Re-collect with gratitude.

Connect in community.

Gift in reciprocity.

Wildness Within’s First Annual Alumni Retreat is an offering to pause and enjoy the fruits of summer with Beloved plant people. This weekend experience is rooted in connecting with place and people while nurturing ourselves, one another and our healing journey.

This is an opportunity to lean into the gift economy – to be apart of an experience where people and place offer their skills, expertise, beauty and growing edges as a gift to those willing to receive. In exchange, we will all flourish together.

“In a gift economy, wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away. In fact, status is determined not by how much one accumulates, but by how much one gives away. The currency in a gift economy is relationship, which is expressed as gratitude, as interdependence and the ongoing cycles of reciprocity. A gift economy nurtures the community bonds that enhance mutual well-being; the economic unit is “we” rather than “I,” as all flourishing is mutual.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

Reciprocity Between People and Place

The Alumni Retreat welcomes current and past students of Wildness Within’s courses (apprenticeships and foraging series) to come together, share and receive the bounty of the late summer. Workshops, meals and ceremony will be offered by hands and hearts of alumni and stewards of the Highlands. Food will be sourced locally, grown from the Highlands or foraged from the fields and forest.

This Retreat Includes:

  • 2 nights of camping accommodations (bring your own tent, campsites in open grass field, composting toilet, simple hand-washing station, outdoor shower)

  • Organic and farm fresh meals based on seasonal and local availability prepared by the lovely kitchen witch, Amy Stauch

  • All weekend programming & activities for healing and growth

  • Free time to wander, connect with the earth, read, write, or create

  • Lots of love, magic, care, and insight from your experienced & gifted facilitators

  • Property access for camping, relaxing, exploring, workshopping, land-tending, and wanders on trails in the forest, gardens, fields, and outdoor amenities from 4pm on Friday until 1pm on Sunday

  • Workshops geared towards self-care, embodiment, creating with natural fibers, singing from the heart, and plant magic!

Itinerary:

August 22-24, 2025

Friday

4- 7 PM: Arrivals, tent set-up, appetizers & snacks, grounding into place

7 PM: Opening New Moon in Virgo Ceremony (including intention setting, lesson on new moon themes, sharing dreamy moon tea & introduction to some herbal & floral medicine allies)

Saturday

8 AM: Medical Qi Gong with Kristin

9 AM: Breakfast (self-serve)

10 AM: Morning Workshops

11:30 AM: Plant Walk/Harvest

12:30 PM: Lunch

2 PM: Afternoon Workshops

4 PM: Herb Fair & Trade Share

6 PM: Dinner

8 PM: Fire Circle with Story, Song, & Sound bath

Sunday

8 AM: Lymphatic Practices as a Form of Self Love with Kristin

9 AM: Breakfast (self-serve)

10 AM: Morning Workshops

12 PM: Closing Circle for Integration & Reflection

As the retreat gets closer we will be sending out more information on workshop schedule, details on how to get there/parking, packing list and more!

The Highlands and Annex:

Reacquaint yourself with the Highlands while welcoming a new space referred to as the Annex. Both properties include plenty of space to wander through the woods, a beautiful seasonal creek, an outdoor firepit, magical gardens with herbs and seasonal food crops, a food forest, an outdoor communal kitchen, a large 3-season barn, bell-tent and lavvu structures, and shaded groves to lay in a hammock or read a book. Plus, ducks, chickens, Zeus dog and cats!

Financial Exchange:

Sliding Scale $200-300

  • 2 nights of camping

  • Evening snacks & appetizers (Friday)

  • 4 Meals (Saturday & Sunday breakfast, Saturday lunch and dinner)

  • Coffee, tea & elixir bar

  • Access to hands-on workshops & ceremonies

  • Access to 27-acres of forest, field and garden properties

Please reach out to Rachael for inquiries about low-income pricing or opportunities for work-exchange.

REGISTER BY JULY 11th, 2025

Payments:

Payments can be made via Venmo to @wildnesswithin or checks made out to Wildness Within LLC (mailed to PO Box 332 Duvall, WA 98019 or handed to Rachael in person). If participants need to set-up a payment plan, please correspond with Rachael about what this looks like.

Cancellation Policy:

All cancellation requests must be made prior to August 1st, 2025. Any cancellations beyond this date is not subject to refund.