HUM: A Weekend of Song, Connection & Regeneration

Each of these seasonally crafted weekends is located amongst the beautiful rolling hills of Watsonville, CA Spring 2025 Dates TBD!

Align your frequency, attune with the earth, harmonize in community.

Through song, active awareness, regenerative and climate resilience practices, these weekend retreats offer an invitation to embody the courage, wild vision, connection and attunement necessary to move as active participants through these extraordinary times.

Come HUM with us! Every HUMan can Hum. It is one of the first sounds we make and how so many of us self-sooth ourselves without even realizing it.

During this intimate in-person weekend we engage the powerful complimentary tools of singing, permaculture for earth and self-healing, human ecology and the Work the Reconnects. Singing has the power to restore our joy in being alive right now and encourages us to fully feel, share, and move through the pain that we all experience as sentient beings on a planet in crisis. Permaculture and human ecology support us to deeply see and understand our planet, giving us the capacity to regenerate her and ourselves with creativity and hope. In conjunction with The Work that Reconnects (WTR), an open-source body of work rooted in the teachings and experiential methods of Joanna Macy, we create a space of trust and vulnerability, strengthen our networks of support in the natural world, and deepen our connections to each other while cultivating courage for the times ahead. Together we will explore creative and experiential exercises, group song, storytelling and nature connection for a unique weekend of positive vibration, resonance, nature and community! 

In Watsonville: Join us from 6:30 pm Friday evening to 4:30 pm Sunday afternoon amidst the beautiful rolling hills of Watsonville, just south of Santa Cruz, California in shaded outdoor classrooms and spacious indoor areas including a kitchen and bathroom. We will be situated amongst gardens, orchards, farm- and wildlands. Camping, cooking facilities, and hot water are available onsite. 

Children: We love children and the wisdom and energy they bring. And these retreats are currently not able to accompany children/humans ages 0-17. Please contact us if you would like to find out more. We hope to create family HUM offerings in the future.

Dogs and other pets: As we are gathering on an active farm and ranch, for the safety and ease of all, we are not able to bring our beloved four-legged friends.

Tuition: We offer a sliding scale of $500-$205 which includes optional camping, inside comfy couch and floor space, potluck dinner Saturday, evening sharing circle Saturday night and support materials. Tickets are available on Eventbrite (see above); you will be asked to choose your amount in the Sliding Scale Donation area. Scholarships are also available. If you have questions or would like to send a check, please contact [email protected].

Contact us if you are interested at [email protected] 

HUM Facilitators

Anne, Della and, and Lydia bring together extensive backgrounds in community health, regenerative economics, and permaculture education and activism. Curiosity about and the study of music, Alchemy, Biodynamic herbs, and liberation psychology inspires a deep integration of the health of the land, the health of the individual, and the health of the collective. Together, they bring an action-based perspective that highlights skills, practices and resources necessary for growth, creativity, and vitality in person, community, and place.

This workshop was deeply inspired by the Music As Medicine Project. Anne and Lydia participated in a 3-day workshop over 7 years ago in the Commonweal Garden in Bolinas. This weekend had a profound impact – the songs and visions shared are still being sung!

“Where Are the Bees?” art by Helen Klebesadel.