🍂 Here in the Alberta Foothills, the leaves have mostly fallen, the fields have been cut and cleared for winter, and the tire shops are busy as we prepare for snow and ice on the roads. We’ve already had a few light snowfalls. Groan! I’m not sure I’m ready for what’s to come.❄️ October at the Nest was all about gathering in, and looking back, we did a lot of it. Before we turn the page to November, I wanted to share what this month held.🍂
Substack Notes
If you haven’t wandered over to Substack Notes yet, it’s a little like the front porch of Substack. While my letters arrive in your inbox, Notes is where I share smaller things as they happen: DIY ideas from my Archives, personal activities (like my granddogs’ Halloween costume), things happening in my home, inspiring ideas from other Substackers, and so much more.
Claire Venus ✨ of Sparkle on Substack describes Notes this way. Notes is Substack’s inbuilt social media feed. Substack Notes is a bit like Twitter but kinder and less aggressive.
You can find Notes in the Substack app or on the website, and if you follow me there, my Notes will show up in your feed.
Here are a few from October that I thought you might like.
Happy Halloween. Cora, my granddog in her costume, and a throwback to childhood with me in mine.
Fabric pumpkins.
A pumpkin full of flowers. My daughter and I went to a floral arranging class, and our vessel was a ceramic pumpkin I can reuse next year. It was a much-needed break, and a lovely way to spend time with my top values of calm, creativity and connection.
A bouquet garni for soup season.
A moment to arrive. A few quiet minutes to come back to yourself. I hope it meets you wherever you are today.
My autumn altar.
Sourdough day. If only you could smell my kitchen.
The Barn Warming Celebration
On October 17, we threw open the doors for our very first Barn Warming Celebration. We began around the fire by the garden fence, saying hello and seeing who had come to join us.
In the Garden we took a moment to notice what the season had placed in our arms, choosing what to keep and what to leave behind.
Josette Diaz of Seasons of the Soul® then led us through The Seeds of Life, a gentle way of exploring the values worth carrying through winter. When the harvest comes in, you don’t keep everything. You choose the seeds worth saving for spring, and that’s exactly what we did. I wrote about it yesterday.
After a break, a spin of the prize wheel brought some laughter and a prize for everyone.
Then we pulled up our chairs at the Kitchen Table for Story Bowls, a DIY Apple Party Favour demo, and we crafted fabric pumpkins.
I’d love the Barn Warming to become an autumn tradition at the Nest, so if you missed this one, there will be another.
Something New by the Door
Every good retreat keeps a basket by the door, and this month I tucked one into the Nest. The Members’ Basket is a new corner just for paying members, filled with small gifts and special offers, some made by me and some from the makers and creatives who gather with us. Right now it holds a few special perks, and I’ll keep adding more as the seasons turn.
If you’d like to find your own name on that basket, I’d love to welcome you in as a member. Membership opens the door to the whole Nest, everything tucked into one basket.
Make yourself at home. Join the Nest
($14/month or $135/year - 20% cheaper than subscribing monthly )
Everything in the free Nest is yours too.
Monthly articles: Personal stories and moments of quiet clarity from my own unfolding. I share them in hopes they might offer a small insight for your own path.
Free Ebook: Create Your Sacred Space, help claiming a little piece of your home as your own. Filled with things that bring you joy.
Free stillness practices from The Garden: journaling prompts, meditations, and small rituals to bring retreat energy home.
Free offerings from The Creativity Studio: simple projects, creative invitations, and select recordings from Guest Creative sessions with makers I love.
Substack Lives: Conversations, casual drop-ins and make-alongs
A welcome gift: A Manifesto for Women, permission granted to make yourself a priority. Yours to print off and keep close, read slowly, and return to often.
And then the doors open wider, into all three rooms, every month:
The Kitchen Table. One live gathering, offered twice each month so you can find a time that works. Candlelight, a story bowl of questions, and honest conversation with women in the same season of life. This is not a webinar. It’s a table, and there’s a seat with your name on it. Time for you, in the company of women who love creativity & connection as much as you do.
The Creativity Studio. Each month brings a Guest Creative session: a skill to learn, a process to explore, something to make together. Plus a creative invitation, something simple to make for the joy of it. Join live, catch the replay, or browse the full archive anytime.
The Garden. One recorded stillness practice each month, yours to return to whenever your week asks too much of you. Step into the stillness and exhale.
The Archive. You don’t start empty-handed. Three years of monthly articles, creative sessions, stillness practices, and gathering notes are yours the moment you join. And if life gets in the way one month, nothing is lost, everything waits for you here.
The Members’ Chat. A quiet corner for conversation between gatherings. Ask a question, show us what’s on your table this week, or simply say hello. The kettle’s always on.
A peek at November
November’s theme is Comfortable in Our Own Skin, and I’ll share more about it in my next letter, including two gatherings with our guest creative, Rachel Hewitt of Wild Wellness.
Thank you for gathering in with me this month.
Warmly,
Kathy
A little about me
Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.
For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.
There’s a place at the table with your name on it.
I’m excited to share a glimpse of The Hummingbird Nest. Here’s a snapshot of the home page. Come on in for a visit.
