Adirondack Rural Skills & Homesteading Festival &
Adirondack Fungi Festival
Saturday, 3 October 2015
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

The Adirondack Rural Skills and Homesteading Festival celebrates the talents of a bygone era with a distinctly Adirondack flair. With featured exhibitions on logging and farming with draft horses, and a demonstration of competitive lumberjack sports by the Paul Smith's College Woodsmen's Team, the festival also offers dozens of workshops that appeal to a wide range of interests such as canning, cider making, woodworking, renewable energy, cord wood construction, small-scale farming, and primitive skills.

This year the inaugural Adirondack Fungi Fest is co-located with the event, enabling local mycology enthusiasts to join regional and national experts as they explore, investigate and enjoy the diverse fungi of the Adirondacks. Author and renowned mycologist Gary Lincoff headlines the event, which offers mushroom identification, forays, cultivation workshops and presentations exploring the human health benefits of mushrooms and the role fungi play in restoring damaged and polluted ecosystems.  It is this area of research that inspired the club to organize an annual fungi festival to celebrate the healing nature of the 5th Kingdom!

The festivities take place from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. $5/person or $10/carload. Free for the Paul Smith's College community and Friend of the VIC.

Festival Schedule
Key	Time	Program Title	Demonstrator	Location
	10:00 – 4:00 (Ongoing)	So You Want To Be a Farmer-Q & A with Cornell Cooperative Extension	Q&A, exhibit	Bird Viewing Area
	11:00 – 11:30	End of Season Garden Clean-up	Rich Gast, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Outside near sugarhouse
	10:00 – 11:30	World-Class Mushroom Foray ($15 -- pre-registration required)	Gary Lincoff & Susan Hopkins
	10:00 – 11:30	Home Food Preservation 101 – Canning: Making Salsa	Pat Banker, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Educational Classroom
	10:00 – noon	Jamming in the Whispering Pines	Tyler and Izzy	Whispering Pines Amphitheater
	10:30 – 11:30	"How a Book is Born: From Concept to Publication” workshop. Following the presentation there will be an informal “pitch-a-palooza” where aspiring authors can get feedback.	Carleen Madigan, author of The Backyard Homestead, and editor at Storey Publishing	Outside
	10:00 – 10:30	Understanding Solar Energy & Other Energy Alternatives – a Q&A	Rich Gast, Cornell Cooperative Extension	By solar panel display
	10:30	Timber Sports Exhibition	Paul Smith’s Woodsmen’s Team
	11:00 - 11:40	Tour of Osgood Pond Yurts	Bethany Garretson, Andy Johnstone	Meet at the VIC Sugar House
	11:00 – 11:45	Mushroom Wood, the non-toxic alternative for your home @ Ecovative Design	Sue Van Hook	Auditorium
	11:00	Getting started with maple production	Mike Farrell, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Outside near sugarhouse
	11:00	Invasive Plants	Randall Swanson	Outside
	11:00 – 2:30	Beekeeping 101	Steve McDonald	Bird viewing area
	11:30 – 1:00	Lunch  – Cream of Shiitake Soup with Maitake Toast; chicken wraps, harvest salad, cider donuts	PSC Culinary Arts chef & students	Educational Classroom
	11:30	Learn to Milk a Goat!	Rose Bartiss, Adirondack Goat Club	Outside
	12:00	Economic aspects of sugaring	Mike Farrell, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Outside, near sugar house
	12:00 – 12:40	Bow-drill Fire Demo	Bethany Garretson, Andy Johnstone	Fire Pit
	12:00	Chainsaw safety and tree felling demonstration	Tom Bartiss	Outside
	12:00 – 1:00	Wild Edibles Walk	Pat Banker, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Assemble at entrance
	1:00 – 1:30	Understanding Solar Energy & Other Energy Alternatives – a Q&A	Rich Gast, Cornell Cooperative Extension	By solar panel
	1:00 - 1:40	Tour of Osgood Pond Yurts	Bethany Garretson, Andy Johnstone	Meet at the VIC Sugar House
	1:00 – 2:15	Keynote – Magical Mushroom Stories: The Healing Nature of the 5th Kingdom	Gary Lincoff	Auditorium
	2:30 – 3:30	Wild Edibles Walk	Pat Banker, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Assemble at entrance
	1:00 - 3:00	Jamming in the Whispering Pines	Tyler and Izzy	Whispering Pines Amphitheater
	1:30 – 2:30	A beginner’s guide to making hard cider	Carleen Madigan, author of The Backyard Homestead, and editor at Storey Publishing	Outside
	2:15	Tapping birch and walnut trees for sap and syrup	Mike Farrell, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Auditorium
	2:00 – 2:40	Bow-drill Fire Demo	Bethany Garretson, Andy Johnstone	Fire Pit
	2:00 – 3:00	Fruit Tree Pruning demo	Rich Gast, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Outside-upper
	1:00	Canning 101 Making Salsa Q & A on safe canning of veggie/tomato mixtures.	Pat Banker, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Educational Classroom
	2:00	Timber Sports Exhibition	Paul Smith’s Woodsmen’s Team	Outside-upper
	3:00	Growing Figs in the Adirondacks	Joe Orefice	Outside
	3:00	The Woodland Homestead, How to make your land more productive and live more self-sufficiently in the woods. Signing to follow	Brett McLeod	Auditorium
	2:30	Backyard Chickens: From Chicks to Eggs	Brian McDonnell
	2:30 – 4:00	Mushroom Forays (free)	Fungi Friends	Sign up at AMC Table in Sunroom
	2:30 - 4:00	Oyster Cultivation Workshop – $15, includes oyster kit, -- pre-registration required)		Educational Classroom
	1:00 – 1:30	Sheep Shearing	Roger Hastings	Outside
	2:30 - 4:00	Book signing/social	Gary Lincoff	Auditorium entrance
	3:00 - 3:40	Tour of Osgood Pond Yurts	Bethany Garretson, Andy Johnston	Meet at the VIC Sugar House
	3:00	Firewood Science: Getting the most BTUs from your woodlot	Paul Smith's Forestry Club	Outside
	3:30 – 4:00	Solarize the Tri-Lakes	Apex Solar	Sugar House
	3:30 – 4:00	Wild Edibles	Pat Banker, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Assemble at entrance
	3:30	Timber Sports Exhibition	Paul Smith’s Woodsmen’s Team	Outside-upper
	3:30	Soap Making 101	Adirondack Goat Club	Outside
	8:00	Fun-gi Dance & Costume Party with Contra Band	The Walker Family	Forestry Club Cabin

 

Rural Skills and Homesteading Demonstrations Most events occur throughout the day from 10:00am to 4:00pm
Key	Program Title	Demonstrator	Location
	Spinning	Linda Hastings	Great Room
	Paul Smith’s Baking and Pastry Program, featuring local ingredients: Mini-Apple Pies, Madeleines, Maple Swiss Cupcakes (made with PSC maple syrup), Chocolate Croissants (made with locally-milled flour), Carrot Cake Bars, Blueberry Muffins
	Horses on the Homestead: The Original Tractor	Paul Smith’s College Draft Horse Club	Outside
	Cordwood Construction Workshop	Bruce Kilgore & Nancy Dow	Outside near sugarhouse
	Wool/fiber spinning	Linda Hastings	Great Room
	Quilting 101, demonstration and workshop	Karen Potts	Great Room
	Kid’s Papermaking	Casey Sukeforth, Program Director, 4-H Camp Overlook, CCE	Sun-room
	Wood Chopping 101: Secrets of Successful Splitting	Paul Smith’s Forestry Club	Outside
	Horses & Hand Tools: Low Impact Logging, Carriage ride, harnessing, implements (10am – 4pm)	Paul Smith’s College Draft Horse Club	Outside
	Butter Making (10:30am – 3:30pm)	Franklin County Dairy Princess	Lower grounds
	Ice Cream making	PSC Sustainability Office	Outside
	Cider Pressing	PSC Sustainability Office	Outside
	So you want to be a farmer? Q & A from Cornell Cooperative Extension - Ongoing	Cornell Cooperative Extension	Near sugar house for WiFi
	Food Preservation display	Cornell Cooperative Extension	Sun-room
	Wild Edibles display	Cornell Cooperative Extension	Sun-room
	Dairy Exhibit & demo	Chris Nobel	Outside-lower grounds
	Local Food Demonstration	PSC Culinary Arts	Inside & outside-lower
	Rural Life Movie Series		auditorium
	Let’s talk Maple! Backyard Sugaring Q&A	Mike Farrell, Cornell Cooperative Extension	Outside near sugar house
	Adirondack Farmers’ Market		Lower grounds-near butterfly house
	Blacksmithing Demonstration	Rick Banker	Lower grounds
	Chainsaw Carving	Paul Smith’s Forestry Club
	Axe-throwing 101. Yes, you can throw it.	Paul Smith's Woodsman's Team
	Log Hewing	Paul Smith's Forestry Club	Outside
	Weaving Demonstration	Clare Appleton	Great Room
	Alpacas	Mountain Meadows Farm	Outside
	Various CCE table-top exhibits	Cornell Cooperative Extension	Sun-room

Presented by:	Presented by: