Food and Wellness

At Twin Pond we believe that food is the foundation of healthy people, communities, and ecosystems. We utilize sustainable and organic agriculture practices as well as permaculture design in our food production. Nearly all the food we eat and serve is produced here at Twin Pond or sourced through local and/or organic growers, some of whom are members of the Floating Bridge Food & Farms Cooperative.

We recognize the importance of individual’s specific dietary needs and are dedicated both to accommodating these needs and to providing nutritional consultation and cooking instruction to support them. Our cooks have spent over a decade exploring and experimenting with many unique diets and have developed delicious recipes, which tempt the palate and nourish the body.

Our goal is to accommodate your dietary needs so you can relax and enjoy your retreat. These are a few of our food and nutritional offerings:

  • Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Vegan, etc…(any food accommodation you need)
  • Raw Food Diet
  • Liver Cleanse, Detox Diet, Juice Fasting
  • Nutritional Counseling
  • Cooking Instruction

Healing Arts and Practices

We collaborate with skilled practitioners to support our clients by engaging with a wide variety of healing modalities. Your retreat may include and all of the following wellness offerings.

Consultation with a Naturopathic Doctor

A Naturopathic Doctor can help design a treatment plan for you during your stay. Our doctors will utilize homeopathy, botanical medicine, clinical nutrition, physical medicine, and lifestyle counseling to reveal the root cause of disease and support the body’s natural healing process to bring about cure.

Chinese Medicine

A Chinese Medicine Doctor will utilize Acupuncture, Chinese Herbs, cupping, moxibustion (a form of heat therapy), and Qi Gong to bring balance to the body and support your body’s natural healing process.

Yoga and Meditation

We teach yoga for self-transformation. This practice explores the powerful effect yoga can have on the mind, body, and soul. Bringing these aspects of our being into balance can have a profound effect on how we interact with the world and our self. Yoga means union - when you are at peace with yourself, radiating strength, joy, and love from within. Yoga and meditation can bring more physical energy, mental clarity, love, and inspiration into your life.

Massage and Bodywork

We provide therapeutic and relaxation massage tailored to your needs: issue-specific, pain reduction, general relaxation. We strive to give you the best treatment possible by creating a safe and comfortable environment.

Nutritional Counseling and Cooking Instruction

We provide nutrition education and cooking instruction so that you can learn ways to prepare the foods best suited to your needs. We can help you with a specific cleansing diet through a general cleanse, liver detoxification, juice fast, anti-inflammatory or other diet plan. We can also assist you in designing a diet suited to your individual constitution and lifestyle.

Herbalism

Through the assistance of herbal health practitioners, you will learn how to care for yourself with herbs, improve your overall health, and address specific conditions that need healing

Please let us know if there is something you are seeking that is not listed above and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Sustainable Agriculture and Permaculture Practices

We grow nearly all the food which feeds our residents and guests. We utilize permaculture principles and sustainable land management practices with an emphasis on building soil and nutrient-dense crops through mineral balancing and enhancing soil biology. We believe healthy soil is the key to growing nutritious food. Our soil-building practices involve testing our soils, adding minerals as needed, and inoculating our soil with mycorrhyzal fungi and bacteria. Other soil enhancing practices are applying compost, mulching, inoculating mushrooms in mulched areas, and not tilling our garden beds.

Our holistic approach to land management includes rotational grazing of chickens and sheep for pasture management, no-till raised garden beds, and top bar bee hives. A wide variety of edible trees, shrubs, and perennials have been planted throughout the landscape and in forest gardens. We continue to plant more each spring as part of realizing our permaculture-based master plan for the site. We have large vegetable gardens and plan to expand more fields for food production. We preserve much of our harvest using lacto-fermentation methods. We lacto-ferment many of our vegetables to produce delicious varieties of sauerkraut, pickles, and dilly beans. We grow medicinal plants which are harvested and used throughout the year to promote wellness.

Fiber Arts

We raise sheep for fiber, process the fibers, and dye them naturally with local plants. We grow dye plants and forage wild plants for natural dying of wool and other fibers. We use our dyed wool for felting, spinning, and knitting.

Our awareness and appreciation for local food and our connection to the farms which provide our food is growing. We also value and appreciate where our fibers come from, and where and how thery are processed. We call this our “fibershed”. Our fibershed includes fibers that are solely sourced and processed to a finished product within a geographical region no larger than 150 miles and this includes natural dye plants too.

“Only a few centuries ago dye plants were a part of any home garden. Wool and other natural fibers (cotton, hides) were dyed with the pigments extracted from plants. The industrialization of the garment industry and the advent of synthetic dyes drew us away from natural plant based dyes. We perceive them as being cheaper and easier to use. However, the harsh chemicals used in the production and processing of these synthetic dyes bare hidden cost. They pollute our lands and waters, and could be responsible for many skin rashes, allergies and more. As we shift towards a more sustainable way of living we see a new excitement around working with plant-based dyes. Many of the plants that give wonderful dye colors are also beautiful garden plants. A beautiful garden and fiber plant dye that won’t pollute our planet or our bodies, could that be anymore perfect!” says Joann Darling, one of our Fiber Arts Teachers.

Get to know your “fibershed” by learning how to cultivate and harvest locally grown dye plants, forage for wild dye plants, and learn to process wool and other fibers for spinning, felting, or natural plant dying. Join us for our annual Fiber Fest and see our Calendar for a list of Fiber Arts events and classes.