Making good relationships with the human and more-than-human world is the primary currency of well-being. -Robin Wall Kimmerer
On a warm, and somewhat rainy, July weekend, the Celebration Tree Farm Wellbeing Center cooperative welcomed visitors to its inaugural Earth Art Wellbeing Celebration, an immersive experience that invited people to slow down, explore nature, and experience art in a new way.
Nestled on 118 acres of forests, gardens, streams, and walking trails in Durham, the cooperative serves as both a working farm and a community gathering place. Much of the property has been permanently conserved through the Land in Common Land Trust, ensuring the land will remain protected and accessible for future generations.
The Earth Art Wellbeing Celebration marked the opening of the Earth Art Sanctuary, transforming the trail system into an outdoor gallery where visitors encountered site-specific art installations created by local artists and inspired by the surrounding landscape. Rather than simply viewing artwork, participants were encouraged to engage with the forest, reflect on their surroundings, and experience the connections between creativity, wellbeing, and the natural world.
“The vision behind the Earth Art Wellbeing Celebration was to bring people together in connection with creativity, community, and the Earth through the opening of Earth Art Sanctuary,” said Jonah Fertig-Burd, a worker-owner at Celebration Tree Farm Wellbeing Center. “The Sanctuary provides a space for artists and community members to create sculptures and installations that are in conversation and relationship with the forest. The Earth Art Sanctuary invites people to slow down and open themselves to wonder.”
At Celebration Tree Farm Wellbeing Center, creating opportunities for connection and wellbeing is central to the cooperative’s work. Through workshops and community events, individual healing and wellness sessions, the tree farm, trail system, and now Earth Art Sanctuary, the cooperative seeks to deepen people’s experiences with themselves, each other, and the natural world.
Throughout the day, community members moved through the landscape at their own pace, discovering artwork tucked among the trees and connecting with each other along the way. The event created opportunities for conversations and experiences that extended beyond the artwork itself. “For so many people, our relationship to the forest and nature can be passive,” said Jonah. “Earth Art Sanctuary invites everyone to engage creatively with the forest.” He hoped the experience would cultivate conversations and connections as participants came together to share creativity and wonder.
Attendees shared that the event offered unique experiences for themselves and their families. According to Jonah, visitors described it as a meaningful and memorable experience, including children making their first fairy houses, creating earth mandalas, enjoying wood-fired pizza, and meeting new people through deeper conversations than they might typically have in a community setting.
The event was also a celebration of collaboration. Local artists were invited to create artwork using natural materials and develop pieces that would exist in conversation with the forest. Artists were invited onto the land to find locations that called to them, allowing the landscape itself to help guide the creative process. “Most of the pieces were made specifically for Earth Art Sanctuary,” said Jonah, “and some of them were moved from other locations, but this was the first time that any of the pieces had been shown publicly.”
Cooperative Relationships
The Celebration also demonstrated how much can grow from relationships among organizations and people with shared values. Local cooperatives and community partners participated throughout the event, building on relationships that extend well beyond a single day.
Isuken Co-op hosted its food truck during the Celebration. Jonah shared that Isuken’s relationship with Celebration Tree Farm goes back to 2016, when the cooperative began farming on Celebration Tree Farm’s land before eventually moving to a larger farm space. The Portland Food Co-op sponsored the event, continuing a long-standing relationship that includes selling Celebration Tree Farm’s trees and wreaths during the holiday season. Land in Common Land Trust also participated, building on its ongoing partnership with Celebration Tree Farm as the steward of the 110 acres of conserved land surrounding the farm.
That network extends beyond the organizations formally involved in the Celebration. One example is the cob oven project created with PermaTours. The outdoor cob oven was built in 2024 as a community project, bringing people together to share skills and work collectively. During the Earth Art Celebration, kids and adults alike had the opportunity to use the oven to make and bake pizza together at the end of the day.
The project also reflects the interconnected nature of Maine’s cooperative community. Scott Guzman, a founding member-owner of Diggers Cooperative and an organizer with PermaTours, was part of the community effort to build the oven and also joined the Earth Art Celebration in July. Scenarios like these, where people bring their skills, relationships, and experience from one community effort into another, are part of what makes Principle 6 so powerful in practice.
Principle 6: Cooperation Among Cooperatives
At Cooperative Maine Business Alliance, we see Principle 6: Cooperation Among Cooperatives as an important foundation for building a strong, connected cooperative economy. The relationships surrounding the Earth Art Wellbeing Celebration offer a tangible example of this principle in action: cooperatives and community organizations sharing resources, relationships, skills, land, and opportunities to create something together that none of them would have created alone.
Principle 6 is very important for us as we see it as building a larger cooperative economy and movement that lives the cooperative principles. -Jonah Fertig-Burd
But cooperation among cooperatives is not an end in itself. These relationships also create opportunities for cooperatives to contribute more deeply to the communities around them.
Principle 7: Concern for Community
The Earth Art Wellbeing Celebration offered a clear example of Principle 7: Concern for Community by creating an inclusive space where people could connect with each other, the land, and their own creativity.
Celebration Tree Farm Wellbeing Center has embraced its role as both a cooperative business and a community gathering place through events like the Earth Art Wellbeing Celebration, the monthly Celebration Tree Cabaret and Reiki Community Practice, and seasonal activities on the farm. The cooperative also brings community members together through its free farm experiences. Six years ago, they launched a Community Supported Forest program which engages members in a deeper relationship with the forest and provides them with trees and wreaths for the holiday season.
We focus on being welcoming to everyone who comes, actively connecting people together, offering inclusive and accessible creative events, and having food and potlucks as a way of bringing people together. -Jonah Fertig-Burd
In this way, the relationships built through cooperation extend outward. Artists, cooperatives, volunteers, neighbors, and visitors all became part of an experience designed not only to showcase the land and artwork, but to create a welcoming space for people to participate, share, and build relationships.
As cooperatives look for new ways to engage their communities, the Earth Art Wellbeing Celebration offers an inspiring example of what can happen when people and organizations come together around a shared purpose. Through art, stewardship, and cooperation, Celebration Tree Farm Wellbeing Center shows how cooperative values can create spaces where people connect more deeply with each other, with the land, and with the possibilities of a more connected community.
The Earth Art Sanctuary will remain open to the public for the time being by appointment, giving visitors an opportunity to experience the installations and explore the trails beyond the Celebration itself. Those interested in visiting can contact Celebration Tree Farm Wellbeing Center to arrange a time.