The End of Summer is Near

Where we sit in Southern California, the spider webs are out, the persimmon buds are turning yellow, and a heat surge is on its way through.

What signs of summer transition are you noticing?

When the seasons begin to morph, it's a great opportunity to look back and notice what has occurred, where growth or pruning is necessary, identify the cadence of the season and respond accordingly.

The power of art is to inspire and shape us. This piece is titled, A Blue Moon by Megan Gabrielle Harris. One gallery states “in this work, the artist has captured the importance of isolating oneself in order to reflect inwards.” Thank you to integrative life coach, photographer and artist, Sarah Shreves, for sharing the discovery of this artist through her newsletter!

Be inspired to find rest and rejuvenation, as this is the place where true creativity and ingenuity emerge.

✨Activity Highlights

This summer, Charity visited the island of Oahu for a learning journey among communities and to visit local famers to understand the history, heritage, and challenges of restoring sovereignty, preserving foods of cultural significance, and healing waters to the Hawaiian people.

Follow the publication, On Soil and Life, to stay in tune with deeper reflections on this journey (multi-part series is expected to be released soon).

Sacred Futures was a sponsor of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funder (SAFSF) conference in DC. Conversations and debate ranged from management of agricultural water to identifying where the real rate of return is for impact investment. There were challenges presented to the funding community by the funding community about how we measure impact.

Is the true expression of a circular economy one in which we measure how often the dollar invested is circulated and regenerated within the community?

If you have thoughts on this question and want to contribute to this dialogue, let us know what you think!

✨Partner Highlights

The Fibers Fund was launched in full swing back in spring. Charity was selected to be on the inaugural Investment Committee with Co-Managing Directors, Sarah Kelley and Teju Adisa-Farrar. Check out the feature here learn more about the initial investments made to textile businesses and artists!

The Community Alliance with Family Farmers elected Charity to the Board of Directors in July! This 46-year old organization has been serving small producers across the state of California since its inception and through its evolution. Learn more about their work and policy objectives here.

✨Special Mentions

Sacred Futures was featured in this Smiley Movement article, thanks to Emily Logan of Space On Space for the introduction!

Here’s our favorite highlight from the conversation:

“Nature has rhythms that include rest and repair and so for us to attend to nature, I think it’s really important for us to reflect those patterns of rest and repair in our person, but also in our organizations.”

✨Featured Engagements

One of the products central to Sacred Futures’ offerings is what we call the Purpose Charter Journey. This immersive experience combines visioning and deep listening to discover deep purpose, locate relationships within the ecosystem, and create the conditions to align the decision making (governance) and culture development with the intended purpose, marrying the wisdom of nature through this process. Our partners walk away with a governing charter and grounded approach in activating their purpose.

We are excited to be actively working with catalytic partners to guide them on this journey. If you or someone you know is at a stage where developing a charter for an enterprise, initiative, or project would be beneficial, reach out to chat!

Here's what others have said about this process:

“The facilitation was so critical. I gained much clear understanding of differences between roles, and my role became very clear.”
“The way that [Sacred Futures] prepared the space allowed for us to have impactful conversations with each other. Her process brought so much clarity.”

Curious to learn more about what we do? Hit the button below to find out and be sure to connect or share when relevant with your network.

explore our offerings

✨Latest Insights from the Field

In our latest blog post, we introduce elements of what it means to participate or create the conditions for a future to be revered and secured as sacred.

Read the full post here.

✨ Join Our Curiosity

One of our core values is curiosity. We are always exploring, gathering insights to inform our approach. Below are a few of the ideas we explored this summer and thought we’d share with you!

🔎 Summer Research:

📖 Summer Reads:

One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka
Humanocracy by Gary Hamel & Michele Zanini
Ways of Being by James Bridle
Queen Sugar by Natalie Bastile

Note: The book links will take you to our online Bookshop. We may receive a commission if you purchase through the link. Thanks in advance!

🎥 Summer Viewings:

Here’s a short list of illuminating documentaries exploring cultural diversity among human connection with the land.

GATHER - “Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide.”

GAINING GROUND - “In this film, Emmy Nominated Director Eternal Polk examines the causes, effects, and what is being done to fight the exploitation of Heirs Property law and how black landowners are reclaiming their agricultural legacy and creating paths to generational wealth.”

DIGGING IN - “From land ownership to corporate control, from the hollowing out of rural America to paying the price of a changing climate, follow your guide Masika Henson as she digs into the American food system.”

FOOD, EARTH, HAPPINESS - “Inspired by the work and philosophy of Masanobu Fukuoka, artist Patrick M. Lydon (USA) and editor Suhee Kang (South Korea) spend four years meeting and studying with multiple generations of modern day natural farmers. The result is a film that weaves breathtaking landscapes and an eclectic original soundtrack together with stories and insights from an inspiring cast of natural farmers, chefs, and teachers.”

✨Looking Ahead . . .

Rest is another one of our treasured values. As such, we are careful to build a rhythmic practice between travel, rest, work and play.

As we head into fall, extensive travel engagements will be focused on core sector events. Here are a couple of events through the end of the year that you’ll see us at!

NYC Climate Week - we’ll be joining the movement for the first few days (September 18 - 20, 2023) and then taking some time offline in the Southwest desert lands!

Women Transforming Food and Finance - November 14 - 15, 2023 in Atlanta, GA

`Ruminations, 2022 by Megan Gabrielle Harris`

Thanks for reading this summer chronicle!

Be well,

Charity May, Principal and Founder

Summer Chronicles ‘23