The Windcall Residency Program takes place in locations immersed in nature. Each one provides unique opportunities for organizers to engage in the transformative healing practices that make Windcall so impactful. Some sites are generously donated for Windcall’s use (click here if you’re interested in being a site partner); others are arrangements with highly supportive allied organizations and small businesses.
Windcall’s residency sites for 2024-2025 include:
Windcall on the West Marin Coast
Point Reyes – Tomales Bay, California
on the lands of the Marin Coast Miwok
The Point Reyes Sanctuary was conceived in 2020 as a way for West Marin, CA, homeowners to make a unique and invaluable contribution to the unprecedented social/political upheaval and crises of this time. Steve Costa initially envisioned the project, and Suzanne d’Coney serves as Windcall’s Site Coordinator. Together, we partner with homeowners located along the hills, marshes and coastal areas of Tomales Bay to offer various and unique connections to nature that invite rest and self-care to social and environmental justice organizers – those on the front lines of social change – to strengthen their resilience for the crucial work ahead.
Windcall on the Olympic Peninsula
Quilcene, Washington
on the lands of the Salish Sea tribes including the Hoh, Jamestown S’Klallam, Lower Elwha Klallam, Makah Indian, Quileute, Quinault, Port Gamble S’Klallam and Skokomish peoples
Merrill Weyerhaeuser has generously donated their home a couple of months per year since 2006. Her nephew Kyle is also donating his home to Windcall starting in 2024. Here we now have two residency cohorts immerse in the raw beauty of the Pacific Northwest, staying in cosy waterfront homes that sits on wooded acres on the shores of the Hood Canal. There are many secluded spaces to reflect, create, write, and share. Residents dive into nature, reflect while hiking on trails through lush forests, and kayaking on the canal. Across the canal is the Olympic National Park offering spectacular hiking or an overnight trip to the Quileute Reservation. The house is close to Port Townsend, home to yoga teachers, artists, healers, and whale watching trips.
Windcall at Rancho Gallina
Santa Fe, New Mexico
on the lands of the Pueblo peoples, including the Tano and Tewa
Rancho Gallina is a unique “eco-retreat” and historic ranch just south of Santa Fe off the Turquoise Trail Scenic Byway. The ranch operates as an inn and houses retreats for everyone from social change activists to yogis. Since 2016 it has hosted Windcall Residents and Breathers. The hosts, Leslie Moody and Mitch Ackerman, each organized for 25 years in both elected and organizer positions in labor and social change movements. After raising their children, they shifted gears, bought the ranch, and renovated it to minimize its overall carbon footprint. The ranch is powered by the sun and heated/cooled by the earth. They compost, recycle, conserve and re-use water every way possible. In addition, Mitch went to culinary school, so they serve great food with a commitment to healthy, delicious, locally grown, organic produce. With numerous hammocks, a hot tub under the stars, yoga mats and videos, cozy nooks for quiet reflection, a variety of musical instruments and art supplies, as well as plenty of nearby running, walking, and cycling, there is much for Residents to expand mind, body, and spirit at Rancho Gallina.
Windcall at Foxfire Ranch
Waterford, Mississippi
on the lands of the Chickasaw and Choctaw peoples, among others
Foxfire Ranch is our first Black owned site that provides residents a serene experience in a malleable setting with undeniable magic. Foxfire Ranch has been stewarded by multiple generations of the Hollowell family, including Albert, Bill, Annie and Annette Hollowell. Musicians love to play here with blue skies and tall trees as the backdrop. You will be invited to find wonder and joy in red clay trails and knotty pines. Come here to start just where you are, and leave having making real progress towards your collective visions. This is a place where cell phones slow down and the food feeds your soul.
Foxfire is conveniently located in Waterford, MS, within a short driving distance of Memphis, Holly Springs and Oxford, MS, making the conveniences of a big town easily available while being out in the country.
Windcall in Old Lyme
Long Island Sound, Connecticut
on the lands of the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot peoples
Nestled between the Connecticut and Thames rivers as they open up to the Long Island Sound, a historic shorehouse in the historic town of Old Lyme has offered one-week Mindful Breathers and soon a 3-week cohort Residency. A short drive to town and New London a bit farther on offers opportunities to explore artists, seaside state parks, hiking, community gardens, yoga, Interplay dance, and more. The shorehouse itself is removed at the end of a point, surrounded by few houses and a forest reserve. There, changing skies and breezes immerse residents in sun/ moonlight and beautiful views. Surrounding sandy beaches flank the point for beach combing, swimming, fishing, kayaking, bird watching and enjoying the elements. The spacious house offers plenty of spaces indoors and out for reflection, creative exploration, cooking, and cozy fireside.
Windcall at And Roses
Topsail Island, North Carolina
on the lands of the Tuscarorana peoples
Windcall alum and racial justice activist Tema Okun partnered with Windcall in 2018 to host Breathers in the spring and fall at her cozy beach house in Topsail Island. Many organizers in Tema’s extensive network have found rest and healing in the expansive beaches surrounding And Roses for years. The name was inspired from the “Bread and Roses” poem and slogan, in turn inspired by Rose Schneiderman’s speech, a feminist labor leader of the early 1900s. In that speech, she said “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.” Tema and her family offer their beach house as the “roses” that we fight for and deserve as we fight too for bread.
Windcall at Laurel Springs Resort
Smokey Mountains, Tennessee
on the lands of the Cherokee peoples, among others
In 2010, alum Walter Davis gifted Windcall with a 2-week timeshare cabin at the Laurel Springs Resort in the TN Smokey Mountains. The timeshare had originally been gifted to the National Organizers Alliance for which Walter served as Executive Director. NOA was founded in 1993 by organizers working across the spectrum of progressive social justice movements and was dedicated to advance progressive organizing and to sustain and nurture the people who do it. The gift was a passing of the torch, so to speak, for Windcall to continue nurturing the resilience of organizers. Now organizers can take time off in the first couple of weeks of January – just the right time for some busy leaders! Colorful foliage and sometimes snow offer spectacular scenery to residents, while a fireplace and indoor hot tub offer relaxation and quiet reflection.
Windcall at Rainbow Cabin
Lake Tahoe, California
on the lands of the Washoe Tribe
The Clarke family – including sisters Teresa Clarke and Margi Clarke – has a long-time commitment to social justice in their work and community life. Margi and her brother Jess are Windcall alumni. One expression of the family commitment has been to offer Teresa’s vacation cabin near South Lake Tahoe, CA to Windcall.
Windcall at Casa Colibri Azul
Santa Fe, New Mexico
on the lands of the Pueblo peoples, including the Tano and Tewa
This home is in the traditional village of Chupadero in Northern New Mexico, about 20 minutes North of Santa Fe. The house was built in 1993 on an old bean field. Dr. Wendy Johnson is a physician, activist and public health professional who is hosting a studio cabin on the property. The house and surrounding yard is a designated wildlife habitat, and the host has worked to “rewild” the area with native plants and a pond.
Windcall at Stoneroot
Ellijay, Georgia
on the lands of the Cherokee.
Stoneroot sits on 18 acres in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains with a natural spring that feeds water to the property as well as a pond downstream. The multiple cottages, green house, large organic garden and multiple outdoor sitting areas on the site are cultivated by Willa Conway, a donor, organizer and healer based in the South.
Windcall at the Watershed Center
Millerton, New York
on the lands of the Mohicans, Haudenosaunee, Wabanakis, and Hurons, among others
Brooke Lehman and Gregg Osofsky founded the Watershed Center as a retreat and resource center for changemakers to facilitate strategic conversations in service of democracy, ecology and liberation. The Watershed Center is located on a 73-acre farm adjacent to hundreds of acres of state forest, two-hours north of New York City.
Residency Sites … through the years
Windcall at Respite in the Round
Occaneechi Saponi land (Cub Creek), North Carolina
Respite in the Round a round treehouse turned land-based retreat in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, part of the Upper Tar River Basin, offered eight residents in 2019 a place for rest, connection, creative making, vision setting and restful resistance.
Windcall at Blue Mountain Center
Blue Mountain Lake, New York
Blue Mountain Center hosted Windcall Residents from 2010-2016. Seventeen organizers had their Residencies at BMC through the generosity of the Center’s Board and staff, led by Ben Strader and Harriet Barlow. BMC is a working community of writers, artists, and activists – particularly those focused on social and ecological concerns – set in the heart of the Adirondacks, NY. The BMC staff and the energy of the larger BMC community made for very profound Windcall Residencies.
Windcall at Pie-in-the-Sky Farm
Marshfield, Vermont
Pie-in-the-Sky Farm is an old farmhouse inn located in the middle of the rich cultural zone of North Central Vermont and perched just on the edge of the wild and beautiful Northeast Kingdom. Pie was the first site for Windcall after its original home in Montana. It is owned by Jude Sargent and Jay Moore, who are politically active in the area and hosted Windcall from their own deep commitment to social justice from 2006-2010. Twenty-four organizers did their Windcall Residencies at this site.
Windcall at the Stone House
Mebane, North Carolina
The Stone House, now closed, was a place of sanctuary, community and spiritual training where thousands gathered to share strength, stories, food, strategy, and practice in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Board member Dothula Baron was the Site Host in 2013 and 8 organizers had their residencies there in 2011 and 2013. Meditation and body movement work was a special focus of the Stone House, particularly during their Soul Sanctuary Retreats – modeled after Windcall. Stone House hosted a Windcall gathering in 2013 where alumni in the region exchanged ideas on engaging in ongoing practices to support resiliency.
Windcall at Tunitas Creek Ranch
Half Moon Bay, California
Tunitas Creek Ranch was a Windcall site for six Residents from 2011-2012. The Ranch was a magical site with a thriving organic food and flower garden, surrounded by 250 acres of open space, including forests, creeks and open fields – close to the Pacific Ocean. The Ranch was sold in 2013. We thank owner Nancy Schaub, Program Director Kristin Rothballer, the farm community, and the New Priorities Foundation for graciously supporting organizers at TCR.
The Original Windcall Ranch
Belgrade, Montana
on the common hunting grounds of many tribes, including the Crow peoples
Windcall was the first program of its kind for social justice leaders and stood out for its prioritization of organizers, both community and labor; its national scope, including regions where organizers traditionally had scarce resources and immense challenges; and later honing in on an intention to center women and organizers of color.
The name Windcall was chosen for the ranch and program because of its allusion to the call of the wind, and the undercurrents that create synchronicity between human beings and the gentle flow of the wind in harmony with the earth and the entire Universe.