Our winter thaw is slow beneath the ice and snow. Beneath the barely greening grass, the prayers we do and do not make cling to the root of frost — its deepest contemplations numb to us, maybe, but not to life’s longing to be free of its frozen state. And yet, it waits with patient reverence to find its release into a new season of answers to those inquiries made during the fading into and back from darkness. Let’s ride into that next, never-before-seen season together this year.

As the ice softens, loosening its grip on stone, and bone, and root, mycelium get to work — whistling the sap, gargling sweetness long locked up: “It’s time to climb, flow, dance, share the sweetness of the cold dark’s answers.”

This one-day gathering invites men to connect with their purposeful life — where armor loosens, marrow awakens, rhythms return, and humility ripens into quieted strength. Through story, memory, reflection, embodied practices, time in nature, and ritual space, we explore what it means to soften the heart without losing our edge… to mature without hardening… to allow, “the soft animal of our body, love what it loves.”

Event Details:
Saturday, May 16th, 2026
9:00 am – 6:00pm

(Tent Camping available Friday and Saturday night: contact@minnesotamensconference.com for details)

Venue:
7537 Lakeview Road, Barneveld, Wisconsin

Land generously provided by William Robichaud www.birdinthebush.net

Registration: $90 (scholarships available)