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Facilities and accessibility...

Oakwood Farm Retreat Center

Oakwood is just outside of Selma, IN, which is just southeast of Muncie. The center is on 320 acres, including woods, prairie, and farmland; a river marks the east boundary. There are hiking trails, incredible gardens, and no neighbors nearby to complain (though we do impose a night-time curfew on drumming, since outdoor drumming can travel a long way on quiet nights)! It’s a wonderful place to reconnect with nature, explore, and relax. Oakwood is a place of amazing peace, and many visitors report the presence of a palpable anti-stress barrier at the property’s borders... so feel free to leave your stress at the road. You can choose to pick it up again when you leave, or leave it behind you forever!

The farm is easily accessible from I-69 from the north, south, and west, and from I-70 to IN Highway 3 from the east. It’s located a little over an hour north of Indianapolis; 3.25 hours from Lansing; four hours from Ann Arbor; three hours from Louisville; 3.5 hours from Columbus (OH), four hours from Chicago; three hours from Cincinnati; or six hours from St. Louis.

Housing Options

Your housing choices include cozy rooms with shared baths, and outdoor or indoor camping. The rooms are located in the Community Building, the old farmhouse, and several other houses on the property; all are nicely decorated, very comfortable, and include bedding, towels, and soap. Campers will be assigned outdoor or indoor camping spaces and bathroom facilities; bring your own tents or campers/vans for outdoor camping, and all campers need to bring bedding. Indiana in the first week of October can still be summer-like, or it can be cool at night (40 degrees), so if you choose to camp, bring warm sleeping gear. Indoor camping will be in the Green Barn loft (unheated, but carpeted); there may be a few indoor camping places in other heated facilities available, so ask Oakwood when you register. Oakwood can accommodate 50 people in rooms, and indoor and outdoor camping will be limited to prevent straining the bathroom facilities, so if you want one of these options, please register early to guarantee your choice.

If you prefer to stay in a hotel or motel, Oakwood can suggest the closest ones. Please reserve early because Ball State is in Muncie and football, homecoming, and other university weekend functions tend to fill up the local hotels and motels early.

Food

Oakwood is famous for its food. The kitchen serves three healthful and delicious meals a day, all made from scratch, and many meals include vegetables, herbs, and beef (all organic) grown and raised on the property. Meals include a meat and vegetarian option, and vegan or other special meals (allergies, religious dietary practices) can be made with sufficient notice. If you want vegan or special meals, please contact Oakwood at least two weeks before the event to ensure that your dietary needs can be met. The food is incredible, and many people say it’s worth going to Oakwood just to eat. Homemade breads, salad dressings, and desserts are highlights. For this event, coffee and tea will be available all day, and fruit will be available for snacks. Organic sodas, spritzers, and fair-trade chocolate can be purchased in the basement of the Community Center.

Breakout and Class Spaces

Many of the larger class and breakout spaces will be covered but not heated, so dress for the weather. Usually we get beautiful late summer and early fall weather, with highs 65-70 and lows in the 40s, but it can be cooler (or warmer), and rainy (October is one of Indiana’s drier months). Keep an eye on the weather before you come and pack accordingly; layers will be good because as you drum and dance, you’ll definitely warm up! Bring warmer clothing and shoes (and hats and gloves, if you’re sensitive to cold) for evening activities, including silo and bonfire drumming and dance, hayrides, etc., and pray to your powers-that-be for lovely warm, dry weather that weekend!

The Sacred Silo

Since Oakwood began as a working farm, there is a roofless silo that’s been turned into an amazing place to make music. Sonic magic happens in the silo; it’s like getting a sound massage in every cell of your body. It’s such a special place that an attendee at an early event named it the “Sacred Silo,” and it is. Come experience the magic!

Accessibility

Oakwood is not an accessible facility, even though it can accommodate some mobility issues. Not all rooms or breakout sites will be accessible, so if you have questions, please contact Oakwood for more information about accessibility issues. Oakwood originated as a working farm, and it is making changes as it can, so accessibility is still only partially realized. There are steps and stairs many places, and the distance between some buildings may be uncomfortably long for walking if you have mobility issues. Some options include driving between buildings, or being driven in one of Oakwood’s golf carts. Oakwood can help you with options.

ASL

If you need an ASL interpreter, please contact Sally ASAP so she can make arrangements to guarantee that your needs are met. If you are an ASL interpreter and would like to attend, contact Sally to discuss arrangements.

Physical Limitations

Contact Sally by email or at 317-251-8099 if you have questions about physical limitations and class activities. Sally, many of the festival faculty, and the Oakwood staff have considerable experience working with people with physical limitations (and we have some ourselves!) and we will do our best to accommodate your needs if we possibly can. We appreciate as much lead time as possible to create solutions with you that focus on your abilities. We also expect individuals to adapt drumming and dance movements to their own capabilities, so we’ve had women who dance seated and those who drum one-handed, and a good time has been had by all!

Child Care

There is none. Every time child care has come up, women of all ages who attend the women’s drumming events on a regular basis have asked that the events remain child-free because this is time they give to themselves to take care of themselves, and the mothers with young children seem to be the most adamant about it. We realize that some people will disagree with this decision, but the large majority of regular attendees prefer to keep the weekend child-free to preserve “me” time and space. Mature teens under 18 are welcome to attend with a female relative or guardian.