Dragonfly Farm and Arts Newsletter

Written By Ann Boyd

Gratitudes * Contemplations * Farm Friend Feature *

Recent Dragonly Highlights * Upcoming Offerings

Nature Based Crafts campers and their guide Janell gather rhubarb for tomorrow’s scones ♥️

Gratitudes

Thank you - each and every one of you who graced our farm this spring and summer with your delightful presence! Thank you to the families for all that it takes to gift the young people in your lives this opportunity to be outside, embodied, in community and creating all day!

Hummingbirds bring their magic to the garden and this exuberant flower, Bouncing Bet

Contemplations

As I reflect on our summer camp time together light rain falls and thunder announces lightning. Fear of fire nips at my heart. I am readying to teach a yoga class and wondering how to help others cultivate peace when I am agitated…I realize right here, right now is my opportunity to practice. I remember Victor Frankel’s words that “between the stimulus and the response there is a space and in that space is our power to choose.” I choose to focus on the thousands of empowered people working to contain the fires, to create safe spaces for humans and animals and I remember that in times of stress people come together. Fear softens and opens to gratitude. Later as I walk into the Namaspa yoga studio there is a quote from slam poet Andrea Gibson;

“If your wounds are still open, trust they are doors

to answers and walk through.”

May we all draw on our connections within and to one another and keep walking through the doors together. 

Recent Dragonfly Highlights

Summer camps!!! We shared a daily rhythm of circles, songs, stories, making, games, time with farm animals, foraging in the garden and splashing in clear cold water from the mountains. Campers created with all kinds of materials including natural materials from Aspen rounds and calypso beans for necklaces to puppet people made of treasures found at the reservoir; pumice, old bottle caps, pine cones and sticks. We collaborated at the morning “collaboration stations” and explored collaborative creative games including “monster mash up” making fantastic figures from one another’s squiggly doodles. Other games challenged our stealth (“firekeeper”) our awareness (“foxtail”) and our attention (“meet a tree”). Flowers from our garden grace the Namaspa studio and proceeds support their foundation bringing yoga into the community and Dragonfly Farm and Arts scholarships.

Farm Friend Feature

William! A true king and our dear friend.

William!!! The story we have been told is that he was hungry and abandoned on a thoroughbred race farm that was no longer active. He was scooped up and taught dressage and later learned how to jump fences. By the time we met William in 2016 he was a high spirited, challenging and unpredictable horse. Since he has lived with us he has settled into the king he was meant to be. He watches out for us all with dedication and is always happy to receive rubs. We know he is not long for this realm; he is 23 years old now and his hind legs are not holding up well. His presence among us has been a gift of integrity, dignity, deep beauty and transformation. Thank you William for your true friendship.

Upcoming Offerings

This summer was deeply inspirational and we are looking forward to more sharing of creativity, community and life on the farm. Upcoming events include:

  • Mark your calendars and more details to follow - Family Farm Sundays 10am-noon on October 25, November 22, December 20 featuring a seasonal craft and / or activity, communi-”tea”, and the spaciousness of time under the sky and among our farm animal friends.

  • Living rug workshop for teens to adults, date TBA

  • Keep your eye on our ever-evolving website.

    AND if you have an idea for a gathering, festival, ceremony, or a creative practice, I am always open to collaboration and would love to work together on bringing your vision to life!

And last but not least…

The new chicks were a source of great joy this summer!

Thank you to each camper for making our time together so playful and full of creative exploration and joy - we look forward to more!

With love and gratitude,

Ann and all the Dragonfly Guides; Viola, Alicia, Janell, Abbie, Kurt and the land and other animals that live here!

Ann Boyd