Power-with Joanna Macy & the Emergence of Sunny Joy Farm
Joanna Macy’s work was scaffolding for the unwieldy vine of passion that coursed through me during tumultuous and broken open with compassion transitions.
Our beloved Joanna Macy has taken her journey this week from teacher of the more than human realm to ancestor. Her trust in humanity and strong clear voice for power-with mapped the territory and the path from powerlessness to active hope. The master of coming back to life has left this life. She left it rich with vision and practical strategies to realize them. She left it with tools to connect, uplift and create foundational change. She changed my life permanently and the seed she planted in me is growing into a vine that will no doubt nourish many.
Going through the steps of the spiral journey with a spirit of curiosity and willingness to be in the mouth of the lion enabled me to recognize the agency I do have in the personal challenges and the power I do have in the political ones. Over the course of six months or so, I developed the vision for the Resilient Youth Internship Program. As soon as I had the vision written down and gathered a team of supporters to help me launch it, this amazing property on Hummingbird Lane magically appeared along with an auspicious and rare opportunity to purchase it.
Power-with builds exponentially, especially when the shared vision is for something much greater than ourselves. With the property acquired and partnerships developing, the vision for a care farm emerged. Sunny Joy Farm, a Youth Care Farm in Talent, OR began with an inspiring vision developed from my own personal and family hardships; a vision that was facilitated by reading Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone’s book, “Active Hope”. I read it when I was in despair recovering from my brother’s suicide, the end of a relationship, amidst devastating wildfires, the covid pandemic and dangerous national governance for the most vulnerable of our country.
The subtitle is “How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience & Creative Power”. The key concepts are
Gratitude ~ Honoring our Pain ~ Seeing with New Eyes ~ Going Forth
Joanna Macy says “...the concept of power-with contains hidden depths. First, there is the power of inner strengths we draw from when we engage with challenges and rise to the occasion. Second, there is the power arising out of cooperation with others. Third, there is the subtle power of small steps whose impact becomes evident only when we step back and see the larger picture they contribute to. And last, there is the energizing power of an inspiring vision that moves through us and strengthens us when we act for a purpose bigger than ourselves.”
As our first Summer session of the Resilient Youth Internship Program at Sunny Joy Farm is culminating toward its zenith, I’m feeling strengthened by the emergence of a knitted-in youth community emerging, a long held and passionate vision.
In the Summer session youth engaged with challenges and rose to the occasion. There were personal challenges such as developmental, social and learning edges. Several of the youth have siblings whose major mental health crisis in the last year has impacted them in ways they are just beginning to understand. Days strung together of rhythmic flower picking, macrame knot tying, painting and weeding built a quiet trust in our collective being-ness. This quiet trust made fertile ground for difficult emotions to emerge that made way to profound understandings of their innocence in the crisis, their right to protection and the courage to claim their birthright to a safe family. None of this happened because of a curriculum or direct questioning or even a chosen process. Conversation just emerged organically and each rose to the occasion and contributed to a whole of understanding born of connection with each other in the natural environment.
Problem solving together on things like how to support wildly expanding growth of richly colored blossoms cultivated the hard won capacity to cooperate. Collective intelligence emerged as an understanding of each individual’s strengths and capacities became apparent. As a unified group we could accomplish things that no one of us could have done alone, setting the stage for taking the emotional risk of asking for help. Accomplishing a task together that no one was sure how to do in the beginning built a cooperative power that became a foundation for trust in the next steps.
As the weeks strung together we witnessed small plants become grand unruly stalks opening their colorful mouths to the sky, bare boards become structures resistant to weathering that beautifully frame a view window full of opportunity; we witnessed dry turned up earth become a bed burgeoning with nutritious vegetables spilling into the paths and a dirty barren pond develop into a serene gazing pool shaded by ripe blueberries and figs and darting flame colored gold fish finding refuge in purple and green watercress. Though each day felt like play, when we stepped back and saw the larger picture, each person’s role in creating this nervous system soothing sanctuary of food and flower abundance was evident. I think Joanna would be proud of what we are creating.
I want this kind of organic life-giving emergence for our country. I want it for every person, immigrants, trans folks, BIPOC folks, the neurodivergent and the neuro-extraordinary, youth, the elderly. And I want it for every person in Gaza who is currently enduring bombing and forced starvation. What I can do, though, right now, is foster a vision, together with the youth who land here. We can roll up our sleeves, make useful and nourishing things with our hands, care for each other, make a sanctuary together, and share and enact the anatomy of transformation from despair to active hope. I can build a foundation in young people of hope. And that is what I’m doing. We are building a care farm for resilience and regeneration.
In a world that often feels overwhelming, disconnected, and extractive, Sunny Joy Farm is growing something different—something rooted in care, community, and belonging.
Here, we nurture resilience—both personal and collective—through ecological arts, regenerative agriculture, and land-based living. At its heart, Sunny Joy Farm is becoming a healing ground. A place for young people, elders, artists, and families to reconnect with their hands, their hearts, and the Earth.
We’re launching this community-centered vision now—and we need your help.
Sunny Joy Farm offers therapeutic and educational opportunities for individuals with a wide range of needs, especially youth with diverse learning styles, marginalized identities, and highly sensitive nervous systems. As a care farm, we integrate hands-on work with the land, creative expression, and meaningful mentorship in ways that restore relationships—to ourselves, to each other, and to the living world.
Our work is rooted in deep collaboration. Through partnership with Alliance of Generations (formerly Boys to Men), we are designing intergenerational programs that connect youth with elders to pass on vital wisdom—and to welcome the possibilities of gender expansiveness and cultural healing that our time is calling for.
Through partnership with Ohana Family Resources, Sunny Joy Farm will serve as a land-based hub for supporting the healthy neurological and emotional development of youth and their families—especially those navigating trauma, systemic barriers, or a need for alternative approaches to vocation, learning and growth.
Together, Sunny Joy Farm, Alliance of Generations, and Ohana Family Resources are asking a shared question:
How can we best support our youth in these times?
One of our flagship responses is the Resilient Youth Internship Program, which gives small cohorts of youth a therapeutic environment to work and learn on the farm—earning a stipend while gaining skills in permaculture design, natural dye arts, food cultivation, entrepreneurial thinking, and community care.
With your support, we can:
Build infrastructure for workshops, gardens, animal systems, and eco-art programming
Pay youth stipends and provide hands-on materials for learning
Create inclusive spaces that welcome gender-diverse, neurodivergent, and marginalized youth
Offer land-based healing opportunities for youth and families through our nonprofit partnerships
Grow this 2-acre sanctuary into a shared community resource
Our initial goal is to raise $20,000 to build the foundation of this work—including youth stipends, tools, teaching materials, accessibility improvements, and basic farm infrastructure.
This is more than a farm. It’s a living, breathing response to disconnection. It’s a vision for how we can raise each other up—with soil under our fingernails, art on our hands, and stories shared across generations.
🌱 Donate today to help Sunny Joy Farm root deeper and grow stronger.
✨ Every contribution helps us build a resilient future—one relationship at a time.