Summer Yoga Wilderness Retreat

Summary

You made clear that the change in delivery dates caused you stress. You wanted completion of all deliverables and control of the leased spaces for 14 days before the 5 day retreat. This wasn't clear to me at the start. My understanding was that you wanted the deliverables completed by 6/15, not to control the spaces 2 weeks ahead of time. So there was a misunderstanding about the duration of the lease. I thought the lease was for 5 days, and you thought it was for just under 3 weeks.

The change of the deliverable dates was unfortunate but unavoidable considering 1) unforeseen challenges unrelated to your event but of higher priority to the land and farm, 2) the extensive de-mousing required to create a sanitary, hygienic kitchen area, 3) the extent of the extras requested by you, 4) my willingness to grant most of those extras without renegotiating the price and 5) the time and expense required for those extras, (stove, etc.).

I entered into this as a friendly collaboration, we both knew that this was the first time Love Farm would host an event of this length and complexity. My understanding was that we would work through challenges together in an amicable, supportive manner. I changed the dates to provide you with accurate information about the progress of the collaboration, to reflect what was doable. As stated in the opening paragraph, you expected the deliverable dates to be inviolate, that the lease included the prior 2 weeks and that those two weeks were essential to your peace of mind and ability to be relaxed and competent during the retreat. When you gave me the lecture about professionalism, I realized we had very different perspectives about the project.

During the professionalism talk, I recommitted to you and said that you could count on having all the original and extra deliverables before the retreat. That you knew me to be a man of my word (paraphrase) and that I was going to get everything done. If at that time you wanted to change what you were willing to pay based on the new dates, you could (should) have re-negotiated then.

I followed through on my commitment and delivered a very robust venue that your people seemed to enjoy. You did not come to me with any issues, so I have to assume everything went smoothly. If you had come to me with issues I would have fixed them, for example the multiple kitchen appliances blowing out the power strip. I rewired the power and that problem was solved within 24 hours.

I was willing to spend whatever time or money was required to insure your event was a success. Materials, appliances, tools, plumbers for the gas, installers for the stove, gasoline for extensive errands... whatever it took. Again, if you had felt that you were not willing to pay the agreed price because of the date changes, you should have renegotiated with me then. Instead you let me do all that work without intending to pay for it. That feels disingenuous, deceptive even. Knowing you and how you value integrity, I don't believe you actually were trying to take advantage of me that way. However, I did deliver and you have not paid, so what's next?

Your responsibility ended when you cleaned up and left. I am still responsible for the hygienic composting of your retreater's poop, ~50 gallons worth, (10+ buckets). I provided a normie toilet experience in that your people got to forget about "where it goes" just as if they had flushed it away. Your volunteeristic approach did not include processing the contents of those buckets and sterilizing them. Did you forget that task was included?

Why did I have to repeatedly police you about chemical soaps and chlorine bleach? I wrongly assumed your event's aesthetic aligned with the land. What became apparent was that despite your speech about "this is what retreaters come for" you initially placed your retreat above the health of the land by proposing to dump synthetics on it. Love Farm provided appropriate soaps and sanitizers, which was not in the original agreement, and I had to repeatedly remind you to put your products away.

Could you tell me about your protocol for the shower and what products your guests used, did you provide Bronners? If not, did you ask to see what products they brought and if so did you disallow any products? I trusted you to handle this... so how was this handled?

Because you did not grant permission for me to document the event with photos and videos as requested, future profit potential for the farm was lost.

I have destroyed your checks. I'm not looking for a lengthy email reply to all my points, nor am I interested in having a discussion or "working it out". I allowed you a lot of leeway and autonomy because I could see you were stressed and had a lot going on. I'd rather just think of this as a major upgrade to the farm and than a highly unprofitable business deal. This never was a business deal!  A business deal has a written contract specifying details, and is re-negotiated based on changes to the situation. Since we didn't have or do that, we were operating on mutual trust and friendship. At least that was my perspective.

Again, either pay what was posted here for both the garden and farm, or pay nothing. Either way, I'm moving on.

xo

D