invites you to celebrate her bEarth day at the land. Enjoy gardening, dancing, singing, and gazing up at the stars by the fire.
Some people wait for the world to change.
Others, like Salanya, are here to help the world grow.
For Every Star, A Tree is honored to spotlight one of our incredible Earthworkers, Salanya.
A Los Angeles based model, wellness practitioner, and business owner, she currently runs Jai Tea Loft: a late-night tea room where patrons can enjoy music, healing, and purposefully non-alcoholic company.
If you're new here, we're For Every Star, A Tree: a poetic reimagining of our connection to nature, stewardship, and community.
Salanya first came to For Every Star, A Tree in 2023 with her best friend Miranda. The two were looking for a place to go camping, and came across our Starry Night Skoolie rental on Hipcamp.
"We are so grateful the stars brought us to this land," Salanya says. "I remember feeling so inspired to learn about For Every Star, A Tree's story."
During her first stay at the land, Salanya and her best friend walked the earth, enjoyed a campfire, and had the chance to experience true silence as they gazed into a vivid starry night sky. They left beautiful illustrations, which are still framed on the Skoolie to this day:
Since then, Salanya has been back to the land twice. She is a natural at helping steward the Earth, and has a special magic that helps connect others to the land, as well.
"To witness nature is to witness divinity."
Before moving to Los Angeles, Salanya lived in Bangkok until she was 4yo. She remembers "making concoctions with soil, grass, rocks, and whatever else I could find in our backyard." As she got older, her father began taking her and her siblings fishing at Seal Beach.
Like most of us, Salanya's connection with nature continues to this day. "When I close my eyes and imagine the earth, sky, sunlight, plants, animals, and all that is a part of nature, including ourselves, I am filled with wonder and awe."
Being in a space of earthly nature, whether that's the beach, the mountains, or the desert, feels a lot like home. "It's a place my body recognizes deeply, cellularly." Her Earthwork is inspired by this gratitude. "I feel really grateful to be a being of Earth."
"I believe that projects like For Every Star, A Tree & Jai are part of the mosaic of many projects rooted in love and resistance of a culture that breeds separation."
For her birthday this year, Salanya is hosting her loved ones in celebration of her bEarth day.
"I'm honored to tend to the land, form my own relationships with it, and to be part of a beautiful project like this." She sees the event as an offering to the people she loves. A moment in time for her community to "tend to their nervous systems and their relationship with nature."
For Every Star, A Tree is quite literally the landscape where mindful gatherings, like Salanya's birthday celebration, can become a transformative, healing journey where people can be part of something that's deeply impactful. She's most excited for her friends to share stories, performances, and other gifts out in the vastness of the desert. "To return to the primal joys of watching fire, and engage in song, dance, breath, and soil."
As a breathwork practitioner and herbalism connoisseur, Salanya has a unique way of blending earthcare with healing. She has gracefully added sticks to our waddle fence to help the birds find rest and sanctuary in our burgeoning Food Forest. She has stayed overnight to enjoy the stars, warm up near the bonfire, and walk the land under a new moon. Salanya has helped move wood chips and mulch to the Food Forest, which has created healthier soil for the plants.
Her big dreams? "To bring not just my community, but Jai Tea Loft's community to the land to do similar things: tend to Earth, share art, and bask in nature." She imagines an entire gathering where people can hang out in a tea tent and "trade art, share stories." There would be a corner dedicated to meditation, yoga, soundbathing. In another, teachers and speakers would give talks, performers would gather to put on a show.
"Maybe an anger release corner," she jokes. "The dream is still rendering. But it's there."
It's tough not to, y'know, bring it into the the context of activism...but it is that.
Because if hate and pain are political, then so is love and healing.
We're honored to spotlight Salanya as our featured Earthworker this January.
For Every Star, A Tree's intentions for the land coincided with Salanya's vision of her own dream. We are inspired by the passion and commitment of each one of our volunteers, who we kindly call Earthworkers.
Earthworkers are people who take the time out of their day to compost, water a plant, or simply pick up a piece of trash off the ground.
If this sounds like you, we'd love to host you as an Earthworker at our nonprofit farm.
Here's to openly collaborating toward a future where Jai Tea Loft's beautiful community, as well as their special offerings, can make their way out of the city...and find home in the heart of the desert.
To keep up with Salanya's adventures, you can find her on Instagram. When she's not out in nature and offering her signature blend of earthcare, Salanya runs Jai Tea Loft. You can see Jai's schedule of events, and stop by for a visit.
(Want to be featured in our Earthworker community? Contact us.)
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