Up!Skilling
Up!Skilling sessions are hands-on demonstrations and an opportunity for participants to ‘dip their toes’ into a new skill, craft, or trade. Learn the basics of a new skill from local experts that can be applied at the household level.
Up!SKILLING SESSIONS
Friday
Flax-Processing: A Local Sustainable Textile
Friday August 7 10AM-11:30AM @ Tatamagouche Regional Academy Outdoor Classroom
Join Ann Doyle Huntley researcher on the Flax Fibre to Fabric Project and Nike Baneberry flax grower of Crows’ Commons Co-operative and early participant of the Flaxmobile project for a demonstration of how to process flax into fibre. Participants will get to see more about how this plant is grown, try out different tools to process flax, and learn how the Flax Fiber to Fabric Project is bringing together farmers, academics, researchers, and artists to develop a local sustainable textile chain in Atlantic Canada.
Flax Fibre to Fabric:
A research project supporting the development of a local fibre flax industry in Atlantic Canada. Through trans-disciplinary and community-based research, the project broadens connections between farmers, materials technicians, and artisans, and contributes to a net-zero economy that supports socio-cultural resilience and regional economic development
Nike Baneberry
Nike Baneberry (they/them) is a founding member of Crows’ Commons Co-operative a queer/trans and disabled land sharing collective in rural Mi’kma’ki. They are also one of the flax growing farmers participating in the Flax Fiber to Fabric and Flaxmobile project. They are passionate about community land trusts and alternative housing models. They are also a founding member of The 644 Revitalization Network organization in New Germany, NS where they help coordinate the New Germany Farmers Market, and the maintenance of the local community fridge. Nike is fired up about the possibilities of small rural communities, and believes in tangible and approachable strategies for creating informed, engaged, and compassionate rural areas.
Ann Doyle Huntley
Ann Doyle Huntley lives and works in Scots Bay, Nova Scotia where she has been regeneratively small-scale farming for nearly 20 years. She and her two school-aged children operate Moon Tide Farm, where they raise Shetland sheep, wrangle laying hens and a draft horse, and tend gardens. Ann also works at Acadia University as a researcher on projects involving agriculture, climate change, and rural agro-industry development finding best practices, making policy recommendation, and building connections at home and in Europe. She also consults other agri-business start-ups, expansions, and cooperatives and as a systems-thinker and trained regenerative change agent, she KNOWS we’re all better when working together.
Building Benches, Dreaming Community
Friday August 7 10AM-6PM (All Day Drop-In) @ Event Hub
This up!skilling session is led the team at OSO Planning & Design. This session offers practical, repeatable skills in bench-building that participants can apply at home, in Tatamagouche and beyond. More importantly, it models a way of working together, using making as a starting point to dream, envision, and begin to take collective action toward the kinds of places and communities people want to inhabit.
Saturday
Leather Tag & Bookmark Creation
Saturday August 8 9AM-1PM @ Creamery Square Boat Shed
Lisa Langille
With simple hand tools each participant will have the opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind Leather Tag or Bookmark. No previous experience or skills required, just your imagination.
Kids welcome to participate, with their parent/guardian present!
Scotch Darning for Beginners
Saturday August 8 10AM-10:45AM @ Tatamagouche Regional Academy Cafeteria
Harvest Collective Market and Mendery
Host: Amy-Leigh Allain
Show-and-tell or live demonstration: A practical demonstration of a tool, model, or approach, showing how it works in real life.
Learn the basics of Scotch Darning, a type of surface darning for visibly mending textiles. Depending on the number of participants, I can do a live demonstration of the darn, whilst teaching the steps, or I can do workshop-style where participants are darning along with me.
Amy-Leigh Allain is a self-taught mender passionate about reducing waste and cherishing the things we own. Believing deeply that textiles can help tell the stories of our lives, Amy chooses to work primarily in the visible mending medium, leaving the garments with a “scar” or “tattoo” that shows our patterns, habits, mistakes, and memories, just like what happens to our bodies. At the same time, these visible fixes can be worn as a badge of honour, showing the world that you care enough to not just discard your favourite things.
Harvest Collective Market and Mendery is a small shop in downtown Truro showcasing the delicious foods and incredible artisanship that Nova Scotia has to offer. When you visit, you’ll be greeted by the smell of home-style baking and cooking made in house, as well as the vibrant and fresh local produce. Find beautiful gifts made right here in Nova Scotia, or drop off your well-loved textiles to be revived and repaired. It’s like a farmers’ market rolled into a store!
Packing Your Emergency Kit And Go Bag
Saturday August 8 10:45AM-11:30AM @ Tatamagouche Regional Academy Cafeteria
Learn how to build two essential emergency kits: a emergency go-bag for quick evacuation and a shelter-in-place kit. We’ll cover must-have supplies, how to tailor your kit to your household, and simple storage tips so nothing goes stale. You’ll leave with personalized check-lists and two participants will leave with an emergency bag from 72hours.ca or a solar-powered emergency radio!
Bailey Dunyo
Climate Content Creator – Bailey has spent the past decade helping organizations connect with their people and tell their stories. In her career as a communications specialist and digital generalist, she has worked with nonprofits in Canada and internationally, spanning climate, health, education, and arts and culture. She especially passionate about helping to uplift the stories of people on the frontlines of climate change.
Sophia Lindfield
Sophia Lindfield (she/her) is a climate activist who has worked at the intersection of climate justice and politics for nearly a decade. She has led municipal campaigns, run a national grant program that disbursed $230,000 to youth emissions reduction projects, written federal legislation, and put in a lot of waitressing hours to pay the bills. She currently works as the Atlantic Organizer for My Climate Plan and as the Policy Advisor for the youth climate policy network Infiltrate the System.
Katie Perfitt
National Organizing Director – Katie has worked at the intersection of climate and human rights for over a decade with organizations including 350.org and the David Suzuki Foundation. She is now serving as the National Organizing Director with My Climate Plan where her mission is to support people to take strategic action action to win a more a more climate safe future. She grew up in the Ottawa Valley, but now lives along the Avon River with her three dogs, cat, and chickens.
Seed Saving Basics
Saturday August 8 4:30PM-6PM @ Tatamagouche Regional Academy Outdoor Classroom
Led by Raina McDonald, co-founder of Pictou County Seed Collective and the Scotsburn Community Food Forest, who loves to talk seed and inspire new seed savers!
Discover the age-old practice of saving seeds from your garden! This session features demonstrations, Q&A, and resources to kick-start your seed saving at home. We’ll focus on low-tech, accessible methods for planning, planting, harvesting, cleaning, and storing quality vegetable seeds — skills that reduce costs, preserve regionally adapted varieties, and build food sovereignty and community resilience. Whether you’re a first-time gardener or simply seed-saving-curious, everyone is welcome.
