Kalliopeia Foundation

06/07/2026

“I reach for the flow of life and allow rivulets to spring into cascades, to force me back into movement, to keep me connected.”

Living within the fabric of the seasons can be as simple as noticing the small happenings and cyclical turnings that unfold each day. To move through the world with the senses wide open allows an intimacy with life that keeps the gateway between self and Earth unobstructed.

Irish author and naturalist Dara McAnulty shows us what simple praises of Earth can look like: from moving with the spring arrival of curlew song that banishes winter silence, to savoring whizzing emperor dragonflies, feet crunching on fallen leaves, and the sweeping flight of a barn owl on a midsummer evening. Through embodied observance, he writes, ecological transformation becomes a gift of renewal. Ringing with Dara’s signature joy, this story is an ode to directly experiencing the seasons, not as a backdrop of abstract phenomena but as a natural flowing of one’s being.

“The Thread of Belonging” is an Emergence Magazine essay by Dara McAnulty.

↘︎ Read: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/the-thread-of-belonging/

Photograph by David Avazzadeh/Connected Archives.

06/06/2026

“Heron Shadow is a Native place of refuge and learning for community engagement, connection to the land, growing Indigenous foods, and nourishing Indigenous and intercultural relations.”

In 2019, grantee partner The Cultural Conservancy began stewarding Heron Shadow, a 7.6 acre property in the ancestral territories of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo peoples of Northern California, which provides a haven for conservation and regeneration of Indigenous agriculture, sciences and lifeways. “We are transforming this gift of land into an innovative haven that will focus on the conservation and regeneration of Indigenous agriculture, Native Sciences, and healthy lifeways.”

↘︎ Learn more about this Indigenous Biocultural Heritage Oasis: https://www.nativeland.org/heron-shadow

The Cultural Conservancy protects, revitalizes and uplifts Indigenous knowledge and traditions on ancestral lands throughout the Americas and Pacific. Founded in 1985, TCC supports Indigenous communities through diverse community-based projects, including revitalization of Indigenous languages, protection of Indigenous knowledge and food sovereignty, youth-Elder cultural exchanges, and empowerment of Indigenous women. TCC also produces a variety of media based in Indigenous principles and values, weaving together stories and wisdom.

↘︎ Learn more about this grantee partner: https://kalliopeia.org/grantee-partner/cultural-conservancy/

Heron Shadow is a Native place of refuge and learning for community engagement, connection to the land, growing Indigenous foods, and nourishing Indigenous and intercultural relations. After 37 years of growing our organization and implementing our mission to protect and revitalize the sacred relati...

06/04/2026

“As climate crises, biodiversity collapse, burnout, and political fragmentation intensify, many of the systems shaping daily life continue to encourage separation. A growing number of scientists, Indigenous knowledge keepers, writers, and ecological thinkers are challenging the worldview beneath that separation. Across fields ranging from forest ecology to Earth systems science to Indigenous language revitalization, many are arriving at a similar realization: The living world is far more interconnected, intelligent, participatory, and relational than dominant industrial culture has long assumed.”

This Bioneers article takes a deeper look into this important discussion, and features grantee partner Dr. Suzanne Simard as a leader in this transformative scientific perspective that explores what becomes possible when humans begin to see themselves as actively part of the Living World, and when separation is replaced by relationship.

↘︎ Read and explore more: https://bioneers.org/5-ideas-that-challenge-the-way-we-think-about-nature-zmaz2605/

↘︎ Learn more about this grantee partner: https://kalliopeia.org/grantee-partner/dr-suzanne-simard/

A conversation with Suzanne Simard, Ferris Jabr, and Jeannette Armstrong on reconnection, living systems, and the cultural worldview that separates humans from the Earth.

06/03/2026

Four Corners Food Coalition nurtures just and sovereign food systems and the people who care for them in the Four Corners Region, where Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado meet. This is a land characterized by vast open spaces and deeply rooted Ute, Diné, Pueblo and Apache communities where mountains and mesas descend into canyons and deserts.

Indigenous and community led, is a grassroots, anti-racist coalition rooted in regional solidarity that partners with farmers, food workers, community organizers, and small organizations across the region. Through Indigenous food programs, a food systems fellowship, an Indigenous community farm, and a community food center, the FCFC serves land and people and works to restore some of the longest continuously practiced food ways on the continent.

↘︎ Learn more about this grantee partner: https://kalliopeia.org/grantee-partner/four-corners/

06/02/2026

Overnight Planting Pilgrimage tickets are now available for the St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace Spiritual Ecology Festival.

On Saturday 6th June the journey towards the festival will commence with an overnight pilgrimage through London.

“Together, we'll create a ring of sacred trees around the city, travelling between hidden community gardens, places of worship and urban green spaces under the cover of darkness. Along the way we'll plant trees by moonlight, share food, music, prayer, ceremony and conversation, and weave together communities, traditions and landscapes that rarely meet.”

The Spiritual Ecology Festival is a three-day festival interweaving storytelling, peacebuilding and ecology with talks, live music, storytelling, workshops, panel discussions, and contemplative spaces.

↘︎ Take a look at last year's special pilgrimage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqwOEd5vWsU

↘︎ Learn more about the festival: https://stethelburgas.org/spiritual-ecology-festival

↘︎ Learn more about St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace: https://kalliopeia.org/grantee-partner/stethelburgas/

05/31/2026

Sheryll Durrant, urban farmer, educator, and food justice advocate and manager of grantee partner, Kelly Street Garden Bronx, will be joining Martha Stewart as a celebrated honoree at the 2026 Spring Gala honoring women in food and agriculture.

Located in the Hunts Point/Longwood section of the South Bronx in New York City, Kelly Street Garden is a food justice project with the core intention of mediating engagement and healing around food, art, health, and education. Garden programming, which includes food cultivation and distribution as well as healing workshops, directly addresses the needs of the area, creating a space of health, wellness, and quiet respite.

All proceeds from this event support Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture.

↘︎ Watch this New York Botanical Garden interview with Sheryll Durrant to learn more about her work in education and community gardening (and hear her talk all about Kelly Street Garden at around minute 13:00): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2GUBNz0pRA

↘︎ Learn more about the event: https://westfaironline.com/eventer/2026-spring-gala-honoring-women-in-food-agriculture/

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

05/30/2026

“Sowing seeds of sovereignty, teaching sustainability, holistically healing community, while reclaiming our connection to Mother Earth.”

Rustic Roots Sanctuary is a sustainable retreat space in Spanish Lake, MO working to create holistic health, wellness, and healing for individuals and communities while teaching sustainable agriculture and working for food equity. Through a community garden, classes, and retreat space, Rustic Roots Sanctuary helps heal trauma through nature while simultaneously healing the planet.

↘︎ Learn more about this grantee partner: https://kalliopeia.org/grantee-partner/rustic-roots-sanctuary/

05/28/2026

Learn more about Land Jus grantee partner Land Justice Futures.

Together with religious communities and movement partners, Land Justice Futures supports new land transitions rooted in racial and ecological healing, and believes that religious communities—and the lands they love—can be a powerful part of a just, equitable, and livable future for all of us.

“In this crucial moment, we need bold land transitions that can help serve as the literal groundwork for a more beautiful, just, and restored future. Land Justice Futures is a community for religious property owners to explore beyond ‘business-as-usual’ property planning, toward creative options that get us closer to the just, livable future we want and need. These options can come alive in many diverse realities, including land type, legal tools, financial realities, and partnership types. It can look like Indigenous land trusts and cultural collectives, Black food sovereignty efforts, local movement spaces, regenerative farming cooperatives, affordable housing solutions, and more. The time is ripe for these possibilities to flourish—and we can be the much-needed catalyst to bring them to life, together.”

↘︎ Watch: https://www.landjusticefutures.org/resource-library/introduction-to-land-justice

↘︎ Learn more with these resources: https://www.landjusticefutures.org/resource-library

↘︎ Learn more about this grantee partner: https://kalliopeia.org/grantee-partner/land-justice-futures/

If you are new to land justice, we recommend you start with this video, which covers many of the basics about why land matters so much, and the movement of people of faith who are working for both racial and ecological healing, and restoring right relationship between humans and land.

05/27/2026

The Anahuac Program is a program of Capaces Leadership Institute located in Woodburn, Oregon surrounded by the Willamette Valley of the Pacific Northwest. Its mission is to support the local farmworker community made up of Indigenous peoples of America to reclaim ancestral culture, traditions, knowledge and values and restore sacred relationships with all life and Mother Earth for generations to come. Acting as a bridge between ancestral and contemporary times, Anahuac offers traditional education in agriculture, culinary and cultural arts, wellness and native languages.

↘︎ Learn more about this grantee partner: https://kalliopeia.org/grantee-partner/capaces-leadership-institute-anahuac-farm/

05/26/2026

What does it mean to truly understand your roots?

The Chicago Eco House and Southside Blooms Roots to Bloom Africa tour was a journey about remembrance, truth and honoring the past.

“Africa is not just a place. It’s history, culture, resilience, and stories passed through generations. In our Roots of Blooms Project, we traveled across Zanzibar, the Serengeti, Benin, Togo, and Ghana to explore how flowers connect memory, identity, and community. Because every bloom carries a story—and every landscape remembers. This journey changed the way we see flowers forever.”

Kalliopeia's Sedoo Manu joined Quilen and Hannah Blackwell, together with youth participants on this African journey about stewardship, culture, and connection to the land. As a Chicago-based urban farm and floral business, Southside Blooms believes in honoring nature and community, and this expedition served as a reminder that growth, resilience, and beauty exist everywhere—from city neighborhoods to the open African plains.

At each destination, the team created floral installations to reflect history:
Red for sacrifice and strength
Gold for wealth and exploitation
Blue for the ocean that carried millions
White for souls lost and remembrance
Yellow for hope and what’s to come.

Every bloom holds a story!

↘︎ Watch and learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CMAzUbef08

↘︎ Find the whole series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPWbmB92Di09azBhqCrgAL3SsGlbQgyEw

↘︎ Learn more about this grantee partner: https://kalliopeia.org/grantee-partner/the-chicago-eco-house/

What does it mean to truly understand your roots?In Roots to Bloom Africa, we journey across five regions—Zanzibar, the Serengeti, Benin, Togo, and Ghana—to ...