Happy heart of summer to all of you! We have just finished four wonderful weeks of summer camp. Witnessing the kids and teachers enjoying summer, making precious friendships, and being held by this land is pure gold. Every week campers, counselors and staff made community through singing, swimming at the pond, and playing soccer. As you will see from the photos, the joy was palpable. Everyone felt kinship with the joy of life. Each week we make an agreement and everyone signs it. We talk about how people can be together. The very first week of camp as we made our weekly agreement one camper spoke very clearly, “We are stronger together.”

The stories of summer are well told in pictures. We hope you will enjoy the photo gallery of camp with kids, teachers, and counselors in the full swing of summer fun.

Summer continues into August with Stamp Camp, a grown up summer camp art workshop for ages 18+ to explore printing and stamping with Sammy Burhoe. Read below for more details and a registration link.

Keep your eyes open for another Saturday Drumming and Dancing Workshop in August with King Salim and Jumoke Ajanku from Sankofa. Photos from the June workshop are below. Registration will go live soon.

Our pizza night to benefit The Center at Orchard Hill was a great success and there was an exciting windy thunderstorm sending all under the pavilion laughing and smiling through the storm while pizzas continued. Thanks to all who came out to support us!

We are again turning toward the needs of our beautiful building. This year the furnace needs work, and we are still dreaming of painting the inside rooms. If you are able to make a donation to help that work move forward it would be greatly appreciated!!

Our Center is unique in that gifts, contributions, in-kind donations, and generosity in fact create us. We thank you. To Andrea for holding all aspects of our foundational support. To Alissa for believing in us, writing our story and supporting our leadership as we move forward. To Eleanor energizer bunny. To Sammy for sparking creativity and outreach for youth and artists into the autumn and our next steps. To our youth counselors extrodinaire Aster, Akil, Asher, Ayinde, River, Salvador, and Sparroe for bridging the generations and carrying on traditions of heart and place for campers. To our camp staff Jules, Yumiko, Chris, Melanie, and Eleanor for holding space and joy for all kinds of minds and ways of being in the world. To our donors, Acworth and Alstead Conservation Commission for camperships, to Jeffrey Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund for Farm Camp scholarships, to NH State ReKINDling Curiosity for scholarships. These funds made camp possible for 75% of our campers.

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Four Weeks of Summer in Pictures!

Farm and Drum - June 24 - 28

Week Folk / Forest Adventurers - July 1 - 3

Connect and Create for Teens - June 24 - 28 and July 1 - 3

Amazing Art / Anything Goes Arts

Art and Stories of the Wild

Stamp Camp! Friday Aug 23 - Sunday Aug 25

Join us at the Center for our first ever Stamp Camp with resident artist Sammy Burhoe. We will immerse ourselves in practices of observation and making new images through drawing and printmaking, as well as group experiments both outdoors and in the studio. Through both analog skill instruction and structured creative free time, participants can expect to learn/develop skill as well as to expand into creative play.

Printmaking allows us to make multiples to share. Towards the end of our workshop, we will have the opportunity to gift our work to each other as well as to the Center's growing library of art, books and resources.

Zero experience is required to join this workshop. (Beginning is a gift to everyone.) Camping indoors or outdoors optional.

Stamp Camp Registration

West African Drumming and Dancing Workshop August TBA

The workshop on Saturday, June 29 was amazing! We learned traditional rhythms and dances. We performed them that evening and everyone had a chance to dance or drum a solo. We are hoping to make it happen again on a Saturday in August. Reach out to us if you are interested in joining us. We will send out an email and post it on Facebook and Instagram once registration is live.

On Going Programs

Quaker Meeting Sundays 9:30 - 10:30 am

Shapenote Sing 2nd and 4th Wednesdays 6:30 pm

Orisha Dance Thrusdays 6:30 pm

The Community Resiliency Project

The Community Garden project is in our second growing season and we have 17 families participating this year. We are focusing on storage crops and experimenting with a new way of composting. Some of our participants are excited about saving seeds and reviving our seed swap in the early Spring. Email Andrea if you are interested in becoming a part of this group.

Looking Forward:

Preschool Cooperative

The Preschool Parent Cooperative will be gathering here Monday - Wednesday again starting in September. This group of families with preschool aged children has created a program that continues the long history of early childhood education on this land and in this building. If you are interested in openings for your children or if you are a teacher interested in working with this age group, email or call Laurel Iselin at mtinlaurel@gmail.com 603 313 4218 for more information.