Become Part of Purring Folks

Create slowly.

Live wildly.

Give back.

Overview

Purring Oaks welcomes artists and fellow seekers for 2–6 week immersive stays rooted in land care, creativity, and reciprocity.

To be clear: this isn’t a polished, fancy-shmancy institutional residency. It’s an invitation into a shared experiment in slow living, co-creation, and tending something bigger than yourself.

This is NOT for you if you’re looking for gleaming studio spaces or gourmet catered meals.


What you will find is 60 acres of woods, meadows, wetland and…. possibility. Here, you’ll have the chance to help shape a living, constantly evolving ecosystem of art, care, and restoration. (Plus, did I mention we’ve got the most adorable kitties?!😻)

Painters, musicians, film-makers, builders, movement teachers, foragers, zine-makers, herbalists, tender-hearted visionaries…. this space is for you.

What’s Offered

Lodging

You’ll stay in one of the main home’s guest spaces: You’ll have:

  • Private sleeping space in one of the shared spaces, laundry access, towels, sheets, blankets, and pillows.

  • Access to all arts materials and equipment that are agreed upon ahead of time based on the project scope and your experience level.

  • Access to sauna

  • Forest trails, 2 ponds, and a lot of birdsong

🫶🏼 This is a new offering and we are still working out the kinks. Thanks for understanding and your input will help shape what comes next.

Meals

  • Residents provide their own groceries

  • Communal meal days are encouraged but optional

  • ✨ Want meals covered? See “Residency Paths” below.

Timeline & Duration

  • Residency length: 2 to 6 weeks (you propose based on your project)

  • Season: April–November (weather dependent)

Contribution Model: Reciprocity in Practice

Purring Oaks is built on mutual aid, not extraction.
Every resident supports the land and community with their hands, ideas, and care.

Choose between two residency paths:

🌿 Basic Residency (Room Only)

15 hrs/week of contribution to Purring Oaks projects
Includes:

  • Garden support + permaculture projects

  • Trail building + forest care

  • Painting or natural building

  • Event help, altar tending, or project leadership

🌻 Full Residency (Room + Meals)

20 hrs/week = 15 hrs of land work + 5 hrs of a Legacy Project
Legacy Projects are your creative gift to the land + future residents. Ideas include:

  • Building a forest altar or tiny sculpture path

  • Hosting a weekly tea circle

  • Starting a zine library or herb spiral garden

  • Beautifying the container home with natural finishes

  • Teaching a gentle movement class for the local community

These are the kind of projects that leave roots for the next artists who arrive.
This is how every act of care becomes part of the ecosystem.

Who This Is For

We’re not here for hustle or polished resumes.
We’re here for alignment, reciprocity, and presence!!!

You might be:

  • A poet who paints altars

  • A somatic educator with a compost dream

  • A neurodivergent builder who sees possibility in decay

  • A BIPOC, queer, trans, disabled artist who just needs a safe place to land

This is a place to heal, to create, to rest, and to contribute to something that outlives you.

💌 Apply Now

We keep our cohort small - around 2-4 residents a year, to keep things cozy and manageable. Drop us a line via the Contact Form to start a conversation with us about your residency ideas today!

Final Invitation

Build a forest altar.
Write poems in a moss chair.
Teach jiu-jitsu to the trees.
Let the land hold your vision until it sprouts.


This is your season of becoming.
We’ll hold the space with you.