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The Gathering
Each June we host a four day, in-person gathering for young women to explore what it means to be a modern day commons keeper. Learn more.
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Kid Foragers
In collaboration with the Wellfleet Rec. Dept., we take local kids outside to connect with the plants, animals, and fungi that call our place home. Come along!
Each June, we invite a group of young women from the Outer Cape and beyond to explore what it means to be a modern-day Commons Keeper.
The Gathering
Our inaugural Gathering, Water Keepers, took place in Wellfleet, MA in June of 2025. Since then, we’ve committed to gathering a group of young women at the start of each summer to explore what it means to be a modern-day Commons Keeper.
The Gathering takes place outside on four acres abutting the Cape Cod National Seashore. Participants spend their days and nights immersed in the ecosystem of the Outer Cape—cooking, eating, learning, playing, and sleeping outside. Together we co-create a community that lasts well beyond our time together, reclaiming what it means to belong to a place.
During our time together, we focus on:
Learning about the ecosystems of the Outer Cape with experienced local mentors
Practicing traditional skills and crafts using local resources
Foraging for edible and medicinal plants
Cooking meals over a fire
Sleeping in tents and spending our days outside
Co-creating ceremonies to deepen our connections to local ecology and each other
Building community that nurtures young commoners beyond our time together
Why we’ve begun with a circle for young women:
Women have been primary stewards of common resources worldwide, developing time-honored practices to fit their communities’ needs. Yet today, women remain underrepresented in many environmental fields, and ceremony and ritual have been left out of many practices. We seek to create a space for young women to weave together environmental stewardship, creative practices, and deep connections to place and ritual. We invite all interested girls and young women (cis, trans) and non-binary youth to join us.
Stay tuned for details on The Gathering for 2026:
Fire Keepers
June 7-11: Wellfleet, Cape Cod
Kid Foragers
Since 2021, Commons Keepers co-founder Elspeth Hay has hosted a weekly Hiking and Foraging Club for kids at Wellfleet Elementary School in collaboration with the Wellfleet Rec. Department. Each spring and fall, a group of 12 kids heads out into the woods, dunes, fields, and waterways of the Outer Cape to explore our local ecosystems.
Our outings focus on teaching kids that we are an important part of this place—and that there are many different ways for people to participate in caring for and harvesting from our local ecosystems. Each Monday in session we spend two and a half hours moving our bodies, having fun outside, and learning to identify and work with edible and medicinal species.
Fire Keepers Crew
Our home is meant to burn.
The ecosystems of the Outer Cape rely on fire to stay healthy. As our climate changes, putting “good” fire on the land has become more important than ever, but very few of us are trained to help. CommonsKeepers is collaborating with the MA Bureau of Forest Fire Control, the Cape Cod National Seashore, and the Outer Cape Fire Departments to host in-person trainings for local residents interested prescribed and wildland fire.
Trainings begin with two days of in-person study, followed by online coursework, a field day, and a work capacity test. Participants emerge as certified Type 2 Wildland Fire Fighters.
Interested in learning more about local fire ecology or getting certified yourself?
