Writer’s Circle Workshop Series at Farmstead Creamery & Café
As the daylight steadily shortens and the temps turn towards the chill, we’re reminded that the busy days of summer are past, making autumn the perfect time to take on a new initiative to stave off those oncoming wintry blues.
At Farmstead Creamery & Café, this summer season included our first series of spoken word and poetry performances on Pizza Farm Thursdays, hosted by John “Sonofmel” Adler. While that series has come to a close, the writing itch still lives. That’s why we’re launching our first “Writer’s Circle” workshop series at Farmstead next month!
Held on 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month from 3 to 5 pm starting October 13th, the focus will be on building and honing craft, using Natalie Goldberg’s accessible and thoughtful book Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within as a guide and inspiration.
Each workshop includes short exercises that are designed to awaken observation skills, enliven description, or break down the barriers to free-flowing writing from the heart. So bring a notebook, your favorite pen, and awaken creative spontaneity and joy in the writing experience.
The Writer’s Circle Workshop Series will meet for 10 sessions: October 13th and 27th, November 10th, December 8th, January 12th and 26th, February 9th and 23rd, and March 9th and 23rd. All skill levels and ages are welcome. Individual sessions cost $24, or you can reserve the whole season for $200. Each day will have a different focus and exercises.
The workshops include a hot drink (coffee, tea, hot cider), and Farmstead Creamery & Café also offers tasty treats that can be a real aid to the creative process. So bring a friend, catch a cup of cocoa, and delve into the world of story, memory, observation, and humor. If you like what you write during the workshop, we’re happy to feature some creative musings on Farmstead’s Facebook page!
Meet the Facilitators: Laura Berlage is co-owner of North Star Homestead Farms and Farmstead Creamery & Café. With an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts (including in-depth study of Bardic and Narrative arts) from Goddard College and a BA in Creative Writing and Performing Arts from Vermont College of Union Institute and University, Laura has a deep love of storytelling, both spoken and written.She currently writes the “Down on the Farm” column for the Sawyer County Gazette and blogs for Mother Earth News. This year, she launched a blog for Erindale Tapestry Studio—her space for exploring the overlays of narrative, image, and texture as she peels the onion behind her ongoing Lady and Unicorn tapestry project.
John “Sonofmel” Adler has spent half his life on the road combing the sites, lights, sounds, and shadows of creation for signs of the sacred among the paths of the profane. With stories and poetry from the Aleutians to Istanbul, Baku to Berkeley, he brings the foreign home to the familiar.
A summa cum laude graduate of UW-Superior in English Literature and Creative Writing minor, John is also a McNair Scholar who presented his research at the 2013 International F. Scott Fitzgerald Society Conference in Montgomery, AL.
In addition to academic research, creative non-fiction, and poetry, he’s also written about Turkey’s literary and arts scene for “A Gathering of Tribes,” a New York literary magazine. He’s also a performing singer/songwriter who writes a weekly travel column and features for the Sawyer County Gazette and just built a timber frame to live in here in the Winter area.
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If you’ve been enjoying the “Down on the Farm” stories and have a hankering to put words to paper this winter, come and join us at the Writer’ Circle Workshop Series! We’d love to see you down on the farm sometime.
