Stewardship School

Homesteading & Mentorship Program

Learn practical soft and hard skills to achieve lasting success. Our Wholistic Curriculum combines Permaculture, Yoga & Homestead Living to show that a wholesome and balanced lifestyle is possible.

Stewardship School teaches how to be in right relationship with ourselves & the world.

Stewardship is being of service to the Inner & Outer Landscapes, cultivating a well being for ourselves & our community. Students are invited to experience a Wholesome Life in a community setting and actively engaging in the service to the home & landscape.

Stewardship School is a month-to-month Homesteading & Mentorship program. We weave our Wholistic Curriculum into our daily lives, practicing self-care while in service to the home, community & the world.

Our program is a transitional living model, where participants may be pursuing careers, taking college course, or don’t yet have a job but are looking to gain skills & insights to Natural Living. Each week, community members and participants attend events & classes, participate in land work and adhere to the Standards & Virtues of a Wholesome Life.

Through hands-on practical training in Permaculture, Yoga & Communal Living, participants will integrate into the projects & natural lifestyle of the Blossom Branch Homestead. Participants will gain a greater clarity & harmony with Nature, finding their true self as they cultivate a more beautiful world.

Our World needs Stewards, more than ever, to restore beauty & medicine.

Becoming a Steward

  • Dharma Design

    Mentor & student work one-on-one to create a Dharma Design - a tailor made lifestyle plan that guides them to new skills & insights needed to achieve their goals. Learn about Dharma Design

  • Yoga Lifestyle

    If we want to live a good life, we need to cultivate our Inner Landscape. Students will have a weekly class to understand yoga’s process of working the Inner Landscape

  • Service

    Through service, we contribute to something greater than ourselves and work with our mentors & peers. Students will contribute 8 hours per week in guided land & house service.

  • Community Meals

    We will be sharing 2 community meals per week. One student per meal, will help prepare the meal as a one-on-one cooking & baking class with Homestead chef, Suzette.

  • Building Skills

    Students will gain skills & knowledge in building, gardening, land & home management, Permaculture Design, Navanga Yoga. As Stewards, you will learn the many tools needed to enrich yourself and your community.

  • Community Building

    This program is designed to empower you and you have a say. Students will participate in gatherings to plan & design their experience to get the most our of this the program.

Gardening for Seven Generations

Blossom Branch Homestead is different for every individual. For some, it means it is a place to cultivate a dream, to develop skills, or to explore the mysteries of Life.

Through the Wholistic Curriculum, we nurture greater understanding of who we really are and to cultivate a sincere connection to Life. Participants will discover their visions & goals, explore new interests and weed out limitations & negative emotions. With this kind of knowledge comes the ability to create beneficial & lasting changes for ourselves & our communities.

Blossom Branch Homestead in Autumn - Student’s Main House

 

How will students experience our program?

Our program empowers students through service & community - contributing to land and home. Land work is guided by Benji, your mentor in Permaculture & Yoga, and Suzette, your mentor in Homesteading & Cooking.

  • Two, 4 hour service shifts each week, working with your mentor in projects around the home and land. Through service, we learn the skills & tools needed to lead successful & well-balanced lives.

  • Community gatherings & meals. Students will learn to communicate in a group setting with peers and mentors, build connections and foster a supportive environment for themselves & others.

  • Students may have a job and personal life outside of our program - this is awesome & encouraged! Please intend to invest a greater portion of their time in learning and getting the most out of their program.

Here’s what we look for in our students:

  • A Desire to Contribute, Help & Learn

  • Willingness to attend Homestead gatherings, classes & events

  • Trusting & Respecting our Standards & Virtues as the way to maintain harmony in the community.

Nature as a Teacher

We look to Nature to teach us about who we are. Mentors & Counselors guide students one-on-one & in group sessions to understand our thoughts, feelings & behaviors and apply these insights in their daily life to be harmonious with Nature’s patterns & principals. We walk side-by-side with our students as they explore their Inner & Outer worlds.

Stewardship provides countless opportunities for growth and development for the participants of our program. Our welcoming, warm, and inviting community gives students the space and support they need to focus on individual goals.

 

Students will receive:

  • A Dharma Design Lifestyle Plan to establish & achieve goals

  • Weekly yoga classes for community members

  • Monthly Counseling session

  • Weekly community planning meetings

  • Weekly community events led by on-site community members

  • 1-2 Homemade, Wholesome Meals per week.

  • Skills & knowledge in building, gardening, land management, home management, Permaculture Design, Navanga Yoga

  • Study Materials in Yoga & Permaculture

  • Hands-on training in hard & soft skills

Students will Learn:

  • Permaculture Principals & Practices

  • Yoga Philosophy & Exercise

  • Time management & Scheduling

  • Meal planning & prep

  • Cooking, Baking & Fermenting

  • Wholesome & Natural Foods

  • Financial literacy, budgeting, investing

  • Community Living

  • Communication and conflict resolution skills 

  • Hygiene, Exercise & Self-care practices

  • Managing a home & landscape

  • Building & Carpentry

  • Set their goals & how to reach them

  • Overcoming negative emotions & bad habits

Wholesome Living has many benefits of its own:

  • Fresh Air

  • Being surrounded in beauty

  • Quiet and privacy

  • Interactions with wildlife

  • Service that is rewarding

  • Gardening comes with fresh food

  • Connection to Nature

  • Connection with like minded people

 

Weaving Together the Inner & Outer Landscapes

Too often, institutions & cultural workplaces train youth to fulfill the needs of business interests. They are given skills that may be suitable for the workplace, but students are left unable to manage their emotional & mental health.

Our program takes a holistic approach - teaching students that the Inner & Outer worlds are not separate. Students will gain practical skills in the landscape & around the homes, and develop awareness of their emotional & mental landscape. Program Mentors teach students the methods to care for their overall well being.

Learn the Inner & Outer Methods of our Wholistic Curriculum

Integrating into Community

Training in Stewardship begins with a routine conducive for well being & right living. We work together Monday-Friday with move free time on weekends between community events. We also encourage every individual to live with a schedule conducive for their well being.

Monday Morning - Homestead meeting to plan for upcoming week

8 Service Hours per week - Hours are coordinated with mentors in their available time slots (Mon-Fri: 10am-1pm or 3:00-6:00pm)

Community Gatherings - held at different times throughout the week

Quiet Hours from 9:00pm to 9:00am to respect the community’s needs for stillness.

 

Spring Homestead Projects

  • Chicken Coop Rebuild

  • Fruit Tree Pruning

  • Food Forest Design & Install

  • Garden Prep

  • Blossom Branch Donuts

We work together as Peers, Mentors & Counselors to grow Community while enriching ourselves as Individuals.

 

Who is This Program For?

Stewardship School is designed for students who are passionate about healing the Earth and themselves. Stewards train to actively serve our community & the Earth.

Tending to the landscape, we learn to become responsible for ourselves and others. Students will experience a full spectrum of learning from the ground up; from weeding & painting to designing full gardens & food forests.

This practice of gardening will reflect into their inner life. Students need a willingness to weed out the harmful habits & behaviors that limits their Sacred Self & their highest potential. All students will go beyond what they believe they are capable of to enjoy the fruits of a flourishing inner garden!

Supporting our Students

 

  • Students have the support of their group, mentors and counselors during Service & Gatherings.

  • Students can schedule a one-on-one check-ins with a Mentor to talk about anything.

  • Counseling - You will meet with our resident counselor bi-weekly.

  • Group Culture - grow as an individual in a group setting

  • Telegram Accountability Community - share your journey and support others on theirs

  • Students will leave the program with a Dharma Design that lays out the Visions, Paths & Steps of their personal journey to share with their family and post-program counseling.

What Will I Experience?

 

  • Journey of Stewardship. Stewards take the road less traveled, making it their personal responsibility to create a new world and embody their Sacred Self!

  • Team Work - You’re not alone! This therapeutic process is an individual's journey within a group setting - learning to heal one's self while offering our personal gifts to our community, family & friends.

  • Education. Equipped with the Four Teachers & sciences of Permaculture & Yoga, stewards use their education to create Beauty & Medicine for themselves & their community.

  • Skills. Stewards train in Empowerment, Mindfulness & Connection to bring abundance into the landscape, inside and out, to enrich their community, benefit wildlife & feed our families.

  • Well Being. Work with your Counselor to make your Dharma Design to scientifically create a healthy Lifestyle for body, mind & spirit.

  • Spiritual Development. Just as we tend to young fruit trees to one day produce fruit, we tend to our Inner self to one day realize the fruits of our Sacred Self. These fruits ripen into our Medicine Bundle, the one-of-a-kind way we were born to contribute to the world.

Meet your Mentors & Counselors

 

Benji is a caretaker & designer with years of experience transforming landscapes into productive gardens. Through understanding the principals of nature and regular practice in yoga, he has established a deep sense of peace and joy in his heart. Working with at risk youth as a Wilderness Therapy Instructor has taught him how to apply how he healed himself to empower and uplift others. Currently, he is teaching with the Yoga Studies Institute to share yoga philosophy and asana practices.

Benji

www.templeoftribe.com

Amber is devoted to her path of sharing truth and wisdom with everyone she meets. She serves our community as an advisor, trauma informed healer and counselor. As a guide & counselor, she is able to know what it is her client needs to realize their highest potential. She serves our students as a big sister, a compassionate listener and motivator. She has guided thousands of clients as an intuitive counselor and wishes to serve her Mentorship students to realize the beauty and medicine that hides within them!

Amber Moon

www.ambermoonmedicine.com

Suzette is the care-taker & house-maker of Blossom Branch Homestead, and has been for 30 years. She has opened up her home as a place for us to gather and learn. She has been a chef & baker, a medicine maker, a gardener, mother, wife. Her passions are flowers, delicious food & Truth. She is always open to new ideas and encourages everyone to think outside of the normal paradigm. She’s really super cool and always encourages us to take practical action to better ourselves and our community.

Suzette Cloutier

Homestead Mama

Blossom Branch Homestead Welcomes You!

Fill out your application and join us a community. We are looking forward to hearing from you!