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The Healing Aspects of Crafts in Our Times by Lisa Damian

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The Healing Aspects of Crafts in Our Times was the theme of this year’s Camphill Craft Conference, held at Triform. The conference opened with a tour of Triform’s craft work areas, a hearty dinner, a performance by the Triform Bell Choir and a keynote address by Stephen Steen. Participants braved blustery weather to tour the work areas at Camphill Copake on Friday. There we were hosted for dinner by various houses and enjoyed a lovely and moving performance of Complementary Eloquence by Gili Lev, John McManus and Inbal Segev. On Saturday we toured work areas in Hudson, visiting Solaris, Drop Forge and Tool and Inky Editions.    We also got our hands dirty. Panel leaders provided rich experiences in paper marbling, lino printing, indigo dyeing, ceramics, felt and dried flower wreath making.   Four main themes emerged and were aptly woven into a fabric of deeper understanding. Stephen Steen laid down the warp as he articulated the esoteric aspects that underlie the human bein
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Celebrating Diwali by Aroon Kalsi

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As in previous years, this year we again celebrated Diwali, The Indian Festival of Lights, in Triform on Oct 27th. Everyone  gathered outside Phoenix Center and was welcomed with traditional Bindi's (colorful stickers for the forehead) and Tikka (a red mark made on the forehead with a paste of Saffron Crocus that grows in India). It turned out to be a perfect sunny day. The icing on the cake was that we were able to  to rope in two world class Indian classical musicians to play some live Ragas for us. The musicians were  Eric Fraser  and  Ray Spiegel . Many friends from Camphill Village also joined us for the celebrations. Once this introduction was given, along with instructions for the celebration, houses were asked to go to their designated spots within the semi-circular space just outside the bakery in the Phoenix Center to create traditional Indian Rangolis (colorful mandalas that are drawn on the ground with pavement chalk). Everybody seemed to have taken thi
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Kaspar Hauser Festival and Play by Chloe Rovits

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This October, actors from Camphills Triform, Copake, Ghent, Hudson, and beyond were busy rehearsing a play that tells the story of Kaspar Hauser's enigmatic life and mysterious death. The production, Carlo Pietzner's "And Out of the Night, Kaspar," was one of the many events of the Kaspar Hauser Festival - a four day coming-together spread between the four local Camphill communities. After the logistical difficulties of finding time for a dozen coworkers of different communities to rehearse together, we began the next trying task of unraveling the words of Pietzner. The play takes us on a nonlinear journey across time and space to catch glimpses of Kaspar's interactions with the forces of good and evil. As a young child of royal birth, Kaspar was switched with a sickly infant and henceforth locked away in a small dark basement cell for 15 formative years of his life. Following his sudden release he was haphazardly and bewilderingly integrated into the rest of so
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A Visit to Triform's Dairy

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It’s just before 6 AM and the day at Triform has already begun. This morning I’m with householder Max vom Stein, his daughter, Lily, and co-worker, Lena, as they start the daily routine of caring for and milking Triform’s cows. These beautiful animals are a big part of the farm and Max was kind enough to give me a tour of the dairy operation to let me get sense of just how these cows fit into the bigger picture of the community. While we talk, Max is busy herding heifer calves born this spring to nurse with their mothers.   He explains that Triform’s herd is a mixed one, combing a variety of breeds, including Jersey, Devon, and Swiss Brown cows.   Once the calves are seen to, we move on to milking. I learn right away that Triform’s cows are more than just livestock; each has their own name and distinct personality. Lily introduces me to Stormy, a very sweet Holstein that I’m told is one of the cows most beloved by the community.   As we settle in to milk, slowly filling our pa
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Report From 3rd Anual Camphill Research Symposium

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Maryellen Reidy, Triform's Day Hab Coordinator recently attended the 3rd annual Camphill Foundation's Research Symposium. She was gracious enough to share the following report on the Symposium's proceedings. -- I was fortunate to attend the Camphill Foundation Research Symposium July 26-28, 2017 at Solaris in Hudson, NY.   Of particular interest to me were the regulations regarding funding (i.e. Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) operated by the NYS Office of People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) under the oversite of the NYS Department of Health (DOH), the State’s Medicaid Agency). I will attempt to offer a brief overview of what lies ahead and what we can begin to do now.   Under this “new” system, an individual funded through the HCBS Waiver must be offered a choice of what they do for work and where they work; the individual should be able to decide for themselves; they should be integrated into the greater community (working alongside those
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