Sacred Food * Sacred Body * Sacred Earth with Jennifer Byers and Tari Follett

Tari Follett

I'm a loudmouthed liberal feminist singer-songwriter with an obnoxious vocabulary, too many shoes, and a day job to pay the bills. I'm a pagan, a poet, a classically trained vocalist, an anarchist knitter, a divination junkie, and a rabble-rouser who's constantly challenging myself to step a little further into riskier evolutions and a little closer to my best self. I believe global change is the result of personal empowerment, and that the universe is always looking out for me (and everyone else, too). I think nature isn't limited to "out in the country" and that city-dwellers deserve the taste of fresh-picked greens and sun-warmed fresh tomatoes, too. I think humanity will save the planet just in the nick of time - and that classes like this are part of how.

Why Food Activism?
I have a story about my ancestors. My story is that, generations ago, they didn't run to the corner store every night before they cooked dinner. My story is that they grew vegetables and potatoes and grains and herbs; that they raised livestock for meat and dairy and wool; that every harvest season, they would can and dry and freeze and smoke enough food to last through the winter; that as the wheel of the year turned, their habits and activities were guided by the shifting energies of the world around them. My story is that - instead of working for money to pay for the life they led - their lives were inextricably integrated with everything they did to sustain themselves.

I'm sure, in many ways, that's a romanticized notion of what my ancestors were really like. It's possible that some of my family were merchants or servants; I know for a fact that five generations back, one of my maternal forebears was a seamstress and lady's maid for a lumber baron's wife. Even knowing the dubiousness of my particular mythology about my ancestors, though, I choose to believe that there was a time when they worked with the earth, instead of against it. I choose to believe that the blood of my blood once celebrated their connection to the cycles of nature, and that it is my legacy to revive that genetic memory.

And I believe it's not just my legacy, but indeed my duty to revive the bond between humanity and the earth.

My Teaching Philosophy
As a self-driven learner, I will cop to the fact that I expect students to be self-motivated and genuinely interested in learning. I expect students to take responsibility for getting involved in the information, exercises, and experiences offered in any class I teach. Any lessons I help create are crafted to provide opportunities, as opposed to gifts - I expect students to meet me halfway by diving into those opportunities to see what they hold. I don't want to feed my opinions to a flock of parrots - I want to incite enough interest that students are intrigued enough to educate themselves and find their own beliefs.

On a more practical level, what this means is that I expect a student to be prepared for class - having read any requested materials, prepared any homework projects, and gathered any questions that came up during those processes. I expect students to be engaged and to participate - asking questions, offering insights, jumping into exercises.

That's not to say that it's my way or the highway - I'm open to feedback and suggestions and questions. I'm more than willing to try to find another approach if what I'm offering isn't working, and if a student is having trouble, I believe it's my duty to work on making changes or finding alternatives until that student is on board. To me, the student-teacher dynamic is a two-way street, and requires interest and commitment on both sides of the equation. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't interested and committed - and I expect students to show up the same way.

E-mail SacredFBE@tarifollett.com to register.