Welcome to our Farm, Community, Sanctuary ~
We are inviting like-minded people to join us in revitalizing our 28 acre family farm, by creating a
Cooperative Community, a productive Organic Farming Business, and a small Spiritual Retreat Center.
We want to share our four Core Values: The Living Earth is Sacred; Cooperative Living Makes
Common Sense; Spiritual Practices Benefit from Mutual Support; and Contributing to the Common
Good lends Meaning to our Lives.
If you are an individual, couple or family who feel called to explore further or fill out an
Application Form, please go to:
Do You Want to Join Us In Our Adventure?
SunPoint Farm Sanctuary is currently like a phoenix rising from many attempts at community building over several generations. This 28-acre family farm in Southern New Hampshire has provided fresh produce, shelter, and natural spiritual solace to many friends, neighbors, and strangers over decades. Now, a fresh initiative is amassing energy to create a small cooperative community, spiritual retreat center and productive farming operation which will successfully sustain the land, the spirit, and the people called to live and visit here for the next seven generations.
At present, the land and housing is owned by family members, who are offering the opportunity for a few others to join them, in creating a viable, loving community of people dedicated to serving the larger whole in this time of planetary crisis. Their desire is to protect the land from commercial development; create an economically successful and diverse, organic farming operation; and a rustic retreat center for spiritual seekers and mindfulness practitioners.
We are looking for a few people who are skilled, responsible and dedicated to making these projects economically viable and a model for others into the future. Currently, housing and finances are limited, but the farming infrastructure is solid and there is much potential for innovation and growth. Ideally, new members would be financially solvent and be able to pay their own way until they created income-generating projects; have capital from past endeavors; or would be able to create income on or off the land with their own enterprises–at least in the beginning. Individuals needing to cover their basic needs through “sweat-equity” might be considered, if they had sufficient skills, enthusiasm, energy, and dedication to the vision. In the future, a “co-housing” community of small and simple cottages is envisioned on a section of the property bordering a 128-acre conservation area.
All community members would be expected to be philosophically in alignment with the various aspects of SPFS (the farm, the community, reverence for the natural world, and an ecumenical spiritual focus), whether or not they were actively working in these areas. This first year, of 2013, will be a time of visioning, exploration, and initiation of projects that fit within the larger mission. Ideal applicants would be those who feel themselves “called” to becoming pioneers in this endeavor. Those not able to live on the land are called "Non-Resident Members."
Paul Doolittle
“I am 68 years old and young. Spiritually, I am oscillating between egoic preferences and soulful equanimity. Agriculturally, I sense sacredness in all of nature and strive to be a respectful, integrated member of the 28 acres, which belong to all the beings who live here, not just us humans.
Culturally, I’m cooperative (but not competitive), generous (but not greedy), nonviolent (I hate injustice, especially war), and to the left of Al Gore on the environment.
In other words, I’ve been swimming culturally upstream my whole life. Politically, I’m aligned with Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King.
I am eager to step back and release my feelings of ownership of the farm to a Board
of Directors, who will guide a nonprofit cooperative community enterprise into the future. I am looking forward to stepping down from my role of primary caretaker of the farm and vision.
So, I am inviting you to step forward if you resonate deeply with what you hear in this invitation.”
“I am a 65 year old native New Englander, mostly retired nursing professor / women’s health practitioner. Mother of three wonderful grown children, who along with two equally wonderful spouses, are widely dispersed over the world. It is a joy to be on this beautiful land, especially in the summer when I can indulge my love of the flower gardens. This year, with the new hoop house, it has been a delight to harvest and eat kale, Swiss chard, carrots, beets, and lettuce in January.
Basically, I am a socialist on social issues, especially in access to medical care and education, and a solid liberal on the environment. Spiritually, I am somewhat confused–somewhere between a liberal Christian and a sort of Buddhist (presently identify as a Unitarian-Universalist).
I am mostly neat, only semi-tolerant of being a spider refuge area; value my alone time and privacy.
I would love to continue being on the farm, but realize it is more than Paul and I can manage, and two people in a nine-room house does not meet the definition of voluntary simplicity.”
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SunPoint Farm Sanctuary
UPCOMING EVENTS:
~ Basic Orientation to Mindfulness Meditation Retreat~
~ Saturday ~ June 1, 2013 ~ 9am to 4pm ~
This day-long retreat will include: instruction, periods of sitting and walking in silence,
a simple vegetarian lunch, and a time for sharing at the end of the day.
~ There is no charge for the teaching, but a suggested donation of $50 (to cover the lunch and the space is requested)~ Checks can be made out to: SunPoint Farm Sanctuary. To RSVP or for further information call Paul at: 603-505-2854.
PROGRAMS OF SANCTUARY:
The Sanctuary programs evolve to meet the needs of the members, which in the past have included: individual spiritual counseling, daily gatherings with readings, contemplation and discussion; weekly dinners with programs; occasional daylong retreats using mindfulness meditations, practices for spiritual awakening, and seasonal celebrations. And, on occasion, people just come to support special times in the garden and take home some lovely, fresh organic produce!
Patricia Hutchins
Meet Our Resident Members:
