Darrell and Mary Birchenough speak with groups and inspire people, young and old, to consider practical approaches to simpler, more mindful living. They also offer a variety of informational and hands-on classes to help create a more mindful life starting wherever you are.
Past classes have included:
- Simplify! Explore ways to simplify your life by examining food, time, community/place, & available resources.
- Apples! Apples! Apples! A hands-on workshop for cider-making and old fashioned Apple Pandowdy!
- Maple Syruping: From Tree to Table Learn the basics of the process of tree tapping to finished syrup with demonstrations of how to make some of Mary’s award winning maple recipes!
- Basket Making Learn to make a simple woven basket with natural materials or challenge yourself to make your own pack basket! This class can be designed to meet your needs and may be combined into a longer program to include making bread and a basket!
- Canning/Food preservation Salsa making, jams, and other preserves
Follow Mindful Homesteaders!
Find out more about life around our little homestead on our Facebook Page Kneading Life/Mindful Homesteaders. We keep that page current with classes that are available to the public. Come join us or contact us to tailor something to your group’s needs.
More about Darrell & Mary…
Darrell and Mary started life together on the heels of change. He sold his optometry practice determined to live by himself off the grid. She was a public school teacher trying to raise two teenagers. To someone looking in from the outside they were on different trajectories but just under the surface they had common ground. Each quietly harbored an underlying sense of discontent with the worlds they’d created. Rather than wanting something more each of them, in their own way, wanted something less.
Their ideal scenario to ditch everything, buy a little farm, live off the grid and raise their own food wasn’t unique but they weren’t prepared for a complete overhaul all at once. Rather than be disheartened they started taking a closer look at their lives refusing to give in to defeat and focused on what they could do rather than scrap the whole dream.
Their move toward more conscious living wasn’t extraordinary or mystical. The practical business of living more thoughtfully with a willingness to change at a slow and steady pace brought them gradually to the simpler life they’d been dreaming of.
Mindfulness - in practice 