Join us for a 4-day festival where we will camp, build an outdoor cooking space, learn humane animal processing, forage and use wild ingredients, make cheese, bread, and ferments from fresh ingredients, and combine all these skills for a final shared feast!

Mt. Folly Farms

3581 Schollsville Rd,

Winchester, KY 40391

Learn the essentials to get back to your roots!

Most modern Americans have lost their connection with their food and the earth. This has created a society that is fat, sick, depressed, and longing for something more... a reconnection to their roots.

The industrial revolution and post-WW2 culture moved us from the agrarian society of our ancestors to where we are today. In less than two generations, we have lost the skills that once were considered common sense, such as caring for the land with natural inputs, raising our food, and cooking from scratch.

Join us for a journey in essential skills that will reconnect you to your roots and empower you to take control of your food, health, and life.

Learn the skills you need to reconnect and live more confidently!

Butchering and Meat Processing

Wild foraging Workshops

Hands-on Cooking Workshops

Traditional Diets for Health Workshops

Fermentation Workshops

Basic and Alternative Cooking Workshops

We welcome you to join us at the first annual Heritage Food Festival hosted at Mt. Folly Farm!

This fest is a communal experience where participants collaborate to create an outdoor kitchen and camping area. You will have the opportunity to learn humane animal processing and butchering techniques, forage for wild herbs, and cook together using whole raw ingredients sourced from local farms. Learn the health value of traditional foods with workshops on food preservation and processing skills and using food as medicine. Enjoy a campfire moonshine-fueled jam session on Friday night, and dance to live music. Saturday night, share in a community feast the group will prepare together. We will say our goodbyes on Sunday and pack up for the day.

There will be access to indoor plumbing for elders and people traveling with small children and a more remote camping site for hardy folks. Small campers and tent camping set-ups are welcome.

Ticket purchase options:

Full Festival Entry - $60 per person

Workshops Only - $25 per day

Live Music Only - $10 Friday 10/13

Workshops

Hunter, Gatherer - Andrew

Learn to read the landscape through the eyes of a Hunter. Learn basic animal tracking and stalking skills along with wild foraging.

Animal Processing - Krista & Andrew

Become your own butcher. Learn the basics of processing a goat and chickens from start to finish for consumption.

Effective Outdoor Living - Missy

Set up camp like a trailblazer. Learn how to effectively setup a comfortable outdoor living space from kitchen to composting toilet.

Using Herbs in Everyday Life - Alice and Elihue

Become a home herbalist. Learn to create your own healing blends of tea to help with basic alignments.

Kitchen Confidence - Sydney

Break away from fears in the kitchen. Learn basic kitchen skills coupled with creative and alternative cooking techniques.

Traditional Diets for Health - Krista

Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food. Learn the basics of why traditional diets are more nourishing and make a basic bone broth.

Milling Grains - Jessiny

Discover how to use a hand-miller and take your turn at grinding wheat into flour!

Somatic Movement - Colleen

Learn to move your body in ways to release tension and improve mood

Poultry Breakdown & Broth - Krista

Learn to break down a whole chicken and how to make a basic bone broth from the discarded parts.

Open Pit Roasting - Andrew & Alice

Learn to pit roast for cooking large game or livestock. You will learn to prep the pit and coals, prep the meat and organs, and how to roast the goat to smolder overnight.

Soil Health 101 - Michael Blum

Healthy foods, start with healthy soil. Join us to learn the basics of this delicate living ecosystem.

Cyclical Living & Eating - Colleen

Find your balance with nature. Learn to become more in-tuned with yourself and the natural cycles of being.

Squash 101 - Sydney

Cooking and preparing winter squash to enjoy for the fest! Come play, learn, listen to stories and cook this delicious vegetable together!

Grandma’s Chicken & Noodles - Krista

Learn to make old fashion egg noodles and a classic French Roux that you can use over and over again to make anything from a cream soup to gravy.

Fermentation - Obiora & Irucka

Learn to make a vegetable ferment with wild plants combined with traditional cabbage kraut for broader health benefits!

Cheese Making - Reva

Tap into your inner Cheese Monger. Learn to make basic cheese from fresh milk.

Children’s Nature Crafts

Learn to create a beautiful craft from nature to decorate our table for our feast.

Distilling 101 - Zach

Tap into distilling. Learn to make basic mash from scratch using fresh local ingredients.

Dutch Oven Cooking - Martha & Darren

Learn the art of cooking in a Dutch oven, and make a delicious dessert using fresh, local apples, and a traditional favorite - cowpeas!

Seeds for the Future - Jim

Learn and contribute in a facilitated discussion circle focused on seed saving, genetic diversity and plant adaptation. Seeds are the basis of all agriculture.

Food Systems for the Future - Alice

Learn and contribute in a facilitated discussion circle about the culture and politics of the future’s food systems.

Join us in person

We care about you! For any assistance you need to contact us by October 1 2023.

INTERESTED IN FREE TICKETS??

We are looking for volunteers who can commit to helping the festival run smoothly. Volunteers must arrive between Wednesday and Thursday and stay until Sunday for cleanup. In return, they will receive free tickets. Contact jessiny@laurasmercantile.com for more information on volunteering.

Hootenanny!

Join us Friday for a good old fashioned

Foot Stompin’, Shine Filled

Featuring

Jacob Fultz will play our live show @ 7PM Friday the 13th at the Cabin Barn.

Live Music

Regeneration Distilling Co’s mobile bar, “The Alibi,” will join us Friday night offering a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. Whether you’re looking for domestic or imported beers, local wines, or craft spirits and cocktails, The Alibi has got you covered.

The Alibi Mobile Bar

TheAlibi

Mobile Bar

Heritage Food Festival

schedule

* (Start times are listed. Workshop length determined by instructor) *

For participants of butchering workshops please bring a sharp knife and apron or clothes you don’t mind ruining.

Details You Need to Know!

Primitive Camping and Carside Camping Available

Come join us for the whole event and don’t miss out on a single activity! Spaces for primitive tent and car side camping available. Restroom facilities provided.

BYO - Bring Your Own - Pack like you’re camping.

• Bring food, snacks, and drinks for breakfast -and lunches.
• Bring a reusable water bottle and mess kit.
• Bring a side to share! Meat & buns will be provided for the Hootenanny on Friday!
• Bring your favorite kitchen tools. Saturday Feast will be fully prepared as a community effort.
  

Pack for the weather!

Mid-October weather can be hard to predict. Make sure you pack appropriate and adequate clothing and footwear to be outdoors. Bonfires will be available for cooking and warming up.

FAQ

Can I do multiple workshops? YES! Absolutely. We have made the schedule to spread out events for people to double dip between workshops.

Can I come just for specific workshops or just for the music? Yes, there are ticket options for just workshops, or just the live music on Friday night.

Is the event family friendly? Absolutely. Children are invited and welcome as they are part of the community as well. There will be a workshop for craft making which any age is welcome to. There will also be a workshop geared towards children as well.

Is lodging available? For those interested in staying overnight, camping is an option. Tent camping and small pop-up campers are allowed in the designated camping areas. We will have down time at the end of each day for socializing and hanging out at the end of the events each day.

What about food? On Friday night there will be meat and buns provided and mobile bar with offerings available for purchase. On Saturday we will have the community feast that the workshops will provide the ingredients for. For the rest of the time, we recommend bringing your own food, snacks or drinks. There will be an outdoor kitchen available for cooking. There are also local options, such as the Pilot which is approximately 10 minutes from the event location. There are other food options available in Winchester and Mount Sterling as well.

Are pets allowed? We love animals, we really do, but for everyone involved it is best if you keep your furry friends at home for this event

Get your tickets

We thank you for your desire and support of living closer to the land and your food. We hope you will join us for this one of a kind experience!

Mt. Folly Farm

We will have an excellent line up of speakers joining us!

Andrew Ozinskas

Andrew Ozinskas is a clinical herbalist, sustainable wildcrafter, forest farmer and apothecary. In practice since 2002, Andrew is passionate about a full-spectrum approach incorporating research-based medical science and analytical chemistry, along with spirit-oriented awareness & and traditional folk wisdom. From entering a lifelong relationship with Spirit inherited from his ancestors as a young child, to a daily path centered around foraging and ecosystem management as well as practice in pharmacognosy, his mission is to reconnect Spirit with Science in daily life.

Based on 9th-generation family land in Owen County, Kentucky, Andrew uses a forest management system that ensures he increases the populations of wild herbs while tending them over time. A graduate of Bastyr University, he taught for the Bastyr Appalachian Herbal Intensive, and has taught around the world at Universities, festivals, health food stores and wildlife centers.

https://www.facebook.com/NaturaApothecary

Obiora Embry

Obiora Embry was born to Afrocentric, artistic/creative, intelligent, forward-thinking, family and community-minded, articulate, well-read, revolutionary, and loving parents: DeBora Mapp-Embry and James Embry. Both parents have familial farms where they spent time during their youth.

Although Obiora grew up in the inner city in an older brick house, their family ate fresh fruit from the orchard they had established in their yard. The orchard included the following trees: Apple, Pecan, Peach, Apricot, Cherry, Pear, Pin Oak, Eastern Red Cedar, and Common Hackberry. There were also Blackberries, Huckleberries, Gooseberries, and Grapes. In addition, his family had a small garden and would often visit with friends of the family who had large gardens as well as their maternal and paternal family farms.

Obiora attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering. He started growing food as an adult in 2003 or 2004, and in 2006 he started to assist with some of the community gardens his father started. While working in the community gardens, he learned from his father and other elders. As Obiora’s involvement with growing food grew, he started experimenting with different ways of preserving the harvest. In doing so he has dabbled in lacto-fermentation, canning, freezing, and dehydrating.

Some of Obiora’s lacto‐fermentations include the following: • Kombucha • Ginger Ale/Beer • Flower Soft Drink • Mexican Cilantro Pesto • Purple Cabbage Sauerkraut • Hot Sauce • Salsa • Kimchi • O.N.E. Fire Cider • O.N.E. Love Hickory Tea For more information about Obiora Embry, check out https://www.gettingback2nature.farm

Jim Embry

Jim Embry, who considers himself stardust condenses in human form, was born in Richmond, Kentucky, a grandson of small farmers who were also social activists. This family legacy of activism was passed down to him as a 10-year-old participant in the Civil Rights Movement. Often times called an “eco-activist” or labelled as Black & Green.

Jim has worked to connect social justice, food justice and environmental justice within other social movements for the past 50 years. Jim now serves as director of Sustainable Communities Network and cultivates collaborative efforts at the local, national, and international levels, focusing on food systems. He is at home at every level, whether as a seven-time USA delegate to Slow Food’s Terra Madre in Italy, a visitor to Cuba to study organic farming, his extensive work in urban agriculture, or planting on his 30-acre farm.

Jim maintains that the local food and sustainable agriculture movement is the foundation of a sustainable community. Jim was a recipient of the prestigious James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2023. His belief is that we need some big ideas that connect humans in a sacred relationship with the Earth, which will require us to think not just “out of the box” but “out-of- the-barn”.

Irucka Embry

Irucka Embry is a creative and multi-faceted person. He is an advocate of everyone eating, ecological activist, environmental engineer, herbalist (“lover and user of plants”), performing and visual artist, public speaker, and published author. Iruka recognizes that the most healthy food will be grown in healthy and lively soil that is wetted by healthy water.

Iruka is the Principal of EcoC2S, based in Nashville, Tennessee, which has joined with Obiora Embry’s Econsulting™ under the umbrella of Getting Back to Nature™ to oversee their farming operations. Iruka holds a Master of Engineering with a Concentration in Environmental Engineering. This background has provided Iruka with a wealth of knowledge on soil and water health which he uses along with agricultural knowledge to heal the land

Krista Raymond

Krista Raymond is a wife, mother of 5, and a proud grandmother. Her life revolves around family, food, and nature, and she passionately advocates for health through traditional foods. Krista's health journey began in 2006 when she was diagnosed with a challenging autoimmune condition. Faced with chronic fatigue and pain, conventional medicine offered a lifetime of medication as the solution, but she couldn't accept that fate. Around the same time, her daughter was diagnosed with ADHD and put on medication. Feeling there had to be more to their health issues, Krista delved into books on health and nutrition and discovered the alarming realities of the modern food system. She was astounded by what she discovered about the FDA, American food practices, and their impact on human and environmental health.

Determined to make a change, they transformed their diet, embracing cleaner foods and eliminating processed junk, significantly improving their symptoms. This journey transformed their lives and highlighted the importance of local, clean traditional food and its impact on health.

Growing up on a small homestead, Krista learned the value of hard work from her parents, who came from agricultural backgrounds. Their stories of farm life and resilience stuck with her. Today, she is a skip generation farmer, managing a small, non-certified organic farm where they raise grass-fed beef, lamb, pastured pork, poultry, produce as well as a certified health coach, and traditional food advocate. Her mission is to share her knowledge and experiences, helping others take charge of their health and make informed choices about the food they put on their plates.

Zach Pasley

Zach Pasley - Zach is living in Clark County where he was born and raised. He made his first batch of spirits in 2016 in a pot still at the log cabin where the Fest will be held. He's used all types of heat-- fire, propane, stove top and electric elements. He is now working with a 100 gallon craft-scale copper pot still at the Regeneration Distillery in Winchester. From the days of YouTube tutorials, to visiting the operations of other people in the business, he is largely self-taught. He's had experience with several different variations of small scale, including different ferments, different sources and types of equipment and more. He's happy to pass on some of his knowledge to others with interest.

Sydney Wilk

Sydney Wilk is a health and wellness coach, nature admirer, and artist, whose journey has taken her down an interesting and often twisting path, but every time she has found herself anchored by food. Whether it's in cooking for others at retreats, helping to piece out habits & practices that better serve one during mealtime, gardening, or even cooking in her own kitchen, she's always found herself listening to other's share their stories around food and what it's meant to them. Being enamored by the deep connections found between place, food, and people has led her to devote her life's work towards connecting people even more deeply with the food they eat and the soil beneath their feet.

When out of the kitchen, you can find her outside, listening to the sunflowers or spending time with the many plants that she is lucky enough to share space with.

Martha and Darren Payne live on Spencer Creek Farm in rural Montgomery County with their 2 dogs, 9 chickens and honeybees. They enjoy promoting local food and are especially interested in preserving their harvest through canning, freezing, storing, and dehydrating. Martha and Darren are always eager to share their knowledge and the bounty of their garden, and are continually interested in learning new farming skills and methods and sharing best practices with like-minded folk. Dutch oven outdoor cooking has been a favorite hobby and pastime of theirs for many years.

Martha + Darren Payne

Colleen Potter

Colleen Potter, founder of Swell Life Wellness, is a Certified Health and Wellness Coach, Certified Lifestyle Medicine Coach, RYT-200 Yoga Instructor, Reiki Master Teacher, and Sound Healer. Due to the pressures of our society, many high-performers face health challenges, hormone imbalances, burnout, injuries, and disconnection from their bodies. Colleen empowers high performers to overcome barriers to optimal health through personalized Health & Lifestyle Coaching, seasonal wellness retreats and workshops, and yoga and fitness classes in the Lexington, KY area. She specializes in wellness for athletes, mind-body connectivity, women’s wellness, and healing through nature.

Ever wondered how to strengthen your sense of what’s going on inside your body? This class will combine mindful movement, breath, yoga practices, and meditation to guide you in developing a stronger sense of interoception, or your ability to interpret the signs and signals coming from within your body. This skill is invaluable in choosing what your body needs and taking action on that knowledge, from daily food and exercise choices, to environment, relationships and beyond. You’ll leave this class feeling more connected to your body and breath, and empowered to make more conscious choices for yourself every day.

In our society, many of us are chronically disconnected from the natural rhythms and cycles found in nature. This can lead to health problems, injuries, feelings of anxiety or burnout, and much more. By looking to nature and exploring the models of the four seasons, the circadian rhythm of the sun, the lunar calendar, and the phases of women’s menstrual cycles, for example, we find valuable models for how to lead our own lives in a way that’s sustainable and nourishing to our bodies, minds, and hearts. In this class we’ll discuss eating seasonally for your body type, ways to avoid burnout and health issues, and seasonal health habits and rituals to fill up your cup in all seasons of your life. You’ll leave this class full of ideas for how to structure your life and habits in order to feel supported and nourished all year long.

Michael Blum

Michael Blum is a farmer, educator, and engineer from Louisville, KY. After witnessing and experiencing how food can be healing for both people and planet, Michael devoted himself to studying ecosystems and agroecology. He deepened his studies in 2019 by completing an online Permaculture Design Course (PDC) from Permaculture Education based out of Nashville, TN and by taking Richard Perkin’s Regenerative Agriculture Master Course. In 2020, Michael completed Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web School before becoming a Certified Lab Technician through the Soil Food Web School, analyzing the microbiology present in soil samples using shadowing microscopy.

While Michael has learned theory from experts, he also has loves to get his hands in the soil. In September 2019, he attended Susana Lien’s Permaculture in Practice (PiP) Workshop and has learned extensively from Susana at Salamander Springs Farm. Shortly after completing the PiP workshop, Michael and his wife began stewarding Turtle Crest Farm in the winter of 2019. Turtle Crest Farm is a 20-acre farmstead consisting of 15 acres of forest with 5 acres of previously cleared land that had been used to grow tobacco. Currently, Michael and his wife raise sheep, chickens, and geese alongside an expanding vegetable garden. Michael is also excited about the work he is doing with silvopasture and starting perennial herbs, bushes, and trees from seed.

Healthy food begins with healthy soil. In the Soil Health 101 workshop, students will learn how nature builds soil, cycles nutrients, selects for certain plants (a.k.a. how nature weeds), and suppresses pests and diseases. The workshop will allow participants to see soil microorganisms using a microscope and understand the role of these microorganisms in growing healthier food. The workshop will conclude by discussing and demonstrating practical methods to care for the soil including cover cropping, mulching, composting, and creating compost extract. While Michael does not currently have a website, he is passionate about building community and sharing resources and knowledge. He can be reached best by email at michael.blum13@gmail.com

Ron + Missy Gardner

Ron and Missy Gardner are longtime Hiking and Camping Enthusiasts, and Ron is a structural engineer and instructor. Put it all together and you have a great dynamic duo for teaching how to build effective outdoor living and work spaces!

Jessiny MacNeil

Jessiny MacNeil is a transplant from New England, with a strong passion for local ecosystems and an environmentalist mindset. She received a Bachelors of Science in Agriculture and a Bachelors of Science in Sustainability from Oregon State University in 2023. Believing that her true mission in this lifetime is to help save the world, she is focused on regenerative agriculture. She believes that healing local ecosystems will have a butterfly effect that will help heal other local systems, including community and food systems. After recently moving to Appalachia, she has begun raising soy free chickens as a way to focus on female health. She has also recently joined the Craft Miller's Guild, to become more involved in the local food systems and join a national community. She enjoys spending her free time outdoors, hiking or camping with her partner and their four dogs

Alice Melendez

Alice Melendez was born in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains between Clay City and the rolling fields of central Kentucky. I grew up on the farm, went to small town schools, learned to drive on winding country roads with lots of blind spots. I went away, like a lot of people, and came back. “Away” took me to Dartmouth College, to Philadelphia, and then six or so years in Houston. I studied the way that economies and social agreements and hard physical realities interplay in real actual places (not models). I worked at a delivery business and at a refugee resettlement agency. I ran a handyman business and for a short while a grain elevator. I thought for a while that 'the climate movement' might generate political will for a massive transformation in the way that humans relate to the natural world, and I worked on that. Now, I think it's time to focus on regenerative agriculture in our Ohio River Valley to ride through whatever comes our way.