All Kristina Schnepf wanted was a woodworking class in northern Michigan. Difficulty finding anything that fit the bill led her down a rabbit hole, with the journey culminating this week with the announcement of a brand-new adult learning organization in Traverse City. That new entity, called Green Door Folk School, launches this spring with a series of 10 classes, ranging from quilting to improv comedy to, yes, woodworking.

Traverse Citians will know Schnepf best as the owner of Peace Love and Little Donuts in downtown TC, though she also runs a local business consulting firm called Leap Consulting. Nine years ago, Schnepf left behind a corporate career that included 17-plus years at Dow and another two years at Goodyear Tire. Since then, she’s become infatuated with trying new things – hence her decision, a few years ago, to teach herself woodworking.

“I learned by looking on YouTube, or bothering neighbors and asking questions,” Schnepf says of her woodworking journey. “Eventually, I started feeling like I’d gotten myself as far as I was going to get on my own, and I started looking around the area for classes. And what I realized was that there really weren’t any. I could go get a construction degree from Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), but otherwise, there weren't really options.”

Schnepf widened her search beyond the immediate northern Michigan area, which led to a new revelation.

“As I was looking further afield, I identified these places called folk schools, which mostly exist for the purpose of sharing traditional skills,” Schnepf tells The Ticker. “They’re not focused on degrees or certifications, but offer classes for purposes of self-discovery and sustainable living. And I just thought that was an amazing concept.”

Soon, Schnepf was on a road trip, with her itinerary including visits to three folk schools throughout the Midwest. In each area, she enrolled in whatever class happened to be on offer at that time. By the end of the trip, she was convinced: “We need to have one of these here in Traverse City.”

According to the Folk Education Association of America, the folk school concept is rooted in the work of 19th century Danish philosopher Nikolai Grundtvig, who believed education should be a lifelong pursuit and shouldn’t just focus on classical studies like, say, Latin. These days, most folk schools are grassroots, community-driven efforts that offer practical, hands-on learning opportunities. Traditional skills tend to be the bread and butter – examples might include woodworking, quilting, pottery, or other craft-based pursuits – but there’s no strict rubric for what a folk school can or cannot teach. Instead, Schnepf says folk schools tend to be shaped by their instructors and the expertise they bring to the table.

“That’s what makes Traverse City perfect: We have this amazing community of experts and artisans, and that means we have a network of people right here that can be great folk school instructors,” Schnepf says.

For what Schnepf hopes will be just the first season of an ongoing series, the Green Door Folk School will lean heavily on that local network of expertise. Dawson Moore of Michigan Sloyd, a Harbor Springs-based woodworking business that crafts handmade chairs and spoons, will teach a two-day course on wooden spoon carving. Steve and JC Bailey from Traverse City’s Bailey’s Farms will offer a four-hour workshop on kombucha making. Cody Cook-Parrott, a Leelanau-based artist, will host a “quilt in a weekend” class. Other courses will focus on stitchwork, home gardening, soil health, biodynamic farming, and more. Unlike similar education series in the area – NMC's College for Kids, for instance – all Green Door classes are geared specifically toward adults.

Going forward, the Green Door Folk School plans to offer four seasons of courses every year – one each for spring, summer, fall, and winter. Each season will look a little different, depending on the opportunities available at that time of year. “So, summer can lead us into things like foraging, or maybe some harvesting kinds of things,” Schnepf explains. Even beyond seasonal considerations, though, Schnepf has a long wish list for skills she’d like to see offered as part of a Green Door slate – from blacksmithing to green building to music classes.

While covering as many different types of skills and experiences as possible is on the to-do list, Schnepf's dearest hope for Green Door Folk School is that it will get people out of their comfort zones and encourage them to develop new sides of themselves.

“When I visited Driftless Folk School in Viroqua, Wisconsin, I ended up taking a community singing class, where it was a lot of call and response singing,” Schnepf says. “That was pretty out of my realm, out of my depth. But it was absolutely wonderful, because it reminded me of how truly vulnerable learning is. As adults, we don't often put ourselves in situations where we’re not comfortable. We pretty much do things we're already good at. For example, in my corporate career, I would never walk into a board room without being 100 percent prepared. So, going into that singing class, and not feeling prepared, but then finding myself surrounded by this community of people who were supportive and collaborative and kind, and there to help me learn, that was a really profound experience for me.”