They finally arrived: five baby goats. We had two pregnant mama goats who gave us three boys and two little girls. They’re adorable.
The Village Chapel at Iona House
We had almost no snow this winter… it was a warmer winter than last year when we had multiple storms with 6+ inches including one with almost 18 inches. But this year it was just rain. Until last Thursday and Friday when we got a couple of inches in an out of season storm that came through. It made for some pretty pictures.
The presence of a resident community has always been foundational to the mission of Iona House and it is truly thrilling to be able to welcome the first cohort of six residents (including two children) into the fold. The communal life of Iona House, with it’s daily rhythms of worship, prayer, and care and stewardship of the campus, is inhabited by the residents. Guests and visitors are invited into these rhythms, led by the residents.
The residents arrived on January 3, 2024 (see photo above left) and began settling into the Resident House, aka “The Dome.” They quickly found themselves integrating into life on the 71-acre campus by caring for the animals, managing firewood, starting cozy fires in the guest houses’ stoves to welcome guests, assisting with construction tasks to complete the Village Chapel, etc. The Feast of Epiphany was hosted in the Resident House on January 6 (see photo above right), giving the local community a chance to meet the group, pray blessings over them and the home, and share a meal together. The residents’ daily schedules are filled with praying the Daily Offices together and with visitors, working around campus, group spiritual formation and direction led by Ryan and Elizabeth, silence and solitude, and undertaking a personal project to be completed during their residency.
Below the residents share why they’ve decided to join the cohort. Please keep them all in your prayers as they live into this season at Iona House.
The Thomas Family is excited to join the Resident Team as the first step of their permanent move to the Placerville region. They're looking forward to forming new family rhythms centered around prayer, community, and work, as well as more time in nature and helping Iona House grow.
Danielle first heard about the residency program during a group retreat, and she felt immediately compelled to learn more about it. At the time, she was longing for a career break and a space to be still and hear from God. With prayer and time, Danielle realized that she could spend her sabbatical purposefully at Iona House - resting and abiding in belovedness, building a sense of wonder, and reimagining her relationship to work/vocation.
Although Jack could not have planned or foreseen doing the residency at Iona House, due to a series of circumstances over the past year, it felt that God was trying to get his attention. All normal activities of the year - his health, his job, his car - came to a rather abrupt halt. Yet, he was still alive and began to take a step back to see that this looked like a season of serious pruning. Jack saw that the opportunity to restructure his previous rhythms of life to one where regular prayer, silence, solitude, nature, physical labor, creative projects, feeding the animals, and the chance to grow in love and virtue - could re-shape his life upon returning home.
Learn more about Residency.
Pat and Becky Hudak have been sprucing up the garden in the Village since Iona House acquired the property in April. We are beyond grateful for their care and efforts. As you can read below, Pat and Becky have done so much and have big plans for the garden!
Q: What drew you to volunteer in the garden?
Becky: It’s a garden! I couldn’t stay away! I love gardens. I never refuse a garden tour. When we go on vacation, my family knows if there is a garden, I want to see it. When our daughter was in elementary and middle school, I loved volunteering in the school garden and seeing the wonder and joy it brought to students as well as their families. I knew that the Village Garden at Iona House was just waiting to bless many people and I wanted to help that happen.
Pat: 1) getting caught in the excitement of Iona house and volunteering with others there. 2) seeing the potential of beautifying this special place. 3) I think I am semi-handy, but I do have experience with irrigation and making garden beds that could be readily applied in the garden. 4) Becky made me! ;-) Okay…not really but it was an opportunity for us to do something that we care about and enjoy doing as a family
Q: What is your experience with gardening?
Becky: Pat and I have been growing veggies on and off for 30 years. Our first backyard veggie garden was an enormous success and we didn’t realize until later that it was all due to the fertile soil of the valley we lived in. We just thought we were great gardeners, but we have since learned that veggie gardening can pose many challenges! Also, in the 22 years we have lived and gardened in El Dorado County, we have been learning about protecting and restoring native habitat. I have become very passionate about gardening in harmony with our ecosystem.
Pat: Making garden beds for our home garden and installing and fixing drip irrigation; planting trees
Q: What has been the most rewarding part of working in the garden?
Becky: I really enjoy observing the rhythm of seasonal changes in the garden. I appreciate the care that was taken by the former owners in selecting perennials for blossoms in every season. It’s been very rewarding this summer and fall to watch the garden produce a bountiful harvest to be shared, and to invite guests to explore and enjoy the garden. Also, I am so thankful to be able to work with Pat and our daughter, Jana, as well as all the special people on the garden team.
Pat: Fellowshipping and working with other volunteers; seeing children get excited about growing things and harvesting the bounty; hearing from others that the garden is looking better; it is a nice respite to do physical labor and get my hands dirty, especially when I was teaching; learning about new plants that I haven’t seen before
Q: How have you experienced God in the garden?
Becky: Nature and gardens always point my thoughts to God. I just have to walk into the garden to feel God’s presence, but when I have a huge to-do list on my mind, I have to remind myself to talk to Him as I work. Having time to fellowship with other volunteers as we work in the garden reminds me that God is with us. And the chance to witness growth, listen to singing birds or observe busy bees always feels like a gift from God.
Pat: through the fellowship of others and through the beauty of the garden—the trees, the fruits, the flowers, the bees, the birds…
Q: What are your goals for the garden?
Becky: We have too many goals! Some big ones are 1) taking good care of the soil by composting to restore nutrients and living organisms, 2) planting and harvesting as much food as the garden will give, 3) welcoming more volunteers to the garden team, 4) being a place where people of all ages and abilities can participate in creation care.
Pat: Oh so many…. Almost endless…re-doing the irrigation and extending it; pruning the grapes and fruit trees (winter activity); continuous clean-up of overgrown vines and dead branches; poison oak removal; fixing broken beds. Longer term: Adding more garden beds and extending irrigation to back area for possible-- summer crops and fruit trees; making the garden more educational—labeling plants and trees, making the pathways nice—DG? Stones? Both?
It was a rainy and chilly day, but that didn’t put a damper on the Advent festivities! Highlights of the day included tours, a blazing campfire, a goat escape (don’t worry, we coaxed Cosmo the goat back to his pen!), and wreath making. Elizabeth’s cousin, Kathleen Fong, is a professional florist and was a fantastic teacher, instructing us how to create wreaths made of pine branches, holly, and pinecones foraged from the Iona House grounds. We wrapped up the day listening to the real story of St. Nicholas gathered around the heaters in the barn with Mink the horse looking on.
It was a true joy to gather with friends to prepare our hearts for Christ’s coming. We will continue the celebration on December 16 with Lessons and Carols in the Barn. Our animals will star in a manger scene while we have a service of singing, readings, and prayers. Visit the events page for more details and to RSVP.
Vivian and Brandon came all the way to Iona House from Philadelphia in late October. We asked them to share a bit about their stay with us. If you’re interested in a personal retreat, please visit the Retreat page.
Q. How did you hear about Iona House?
Our connection to Iona House was a friend of a friend of a friend -- 3 degrees of separation! We were looking for places to go on retreat and a friend of a friend recommended checking out Iona House, even though they hadn't been themselves. When we read the description on the website, in some ways it reminded us of other ministries we've been blessed by in the past, but it also had a distinct vision that wasn't quite like anything else we had come across, so we were intrigued! And the farm animals had us sold.
Q. Why were you interested in visiting?
We had already known that we wanted to spend some time on retreat in October and were thrilled to discover Iona House. As part of her emergency medicine residency program, Vivian had an "elective block" in October, which is essentially unstructured time in her schedule without any hospital shifts. Her original plan was to go on a service trip in South Africa with other doctors. When the original plan had fallen through, Vivian tried to arrange other alternative plans to still make the most out of this opportunity. However, while at a wedding earlier this year, a friend encouraged her with a word they had received in prayer around "rest", and upon receiving that word Vivian knew immediately that instead of filling this time with activity, that God was inviting her to draw near to Him and experience rest. At the same time, Vivian also had a big decision to make related to career as well as where we would be in the future. Iona House felt like the perfect place to slow down, rest, and create space to contemplate this decision, as well as to receive anything else God would have for us.
Q. What were the highlights of your stay?
There were so many great highlights, it's hard to concisely summarize so we'll just list them out:
The overall daily rhythm was truly restorative and rejuvenating. Being in that environment and disconnected from technology also meant that we went to bed naturally at 8:30 PM each night, which was extremely unusual for us high-strung East Coasters but also exactly what we needed. We felt amazing when we left.
Fixed hour prayer was not a familiar practice for us, but it ended up being surprisingly delightful, and we actually still do it back home at Philadelphia.
Of course, feeding and spending time with the animals. Vivian enjoyed long walks with Festus the Mini Mule and Joan the Llama. Brandon is not even an animal person, but they were truly a delight (the duck that gathers with the goat herd was Brandon's favorite).
Spiritual direction was super helpful. It helped us to identify some themes and points to focus on during our times of solitude and contemplation. Thanks Elizabeth!
It turns out that Vivian just really enjoys raking wood chips. Strangely satisfying.
Enjoying some delicious tomatoes from the Iona House vegetable garden. We also snagged some great produce and apple cider donuts at the nearby farms.
We got to listen to a really compelling talk on creation care from Harlan Young (an arborist who volunteers at Iona House).
Looking out at the beautiful landscape in the warm autumn sunlight.
And finally, just being able to carve out some space for reading and contemplation.
Q. How did you experience God during your stay?
We experienced a truly restorative rest that felt like the kind of rest God gives us as described in the scriptures. One reflection Brandon had while at Iona was that prior to coming to Iona, our lives were basically full of alternating between work and entertainment. We entertain ourselves as a reprieve from our work as our idea of recuperating, and then we work harder because we feel anxious about not having done enough. None of this, including entertainment, is necessarily restful. But while at Iona, it felt like we were able to break from this cycle with a third option of true rest. We were able to just receive God's care for us and experience a deep sense of peace and contentment.
Vivian also received a lot of peace in particular with her decision involving future career direction. And she experienced a new warmth in her relationship with God the Father, something that was previously pretty unfamiliar and foreign.
Brandon had some rich devotional times in Luke. He left with a new perspective on God's expectations for him, as well as a sense of freedom + patience with respect to the topic of "calling."
Q. What would you share with someone who is interested in having a personal retreat at Iona House?
For us retreat-ing at Iona as a married couple, it was actually really valuable to intentionally have times of solitude apart from each other. We still spent the majority of each day together at Iona House, but there was something to be said for also having our own time with God, especially for Vivian who -- as a strong extrovert -- was also processing her fear of loneliness.
It was a crisp fall morning when approx. 25 people arrived at Iona House to spend a day serving, praying, bonding, and fellowshipping together. We enjoyed delicious food, lots of laughter, celebrated two birthdays, and had a lot of memorable moments. Overall this was a fantastic day at Iona House.
The crew of workers was so industrious, I could barely keep up with the various projects:
Prepping and Painting the barn
Uncovering, cleaning, and moving tiles for the prayer labyrinth
Moving, splitting, and stacking wood
Cleaning the animal pens
Organizing books in the library
Spreading wood chips
Building the drainage systems and foundation for the prayer labyrinth
Cutting down dead trees
Trimming back shrubs and greenery from the Dome
What was particularly enjoyable were the prayer times (morning, midday, and evening prayer) and the communal lunch. Getting to hear peoples’ stories, enjoying laughter, meeting new people - these were highlights.
We’re looking forward to more upcoming Community Days - Dec. 16 is the next one!
As you well know, if you have read this blog, the animals are an important part of Iona House. Also, you’ve probably gathered that the Christian saints are an important part of Iona House. On one particular day of the year these two important themes come together: the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi (October 4). On this day, it is traditional for Christians to gather in order to bless animals - in honor of Francis’ renowned love and care for animals and all of creation. He is famous for preaching to the birds and seeing in creation “brothers and sisters” in the household of God.
So, this year we held our first-ever blessing of the animals. It was a delightful experience. We remembered the story of St. Francis, we read Scripture passages related to creation (Gen. 1, Ps. 148, etc.), sang “All Creatures of Our God and King”, and blessed the animals with prayers and holy water. We prayed for safety for these precious creatures, and that we would know how to rightly care for them.
This summer we offered our first residency experience. It was wonderful…
We hosted the Lou Family: Stephen, Mary, and their four beautiful children (Johanna, Tabitha, Amelia, and Toby). The Lou’s lived in the Dome (the house we have set aside for the resident program). It’s a huge geodesic style home that is simultaneously quirky and charming. Upon arriving, the Lou’s immediately dove into the daily routine of Iona House: Prayer (morning, midday, and evening prayer), animal feedings twice a day, caring for the garden, and much more. They offered the first line of hospitality to guests as they arrived in many cases.
Those who came for a visit during July / August / September know what a vital part of the experience of Iona House this family was. Their gifts were many: Stephen’s specialty coffee prepared for guests, Mary’s homemade bread, the warmth and kindness of a loving family, and the joy and curiosity of the kids. We discovered very quickly that Mary is a talented artist. She captured the essence of Iona House in watercolor and in poetry (see below). She added aesthetic beauty wherever she went. Mary & Stephen helped organize, clean, and beautify the entire barn area. They helped build fences and worked in the garden. They built planters, raked wood chips, and removed junk. More than what they did on campus, it was their presence that really ministered to people. They’re amazing listeners who were always willing to pray for whoever so desired.
Perhaps their greatest contribution to Iona House was the faith with which they live everyday life. Many of us were inspired by their humility and willingness to follow the Lord wherever He leads them… which is currently to Japan. Having served God in the heart of the Tenderloin (at YWAM) in San Francisco and as pastors for a house church in the We Are Church community, they brought a wealth of experience and big hearts of love to Iona House. It was hard to see them go, but we are overjoyed to see them carry on with the journey of obedience and faithfulness that brought them to us in the first place.
If you would like to support them in their missionary journey, you can do so through this website: https://meigiving.org/donate-associate. They’re particular “code” is “SM3932”. That will make sure that the donation goes to them.
Residency Going Forward
We are THRILLED to announce that we are building a cohort of residents for a 5-month residency that will start January 3, 2024. This cohort will consist of a family as well as an assortment of other individuals and perhaps a couple. For more about it, check out our RESIDENCY page. We are currently taking applications.
After this current cohort, we will begin a 2nd cohort in August of 2024 that will last 9 months. We will begin taking applications for this in the new year.
This summer we have been doing a number of simple things to improve the campus. These projects include cleaning and organizing the village area (barn and surroundings), working in the garden, fixing the animal pens, a deck project on the barn, converting the detached garage into a library, and more. These are low hanging fruit and have been simple adjustments to existing spaces. But the “pay-off” for these projects is huge. We’re seeing a more and more functional campus and a deepening of our vision with each passing day. Below are some pictures of what has been happening.
Also, great news! We got 10 new goats (and have the ability to night-pen them each night which keeps them safe). Some of these goats are as young as 9-10 weeks. They’re adorable. We now have 12 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 1 llama, 1 mini-mule, 1 duck, and 1 horse. It’s a great little animal family. We have discovered that certain animals have an inclination towards others - like the duck and the mini-mule. Who knew?! They’re surprising besties. The duck follows Festus the mule all over the place.
It’s been a truly wonderful summer at Iona House (animal losses aside). We’ve been watching with great joy as the Lord is building the Iona House community and shaping the identity / character of this marvelous place. We’ve welcomed guests from near and far while enjoying a regular, growing community of local volunteers and participants who are bringing life and vitality to our rhythms of prayer and life together. We have been so blessed to have a wonderful resident family (Lou Family) with us for the summer, bringing life and joy to this place.
The past few weeks our core leadership team spent some time reflecting on some of what we’ve been learning the past few months. Below are a few of the reflections. I’m not sure any of these are new ideas or significant pivots from what we set out to do. But these represent increasing clarity and a tightening of our focus.
Regarding our Identity:
Echoing the ancient celtic monasterium, we are a center of Christian formation & contemplation.
We offer overnight accommodations as part of the mission of Iona House. But, we are not a conference center: we do not offer rental space for groups to come up and do an offsite; we are not a small boutique place for a church retreat or ministry team strategic planning retreat. We do not host other conferences. Groups can experience Iona House as a group. But they are always immersed into the existing ecosystem and rhythm that we practice. [All of this represents a sharpening of our vision]
A Question we wrestled with: Is Iona House more of a retreat center in which local volunteers assist… or is Iona House an ongoing local community into which guests come to experience a retreat? We all agreed: the latter.
At the core of our identity and mission is an ongoing rhythm of life sustained by a local community of participants, volunteers, residents, and staff. It is this rhythm of life, this ecosystem, that is CENTRAL to the identity of Iona House. It is what allows guests (whether day use or overnight) to experience a distinctive setting in which all of life is oriented toward Christ. It is INTO this ecosystem, culture, rhythm that guests are invited to enter. It is this distinctive ecosystem that carries much of the formational freight (regardless of how much individual guests choose to participate in it).
Some Implications:
The rhythm of prayer, the ongoing pattern of prayer, study, and silence, the animals, the garden - all of it matters!
The resident program is central to our mission and essential to the success of Iona House. It’s worth having less overnight guest capacity initially (until phase 3) in order to have an ongoing on-campus life into which guests can enter. Residents are vital to our mission.
The continuous engagement of the local community is vital to the ongoing health and vitality of Iona House. These volunteers and participants are not “accidental” or “randos” who happen to drop in. They are vital members of the Iona House community and essential to its full fruition.
Iona House is not a performance-based setting. - i.e. we do not “put on” retreat performances (which is inevitably exhausting). Instead, we extend monastic-style hospitality to guests and invite them into the life we’re already living. This gives the campus a sense of integrity and constant rhythm. We’d be doing most of what we’re doing even if guests weren’t there.
The campus development is a joyful co-creation between staff, residents, local community volunteers, and guests. It’s not a project to complete in order to welcome guests.
Eg. - We paint the barn because the barn needs painting… not in order to impress the next set of guests.
We seek to offer the highest quality guest experience possible because every guest is to be welcomed as though he or she was Christ (- from the Rule of St. Benedict).
Hard Day part 2…
Today (Saturday) we woke up to yet another killing. The Mountain Lion took our most beloved goat: Willow. She was bottle fed as a baby and more friendly than any other goat I’ve met. She was a great milker (produced a quart a day). Everyone loved Willow. She even let my boys ride on her. She would run up to you and just love being in your presence. Willow will be severely missed.
not a great picture of a phenomenal goat
We had a special memorial service for her today. To tell you how much she was beloved, 17 people showed up with one hour notice to gather and give thanks for her life and grieve together. We read scriptures, listened to a poem, told stories, and prayed. It felt better to grieve together. The time together ended by eating the last bit of goat cheese that Mary Shang-Lou had made from Willow’s milk. It was delicious, as usual - further emphasizing our collective loss. Hopefully all of this grieving over goats doesn’t sound ridiculous to you. I think it’s been surprising to us how much we quickly grew to love the animals.
The murderous mountain lion is officially legal to be hunted and euthanized as of this afternoon when we were granted a second deprivation permit. The trapper will be out either tonight or tomorrow morning. I’m sure the mountain lion is a magnificent creature… but he/she is a danger not only to our livestock but to all the neighbors and their animals. We’ll leave the fate of this lion to the trapper.
On our end, Mike Lewis and I spent all afternoon constructing a new shelter for the goats. We didn’t want another night of bloodshed. The shelter is a modified dog kennel with a corrugated metal roof (with a tarp to provide shade / weather protection). It won’t win any aesthetics competitions, but it will provide safety through the night and shelter when needed. The remaining goats and Llama will spend each night from now on locked inside of this protective shelter.
Thanks to the many of you who have reached out with kind words, prayers, and encouragement. We’ve learned a lot over the past 48 hours. We’re grateful that our beloved llama and mini-mule haven’t been hurt. We also give thanks for the two little remaining goats. They will need some new friends. We’ll begin that process soon.
In hope…
Today was a hard day. One of the worst I remember in this project.
I arrived just in time for morning prayer to discover that things were not ok with the animals. Our beloved milking goat was out of her pen (which was minor and easily remedied). But the real problem was found inside the electric fence enclosure (electric fence is both to keep the goats in and predators out as they do their important work of eating the undergrowth, especially the poison oak). Our guardian animal (Llama) was not acting herself. She always boldly runs toward people as they approach. Instead she sat in the dirt looking forlorn and distraught. Only two of the goats were visible. Usually all of them are loudly making their presence known. I knew something was wrong. I began to look around, and then I saw it: the first dead goat. After a minute more, I discovered a second dead goat. The two goats that were dead had no visible wounds. Just broken necks. A third goat was missing altogether. The fence was totally intact and operational; everything looked as it should.
I knew there was only one explanation: mountain lion (cougar).
a stock image… we haven’t seen our killer yet
I called a friend who knows about goats and predators. He agreed. It must have been a mountain lion attack. He recommended I call the El Dorado County Ag Department, who put me in touch with the county trapper (who knew there was such a role?) as well as Fish & Game. The trapper was out within an hour. Like a crime scene investigator, he poked around and quickly confirmed that it was indeed a mountain lion. He found tracks and said the crime scene was classic mountain lion. They can be savage beasts who kill just to kill (not even to eat). He was able to follow the trail where the lion dragged the missing goat and found the cat’s eating site. It was a mass grave of other animals, including our other missing goat from several weeks ago (which was, until today, an unsolved mystery). That means this brutal killer is responsible for 4 goat murders from our herd alone.
The State of California classifies Mountain Lions as a protected species, which means you can’t just trap or kill them. You must first get a “deprivation permit”, which gives us permission to “haze” the creature (chase it with dogs, or something fairly innocuous). If there’s another killing, then a different permit if sometimes granted that allows lethal action to take place (or perhaps trapping and removal to another region - though unlikely). As a property owner, you can only kill a mountain lion if it is in the act of predation against your animals.
The trapper strongly encouraged me to go out and buy a shotgun. His words were chilling. “The lion will be back.”
For immediate protection, we put the remaining herd back into the paddock with both the mule and the llama as protection (with the horse in the adjacent paddock). We also took the trapper’s recommendation and put out a battery operated FM radio playing music and then Stephen Lou helped create a scarecrow of sorts; I guess it’s a “scare-lion” - an attempt to make it appear a person is watching the herd. We’re praying against another murder tonight and feeling quite vulnerable.
The (actually) terrifying “scare-lion” made by the Lou family.
One of our next steps will be building a fenced shelter with a fenced roof that we can move around to be wherever the goats go. They will be locked in each night. We’ll need another locked shelter for the milking goats back at the paddock as well. These were complications and expenses we didn’t anticipate. But they’re solid solutions to this problem. This is a project looking for a sponsor - anyone?
To be honest, we are all pretty sad about the losses. It’s amazing how these creatures get into your heart.
I felt it appropriate to do a simple Christian burial (see the attempt at a crude wood cross, yet casting a beautiful shadow) and to pray a prayer of thanksgiving to God over each of them - for the precious creatures He entrusted to us, who have been our sweet friends, and who have quickly became an important part of the Iona House family. They will be missed.
All of this reminds us (lest we get hazy) that our world is aching and groaning for New Creation - where the lion and lamb can lie down together. Today’s newsflash: we’re not there yet.
At the big picture level: Today underscores that doing what we’re trying to do is inherently difficult; it involves substantial risk, massive effort, constant vulnerability, course corrections, and some painful losses from time to time. Today is a reminder of the difficulty of bringing this dream to fruition - one of many. Please pray with us that God will give us wisdom, provision of all kinds, and protection as we seek to carry out our mission.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
We have been SO blessed to have Stephen & Mary Lou along with their four kids on campus this summer as our very first edition of our envisioned “resident program”. They have occupied the “dome” temporarily as we get our feet under us and get infrastructure in place in the Village portion of the campus.
When Elizabeth and I met the Lou family a couple of months ago, we were quickly struck by how well they fit into the vision of Iona House. They are hospitable, thoughtful, prayerful, contemplative, creative, adaptable, and a lot of fun. They have a wonderful ministry of presence. We invited them to consider a residency and to our great joy, they said “yes”. They began in early July.
We only have the Lou family with us for 3 months (through September), but we’re treasuring each day they’re here. They’re headed overseas to do some extended mission work that the Lord had previously put on their hearts before coming to Iona House; so Iona House is but a way-station to this calling. Previous to coming to Iona House, they lived and worked with YWAM in one of the most challenging places I’m aware of: the Tenderloin neighborhood of downtown San Francisco.
The Lou’s have quickly jumped into the mix handling animal feedings, cleaning, cultivating in the garden, security, garbage duty, goat milking (and production of milk related products - cheese, yogurt, etc.), and most importantly inhabiting and leading many of our times of prayer (Morning, Midday, and Evening prayer). They have pioneered a family-friendly approach to the Daily Office (fixed hour prayer). What a joy it is to see a Christ-centered family living out a journey of faith to the glory of God!
Hopefully you will get the chance to meet the Lou family.
Note of Apology: This summer has been filled with so much activity that I haven’t had time to write blog entries. Part of the “fullness” of the summer has been that the Jones family has been trying to move and get settled into a permanent housing setup (approx. 6 min from Iona House). So it feels like every waking moment has been devoted to either Iona House or our own house. We are now moved (mostly) and by the end of August will be able to put full attention to Iona House.
Much of the excitement of this summer has been the addition of many four footed friends (and a few 2 footed friends) to the family of Iona House. In addition to the horse we already had, so far we have added (with the generous help of sponsors who have donated toward these):
1 mini-mule (Festus - see previous post)
7 Nigerian Dwarf goats
1 Llama
and just last week we added two ducks to the family. This was when my oldest son (Nathan) informed me that “now we’re a real farm”. I didn’t know that ducks were the key to being a real farm. But apparently so.
The animals all serve a purpose… will, maybe not the ducks. We’re not sure.
The goats are for the purpose of eating poison oak (which they view as a tasty treat). They are also for milk production (more on this below).
The mini-mule protects the goat(s) that are in milk that stay back in the fenced paddock. Mules protect goats from coyotes, stray dogs, and potentially even from mountain lions. Everyone loves Festus. He’s sweet natured and can’t get enough pets from people.
The llama protects the herd of goats who are out eating poison oak (who are fenced in by movable electric fence). The llama has quickly become a crowd favorite. She is very personable and curious. Llama’s don’t typically like to be pet, but ours is patient with people touching her. She is about 1 year old and will get to be quite a bit bigger over the coming year. And no, she doesn’t spit - at least not at people.
The ducks… we’re not sure of their purpose (they came as a gift from someone). They do eat bugs and grubs and stuff like that. And the pair we have might be a mating pair. That might mean baby ducks and egg production. We’ll see. Currently they just love hanging out in their kiddie pool pond and waddling around. They are free range creatures and are cute to watch (when they’re not biting Festus).
The one goat that we have that is currently in milk is a good producer and extremely sweet natured. Her name is Willow. She’s like a dog. Wants to follow you around and hang out. She produces about a quart of milk a day. So far we’ve enjoyed goat milk, goat cheese, goat milk latte’s, and goat milk yogurt - all of which are delicious. The milk is very good tasting and quite creamy. We would also like to produce soap with the goats milk. SO. MANY. POSSIBILITIES.
By the way, I should be honest and say that the “we” is not usually me. I’ve only milked her like 3 times. It’s others who are doing this. I haven’t the faintest idea how to make cheese or yogurt or soap. It’s been Mary Shang-Lou (of our resident host family for the summer) who has been a rockstar at making great stuff with the goats milk. Go team Iona House!
People who come to Iona House love to interact with the animals. It’s a beautiful reminder of our creatureliness. The Bible was written in an agrarian setting and it’s wonderful how it comes to life in new ways just from spending a few hours or days in this kind of context. We easily forget that both the story of our creation (Gen. 1-2) and the story of the incarnation (Jesus’ birth) occur in the context of animals. Also, when Jesus went out into the wilderness for His 40 day fasting / testing, the Gospel of Mark tells us that He was amongst the wild animals. There are of course many, many examples of how animals are a big part of the story of Christian faith. These are just a few.
We look forward to you meeting the newest members of our Iona House family: fellow creatures under the care of our Creator.
What an incredible day we had this past Saturday (June 10, 2023)! We had around 100 folks come out to celebrate the purchase of the 2nd half of the campus and to bless and dedicate the land - offering it back to the Lord.
The day included gifts for guests: an Iona House cutting board + a prayer book + delicious appetizers. We had a special worship service focused on honoring God as the giver of all good gifts. We took a walking tour from the Abbey side of the property to the Village side where we continued the service. We then gave folks a chance to take a tour of the homes, the sheds, the barn, the garden, and more. We also had a hayride taking people between the sides of the property and bringing delight to kids.
It was unusually cool weather for June and we even got a thunderstorm at the end of our gathering. It merely led to more bonding under the big tent (while enjoying the refreshments).
The Iona House team of volunteers who made the event happen were truly amazing: from the food, to the parking assistants, to the musicians, to the docents, to the set up and tear down…. beautiful!
Emily Brannan
Director of Hospitality & Volunteer Coordinator
emily@ionahouse.org
We are so excited to officially welcome Emily to the Iona House staff. She has been serving with Iona House for over a year, so she’s not new. But we thought it would be helpful to do a formal introduction as she comes into an official title as part of our team. Emily is part of our weekly staff meeting and brings valuable contributions and wisdom to the ministry of Iona House. Emily in her role as the Director of Hospitality plays a significant role in shaping the experience of guests at Iona House - from partnering with Elizabeth to shape aesthetics and decor to managing laundry and cleaning, to coordinating a variety of volunteer roles, her hand is in many places.
Elizabeth and I did a brief Q&A with her recently:
Q. Tell us a bit about who you are and how you found out about Iona House.
I am wife to Chris and mom to Caleb. In the fall of 2020 I was able to fulfill a dream I've had for years to go back to school to finish my undergraduate degree in psychology, which I am still working on at Sacramento State. Caleb also started college at that time and not long after, Chris started a program to earn a second master's degree. Needless to say, the last three years have been an adventure! We purchased a home in Placerville in early 2021, where Chris's amazing mom lives, and she introduced us to the Jones Family in April 2021. We immediately felt a connection to them. When Chris and I left our long-time home in Livermore and moved to Placerville full time in early 2022 we got to spend more time with the Joneses and witness the beginnings of Iona House.
Q. How have you been involved in Iona House to-date?
I have been chipping in where I can, helping with administrative planning for a few retreats and community days as well as the recent Celebration Event, helping to stage the homes in the Village, and meeting regularly with Ryan and Elizabeth to help with the details of running Iona House.
Q. You've become our Director of Hospitality and volunteer coordinator. What kind of experience do you have to help you with these roles?
I worked as the Guest Services Manager for a large retirement community where I was responsible for a staff of 20 who led activities, worked the front desk, provided transportation, etc. Our purpose was to create a satisfying and edifying living environment for the residents. I have also done a lot of event planning in professional roles and have worked on staff and volunteered at two churches as a counseling intake coordinator, event planner, and coordinating volunteers.
Q. We had imagined offering compensation for this role, but you have told us that you want to serve Iona House in this role as a gift. This is truly extraordinary! Tell us about that.
Chris and I have felt called to live in such a way that during this time in our lives I am able to serve without a salary. We believe that God is asking us to live generously. He has certainly been so generous with us. More than anything, we want to be obedient to Him and allow Him to use us to extend His blessings to our community.
Q. What excites you about the vision of Iona House?
Everything! I completely resonate with the idea of living into a rhythm of quiet and contemplation. I am so excited to help create environments and experiences where people can feel closer to God and be able to dwell in His presence. I have a passion for spiritual formation and soul care (I will be attending seminary next year to get a Master's in this area) and look forward to seeing people come to Iona House to experience Jesus' deep healing. He's done so much for me, I can't wait to see what He does for others who come to this beautiful place.
Our domestic animal population doubled recently: from 1 to 2. :) It’s about to jump to 8-10 when we get goats (more on this soon). We have been so grateful to have Mink (the beautiful, 21-year-old, quarter-horse who came with the property). Horses are herd animals and we’ve been planning to get some companions for her. We have also been keen on getting a goat herd (a project in process) to eat our poison oak and produce goats milk for Iona House. So, we have been searching for a great animal to be both a guardian for the goat herd (from coyotes, dogs, mountain lions, etc.) as well as a companion for Mink.
A couple of weeks ago we were introduced to Festus and fell in love. Festus is a mini-mule (mother is a donkey, father a miniature horse). He’s 13 years old. Ironically he was rescued from a bad situation near Placerville about 8 years ago and taken to Nevada City. We purchased him from a kind person who cared for him, and now we’ve brought him back to Placerville. He’s incredibly sweet. He’s well trained. He loves kids and is quite gentle. He’s also wicked smart (he can untie the gate latch). As soon as he arrived, we realized how much Mink had wanted a companion as she literally quivered with excitement and pranced around her paddock. It was quite the sight. Ever since, the two of them have been inseparable.
The idea is for Festus to be the guardian animal for our goats. But we’ll have to see if we can pry him away from Mink without a crisis.
We predict Festus will be a favorite with kids and adults alike. He loves attention and will happily take a carrot and a neck scratching from anyone.
One of the distinctive and inspiring parts of Iona House has been the role of gift giving. As you (may) know, Iona House is not a “fee for service” business. We operate completely on the basis of gift giving. That can look like financial support through monthly gifts, one-time gifts, etc. [Thank you SO MUCH to each of you who support this way.] But giving can also look like the giving of expertise or time or effort. It can look like the donation of a valuable item.
Here are some examples of gift giving at Iona House from just the past 5 weeks:
A professional forester / arborist has offered to come and make an official forest health plan for our entire 71 acres and help us figure out the best way to handle fire safety and tree health.
A kind person we barely know gave us a very nice farm “quad” with a trailer for getting around the campus and doing maintenance, etc. This was at least a $3500 gift.
We had 4 people come this past Saturday and spend the entire day serving: 3 guys on chainsaws, 1 lady cleaning. They offered their service as a gift.
We had a husband and wife from the Bay Area secure 100 settings of five-piece (main course + salad plate + bread plate + tea cup + saucer) china and cutlery from a church that is closing in order to give it to Iona House. I’m guessing the value of this must be well over $10,000. We now have banquet quality china for whatever we want to do!
We had a local tree service person offer to bring out an entire crew and give us a day of free service to our forestry needs.
We have a family that includes a father with his three teenage daughters who come up from Galt every Tuesday to help us with a variety of projects. They offer their time and effort as a gift
I’m not even beginning to scratch the surface of the gift giving that is happening when you think about time / serving / etc. We have too many gifts being given to even acknowledge them.
What is the result of all of this gift giving? Many things… (i.e. the entire operation of Iona House)… but underlying the gifts what has emerged is a community that is connected to one another. Societies that operate on the basis of gift giving are ones in which social capital and connectedness is built up. Sure, it might be simpler to just make everything transactional here at Iona House: you pay to come for a visit or a stay, or to have a meal, or to have a tour, or a time of silence and solitude, or what have you. But the net result is not at all the same. In a fee for service operation, every interaction is then measured in dollars and evaluated for whether it was worth it. That has never been our vision. We have staked our operational future on the vision of an economy of gifts freely offered and joyously received.
What we are seeing emerge is something much richer and more beautiful. It echoes the spirit of the early church seen in the book of Acts (chapters 2-5). It echoes what has been practiced in Christian monastic communities and healthy churches over the ages all around the world.
Some folks can’t begin to imagine how this can possibly work. People ask us all the time about whether this is “sustainable”. They’re good questions. We’re certainly not trying to be naive or worse, reckless and foolish. Our underlying confidence comes from years of experiencing the incredible generosity of God toward us and from experiencing the joy of giving and receiving in Christ’s Name. He is the Giver of all good gifts. Every good and perfect gift flows from Him (James 1:17). We hope that encountering Iona House will capture more peoples’ imagination for what it looks like to receive life as a gift and to freely offer it back to the Lord as an expression of joyful trust.
We have been quite busy ever since we closed escrow 5 weeks ago. Below is a partial list of some highlights of the action: Note that when it says “we” it is not Elizabeth and myself (though we’re often in the mix)… it means a steady stream of amazing volunteers who have offered their time, talent, treasure, and expertise. It’s a BEAUTIFUL thing watching God put together such a fantastic, broad, and committed community of participants and partners for the forming and shaping of Iona House. All glory to God!
Campus Land Improvements
Fire prevention work: we’ve improved access trails / and widened roads across the whole 71 acres including creating turnouts and other improvements. We brought in 5 truck and trailer loads of gravel… more is still coming. We’ve removed approx. 30-35 large ponderosa pine trees that died as a result of the drought / bark beetle. We’ve been collecting and burning forest debris while we still are able to burn (burn permits typically go away this time a year).
Cleaning out the old ponds: as you probably know if you’ve visited, there are several very old mining era “header” ponds (used for hydraulic mining) that are now just big depressions in the earth. We continued to work on making them usable. Over the past few weeks we cleared brush and trees out of these so that they can become water storage for fire safety, irrigation, and to be a beautiful aesthetic feature.
Prepping for a future orchard: we are still finishing up prepping the area where we hope to plant our fruit orchards. We’ve removed stumps and unhealthy trees and our now ready to start amending the soil (later in the year) so that we can plant trees. The soil is quite acidic from generations of pine needles. So we will need to add lime to the soil.
On the Village side of our campus, we have been clearing away debris, organizing the layout, and more. It’s hard to put into words all of the work that has been happening because it varies from moving wood piles, to raking debris, to flattening bumpy ground, to adding gravel, etc.
Facilities: We spent several weeks cleaning, organizing, and removing unhelpful / broken furniture from the homes. We had each of them professionally deep cleaned. We also purchased and assembled 17 beds + all bedding.
We’re preparing a temporary library space for the books that have been donated
We’re beginning the process of repairing some wood decking and creating a children’s play area.
We are in the process of transforming the barn from a pretty gross place to a very nice barn. The roof and gutters were completely cleaned by one volunteer already. Gravel was added to the floor by an amazing group of volunteers another day. We’ll be painting it this summer.
We moved the round pen for the horse and rearranged the paddock.
We’ve begun working on rehabilitating the fenced garden.
We’re in the process of organizing the firewood storage system.
Though we’re not “open” we’ve had the privilege of hosting some preliminary guests, most of whom have been serving as volunteers in some way or another. One of the joys has been the diversity of people who we’ve had so far: folks from Singapore, Egypt, South Africa, Germany, and China are amongst our first guests. We also had an amazing group from Silicon Valley (Holy Trinity Church) come.
Amongst the varied guests who have visited, we had two Greek Orthodox clergy recently who kindly gave us an icon of St. Columba and who would like their parishes to be involved in the life of Iona House. What a beautiful thing to see Iona House be a place of shared unity in Christ and mutual witness to His goodness! We continue to have folks from many different Christian traditions be excited about this place. Amidst a contentious and divided world, we hope Iona House will be a picture of what unity is possible in Christ.
On that note, we have been focusing on establishing more regular times of prayer (Morning, Midday, Evening Prayer) so that folks from the community can stop in to join us for prayer. We also enjoyed a potluck dinner and spontaneous community night a week or so ago. More to come… stay tuned.
There is no way to summarize in a single blog post the happenings of the past 5 weeks. We are BEYOND thrilled at all that God is doing. As we look toward the coming months, we will be focusing on a number of things: 1) establishing a rhythm of regular prayer and community involvement in the life of Iona House. 2) Preparing for the “Conditional Use Permit” process that will allow us to develop the campus and use it according to the vision we have. This will be an extended process that involves everything from environmental impact reports, historical studies, fire safety planning, traffic impact reports, architectural and site planning, etc. We welcome your continued prayers. 3) Doing some preliminary hosting of guests, as we’re able. A lot of what we’re doing right now is figuring out what infrastructure we need to have in place.
I can’t end this post without saying again how AMAZING our volunteer / serving community is: we have dozens of people involved in a variety of tasks: from laundry, to feeding the horse, to stacking firewood, to spreading gravel, to assisting with forest management, to gardening, to moving furniture, to cleaning, to leading prayer, to helping with food, and so on and so forth…
We are praying that God will take all of our collective efforts and prayers and truly make Iona House a place to reimagine all of life in reference to Christ.