The Healing Farm—a business sidetracked, but still in my heart.

I've been wrapped up for many years in the pandemic, wildfires, and moving back to the Midwest after 23 years in California. Starting a new life, relaunching my photography business in a new location in my fifties, and finding my footing in a brand new state have all preoccupied my time, but one thing just won't leave my mind and heart, and that's The Healing Farm retreats and property concept.

For now, I'm imagining a few single-day retreats. Maybe a dance party on the shores of Lake Michigan, maybe a multi-day creative exploration, or another elimination diet kickstarter retreat, all featuring practical ways to get back in touch with yourself, nature, and a simple, healthy approach to eating and movement.

Here's how it all began…

In 2008, I found myself throwing my cameras and suitcase into the back of a pickup truck "taxi" on a rural road in the Dominican Republic. Having just photographed a weekend destination resort wedding, I was up for a wild island adventure. I FedExed the wedding backup files to the US, ditched the cultivated beaches, and ran off into the jungle.

Two days later, I rolled over in bed and felt a tweak in my back. Ignoring the pain, I went horseback riding anyway.

I flew home expecting that a little rest would heal it. Fast forward a few months, and I was getting married on a Tuesday in Yosemite Valley because my whole 2008 wedding season was already booked. And I did it all with back pain.

Seven years and a whole lot of healing therapies later, it was still there. If you've ever experienced chronic pain, you know. It's sometimes debilitating and most of the time, well, just a big pain. I could still shoot, I could still walk and function, but I was exhausted all the time from the pain. It's hard to stay creative and enthusiastic about a physically demanding job when you're constantly hurting.

Into my life walked Functional Medicine and Rancho La Puerta. My dear friend Angela suggested I meet with her friend Chris Kresser. In the early days of health influencers, the brilliant Chris was helping introduce functional medicine and what he was calling the "Paleo Diet." I didn't know he was already internationally known.

I met with Chris, got some blood tests, began an elimination diet, and started my own gentle, practical core-strength and exercise routine. Within six weeks, the pain was almost nonexistent. It's been over ten years and I'm still mostly pain-free, turning 60 in a few weeks, and able to reinvigorate my photography career in the Midwest.

In between, I was inspired to create a business called The Healing Farm.

Cultivating Practical Wellness is how it began. As I get reinspired by my new home in Southwest Michigan, I'm slowly coming around to imagine myself creating healing retreats again, and allowing myself to dream a little about a Healing Farm property. Maybe on the shores of Lake Michigan, which I've re-fallen in love with. When I know I need absolute solitude and only the sound of waves and wind, I go. Summer. Fall. Winter. Spring. I go.

I was gardening in our backyard in Oakland, CA, when the name “The Healing Farm” came to me. Gardening hadn't been much of an option for a few years because of the inflammation in my body (my hands and back). From the work I'd done with Chris, my world was opening up again. Pain-free, and with that, a freer mind open to inspiration. I started imagining a place and space for others to kick-start their healing process: an elimination diet, organic foods, non-industrial seed oils, and practical, non-intimidating exercise. In short, I wanted to inspire and help others understand the practical ways of getting to these longterm goals.

Back then, there were places to go for healing of this sort. In fact, it was around this time I began doing marketing photography for Rancho La Puerta in Mexico. The first time I drove onto the property, I knew this was the kind of place I'd been dreaming of. The Ranch, after all, was one of the first health spas in the world. Founded in the forties, it's still one of my favorite places on earth.

Rancho La Puerta's location just over the border in Tecate, Mexico, makes it "affordable" compared to many of the world's other inspired retreat properties and spas, but still unaffordable for many people who'd benefit most from its incredible menu and services.

The other end of the spectrum was retreat centers that could feel a little hippie-dippy or run-down. A lot of people are intimidated by retreats as they existed (more so) back then, thinking they'll never be able to stand on their heads, or they don't want to meditate for a week, can't afford a spa, and eating four almonds for a snack to lose weight doesn't sound appealing either.

I wanted to create the Goldilocks of retreats and retreat centers: clean, austere, welcoming, affordable, and non-intimidating.

I began with single-day retreats and eventually asked Chris Kresser if he'd be my keynote speaker at my first multi-day Paleo Reset retreat. We built a menu with the nutritionist from Chris's team, who was on hand all week for lectures and private consultations available for an added fee.

We had a massage therapist, daily hikes led by me, a meditation hike, acupuncture, and an intro to qi gong. We also had an all-levels yoga class every day, plus plenty of free time for creative pursuits, reading, or sitting by the pool. I didn't allow any electronics in our shared public spaces, and I wanted the entire retreat center to myself so I could really enforce the rule. Guests joked that they felt like they'd joined a cult. I still enforced the no-phone rule. Even back in 2015, I knew how important a phone-free environment would be.

That first retreat was the best and the hardest thing I've ever done. I got great feedback, lost a little money, but felt inspired to keep going. I knew I was on to something.

Fast forward many years. The retreat center burned down in one of the big Northern California wildfires, three weeks before my third retreat. We were inspired to move to an organic farm to explore The Healing Farm as a property, only to have a worldwide pandemic shut everything down.

We've since moved to the Midwest to build a home in a safer part of the country, and I'm reinvigorated by the healing power of the Great Lakes, which have shaped me since I was a small child, climbing on the rocks during the witching hour when my parents took us six kids to the lake to burn off our energy before bed.

Southwest and Western Michigan have a thriving healing and farm-to-table culture, along with boutique cannabis grows, healers, and loads of nature to inspire and elevate you to a higher self and body. Think:

• Cold plunges in the lake in your birthday suit, followed by the sauna

• Meditating with nothing but the sound of waves and wind

• Coming inside to a cozy yurt for an organic farm-to-table meal created to help reduce inflammation in your body

• Learning practical exercises you can build into your everyday routine

• Resetting your body and taking home a newly inspired, practical insight into how you want your mind and body to grow with you in this world

• Inspiring others to do the same

When we heal, so too does the world around us. Or so I hope.

I'm happy to be inspired again to explore The Healing Farm concept, and I hope you'll follow along with me as I dream about how I might re-introduce it. In the meantime, I'll share stories and photos of other healers and healing places I've known over the years, the ones that helped me on my own journey, along with those I have yet to meet here in Michigan.

Follow along, and don't be afraid to share your own ideas and inspirations. We can dream together as I tell the story of my journey and where I'm headed from here.

It's still Cultivating Practical Wellness that I'm after, but it now also includes Inner Fulfillment, which has become equally important as I move into my Third Act.

The Healing Farm: Cultivating Practical Wellness and Inner Fulfillment. Come with me on the journey!