Celebrate the Summer at tara's meadow, beaver island
2019 Calendar of events
guest sojourns
june 1 - sept
"Guest Sojourns" are specialized retreats for individuals and couples at Tara's Meadow
A guest sojourn is a soul-recharging different kind of vacation, one that is customized and individually-crafted to meet your needs. All the elements are there for a refreshing, peaceful and renewing personal retreat: solitude time, beach time, rest and play, forest hikes and ecology, history, and friendly island culture. Seamus can offer you an array of special movement meditations in our beautiful tree-top meditation room, our forest geodesic dome, or outdoors in the wonderful meadow. Your sojourn can simply be a time of rest and a fun exploration of Beaver Island. Or for those who wish more, Seamus can offer tools for healing, meditation and clarity along your life path.
"My days sojourning at Tara's felt expansive and timeless, thanks to Seamus and his care and attentiveness to place, space, and people."
- Tawnya Leveta, Guest Sojourner, Summer 2015
Click on this link for more details on GUEST SOJOURNS. Contact Seamus to register and save your dates!
A guest sojourn is a soul-recharging different kind of vacation, one that is customized and individually-crafted to meet your needs. All the elements are there for a refreshing, peaceful and renewing personal retreat: solitude time, beach time, rest and play, forest hikes and ecology, history, and friendly island culture. Seamus can offer you an array of special movement meditations in our beautiful tree-top meditation room, our forest geodesic dome, or outdoors in the wonderful meadow. Your sojourn can simply be a time of rest and a fun exploration of Beaver Island. Or for those who wish more, Seamus can offer tools for healing, meditation and clarity along your life path.
"My days sojourning at Tara's felt expansive and timeless, thanks to Seamus and his care and attentiveness to place, space, and people."
- Tawnya Leveta, Guest Sojourner, Summer 2015
Click on this link for more details on GUEST SOJOURNS. Contact Seamus to register and save your dates!
past events
Silence and Sharing in Nature: A Retreat for Our Wild Souls
august 31, 2018 - September 3, 2018
"Dearest friend - I have just completed an amazing retreat weekend at Tara's Meadow on Beaver Island! It's a beautiful, lush, woodsy place with a stone circle. Wish we could have shared this time together! My spirit is light and joyful, and I found my inner child filled with awe, adventure and playfulness. I walked with bare feet, danced and rolled in the grass laughing and howling like a coyote. An amazing Buddhist teacher, Ryan Doran-Fisher, inspired us all guiding us in meditation, sharing his wisdom and dharma teachings. I fully intend to broaden my spiritual life as I practice what he has shared. I am happy and filled with love."
~Kenzie
"The soul is like a wild animal - tough, resilient and shy. When we go crashing through the woods shouting for it... it stays in hiding. But if we are willing to sit quietly and wait for a while, the soul may show itself."
- Parker Palmer
OUR WEEKEND offered a special experience of being present, sharing who we are, and where we are at this precious moment on this changing planet. We held witness to the dramatic changes that have transpired over this past year in both the climate and society of Earth and speculated about the future, and our own profound human capacities for resilience. Each day offered an opportunity to choose between solitary reflection or a group activity over the course of several offered blocks of time, then coming back together to share discoveries made as well as our stories. We shared laughter and swimming in the lake too, good food, and the comfort and camaraderie of conscious friends gathering. Our facilitators this year were Darcy Costello, Seamus Norgaard, and Ryan Doran-Fisher.
"Our equal and opposite needs for solitude and community constitute a great paradox. When it is torn apart, both of these life-giving states of being degenerate into deathly specters of themselves. Solitude split off from community is no longer a rich and fulfilling experience of inwardness; now it becomes loneliness, a terrible isolation. Community split off from solitude is no longer a nurturing network of relationships; now it becomes a crowd, an alienating buzz of too many people and too much noise."
- Parker Palmer
~Kenzie
"The soul is like a wild animal - tough, resilient and shy. When we go crashing through the woods shouting for it... it stays in hiding. But if we are willing to sit quietly and wait for a while, the soul may show itself."
- Parker Palmer
OUR WEEKEND offered a special experience of being present, sharing who we are, and where we are at this precious moment on this changing planet. We held witness to the dramatic changes that have transpired over this past year in both the climate and society of Earth and speculated about the future, and our own profound human capacities for resilience. Each day offered an opportunity to choose between solitary reflection or a group activity over the course of several offered blocks of time, then coming back together to share discoveries made as well as our stories. We shared laughter and swimming in the lake too, good food, and the comfort and camaraderie of conscious friends gathering. Our facilitators this year were Darcy Costello, Seamus Norgaard, and Ryan Doran-Fisher.
"Our equal and opposite needs for solitude and community constitute a great paradox. When it is torn apart, both of these life-giving states of being degenerate into deathly specters of themselves. Solitude split off from community is no longer a rich and fulfilling experience of inwardness; now it becomes loneliness, a terrible isolation. Community split off from solitude is no longer a nurturing network of relationships; now it becomes a crowd, an alienating buzz of too many people and too much noise."
- Parker Palmer
earth-bonding and sustainability
may 14-24, 2018
"My time at Tara's Meadow, Beaver Island was amazing. I feel like it was more of a quest for discovery than a college course. I learned so much about myself. You taught me so much about how to progress, not only as a professional in the field of environmental sustainability and education, but also as a good person."
- West Campbell, college student and Iraq War Veteran
We've just returned from 10 days of an experiential adventure out at Tara's Meadow Education and Retreat Center. During that time college students camped out in the Meadow and worked incredibly hard, felt their spirits moved and their lives changed, and had their goals and educational paths clarified and deeply affirmed.
"This was a life-changing experience for me. Being on the island and learning through real-world experience just further cemented in my mind that I am on the right track in terms of my educational goals..."
- Ethan Jacobs, college student
During their 14 days of Island time students engaged in an intensive experiential education adventure bonding with nature, teaching one another, and building community together at Tara's Meadow. Afternoons took them out into the broader Beaver Island community where they learned "hands on" sustainability skills working with Beaver Island's Community School on a Greenhouse design project; the Nature Conservancy constructing a wetlands boardwalk; and with the Beaver Island Historical Society on their "This Place Matters" National Historic Trust campaign.
Returning home to the mainland, students next put their love of nature and newly-developed teaching abilities to the test, by designing and delivering an environmental education curricula to 22 first-through-third grade students at Petoskey's Montessori School.
Student Jerrica Jackman's amazing 4-minute video documentary of the whole experience was her very first-ever video production. It ends with delightful scenes of the college students working with young and enthused Montessori students in the College's beautiful Natural Area in Petoskey. Check it out!
TARA'S MEADOW Education and Retreat Center continues to be a place where education, personal growth, and connections with nature and community on Beaver Island are nurtured and celebrated.
"We were a diverse group of people, both in age and in ideals. We wove a fabric of friendship tighter than any I've ever had, even so far as the military 'brotherhood'. It was amazing."
West Campbell, college student and Iraq War Veteran
- West Campbell, college student and Iraq War Veteran
We've just returned from 10 days of an experiential adventure out at Tara's Meadow Education and Retreat Center. During that time college students camped out in the Meadow and worked incredibly hard, felt their spirits moved and their lives changed, and had their goals and educational paths clarified and deeply affirmed.
"This was a life-changing experience for me. Being on the island and learning through real-world experience just further cemented in my mind that I am on the right track in terms of my educational goals..."
- Ethan Jacobs, college student
During their 14 days of Island time students engaged in an intensive experiential education adventure bonding with nature, teaching one another, and building community together at Tara's Meadow. Afternoons took them out into the broader Beaver Island community where they learned "hands on" sustainability skills working with Beaver Island's Community School on a Greenhouse design project; the Nature Conservancy constructing a wetlands boardwalk; and with the Beaver Island Historical Society on their "This Place Matters" National Historic Trust campaign.
Returning home to the mainland, students next put their love of nature and newly-developed teaching abilities to the test, by designing and delivering an environmental education curricula to 22 first-through-third grade students at Petoskey's Montessori School.
Student Jerrica Jackman's amazing 4-minute video documentary of the whole experience was her very first-ever video production. It ends with delightful scenes of the college students working with young and enthused Montessori students in the College's beautiful Natural Area in Petoskey. Check it out!
TARA'S MEADOW Education and Retreat Center continues to be a place where education, personal growth, and connections with nature and community on Beaver Island are nurtured and celebrated.
"We were a diverse group of people, both in age and in ideals. We wove a fabric of friendship tighter than any I've ever had, even so far as the military 'brotherhood'. It was amazing."
West Campbell, college student and Iraq War Veteran
we are the elders!
our hopes, fears, and responsibilities in these times
tara's meadow labor day retreat
sept 1-4, 2017
"Dragonflies, my totem animal, darting upon tall grass met me as I arrived at Tara's Meadow, signaling transformation was in store for myself and those journeying with me.
There were 15 or us sojourners who embarked upon this weekend retreat. A weekend filled with activities meant to challenge us to leave behind the parts of ourselves no longer useful as we discovered what was most in line with our soul's purpose. Bonding with others in community while residing in the body of nature and moving more fully into ourselves. We used poetry, earth bonding, mask making, nature journaling, meditation and shared our stories to achieve these ends. All coming away with a renewed sense of purpose toward our work as Elders.
I feel gratitude for those I met on this path and for the wisdom the natural world offered me. The impact of spending a long weekend at Tara's Meadow glows within me still. Keeping lit the desire to do my soul's work, but also the work our world calls out for - that of peace, justice and care of our planet."
- Darcy Costello, Co-facilitator "We Are the Elders Retreat"
Below are some thoughts from my fellow Elder weekend participants:
"'WE ARE THE ELDERS!' WAS A REAL BREAKTHROUGH FOR ME - one of the most important experiences of my life. I left rejuvenated, and with love of being an elder."
-Charlie Donaldson, LPP
"'WE ARE THE ELDERS' WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE - the extent and depth of which took me by surprise. I came back home with a nurtured gratitude for my path and process."
-Sally Wagoner, BSN
"THANK YOU! Your kindness, courage, humility, openness, tenderness, experience, wisdom, and HUMOR fed me deeply! I have hungrily devoured each new tasty morsel of soul food that was served!"
- Linda Britt
"In my youth my body rushed ahead and left my mind and soul behind. As an elder, my soul and mind now are catching up."
- Bernhard Odernheimer
There were 15 or us sojourners who embarked upon this weekend retreat. A weekend filled with activities meant to challenge us to leave behind the parts of ourselves no longer useful as we discovered what was most in line with our soul's purpose. Bonding with others in community while residing in the body of nature and moving more fully into ourselves. We used poetry, earth bonding, mask making, nature journaling, meditation and shared our stories to achieve these ends. All coming away with a renewed sense of purpose toward our work as Elders.
I feel gratitude for those I met on this path and for the wisdom the natural world offered me. The impact of spending a long weekend at Tara's Meadow glows within me still. Keeping lit the desire to do my soul's work, but also the work our world calls out for - that of peace, justice and care of our planet."
- Darcy Costello, Co-facilitator "We Are the Elders Retreat"
Below are some thoughts from my fellow Elder weekend participants:
"'WE ARE THE ELDERS!' WAS A REAL BREAKTHROUGH FOR ME - one of the most important experiences of my life. I left rejuvenated, and with love of being an elder."
-Charlie Donaldson, LPP
"'WE ARE THE ELDERS' WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE - the extent and depth of which took me by surprise. I came back home with a nurtured gratitude for my path and process."
-Sally Wagoner, BSN
"THANK YOU! Your kindness, courage, humility, openness, tenderness, experience, wisdom, and HUMOR fed me deeply! I have hungrily devoured each new tasty morsel of soul food that was served!"
- Linda Britt
"In my youth my body rushed ahead and left my mind and soul behind. As an elder, my soul and mind now are catching up."
- Bernhard Odernheimer
how beavers can save the world!
june 24, 2017
Join leading sustainability experts for a Saturday eco-adventure on Michigan's Beaver Island!
Sponsored by We Are the Forest, the Beaver Island Music Festival, and Tara's Meadow
Heralded as a "keystone species", science and planetary solutions experts have begun to pay serious attention to the ingenius methods of the mighty beaver. We'll explore and learn sustainable eco-solutions currently being implemented across the globe, as we get up close and personal with the biodiversity and design genius of beaver dams. Masters of habitat creation and ecosystem restoration, what better place to learn from these natural problem solvers than the unmatched beauty of Michigan's own BEAVER ISLAND!
Sponsored by We Are the Forest, the Beaver Island Music Festival, and Tara's Meadow
Heralded as a "keystone species", science and planetary solutions experts have begun to pay serious attention to the ingenius methods of the mighty beaver. We'll explore and learn sustainable eco-solutions currently being implemented across the globe, as we get up close and personal with the biodiversity and design genius of beaver dams. Masters of habitat creation and ecosystem restoration, what better place to learn from these natural problem solvers than the unmatched beauty of Michigan's own BEAVER ISLAND!
SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION WITH CELTIC BODY PRAYERS
JUNE 17, 2017
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"Celtic Body Prayers" are a healthful, graceful, and simple sequence of movements that any person can learn - gentle exercises for the body and spirit. Want to break free from the stale habits of winter and the indoors? Come join us for our Summer Solstice Celebration and an introduction to these gentle movement-meditations. Together we'll blend ecology and verse, as we move together with the beautiful patterns of wind and wave and creation in one graceful daily practice.
outdoor college classroom at tara's meadow
“When we camped in Tara’s Meadow, we developed something truly beautiful. This trip will go down in
my memories as one of the most unforgettable experiences in my life.”
- Student from North Central Michigan College
From May 16 through 24th, 2017 Tara’s Meadow retreat and educational center hosted its second season of
outdoor college classes. Students shared the beautiful outdoors for eight days of intensive study, completing courses in Poetry and Interpersonal Communications. The unique outdoor classroom experience provides students a new experiential kind of learning:
“Taking class outside and getting rid of the boxed classroom style allows for students to not only read and
remember, but also live the lesson at the same time. Inside a conventional classroom I constantly struggle with my attention fading in and out. At Tara's Meadow this wasn't the case, the structure and flow of the course allowed me to give my undivided attention at all times.” - Student
The Meadow's present owner, Seamus Norgaard, and his fellow professor, Kerri Finlayson, recently designed a 2-year Associate of Arts degree program in "Environmental and Sustainability Studies" for North Central Michigan College. Tara's Meadow and Beaver Island provide an ideal field studies site for the new program. In the words of one student:
“Beaver island is an amazing learning environment that allows for learning opportunities far beyond our
unique flexible classroom. In a concrete box we are more closed, more reserved; but camping out we had
no limits. It brought a new feel, new creative ways to think while doing schoolwork. Words can’t do
justice to what this experience has taught me . . .
eco-adventure weekend - june 25, 2016
On Saturday June 25, Tara’s Meadow hosted Nathan Ayers of CHIWARA Permaculture for Beaver Island's first annual Eco-Adventure Weekend. This was an exciting first pilot event for us co-sponsored by Beaver Island Music Festival, Tara's Meadow, and CHIWARA Permaculture design and education (Nathan Ayers.) The event was entitled “How Beaver Can Save the World” – and investigated beavers key roles in drought relief and water table recharge, soil building, and pollution control. Attached are photos from this most successful pilot event.
summer Solstice 2013: old traditions, new community at tara's
THIS YEAR’S SUMMER SOLSTICE GATHERING AT TARA’S MEADOW, BEAVER ISLE was a unique celebration of new community and ancient traditions of unity. It wove together customs of the European Celts with those of the native Beaver Island Odawa peoples; and it also freshly introduced new young families from the mainland to their potential new neighbors who already live sustainably on Beaver Island.
As host, I was pleased to witness the dozen young children working together with adults to select, and give offerings to the young live tree cut for our ceremonial dance.
We all recognized and honored this tree, each offering a prayer for the whole community as we tied our ribbons to the maypole. This was a conscious honoring of Celtic customs, and the old Odawa peoples’ practices on Beaver Island as cited here:
“Kinwabikise tied 3 prayer offerings (tobacco) to the tip of the ceremonial tree. Everyone else followed, taking most of the morning to tie their prayer offerings to the tree.”
- from The Elders Speak by George Anthony
“Kinwabikise tied 3 prayer offerings (tobacco) to the tip of the ceremonial tree. Everyone else followed, taking most of the morning to tie their prayer offerings to the tree.”
- from The Elders Speak by George Anthony
After the tree was cut and the ribbons tied, it was then up to our group of 20 some adults and children from the Island and mainland ~ mostly novices to the May Pole dance ~ to somehow find order, bringing unity and pattern to the beautiful chaos:
“Trying to figure out how to do the maypole dance was a real lesson in patience, listening, and trial and error! It was great to see it all work out in the end for a beautiful weaving of our different ideas, personalities, and experiences . . . It was a great family event!”
-Kathryn Doran-Fisher
-Kathryn Doran-Fisher
“There are beautiful things in life that we must think about. A lifeless looking tree in winter that becomes full of life in summer; the dullness and mystery of night that changes into the brightness of day . . . these things that are here, on this earth, for us to use so we can continue to live”
“Each one of us who attends this ceremony is ready for for some kind of change to our life. We can, at this ceremony, conquer fear; or we can support those who are seeking a vision”
from The Elders Speak by George Anthony
“Each one of us who attends this ceremony is ready for for some kind of change to our life. We can, at this ceremony, conquer fear; or we can support those who are seeking a vision”
from The Elders Speak by George Anthony
Please enjoy the accompanying photos of this event. Recognize in these images the promises of both new young lives from today’s families; and the timeless tides of tradition in these quotes and visions from Elders past. In the words of one young father of today:
“It was 10 years to the day that Kathryn and I were married . . . and I also made my marriage proposal near the base of a maypole. This memory, in conjunction with the memory of the Native American "ceremony of unity," lent a beautiful sense of continuity . . . This sense of unity was ultimately, for me, the feeling of returning home.”
-Ryan Doran-Fisher-
“It was 10 years to the day that Kathryn and I were married . . . and I also made my marriage proposal near the base of a maypole. This memory, in conjunction with the memory of the Native American "ceremony of unity," lent a beautiful sense of continuity . . . This sense of unity was ultimately, for me, the feeling of returning home.”
-Ryan Doran-Fisher-
