Group movement is an essential part of Noyes Rhythm. In everything we do, we are a part of a Rhythm that is larger than our individual selves. In that same spirit, we now offer the Cooperative-Work Program as part of the Summer Program. As we benefit, so we offer a reduced tuition rate for all who join us in this program.
We are a small community at Shepherd’s Nine. In 2017, we let go of the “Onion” designation, to work cooperatively at all tasks that support our community life. Shepherd’s Nine is our home, and the home of Noyes Rhythm. By working together, we bring beauty and order to our home, support each other, and look to the next 100 years of our unique legacy.
As a cooperative-work participant, you will be asked to sign up each week for tasks that you would like to do to keep our community orderly and hospitable. Sometimes if there is a need, you may be asked to assist with a task that has gone unnoticed, but be assured, you will never be asked to do something that is beyond your physical capability.
Here is the list of tasks that help keep our program humming; you yourself may discover another that is not on this list:
- setting up and serving meals
- cleaning up after meals
- dishwashing
- taking out the trash
- housekeeping
- cleaning and maintaining bathrooms
- gathering and transporting laundry to and from laundromat
- putting laundry away
- cleaning and maintaining common areas (recreation room, Blackbird music building…)
- sweeping and cleaning of Pavalon
- setting up tents for guests
As a cooperative-work participant, if you have come for the “camp experience” you have always enjoyed, you will have the same renewal and inspiration in the Noyes Rhythm classes, Playtime and Saturday Night. You’ll be free to wander the woods, swim, improvise an art project in the schoolhouse, write a poem, make music, read a book–and continue to be inspired by the Rhythm awakening within you.
These are challenging and unsettled times out there in the larger world. A community supportive of joy and integrity is more necessary now than ever. At Shepherd’s Nine we can come together and find hope and joy in nature, music, dance and creativity. We move to forces stronger than humanity’s temporal problems. Come to Shepherd’s Nine and leave it all behind!
