Public Events and Retreats
Public Events and Retreats for 2026
Each year for over two decades we have offered public workshops, retreats and events at Knoll Farm. These include offerings as diverse as leadership and land justice retreats, spoon carving and sheep raising workshops, bird walks, readings, picnic concerts and yoga, Harvest and Courage and Kebab Night.
You can also visit the Music Calendar for this year’s concerts.
Yoga Sundays
with Harlyjane Pelletier, www.harlyjanepelletier.com
Dates: every Sunday, June 28 – September 27 2026. Remaining days: 8/23, 9/6, 9/13, 9/27. NO yoga on August 30th or September 20th.
Time: 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Cost: donation based ($10-25 suggested)
Join us at the farm for our community yoga offering, with Harlyjane. She teaches an intentional practice that focuses on both anatomical alignment, breathwork, and creating a sense of calm, clarity, and strength for students. She is trained in Buti yoga, Vinyasa, and Jivamukti style classes. Beyond yoga, Harlyjane has her own massage therapy practice, Harlyjane Massage Therapy, in Waterbury, VT.
Cash, check, or venmo (@Harlyjane-Pelletier) is accepted in advance or at the time of class. Please check-in at the farm store upon arrival. Rain or shine!
Family Nights in Knoll Farm’s Yurt Village
Dates available: September 4-6
Book a family retreat at Knoll Farm for you and your loved ones this summer!
Ever wanted to stay in our forested yurt village? Looking for a meaningful spot for your family and other families you cherish to rest, play, and be nourished this summer? Or maybe you’ve visited us for a concert or farm-to-table dinner and thought, this is special—how can I deepen my relationship with this place? If any of those are you, consider booking a stay with Knoll Farm this summer.
On family retreats, you’ll get to sleep in the yurt village, share meals lovingly prepared by our chef around a long table, relax in our wood-fired sauna and hot tub, swim in the pond and hike our miles of trails, and gather in our historic barn or around our fire circles.
Facilitating for Change #2: Building Skills and Possibility in the New Era
with Peter Forbes
Date: September 8-11, 2026
Time: 3 night, 4 day workshop
Cost: $600 for room and meals, $250 – $350 sliding scale for tuition. Scholarships available, with the support of the Conservation Capacity Project
By application only: open to the general public
This annual workshop, offered for the second time in 2026, teaches practical skills grounded in facilitative leadership that transforms people, coalitions and communities to make progress together. How does one embody that work, be open to the things we can’t see in ourselves, to more fully recognize one’s privileges, and be a more effective agent for change? Learn more and apply…
Spoons for All!
“Working with one’s hands is the core act of self-actualization, which is the foundation for all social change.” -Peter Forbes
A spooncarving workshop hosted by Peter Forbes
Dates: October 10 & 11, 2026
Time: 2-day weekend workshop
Cost: Sliding scale, $250-400 including 1 night lodging, 4 meals, and tuition or $160-310 local commuter price (meals + tuition only)
UPDATE: Waitlist space only
For more than 18 years, and with more than 2,000 people, we’ve taught spoon carving on this farm as a method for bringing people together and for accessing creativity. Spoon carving, for us, has always been an important act of community building. Please join us for a creative time of using your hands and minds to carve a spoon from green wood. All skill levels are welcome.
Our past offerings
A Farm-to-Table Dinner with The Salt Stones
Date: August 22, 2026
Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Tickets: $85 per guest; to reserve your spot, please purchase your tickets by August 12 at the link here.
This August, we’ll be celebrating the bounty of summer as well as the launch of The Salt Stones in paperback! To mark the occasion, please join us for a farm-to-table dinner on August 22 at 6pm. We’ll set a long table laden with gifts of the land and hear stories from Helen’s 25 years of stewarding Knoll Farm.
Better Selves Alumni Weekend!
Date: August 13-16, 2026
Time: 3 night, 4 day fellowship (by application), featuring a Better Selves Alumni Day (8/15) and Benefit Concert open to the public (8/15)
Cost: Free for Better Selves Alumni
Fellowship and Alumni Day by invitation only. All are welcome at the Benefit Concert! Purchase your ticket here!
Save the date! We’re hosting a Better Selves Alumni Weekend in celebration of the 10th year of this special program! The weekend will feature…..
• From 8/13-16: A Mini-Fellowship for 18 Better Selves Alumni (by invitation/RSVP).
• The day of 8/15: Better Selves Alumni, friends, and family are welcome to the farm for an alumni lunch (by invitation/RSVP, for 50 people), followed by a fabulous musical concert that will last well into the evening!
• The evening of 8/15: Members of the public, folks near and far are invited to join us for our annual Better Selves Benefit Concert, the focal point of this celebratory and festive weekend. Musical guests are A2VT and the Bhangra Liberation Orchestra!
We can’t wait to welcome so many old and new faces back to the farm and to celebrate with you.
Mad River Valley Writers’ Workshop at Knoll Farm
with Friends of the Mad River and guest writer, Peter Forbes
Date: August 11, 2026
Time: 5pm-730pm
RSVP for free
Friends of the Mad River announces a new writers’ workshop series: an opportunity for our community to gather and cultivate an attentiveness to place through a ritualized creative writing practice. Each session will be guided by an author from the Vermont literary community, who will come to the group with a meaningful passage of text which will then serve as a touchstone for an hour or so of independent writing time.
These sessions, seven total, will be scheduled around the rhythm of the natural seasons: beginning with the spring equinox and ending with the fall equinox. The 6th session will be held at Knoll Farm with writer Peter Forbes.
These seven sessions will hopefully culminate in some kind of informal community “zine” or portfolio, featuring our participants’ work over the course of the year. No professional experience with creative writing is necessary: simply come with a pen and an open heart.
You can sign up for this event as a full “series,” which is recommended, or you can sign up for individual sessions as your schedule allows, by using the link here.
Please consider supporting the work of our guest authors with a small donation, but don’t hesitate to come for free, if you need to.
June Full Moon Fire
Date: Monday June 29, 2026
Time: 5:30pm – dark
Free!
All are welcome to join us in gathering to celebrate the first full moon of the summer, as we move deeper into our season! Known as the Strawberry Moon for its connection to summer harvest, as part of our tradition we will honor the moon in this time of warm weather and aliveness on the land. We look forward to being with you here! We kindly request no dogs, please.
A Shepherd’s Retreat
Dates: June 26-28, 2026
Time: Friday, 10 am to Sun, 2 pm
Cost: $650 (includes tuition, lodging and meals).
Update: all spots are now full. space for a day rate available.
Join other shepherds and the beautiful Icelandic flock on Knoll Farm’s mountain pastures for two and a half days of full immersion into everything sheep related. We’ll draw Knoll Farm’s 23 years of shepherding on this land along with an incredible team of co-teachers, as well as learn from each other, to advance confidence and skill in grazing and pasture management, flock health and parasites, business viability, fiber, animal handling, meat production and much, much more.
Community Pizza Night!
Date: Friday June 12, 2026
Time: 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Cash only! BYO Beverage
Join us at Knoll Farm for a wood-fired pizza dinner! As the days stretch long, we’re taking every opportunity we can get to savor this beautiful season and the fresh produce it brings—and we’d love for you to join us. Our chefs will be selling pizza by the slice, cash only. Grab a couple slices and enjoy the view of the valley from our hillside. We kindly request no dogs, please. All are welcome.
Facilitating for Change: Building Skills and Possibility in the New Era
with Peter Forbes
Date: June 2-5th, 2026
Time: 3 night, 4 day workshop
Cost: $600 for room and meals. To encourage your participation, tuition is waived.
By application only, deadline to apply is May 5th at midnight.
This annual workshop, which will be offered twice in 2026, teaches practical skills grounded in facilitative leadership that transforms people, coalitions and communities to make progress together. How does one embody that work, be open to the things we can’t see in ourselves, to more fully recognize one’s privileges, and be a more effective agent for change?
Please note: This offering is now open to all to apply.
Season Opening Concert with The Mountain Dogs!
for Season Pass holders & Work Party volunteers
Dates: Saturday, May 23, 2026
Time: 6pm-8pm
We are offering a season opening concert on the hillside for pass holders and volunteers of our Work Party weekend. Join us in this special kick-off music event that brings this local community together. Please fill out this form to RSVP and indicate whether you are a pass holder or volunteer for the weekend. If you are interested in signing up for a season pass, please click here.
Knoll Farm Volunteer Work Party!
Date: 6pm Friday May 22 to 11am Monday May 25
Cost: Free with RSVP
Would you enjoy a day of meaningful outdoor work and an evening of fire and music?
After a long winter, we invite you to join us in an opportunity to come together and work outside! We are gathering on the land to be in good company as we work to get our hand-made spaces ready to open for the season. You are part of what makes this place special and we would love to get to know our community and co-contribute with you. This includes free overnight stays in our yurts!
Update: We are at max capacity for the weekend. Thank you!
Lambing Days Open House
Dates: Saturday, April 25th, 2026
Time: 9am-12pm
Cost: Free
Come join us in the new sheep barn and adjacent lambing pastures to visit this year’s young lambs and learn about Knoll Farm’s Icelandic flock and everything that goes into lambing season. Well behaved kids are encouraged to come. Please leave your dogs at home. Wear boots that you don’t mind getting muddy!
PAST EVENT: April Full Moon Fire
Date: Wednesday April 1, 2026
Time: 5:30pm – dark
Free!
All are welcome to join us in gathering to welcome the first full moon of spring, as we slowly transition from these long winter days! Known as the Pink Moon for its connection to the first blooms after winter, as part of our tradition we will honor the moon in this time of changing seasons and great upheaval in our country. We celebrate the constant cycles of nature as a way to ground us in these times and as a community, as we prepare for the work of a full season ahead. We look forward to being with you on this land! We kindly request no dogs, please.
PAST EVENT: Easter Sunrise Service
Date: Sunday April 5, 2026
Time: 7am–9am
Cost: Free
UPDATE: Due to weather, the gathering WILL NOW TAKE PLACE at the Waitsfield UCC Church on 4355 Main Street. Thank you for your understanding.
Join Valley congregations in a tradition going back over 70 years! We will gather at a fire on the hillside overlooking the Valley and find meaning at this time in songs and words, led by pastor Mark Daniel Wilson. All are welcome, but we kindly request no dogs, please.
PAST EVENT: Ellie Curtis Celebration of Life
1:30pm in McLaughlin Barn at Knoll Farm
Date: Saturday, May 31, 2025
Time: 1:30pm
Ellie’s beloved community from close and far will gather to celebrate her life at 1:30 on Saturday, May 31 in McLaughlin Barn. We ask all participants to car pool and to leave ample time for parking and shuttles. The first 100 cars will park on site at Knoll Farm, thereafter all cars will park at Green Mountain Valley School with participants being shuttled. The first 200 people will be seated in the barn, thereafter all participants will be seated in an adjoining tent. The program will be heard from both locations. All attendees are invited to stay at the farm to enjoy food and fires until dark.
PAST EVENT: The Salt Stones – A Book Launch Party
with Ben Cosgrove in concert
Date: June 8, 2025
Time: 3:30 pm arrival; program begins at 4 pm sharp
Cost: RSVP required
Helen Whybrow will share stories from her newly published book, The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life. Books will be for sale at the event, but to be sure to get one, you can pre-order here. We’ll also have a very special guest, Ben Cosgrove, composer and multi-instrumentalist, whose transcendent original compositions inspired by place are the perfect companion to the lyrical, land-based prose and existential questions that you’ll find in The Salt Stones. Feel free to come early to picnic, walk, see the lambs. Light refreshments will be served at the event, which will begin at 4 pm sharp in the new (old) barn space! RSVP please.
PAST EVENT: Mad Birders Annual Bird Walk
Date: Saturday, June 15, 2025
Time: 8-10am
Cost: Free
Spring is here and the songbirds are returning to their nesting grounds. The Mad Birders and Friends of the Mad River welcome you to a birdwatching outing in the fields, orchards and woods of Knoll Farm. Bring binoculars, good walking shoes and water bottle. All are welcome
PAST EVENT: Courage & Voice
A day at Knoll Farm with Helen & Peter
Date: July 5, 2025
Time: 9:30am-4pm
Cost: By donation, limited to 18 people. This event is now full.
What courage is most needed for this time? We’re excited to share Knoll Farm, our philosophy, and our life experience with you. I think it will be an inspiring day together.
Learn more here. Please note that this event is now full.
PAST EVENT: Barn Celebration Dance!
Date: Sept. 20, 2025
Time: 8:30pm
Cost: Free and open to the public
In celebration of our historic McLaughlin Barn renovation, we’ll be hosting a free public dance for all, with a lively musical performance by Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem. The love and care and months of hard work that have gone into this restoration will be evident to all who come share in this space with us. We can’t wait to celebrate this transformed, beautiful space and all those who made this ambitious project possible.
PAST EVENT: Honoring the Cottonwood
Date: Sept. 20, 2025
Time: 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Cost: Free and open to the public.
At 4:30pm sharp, we’ll have a public gathering to honor the farm’s great cottonwood tree. There will be music to accompany us, and it should be a special time.
