Program Archives − 2011
SYMPOSIUM: "Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream"
Saturday, November 12, 2011
For those who have a deep concern for our world and want to make a difference, this symposium brings inspiring voices inviting us to change our dream to one of justice, peace, and ecological sustainability. The process includes viewing inspiring DVD presentations along with engaging group interaction.
This workshop simply presents facts about what the situation is in today's world and how it came to be. It then helps participants explore their own experiences to imagine different options for the future.
Healthy Vegetarian Harvest Soups
Saturday, November 5, 2011
You can learn to make soups that are good for your family and the planet! Commercially prepared soups commonly contain wheat, gluten, corn, soy, MSG, and way too much sodium. They travel across the country in trucks, polluting the air and using petroleum. In this hands-on class, you’ll learn simple techniques and specific procedures to develop flavors for a satisfying soup. After helping to prepare Vegetable Minestrone and Cream of Carrot and Rice soup, you’ll enjoy tasting the results of your work.
Ingredients will be provided. You’ll take home a booklet with recipes and special tips from our presenter, Annie Kelley, who has been making delicious soups for many years.
Annie Kelley the presenter for the canning and dehydrating workshop, will lead us again as we learn more about healthy soup and its preparation.
The Skill of Bread Baking: A Lifelong Treasure
Saturday, October 15, 2011
From our earliest days, humans have been sustained by one form of bread or another. Join us as we learn about the many very different kinds of bread and then experience the joy of preparing and baking yeast bread “"from scratch."
Please bring a two quart container with cover, a dish towel, and a wooden spoon. We will provide the ingredients, samples of breads to taste, and recipes to take home.
Mary Jo Jacobs and Maxine Pohlman will lead us.
Basketweaving: Making a Bread Basket
Saturday, October 8, 2011 ~ 1:00 − 4:30 pm
Basketweaving is a skill well worth pursuing. The product is both functional and decorative while the process is both rewarding and therapeutic. During the workshop, participants will learn basic vocabulary and basketweaving techniques as they make a basic bread basket.
All supplies will be provided. Each participant will leave with a completed basket and a cloth basket liner.
Mary Jo Jacobs will lead participants in this workshop.
Canning and Dehydrating:
Preserving Food without Refrigeration
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Learn these time-tested skills and enjoy safe, fresh, local and tasty foods throughout the winter. You’ll be guided step-by-step in the canning process using both a water bath and a pressure canner. While the food is processing, you’ll receive instruction on dehydrating vegetables. These are great to toss with a salad or add to homemade soups and other dishes.
Materials: Please bring a quart Mason jar and enough green beans to tightly fill the jar. You’ll take home the quart of the green beans you canned along with a booklet of instructions, recipes and tips – everything you need to know to “do-it-yourself”!
Annie Kelley, our presenter, has been gardening and canning since 1971. Last year she canned, dried, and froze 85% of the food she and her husband ate all year! Annie’s 25 years in the restaurant business has given her lots of practical experience regarding food preparation and safety.
Autumn Equinox: Journeying with the Sun in Our Sacred Universe
Saturday, September 24, 2011
As we glory in the onset of the harvest season, join us to we give thanks and immerse ourselves in its colors and tastes. Explore the land of La Vista with your family and friends and enjoy apple cider and caramel covered apple slices.
After the celebration you are invited to stay for a viewing of the movie "Journey of the Universe" which aims to inspire a new and closer relationship with Earth in our period of growing environmental and social crisis.
MOVIE: "Journey of the Universe"
Saturday, September 24, 2011
This amazing film begins on the Greek island of Samos, birthplace of mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras. Disembarking on the island at dawn, Brian Swimme guides viewers on a trek through time and space, sharing a view of cosmic evolution as a process based on immense creativity, connection and interdependence. After the toll of midnight, he sets sail into the star-lit waters of the North Aegean Sea to inspire us with a sense of wonder at the mystery, complexity and connectivity of the Earth and universe.
Our viewing will be interactive, providing time for sharing reactions and insights.
Creating an Outdoor Wood-Fire Grill
and Cooking with Culinary Herbs
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Learn how to make your own outdoor wood fire grill from "found" materials such as river stones and a cob mixture − an energy efficient, low cost cooking practice! You will also learn how to cook using herbs, make rosemary flatbreads, make a meal in a Dutch oven using fresh herbs, and make herb-infused oils and vinegars. "Take homes" include a guide for creating an outdoor grill and simple recipes. Finally − you'll enjoy a shared meal of the food prepared together.
Crystal Moore-Stevens and Eric Stevens are our farmers at the Community Supported Garden at La Vista. They have taught herb classes at the Ozark Natural & Cultural Resource Center and children's classes at the Bonebrake Center of Nature and History in Salem, MO.
A World of Health: Connecting People, Place and Planet
September 14, 21, 28, October 5, 12, 26, 2011
A World of Health is a six-session discussion course exploring the limitations of the current medical model and its approach to health. It also addresses the places where our personal health intersects with the environment — from our food and homes, to our communities and society. Throughout the course you will find individual actions that promote good health and in turn, promote a healthier environment.
Each session includes readings, video clips, short assignments and accompanying group discussion questions.
Coming Home to the Sacred Universe:
A Retreat Time to Deepen Spirituality
Wednesday, August 3 − Wednesday, August 10, 2011
When participants leave our transformative Earth Literacy program each summer, they find themselves embracing the journey to "re-inhabit" their lives out of the broadened context they have experienced. Along with others who are exploring the "new story," they ask questions like: How can I connect my prayer life with the Universe Story? How can I prayerfully tend the emerging worldview in a culture embedded in the old worldview? How can I bring my deepened awareness into my work and community life?
On this tenth anniversary of our Earth Literacy program, we decided to put it on hold for a year and offer a retreat in response to the above queries. It is our intention to provide an opportunity that will help to deepen your spirituality in light of the riches given us in the sacred Universe Story and in the thinking of Thomas Berry and other wisdom figures like Brian Swimme, Judy Cannato, and Miriam MacGillis.
Each day will include morning ritual and input, contemplative prayer experiences, immersion in La Vista's 255 acres of woods, bluffs and meadows and organic, vegetarian meals prepared and eaten in a mindful atmosphere.
To benefit from this retreat, it is suggested that you have some familiarity with the Universe Story and the new cosmology. This retreat is designed to accommodate past Earth Literacy participants as well as other interested seekers.
Summer Solstice Celebration
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Becoming Conscious: Tuning in to God's Universe
In and Around All People, Earth and Ourselves
April 29 − April 30, 2011
Experience God's energy and love as it is present in each of us and in our universe! In the evening and morning we will be led through teachings and practice of energization exercises, simple yoga and meditation. We'll then take this newly awakened energy into the great outdoors where we will engage nature in a system called Flow Learning as developed by Joseph Cornell of The Ananda Community of Nevada, California. We will awaken Enthusiasm, focus Attention, direct Experience and share Inspiration.
There will also be slowed down time for contemplative walks, journaling in prose, poetry or art, eating and enjoying vegetarian meals, and sharing of the richness among us.
Sandra Spencer is a Catholic laywoman, recently retired staff chaplain and Director of Pastoral Care at Saint Louis University Hospital. A trained Spiritual Director in the Ignatian tradition, she has more than 25 years of experience with retreat work and spiritual direction.
Kathleen Spencer, SSND has a ministerial background as elementary teacher and administrator, director of social concerns, founder of a Multicultural School for Empowerment and teacher of Sadhana meditation. She considers herself "a seeker of greater consciousness."
Tai Chi for Flexibility
April through September
Practice the ancient art of Tai Chi and experience gentle meditative movements that increase range of motion in joints, aid in circulation, soothe anxiety and depression and help lower blood pressure and hypertension. Our instructor also incorporates Qi Gong breathing movements that help with memory and alertness, as well as TaeBo for strength in the arms and shoulders. Classes will be held outdoors on the beautiful bluffs at La Vista.
Mary Ann Pitchford is a certified Tai Chi instructor who is the director of HEALTHQUEST with seminars and workshops on natural healing for physical, nutritional and emotional problems. She is also a certified lecturer/instructor of Senior Programs for the National Arthritis Foundation.
Earth Day Coffeehouse: Rejoicing in One Another and our Planet!
April 16, 2011
Bring your Earth-themed stories, poetry, and music to share with an enthusiastic audience at our Earth Day Coffeehouse. We’ll gather on the patio of the rustic lodge atop the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River for an enchanting evening of human creativity amidst natural beauty.
Along with your original or found poety and/or your music, please bring a springtime dessert or drink to share. We’ll provide coffee and tea.
Natural Household Cleaners
April 9, 2011
The benefits of making and using natural household cleaners are many: healthier for you and your family, positive impact on our environment, and less expensive than industrial cleaners. You will learn how to make your own laundry detergent, dish soap, all-purpose cleaning spray, toothpaste, window cleaner, as well as tips for using vinegar and baking soda. "Take homes" include three cleaners in containers you bring, a recipe book and list of local sources for supplies.
Prairie Series
Burned: A Terrible Beauty, March 26, 2011
Renewal in Springtime, May 7, 2011
Continuing the program begun last July, we'll walk through the prairie in March after it has been burned and before the spring flowering. Less than two months later, we'll explore the lovely new life appearing from the ashes of last season's bounty. Following each visit, well travel to La Vista for seasonal refreshment and reflection on your experience.
SYMPOSIUM: "Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream"
March 5, 2011
This symposium is an interactive transformational workshop that inspires participants to play a role in creating a new future: an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on this planet.
Through excellent video and group interaction you will:
- ♦ become deeply aware of the scope, complexity and urgency of the issues facing our planet today
- ♦ examine the worldview that has brought us to where we are today, and begin to free yourself from the constraints of unexamined assumptions you may have internalized
- ♦ experience yourself as able to make a difference in how the future of the planet unfolds
- ♦ come away with a deeper level of readiness for effective action and with a profound sense of hope and purpose
Co-sponsored with the United Congregations of Metro East − Alton Area Cluster, and the Illinois Sierra Club − Piasa Palisades.
Awakening the Dreamer Symposium Trailer from Pachamama Alliance.
WORKSHOP: "Basketry: Weaving a Handy Tote Bag"
February 19, 2011
Weaving your own tote bag out of reeds is a wonderful way to exercise your creativity while making a functional carry-all. This tote features decorative cloth over-the-shoulder handles.
DISCUSSION: "A World of Health: Connecting People, Place and Planet"
February − April 2011
A World of Health is a six-session discussion course that focuses on limitations of the current medical model and its approach to health, then addresses the places where our personal health intersects with the environment − from our food and homes, to our communities and society. Throughout the course you will find individual actions that promote good health and in turn, promote a healthier environment.
