Join Us SUNDAY October 27th 2024 1 to 4 pm
The New England Acorn Cooperative and Friends have moved to Maine! Come celebrate at:
The Possibility Alliance
85 Edgecomb Road Belfast, ME 04915
Calling all Acorn aficionados, enthusiasts, and oak-nut neophytes: come celebrate the fall of them! Time again to share acorn lore, forest food, and FUN.
Acorn Festival activities at the Possibility Alliance Permaculture Farm and Educational Homestead will include a tour/acorn gathering walk, acorn processing tools, hands-on demonstrations, & further resources. There will be acorn foods & beverages to sample, recipes to share, Acorn-Oak Art Exhibit, acorn ink and dyes to experiment with, acorn contests & prizes, and the Golden Acorn Treasure Hunt. Throughout the day, Maggie Ruth Haaland will be tending an acorn natural dye bath on the heat, ready to impart oak-y color onto cloth (see details below at 3:30pm).
1:00 PM: Festival opens with a guided walk through beautiful paths at the Possibility Alliance. We’ll discuss how to identify a “good” (for eating) acorn from a “bad” one, some tools, and various techniques for gathering efficiently with a light footprint. We’ll hear about forest health & discuss culinary and medicinal mushrooms that favor growing near or on oaks (shitake logs provided by circumstance), as well as other items you can gather, make, and enjoy from oaks, acorns, and the ecosystems they keystone.
1:30-3:00 PM: Demonstrations of acorn processing and storage methods, using equipment found in most households.
3:00-3:30 PM: Acorn Food & Beverages tastings include acorn noodles with oak mushrooms, coffee, and various acorn gravies for seasonal feasts. The Golden Acorn Hunt commences, and everyone is invited to view and vote for their choices in the the Acorn-Oak Art Exhibit, as well as to submit entries for the Biggest and Littlest Acorn contest, calculated guesses for the acorn … Simultaneously…
3:30-4:00 PM: Acorn natural dye, and a community acorn ink art making activity (if interested in participating/taking something dyed home: please bring one small natural fiber: cotton, linen, silk, wool, paper) item to ink/draw on or dye in the pot.
- Maggie will give a short demonstration and introduction into how to make a dye bath with acorns, and then folks are invited to add a small natural fiber (cotton, linen, silk, wool) item into our collective bath to let it simmer and get refreshed. Towards the end of the day, Maggie will facilitate a community art making activity with acorn ink- an invitation to make marks on the page dreaming into the possibilities we hope to emerge in the world. Let’s bring this nourishing collective energy into the greater world!
Closing remarks and thanks to our Possibility Alliance hosts, Oaks, Acorns, and Ecosystem…
WHAT TO BRING: ACORNS (if you have them, be sure to store your acorns in baskets so they can continue to dry). Dress for the weather…We’ll have acorns to work with, but you are encouraged to bring acorns you have gathered elsewhere for evaluation (& to use the Cooperative’s Davebilt Nutcracker to process).
Creative? Collective? Submissions for the Acorn/Oak Art Exhibit may be entered on the day. Categories include:
- Acorn drawing / painting / photo (please bring in a frame that can stand on table)
- Acorn poem / song (please bring typed copy for perusal by participants)
- Acorn sculpture or collage
Join us SUNDAY 10/27/2024 from 1pm-4pm
Bring your curiosity, acorns (and nutty friends) to
The Possibility Alliance
85 Edgecomb Road, Belfast ME 04915
Parking is available at BOTH places (immediate neighbors) The Possibility Alliance: 85 Edgecomb Road AND at 3 Adney Place, The Little River Land Trust in Belfast Maine, 04915.
Meanwhile, please check out: how to tell good acorns from bad acorns & bring em! The Davebilt Nutcracker will be available at the Festival for community use.
This event is being supported through the Gift Economy (“free” – see page 147+ in the FVN Handbook) – covered through and by what participants want to contribute.
Registration is OPEN & we’d appreciate your signing up though Eventbrite (so we can gauge food & other preparations).
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