Our Vision - October, 2023
(subject to change)
Spicebush Learning Cooperative
We are a collection of educators who share a passion for introducing the members of our community to new experiences that shape their relationship with the natural world. Foragers, makers, farmers, and chefs - all of us celebrate and embrace our local heritage by teaching others how to thrive and provide for others by sharing our wisdom. We often teach the old ways, but we’re driven into cooperation by our love of curiosity as its own reward. Just because something is old doesn’t make it more true, and likewise all things new aren’t often better. Rather, the old and the new are invited to rhyme in interesting ways - and we are concerned more with collaborative learning than with simple, rote reproduction of information.
Our instructors are all well-versed and trained in different areas of sustainable bushcraft, gardening, harvesting, and turning the gifts and blessings of the good earth into the things we need to survive and share in a life of abundance. And we love to eat!
We all follow our own paths - but at Spicebush Collective we also strive to embrace the fundamental beliefs of the Danish Folk School model first theorized by NHS Grundtvig and then put into practice by Christen Kold around 1850. In their earliest form these values were stated as follows:
- Education must consider the nature of children and youth and their needs.
- Students must be given time to develop the capacity for feeling before learning facts, and appreciation before learning skills.
- The living word (oral culture) is central.
- The wholeness of the individual was experienced only in the context of community.
- The purpose of education was to respond to the needs and struggles of common people.
- Education should embrace heart, mind, and body. The main purpose of education was not to teach factual knowledge, but “life’s awakening”. “The school should be for life, for the spiritual, and for that which is of the heart.”
- The school should be free of government control, and there should be no tests, grades, or certificates of competence given.
Today, these concepts have been contemporized by the Folk Education Association of America as the following:
- Offer a local, place-conscious educational experience.
- Build collaborations and networks among diverse community groups and organizations.
- Build on local strengths.
- Build appreciation of local culture and agriculture.
- Encourage a recovery of local voice, empowerment and cultural memory.
- Emphasize, dialogue, conversation, and relationships.
- Offer the expression of an alternative educational paradigm, one that is collaborative, noncompetitive, experiential, and holistic.
- Offer enrichment as well as core programming for public, private, and homeschools.
- Provide a context for diverse groups to come together for shared learning.
- Provide a context for the presentation and discussion of local issues.
- Inspire local economic initiatives that support the local economy.
We are a school. Our curriculum is carefully held in trust in the collective wisdom of our community. Our campus is West Michigan. Our hope is for sustainable, shared abundance for all.
We offer a wide array of classes, tours, and workshops that emphasize heritage arts. Whether you are looking for hands-on experience with safely foraging wild mushrooms or medicines, setting food by for the winter, or turning your lawn into an organic garden - our educators are ready to share everything they know for the benefit of our communities.
Q. How much do classes cost?
A. This is “in process.” Our instructors are not only sharing their passion - they’re sharing their time and the time invested in learning their trade. For example, sustainable foraging is a “time sacred” labor - we operate not on our own time, but rather on the calendar of our home ecology.
For some events/tours/hikes we hope to allow our students to determine their tuition when they sign up. This is a simple and straightforward way to make sure that everyone is able to participate - regardless of their economic situation.
Some pay more, some pay less, and some choose to “tip” their instructors following a particularly life-changing experience. Each class includes a net-cost disclosure so we are being fully transparent and accountable with our students, our instructors, and our educators.
We also occasionally have options to include an investment in “sweat equity” - this is a commitment to provide for the benefit of the cooperative in the form of alternative payments (these opportunities are listed on the class enrollment form as they become available.)
Occasionally, classes will (by necessity) include an up-front materials fee.
Likewise, for groups of larger than six individuals we have affordable, set rates. If your group needs financial accommodations don’t hesitate to drop us a line at info@spicebush.org
Q. How are your instructors vetted?
A. We use a variety of methods for various classes. As we uphold the traditional folk school values - we neither offer nor expect formal (government) certifications. Nevertheless, most of our educators have a formal background in their area of expertise. You can learn more about this on our “instructors” page. The safety and wellbeing of our students is our primary concern.
Q. I want to teach a class!
A. We want you to teach a class! Send us an email at instructors@spicebush.org describing your idea - or fill out an online application through our instructors portal on the website.
Q. Do you sell the products you create?
A. Our instructors and students are welcome to list their excess products on our website for sale and keep a generous portion of the proceeds. As we are a licensed L3C, our collective handles the necessary legal and tax burdens of sales. Our participants receive a check at the end of the month based on sales, along with a transparent statement of the disposition of our funds.
Some of our educators also have products available for sale following their courses.
Q. I don’t live in Michigan but I love this idea. How do we do this here?
A. Right now, Spicebush Learning Collective is hyper-focused on our community here in West/Southwest Michigan. The folk model for education was never intended to be a “one size fits all” model for learning. Indeed, one of our primary values is “offering a local, place-conscious educational experience.”
But we’d love to chat with you about your dreams and ideas for your own community. Any cooperative movement benefits from… well, cooperation! Drop us a note at info@spicebush.org.
Q. Why are you called “spicebush?”
A. Lindera benzoin (commonly called spicebush, wild allspice, or Benjamin bush) is a shrub in the laurel family, native to eastern North America, ranging from Maine and New York to Ontario in the north, and to Kansas, Texas, and northern Florida in the center and south.
Due to its habit of growing in rich woods, early peoples used spicebush as an indicator of a good place to grow food.
Spicebush is a critically important host plant for two lovely lepidopterous insects - the spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) and the promethea silkmoth (Callosamia promethea).
First Nations people used every part of the plant as an important component in many medicines.
Finally, the spicebush is a food source for dozens of native fauna - including human beings - who use this special plant to impart a flavor to their foods that cannot be found anywhere else on Earth.
Spicebush Learning Cooperative is an activity of Spicebush L3C inc.
We are a registered folk school with the Folk Education Association of America (pending as of 10/22).
