Upcoming events
-
Song Circle
First Monday of Each Month 6:30PM-8:30PM
-
Tending the Vital Hive
Friday’s | 10:00AM - 2:00PM
-
Journey of Expression
April 11th | 2:00PM - 5:00PM
-
Mushroom Log Inoculation Workshop
April 19th | 10:00AM - 4:00PM
-
Sacred Plant Gathering
April 21st | 6:30PM - 8:00PM
-
Spring Awakening: Breathwork & Cacao Ceremony
April 26th | 1:00PM - 5:00PM
-
Beautification Day
May 17th | 10:00AM - 5:00PM
-
Frame Drum Making & Ritual Weekend
June 13th & 14th | 9:00AM - 6:00PM
First Monday of each month | 6:30–8:30 PM | Somatic Wisdom Institute | Grand Rapids, MI | No Registration Necessary
Song Circle
Join us at the Somatic Wisdom Institute as we bring our voices together in the singing of heart songs! We will gather to share and celebrate songs of devotion from all around the world. These songs of love and healing are intended to connect us to our own hearts, to each other, to Mother Earth and to the Great Mystery. You are invited to bring any songs you feel inspired to share, we open sharing to the whole community the last 3o or 40 minutes of the gathering. Dancing and improvisation is encouraged!
April 6th
May 4th
June 1st
Tending the Vital Hive
Every Friday | 10:00AM–2:00PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | No Registration Necessary
All Summer at The Vital Hive. Below is our spring schedule. More dates to follow
This season, we will gather each Friday to place our hands in the soil, shape pathways and gardens, and build beauty that feeds both people and the bees of the land! Tending the Vital Hive is our weekly community workday devoted to regenerative farming practices, edible landscaping, and living in reciprocity with the earth.
It is our dream to spend our days here on earth creating a place here on earth where the plants, animals and humans can find more and more reciprocity. Please join us!
Some days we plant.
Some days we build.
ome days we clear, compost, and make space for what wants to grow next.
All are welcome. No need to sign up, just show up
Email Micahm1@gmail.com if you don’t know our address
A simple shared meal will be provided at 2:00pm to close our time together.
Please bring:
A water bottle
Work gloves
Weather-appropriate clothing
Come for the whole time or what you can. Your hands matter.
Spring Schedule
March 14 (Saturday) – Lumberjack Day
Clearing, cutting, stacking, and preparing materials for the season ahead. Weeding and lighter jobs are also available this day.
March 20 – Cleanup, Compost, Driveway Care
Clearing winter debris, tending compost systems, refreshing pathways.
March 27 – Cleanup, Compost & Driveway Care
Clearing winter debris, tending compost systems, refreshing pathways and shared spaces.
April 3 – Main Garden
Preparing beds, soil building, and laying the foundation for our primary growing spaces. Plus we are going to have tractor here!
April 10 – Main Garden
Continued bed prep, regenerative soil practices, and edible design planning. Plus we are going to have tractor here!
April 17 – Main Garden
Planting, structuring, and expanding the living system.
April 24 – Patio Build & Cabin Landscaping
Building a patio and beautifying the land around the cabins.
May 1 –WEEK OFF
May 8th- TBD
May 15th- TBD
May 22nd-TBD
May 29th-WEEK OFF
We will be meeting all Fridays until October.. More details to come soon.
Saturday, April 11th | 2:00–5:00 PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | $55
Journey of Expression
What does it feel like to be connected to your authentic expression?
Your expression is already alive in your body. Your heart, your soul, your voice carry a rarity that only you can share.
What if every time you open your voice– your truth, your story, your song, your love- it has an impact that ripples?
In this space, we will practice deep listening.
Listening to ourselves.
Listening to each other.
Together we cultivate a sacred container– a space where your body, voice, and heart are invited to express exactly as they are that day.
Through song, vocal exploration, movement, partner practices, and group experiences- you will emerge with a deeper connection to your expression.
There are outdated belief systems surrounding expression. Standards that model what sounds are “ideal.” Raw human expression tamed and cramped into tiny boxes.
These boxes are restrictive. They keep us small. They disconnect us from who we actually are. They block the fullness we are capable of opening into.
Your true expression is medicine. Raw. Unpolished. Unfiltered.
Every living being expresses themselves.
Every voice has an innate birthright to sing.
All bodies need to move, flow, and dance.
It is time that ~you~ bring more of ~you~ to this world. Your authenticity is magnetic. A magnet for your truth, liberation, aliveness, and destiny.
This container will be facilitated by Lindsey Lutkenhoff.
Over the past several years Lindsey has awakened to a deep passion for music and self-expression. Unraveling the beliefs and bodily constriction that once made expression feel unsafe. She holds reverence for the courageous process many experience as they explore the inner and outer landscapes of their expression.
This workshop is inspired by the “Voice Medicine Retreat” Lindsey attended in Guatemala and is held within a trauma-informed framework shaped by her training through the Vitalist School of Psychospiritual Transformation.
What to bring:
Journal & pen
Water bottle
If you plan to stay afterward for music and a shared salad bar/potluck please also bring:
A salad topping or side dish to share
Any instruments you play
Address emailed upon registration.
Mushroom Log Inoculation Workshop
Sunday, April 19th | 10:00AM–4:00 PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | Sliding Scale: $20 - $40
There is something ancient and deeply satisfying about partnering with fungi.
In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to inoculate your own wild edible and medicinal mushroom logs — transforming freshly cut hardwood into living food and medicine that can fruit for years to come. Together, we’ll aim to inoculate over 100 logs, learning each step of the process: selecting wood, drilling, plugging, waxing, stacking, and caring for your logs through the seasons.
Log inoculation is an act of patience and relationship. You prepare the log now, and months later life begins to emerge. It reconnects you to cycles of time, and the quiet intelligence of the fungal world. Once established, a single log can produce multiple flushes over several years in your own backyard.
This class will be led by Clay Bowers, a Northern Michigan–based forager and fungi educator who has been foraging for over 20 years, teaching for 15, and cultivating mushroom logs for more than a decade. Clay brings deep hands-on knowledge and a passion for reconnecting people to their land and their food.
This class is collaborative and experiential — everyone will learn by doing.
Everyone will go home with their very own freshly inoculated mushroom log — ready to fruit in the seasons to come.
Sliding scale: $20–$40
Please bring cash or Venmo to class.
Be sure to register in advance.
Please bring:
• Water bottle
• Sack lunch
• Dress for the weather (we will be outdoors)
Come ready to work with your hands, learn alongside the community, and leave empowered and capable to start cultivating mushrooms on your own land.
Clay Bowers is a Northern Michigan–based forager and fungi educator who lives and plays in the woods near Traverse City. He has been foraging for over 20 years and teaching for the past 15, sharing a deep, lived knowledge of wild plants and mushrooms. For the last 12 years, he has specialized in mushroom cultivation through log inoculation, blending traditional wildcrafting skills with hands-on fungal stewardship. What once appeared to him as an indistinguishable wall of green has become a richly interconnected community of plant and fungal allies. Clay approaches the forest not as a tourist, but as a participant — studying patterns, relationships, and the deeper “why” of what grows where. Passionate about reconnecting people to their land and their food, he teaches foraging and mushroom cultivation as both practical skills and pathways to belonging in the living world. HERE for more about Clay
Sacred Plant Gathering
Tuesday, April 21st | 6:30–8:00 PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | $35
An invitation for community based integration while exploring the powerful plant teachers Hapé and Sananga hosted by Brie Moblo and Lindsey Lutkenhoff. Both women have been working with these medicines for years and have a deep desire to share the practice and importance of creating humble connections with these sacred allies while understanding that creating space for integration can be as much the medicine as ceremony, big session work, or shifting awareness in our psyches.
Often, these plant medicines are powerful and clear big energies, assisting us in getting into our bodies while also bringing in a sense of deep connection to ourselves, the earth, and each other.
Hapé (also commonly spelled Rapé and pronounced "ha-peh") is a sacred plant medicine traditionally used by various Indigenous tribes of the Amazon rainforest. It is a finely ground powder made from a blend of Nicotiana rustica (a potent variety of tobacco), medicinal plants, herbs, and ashes served as a nasal snuff. The preparation and serving of Hapé is a sacred art, often involving prayer, chants, and song.
Sananga is a traditional eye medicine derived from the roots and bark of the Tabernaemontana genus, a native to the Amazon rainforest. The Sananga will be applied to the eyes in drops, assisting in cleaning and clearing of not only the ocular band but also negative energies. This medicine creates space for deep breathing, embodiment and connection to self, reminding us to be in the present.
Music is a beautiful medicine that assists in the movement of energy, opening of awareness and connecting to the divine. Kyle Joe, singer/songwriter, will be holding live music for the circle to attune to and enjoy throughout this gathering. Kyle has dedicated himself to his passion of medicine music and is deeply gifted in creating space for spirit to move with and into sacred healing spaces.
No previous experience necessary.
Please arrive prepared with a water bottle, a yoga mat, and anything else you may need to comfortably sink into this experience.
Contacts will need to be removed for Sananga to be served.
Address and parking instructions are emailed upon registration.
Spring Emergence: Breathwork & Cacao Ceremony
Sunday, April 26th | 1:00PM–5:00 PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | $95
Sunday, April 26th, we gather at the Vital Hive to welcome renewal, awakening, and the quiet miracle of life rising again. Breathwork opens us up to expanded states of awareness, where the body, mind, and heart reveal their deeper intelligence—insights, clarity, and aliveness can flow in ways ordinary life rarely allows.
The sap has already run, the snow has softened back into the earth, and the first green shoots are beginning to push through the soil. The land is stretching awake again—and something in us is ready to awaken too. This gathering is an invitation to pause, breathe deeply, and connect to our community again after hibernation!
Together we will enter a breathwork and cacao ceremony guided by the Vital Hive Band. Through breath, we clear the inner landscape and invite fresh vitality into the body. Through cacao, we soften the heart and reconnect with gratitude and presence. Through movement, music, and community, we celebrate the simple miracle of being alive together. This is a space to release what winter has held and welcome the new life that is ready to emerge.
Ceremony Flow
Please arrive at 1:00pm and begin creating your breathing nest—a comfortable space made with blankets, a yoga mat, and any sacred items that support your inward journey. Shortly after arrival, those who wish will have the opportunity to sit with Hapé. This offering is optional.
The official opening of the ceremony begins at 2:00pm (Please arrive no later than 1:40pm). We will start with a guided bioenergetics practice to open the body, deepen the breath, and to activate the legs and unlocking the energy that has been rooting this winter.
Sanaga will also be optional after bioenergetics.
From there we move into cacao and the breathwork journey, accompanied by live music from the Vital Hive Band. Following the breathwork, Liberty Glaser will guide a sound bath, helping the nervous system integrate and gently ground the experience.
Closing & Evening Connection
The formal ceremony will close around 5:00pm.
Afterward, those who wish are welcome to stay for an optional community dinner. Greens and dressings will be provided, and participants may bring a salad topping or simple side dish to share.
You are also warmly invited to enjoy the hot tub, cold tub, sauna, and bonfire, allowing space to relax, integrate, and connect with one another as the evening unfolds.
Health Considerations
Breathwork is not recommended for individuals with:
Heart conditions
Uncontrolled high blood pressure
Schizophrenia or bipolar disorder
A history of psychotic episodes
Pregnancy
If you have questions about whether this event is right for you, please reach out to Micah McLaughlin.
The address in Lowell, Michigan will be sent upon registration.
Beautification Day
Sunday, May 17th | 10:00AM–5:00 PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | Free
A full day devoted to bringing the gardens to life.
We will plant deeply and abundantly — vegetables, herbs, flowers, and pollinator allies — setting the tone for the growing season ahead. This is a cornerstone day in the life of the land.
Lunch and dinner will be provided.
Afterward, you’re invited to stay for a hot tub, cold tub, and a bonfire as we celebrate the work and drop in together.
Bring your water bottle, gloves, and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.
Frame Drum Making + Ritual Weekend
Saturday, June 13th - Sunday, June 14th | 9:00AM–6:00 PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | $295
This is more than a craft workshop — it’s a chance to connect deeply with community, the earth, and your own rhythm. These drums are sacred tools, and making them is a meaningful, hands-on process that invites presence, gratitude, and connection.
We’ll begin by honoring the animals, trees, and ancestors that are part of each drum. With clear intention, we’ll take time to listen and give thanks before beginning the building process.
You'll create your own drum from start to finish, and adorn it with the meaningful words and art of your choosing. You’ll also make a drum mallet, and we’ll spend time playing together — feeling into the sound and rhythm we create together
On Saturday night, the sauna will be warm and ready for song. This is a space to sing, drum, dance, and pray together in an open-hearted and playful way. I’ll bring a few finished drums for everyone to play. This part is optional, but it adds a deeper layer to the weekend.
You’ll leave with a handmade drum, a deeper connection to its story, and an experience rooted in care, creativity, and community.