~ UPCOMING WORKSHOP SCHEDULE ~
Natural Building Master Course ~
EARTHEN FLOORS & PLASTER ART
SEPTEMBER 25 - 29, 2025
DON'T MISS THIS EPIC COURSE!!!
Learn from masters Athena Steen, Cole Furguson and Special Guest teacher Michael G. Smith in this 5-day Natural Building Workshop, inclusive of learning to harvest, mix, and apply materials for sculpted cob wall-building, earthen floors, and amazing natural plasters!
Led by well-known leaders in the Natural Building world:
Athena Steen will teach us about how to use everyday, natural materials to make amazing earthen plasters in this epic hands-on learning opportunity! Witness first-hand while we learn to carve a multi-dimensional design, exposing a variety of colors and artistic statements, Athena's signature as a Master Plaster Artist!! LEARN MORE HERE.
Cole Ferguson, a licensed contractor and professional Natural Builder, will be leading the group and teaching each step of the way, while we finish up a roofed Sculpted Cob Wall, and lay an Earthen Floor in the "Toe of the Shoehouse" ~ a student learning space created by years of sculpted cob students! Check here for details!
To top off this Stellar line-up, MICHAEL G. SMITH, Master in the Natural Building World and Author of The ART of Natural Building, will be joining us as a Special Guest Teacher!
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS AND DETAILS
PAST WORKSHOPS
SOCIAL PERMACULTURE
with STARHAWK
April 24-27, 2025
In this 4-day intensive in-person course, Starhawk guides us through her experiences as a leader in the permaculture movement on the Social end of the permaculture spectrum. In her book, The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, Starhawk draws on her decades of experience—often wonderful, sometimes painful—in activist groups, spiritual groups, community groups, permaculture groups, collective households, and more. This course is for you if you'd like to gain skills in organizing effective and diverse groups, and/or gain personal understanding of how to create harmony and diversity in your own relating experiences.
NATURAL BUILDING
3-DAY INTENSIVE
May 16-18, 2025
With over 10 years of experience teaching sculpted cob and natural plasters and paints workshops, Brenda Quintero, resident natural builder at Golden Rocks Permaculture Farm, will be leading this workshop. Learn to harvest your house, or build gorgeous garden structures with versatile, harvested materials to make and sculpt with COB. Explore the many ways of making plaster to finish your projects with resilience and beauty.
Anytime Offerings ~ By Appointment
Herbal Crash-Course
Available for booking groups! A fun-filled day in the herbal gardens and wild spaces! Our day will start with a check-in and an herb walk through our gardens and forested lands to see what is available for medicine. We will learn about different plants, both cultivated and growing in the wild, what is edible, and which plants should be avoided. The afternoon will be focused on medicine-making, how to dry different types of herbs, etc. We will prepare together herbal remedies from our harvests AND of course you will take some home with you!
Please contact Brenda if you'd like to schedule a private individual or small-group workshop! (707) 987-8719.
Hosting Small Groups
Available for booking groups! If you are interested in finding a quiet, nurturing and restful space in nature to host YOUR next family gathering, or small group event, Golden Rocks Permaculture Farm may be a good fit! We offer inside and outside workshop space for up to 30 people. Accommodations include use of full farm house (kitchen, bath, bunk room and a queen room, plus large open living space for circling up, cozy indoor fireplace as well as a large outdoor campfire ring and outdoor camp kitchen. Individual and group campsites, as well as several "glamping" accommodations.
Please contact us at goldenrocksfarm@gmail.com for more information.
"This has been the most unique workshop I've ever attended. I have a new deeper appreciation of permaculture. Thank you for the opportunity to learn and for your generosity of hearth and spirit."
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
— Anonymous Cob Sculpting Workshop Participant