“It’s about slowing down as opposed to consuming, consuming, consuming,” said Kate Gallagher, director of Marigold and the Contemplative Studies Initiative at Oregon State University.
Marigold: The OSU Center for Contemplative Studies hosted its second annual craft store and winter market over the weekend. Roughly fifty people visited the downtown Corvallis market in the first hours after opening on Saturday.
The event sold community-donated books in genres ranging from psychology to poetry to plant medicine. Additionally, there were wreath-making classes from a local florist and baked goods from Wild Yeast Bakery.
Funds from the sale went to supporting scholarships for yoga, meditation, and mindfulness classes for OSU students and the general public.
“It’s not materialistic,” said Gallagher of the bookstore experience. She said the aim was to provide an environmentally conscious and calm alternative to the traditional rush of holiday shopping.
The wreath-making classes were one event to connect with nature.
Alysia Greco, the florist at the event, gathered plants from properties around the Pacific Northwest, as part of what she described as a ‘piecemeal’ project.
The assortment of flora ranged from fir needles collected in Newberg to holly and cedar from Washington, and eucalyptus leaves harvested from her own farm in Philomath.
“It’s creative and it smells good,” said Greco about wreathmaking.
Mika Juan, a third-year human development and family sciences major, worked on making a wreath with Alex Jeffries, a third-year chemical engineering major, both OSU students.
Juan is a member at Marigold and attends classes often. “They really create an environment I want to be in and want to attend,” said Juan.
The Marigold Center opened at its location on Second St. two years ago as a meditation and class space with support from the OSU College of Liberal Arts.
According to Marigold’s website, the Contemplative Studies Initiative works with OSU faculty to “help people study and cultivate skills that will help them to be happy, thrive, and make a strong and positive contribution to society.”
Marigold offers two free weekly classes on mindfulness and recovery dharma, as well as classes that cost money in yoga and many other experiences.
