The 2023 program is full, please check back in the fall to apply for Soul Gardens 2024!
BECOME AN APPRENTICE TO THE PATH OF
RITUAL FARMING,
HOLISTIC LIVING &
SACRED SERVICE
We meet with our hands in the Soil
to receive the medicine of the Earth
and remember how to truly feed ourselves.
Soul Gardens Immersion is a 7-month ritual farming experience,
starting March 28th through October 24th
We meet every Tuesdays at SunSong Community
and take service field trips to Cherokee and Asheville throughout the year
to receive the medicine of the Earth
and remember how to truly feed ourselves.
Soul Gardens Immersion is a 7-month ritual farming experience,
starting March 28th through October 24th
We meet every Tuesdays at SunSong Community
and take service field trips to Cherokee and Asheville throughout the year
Soul Gardens Immersion is a program that teaches adults a deeply connected form of gardening and tending the Earth through the seasons. Participants are immersed into deep care for the Earth, holistic living and sacred service. The program takes place over a growing season at SunSong, a vibrant land-based community dedicated to living in harmony with each other and the Earth. On our farm, we grow fruits, vegetables, staple crops, medicinal and culinary herbs and flowers using organic methods.
This program is our response to environmental degradation, climate chaos, social injustice, and the other ails of our society. We believe that we need to take responsibility for ourselves and how we live, from the ground up. Being in deep connection to our food, medicine and the cycles and rhythms of these mountains and sharing that with you is our prayer for a regenerative culture that exists in balance and harmony with all of life.
This program is our response to environmental degradation, climate chaos, social injustice, and the other ails of our society. We believe that we need to take responsibility for ourselves and how we live, from the ground up. Being in deep connection to our food, medicine and the cycles and rhythms of these mountains and sharing that with you is our prayer for a regenerative culture that exists in balance and harmony with all of life.
Together, we are remembering our ancestral roots of tending the Earth,
how to nourish ourselves with food from the garden,
how to work together, find belonging in community
and be in service to something greater than ourselves.
how to nourish ourselves with food from the garden,
how to work together, find belonging in community
and be in service to something greater than ourselves.
☀ Our Microcosmic Curriculum ☀
Our program’s curriculum is designed to feed not only the macrocosm, the Earth’s garden, but also the microcosm, our inner Soul Garden. With this curriculum, we learn the practicalities of tending and cultivating the land for abundant harvests. Through the metaphor of gardening, we learn to tend our own inner garden -- planting seeds of intention, weeding out what doesn’t serve us and celebrating and integrating the harvests. Each moment in the garden is an opportunity to grow ourselves in different ways. The curriculum arc flows with the seasons, giving each participant a deeper connection to the Earth’s rhythms and the cycles of life. Throughout the day, Scotty, Maayan and the other Soul Garden facilitators offer focused workshops and teachings, tending to each individual’s unique experience level with gardening.
Participants learn how to...
Tend the Earth
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Tend to Heart, Mind & Spirit
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☀ Work ~ Learning Balance ☀
“Work is Love Made Visible”
- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
On program days at SunSong, we work together to tend our community’s garden. You will learn permaculture, small scale farming, gardening and deep nature connection with your hands in the dirt.
We value wellness in body, mind and spirit, which is why we start our mornings with movement, mindfulness practices, gratitude and check-ins. Next, we learn while we work and take breaks often to answer questions, connect and admire beauty. In addition to hands-on learning, every day there are 2-3 hours dedicated to focused learning & enrichment time.
During this enrichment time, we gather for lectures, workshops and heart-centered activities that weave all the participants and facilitators in a web of interconnection.
We value wellness in body, mind and spirit, which is why we start our mornings with movement, mindfulness practices, gratitude and check-ins. Next, we learn while we work and take breaks often to answer questions, connect and admire beauty. In addition to hands-on learning, every day there are 2-3 hours dedicated to focused learning & enrichment time.
During this enrichment time, we gather for lectures, workshops and heart-centered activities that weave all the participants and facilitators in a web of interconnection.
“My experience was beautiful, bountiful and profound. I loved learning from Maayan and Scotty as they are both compassionate heartfelt teachers who care for all, and put in the tremendous effort, planning the day and balancing the work with the workshops. I learn a tremendous amount about food, seeds, planting, weeding, harvesting, composting, food preservation from March-November, all with love, gratitude and reciprocity with Mother Earth. The experiences of connecting with like-hearted beings on deep levels while gardening together enriched by soul and life.”
~Michelle Shine, PhD, Participant 2020
~Michelle Shine, PhD, Participant 2020
☀ Soulful Service ☀
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At Soul Gardens, we believe service is where the soul comes alive. Humans have a deep need to be in service and to be seen for their service.
SunSong Community is on land that was originally inhabited by the Cherokee (Tsalagi) people. We honor and acknowledge the ancestors of this land and the people who are still alive today. One of the ways we do this is by being in service to the indigenous people of this land. We do this to the best of our ability in a humble way. Throughout the growing season, we make a service trip to Cherokee and help to tend Cherokee elder Aunt Amy’s garden. Our friends in Cherokee grow traditional seeds and are a wealth of knowledge about gardening and life. This is an opportunity to support and develop relationships with the wisdom keepers of these mountains, the people who know the plants and the language of the land. |
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy,
I awoke and saw that life was service, I acted and behold, service was joy” -Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali poet & philosopher 
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☀ Dates & Times ☀
Soul Gardens Immersion is a 7-month program, running March 28th through October 24th
Participants and facilitators gather in two ways in a given month:
-Every Tuesday at SunSong in Barnardsville, NC
-The first Friday of April, May, June and September in Cherokee
All of that amounts to a total of:
Participants and facilitators gather in two ways in a given month:
-Every Tuesday at SunSong in Barnardsville, NC
-The first Friday of April, May, June and September in Cherokee
All of that amounts to a total of:
- 23 Tuesdays at SunSong
- 4 Fridays in Cherokee
- 27 total facilitated days
☀ The Daily Rhythm ☀
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9am-10am Good morning circle (includes homegrown herbal tea, song, gratitude sharing, movement practice and morning teachings) 10am-1pm Garden projects, learning with our hands in the dirt 1pm-2pm Homemade & homegrown organic lunch 2pm-4:30 Lectures, workshops and heart-centered activities 4:30-5pm Closing circle, reflections on the day *Since we're working with living systems, know that this schedule is subject to change based on weather and circumstance* |
☀ Cost ☀
Tuition includes:
For all of this, we ask for an exchange of $2,500 USD.
We are aware of the effects of systemic racism and inequality in our society. Because of this, we offer scholarships for Black, Indigenous, and People of Culture (BIPOC). Please inquire in your application for more information.
We have a limited number of partial work trade positions. Please let us know in your application if you are interested.
This program is welcome to and celebratory of all human expressions of gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. We hope to create a safe space for humans of any expression. To this end, as a community and as individuals, we are open to feedback as to how we can improve, learn, and grow.
- All lectures, workshops and activities
- Hand-outs, resource lists and song recordings
- Weekly Q&A about home gardening endeavors
- Herbal tea and homegrown organic lunch on the farm
- $250 worth of food, medicine and plant starts to take home from the farm over the course of the season
- Monthly service trips to Cherokee and indigenous teachings from Cherokee wisdom keepers
For all of this, we ask for an exchange of $2,500 USD.
We are aware of the effects of systemic racism and inequality in our society. Because of this, we offer scholarships for Black, Indigenous, and People of Culture (BIPOC). Please inquire in your application for more information.
We have a limited number of partial work trade positions. Please let us know in your application if you are interested.
This program is welcome to and celebratory of all human expressions of gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. We hope to create a safe space for humans of any expression. To this end, as a community and as individuals, we are open to feedback as to how we can improve, learn, and grow.
THIS PROGRAM IS FOR YOU IF...
- You have always wanted to garden but don’t know where to start
- You want to deepen your knowledge of gardening
- You want a hands-on, hands in the dirt experience of learning how to grow throughout the seasons
- You want to give back to communities of color that are underserved
- You want more community connection and interdependence
- You long to care for the Earth
- You want to explore your life's purpose
- You want to learn how to share more vulnerably, listen more deeply and communicate with grace
- You crave collaboration and working together
- You are excited to get your hand dirty and play in the dirt!
