
A Hearth is the warm and ambient space at the center of a home or community where everyone belongs, where food is prepared and shared, and where handcrafts, festivities, rituals, and other communal activities take place. The“Heart” and “Earth” of the community is where sincere connections are forged among humans of all ages and stages of life, while the practical daily responsibilities that sustain and nurture life are shared. It is where human-to-human coherence is cultivated, as well as our capacity to care in a meaningful way for one another and the Earth.
Weaving for Life: We will explore together how the ancient skilled art of weaving beautiful fabric is a metaphor for weaving resilient community. Skilled arts and handcrafted wares were once the foundation of local economies. Before the modern norms of corporate marketing, digital logos, mass-produced commodities, and unchecked resource extraction, vessels and fabrics were locally handcrafted and imbued with cultural wisdom. Skilled handcrafting attunes body, mind, and soul, like meditation. Left and right brain capacities—rational/intellectual and intuitive/creative—are integrated to bring imagination and insight into practical, shareable form. Gathering to remember culturally significant arts helps us recover the wisdom of lost lineages and cultivate the skills necessary for balanced, cooperative living.