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RETREATS
- SPRING 2023
- PAST RETREATS
SERVICES
HARVEST TABLE DINNERS
BLOG
ABOUT
- PRESS
- TESTIMONIALS
CONTACT
- APPLY

RETREATS
- SPRING 2023
- PAST RETREATS
SERVICES
HARVEST TABLE DINNERS
BLOG
ABOUT
- PRESS
- TESTIMONIALS
CONTACT
- APPLY

We love questions as much as we love butter, which is a lot. We’d love to hear from you!

NurtureRetreat-218

Sonja Seiler

Founder & Creative Director

Food scraps can have new life if you let them! No

Food scraps can have new life if you let them!

Normally, I reserve the Monday after each Nurture retreat as a day off to do absolutely nothing. This time, I made the ‘mistake’ of drinking excellent strong Brazilian coffee at a new-to-me café in my neighbourhood and it prompted an Energizer bunny style ‘let’s process ALLLLL the leftovers before they go bad’ extravaganza.

While my inevitable crash afterwards was a MOOD, I regret nothing about making magic from stuff we’d normally need to throw away because it sat in the fridge as a single component too long.

Berries from both breakfasts became the filling for extra pie dough (patience for lattice top courtesy of that same coffee).

All the leftover oniony things - leeks, scallions and chives, were cooked down with some herbs and the rest of the mushrooms from staff dinner and tucked with some pre-grated mozzarella from our opening dinner (thanks @stephpellett) into cute hand pies to use the rest of the dough.

All the remaining fruits from the Nurture Snasket, a knob of ginger and some wobbly celery stalks were juiced and that provided some great instant drinkable nutrients to help me recover from the weekend, like a tonic!

Alllllll the veg scraps (including what we gathered in the ‘Mother Bowl’ at our pie making workshop) became a stock to use as the liquid for a potato & leftover half a rutabaga stew. I’ll freeze this for a future dinner on the run.

I had a vision of making sandwiches with the leftover sliced cheese from staff raclette and the remaining braised cabbage and shallot crisp but no bread. So I made my own ciabatta buns, which was both easy and a nurturing process (especially if you befriend your yeast, like I always do).

The berry pie and the sandwiches then accompanied me for a delightful bike ride picnic to Victoria Park with @joshuakoshbgosh & @katielynjoycexo

Mission: Nurture Leftover Miracles was a success!!

📷: @creatinglight.studio

Get ready to retreat with me! PART 2 We are #driv

Get ready to retreat with me! PART 2

We are #drivingverysafely to Nurture as we speak! Come along with us as we prep for the weekend. 🥰

📷: @creatinglight.studio

Get ready to retreat with me! PART 1 It’s been

Get ready to retreat with me! PART 1

It’s been fun to experiment with organizational systems to make Nurture as nurturing behind the scenes as it is for those attending.

Thanks to the help of systems earth angel @stephpellett, embracing my German heritage and my Virgo rising, I’ve enjoyed tweaking my prep process to allow room for my daily rituals, fruitful rest and lots of play.

This year, this looks like: new storage bins that stack, expandable soft coolers, freezer inventories, using @notionhq for my task lists and labelling EVERYTHING.

We’ve come a long way from when I used to write each task on the back of old business cards and stick them to a cork board with tacks!!

My prep days have felt smooth and relaxed, full of hard work but also plenty of breaks, snuggles, tacos and prioritizing my favourite morning routine - co-reading with my coffee and my love @joshuakoshbgosh . Also: check out @feelfree magazine - it’s full of inspiration!

Preparing this way carries through to the retreat itself, setting the tone and acting as an invitation to those attending that time is a stretchy thing! In my experience, it starts to expand to accommodate you the minute you prioritize tending to yourself.

Here’s to a whole weekend of that! Back to the kitchen with me now 👩🏻‍🍳😁

📷: @creatinglight.studio

Both in cooking and in life I'm not known as a 'ju

Both in cooking and in life I'm not known as a 'just the facts, ma'am' kind of gal. That being said, sometimes you need to know the ingredients you're working with in order to reach the right decisions.

Here's the 'just the facts' core ingredients for our upcoming May retreat, ma'am:

WHEN: May 12-14th

WHERE: Loretto Maryholme, 379A Bouchier St, Roches Point, ON (only 1hr from Toronto!)

WHO: You and strangers you'll know for the rest of your life

WHAT: A weekend of creative sanctuary, restoration and nourishment in a rambling old farmhouse on the shores of Lake Simcoe. We eat really, really well.

WHY: Because you know it's time and you've been craving something exactly like this.

SPOTS LEFT:
• 1 Private 'Lush' Room ($1495)
• 1 Private ‘Cozy’ Room ($1250)

Retreat Workshops:

Ritual & Routine with @sarah.aranha. Exploring our lives and patterns through the lens of still life drawing & watercolour.

Pattern & Pace with @capstone_pattern_co. Exploring sewing as reflection, empowerment, grounding and community building.

Art & Activism with @ariirispara. Exploring story, lineage, craft and adornment to make (quite literally) statement jewelry.

Recipe & Memory with @nurtureretreats. Exploring how to craft a menu that tells our stories through food to create ‘edible memories’.

What You'll Get:

- Four 2 hour hands on workshops and all materials.
- All meals, snacks and drinks. Wine served with dinner. Menus are mostly vegetarian & all allergies, sensitivities, and strong dislikes are happily accommodated.
- Coffee, tea, and snack stations set up for grazing when needed.
- Rest, relaxation and time for solitude and contemplation in a beautiful, natural setting.
- Access to a full-sized labyrinth in a pine grove, gardens, lake access and walking paths.
- Nurture Self Care Kit full of meaningful goods by local makers.
- Membership in a growing, collaborative community of like-minded creatives.
- Nurture Magic: it’s real.

If this sounds like something you need, head on over to our link in bio to secure your spot. If you want to talk it through, I’m a DM away!

📷: @katieharrisonphoto

Your fridge is not as empty as you think it is!!!

Your fridge is not as empty as you think it is!!!

It’s time for another Nurture Pantry Miracle™️ where we save food, money and the day with a hearty breakfast made of this and that.

I love to challenge myself to make the end result something that feels super abundant and tasty enough to make it feel like it was a ‘miracle’, considering its almost bare cupboard/fridge origins. How did I do?

#scrapcooking #bestovers #zerofoodwaste

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