9:00 AM

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Edmonton’s Secret Plants - City as a Nursery

9:00AM-10:30AM / Spruce Room / $25.00

Scattered across the City are secret horticultural gems. They are tucked behind backyard fences or hidden in plain sight. They are the products of horticultural innovation, cultural exchange, or happy accidents - and most people don't know that they exist! For the last few years, Forest City Plants has been hunting for these unique and exciting local plants. From wild goji berries, that have escaped their cultivated roots, to mature apricots, guerrilla gardened along busy streets. The main goal is to discover and propagate new varieties for the local community. In this session, Dustin Bajer will share what he's discovered and how we can create a distributed nursery to identify and propagate new plant varieties. All participants will receive
experimental seeds and an invitation to join the Forest City Plants community.

Participants can purchase Capilano Apricots or Russian Almonds in advance at https://
forestcityplants.com/resilience/ or at the end of the workshop.

 

Dustin Bajer - Forest City Plants

 

Yin Yoga Infused with Reiki and Crystal Healing

9:00AM-10:00 AM / Movement Room / $10.00

You will be welcomed and given the opportunity to settle in and unwind as you enter a space of relaxation and self healing. A Crystal Grid will be laid out and chosen with the intention of pure self love and healing. While you are led through your gentle yin yoga practice, a Reiki practitioner will be moving amongst participants, providing hands-on and hands-off Reiki. Physically, Yin Yoga works on the connective tissue of the body. Long held postures focus on releasing restrictions and increasing blood flow and energy back to a particular area. Reiki is a non-invasive ancient Japanese healing technique that uses universal, vital life force energy to balance the body, mind and spirit. This beautiful self healing class will be led by Yoga Practitioner, Lauren Thomas and Reiki/Yoga Practitioner, Ciara Buchan.

 

What to bring: yoga mat, blanket and water bottle

 

Ciara Buchan & Lauren Thomas

 

Natural Mouth Care

9:00AM-10:00 AM / Birch Room / $25.00

This workshop covers the essential aspects of natural mouth care and how to create the products that support healthy teeth, gums, and tongues. The components covered include: natural flossing, tongue scraping, gum and tongue serums to amplify your flossing and scraping routine, toothbrush selection and toothpaste recipes, oil pulling (hows, whys and recipes!), and herbal mouth rinses to keep your mouth hospitable to only the best bacteria.

 

Natalie Pepin, ReSkilled Life

 

Cider Making

9:00AM-10:30 AM / Wondergarden/ $20.00

Ever wonder what to do with all those apples growing in your neighbourhood? In days gone by, the easiest and fastest way to preserve apples was to turn them into cider, soft or hard. Come out to this semi-hands on demonstration to learn how easy it is to turn hundreds of kilos of apples into delicious cider! This workshop will teach you the basics of fruit health, apple crushing, pressing, pasteurization and simple fermenting. Enough knowledge that you can start making your very own cider this summer!

 

Joshua Buck,  Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton

 

Waste Reduction: The Highest Use Principle (with optional purchase take home worm bin $25)

9:00AM-10:00 AM / Rhubarb Room / $10.00

Change your view on waste streams to that of a resource and learn to creatively reuse, reuse, and reuse some more. We will discuss what the highest use principle is and how it can be applied to our lives holistically before diving into examples such as food, water, and heat waste.

 

Kazimir Haykowsky & Marcin Makarewicz

 

Awakening in Chaotic Times

10:00-10:45AM / Wild Rose Room /  Pay What You Can ($5 minimum)

BTW, It’s Not All Sunshine & Rainbows! A REAL conversation about mental health challenges and the ups and downs of Awakening in Chaotic Times. To evolve as a "Tribe," it is imperative that we begin an authentic discussion and release shame associated with mental health challenges, discuss how to best support people who are experiencing crisis, as well as create a directory of resources to help each other navigate receiving support.

 

Olivia Kachman

 

Sharing Soulful Space

10:00-10:45AM / Birch Room /  Pay What You Can ($5 minimum)

This conversation will surround itself around a series of philosophizing questions, followed by a few, more pressing and relevant questions that relate to society's current state while encouraging more applicable, practical learnings. The former includes questions such as: What does being strong mean? What determines who we are? Do we all have the equal capacity to be great? What is a life “well lived?” Is giving still good if we expect something in return? Is disappointment our own fault? etc. The latter would be prefaced by a lean definition of holistic wellness and health, and questions could include: What sort of things, that promote holistic health, do you personally do or would like to start to do? How do you think the previous questions fit with this idea of holistic health? What are some strategies or resources to use to being more holistic? Why is this important?

 

Maria Burbu

 

Grass Coil Basketry

10:00-11:00AM / Outdoor Natural Building / $10.00 / SOLD OUT

Coil basketry using grass is a fun, easy to learn skill for the wilderness or crafting in the city. These baskets are functional for drying harvested plants, or keeping household items. The basket can become big or small, or become a vase or container. At an advanced level these baskets can be made waterproof. For this workshop we will use grass with a needle and thread.

 

Jess Cooper, River Valley Free School

 

 

11:00AM

 

Conversation Cafe: Protecting Edmonton’s Headwaters

11:00-12:00PM / Library/ Free Drop in - Conversation Cafe

Hosted by Headwaters, with Ellyn Davidson, CPAWS Northern Alberta.

 

Indigenous Rights Workshop

11:00-12:30PM / Wild Rose Room / Pay What You Can ($5 minimum)

Presenting The Blanket Exercise, an interactive learning experience that teaches the Indigenous rights history we’re rarely taught. Developed in response to the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples—which recommended education on Canadian-Indigenous history as one of the key steps to reconciliation, the Blanket Exercise covers over 500 years of history in a one and a half hour participatory workshop. Blanket Exercise allows participants take on the roles of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Walk through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance.

 

RISE - Reconciliation In Solidarity

 

 

Powerful Conversations For Change

11:00-12:15PM / Birch Room / Pay What You Can ($5 minimum)

This workshop will touch on the keys issues related to how and why our communication breaks down and what we can do to begin transforming our communication to create a new quality of community and a new kind of world. The principles of conscious effective communication are so simple that even a young child can do them, yet are so intricate in their application that even the most intelligent among us can get lost. The real active ingredient in the most powerful communication is found in the qualities of openness, vulnerability and responsiveness.

 

Dolphin Kasper

 

Resilient Social Systems

11:00-12:15PM / Willow Room / Pay What You Can ($5 minimum)

The way we organize our projects and communities has a big impact on how resilient they are. What makes a resilient social system?

 

This workshop gives you tools to better understand the bigger context you work in, and use that knowledge to create more effective strategies. It is best for teams of people actively involved in community organizing, or individuals building or leading teams.

 

In this workshop you will learn about how social systems work, and what we can learn from biological systems to organize our work and communities better. Dig into 21st Century examples of successful social change. Get practical tools to get savvy about the systems and trends affecting your projects, and walk away with organizing tools to help you make a bigger, more lasting impact - ways to build your teams, structure your meetings, approach strategic planning, and better anticipate and adapt to external factors. Practice applying them to take back to your projects.

 

Heather Laird, SIG Knowledge Hub

 

Hempcrete Building in Alberta

11:00-12:15PM / Spruce Room / $25.00

We will discuss the benefits of using hempcrete as a natural building material in Alberta. Hemp is environmentally friendly, low maintenance, reduces noise, cost effective, aesthetically pleasing, and acts as a thermal mass. Come learn more!

 

Chris Boudreault, Solar Trees

 

11:30AM

 

Ideas for Edible Front Yards

11:30-12:30PM / Wondergarden/ $15.00

Come learn practical ways to grow food in an urban front yard.

 

Claudia Bolli, Wild Green Garden Consulting

 

Yoga for Self-Compassion

11:30-12:20PM / Movement Room/ $10.00

We will move through a relaxing yoga sequence and mindfulness meditation with the intention of self-compassion. Self compassion can be understood in three parts: self kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. This class will focus on how yoga and self compassion can benefit ourselves and others. Yoga is a wonderful practice that can help to cultivate balance, love and healing in our bodies and minds. This class will be gentle, restorative, and suitable for all ability levels.

 

Janine Heber, Certified Yoga Teacher

 

 

Canning Hot Salsa

11:30-12:30PM / Rhubarb Room/ $15.00

Learn how to make and preserve your own uniquely flavoured salsa! Ingredients provided and all participants go home with a jar of organic tropical salsa with hot peppers.

 

Celina Rodriguez

 

Permaculture Hand Tools 101

11:30-12:15PM / Location: Outdoor Natural Building/ $10.00

Do you have a collection of edged tools for your yard and garden, but suspect that you’re not maintaining them properly or using them to their full potential? Are your kitchen knives having trouble cutting hot butter? Or maybe you would like to use edged hand tools for more tasks around the yard but aren’t sure where to start?

 

Come learn the basics of:

-How to safely sharpen a variety of edged hand tools

-The proper use of edged hand tools like knives, scythes, axes, billhooks, machete’s and sickles.

-How to maintain these tools so you can pass them onto your grandchildren

 

Takota Coen, Grass Roots Family Farm

 

 

12:00PM

 

Conversation Cafe: Poverty in YEG

12:00-1:00PM / Library/ Free Drop in - Conversation Cafe

Hosted by Sarah Chan

 

12:30PM

 

Dance: Body as a Home

12:30-2:00PM / Movement Room/ $10.00

During this 1.5 hour workshop we will let our body express what it’s needed and we will let it move us with curiosity and softness. To dance whom we are at each moment. To dance eyes closed or eyes open. To dance to feel more our body and our connection with the Earth. To dance for the fun of it. And beyond everything, to dance to feed the JOY of being alive and cultivate resilience as a never ending motion.

 

Camile Renarhd

Dancer, Choreographer, Craniosacral Therapist

 

Resiliency Through Local Food

12:30-1:45PM / Willow Room / Pay What You Can ($5.00 Minimum)

Learn about local initiatives and how to participate in local food through sourcing seeds grown locally. This enables greater resilient in the face of changing weather conditions. This workshop will touch on building local food coops, how to contact local growers in your area, and building community through backyard gardens.

 

Denise O’Reilly, Garden of Eden

 

Glazing & Glass Salvage

12:30-12:50 PM / Spruce Room / Pay what you can ($1.00 Minimum)

Learn how glazing and glass salvage relates to designing resilient structures and life systems. Glass and Glazing systems are important to any structure, but earn a special place in the development of resilient life systems. Glazing will effective cold weather efficiency, energy usage, four season food production, and passive solar heating. It can affect both aesthetic and functional aspects of life systems and should therefore be a particular concern for any designer with a goal of resiliency. Due to the custom nature of glass work there is often wastage. If incorrectly measured or ordered product can easily become useless for the intended project. There are many opportunities to salvage glazing products and freecycle them into new projects at dramatic discounts. Come learn more!

 

Darian Vander Vliet, Glazier for 10 years

 

1:00PM

 

Conversation Cafe: Changing the Way we Look at Plastic

1:00-2:00PM / Library/ Free Drop in - Conversation Cafe

Hosted by Upcycle: YEG

 

Kombucha Making 101

1:00-2:00PM / Birch Room /  $30.00

The workshop will cover the history of Kombucha and all the wonderful properties that it possesses.

 

With the increase in people returning to more natural eating habits and a more traditional mindset in regards to healthy living; Kombucha is the BIG thing in the market right now!  Easy to purchase in organic stores and even at the big boxes however the cost is astounding, from the workshop you will be able to craft your own brew for far less and create a never ending supply.

 

You will receive a scoby to take home to test out your newly acquired skills, samples to try and recipes to start your kombucha journey.

 

Hosted by: Cristie Semeniuk

 

Mindfulness Through Art

1:00-2:30PM / Wild Rose Room/ $15.00

Creative Play! Practice mindfulness using simple drawing exercises. Participants will experiment and play with different drawing tools and learn to let go of expectations and calm negative thoughts. Guided breathing exercises will help to relax and enjoy the moment. Drawing is our medium; however, this is not an art class. No drawing or art experience is required, whatsoever.

 

Stephanie Medford, Everyday Artistry

 

 

Cheese Making for Beginners

1:00-2:30PM / Rhubarb Room/ $15.00 - SOLD OUT

In this workshop you will learn natural ways to make cheese. The cheeses we will cover are Mozzarella, cottage cheese and "squeaky cheese" curd. You will learn how to make these cheeses using materials you already have at home and very basic ingredients. We will learn about natural kefir cultures for cheese making. This will be a cooking demo style class given the time that we will have. However, you will be able to observe each stage of the cheese making process. With the information you have from this workshop, you will be able to make your own cheese at home.

 

Natalie Pepin, Fairshare Farms

 

Indoor Worm Composting

1:00-2:30PM / Wondergarden / $25.00

How to create and sustain a vermi-compost bin for indoor use. The workshop will cover the basics of composting, needs and yields of a worm bin, how to keep them smelling fresh and free of common pests (ie. fruit flies). After presenting we participants will create a worm compost bin (complete with worms) to take home with them.

 

Marcin Makarewicz, Spruce Permaculture

 

 

Building a Bee Home

1:00-4:00PM / Maryann's Nook / $25.00

Using locally sourced Cattails we will learn the coiled method of basketry, used for centuries, to create a beautiful and functional bee home. One large enough for bees would take considerably more time than allotted for this workshop so participants will go home with either a finished replica (also known as a plain and simple basket ) or the start of a fully functional bee skep with instructions on how to finish it. Bring an old towel and a spray bottle. I will provide the cattails. Maximum 10 participants.

 

Maryann Borsch, Good Note Family Farm

 

2:00PM

 

Conversation Cafe: Local Agri-food Businesses in Edmonton

2:00-3:00PM / Library/ Free Drop in - Conversation Cafe

Hosted by Ag Food Council

 

 

Introduction to Beekeeping   

2:00-3:15PM / Willow Room/ $25.00

A year into the City of Edmonton’s urban beekeeping project, local gardeners and foodies are still abuzz with enthusiasm for backyard hives. Join local urban beekeeper, permaculturalist, educator, and Edmonton Food Council member, Dustin Bajer, in an exploration of natural beekeeping methods. Learn about honeybee behaviour, various hive options, city and provincial license requirements, and how to start and maintain your own backyard hive.

 

Dustin Bajer    dustinbajer.com    

 

 

Passive Solar Designs for Alberta’s Climate

2:00-3:15PM / Spruce Room / $20.00

A presentation and discussion of passive solar design techniques and concepts as they pertain to food production and greenhouse spaces. We will cover thermal mass properties, solar gains, cold sinks, intelligent insulation and solar declination. Examples include wallapinis, earth sheltered greenhouses, earthships and adaptations of these designs for our climate.

 

Dory Lavy & Laryssa Doroshenko, Aspen Centre for Integral Living

 

 

2:30PM

 

Dance: Express Yo’ Self

2:30-3:30PM / Movement Room/ $10.00

This workshop uses a combination of dance, movement, discussion, and PLAY to cover the topics of empowerment, confidence, and authenticity. When we choose to live authentically, and acknowledge our power through confidence, we become infinitely more resilient. Through a variety of activities and movement practices, we will boost our confidence, discover our inner power, and leave the workshop feeling more confident and able to face life's struggles.

 

Marie-Claire O'Donoghue, Meant to Move

 

The Resilient Man

2:30-3:45PM / Birch Room / $20.00  

*MALES ONLY* Designed as a safe, dynamic, and fun time to cultivate healthy masculinity within the context of a civilization in crisis, through experiential learning (& Sword-Fighting!), participants in this 2 hour session will explore topics including: Permaculture as Economic Liberation, Functional Relationships with the Feminine, Earth Repair as Progress, Leadership in Community, and Intergenerational Planning.

 

Kurtis Ewanchuk, Expanding Edge Permaculture

 

 

3:00PM

 

Conversation Cafe: Plant Medicines in the City

3:00-4:00PM / Library/ Free Drop in - Conversation Cafe

What does working with herbal medicine look like for us city folk with our postage stamp yards & city managed park spaces? How can we stay connected with traditional & cultural medicinal practices within an urban environment?

 

Join YEG Community Herbalist in a collaborative discussion on strategies for working with local plants, & explore logistics, considerations & ethics for harvesting, foraging, & cultivating medicinal plants for us Urbanites today.

 

Hosted by Dionne Jennings, YEG Community Herbalist

 

 

Emergency Preparedness 101

3:00-3:45PM / Birch Room/ $10.00

"We are not fine. We are not prepared." - Fort McMurray Evacuee Mathew Clements

 

We know we should prepare for emergencies to keep ourselves and families safe, but how? What is truly important? What is not? And why do we often wait until it is too late?

 

As an Emergency Manager, First Responder, and Disaster NGO volunteer, this workshop will offer answers and solutions to emergency resilience, along with my personal journey that lead to the creation of a grassroots movement in Edmonton called Flashover. The aim is to integrate modern solutions to make households and neighbourhoods safer, connected, and more prepared for emergencies of any size.

 

Jordan Wilkie, Flashover

 

 

Natural Dyeing

3:00-4:45 / Rhubarb Room / $35.00

Learn natural dyeing techniques, and take home a one-of-a-kind skein of locally produced wool yarn you have dyed yourself! We will discuss types of natural dyes and mordants and how to set up immersion dyebaths, then complete a single small project using pre-mordanted wool fibres.

 

Deborah Merriam    Sustainable|Slow|Stylish

 

 

Cider Making & Fermenting

3:00-4:45PM / Wondergarden/ $20.00 / SOLD OUT

We will teach participants how to process, crush and juice all the apples they can get come next fall. We will also teach them methods of preservation that include pasteurization and fermentation, two of the most common forms of preservation.

 

Joshua Buck  Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton

 

 

3:30PM

 

Resilient Leadership through Human Learning Ecology

3:30-5:00PM / Willow Room / Pay What You Can ($5.00 Minimum)

We Need You! Strategic, Ethical, Resilient, Creative Leaders.

 

We are facing enormous global challenges: climate change, resource depletion, population growth, cultural clashes, human rights abuses, global inequities, and more. The path that we’re on is highly destructive and course-correction is vital. None of this is possible without looking at the bigger story in which we’re all embedded. By studying common patterns in human striving, failure and achievement throughout our species’ development, we can understand ourselves and our predicament more deeply. And by situating that within the larger story of life processes, we can begin to develop the capacity required to help us innovate, problem-solve, and pursue adaptive lines of development for generations to come.

 

Join us for a discussion fuelled by the big questions required for strategic, ethical, resilient, creative leadership and learn how Human Learning Ecology can help us tackle them. Hosted by Human Venture Leadership.

 

Dana Penrice, Human Venture Leadership

 

4:00PM

 

Financial Literacy  

4:00-5:00PM / Wild Rose Room / Pay What You Can ($5.00 Minimum)

Learn the Top 10 Best Financial Habits. Let’s work together to build a stronger and more resilient community by engaging in financial literacy conversations. Let’s bring our financial literacy to a higher level so that we can transfer this knowledge and skills to our young ones who will be able to share with their young ones and so on.

 

Linda Mak    Money Mentors

 

DIY Upcycled Fashion

4:00-5:00PM / Library / $10.00

In this workshop, participants will have the chance to upcycle reusable materials from the Reuse Centre to create their own personalized fashion accessory. Participants will learn about the Reuse Centre and more about the idea of upcycling with reusable materials. As well, participants will be able to create a necklace or brooch with reusable materials such as ribbon, lace, fabric, buttons, beads and more.

 

This workshop is family friendly and all ages are welcome to attend.

 

Jenny Albers, Reuse Centre

 

 

The Hidden Roots of Suicide

4:00-5:45PM / Library / Pay What You Can ($5.00 Minimum)

Bringing to light & getting relief from, the hidden roots of suicidal thoughts and actions. Would you like to find peace? It is possible to find peace and stay in life.

 

Thoughts of suicide are scary and often seem like the only route to be free of the pain and weight in our lives. Often our pain and need to leave life have roots that we are not even aware of. When these roots are identified and addressed, change happens and we can be in life in a new way. This was my experience in my life. It can happen in your life.

 

This workshop could be for you if you have thoughts of suicide and would like to be free from the pull to leave life. When the subconscious roots of why one is pulled to leave life are identified and resolved, life changes.

 

Ross Godine, Hidden Dynamics

 

 

Resilient Voices - Song Circle

4:00-5:30PM / Movement Room / $10.00

Singing is an essential human birthright and a powerful source of energy and connection. Singing together is a potent tool for building community. Singing in harmony teaches us to celebrate diversity, and to practice deep listening. When we sing community we feel the physical/chemical changes in our bodies creating greater health and connection with others. In the Resilient Voices session we will sing songs from around the world, honouring different traditions of celebration, praise, protest and empowerment. All songs taught in the oral tradition and ALL VOICES WELCOME!

 

Karen Porkka, Soul Song Circle Singers

 

 

Healthy Workspaces and Stress Management

4:00-5:30PM / Spruce Room / Pay What You Can ($5.00 Minimum)

Participants will discuss the importance of good mental health, identify and learn ways to manage workplace stressors, discover strategies for self care, and learn about valuable resources in the area. Join the conversation and let's Make Mental Health Matter!

 

Chris Lefebvre, Canadian Mental Health Association

 

5:00PM

 

Resilience Panel Discussion

5:00-6:30PM / Film Room / Free Drop-in

Join us for a discussion about "What Resilience Means."

 

Mark Anielski   l   An Economic Strategist and Author of the Best-Selling Book, the Economics of Happiness, Building Genuine Wealth

 

Susan Roberts  l   Master Ed, Nutrition & Adult Education, Alberta Food Matters Board Chair and Board Secretary at Food Secure Canada and Principle at Community Building Resources (CBR)

 

Tracy Johnson  l   Mental Health Education Programs Coordinator, CMHA - Alberta, Recipient of the 2016 Professional Care Award from CMHA-Alberta for her work on “Creating a Compassionate Classroom”.

 

Takota Coen  l   Grass Roots Family Farm Manager and Permaculture Designer

 

 

Hosted by Deb Merriam

 

 

7:00PM

 

YEG Earth Day Party

7:00-Midnight / Gym / $20.00 at the door

 

We're topping off this year's Edmonton Resilience Festival with a party dedicated to our local community. An evening of entertainment and fun; meet some pretty fantastic people from the green community all in support of the Edmonton Permaculture Guild and The Local Good.

 

Doors open at 7pm

 

Soul Song Circle Singers - Traditional, contemporary and spontaneous music to kick off the evening.

 

Spin Sistas - Dance and hoop troupe

 

8:15pm - The Jivin' Belles - Edmonton-based 1940s close harmony swing vocal group.

 

9:00pm - Spiral Squad - Hoop-troupe based out of Edmonton, Canada that combines mind melting hoop trickery with versatile dance, yoga and engaging entertainment.

 

9:15pm - The Borch Brothers - Instrumental folk group sure to get you out on the dance floor with their lively fiddle play and stomping good tunes.

 

10:15pm - Carter & the Capitals- High energy, five piece funk-pop group based out of Edmonton, Alberta. The band is currently an active member of Albertas vibrant and growing music scene. Known for their signature, hard driving sound, soulful vocals and catchy instrumental riffs, the Capitals fuse the most danceable elements of the pop and funk genres. The Capitals original material brings to mind artists such as Prince, James Brown and Parliament Funkadelic.

 

DJ ConDor for Funk Breaks and Beats - Resident DJ of Dance Temple, ArcaTribe, and Intention Alberta. He has played sets at Symmetree, Freezer Burn, Inshala, and other Alberta/BC festivals.

 

 

YEG Premiere Screening of ‘GREEN RIGHTS’

7:00-9:30PM / Festival Film Room/ Free drop-in

 

This 67 minute film is about the human right to a healthy environment and Mother Nature's right to be respected. Silver Donald Cameron, the writer and narrator, along with Jason Unger of the Alberta Environmental Law Center will facilitate discussion after the show. And it's free or you can donate at the door!

 

Presented by Healthy YEG and TheGreenInterview.com