City of Lakes Waldorf School was delighted to welcome CLWS alumnus Eli Utne, Class of 2005, back to campus to speak at our assembly this past month. His visit was a living example of what can grow from the seeds planted during a CLWS education.
Eli shared his pathway since graduating, reflecting on how his time at CLWS helped spark his enduring interests in both music and ecology.
Today, those passions are woven together in RestoFest, a small-scale festival he is organizing that blends bioregional resilience, community education, and the performing arts. RestoFest takes place at the historic Wakamatsu Farm in the Sierra Foothills of California (Southern Maidu Territory), a site rich in both ecological and cultural history.
RestoFest is an immersive, hands-on experience. Participants engage directly with the watersheds and ecosystems they depend upon, taking part in restorative land practices and “playing beaver,” collaborating to build natural water retention structures that support ecological health. Alongside this restoration work, local musicians and artists perform and share creative offerings that elevate expression in service of the land. The result is a gathering where art, ecology, and community are deeply interconnected.
RestoFest is hosted by Learning By Hand (LBH), the organization Eli is building to support accessible, practical workshops and small-scale, in-person gatherings. LBH specializes in hands-on experiences that uplift local artists, educators, activists, craftspeople, and anyone passionate about learning new skills in community.
“Learning By Hand seeks to honor our teachers & elders by building on effective models of creative facilitation, community design, arts education, traditional ecological knowledge practices, & continued learning.”
Listening to Eli speak, our students could see what it looks like to carry one’s education forward, not as a fixed outcome, but as an evolving practice. His work reflects initiative, imagination, and a commitment to stewardship that resonates deeply with our mission.
We are grateful to Eli for returning to CLWS, for sharing his journey so generously, and for reminding us that education is not only about what we learn, but about what we build, restore, and contribute to the world beyond our classroom walls.
