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Friday, September 19 to Sunday, September 21, 2025
Santa Barbara, California

Groups of 2 or more who carpool together receive $50 off each seat. (Carpool seats must be purchased together to receive the automatic discount.)

Highlights

• Two nights of camping on the Santa Ynez River

• Seasonal food and drink included (by Golden Heron)

• Creating with nature – natural dyeing and herbal tea workshops

• Hiking and swimming

Open to first-timers and seasoned campers alike—no camping experience is necessary to attend. (You’ll need some basic supplies; read more below.)

About the Retreat

All summer the sun bathes the land, and the plants rejoice in the long, warm days with tall and sprawling growth, with fruits and flowers of riotous color and flavor—all the abundance which fills our baskets throughout the growing season.

The stalks are still high and green, though heavy with seeds, when the days turn shorter and cooler. Then, in the balancing time—equi- “equal,” -nox “night”—we sort and store what we’ve grown. There is work to do before the incoming dormant season, and there is celebration, too—of our harvests, of the earth which generously offers them, and of the community with which we gather to enjoy them.

On the weekend of the Autumn Equinox, join us in a spirit of seasonal celebration for two nights of camping on the Santa Ynez River near Santa Barbara. Our campsite is nestled in the generous shade of oak trees next to the river, where we’ll cool off upstream after a day of hiking, and be lulled to sleep at night by the gentle chorus of frog song.

In an extended natural dye workshop, you’ll be guided in processing, brewing, and working with various dyes blended from plants collected throughout the summer. Erin will bring an abundance of both wild- and garden-grown plants to work with, and you’re invited to bring your own harvests to contribute to the communal dye pots.

We’ll similarly create a communal herbal tea blend to enjoy—and your own to take home—during our weekend at camp. In the evenings, we’ll share dinner by the fire (all meals are included, created by Hannah of Golden Heron) and by night, stargaze under the dark sky of the new moon.

Food

All meals are included on the retreat. Plant-based (vegan) and vegetarian options are available. Please fill out the form at checkout to notify us of allergies/dietary restrictions.

(Limited snacks and drinks will be provided. Bring your own supplementary snacks and plenty of water—a gallon or so per day—to sustain yourself throughout the active weekend.)

Menu (subject to change)

• Welcome Snack: herbal iced tea and roasted banana hazelnut snacking cake

• Friday Dinner: French provincial brothy beans with fresh bread and garden salad

• Saturday Breakfast: coconut tahini chia pudding with homemade preserves and fruit, earl gray tea & coffee

• Lunch: fresh veggies with hummus and beet dip, olives, garden tomato salad, and seeded crackers, protein bites, and herbal lemonade

• Dinner: vegan piperade, fresh bread and garden salad (dessert TBD)

• Sunday Breakfast: oatmeal with nut butter, homemade preserves and fruit, earl gray tea & coffee

Activities

Natural Dyeing • Herbal Tea Workshop • Half-Day Hike & Plant Walk • Swimming

Herbal Tea Welcome Workshop (Friday)
Welcome to the retreat! We’ll meet each other and get acquainted with some of the plants growing around our campground—some of which happen to be edible and medicinal. You’ll create your own signature tea blend to take home, and we’ll brew a communal pot of tea to share before settling in for a seasonal dinner around the campfire and stargazing under the new moon. 

You are invited to bring your own homegrown or responsibly wild-harvested herbs to contribute to our communal tea blend! A list of suggested plants will be sent out leading up to the retreat. (This is optional, of course—Erin will bring abundant garden- and wild-grown herbs for all to enjoy.)

Half-Day Hike & Plant Walk (Saturday)
After breakfast, we’ll caravan to our hiking destination—an oak-filled canyon by the Santa Ynez River—where we’ll witness a spectrum of plant life on the cusp of seasonal change. We are well into California’s dry season now, and the land responds in kind—most plants are descending into their perfectly timed dormancy, but others, resiliently green, are tapping into reserves of precious below ground water. 

We’ll spend time interpreting the land’s expressions, sharing stories and exploring natural history, ecology, ethnobotany, and other forces and relationships which shape the natural world around us. Cool oak oases and fragrant hillsides full of drying sage may tempt us to linger… but we’ll leave the canyon and travel together to a deep pool along the Santa Ynez River, where we can swim and cool off before an afternoon of natural dyeing under the shade of blue oaks at camp.

Seasonal Natural Dyeing Workshop (Saturday)
With dyestuff collected throughout the summer—both from the wild and from the garden—we’ll create brews of natural dye expressing the colors of the peak growing season. Together we’ll create blends of plants to achieve specific colors: Golden yellow from a blend of marigold, sagebrush, pericón… Warm terracotta Clay from eucalyptus bark, dyer’s coreopsis, sulphur cosmos. Combined with mineral iron—which can be cleverly and carefully harvested from the wild—a palette of autumnal olive green and deep caramel also emerges. We’ll utilize these dyes, brewed with river water, to layer a spectrum of color onto US-grown organic cotton socks and bandanas.

As with the herbal tea workshop, participants are invited to bring their own dye-potent plants to add to the communal dye pots. A list of suggested plants will be sent out leading up to the retreat. (This is optional, of course—Erin will bring abundant garden- and wild-grown dye plants for all to enjoy.)

Logistics

Open to first-timers and seasoned campers alike—no camping experience is necessary to attend.

You’ll need your own tent and sleeping setup (pad or mattress, sleeping bag, bedding/pillow, etc), and certain essentials like a headlamp or flashlight. A spreadsheet with these and other recommended supplies (including optional shared gear like camping chairs, etc.) will be emailed in advance of the event.

Weather is usually temperate—70s during the day, 50s at night—but days can get hot and nights may be chilly. During the day we may hike up to six miles (depending on the comfort of the group) with a few hundred feet of elevation gain, sometimes on uneven terrain. (Gear and clothing recommendations will be included on the spreadsheet.)

Potable water and flush toilets are available on site. (There are no showers.) Keep in mind that this is a somewhat primitive campsite, although only about 15 miles from the city of Santa Barbara.

Sorry, but dogs are not allowed on the retreat. Recommended for ages 18+ (reach out by email with any questions).

Itinerary

Friday 9/19
4:00-6:30pm: Arrive; set up camp
6:30-7:30pm: “Welcome” herbal tea workshop
7:30-8:30pm: Dinner
8:30pm: Campfire & stargazing; night walk to the river

Saturday 9/20
7:30-8:30am: Breakfast, coffee & tea
8:30am-12:00pm: Half-day hike (up to 6 miles; 700 ft elevation gain), swimming
12:30-1:30pm: Lunch
2:00-5:30pm: Natural dye workshop
5:30-7:00pm: Free time
7:30-8:30pm: Dinner
8:30pm: Campfire & stargazing

Sunday 9/21
8:00-9:00am: Breakfast, coffee & tea
9:30-11:00am: Break down camp
12pm: Safe travels!

Exact location of our campsite, recommended supply list, and other essential information will be shared by email in advance of the retreat. Please ensure your email address is correct when checking out, and reach out to erin@berbo.studio with any questions.

Registration opens June 20th and closes July 20th. Limited to 18 attendees.