The Spring Bird Count on May 11th kicks off our season in Tamworth. Please join us at SCFF for this annual count of birds. Yes it’s Mother’s day and you are welcome to bring your mum, and you can wander the property keeping your eyes and ears open for all you may see and hear. Then share the birds you find with the eBird app. We will also be collecting the list for the day and uploading it. Please register by emailing us at admin@scff.ca so that we know to expect you. This is a free and fun event.
If you’re done spinning your wheels and ready to break free from what’s holding you back, the Still Center’s “Emerging Man” Retreat is for you.
Transformational and Lifestyle Coaches, Greg De Koker and Brian DeCastro will be co-hosting a unique men’s retreat experience at SCFF this spring that will include men’s team building, physical fitness, immersion in nature, journaling and meditation. This isn’t just a weekend away. It’s a reset. A recalibration. A chance to break free and step into your next chapter with confidence and clarity.
This retreat is an opportunity to:
Identify and remove the hidden barriers keeping you from the life you truly want – and deserve.
Reconnect with your personal power and step into the man you were meant to be.
Gain clarity on your next steps so you can stop waiting and start creating.
Join a strong brotherhood of like-minded men, all committed to growth.
Greg De Koker has been a personal development and human connection junkie for over 3 decades. He is currently a Transformational Coach, Retreat Host and Dream Catalyst. Greg helps people get clear about what they truly want and what gets in their way, and then helps them get out of their own way so they can start living their dream and loving their life even more.
Brian DeCastro, is a Holistic Life Coach & Reiki Master. He helps support entrepreneurs, manage and optimize their health and energetic life force while offering strategic coaching in breaking down and rebuilding winning habits, so that they can bring their best in all of life’s endeavours and come away feeling fulfilled that they contributed massive value to the world and others around them.
If you’re interested in learning more about this Men’s Retreat, please contact Greg at greg@stillcenter.ca or 416-219-5799. Early Bird pricing is available until May 1st.
Join Jennifer Marschal and Victoria for a unique retreat incorporating biking through the local Ontario countryside, walking in the forest, taking time to slow down and take in nature while visioning into living a life you would absolutely love. Jennifer offers content-rich, interactive workshops that take participants on a journey in which they design, define, test, and experience a crystal-clear vision of the life they would love – a life that is in alignment with their highest purpose. They will have a unique opportunity to “step into” the life they are imagining and feel a resounding “yes!” This retreat is designed for women who love to stay active while having a “time out” from their family and work. By consciously slowing down and bringing mindfulness to activity, this weekend is a perfect time to connect with your inner self, create transformational new thinking patterns, while meeting like-valued women and giving yourself permission to disconnect from busy-ness. Register early with victoria@scff.ca to avoid disappointment. Maximum 8 people.
Two workshops are planned that will cover boxmaking and experimental folded artist’s books, including a potential for collage and alternative printing techniques to create contents for binding.
Boxmaking – July 5-6
Over the weekend we will address the construction of box formats leading to a hinged, clamshell-style box. Covering technique will be explained and practiced.
Experimental Artist’s Books – July 25-27
Various options for making folded artist’s books will be presented and the group may decide to focus on particular techniques. Participants are encouraged to bring visual materials to work with or collect them onsite. A photocopier may be used to create pages or acetates for blueprinting. Sewing and gluing will be simple and appropriate for those without binding experience, while more complex approaches can be selected by those looking to develop more advanced skills.
If you are interested in attending a workshop, please contact us at workshops@scff.ca. Participants may arrive on Friday to stay the weekend at SCFF or arrive for each day’s session. Registration and accommodation arrangements will be posted in the near future.
Co-hosted at SCFF by Sine Andersen and Victoria. Please join us for self-loving, self-image building and self-empowering transformational weekend retreats in nature. Located in the beautiful and private 100 acre off-grid property, we shall spend time in the forest, enjoying the process of therapeutic relaxation focusing on sensory engagement to connect with nature. We’ll meditate, walk and study spiritual practices to help you connect to your inner-self
Register early with victoria@scff.cafor either weekend (or both) to avoid disappointment. Maximum 8 people.
Sine and Victoria, House of Mind Body Soul, Naestved, Denmark, March, 2025.
Sine Andersen is a certified coach in life and business. She is a spiritual leader and a meditation guide connecting people to their soul and inner wisdom. As a solopreneur for 3 years, Sine offers individual coaching and has hosted beautiful retreats in Italy and Zanzibar. In January 2025, she opened the House Of Mind, Body and Soul in Naestved, Denmark https://www.instagram.com/houseofmindbodyandsoul/ where she and her team collectively focus on mental health, personal development, soul journeys and wellness treatments. She loves working with and through her heart & soul and helping people to grow into and become-in who they truly are. https://www.instagram.com/sine_a_andersen/
Sine and Victoria with VIsion Workshop group, Naestved, Denmark, March, 2025.
We have returned from our incredible adventures in Europe, where we made new friends and forged international collaborations. We had wonderful quality time with Zefan in Denmark, and met like-valued environmentalists on our volunteer Whale and Dolphin research in the Azores with Biosphere Expeditions. These photos provide a small snapshot of our 6 weeks.
House of Mind Body Soul, Sine and VictoriaVIsion Workshop group, Naestved, DenmarkVivi and Victoria, Rømø, DenmarkCopenhagenForest Tower, DenmarkSeated Men Looking to Sea, Esbjerg, DenmarkPastries and coffee, Allborg, DenmarkPeter, Zefan and Victoria, Denmark trip a success, March, 2025Blue whale blow.Blue Whale diveBiosphere painters, HortaBiosphere 2025 painting, Horta.Horta on the island of Faial, Azores
Two photography workshops are planned for 2025, along with book-related ones that may be of interest to photographers. Registration information will be posted soon.
Seeing Black and White: The Zone System – July 21-23
Matsudera walk – Temple Garden
This workshop will cover practical aspects of black and white photography, based on the Zone System methods of understanding light and exposure. Addressing both digital and film photography, this approach allows for previsualization of the grey values of the image, resulting in improved negatives and digital files that are closer to what one sees in the mind. Participants may work with digital and/or film processes. Exercises and photography will take place around the farm and digital results will be reviewed onsite. Film work will be processed later on your own time, but may be evaluated through online sharing.
Peter Sramek learned the Zone System when studying at MIT from Minor White, author of the original Zone System Manual, and then taught black and white photography at OCAD University for over 40 years.
Natural Inventions – Staging in the landscape – Sept. 5-7
Stone Alignment, Shibagau Creek, Peter Sramek, 2024
Similar to last year’s land-based workshop, we invite photographers and non-photographers alike, to engage with the land in constructing site-specific assemblages using natural materials and then photograph them. The image remains as a record of what will inevitably change and fade in the landscape. Over the weekend we will use alternative printing methods to turn digital images into tangible prints.
Workshop participants with co-instructor Walter Bergmoser, August 2024
If you are interested in attending a workshop, please contact us at workshops@scff.ca. Participants may arrive on Friday to stay the weekend at SCFF or arrive for each day’s session. Registration and accommodation arrangements will be posted in the near future.
At a one-day workshop in January, with 5 of us at the Sydenham Library, we went through the process of folding, gluing and trimming the binding which has no sewing, which opens up flat and can use a variety of materials for the spine and the board covers. The binding is attributed to American master binder Tim Ely. Peter learned boxmaking and gold leafing from Tim in workshops and boxmaking is high on the wishlist for this summer’s binding adventures.
After a busy summer, we have closed activities for the season. Fall and winter will see us working in the forest, grooming trails and tending to the trees. The new seedlings from 2023 have survived well and are happily growing. We plan to mow some paths between the rows to make it easier to visit them.
When the snow does come, the tracks of the animals will become visible which is always fun to see. Our trail cams already show us plenty of life – deer, rabbits, porcupines, red squirrels, chipmunks and of course around the house the mice come out at night as do the sounds of the coyotes. We haven’t seen the groundhog under the deck this summer though.
Drone photo by Walter B (he had a fun time!)
Spring and summer plans will get posted as we develop them and set dates. If there is anything you might be interested in joining or even hosting, get in touch. And think about renting the house for your get-back-into-nature days. The house is in great shape and always improving. We can now sleep 12 people, with 3 double rooms and the loft.
