Green Connections Prairie Dinner
30 September 2017
"I know it is possible for leaders to use their power and influence, their insight and compassion, to lead people back to an understanding of who we are as human beings, to create the conditions for our basic human qualities of generosity, contribution, community, and love to be evoked no matter what. I know it is possible to experience grace and joy in the midst of tragedy and loss. I know it is possible to create islands of sanity in the midst of wildly disruptive seas. I know it is possible because I have worked with leaders over many years in places that knew chaos and breakdown long before this moment. And I have studied enough history to know that such leaders always arise when they are most needed.
--Margaret J. Wheatley
Who do we Choose to Be?
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Prairie Dinner & Concert: It was Another
Magical Evening
Green Connections board members set up the long table for the feast and the barn for the concert. Young servers from nearby and chefs from Kam's Kookery arrived. Guests gathered. The wine was poured, the delicious local foods set before us and the festivities began. Ann Zimmerman's delightful music was preceded by a glorious golden western sky as Earth moved up to hide the sun; the postlude was a sky filled with stars.
Thanks to our servers; Kam, Karen and Wes from Kam's Kookery; board members; Woods & Waters winery; Ann Z, and all who joined us for the evening!
Join us for Pecan Harvest
October 14 is the official opening day of pecan harvest here. It will continue through the month of October. Call Ann to set up a time to come help out. It is a lot of fun and a great learning opportunity. Being in the beautiful pecan grove this time of year is a gift in and of itself! Ann is at [email protected] or 580.370.0764
And check out our fall lineup of retreats (below!)
Mark Davies and Pat are offering a series of retreats to close out our year's theme, "In Times Like These." If you haven't experienced one of their retreats, consider these three.
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CALENDAR OF FALL RETREATS
TOGETHER
IN TIMES LIKE THESE--
our theme this year.
I
n times like these it is understandable why so many have given up on civic and political activity when it seems that the deck is stacked against the common good in favor of the wealthy and the powerful. Nevertheless, it is still true that the key to change is participation by the people at all levels of community-local, state, national and global.
In this workshop we will take a look at local and state situations in Oklahoma and nationally to explore the main barriers to vibrant and vital civic participation and how we might be inspired and committed to get involved in ways that connect our skills and passions for a flourishing life for all with what's needed in our communities and world. We just might surprise ourselves when we see what we the people are capable of doing when we get engaged in creative, committed, compassionate ways. Mark Davies and Pat Hoerth will lead.
 Mark Davies is the Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics and Director of the World House Institute for Social and Ecological Responsibility at Oklahoma City University. Mark has published in the areas of Boston personalism, process philosophy and ethics, and ecological ethics. Dr. Davies serves on the United Methodist University Senate. He and his wife Kristin live in Edmond, OK, and they have two daughters.
His love of nature was cultivated in childhood hikes in the Wichita Mountains near Lawton, OK, home and summer visits to the Olympic mountains where grandparents lived in retirement.
 A retreat leader and spiritual director, Pat Hoerth is co-founder and co-director of Turtle Rock Farm: A Center for Sustainability, Spirituality and Healing and a resident in the CommonWealth Urban Farm community in Oklahoma City. A United Methodist Deaconess, she is co-chair of the Oklahoma United Methodist Environmental Coalition and has served on the leadership team of the National Association of Deaconesses and Home Missioners. She teaches in the United Methodist Women's Mission u and authored the 2016 Children's Study on Climate Justice: God's Extravagant Garden.
Her love of nature was cultivated in childhood on her family farm, on the Oklahoma prairie, which is now called Turtle Rock Farm.
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Turtle Rock Farm in Town
1000 NW 32nd Street in the CommonWealth Urban Farm community, Oklahoma City
Retreat fee is $75 and includes lunch.
To register and pay by Pay Pal, click
here. Or send a check to Turtle Rock Farm, 5900 CR 90, Red Rock, OK 74651. Include name of retreat, your name, address, phone, email address.
In Times Like These-intensely divided around values-we experience isolation, confusion, overwhelmedness, loss and we long for beloved community. In this workshop, we will explore community: human, ecological cosmic. What makes for a beloved community? Where have we experienced it and where have we lost it? What happens to our human spirit without beloved community? And which comes first: the human spirit regenerated through community or community regenerated through human spirit?Using a variety of learning processes from a variety of sources, we will consider the human spirit, its needs and its capability to develop beloved community in these times. Mark Davies and Pat Hoerth will lead. (See bios above.)
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Turtle Rock Farm in Town
1000 NW 32nd Street in the CommonWealth Urban Farm community, Oklahoma City
Retreat fee is $75 and includes lunch.
To register and pay by Pay Pal, click
here. Or send a check to Turtle Rock Farm, 5900 CR 90, Red Rock, OK 74651. Include name of retreat, your name, address, phone, email address.
Resilience Through Community-based Economies...
In Times Like These
December 2
In times like these, billions of us have to accept our responsibility to life on Earth and change our lives in significant ways to offset as much as possible the damage done to our life together on the planet. We can choose to face this inevitability not through the eyes of loss but through the eyes of opportunity. Building new, innovative local economies will take sacrifice, empathy and loving kindness for all life. But this good human work holds the potential of bringing a rediscovery of true human community in our world as we form communities of resistance and resilience and regeneration.
In this workshop, we will see exciting and encouraging examples of regenerative economies for communities around the world and explore what may be possible in Oklahoma. Mark Davies and Pat Hoerth will lead.
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Turtle Rock Farm in Town
1000 NW 32nd Street in the CommonWealth Urban Farm community, Oklahoma City
Retreat fee is $75 and includes lunch.
To register and pay by Pay Pal, click
here. Or send a check to Turtle Rock Farm, 5900 CR 90, Red Rock, OK 74651. Include name of retreat, your name, address, phone, email address.
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Turtle Rock Farm:
A Center for Sustainability, Spirituality and Healing
On the
 Prairie, north central Oklahoma
In Town, at CommonWealth Urban Farms, Oklahoma City
Our website:
Farm Phone: 580.370.0764
In Town Phone: 580.917.6011
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