January at The Trees
It’s a quiet morning, a couple of days after Christmas and I’ve just told my last houseguests goodbye after hosting beloved family members for the last 10 nights. I’m choosing to sit with Mary Oliver (poem at the very end) and pause the thinking and figuring it out for a bit to just sit holding out my hands, noticing with gratitude. Maybe you will join me?
During this fall at The Trees, I have noticed:
The light shines a bit brighter in our gathering space when all the leaves are gone.
Just a light dusting of snow has a magical effect on our trees, our lichen, our streams, and woods.
How pausing and slowing down and being present to the natural world helps us know ourselves, each other, and the Spirit that connects us all.
Volunteers show up right when you need them and their gifts.
Candles quiet and connect us.
Community is growing…one shared connection after another.
A firepit and smores bring us all together.
The sacredness in simplicity–simplicity of space, simplicity of worship
The way our trees hold our questions, our fears, our pain, our unknowing, and also our hopes, our healing, and our prayers.
Time in the woods reduces anxiety, boosts mood, and improves mental health for all of us.
Meeting new neighbors can be so much fun!
Even our four-legged friends get a good boost of energy and excitement exploring our trails.
That this is all a gift. Our gift and we have the opportunity to steward it with care, respect, prayerful pace, love, and devotion.
Something new is continuing to happen. In the darkness of these days, something is growing underneath the soil. We must be present and listening.
With deep gratitude for all that has been and all that is to come.
We hope you will join us in 2026!
Featured Events
Quiet Day
Tuesday, Jan 6 • 10:00 am - 2:30 pm
Come join us as we start the new year with a bit of quiet and centering surrounded by the trees. The house and trails are all open and available. At noon, we will offer Simple Presence, a shared time of silence for 10 minutes. When you join us for quiet day, we encourage you to consider:
Really unplugging. Pause the tendency to produce, achieve, scroll .….
Trying a new practice to help with slowing down, paying attention, and listening. Creative tools and practices will be available.
The hope for this time is that you will take a break from the rigors and demands of your normal routine (we know this is not easy) to pause and listen to your deepest self and to God within.
Vision: Women’s Morning Yoga Retreat with Olynda
Sunday, Jan 11 • 9 am - 12 pm
The start of a new calendar year can feel so fresh with possibilities. It’s one of those times when we can consciously choose to “restart” in a way that is more inline with our own inner calling. In this morning retreat, we will have a yoga practice that helps us hear that sometimes quiet voice within – the one that is urging us in the direction of our souls deepest desires, needs and fulfilling work. In the second half of the morning we will have time in this truly beautiful space to explore our vision for the new year and to create something that can help us remember the clarity we found during our time together. Olynda will offer lots of different ways to approach this big endeavor, so you can find what feels just right to you on the day we meet.
Fireside Conversations with Melinda Thomas
Thursday, Jan 15 • 5:30-7 pm
A warm pot of soup and hospitality will be available from 5:30-6, followed by poetry, stories, meditation, and conversation with Melinda Thomas.
“Anyone can be a mystic and we are here begging you to notice” ~ Melinda Emily Thomas
Join Melinda Emily Thomas for a free poetry reading to celebrate the release of her new book Elements of Being: A Spiritual Memoir in Verse. During this hour long free event Melinda will share poems and stories from the book as well as lead a guided meditation and conversation.
In the 108 poems in this collection, archetypes and memory entwine as personified elements weave with lived experience to chart the sacred terrain of motherhood, mental illness, and joy. The verses move like seasons through the ache of miscarriage, the fierce bloom of pregnancy, the primal truth of birth, and the weight of postpartum depression. They hold the sweetness of a child’s laugh, the pulse of landscape, and the expansive spiral of spirit. Rooted in the sacred rhythms of the earth, these poems embrace struggle, sorrow, and joy as vital threads in the fabric of wholeness.
Sign up HERE. All are welcome!
Bake and Pray – Pre-Lent Retreat with Kendall Vanderslice
Saturday, January 24
Are you looking for an opportunity to slow down, to recover from holiday madness and prepare for the season of Lent? Kendall is a baker as well as a food and theology scholar who helps others meet God in the kitchen. Over the course of our time together, you will learn to bake a simple loaf of bread—along the way, though, you will learn how to use your time in the kitchen as an opportunity to meet with God, and you will explore the ways God is revealed to us through bread, both in Scripture and in Christian tradition.
Your registration fee includes access to the event, two meals, a signed copy of Bake & Pray, and some additional fun Edible Theology swag!
Event is appropriate for ages 12+. Please reach out to Kendall if you have any questions.
Sign up HERE.
Winter Work Day
Saturday, Jan 17 • 10 am - 2 pm
Bundle up and join us for a day of working on our trails and property. We will break and gather together at noon for a chili lunch. Thank you for considering sharing your time, gifts, and talents on this weekend of service supporting The Trees and honoring Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Sign up HERE. All are welcome!
Weekly Offerings
Beloved Community Worship Service
Sundays 4:45 pm
Prayer of the Anglican rosary, followed by a worship service with Eucharist. A simple supper is served afterwards.
Learn more hereMorning Yoga with Olynda
Thursdays 9:00 - 10:15 am (New session starts Jan 8)
This Winter our practices will be inspired by the words of poets and mystics from various traditions. Physically, I’ll make sure to include some exciting strength work alongside our work of increasing mobility. This will help us stay strong, centered, grounded and yet still receptive, flexible and open. We will also take time for deep relaxation at the end of each class. Info here.Email Olynda to register for any of these events or with questions.
Nature Journaling with Liz
Fridays 10:30 - 11:30 am (Jan 9-Feb 27)
Slow down and observe the changing of the seasons with a nature journaling practice. No experience needed – you don't need to be "good" at drawing to enjoy tuning in to nature!
no sign up neededPrayers and Poetry
Fridays 12:00 - 1:15 pm
Experience the beauty of prayers, poetry and nature at The Trees.
no sign up needed
The Beloved Community at the Trees is an Episcopal faith community exploring together what a life of faith "outside of a church" may be.
Weekly worship, support groups and fellowship activities. All are welcome.
Visit our website to
learn more about The Trees,
see the full schedule of offerings,
and register for events.
Looking Ahead
A Contemplative Path Through Lent with A Different Kind of Fast
Tuesdays, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm OR 5:30-6:30 pm (starting February 24)
Are you feeling like you would like this Lenten season to be different? Is the way of the Desert Fathers and Mothers who modeled silence, detachment, and stepping away calling to you this year? Using the book, A Different Kind of Fast by Christine Valters Paintner we will explore practical contemplative practices while we consider letting go of endless distractions and busyness. In the words of Paintner, “As we fast from rushing, planning, being strong, holding it all together, seeking certainty, and control, we can softly reorient ourselves toward that which nourishes and fulfills us, for the reflective Lenten season and beyond.” There will be opportunities for practicing, sharing, reflecting, and journaling. Using the book for daily practice is recommended but not required.
Sign up HEREFull Day Women's Retreat with Olynda: Shining the Light Inward
February 28, 9am - 4pm
A full day of yoga, meditation, contemplation, nature and community here at the Trees to support our cultivation of self-compassion and self-love. More info coming soon!
In Closing
Snowy Night
Last night, an owl
in the blue dark
tossed an indeterminate number
of carefully shaped sounds into
the world, in which,
a quarter of a mile away, I happened
to be standing.
I couldn’t tell
which one it was –
the barred or the great-horned
ship of the air –
it was that distant. But, anyway,
aren’t there moments
that are better than knowing something,
and sweeter? Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness. I suppose
if this were someone else’s story
they would have insisted on knowing
whatever is knowable – would have hurried
over the fields
to name it – the owl, I mean.
But it’s mine, this poem of the night,
and I just stood there, listening and holding out
my hands to the soft glitter
falling through the air. I love this world,
but not for its answers.
And I wish good luck to the owl,
whatever its name –
and I wish great welcome to the snow,
whatever its severe and comfortless
and beautiful meaning.
– Mary Oliver
With Gratitude
We are so filled with abundance, trust, and deep hope here at The Trees. We are grateful for all donations to The Trees or gifts in honor or memory of a friend. This is a growing ministry and all resources are used to care for the house and the land. Gifts are tax deductible. Please let us know if you'd like your donation to support a particular project.
