After finishing school and internships we decided to take the first step together and go to Heartbeet.  As a couple we lived in White Pine House, the smaller household, and built a great team with Rachel, Parker and Ann.  We learned what it meant to keep a household; cooking, cleaning, gardening and especially caring for the other members.

Both of us loved to extend our creative skills--whether it was in the felting workshop, knitting dream catchers, or carving wooden bowls, Heartbeet provided time, space and inspiration.

To work and live in this healthy surrounding and beautiful landscape in the middle of nature filled us with joy and thankfulness.  Behind the daily work everybody is doing there is so much meaning and sense, it felt so good to be a needed part of the whole.

To meet community life and to live in an alternative lifestyle was so empowering.  It gave us strength, hope and trust in thefuture.  Everything that we learned, all the experiences we had and all the skills we gained, gave us a foundation for our dream to build a common home and family together.  

Heartbeet Gave Me a New Beautiful World
By Umedjon Nazirov (Tajikistan)
Volunteer, 2006-2007

I remember my first day at Heartbeet, October 8, 2006. It was last day of the conference. I was welcomed with great love. Everyone in conference was interested in me, I saw many beautiful faces, and I had nice talks. I’d never had this kind of attention. I knew only little about Heartbeet, but I was really excited to be here, but on the other hand I was afraid. I was afraid having a different culture and I was afraid whether or not I would be able to survive in anthroposophical community, being Muslim.

The first couple month it was hard for me to settle down in Heartbeet.  I was not used to eat vegetarian food and pork (a meat that I was not asked to eat but it was hard because I love meat); it was one of the differences between our cultures. Life was different.

Things about Heartbeet that stood out immediately was the way in which Hannah, Jonathon and Rachel and other coworkers worked to incorporate me into their community. Heartbeet gave me a new, beautiful world, and people who work here showed me a new way of life. It was resident, however, who I feel I learned the most from. They showed me hope. It’s the simple pleasuresof life that provide me with the most valuable lessons. The early morning conversation with Connor over breakfast, watching Eric show off his basketball moves and being surrounded by a warm environment that is always full of
songs. This is not to say that community life is idyllic, it is struggle to bring a household of more than 13 together to accomplish a day’s tasks. It is in these daily struggles that the most obvious benefits of community life come to light. The experience of the loving community that surrounds me each day at Heartbeet will surely color my future.

There Ought to be a Million Heartbeets...
By Amy Littlefield (United States)
Three-week volunteer from Brown University, 2007  

The word "spirituality" meant very little to me before I came to Heartbeet. Being spiritual, to me, meant being religious. It meant experiencing God in a personal and private way.  Now, the word "spirituality" makes me think of the afternoons we all spent planting in the garden, singing together and getting our hands dirty. There was something magical in the air on those afternoons.   It makes me think of giant, warm dinners that every member of the community has helped, in some way, to create. It makes me think of spontaneous dance parties and conversations with new friends. Heartbeet has taught me that spirituality can be found in the communities we build and the love we bring to them. It can be found in our impulses, in our imaginations, and in the ways we care for each other. At Heartbeet, everyone works together. At Heartbeet, everyone dances together. And everyone is cared for. There ought to be a million Heartbeets!