Events & Programs
We are happy to host you for a sustainability tour/visit. School groups, church groups, garden clubs, individuals, etc. are all welcome. Host your staff meeting here and include a pizza lunch or snack of homemade bread & jam. OR just come to hang out, walk the trails and BE. Please call/email to set a time. The labyrinth & trails are self-guided, just call / email to let us know you're coming.
TO SIGN UP: Some classes/activities are limited. PLEASE sign up by contacting us via email, phone (need: your name, phone, email & class/activity), or thru the website (be SURE to indicate class you're signing up for). Schedule subject to change, confirm before coming. Any fees may be paid via cash or check when you come to the class. (we're keeping it simple with no corporate fees on payments and such).
ABOUT FEES: Most classes/activities are offered on a "SLIDING FEE SCALE" of $5 - $50. YOU determine based on your resources (some classes do have a "supplies" fee which are noted in addition to class fee.)
StoryWalk Along Forrest Ridge Trail
Self-Guided & Open most days
The StoryWalk is along the Forrest Ridge Trail for adventurers to join reading One Dog Canoe by Mary Casanova (Minnesota author)
Play Nature Bingo while also out walking & exploring. (Bingo cards in the tote in Gazebo Welcome Center. Return cards to tote when done playing)
Labyrinth & Trails
The Labyrinth in the woods and trails around the grounds are available for walking / meditating. Trails are no longer than one mile. We are also near trails into the Foothills State Forest. Be sure to dress properly, trails may be wet and/or have fallen brush/trees across paths in the Foothills.
* Forrest Ridge Trail (StoryWalk trail)
* Meadow Creek Trail * Twin Creek Trail
* Balsam Pond Trail * Labyrinth
Daycare groups, home-school groups, families, school groups, library groups and all ages are welcome to participate. Want a special activity experience? Let us know and we can set that up as a teacher-guided experience.
Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg Hubbard Library.
Feel free to come snowshoe the trails in the winter months.
Grapevine Basket Weaving (ages 12-adult)
Tuesday, Aug. 4
2-5pm
SLIDING FEE: $5-25 + $15 Supplies
INSTRUCTOR: Nancy Ryan
Grapevine baskets are fun to make and can definitely include locally sourced materials. Here you'll learn the steps in construction with a patient guide to answer all your questions. We'll talk about materials that can be used and how to tell what works best. You will take home a 10” handmade grapevine basket and the skill to make many more!
All supplies & tools provided. These baskets are not only beautiful - they are practical!
Nancy Ryan is your quintesential homesteader with many skills that she willingly shares through teaching opportunities like community education. Over decades, she has developed skill in basketry; sewing clothes, quilts and 3d items; yarn arts including soft sculpture and tablet weaving; beading; wirework; tie-dye; ice-dye; papercraft including pop-ups, origami and quilling; papermaking; bookmaking; printing; soapmaking; creating fruit liqueurs; and some clay and woodwork. Gardening, genealogy and reading about history are other interests. Nancy is largely self-taught but thanks many teachers along her path.
SLIDING FEE: $5-25 + $15 supplies
Pay when you come via cash or check to "Balsam Moon Preserve"
Pizza Night -FINAL
Friday: Aug 14
5-7pm (last pizzas in by 7pm)
Tour begins at 4pm - just show up
These great get-togethers are a fun way to enjoy great food out in nature using a homemade wood-fired barrel oven. Slow it down, take a walk, eat around the campfire by the pond or in the timber frame pavilion screened from the bugs and enjoy each other's company - young and old.
WE PROVIDE: sourdough crust, sauce, cheese blend, simple beverages (water, lemonade, tea) (gluten free and/or dairy free options upon request)
YOU BRING: own pizza toppings and additional drinks if you like
INTERESTED IN A GUIDED TOUR? Join Doug at 4pm and he'll walk you around the grounds showing a variety of alternative building techniques, solar applications, deep winter greenhouse, the chickens (very friendly), gardens & more.
PLEASE SIGN UP for pizza as space is limited. Call 218-587-3808 or email BalsamMoon3148@gmail.com. Indicate dietary needs. Arrive any time between 5-7pm as last pizza in by 7pm. Hang around and visit, walk trails & gardens, sit by the pond around the campfire and visit with friends old and new.
Tending Grief w/ Nature
Sunday, Aug 16
2-5pm
Guide: Tanya Hanson, Death Doula
Recognizing and holding space for the grief we carry is important in softening and healing. Nature is perfect in honoring all of this as it holds the cycles of life and death in ever changing circles.
Tanya will guide those gathered to acknowledge, name, and create nature altars/mandalas to hold one's grief. Grief is not always related to the loss of a loved one - you may hold grief from loss of a job, a relationship, a home, or other type of loss that was never acknowledged or named. We carry all kinds of grief and it helps greatly to take time to process and release, though rarely ever forgotten.
This session will also include honoring the earth's grief and grief for the earth knowing the damage we as humans have done over many years.
Wherever you are in your journey with grief, know you are welcome to take time to slow down, be in nature, and honor that which is a part of you.
BRING: a journal & pen, water bottle, dress in hiking attire.
We will gather in the screened pavilion attached to the pond side of the house. We will wander in nature a bit as well.
Tanya Hanson is a certified Death Doula, life coach, yoga instructor, and works with hospice. Tanya's work is deeply rooted in the belief that death is a natural part of life and should be honored with respect and love. She encourages individuals to have open and honest conversations about their end-of-life wishes, ensuring that their loved ones are prepared and supported during this difficult time.
SLIDING FEE: $5-25
Chicken of the Woods
Processing & Using Wild Mushrooms
Sunday, Aug 23, 3-6pm
Guide: Tanya Villano
So, you've foraged your wild mushrooms - chicken of the woods, lobster, black trumpet, morel, indigo milk cap, chanterelle ... NOW WHAT?
Tanya will guide participants through a variety of ways to preserve, process and create dishes that will surely delight your tastebuds. Think black trumpet spread, lobster bisque, sauteed morels. Take your mushrooms from fresh to frozen to soup in safe-to-eat ways.
This session will include presentation, hands on making and incredibly FUN, delicious taste testing. It's a slow food experience that will leave you ready to enjoy what you harvest.
SLIDING FEE: $5-35
Pay via check / cash when you come.
Tanya Villano is certified to harvest wild mushrooms to sell in MN and she's been teaching classes at Balsam Moon for the past 3 years. Her gentle, curious spirit has a love for all things wild and delicious, and she's happy to share what she's learned. She'll be the last to ever claim being an "expert" and empowers you to educate yourself, harvest responsbily, and have fun ... always!
ANNUAL HARVEST FEST
Saturday, September 12 2-7pm
POTLUCK - meal at 5:30pm
It's time to celebrate the abundance of the harvest! Join in an afternoon of activities pressing apple cider for the meal, making acorn flour biscuits, roasting veggies, kids' activities, preparing the table and sharing great food from your gardens and harvest.
Live music prior to the meal with Devil Dodger (Matt Weiss from Minneapolis, & Doug's son).
TRANSFORMATION GAME
CALL TO SCHEDULE DATES for your group
TWO DAYS, 10am-4pm each day
(lunch & snacks included)
Facilitated by Barb Mann
Maximum of 4 participants/players
Examples of personal game focus:
* What steps can I take in my relationship(s) sot that I feel greater satisfaction and happiness?
* I desire to release those personality blocks that keep me from being joyful, creative and harmonious.
* I intend to gain a greater understanding and awareness, and move through my pattern of wanting to "fix" others.
* I intend to know and clear the obstacles that keep me from full and creative service to the planet.
The Transformation Game is a joyful way of understanding and transforming the way you play your life. It's about looking at your life and the kinds of experiences you create, seeing how you react to them, and how you can use these insights for your own growth. Through the Game you can become more aware of your personal strengths and learn important lessons that can deepen your understanding of how you operate on the Physical, Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual levels. By providing new perspectives on current life issues, the Game helps you clarify old beliefs and attitudes and transform reaction patterns. It triggers your creativity and lets you realize your full power and potential.
You play with a particular focus or intention (see examples at left) and this guides your entire experience.
This is not a competitive game. It is not therapy or counseling (those of you with those skills, be mindful in playing). The other players can be helpful in bringing different perspectives to light as you decipher information you receive in playing the game per your focus/intention, as you also serve in that capacity for the other players. It IS meant to be FUN! In the midst of that fun, there may be tears and resistance along with the laughter. It's not about judgment, or right/wrong, good/bad. It is an opportunity to reflect and learn about yourself as you live your life/dream.
FEE: $50-100
Coming a distance? Need an overnight? There are options.
Here's what past players are saying:
"I have been lucky enough to play the Transformation game twice and both times were life-changing experiences. The game has a light-hearted way of assisting the player to travel deep into their psyche and spirit to provide profound self truths and awareness." (Kris K 2019, 2021, 2025)
"Barb is an exceptional guide through the Transformation Game. The game itself brought awareness to patterns and engaged my thought process to expand what was possible in my everyday life."
(Tanya H, 2019)
"The Transformation Game deepened the trust I have in my inner knowing and gave me numerous tools to build, rebuild, reimagine my place in the world. It’s like a Google Earth for Your interior landscape – a tool that gives you a new perspective every time you use it. " (Jenny H, 2021)
"I am continuing to process and reflect on all of the many facets of the Transformation Game that I was recently so blessed to experience at your beautiful Balsam Moon home. Balsam Moon feels like sacred space. And the Transformation Game provided a sacred time for me to pause and to look inside myself. ... to listen to myself, to learn, be challenged, to release, and to move forward. I had no idea what I was in for! Your kindness and insight in directing the game (I think of it more as a journey) set the vibration of trust and acceptance. Reviewing the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual implications of one's goals/purpose is both uplifting and intense. Thank you for providing tissues, fabulous food, and your calm knowing!
The Transformation Game is difficult to describe to others as it is each participant's personal journey. However, for me, the true beauty of this experience was in the totally open and raw moments with myself and others at the table. When all masks are off we are truly not alone in our challenges or joys. I look forward to future visits to Balsam Moon (and your delicious gingersnap cookies)!
(Leslie C. 2022)