A Summer’s Day

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean—

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver

Saturday 20th of June 2026, 10:00-17:00

KenKon, Wageningen

With Joël Zwaan & Annick Nevejan

To register click here

In 2026 we offer each season a Spiritual Ecology practice day to align us with the rhythms and cycles of nature, the seasons, the Earth, our bodies, the sun and the moon. During the third seasonal practice day of the year, we gather to celebrate the height of summer and reflect on its gifts and lessons. Mary Oliver’s poem A Summer’s Day articulates the question that midsummer has posed to us for centuries, the question that is encapsulated in the longest day of the year: how do we spend the time that has been given to us?

Summer is a time of abundance, a time of gathering and a celebration of the gifts of life: the sun that brings light and warmth; the plants bearing fruit as their growth of spring transitions to culmination. Midsummer is also a pivot of the seasons, the midway point between a time of ever-strengthening light and a time when the nights begin to grow longer again. Like the quiet between an inbreath and an outbreath, summer can be a time of stillness amidst the fullness of life, a time to “fall down in the grass”, surrender to deep rest, and open to the spaciousness of the moment.

During this practice day, we celebrate the longest day of the year and reflect on themes of abundance, gratitude and rest:

• What does it mean to connect to the abundance of life in a culture that professes scarcity and competition?
• How might we cultivate gratitude as a source of renewal and purpose?
• What would it be like to let go of our human doings and be ‘idle and blessed’?
• How do we wish to spend the precious time that we have on this earth?

We will shape the day offering practices that connect the inner and outer landscape like meditation, movement, nature connection outside, visualization, poetry, inquiry, mindful dialogue, with a fire outside and beautiful food to share over lunch.

To register click here