Soul Retreat at Windy Goat Acres

Tricia & Mel in Decorah, Iowa

There are very few things that we love more than a road trip. So you can imagine our excitement when we decided to leave Des Moines early to road trip to Decorah, Iowa before heading to our retreat at Windy Goat Acres. Many of you have already asked me how we learned about this retreat and all I can say is Tricia saw it and signed us up. It was totally kismet and exactly what both of us needed but I am getting a head of myself here. One of the BIG draws for me in Decorah is this absolutely MAGICAL shop that I just love called Jubilee. I got the most gorgeous yellow bowl because you know Myk and I turn 50 this year and we are totally in our salad era, and salad is just better from a beautiful bowl. In addition to Jubilee, there are several shops we really like visiting, including the epic kitchen store, The Ace Kitchen Place.

After hitting the local shops we had to find a Walmart because of course MEL (hey that's me) forgot things, I always forget stuff on trips...I MEAN ALWAYS! This time I forgot my pillow, salad tongs and a bowl for my community meal contribution, you guessed it, a salad.

I was sure glad we went to Decorah, because had we not, I would have been without a bowl, pillow and tongs during the retreat. As we were toodling around Decorah it dawned on us what time it was and oh my goodness we were going to totally miss the 4 PM check in time. Which likely meant any chance of getting as close to the bathroom as possible was going to be gone. Ha! More on that later.

We arrive to Windy Goat Acres a little late but it's all good, we hadn't missed the welcome circle. Phew! As we were unloading we were hit with the type of nature events we typically like to avoid. One of the fierce hunters (farm cat) had just captured an adolescent bunny and the bunny was crying out for help. I couldn't help myself...I intervened and freed the bunny but it may have been too late. We'll never know, but it was an interesting way to start a retreat, friends, watching a natural moment where one animal was surviving and the other suffering. I have to admit it took a bit for me to shake the whole scene off.

We set up camp and as I predicted we were the absolute furthest from the bathroom. In my twenties and thirties that would have been no problem for either one of us. But with each of our own reasons we were feeling a wee bit anxious about "making" it to the bathroom. As it turned out, being the furthest away put us closest to the patch of timber and we found the perfect spot for urgent moments, so alas it all worked out. Not to skip ahead but while we are on the topic, there was a hilarious moment where I was trying to get out to go pee in the middle of the night and I totally fell into the tent and missed a sleeping Tricia by inches. As it turns out, she was not asleep and thought the whooooole thing was just Hilaaaaarious. OH. My. Goodness. Seriously!

Okay, back to the first night. At welcome circle, everyone introduced themselves, and shared how they found the retreat and if they had been before. Everyone was so lovely. Then we enjoyed our community meal together. After dinner we came together to do some Ecstatic dancing which (for those of you that don't know) is a free-form dance practice where participants move without predetermined steps, guided by the music's rhythm and your own internal experiences. We have to admit we are both quite shy when it comes to dancing and especially dancing in front of others. We did like being under the moon and it was dusk so everything felt super relaxing.

After that Tricia and I went to bed. We had brought twinkle star lights for all over our tent so it was so magical to fall asleep with our little lights on. The tent was glowing. All I remember, is that I was so happy to have the air mattress after camping with the kids for eight weeks without it summer before last, I found myself reflecting and asking myself, why did I do that?

The next day we woke up ready for a fun day. We had breakfast, played with the goats, did some art, more dancing, tie-dyed some goodies and then enjoyed dinner and a drum circle. It was such a relaxing day. I also took some time to do some writing while Tricia enjoyed a massage. Here's the little poem I wrote and YES, I completely chickened out to read it during the drum circle where we were all invited to share anything.

In the early dawn, a star drops like dew from a leaf into a puddle below.

The ripple dances to the edge of where it finds time waiting, waiting as a dandelion seed to take flight into the vast song of spring.

Flying high above bursting blooms, from the open fields below.

It knows it must travel beyond its generational path, to take root in the space between here and there.

As the breeze knows, it carries it as if it had wings like the moth, that glides into the grass for a rest,

where fireflies illuminate the sky.

The moon rises to the peace found in the moth resting in the grass, the fireflies dancing, and it's here where the dandelion seed knows it's home.

Not where it once was, but where it knows it must become.

And so it does.

In all honesty, it was back at the tent and I was cozy by the fire and didn't want to run and grab it. We had just enjoyed and incredible meal by Olive Oconnell who owns AllLove Wellness and you know I just wanted to sit and relax–take it all in.

Everything was vegan and just absolutely delicious. Olive made dinner Saturday night, breakfast Sunday morning and led us all through a cacao ceremony right before our sound bath. She was so lovely and did a brilliant job with everything she made. Everything was so so delicious.

I mentioned above that we did several activities throughout the day. One of my favorites was holding the baby goats and hanging out with the baby ducks, peacocks, pigs and goats. Later in the day after a nap in the hammock, I went on a hike with the llamas and Tricia got her much needed nap in the hammock.

We also made art by hammering flowers onto paper. I really enjoyed this activity. We had never done this before. I had never tie-dyed anything before too, so I had no idea how my shirt would turn out but it turned out great and Tricia did a bandana.

Overall it was a great weekend and Catherine Potter did an excellent job creating this retreat. She was also our sound bath facilitator and it was an amazing setting to lay under the trees and listen to the sounds. We had a wonderful time.