Tending the Tenders: Gathering Gold (for adults)
Led by Lauren Green of Dream’s Garden (OCGDLC) in collaboration with Caroline Erb of Teatown, Tending the Tenders: Gathering Gold invites those who spend so much of their lives tending to people, families, communities, work, land, dreams, and one another to pause at the threshold between summer and fall and explore:
What has nourished me? What has brought me joy? What has supported and strengthened me? What am I gathering to carry forward?
Inspired by the goldenrod blooming across the late summer landscape, Gathering Gold explores the wisdom of harvest before release: recognizing what has sustained us, discerning what is precious, and gathering the inner resources we want to preserve as we move toward the quieter seasons ahead.
In this 2.5 hour guided immersion, we will gently weave the Eastern wisdom of autumn’s Metal element: discernment, value, breath, preservation, and release, with the rhythms and teachings of the land.
We’ll begin with a seasonal tea ceremony before heading onto the trails during golden hour. Through guided observation and forest bathing, participants will practice slowing down, receiving, asking permission, gathering thoughtfully, and giving thanks as we notice how the landscape itself prepares for seasonal change.
Returning as the sun sets and twilight settles in, we’ll transform what we have gathered through botanical hammer printing, working with goldenrod, flowers, ferns, changing leaves, grasses, and other seasonal botanicals.
Each participant will create and take home a framed 5×7 botanical art piece, a personal visual record of the gold they are choosing to gather, preserve, and carry into the seasons ahead.
Before release, there is harvest. Before winter, there is preparation. Before we tend what comes next, we remember to tend the tender.
Come gather your gold.
This program will take place outside at Cliffdale Farm. Please visit the Cliffdale Farm page for directions.
$30 members / $35 non-members (includes materials fee)
