Topics
Walking trails, catch-and-release fishing at Cattail Pond, vegetables and flowers growing in the Community Garden, and open fields with pick up games are all signs of summer at Grace Farms. Enjoy the indoor-outdoor offerings, or come explore the core mission of the Foundation through initiative-specific programming.
Kick off the season with our annual holiday weekend Grace Farms Memorial Day Barbeque on Saturday, May 27th. Throughout the day there will be free time to explore the 10 natural habitats across our 80 acres, remember those who gave their lives for our country, and enjoy moments for personal reflection. Organized events for people of all interests will include arts and crafts, field games, barbeque specials, and tea service in our Pavilion.
Nature | On a weekly basis, children and adults of all ages can join Grace Farms Explorers on Saturdays at 11 am through June 24th to experience the wonder of nature, or settle in to watch the weekly Saturday family matinee at 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm in the Lecture Hall. During the heat of the summer, Grace Farms also offers some reprieve with an assortment of indoor events for adults and families.
Faith | Friday, June 2nd enjoy open, gracious discourse with Greg Zehner and Geshe Dhargey, a Buddhist Monk from the Tibetan Buddhist Center for Universal Peace (DNKL), for the purpose of greater understanding of Buddhism as philosophy/religion and its life-application. DNKL promotes peaceful living through teachings, study, meditation, and community service.
Arts | Friday, June 16th is our next June Community Dinner, which will incorporate fresh produce from our Community Garden. Following the meal, we will host a lecture, Reflections on Silence, featuring Dr. Peter C. Bouteneff of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. As part of our Practicing Series, the author, theologian, and musician will discuss the various ways in which silence is perceived and the critical value and meaning it holds for our lives.
Arts | Saturday, June 17th Grace Farms Foundation will present the third installment of the Practicing series, Practicing Silence, which explores the many meanings of silence through a rigorous, creative process involving an interdisciplinary team of artists and scholars. On June 17th at 3 pm, the creative team will present a free public showing of a performative new work, which embodies the groups’ conceptual explorations of silence over several months: as present absence, as inner stillness, and as negated voices of the oppressed.
Community | Saturday, June 24th Living Sustainably | Going Green will give community members the chance to spend the day learning how to practice sustainability through education and hands on interaction with local businesses and not-for-profits in the community. The program will be offered in three workshops focused on interaction with the Earth through gardening, farming, and utilization of open space.
Arts & Justice | Friday, July 21st Grace Farms Foundation welcomes Ibram X. Kendi to participate in our Race & American Memory series, which examines the ways in which Americans comprehend and recall national history, and seeks to revisit instances, ideas, and lives which have suffered negative revision or erasure. Kendi, winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Non-Fiction, will lecture on the subject of his acclaimed book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.
Grace Farms Foundation is dedicated not only to preserving the natural environment, but also to inviting conversation with its welcoming community. Please join us this summer for one of the events above or simply for a walk along the River.
