Spring Bird Count – May 11

Man with binoculars

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.

group of 3 people in a field seen from behind

May 23-25 – Still Center Men’s Retreat at SCFF

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.

June 27-29 – Women’s Biking and Dreambuilding Weekend

woman wearing biking helmet and sunglasses

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.

August 2-4 and 9-10 – Self-Nurturing: Transformation in nature retreats at SCFF

Two smiling women


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.ca for either weekend (or both) to avoid disappointment. Maximum 8 people.

Two women posing in front of a red building with wooden shutters
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/

A group of women posing after a workshop
Sine and Victoria with VIsion Workshop group, Naestved, Denmark, March, 2025.

Summer 2025 Photography

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

Looking down towards a pond in a Japanese garden
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

Row of small stones placed in limestone creek bed
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 around a table outdoors
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.