The Soil Remembers What the Soul Longs For
by Ahriana Platten, Ph.D., Faculty Director and Retreat Advisor
Peter Gabriel wrote a song for the closing of the Pixar film WALL-E called “Down to Earth.” If you haven’t heard it, I hope you’ll take a moment to listen. It speaks of returning, of remembering, of coming back to the place that holds us. The ground beneath our feet. The earth that asks nothing but that we show up.
(Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/track/3RcTV0VBkSwzHNMghOmRbm)
That song is how The Ground got its name. The lyrics live in this place the way good things do, quietly, insistently, returning at the moments when we most need reminding of the spirit behind everything happening here.
The Ground, nestled in the heart of Yamhill County, Oregon, is a regenerative farm-stay and retreat property co-founded by Frank Foti and Brenda Smola-Foti. Regeneration is the animating principle of everything that happens here. It’s the understanding that life doesn’t simply recover from depletion; it requires renewal. It deepens, and returns to wholeness when given the right conditions. That principle applies to soil worked too hard by conventional farming. It applies to animals that’ve known only production rather than care. And it applies, with equal urgency, to people. To communities. To the ways we gather and belong to one another.
Frank Foti and Brenda Smola-Foti co-founded The Ground around this truth. Frank brings a lifetime of building, creating, and stewarding with intention. Brenda brings a deep love of the land and a rare gift for creating spaces where people feel genuinely held. Together they’ve made something that’s more than a beautiful property in the Willamette Valley. They’ve made a living demonstration that when we tend the earth well, and tend each other well, something extraordinary begins to happen. Things come back to life in new ways. This includes us. This is why a retreat at The Ground isn’t simply a getaway. It’s an experience of being received by a place that’s been cared for with that philosophy in mind. The meals are nutrient dense, coming from soil that’s been regenerated. The quiet comes from land that’s been listened to. And the connection programming is built to meet you where you are and offer you something you can carry home. Whether you’re navigating a threshold in your life, longing for genuine rest, searching for community that goes deeper than small talk, or simply ready to remember who you are beneath the noise of a busy world, there’s something here for you.
In this first issue of From the Ground, I’m delighted to introduce four people who have joined The Ground’s retreat faculty. Each of them brings depth, integrity, and lived wisdom to this work, and each has written in their own voice about something they know from the inside. Megan Moseley works at the intersection of the body and the wild intelligence of living systems. Saffire Bouchelion writes about navigating change with grace and self-knowledge. Joe Izzo explores what it means to find coherence in a fragmented world. And Anna Caporael tends the ancient relationship between people and plants.
In every issue of From the Ground, you can expect honest writing from people who’ve lived what they’re sharing, practical invitations to bring something meaningful into your own daily life, and news about retreats and gatherings at The Ground that you may want to attend. If something in these pages speaks to you, please share this newsletter with a friend. The people who find their way here rarely arrive by accident. Most of them are led by someone who cared enough to pass something along.
Welcome. We’re glad you’re here.
