june 13-16, 2019 in north carolina
The 12th annual Firefly Gathering will take place June 13-16, 2019 at Deerfields in Mills River, NC, just 30 minutes outside of Asheville.
We gather each summer to learn and celebrate the skills necessary to live with the Earth. Our family-friendly content and culture bring together folks of all ages.
Each day is full of workshops spanning wilderness survival skills to permaculture, plant identification to cooking over fire, cow milking to bowl carving, basket weaving to blacksmithing. Through our time together at Firefly, we not only share skills to connect to the land, we connect also with ourselves, one another, our ancestors, and our future generations.
the site
The 2019 Gathering will be at Deerfields in Mills River, NC. Deerfields is just 30 minutes south of Asheville, and offers a truly beautiful location for us to share and grow together.
The site boasts two spring-fed freshwater lakes, sweet creeks, and robust hiking trails that meander through mature and diverse forests. Come enjoy over 900 acres of unspoiled wilderness.
about
Our mission is to share skills of outdoor and traditional living, natural medicine, crafts, and community resilience in Southern Appalachia to promote healthy, connected, and sustainable livelihoods on Earth.
In a time of disconnection, industrial specialization, environmental injury, and rapid climate change, we believe it is of the utmost importance to adapt the way we live to not only survive in the changing world around us, but to thrive within our contributions to the human experience.
Firefly Gathering is a community organization dedicated to sharing the skills that help us to live with the earth. We are currently in the process of becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and anticipate IRS approval later this year.
our founder
Natalie is the founder and former director of the Firefly Gathering. She now focuses her energy on her family and her school, Wild Abundance, where she teaches tiny house building workshops, foraging classes, deer hide tanning, and permaculture design courses, where people can earn their permaculture design certificates.
She teaches at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, the Maps meet, and Earthskills Rendezvous, and has given talks at FSU, Southern Adventist University, Tulane University, Ohio University, Vanderbilt University, Western Washington University, and many other places. Natalie was also featured in Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Freedom in America and appeared in the National Geographic series Live Free or Die. Natalie holds a B.A. in ecological agriculture and, more importantly, has studied with teachers who have deeply enriched her perspective, including Juliet Blankespoor, Margaret Mathewson, and Frank Cook.
She and her partner Frank also run an herbal apprenticeship, a natural building apprenticeship, and a permaculture apprenticeship. These days she is especially focused on women’s primitive skills, permaculture courses, and home building workshops.
