Workshop Title: Secrets of the Oak Woodlands: Emandal in Autumn

Instructor: Kate Marianchild katemarianchild.com

Which Session? September 16-20, 2026

Brief Workshop Description: As fruits, nuts, and seeds ripen and fall...as birds and mammals consume and cache food for migration and winter... as plants sequester chlorophyll, turning leaves turn red and gold...we’ll wander through Emandal’s oak and riparian woodlands, rarely walking more than a mile or two a day. We’ll investigate the colorful galls adorning oaks and willows and we’ll examine the seeds of redbud and mountain mahogany. We’ll watch ground squirrels race from burrow to burrow under an oracle oak, and we’ll crouch by a magnificent woodrat mansion whose inhabitant will be resting inside until dark.

With close-focus binoculars, we’ll exquisitely detailed views and learn fascinating lore about flowers, insects, lizards…Skippers will dance with graceful vinegar weed flowers, pollinating them as they go, while sweat bees crawl over and pollinate tar plant. Dome spiders webs will shimmer in shafts of autumn light while golden hairstreaks flutter in nearby canyon live oaks. Acorn woodpeckers will be pounding nuts into trees, getting a head start on their winter food supply. Bald eagles will make stately flights up and down the river as beaver, mink, otter, mergansers, and/or dippers ply the Eel’s lovely pools.

During the day we might see foxes, coyotes, bobcats, or bears, and at night crickets will play symphonies under a dark sky speckled with a zillion stars.

Some mornings before breakfast we’ll take an optional bird walk at 7:45 am. After a late breakfast, we’ll wander and wonder until we stop for a late lunch at the river or in a shady grove. In mid- to late afternoon, we’ll have free time to swim in the Eel’s luscious pools, and/or nap, hike, read, socialize, or gather at our shaded table to look up answers to the day’s mysteries. If it is hot, we will time our walks to beat the heat.

Several art-focused “ArtStay” classes will occur simultaneously with our “OakStay,” and members of all workshops will come together every evening before dinner to share the days’ discoveries and creations.

Levels of Experience: Please see June Instructor form.

Additional Supplies Participants Must Bring to Workshop: Please see June’s Instructor form.

Additional Supply Fee Payable to Instructor (if applicable): Please see June’s Instructor form.

Where else have you taught this workshop or a similar course?: Please see June’s Instructor form.