Land and community – Shy Acre Farm

Honoring land and community.

Mosaic

The farm land that we steward is a gift to behold for our family. With great respect and gratitude, we acknowledge that this land is connected to waters that are traditional territory of the Makah, Skokomish, Quileute, S’Klallam, Chemakum, Quinault Tribes.

Makah is a S’kallam word that means “generous people”. We are so honored by the generosity of connection that we share through our creativity with local family members of the Makah Tribe.

Hereditary Chief of the Makah tribe, Walter McQuillen, designed the 4-direction markers for our timber frame Peace Pavilion. Small groups have collaborated to puzzle piece together the mosaic works of art. The artwork will soon be installed into the circular foundation. Here is a peek at the “human” mosaic holding direction for the West.

Link for Makah Tribe

https://makah.com/makah-tribal-info/tribe/

Gratitude to Sabrina Hill for Makah Prayer, Maytrelli Diaz for Expressive Movement Prayer, and contributing community members on Dia de Los Muertos, Nov 1st, 2020

Listen (2020-2022)

This evolving “Land Art” work initiated by Adrianna Santiago in November of 2020 has continuously responded to the seasonal community calling for love and care to the Earth and all living beings.

“Listen” honors death. In the past year, I have personally and closely witnessed the transition of my elder loved ones lives. My heart is tender and broken by the death that followed. An exponentially growing number of lost life on this Earth followed in a dramatically short time. In my lifetime I have seen: drowning, burning, sick, beaten down and killed all around the world in devastating ways. I was inspired to create this piece after connecting with a local Makah tribe member, Sabrina Hill. We shared and pieced together our heart voices around social activist issues. I asked her, “what do we do?” She simply and clearly answered, “Listen.” This wise counsel that she gave me resonated deeply; a sacred truth spoken.

“May we listen to the spirit of life and the lessons that death asks us to give with gratitude in heart. May we listen to the Earth beneath us, all around us, and the place we all call home and belong. May we listen to each other in the beauty of our difference, accepting with compassion the diversity of our existence. May we listen to our hearts and open to the rhythm guiding the way. May we listen and hear the symphony of life in communion, as members of all species on the Earth. May we listen to the struggles and the peace that our heart leads us each to witness.”
– Adrianna Santiago

HEART (2022-2024)

Prompted by farm community co-conspirators, we were inspired to change the message in the land from LISTEN HEART into IS HEART in the Winter of 2022. The following year, the garden became a simple “HEART”.

Agape Heart Community Garden (2025-current)

Heart Tending: in honoring our Pollinator Habitat expansion, we embraced our volunteer community connection into the HEART garden tending. With the guidance of our Volunteer Lead, Michael, community members gathered and recreated this heart garden space. They also renamed the space to identify it as the “Agape Heart Community Garden”.

While we have visually transformed the garden from “Listen HEART” to a single heart shape, we continue to encourage ourselves and the community to listen to our hearts. We focused last year’s garden cultivation and expansion to support the pollinator communities, including human kind. Our hearts feel full after bringing our hands together in gleeful connection and action each time we tend to this garden space.

We welcome volunteers to tend the heart with us this Spring at the Annual Plant and Seed Exchange by participating in planting deer resistant seeds and plants. Alongside this, we will offer a creative project of painting Butterfly Basking Rocks that will be installed throughout our Pollinator Garden Habitats.