals & camping space included.

*$$ sliding scale wide variation meant to welcome people of diverse age, and economic experience. Notice your positionality and please choose the sweet spot that is both generous & affordable for you.

Two spaces are saved for partial scholarship; inquire if it's for you!

Payment plan available as needed.

Max: 22 participants (30 including team)

Register by MAY 31.

If you would like support in discerning if this ritual is a fit for you, welcome to call Lyndsey or Joanna for a quick discernment conversation prior to registering.

Lyndsey: 217 898 3777

Joanna: 717 368 0143

Further directions for preparation will be sent upon registration.

No refunds after June 7.

 More about your facilitators: 

🧡 Lyndsey Scott (she/her) is a cis-white womxn artist + songleader, born raised and residing in central IL, devoted to priestesSing the Heartland, (literal and figurative). She weaves community singing to empower earth-based spiritual consciousness, and gathers soul circles that, through Song and sacred listening, decompose oppressive scripts that get in the way of freely living the Love we are. With jams that get you skipping easily between the sacred, sexy, and sssssilly : your inner child, exiled banshee, and wise elder are all very invited to the circle! Listen to her new album Well Held for twelve luscious singalong earworms to nourish your journey. @ Nevertidy she creates imagery to nourish the soul journey; @ The We Belong Community of Song, she gathers small groups for song & story in real life and on zoom, and with @Earthkeeper Wisdom School, she tends grief and ceremony in service of social change. Visit her Patreon to learn more and support this prayer-in-process!

🧡 Joanna Laws Landis (she/her, white cis-woman) is a grief-tender and song-carrier with a deep belief in the transformative healing power of Welcome and Compassion. With depth of presence, heart-led facilitation, and playful engagement with What Is, Joanna welcomes you just as you are into a container of witness and healing. Leading community grief ritual since 2018, she is grateful to have learned from many mentors in the lineage of Sobonfú and Malidoma Somé who brought their Dagara grief ritual to the western world where they saw it was much needed. She currently lives in Santa Fe, NM where she is deepening her exploration of tapping the body’s innate wisdom for healing with Somatic Experiencing International, and is also a student of collective trauma integration with Thomas Hübl.

Come spend a day in the gazebo in the woods at the Center for Belonging learning from a master basket maker! By the end of the day you'll have a finished basket. Free camping on site at Fern Hollow Wednesday night!

This basket is traditionally used to strain cheese but its uses know no bounds! Black ash splints are pounded out of a very straight branchless trunk. We will be cutting the pre-pounded splints into smaller lengths and widths. Then this hexagonal/plaited basket starts with a six-pointed star, turns up with a five-pointed star, and continues with our over-one, under-one pattern. We finish with a classic bound rim.

This one day workshop takes place just north of Decorah, in an open-sided gazebo at the Center for Belonging Folk School. There will be a half hour break for lunch.

• Participants can bring crafting knife and scissors if they have them, though these are not required.

• Please pack your own lunch.

• Materials are included in the cost of the workshop.

Learn more about Zac and see his baskets on his Instagram account.

Come acquaint yourself with an invigorating and unique vocal style, wrap your mind and mouth around new languages, and get a visceral glimpse into other cultures! We will learn songs from Bulgaria, Ukraine, Croatia, and Georgia (and maybe more). The harmonies and the styles in which these songs are sung are evocative and vibrant, making for a singing experience that many find exhilarating and delightful. Singing these songs is a beautiful way to honor and keep alive cultural traditions.

We will learn primarily through oral tradition of call and response--no music reading required. You will get sheets with lyrics, as we will be singing in unfamiliar languages, and seeing the words typed out can help in understanding and learning.

Sophie Rog has studied and shared these styles for over eight years and sung with Sevda Choir, directed by Willa Roberts, in Santa Fe, NM. It is her great delight to share this music in her hometown.

This workshop is 4 Wednesday evenings from 5:30-7:30 pm:

• April 19

• April 26

• May 3

• May 10

Cost (all four weeks): sliding scale from $100 to $50. Please pay what is comfortable and generous for you.

12 participants max

Note: the location is TBD but will be near Decorah, IA.

Learn more and register by contacting sophia.rog@gmail.com

Pay via Venmo to @Sophia-Rog

You are invited to join the circle of song, 8 Sundays from 3:30-5:00 pm from Apr 2-May 21. Register by Mar 26.

Whether you are an experienced singer or someone new to singing, community singing offers a "no practice, no performance" experience. We celebrate uplifting songs with meaningful messages taught in the simple and ancient aural tradition so that everyone is singing together in no time. We learn by listening as a group. No singing experience or training is required – just a desire to sing with others in community.. All voices are welcomed, including yours!

Harmony happens in community! Songs sow solidarity. Songs sung with intention, like seeds planted with care, can take root in an individual or community and flower into unexpected fruits: simple joy, healing balm, increased sensitivity, awe and wonder, a re-enchanted and revitalized spirit, a grounding and centeredness, a deepening of compassion. The art and practice of community singing draws us outside of ourselves and at the same time deepens us within.

Bobby McFerrin says, “One of the simplest and most direct ways of praying and meditating is through singing, and singing in community is especially powerful. You get people together in a room singing, and you instantly knock down all the walls—the creeds, the gender, age and race differences, everything. You’re all one at that point, lifting your voices.”

In singing together we give voice to our shared humanity. Our common joys, longings, sorrows and hopes fly from our mouths and mingle in the air. Come, help us sing in harmony to enliven spirit, build community, and create personal and cultural change.

Open Hub Singing Club meets in the Pulpit Rock Brewing Event Room for 8 Sundays from 3:30-5:00 pm beginning April 2.

Cost is on a sliding scale: $40-$80. Pay as is generous and affordable for you.

In each session, we will…

• Learn joyful, diverse, easy-to-memorize songs

• Connect with our singing community through a shared joy of song

• Build confidence in our voices in a welcoming, supportive space

• Release the stress of living and open space for the week to come

• Exercise our bodies and minds through the practice of group singing

• Build memory retention through oral tradition singing

• Enjoy a fun, relaxed, and accepting environment

Please join us!

3 ways to register:

1. On Eventbrite

2. Email liz@decorahnow.com for tickets via Paypal

3. Send a check to:

SongTown/Liz Rog

1591 Manawa Trail Rd.

Decorah, IA 52101

Join Heartwood, a trio of songweavers and community song leaders for an afternoon of singing! They will teach original, harmony-rich, accessible songs inspired by the wild without and within. All voices are welcome and the songs will be taught by ear.

• 1:30-3:30pm singing workshop

• 3:30-4:00pm snack time!

• 4-5pm Heartwood concert

Learn more about the trio at heartwoodtrio.com

You are invited to join the circle of song, 8 Sundays from 4-5:30 pm from Jan 15-March 12 (no event on March 5). Register by Jan 8.

Whether you are an experienced singer or someone new to singing, community singing offers a "no practice, no performance" experience. We celebrate uplifting songs with meaningful messages taught in the simple and ancient aural tradition so that everyone is singing together in no time. We learn by listening as a group. No singing experience or training is required – just a desire to sing with others in community.. All voices are welcomed, including yours!

Harmony happens in community! Songs sow solidarity. Songs sung with intention, like seeds planted with care, can take root in an individual or community and flower into unexpected fruits: simple joy, healing balm, increased sensitivity, awe and wonder, a re-enchanted and revitalized spirit, a grounding and centeredness, a deepening of compassion. The art and practice of community singing draws us outside of ourselves and at the same time deepens us within.

Bobby McFerrin says, “One of the simplest and most direct ways of praying and meditating is through singing, and singing in community is especially powerful. You get people together in a room singing, and you instantly knock down all the walls—the creeds, the gender, age and race differences, everything. You’re all one at that point, lifting your voices.”

In singing together we give voice to our shared humanity. Our common joys, longings, sorrows and hopes fly from our mouths and mingle in the air. Come, help us sing in harmony to enliven spirit, build community, and create personal and cultural change.

Open Hub Singing Club meets in the Pulpit Rock Brewing Event Room for 8 Sundays from 4-5:30 pm beginning Jan. 15.

Cost is on a sliding scale: $40-$80. Pay as is generous and affordable for you.

In each session, we will…

• Learn joyful, diverse, easy-to-memorize songs

• Connect with our singing community through a shared joy of song

• Build confidence in our voices in a welcoming, supportive space

• Release the stress of living and open space for the week to come

• Exercise our bodies and minds through the practice of group singing

• Build memory retention through oral tradition singing

• Enjoy a fun, relaxed, and accepting environment

Please join us! Register by Jan 8 online or send a check to:

SongTown/Liz Rog

1591 Manawa Trail Rd.

Decorah, IA 52101

Please join us for this pleasant late-afternoon circle of singing songs for for joy, love, play, and peace. No experience needed, all voices and ages welcomed--especially yours! All songs will be taught by ear and you’ll be singing in no time! Or, or come to just listen and enjoy!*

EarthSong Community Singers have been singing weekly for 8 weeks and this is our finale event; come help us celebrate! Tea and treats served after singing; beer and other beverages for sale just around the corner.

~Liz and the EarthSong Community Singers

*On January 15 a new 8-week session begins, the 'Open Hub Singing Club.' Come this Sunday to check out the warm and welcoming space that we create when we sing together! You can sign up here to receive notice about the January as well as other future song circles.

Please join us as we explore the woods of local landowners Liz Rog and Daniel Rotto (Fern Hollow) in Winneshiek County. This event is designed to offer women an opportunity to meet each other and learn from Liz about how she and her family have managed their woodlands. Local female DNR and NRCS staff will also discuss woodland management practices and resources that are available to support landowners interested in creating and maintaining healthy woodlands.

Free to attend · Registration required by October 21, 2022

To Register: contact Winneshiek USDA-NRCS at 563-382-4352 x3 or email sophia.campbell@ia.nacdnet.net

• Maximum of 20 participants due to limited parking.

• Carpooling is encouraged. Event will be outdoors.

• *Please be prepared for light to moderate hiking.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. *Persons with disabilities who require accommodations to participate in this meeting should contact Sophia Campbell at 563-382-4352 x3 or dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunication relay services.

Hello friends who care for small animals,

Pet lovers are invited to a meet and greet with Dr Franchesca Zenitsky, Holistic Veterinarian Practitioner.  Franchesca  currently lives and practices in Des Moines and is considering moving  her practice to Decorah. She is interested in meeting people who are  curious about the work of holistic veterinarians and  alternative healthcare options. Come to ask questions, share stories,  and meet others who are interested in finding better care for their  companion animals. 

 This event takes place Wednesday, Oct 5 at 6:30pm at the Center for Belonging Folk School near Decorah. There is no charge for this event.

You can read more about Dr Zenitsky here.

Please RSVP for this informal gathering here.

This  is an outdoor event in the gazebo at The Center for Belonging Folk  School, about 7 miles NE of Decorah. Dress for autumn. We will have a  campfire to stay warm.

About the Event

Join  Barbara and Aimee for this heart-opening celebration of voice, music,  friendship, and life. After spending the day leading workshops and group  singing, Barbara and Aimee invite you to sit back and enjoy their songs  and stories at Decorah's Lingonberry event space. We are so excited to  bring these two powerhouses together and thankful that they are  traveling to Decorah to share their wisdom and joy with us. Find more  info about the other workshops at the links below.

Barbara McAfee is  a master voice coach, author, keynote speaker, and singer/songwriter  who merges lessons from 12 years in organization development with the  transformative power of sound.

Her book, Full Voice, is based on  her 25+ years as a voice coach, supporting people from many professions  to find their voice, whatever that means to them.

Barbara has  produced eight CDs of mostly original music and is founder of the  Morning Star Singers, a volunteer hospice choir in the Twin Cities.

She lives just up the street from the wild and scenic St. Croix River in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, USA

Aimée Ringle is a multi-instrumentalist musician, song leader, storyteller and teacher.

“Aimee  brings wisdom, depth, hilarity, and irresistible invitation to  everything she does. Her songs are little gems that glow with virtuosity  and insight. Her voice is honey and cayenne. And her song leading opens  the way for any group to leap into ecstatic song. She is a treasure.”  -Barbara McAfee

Learn more and find tickets to the other two events here:

Full Voice Workshop

Song Circle

About the Event

Join your voice with others in a Song Circle with songleaders Aimée  and Barbara. Step with ease into group singing, the ancient technology  of belonging.

All voices are welcome! This is the second part of a  day-long series of workshops exploring and celebrating our voices.   Find more info about the other workshops at the links below.

Barbara McAfee is a master voice coach, author, keynote speaker, and singer/songwriter  who merges lessons from 12 years in organization development with the  transformative power of sound.

Her book, Full Voice, is based on  her 25+ years as a voice coach, supporting people from many professions  to find their voice, whatever that means to them.

Barbara has  produced eight CDs of mostly original music and is founder of the  Morning Star Singers, a volunteer hospice choir in the Twin Cities.

She lives just up the street from the wild and scenic St. Croix River in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, USA

Aimée Ringle is a multi-instrumentalist musician, song leader, storyteller and teacher.

“Aimee  brings wisdom, depth, hilarity, and irresistible invitation to  everything she does. Her songs are little gems that glow with virtuosity  and insight. Her voice is honey and cayenne. And her song leading opens  the way for any group to leap into ecstatic song. She is a treasure.”  -Barbara McAfee

Learn more and find tickets to the other two events here:

Full Voice Workshop

Concert with Aimée and Barbara

About the Event

Take Your Voice to the Dog Park: A Workshop for Liberating and Celebrating Your Full Voice with Barbara McAfee

What untapped gifts does your voice have in store for you?

What might happen in your life if you fully expressed yourself?

When was the last time you played hard, breathed deep, cut loose, felt free?

In this joyful, illuminating workshop, you will:

• Open up more range, power, and expression of your voice.

• Learn how to use your voice to express yourself, connect with others and live more alive.

• Reclaim lost aspects of yourself.

• Risk being seen and heard in new ways.

• Join with a lively community of vocal explorers.

You do NOT need to know how to sing to participate in this workshop.

There  will be singing involved, but we won’t read a lick of music and no one  will have to sing a solo. (In fact, no one will have to do anything they  don’t want to do.)

Dress in layers for movement. Bring lots of water.

All  voices are welcome! This is the second part of a day-long series of  workshops exploring and celebrating our voices. Find more info about the  other workshops at the links below:

Song Circle with Aimée Ringle and Barbara McAfee

Concert with Aimée Ringle and Barbara McAfee

About the Event

Award-winning  songwriter, Folkgoddess Diane Patterson subverts the dominant paradigm  with rocking acoustic guitar and ukulele, a mighty pen, and a woman's  voice. Since 1989, Patterson weaves her original Mystic Acoustic  Americana and unifying stories, planting seeds of love and realness.

Diane’s  new album, Satchel of Songs, was recorded last year in New Orleans with  platinum record-producer Mike Napolitano and features amazing  supporting musicians such as Terence Higgins, Todd Sickafoose, Barbara  Higbie, Joe Craven and Ani DiFranco. This season the folkgoddess also  debuts a music video for her 20-year-old song, Ballad of Big Mountain,  all filmed around the stunning Diné/Navajo lands.

Diane played  folk guitar in church as a kid in the 80’s, and now she tours winters in  Hawaii and summers in Scandinavia with songs that come from visions of  equality and passion for wild forests.  In April she returns to Sweden  and Denmark for a 2-month musical tour of small venues and living rooms,  followed by a September tour across the Midwestern United States.  She’ll be performing her Mystic Acoustic Americana music solo, which is a  powerful place for her to deliver from.

Learn more about Diane and view her discography here.

“Diane is an amazing songwriter and a world healer.”

— Bill Brickey, Chicago musician and event producer

“a performance intoxicated with the spirit of creation…”

—Garth Thomas, Hollywood Digest

“...Patterson’s voice is mesmerizing ...”

-Linda Jameson, Americana UK

About the Event

We want to know that our collective efforts to bring about needed  changes and work toward Just Transition will be fruitful. When we pour  ourselves into the things we care about, we want to know it matters.  Especially in times such as these, how exhausting to see our hard work  melt away as conflict slows down, stalls out, or, worse yet, dissolves  our collaborations.

The legacies of a domination paradigm  (capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, to name a few) have left us  without the skills we need to lean in to interdependence. This makes it  incredibly hard to collaborate effectively. It makes it harder still to  find generativity in conflict.

But it doesn’t have to be this way!  Nonviolent or “Compassionate” Communication (NVC) offers us a toolkit  to deepen our own embodied self-connection, build our capacity to reach  out for support, and relate to ourselves and one another with empathy so  that we can show up more fully to our work in the world. And as we  begin to unpack the way that domination culture has shaped our very  language, we can learn new/old ways of communicating that bring us more  deeply into alignment with our values, our purpose, and into connection  with one another.

During this weekend workshop, we will explore  practical strategies for undoing domination in ourselves, our  communication, our relationships, and our collaborations. The session  will include interactive content and practices to engage with real-time  examples from your life. You will have the opportunity to be paired up  with a buddy for practice beyond the course (if you choose). This course  will support you to:

• Identify patterns of domination culture and develop a needs-based orientation that can enable you to undo domination

• Explore  NVC as an embodied mindfulness practice and grow your capacity to tune  into body sensations as valuable feedback from your nervous system  pointing you towards what matters to you

• Grow your awareness of  and vocabulary for resonant language including “feelings” and “needs”,  and your understanding of the brain science behind why this kind of  language works

• Develop an empathic listening practice with a  buddy following the workshop as a foundational tool for resourcing  yourself to show up better in conflict and collaboration

About Nicole Bauman:

Nicole  Bauman is a midwest-based queer parent steeped in the sacred work of  facilitation, transformative justice, somatics and Nonviolent  Communication. They see building conflict resiliency as an essential  part of living into the world to come, and are passionate about creating  space where personal and collective liberation feel possible. As the  descendant of white Western European peasant farmers who carried their  trauma with them to the Americas, Nicole is committed to centering  racial justice and ancestral healing in their work.

Nicole’s  background in farming, yoga, doula work and natural building grounds  their work in connection to the earth and the body. Nicole is an  ICF-certified Professional and Community Healing-Centered Coach and a  student of Somatics with the Strozzi Institute and in the lineage of  generative somatics. Nicole finds rootedness in growing food, daily  walks to the river, sewing ancestral quilts and through being a part of  the Prairie Wolf Collective co-housing community in the Rust Belt city  of Elkhart, Indiana (occupied Potawatomi territory).

About the Event

Voice as Home: A community song circle, calling in our Wholeness

Mmmm,  ommmmm, hummmm, Home:  humans make noise!  A baby's unfettered squeal, a  truth-telling rage burst, sweet moan of pleasure, lullabies only our  secret hearts know.  But most of us get some version of : please don't. Don't be so loud, don't sing off key, don't tell me the whole truth.

So  what's it like to find our way back to truly loving, honoring, and  honing the perfectly imperfect voice we are given,  trusting that our  truth is needed and welcome?  Community singing (simple songs taught  call-and-echo in circle form) is one path of practice and a growing  movement that honors the relationship between our voices and our hearts,  our voices and our grief, our voices and our path to mutual liberation.

With a background in community arts, yoga, racial justice work, and collective grief-tending,  Lyndsey will invite us into embodiment exercises, vocal warm-ups, & group inquiry that opens an authentic space where we can play inside the music we already are.   We'll slow and steady learn fresh songs that speak to the grit and grace of braving up to be real. You'll leave  the evening heart open, flushed with oxytocin, and a pocket full of  sacred songs to keep singing yourself free.

+All voices welcome i.e. you don't have to 'be a singer' ;) +

✺ ✺ ✺ ✺ ✺ ✺ ✺ ✺

 Lyndsey Scott is  an artist goofball yintennae devoted to priestesSing the Heartland,  (literal and figurative).  She weaves community singing to empower  earth-based spiritual consciousness, and gathers soul circles that,  through Song and sacred listening, decompose oppressive scripts that get  in the way of freely living the Love we are. With jams that get you  skipping easily between the sacred, sexy, and sssssilly : your inner  child, exiled banshee, and wise elder are all very invited to the  circle.  Check out new album for spirit-nourishment here: Well Held. 

About the Event

Join co-hosts Liz Rog and Ida Rotto for a day of singing songs that  all ages love. Come just to learn, or bring your own favorites to share.  Come alone or come with friends or family. Whether you have children to  bring along or you simply love carrying around songs for all ages, this  is the place for you! We'll sing playful and silly songs, songs with  meaningful messages, songs for the earth and her creatures, and more.  Kids might like to join the singing or to play nearby in the woods.

There will be two song circles with a break for lunch:

10:30 am-12:30 pm song circle

12:30-2:00 pm lunch and games

2:00-4:00 pm song circle and closing circle

Folks are welcome to come Saturday night and camp on the land. Contact Liz for details at liz@decorahnow.com 

*Please pack your own picnic lunch.

About the Event

World traveled and award-winning singer/songwriters Sara Routh and Patresa Hartman will share an intimate gathering of folks who want to celebrate the creativity in all of us. Their mission during this two-day workshop is to help you tap into your inner creative voice by providing mentorship and guidance. Routh and Hartman will inspire writers of all skill levels from concept to construction.

Songwriting is storytelling and telling your story – in any form - is important for self-care and for the communities you help grow. Routh and Hartman will support you in discovering your own, unique voice!

Following the workshop, you are invited to a performance from Sara and Patresa under the protection of the Sugar Loom (Center for Belonging Folk School) at 6:30pm. Surrounded by the sounds of Decorah’s natural wildlife and under the bright starlight, these two musical storytellers will send you on a journey through their heartfelt life’s adventures.

You are also invite to join a Meet & Gather around bonfire prior to the workshop on at 6:30pm on Friday October 1 at the Sugar Loom, Fern Hollow (also known as Center for Belonging Folk School).

Cost covers both workshop & performance at $25.

About the Event

Come stoke your households’ bird learning as we head into the autumn season and migration begins. Join on your own or bring your whole family (though kids will need accompaniment) for a day of FuN with the autumn birds of North East Iowa! We will tune our ears to the conversations that are happening around us, learning the nuts and bolts of bird identification and communication. There will be an array of activities for different ages, children adventuring and learning in motion and adults diving into observation and conversation, culminating together in a big group game in which we will get to experience life as a bird! (Roles included for any physical ability.)

We’d love to have you with us!

10am - 2pm

Bring your own picnic lunch

Kids (ages 5-16) $10

Adults $20

Family rate: $35

Free for kids 4 and under

We’ll need a minimum of 16 people to make our game work and we’re only a week out so spread the word and invite your friends!

A day-long workshop exploring the ecology of Driftless landscapes and our role within them as stewards.

With a focus on oaks and oak woodlands, our conversation will range from identification to planting trees, the role of burning and more. Part discussion, part hands-on learning, we’ll spend the day deepening our ability to read the land, and practicing tools to take care of it the best we can.

From 10am-3pm

$30-$50 Sliding scale

Bring your own picnic lunch, gloves, handsaws, and any other pruning tools if you have them!

About the Event

How do we honor the challenges and gifts of the collective trauma that we've experienced during pandemic season? And open our hearts to acknowledge with compassion how different each our experiences has been? Do you cringe a little when you hear "i can't wait to get back to normal" ----- knowing somewhere in your bones that perhaps we're being decomposed toward an emergent unfolding?  Are you, too, grappling with how to be social now, again?

In this historic moment, let's slow down and reach for each other, to tell our stories of loss and longing, of what's been hard and what's been beautiful.  Let's witness with care our personal and collective heartache, so we can forge a path towards mutual liberation.

Grieving on purpose and with support lets us notice & care for what really hurt, so we can clear the path forward and open to deeper Love.   Join us for a day of deep listening, grounding with nature, community singing, group ritual, and feasting!, to honor what has been and listen to what is emerging.

please bring:  Water, layers,  journal, light sack lunch. Dinner provided.

Further preparation instructions forthcoming through email.

For more information or questions, feel free to reach out to Lyndsey, 217 898 3777 or Liz

Cost: Please pay what is generous and affordable for you.

$0/supported by community (2 available)

$40/supported by others (4 available)

$80/ sustaining contribution (8 available)

$120/supporting others

$160/ supporting the Center

BIO

Born and raised in Rantoul, IL,  Lyndsey is no stranger to the strange, plain beauty of small town spaciousness.    After studying painting at the University of Illinois, she fled to St. Louis, MO for a decade of community art & rambunctious collaboration, letting kids nurse back the creative soul that art school stole and letting the south side streets be the hard knocks school of social justice.   One healing crisis, two superhero bike tours, a yoga teacher training, and a permaculture design course later, she followed insistent gut-tugs to move back and rekindle the Home fire, with these new treasures in tow. Led by the embodied inquiry: "What does earthspeed, restorative culture feel like from the inside?" ~  for 7 years, she practiced weaving a hyperlocal web with Song, gardens, circles, and art, as well as creating a small yoga studio.  During the pandemic, she closed the yoga studio,  taught art at the local juvenile detention center, and began gathering online groups to dismantle internalized scripts of patriarchy and white supremacy through community singing, study, & story-sharing.  Now she’s asking in motion:: if “grief and Love are sisters”, what rituals and pathways are needed to tend this unique cultural threshold wisely and grow our bandwidth for building Beloved Community?

More at:

https://www.earthkeeperwisdomschool.com/

@facebook: We Belong Community of Song