In Cascadia, as in all Camphill
Centres around the world, the intention is to build a community that celebrates
each individual and can make a social and cultural contribution to society.
This takes place through working, playing and celebrating together. The Cascadia
Centre is dedicated to promoting health through: artisan skills, artistic
training, academics, and therapies.
Every day is a learning experience for everyone who spends time at Cascadia, as these activities are combined in a weekly rhythm. In the Cascadia Centre, individuals come from the Cascadia residences, group homes or their families, to participate together, Monday to Friday, in programs of skill-building, artistic and recreational activities. The urban setting in the Lonsdale area enables participants to interact regularly with local businesses, and to take advantage of recreation facilities and cultural activities like concerts and plays. Walks in the adjacent parks are just steps away.
Artisan
Workshops
Time and care are given to developing artisan skills
to create products which are beautiful and functional, including woven articles,
candles, art cards, baskets, pottery and mosaics. Through these products,
each individual can contribute in a meaningful way to the community.
Handweaving
Next to food, cloth is one of the most basic requirements
for daily living. Cascadia's weavers produce not only functional but also
beautiful cloth, all from natural fibres. From belts woven on Inkle looms
to thick rugs to complex patterns woven on 6-treadle looms, our weavers create
materials that are pleasing to the eye and stimulating to the touch. One of
our companions can often be found in quiet moments, just running his fingers
over the variety of products in the weavery! All of the weaving done trains
spatial orientation: the relation to left and right, and up and down. It creates
an enhanced perception of colour, pattern and texture. In the more complex
weaving, the weaver uses hands and feet in rhythmical sequences to create
beautiful patterns. This is a great achievement of concentration, as well
as good exercise!
Candlemaking
Cascadia has been as busy as a beehive since we opened
our candle 
workshop!
We took our lead from the bees - who knows better about community living and
working? After studying them and finding out where beeswax comes from, we
set about to transform their magical substance into candles. We have begun
with small and medium-sized candles, and are slowly developing methods and
apparatus for production of quantities of different sizes. Anyone who comes
into Cascadia on a candle-dipping day will be welcomed by the warming scent
of the natural beeswax. Working with this substance, rhythmical dipping of
the wick in and out, and watching the candles grow are therapeutic for everybody!
This activity also creates a beautiful and useful product in a relatively
short time.
Card Printing
In our card shop, designs made by the companions are
transferred to lino blocks and printed onto card stock. This entails an almost
magical mixing of inks, and hand-rolling, to produce one-of-a-kind collector
prints. Each companion can be involved in one or the other step in this process,
and some from A - Z. Many cards are sent out from Cascadia as seasonal greetings,
and also as invitations to community events. The print shop has many possibilities,
which we continue to explore. Meanwhile, the companions are acquiring skills
in design, colour appreciation, and precise rolling techniques.
Basketry
Basketry, most ancient of crafts, is one that cannot
be done except by human hands. And many people at Cascadia have tried their
hands at willow basketry! Our willows are grown by a basket maker on Hornby
Island and at Glenora Farm, and delivered to us here. They must be sorted
into bundles of similar thickness and length. Then we soak them and cut them
to make the base. The weaving begins, and soon enough, the basket is ready
for the finishing touches by the basket master! The process requires many
skills including measuring and counting and the use of tools for cutting and
beating the willows down during weaving. Basketry develops strength and manual
dexterity, and has a centering effect.
Pottery
Directly from the earth comes clay, miraculously turned
by nature from organic matter to that versatile artistic substance. In Cascadia's
pottery studio companions learn about clay and its marvelous transformations
in the potters' hands giving form and substance to their own creative ideas.
The program includes a full slate of skills including hand-building, wheel
work, decorating, glazing and firing. Potters-to-be learn what happens to
their pieces in the hot, hot atmosphere of kiln or fire-pit. They explore
artistic concepts including proportion, color, scale, and visualization of
internal space. As a class they work together to develop group projects such
as murals, sculptures, and friendship bowls. As well they have the opportunity
to make utilitarian items -- buttons, beads and pendants, cups, bowls, plates
and platters, slab boxes, covered jars, tiles and trivets.
Mosaics
A recent and exciting addition to our craft activities
is pebble mosaics. We have found many sources for our coloured stones, including
local and not-so-local beaches and riverbeds. The stones are sorted according
to colour 
and
size, and then designs are created, freely or from patterns. These are set
into molds and a special concrete mix is poured over them. When dry, the mosaics
are ready to be placed wherever required; in gardens, as paving stones, or
as part of a sidewalk design. A year-long Cascadia mosaic project based on
the zodiac signs was installed by the City of North Vancouver at King's Mill
Walk, at Harbourfront Centre.
Garden
Another
aspect that has been cultivated in the many years of Cascadia's evolution
has been our garden, which has for years been located in the community garden
across the street from the previous Cascadia Centre. Now that we have moved
we are looking for a new location for the garden, either on City land or,
we have been offered the use of a neighbour's garden!
Our connection to the earth is fostered in Cascadia's garden program. Seeds are developed into small plants indoors and then transplanted into the garden. We grow herbs for teas and cooking plus vegetables and fruit for eating, Last year we developed a section of flowers for plant dyes that are used for creating our costumes. It is a joy to have fresh flowers on our table, and in planters. Throughout the year, our gardeners are engaged in planning and planting, as well as watering, weeding and harvesting in the growing season. We also help to care for the gardens and yards around the Cascadia Centre and residences.
Artistic
Training
The visual and performing arts play a large part in
our life at Cascadia. Besides being surrounded by a beautiful environment,
filled with products from the artisan workshops, companions and coworkers
have weekly opportunities to participate in painting, music, eurythmy, and
speech and drama. These artistic training sessions allow the individual to
find soul expression and soul development with qualified artists. Cascadia
co-workers are trained in providing these activities for individuals with
special needs.
In addition, music, movement, speech, and drama are combined to create festival productions to which the larger community is invited. The Cascadia bell choir has also increased its performance activities substantially with the addition of new bells to our hand bell collection.
Painting
Once a week, companions enter into the world of colour through the medium
of water-colour painting. The technique of wet-on-wet allows the painter to
come away from the figurative to the imaginative living in the colours. The
rhythmical laying on of colour deepens breathing and provides an oasis of
calm, where the companion can forget the cares of the world. At the same time,
companions can express their individuality and feelings through the colours
they choose.
Music
Music is an essential part of life at Cascadia. Every day we sing seasonal
songs, and every week we practice singing and bell ringing in a favourite
Monday afternoon session. Keeping time, keeping in tune, paying attention,
and singing one's heart out are some of the skills learned in these music
sessions. Even a little dancing is thrown in for good measure!
Eurythmy
Eurythmy (Greek:"harmonious movement") is also known as "visible music" or
"visible speech". Inaugurated at the beginning of the 20th century, eurythmy
is a social art: it teaches spatial orientation in the movement of geometrical
forms, and also movement in relation to others. The tones of music and the
sounds of speech each have gestures, which can be interpreted in endless ways.
By moving what is heard, the student internalizes these gestures and thereby
forms a deep relationship to the sounds and the spoken word. This brings about
a new awareness of the sounds and words in stories, poems, and everyday speech.
The musical eurythmy has a harmonizing effect on breathing and the entire
rhythmic system. Eurythmy exercises are practiced daily in a morning circle
at Cascadia, and weekly in a large group.
Speech
and Drama
Speech is one of the most important attributes of the human being. At Cascadia,
we encourage self-expression through the spoken word in many ways. Every Monday
morning there is a check-in, where everyone has the possibility to report
on important events in his or her life. Companions and co-workers alike prepare
for their turn to tell, as the arts of speaking, listening and spinning a
tale are practised with varying degrees of sophistication! We also have occasion
to speak and hear poetry and stories, and to act the stories out in the context
of our college sessions.
Every
year Cascadia creates dramatic productions, large and small. Each of these
productions combines the arts of speech, movement, and music.
One grand project was the 3-day open-air Parsifal Pageant, with original music,
poetry, and costumes produced in our workshops, partially with our own hand-woven
material. Another was the production of a native story, called "Storm Girl"
for our villager-companion conference. Whatever the occasion, each companion,
having learned his or her lines and/or gestures, dressed in a costume of a
particular character, is able to rise above the everyday self, and become
someone with new possibilities to interact. Being in front of an audience
usually brings out the best in everyone!
Academics
The Quest Group gives sessions for the newer, younger participants (approximate
ages 18-25) in the Cascadia program. The smaller group provides opportunities
for study and conversation on topics of interest to this age group, with an
emphasis on current events and personal growth. Members of the Quest group
participate as apprentices in various workshops, and have their own art, speech
and drama, and therapy sessions. And, in the pursuit of life-long learning,
a college program for all covers topics such as history, geography and astronomy,
with emphasis on reading and writing skills.
Every Thursday morning we look forward to learning something together about the world around us. In 2003 we began with the animal kingdom as expressed in our locality: the salmon, the bear, and the eagle. This was a good way to begin our immersion into the native North American culture as a preparation for our "Squamish Conference. Then, in order to follow world events, we studied geography by way of two great world travelers and their journeys: Alexander the Great and Marco Polo.
We also learned about Chinese culture and exploration through the story of Zhu Di, a Chinese Emperor. A high point of this study was our Carnival, with its theme "The United Nations of the World". These studies are always accompanied by artistic activities, and if possible, visitors who can bring an aspect of their culture or area of expertise.
Reading
and Writing
Every week, a group of Cascadia companions focuses on the themes developed
in college or current activities, in a session of reading and writing. We
talk about the theme, and develop sentences to be written in books. Some focus
on letter recognition and copying, while others work on their penmanship.
Wellbeing
Health includes spiritual, soul and physical aspects.
Good nutrition is striven for in the organic food we grow in our garden and
prepare for any common meals we have. Families are encouraged to send nutritious
food in lunches. Meals are eaten together at tables, with a simple expression
of thankfulness before and after, and a harmonious conversational mood is
striven for at mealtimes.
In addition to the movement exercises of eurythmy, companions are given instruction in Spacial Dynamics®.
Spacial
Dynamics® is the study of the interplay between the human being and space.
The principles involved in interacting with space are applicable in learning,
in social, in pedagogical, and in therapeutic situations. Healthy movement
brings joy to the soul. We explore and develop our personal 
space
and our spatial relation to others and the world through: games, sports, Bothmer
(movement) exercises, and postural indications. In bringing archetypal movements
through a sequential spatial process the body is lead to a higher degree of
functioning and freedom allowing the soul to be freer as well.
Outings to neighbourhood parks and places of interest are built into the weekly schedule, as well as weekly swimming at a local pool.
Therapies
Cascadia co-workers are trained in several therapies, which support individuals
who have a short or long term crisis, in maintaining vitality, or as long term
constitutional support. These currently include music, eurythmy, speech, and
spacial dynamics. As the Cascadia program expands and develops, and especially
with the new facility, including a designated therapy space, Cascadia will
be able to offer more therapies to full-time companions and others who could
benefit from them.