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Prayer, Work, Table, Neighbor, Rest | |
Spring Forest Newsletter
March 2026
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From May 19 – July 22, our farm will once again be harvesting weekly shares of vibrant, seasonal produce — grown with care and rooted in community.
"I was a subscriber to both the spring and fall sessions this past year. I found myself excited each week to see what bounty might await my pick-up, and then relished the opportunity that followed to prepare and enjoy hearty, healthy, and local vegetables and herbs throughout the week. Through Spring Forest newsletter and website, I discovered new and interesting ways to prepare offerings such as stir-fry radishes and turnip greens along with the turnip, oven-baked "fried" green tomatoes, brightly colored swiss chard and butternut squash soup, just to name a few. I will indeed be signing for the sessions in 2026!"
Terry A
We are also growing for our free farmer's markets and the food bank, for our neighbors facing food insecurity. Last year, due to the generosity of donors, over 64% of our production went to these two programs. If you would like to subscribe to a large or small share to express solidarity with a family in need, or make a gift in any amount for these programs, we would deeply appreciate it.
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Spring Sanctuary
On Saturday, May 2nd, Spring Forest Community is hosting its first-ever Spring Sanctuary Women's Retreat — a full day of deep rest, creative play, and quiet connection on the farm.
Your morning begins with breakfast prepared by Chef Netta, followed by a guided forest bathing and contemplative experience with Elaine Heath, veteran retreat leader, author, and co-founder of Spring Forest. From there, the day is yours — wander into the open art studio, arrange flowers, brush the goats, take a forest walk, or simply sit with a journal and the sound of the breeze.
Leah Reichardt-Osterkatz, who has been teaching yoga for 12 years, will guide a late morning yoga session to help you connect with your breath and body.
At midday, gather for a farm-to-table lunch — if you've had Netta's cooking before, you already know this alone is worth showing up for. As a Chef, Nutritionist and Southern Gal, she has a passion for flavorful foods that impacts wellness. She specializes in helping local
communities build sustainable habits around eating, cooking, and lifestyle choices that optimize performance. She’s an advocate for food justice and all of her work at Spring Forest intertwines for the cause.
The afternoon opens into more free exploration before sound healing facilitator Pendora Lundy closes the day with a sound bath designed to help you release what you're carrying and settle into stillness.
"What the world needs the most from us is that we be grounded and at peace. And that is what we need most for ourselves. Spring Forest is a deeply grounding place of peace that I love sharing with other people."
-Elaine Heath
Only 12 spots left, reserve yours below!
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Farm + Forest Summer Camp
Save the date and spread the word! Summer Camp is July 13-17 and July 20-24 for children ages 5-12!
We'll be doing even more with the farm animals, growing and cooking our own food, singing camp songs, and enjoying nature together with new and old friends. Scholarships are available and volunteers would be warmly welcome! Register on our website or reach out to Whitney (camp@springforest.org) for more info.
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This year, our chefs have refined the rhythm of our family cooking classes — thoughtfully set-up cooking stations, recipes shared ahead of time, and hands-on instruction that allows every family member to fully participate.
Each Friday, families cook side by side using fresh ingredients from the farm, then gather to share the meal they’ve created together.
Our next five-week series begins in April.
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The Healing Gardens
By Shelly Boucher
Whether it’s getting our hands into the cool, rich spring soil, sowing the first seeds of the season, or taking a deep breath of surrender in God’s great wild garden, being in nature holds us in ways that nourish our hearts and meet us exactly where we are, without judgment.
The garden can serve as a mirror to our inner landscape and to what we are experiencing somatically in our bodies. One of the simplest ways to support healing in our nervous systems is to go to a favorite place in nature or in the garden with whatever we are feeling, and simply notice what happens with curiosity.
Research shows that gardening and time in nature can be incredibly supportive for our mental health and soothing to the nervous system.
This spring, as you cultivate your garden, clear a bed of weeds, or pick the first round of snap peas, take a deep breath—or wander for a few moments—and notice what arises. Is it joy? Awe? Laughter, or perhaps even tears?
Consider this a small invitation to play with the idea that interacting with the garden can help heal our emotional bodies. When you find yourself in need of emotional release, your garden may be the best place to go—to simply be, and to let go.
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Global Friends
English Language Learners (ELL)
In recent months, our immigrant neighbors have been facing new levels of insecurity as a result of policy and cultural changes. Within our Global Friends community, we have seen families afraid to leave their homes to attend ELL class (even while holding proper documentation), unable to pay rent, and unsure of when or even if their SNAP benefits will resume. In response to these unprecedented times and in close coordination with World Relief Durham, Pleasant Green UMC has created an ELL Emergency Fund to directly and swiftly support our families when need arises. Please consider joining us by contributing to the fund. For more information, to learn how to donate, or for other ways to engage with Global Friends ELL please contact Gretchen Foley at glkroeger@gmail.com.
Interested in volunteering with ELL on Fridays?
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Piedmont Farm Tour
We are very excited to be a host farm for the Piedmont Farm Tour again this year, on April 25th and 26th . Come enjoy a tour of the gardens, see the chickens, a herding demonstration with the goats and Penny the Border Collie, and enjoy a walk along the forest trail. We will also have farm fresh delicious eats prepared by Chef Netta, beginning at noon each day.
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Yoga Anywhere
By Leah Reichardt-Osterkatz
Yoga is anything that nourishes connection - whether it be connection with our breath, with our bodies, with other people, with the natural world, or with that larger something that goes by many names.
Offering attention to our own bodies is often a good place to start, as it can lead us into more grounded connection with all the rest. Any amount of intentional movement, particularly when coupled with intentional breath, can help us feel more connected both internally and externally.
Here are some things you could try!
Standing:
Press your feet down into the ground as you stretch upwards through the crown of your head. Inhale as you stretch both hand overhead, bringing your palms together or interlacing your fingers - exhale as you lean over to one side, inhale back to center. Repeat from side to side as many times as you like.
Sitting in a chair:
Press your feet into the ground and sit up tall. Lift one foot out in front of you, hold while you roll your ankle in both directions -- flex your lifted foot and bring that ankle on top of your other knee, making a figure four shape with your legs. Inhale and sit up tall. Exhale and lean your upper body forward, either a little or a lot. Breath here as long as you like. Repeat on the other side.
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Healing Haunted Histories
Coming to Spring Forest, FALL 2026
Get ready for a transformational learning experience which will change your understanding of discipleship, and through you could change your neighborhood and community. If you are looking for a "next level, premier course" for deepening discipleship related to anti-racism, justice, and loving God and neighbors, this course is for you.
Through two intensive retreat weekends, the primary text, Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization, by Elaine Enns and Ched Myers, online sessions, videos, and more, you will learn what it means to follow Jesus in a land shaped by colonization, displacement, and hidden histories; and to build capacity to do the work of reparation, healing, and relational restoration. The course will be led by trained facilitators, Steve Taylor and Lynne Blankenship Caldwell, members of the Spring Forest
Community.
The importance of this work cannot be understated. We live in times in which white supremacy is a reality, currently uplifted and re-centered in the daily life and culture of America. This reality spills
over every aspect of all of our lives. Yet, there is hope, for God is with us. We can work together for healing and justice. We can work together for life and love. "The work and engagement of Healing
Haunted Histories has offered that for me" writes Steve Taylor. "I hope and pray this for you."
Save these dates:
OCTOBER 2-3: Opening Intensive Retreat, opens with dinner on Friday and concludes at 4:30pm on Saturday.
4 THURSDAYS in OCTOBER: October 8, 15, 22, and 29, 7-9pm ET. Virtual classes continue the learning.
NOVEMBER 6-7: Concluding Intensive Retreat.
LISTEN…to what the Spirit is saying to your heart about this course and consider who you might ask to partner in this study with you, not only in taking the course, but also in sharing it in your context.
ACT! Join with the Spirit as an active participant in this work of reparative justice and solidarity for the building up of God’s beloved community.
Let us know of your interest in this course, or questions you may have as you discern possibilities for your participation.
More details regarding cost and registration will be coming soon!
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Soul Revival
August 10-14, 2026
We are living at a threshold—
a time when what we once knew is dissolving,
And something new is quietly asking to be born.
If you are feeling anxious, exhausted, stuck, powerless, or unsure how to move forward, St. Brigid invites you to pause at the threshold. Here, you do not need to have answers. You only need to arrive.
This retreat is an invitation to be held by land, spirit, and community. To walk beneath the sheltering trees of the forest. To feel cool water on your skin. To breathe in the goodness of the earth. To nourish yourself with home-grown food, delight in the presence of new life, and rest beneath wide, star-filled skies.
Guided by the spirit of St. Brigid, we will explore how the four elements—earth, water, fire, and air—are alive and active in your own life. You will discover them as companions and sources of support, offering wisdom, grounding, and gentle transformation.
You will journey alongside other like-hearted companions, those who feel the same quiet longing and recognize this moment as sacred.
This retreat is especially for those who sense they are yearning for more than conventional Christian paths have offer, for those who feel a soul-deep pull toward the ancient wisdom, the earth-rooted spirituality, and the grandmothers of the faith.
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Wisdom of Creation
By Larry Petrovick
Recently I met a specialty crop farmer at a local farmers market. He was selling his dried beans--more than 30 varieties. He started growing these heirloom beans when he was four years old with his grandparents, decades ago! We talked about the characteristics of his many varieties of beans. At one point in our conversation, he leaned in toward me and whispered: ..."the plants will speak to you if you listen." I have not heard that expression in awhile.
Yes, farmers listen differently, not only to human voices, but the "voice" of the soil, the crops, plant conditions, weather, weeds and more. When I walk the land at Spring Forest, I begin the walk with an intention, really a question.
"What question does the land have for me today?" And the land responds.
I invite you, to take a bit of an on-line walk with these images of the land of Spring Forest with-- "What questions are these images asking me today?"
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H4H Border Pilgrimage
April 26 - May 2
The reality of life on the borderlands is much more complex and unjust than most people realize. Hope 4 Humanity offers an experiential learning pilgrimage that explores the causes and difficulties of migration, as well as the impact of U.S. immigration policies.
This pilgrimage will bring to the forefront the voices of migrants and people who are committed to social change through hands-on experiences like visiting migrant shelters (in the US and Mexico) and meeting migrants. We will also learn about the economics of migration.
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2026 Iona Pilgrimage
September 18-26
Come to Iona, Scotland, the beautiful gem of an island in the Inner Hebrides.
Experience the sacred joy of morning and evening prayer in the historic Abbey, take the pilgrim’s walk around the island, enjoy the local cuisine and a pint at a local pub, and spend time exploring the many pristine beaches.
Weather permitting, take a short boat ride to Staffa to see Fingal’s Cave and to watch Puffins fly to their nests in the cliffs.
Led by Rev. Dr. Elaine A. Heath, this beloved pilgrimage includes community dinners followed by conversation about the history and spirituality of Celtic Christians, and why indigenous Celtic Christianity matters today.
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Financial Support
We appreciate donations of any amount to support programs like Grow It, Summer Camp Scholarships, Hope 4 Humanity, Free Farmers Markets, and infrastructure for our community gathering spaces.
| | | | | Regular Events on the Farm |
- Community Potlucks (Forest Feast)
1st and 3rd Saturday of every month at 5:30pm. We'll have a special guest joining us on March 21st: Rev. Pat Watkins, the first UM pastor ever appointed Pastor to the Earth.
- Yoga in the Barn, Thursdays at 9:30am
Join us for a welcoming yoga class designed for all levels
- Grow It! Wednesdays at 10am
Children and families are invited to come explore the farm and forest, enjoy time for yoga and cooking, and connect with other families
See Events Page for more details
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