Past Playshops

Our Changing Earth: November 2, 2024

Join land tender and certified arborist Corva Rose; music and rest sharer maria mcCullough; and writer and grief worker mai cortez đoán for this gentle, interactive playshop.

This playshop will offer spaciousness and welcome to turn inward and be with climate grief. Over the course of four hours, we will weave our hearts and grief through reflection, personal writing time, gentle movement, and the collective building of a fence mosaic. Together, we will connect to the inner + outer resilience that can emerge when we share and hold our grief in community through creative pathways.

Your Teachers

Corva Rose

Corva Rose

Corva Rose (she/they) is a certified arborist, meditation instructor, Permaculture practitioner, and long-time collector of fancy sticks that become fashion fences.  Corva is devoted to weaving compassion and equity into gardening culture, habitat creation, and urban forestry.  Cultivating joy, silliness, and presence in the midst of this traumatic climate threshold is something that makes Corva’s heart smile.

 

maria mcCullough

maria mcCullough (they/she) loves to share and explore with beings through music, gentle movement, laughter, love and rest. maria is in a practice and study of sharing music to those passing through the death portal. maria is grateful to be living on Southern Tiwa Land and to be in a relationship-building journey with the land, water and beings here.

mai cortez ðoán

mai cortez ðoán (she/her) is a poet, writer, and grief worker. She is the author of the poetry book, water/tongue. mai writes and teaches writing as a creative and contemplative practice to deepen self-connection and affirm our inherent belonging to ourselves, our stories, and the earth. She lives in Albuquerque, NM with her dog, Story.

What We Will Cover

A couple of notes:

– While this space welcomes feelings and invites you to show up as you are, we are not therapists and this is not a group therapy space. We ask that you come ready to self-regulate, and to take care of yourself and others as you participate in this space.

– In this playshop, we will facilitate space for self-reflection, personal writing, and collaborative art-building. All participation is optional and we will offer alternatives throughout the day so that you may participate at your own comfort level.

The Playshop will be held at the Filling Station in the South Valley (address will be included in your confirmation email) on the unceded ancestral lands of the Pueblo of Isleta and Sandia in now-called Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Wheelchair access: If your power chair can move over compacted mulch, this garden/playshop will be accessible for you.  There is an outdoor composting toilet with a ramp, but you will need to be able to get out of your chair (there is no lift).  Please reach out to us here if you have questions.

Hydro-Fearless: July 14, 2024

Join land tender and certified arborist Corva Rose; poet and inner water tender Dvorah Simon; and habitat tender and licensed irrigation contractor Rachel Chandler for this interactive playshop  We’ll be weaving together irrigation instruction, greywater infiltration, rainwater collection, inner water exploration, art, movement, community, and heart-centered reflection. 

As we sit in the shade in the midpoint of summer, these 2 ½  early-morning cool hours will be a grounding and uplifting gift not only for ourselves, but for the world we experience, affect, and ultimately create.

Your Teachers

Corva Rose

Corva Rose (she/they) is a certified arborist, meditation instructor, Permaculture practitioner, and long-time collector of fancy sticks that become fashion fences.  Corva is devoted to weaving compassion and equity into gardening culture, habitat creation, and urban forestry. 

Cultivating joy, silliness, and presence in the midst of this traumatic climate threshold is something that makes Corva’s heart smile.

Dvorah Simon

 Dvorah Simon (she/her) is a psychologist, poet, and Tree School devotee. She assisted with facilitation of the Tree School Mentorship in 2023 with a focus on the inner garden as expressed in language and poetry. She approaches poetry as the natural speech of the heart, and as such, something accessible to all.

Rachel Chandler

Rachel Chandler (she/her), owner of New Mexico Nature by Design, is a licensed irrigation contractor and landscape designer with over 20 years of experience. Her passion is to create pollinator gardens that both conserve water and support diversity.

What We Will Cover

The Playshop will be held at Corva’s teaching garden in the Uptown area (address will be included in your confirmation email) on the unceded ancestral lands of the Pueblo of Isleta and Sandia in now-called Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Wheelchair access:  The garden/playshop are wheelchair accessible, but the bathroom/house are not.
Community Pricing

For 2024, our Playshops will be donation-based – a donation jar will be at the event, and you can contribute what you are able.

Our wish is that this donation-based sliding scale allows you to pick your payment amount in the spirit of equity, accessibility, generosity, and redistribution, while simultaneously inviting your conscious investment in a gardening culture that is working to create habitat infused with compassion, and supports this small queer business to operate sustainably.

If you can pay more, you’ll help cover the cost for someone else who needs to pay less.  If you can’t pay anything at this time, you are equally welcome here!  No one is keeping track of who does/doesn’t contribute.

We are operating in the spirit of trust and openness.

All funds collected will be donated to The Hook Up – fabulous Albuquerque-based community collective providing abolitionist harm reduction.  They focus on hooking up our community with supplies, resources, connection, de-stigmatization, and love.  This is deeply in concert with the Tree School values of inter-dependence and belonging, and we are so happy to be partnering with them!

Sharpen the Blade: February 10, 2024

Fruity Goats: January 27, 2024

Bustle in your Hedgerow: November 5, 2023

Made in the Shade: July 8, 2023

Fruity Goats: February 18, 2023

Fruity Goats

We started 2023
with two super fun and relaxed pruning playshops:

tree school playshop

Fig Trees: We’ll work on a 50+ year old fig tree together, learning about buds, dormancy, creation of new wood, winter protection, and more. And, you can go home with cuttings woo hoo!
For tree care-givers, professionals, beginners, anyone.

  • By donation at the class (pay what you can, no questions asked)
  • Saturday, Jan 14
  • 10:30am – 12:30pm
  • Uptown location

Espalier Fruit Trees: We’ll work on a row of old espalier (trained horizontally) fruit trees, learning about training new branches, bud formation, sun protection, and more.

  • For tree care-givers, professionals, beginners, anyone.
  • Free
  • Friday, Jan 20
  • 9am – 1pm
  • North Valley home orchard

Hallowed Ground: Oct 29, 2022

Hallowed Ground:

A creative, hands-on, outdoor playshop
to tend our inner, home, and collective gardens
as we move into winter.

A creative, hands-on, outdoor playshop to tend our inner, home, and collective gardens
as we move into winter.

Looking for an inspirational way to close up summer and prepare yourself and your garden for winter? Join gardener and certified arborist Corva Rose and guest teacher Maria McCullough for this interactive playshop, where we’ll weave together gardening instruction, habitat creation, sound + movement, and heart-centered reflection. As we stand at the threshold of winter, however scattered or centered our hearts may feel, these three hours will be a grounding and energizing gift not only for ourselves, but for the world we experience, affect, and ultimately create.
We will cover:

Summer Breeze: May 28 + June 18, 2022

A creative, hands-on, outdoor playshop
to learn climate adaptive methods
and how to mix them with JOY.

A creative, hands-on, outdoor playshop to learn
climate adaptive methods
and how to mix them with JOY.

Corva will be teaching within the context of the Tree School Climate Adaptation Method
that is followed in her Tree School Mentorship.

Looking for an inspirational way to engage with your garden in the heat of summer
and prepare yourself and your plants for the deepening of the climate crisis

Whew, that sounds exhausting!

You’re right, it will be…

…unless we conjoin our climate adaptive practices with JOY!

Joy?

In the midst of all of THIS??

Yesss beloved.

Join gardener and certified arborist Corva Rose for this interactive playshop, where we’ll weave together gardening instruction, habitat creation, and heart-centered reflection.

As we move into summer, however centered or overwhelmed we may feel,

these 2.5 hours will be a grounding and empowering gift not only for ourselves,

but for the world we experience, affect, and ultimately create.

Our World is Our Orchard: Feb 5 + 19, 2022

Our World is Our Orchard:
A creative, hands-on, outdoor playshop to learn how to prune our inner and outer fruit trees as we transition from winter to spring.

Saturday, February 5 SOLD OUT!
10am – 1pm
Plants of the Southwest
6680 4th St. NW, Abq, NM

Saturday, February 19 SOLD OUT!
10am – 1pm
Chispas Farm
229 Saavedra Rd. SW, Abq, NM

Looking for an inspirational way to enjoy the last bits of winter
and prepare yourself and your fruit trees for spring?

Join gardener and certified arborist Corva Rose for this interactive playshop,
where we’ll weave together pruning instruction,
habitat creation, and heart-centered reflection.

As we enter the gateway to spring, however centered or scattered we may feel,
these three hours will be a grounding and empowering gift not only for ourselves,
but for the world we experience, affect, and ultimately create.

Looking for an inspirational way to enjoy the last bits of winter
and prepare yourself and your fruit trees for spring?

Join gardener and certified arborist Corva Rose for this interactive playshop, where we’ll weave together pruning instruction, habitat creation, and heart-centered reflection.

As we enter the gateway to spring, however centered or scattered we may feel, these three hours will be a grounding and empowering gift not only for ourselves, but for the world we experience, affect,
and ultimately create.

Tiered/equity/community pricing:

Tiered/equity/
community
pricing:

Sliding scale allows you to pick your payment amount in the spirit of equity, accessibility, generosity, and redistribution, while simultaneously inviting your conscious investment in a gardening culture that is working to create habitat infused with compassion, and supports this small queer business to operate sustainably.

If you can pay more, you’ll help cover the cost for someone else who needs to pay less.

For low income folks, especially BIPOC, queer/trans folks, those with chronic conditions, and/or single parents.

5 Spots each workshop.

Actual price to
cover you.

5 Spots each workshop.

Supportive rate helps cover you, and someone else in need, in the spirit of resource redistribution, reparations, and community care.

5 Spots each workshop.

This playshop sold out, and we donated 10% of our income from this playshop to Tewa Women United.

Upcoming Classes…stay tuned!

Sign up for our newsletter to get hot-off-the-press alerts for
new classes (plus other cool stuff too!)
Sign up for our newsletter
to get hot-off-the-press alerts
for new classes
(plus other cool stuff too!)
Hallowed Group

Hallowed Ground: Oct 30, 2021

Hallowed Ground:
Oct 30, 2021

Hallowed Ground:
A creative, hands-on, outdoor playshop
to tend our inner, home, and collective gardens
as we move into winter.

Saturday, October 30
10am – 1pm
Plants of the Southwest
6680 4th St NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107

Looking for an inspirational way to close up summer
and prepare yourself and your garden for winter?
Join gardener and certified arborist Corva Rose for this interactive playshop,
where we’ll weave together gardening and pruning instruction,
habitat creation, and heart-centered reflection.

As we stand at the threshold of winter, however stable or unstable our footing may feel,
these three hours will be a grounding and energizing gift not only for ourselves,
but for the world we experience, affect, and ultimately create.

Looking for an inspirational way
to close up summer and prepare yourself and your garden for winter?
Join gardener and certified arborist Corva Rose for this interactive
playshop, where we’ll weave
together gardening and pruning instruction, habitat creation,
and heart-centered reflection.
As we stand at the threshold
of winter, however stable or
unstable our footing may feel,
these three hours will be a
grounding and energizing gift
not only for ourselves,but for the
world we experience, affect, and ultimately create.

10% of all proceeds from workshop donated to Tewa Women United

There is an opportunity at checkout to add a donation
if you wish for the Tree School Scholarship Fund.

See you on the 30th!

This playshop sold out, and we donated 10% of our income from this playshop
to Tewa Women United.

Tree School Scholarship Fund

*Thanks to friend and colleague averykalapa.com for guidance around structure/equity.

Tree School Scholarship Fund

Tree School centers and deeply welcomes those who have felt like and been outsiders, queers, allies, socially conscious earth healers, change makers, and survivors of genocide and trauma. Everyone deeply belongs. We cannot be separated from each other. And every voice is needed in this time of great healing.All people, especially folks who have been left out of or turned off by mainstream gardening spaces, should have access to the revitalizing nourishment of earth connection, without having to code switch or assimilate in order to learn, participate, and lead.We need us all!The Tree School Scholarship Fund helps extend equity, accessibility, generosity, and redistribution to low income folks, especially BIPOC, queer/trans folks, those with chronic conditions, and/or single parents.Thank you for your donation!

Mentorship Dates:

The 2024 Mentorship is in-progress, and the 2025 dates have not been set yet.
The following dates/times are when we will be meeting together in person, for our 2024 cohort. Please check to see if you are able to attend all of the following dates, as Tree School has a magic of its own that comes together when we all participate. If you know that you will not be able to make all of the sessions, please indicate this in the application below. If you need to miss a session, we will provide materials/handouts, but there are no makeup sessions.
  • April 20:  (10am – 2pm) We open our circle with a nourishing and welcoming 4-hour retreat/garden time/creative day!
  • April 27:  (10am – 1pm) 
  • May 11:  (time TBA) We will participate in the Yerba Mansa Project Bosque Restoration Day
  • May 25:  (8 – 11am) 
  • June 15:  (8 – 11am) 
  • June 29:  (8 – 11am) 
  • July + August:  We take a break from meeting in person.  These 2 months are Integration/rest/individual project time. There is a Playshop during this time, and we are also connected via Slack.
  • July 14:  Made in the Shade Playshop
  • Sept 7:  (8 – 11am) 
  • Sept 28:  (8 – 11am) 
  • Oct 12:  (10am – 1pm) 
  • Oct 26:  (10am – 1pm) 
  • Nov 2:  Playshop 
  • Nov 9:  (10am – 1pm)
  • Nov 23:  (10am – 2pm) We close our circle with a replenishing and grounding 4-hour retreat/garden time/creative day!

Habitat: Developing wildlife habitat from a place of compassion

You’re very clear about not spraying harmful chemicals in your yard but now you want to learn more about how to actually cultivate a healthy garden ecosystem.

You’re concerned that wildlife are losing habitat at an alarming rate, and your heart hurts thinking about how the climate crisis is affecting them.

You’d like to learn how to make your space both wildlife friendly and a thriving garden that humans can eat from as well.

You’re ready to put your compassion for the seen and unseen beings around you into action, and have your outdoor space be part of the local (and world!) habitat quilt.

Results of the program:
You feel confident in your good-hearted gardening practices, and through the process of certifying your space as Wildlife Habitat, you become an informed and knowledgeable habitat advocate. You get to see more wildlife using the space and receiving benefit, which feels so good!

Community: Cultivating community, belonging, and hope

You feel some isolation and disconnection after the last 2 yrs, and some fragmentation between what’s happening internally in your heart and externally in the world.

You might feel intimidated or unsatisfied by mainstream gardening classes or instructional videos that don’t feel like they speak to your sensitive heart, your worldview that includes equity and justice, or the sovereignty of the Indigenous peoples who are the original stewards of this bioregion.

You long for instruction that speaks to your specific garden and helps you develop the skills you need.

You are ready to be part of a like- minded community of supportive gardeners who are digging deep together, creating a world where we all feel we belong.

Results of the program:
Through getting to experience the tangible support of the community working in your yard, and learning with the other Tree Schoolers over your six months, you feel connected, supported, and supportive. Through building connections with others in the program, you experience feeling cohesive, integrated, and hopeful.

Joy: Mixing your adaptive gardening methods with JOY

You feel fearful and anxious about the unraveling of climate, both locally and globally. You want to know how to effectively prepare for what’s coming, and how to pivot and respond as things change.

You’re ready to learn as much as you can about climate adaptive practices, but you don’t want to feed your fear in the process.

There are so many methods out there, and the clock is ticking. You want to make the most of the time you have, but you know that a light touch and a loving heart will be more fruitful than pushing for results with a worried state of mind.

You are ready to learn how to cultivate joy in the midst of all we are facing, and then co-create adaptivity from this playful place.

Results of the program:
You feel joyful, confident and clear about how to foster more adaptability, and what actual steps to take. You learn the skills needed to transform your yard into the climate resilient garden you want.

Strategy: Moving from confusion to strategic planning & achieving your goals

You look at your garden and wonder where to start and what to do. You don’t want to do it ‘wrong’ but also don’t want to get trapped by ‘shoulds’.

There might be gaps in your skills and figuring out what exactly you need to learn is a bit daunting. Maybe you’ve tried a lot of things and gotten mixed results.

You are tired of getting sporadic help, not really making the progress you want, or it’s slow and feels fragmented and not cohesive. You are longing for some deeper transformation in your yard and your relationship with it, not just a superficial ‘fix’ that addresses one aspect of the garden but not the whole.

You are ready to create a strategy that lays out exactly where you are going with your garden space, what skills you will develop, and how to achieve your goals.

Results of the program:
You are clear and on-track, with momentum, and feel happy with yourself in the process.

You receive help with a plan/design, and also with making solid, important decisions – thus saving time/money.

You learn the gardening skills you need, and experience cohesive, steady, holistic progress that continues and develops into the future.

Engagement: Moving from overwhelm about the world to engagement with the world

You feel deeply about the climate crisis and the suffering in the world, and want to be a positive force for healing and change, but you find yourself getting overwhelmed and frozen about how best to use your energy in service.

You are ready to use your garden space to be part of the solution.

You want to learn what  your role and your next step is here, and how to move into engagement with the world that is grounded and steady.

Results of the program:

You are able to use your depth of feeling to become a more effective, loving presence in your spheres of influence (family, neighborhood, circle of friends, city, or workplace).

You feel clear, on-purpose, and good about your role and engagement in the world.

Important notes about communicating with me: