Spoon Carving Workshop In The Redwoods
Come join us in the Reinhardt Redwoods for our second spoon carving workshop March 2, 2024
𓇢𓆸 𓅪 Greetings and Salutations 𓇢𓆸 𓅪
As the nettles and dandelions sprout forth from the fertile and damp soil we too find ourselves craving to unfurl from the coziness of winter slumber and bring forth a second offering.
Please join us on Saturday, March 2, 2024 (Weather permitting! *coyote howl* yip yip yip!) for our second spoon carving workshop in the Reinhardt Redwoods. Experience the forest through all your senses as we mindfully walk and make our way to our workshop site nestled underneath ancient redwoods. In this workshop you will learn how to mindfully harvest and process a spoon blank from the land, split wood, and carve safely. We will provide all materials necessary for this workshop and you will also be given the option to purchase knives and spoon blanks if you wish to continue carving on your own.
Itinerary
9:50 am Arrive to Madrone Picnic Area Parking lot
10:00 am Contemplative Walk & Forest-Bathing Practice
10:45 am Greet the land and greet each other
11:00 am Safety Precautions
11:30 am Harvest From the Land + process wood
12:30 - 3:00 pm Carve, connect & snack!
We have a total of 6 spots available for this workshop.
Please sign up through this link.
Our first spoon carving workshop was one for the books. It hadn’t rained all season but it did happen to rain on our first spoon workshop offering on October 22, 2023.
It brought me back to when I was a little girl, planning my birthday party which happens to land towards the end of the hurricane season in the Dominican Republic and so as you probably would’ve guessed it would always rain on the day of my birthday and I would always be disappointed given the parties were in the backyard of my house.
“La Lluvia es una bendicíon” my mother would say.
And so, we welcomed the rains that day of the workshop as a blessing. Sacred water offerings for the land, the Redwoods, and perhaps even a little blessing for us to welcome us into this new chapter.
Carmelo and I have been wilderness guides for two years now. Working as as wilderness guide sparked an interest in me to become a therapist and so we moved out of the desert into the Bay Area so I could hit the books.
As we transition out of the desert dwelling days and into the city life its like we have just come down from a psychedelic trip, except we were not on drugs; our lives just so happened to be so enriched and drenched with nature’s medicine and wholesome connection that living in a city again feels sobering…
We have been racking our brains on how we can translate this work we were so immersed in - out here in the city - in order to continue courting the magic we experienced and to provide an offering that would support us in our integration with folx interested in connecting and relating with the animate world in an intentional way alongside other kin.
This offering is intended to help us as facilitators and wilderness guides in our integration and incorporation process of synthesizing the wisdom, skills and medicine we have harvested these past years and offer it onwards to support us on our journey weaving this work forward and for those interested in bushcraft. Just picture us as desert bees cross-pollinating on some east bay coastal flowers.
For our first session we were lucky enough that our participants were composed of close friends and they were all gung-ho about the rain, nature-lovers after my own heart and serious troopers. We taught them how to set up tarps and how to make trenches to avoid the water from pooling underneath the tarp and we still did the workshop, rain and all. It really sent Carmelo and I back to those days we lived and worked in the wilderness, the joys of teaching and of course the discomfort of being exposed to the elements.
Although I was quite uncomfortable, there was something incredibly special about being out there nestled within the redwood trees, amongst the warm company of friends, carving, away from the distractions of technology and sharing ourselves with one another.
Our first session was not perfect, but it was important that we start imperfectly nonetheless. We showed up with such reverence for this ritual; here we were in the pouring rain, about to start our forest bathing exercise, bowing at this threshold and as Carmelo bows, the backpack slides and slaps Carmelo in the head. As we stepped into this new beginning, with flavors of the East, and the fool, it was only natural I could hear Good Old’ Coyote laughing with us. The profane is sacred.
I look forward to see how these workshops continue shaping us, the way we show up for this ritual and for each other.
Our hope is for the spoon crafting to be a bridge that allows for our minds to flow into presence and connection with each other and the more than human world; so that we can continue shifting into a life-sustaining society that is for the people, for the earth, the elements and all of creation. I think we can transpire some magic.
See you in the forest,
Reet (Rhett) Rannik
More offerings this week in the East Bay:
Communal Rest: Restorative Yoga & Sound Healing
Winter classes in support of rest, connection, shared practice and rejuvenation. We will start each session with breath centered, gentle movement. Then we will do restorative poses with props for support, combined with gentle sounds. We will bathe you in the frequency and sounds of singing bowls and other instruments to help you gain access to deep cellular renewal.
This Sunday, February 25, 2024 we are combining our Communal Rest practice with a Song Circle offering. Come to one or both offerings.
5:00 - 6:30 pm :: restorative yoga and sound healing
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
6:45 - 7:30 pm :: song circle with cacao
2121 Bonar Street, Berkeley CA
$35/session -Venmo: @reetrannik (cash or check) to RSVP
*Please sign up ahead of time for our yoga & sound healing session before they are full! Send payment to hold your spot. If you need to cancel please do so within 24hrs, to get payment back or use it for another time!
No one turned away due to lack of funds! —> if $35 seems like to much please email me and we will find a price that is more accessible for you at this time. Song circle is donation based to cover costs of cacao.
Hope to see you then!
