April Work Day
Come join us for our April 13th workday! We will be continuing to focus on clearing and managing invasive plants, working on our dead hedges, and continuing to clear and widen trails. We will also be clearing for our new gathering space, as well as around the swimming hole, preparing for our spring tree planting, and continuing with the fen restoration, finishing our first BDA (Beaver Dam Analog) and maybe even starting a new one!
Please RSVP by April 11th if you are coming so we know to expect you and how much food to bring! We will have food and beverages to share and there will be time to take a hike if you like.
If you have tools you can bring, please do! We are low on loppers and clippers at the moment. If you own a machete and/or a chainsaw and feel comfortable safely using them, feel free to bring them to the workday.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Wild Dinner for our Patrons!
We are so grateful for our Pateron members! As a thank you we are hosting a wild dinner in Chicago at the home of a Wonderland family. This is a great opportunity to socialize, eat some delicious food, learn more about our community project and see our backyard tree nursery!
Foraging Camp
Join Natalie’s first foraging camp of the year at the land! Details coming soon!
Grief Retreat
Join us on Sunday, March 2nd from 11am to 3pm for our first Grief Retreat of the year. This retreat will focus on weaving and mending around the fire together. We will have supplies for you to weave yarn and wreaths. If you have any clothes that you need to mend feel free to bring them, we’ll have sewing supplies for you.
So many of us are feeling a big wave of grief for the state of the world and along with that we are navigating personal griefs like the death of a loved one, the loss of a friendship, a breakup, and so on. The simple act of patching up a hole in a sock, weaving a circle out of saplings or pulling yarn together into a pattern can be extremely soothing activities for a hurt heart.
We will provide a simple lunch of hot soup, bread, tea blends and something sweet. And there will be plenty of time to hike around and connect with the land.
This is a free event. Food, beverages, and art supplies are provided. Please be sure to RSVP by sending us an email at wonderlandcommunityproject@gmail.com by February 28th so we know how much food and supplies we need.
*Please note that we don’t have running water or indoor structures but we do have a private compost toilet.
February's Work Day
We are kicking off 2025 with our first work day on February 9th from 11am to 3pm!
As usual, we will have work days every 2nd weekend of the month, generally on Sundays but be on the lookout for our 2025 schedule, with work weekends and other cool events on the calendar!
December's Work Day
This is the perfect season for clearing invasives! Preparing the space for the new native trees that will be planted in the Spring.
November's Work Day!
Our November work day will be all about clearing and removing invasives!
Grief Retreat
We are hosting a Collective Grief Retreat.
At this retreat we will be focusing on making a large collaborative altar with natural materials. The collaborative altar will focus on the grief felt when fighting oppression.
Wonderfest
Save the date for our annual weekend to hike, relax and have fun with friends and family: Wonderfest!
October 19th - 20th! Stay overnight or come for the day!
What to bring:
Water for drinking and washing
Food
Camping gear
Folding chairs
Cold weather clothing
Flashlight and/or lantern
Portable phone charger
Please note Wonderland currently has no running water or electricity, although we do have a composting toilet! We also currently don’t have a waste removal system so we ask that people take their trash with them when they leave.
We are looking forward to sharing the wonders of Wonderland with you!
Please RSVP sending us an email so we can make sure there's room for your tent - and also, we have a waiver for you to sign and some guidelines for you to read.
October Work Weekend!
if you love removing invasive species and restoring ecosystems, Wonderland might be the place you wanna be at on October 12-13th!
come for the day or stay overnight camping with us - we will be focusing on community projects from 11am to 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday. we will continue working on our food forest belt - a promise that will feed many! we will also continue our restoration efforts in the fen, and there will be a chance to make a dead hedge, use a scythe and learn about composting toilets.
we acknowledge that these are really hard times with climate disasters, genocides and collapse everywhere... there will be time to take hikes and be in nature and in community to restore yourself and others, if that’s what you need.
please let us know in advance via wonderlandcommunityproject@gmail.com if you can come, so that we know to expect you & make sure to have lunch for everyone!
and please follow these Instagram accounts to stay informed and support those in need in any way you can:
@mutualaiddisasterrelief - Hurricane Helene Relief
@wizard_bisan1 - journalist in Gaza
@rebirthgarments and @dandelion.tea.art - fundraisers for people in Gaza
@so.informed
@theslowfactory
also, don’t forget to save the date for our annual social gathering on October 19th-20th: Wonderfest!
Scythe Demo!
Join us tomorrow at Wonderland for a scythe and sickle demo with Tom Simpson!
We will have a European and an American scythe, a few sickles, and plenty of nettles to harvest!
We highly recommend @poorprolesalmanac article "Revitalizing the Scythe" to learn more about this magnificent tool -
"A scythe is a tool that brings us closer to our environment instead of distancing us from it. It gives us the opportunity to learn, react, and respond to our ecosystem. It gives us a different perspective on the land we’re on and the opportunity to become an active participant in our habitat. And there are some other ways that this tool facilitates a more harmonious relationship with place that are very measurable: compaction and impact."
See you tomorrow!