KALMA

11/03/2026

Year Two of All Hallows Feed was an incredible success—thank you to everyone who has been part of this growing of a moment into a movement! 🖤

11/02/2026

What an incredible Year Two for All Hallows’ Feed—thanks for helping us make this community offering officially a tradition! This year, you all helped us raise over $1,000 for our grocery fund and with a little magic, we turned it into over $3,000 of healthy snacks, pantry staples, and locally gleaned produce. So many people thanked me for what we’re doing last night, and I’m grateful that I get to do this because the community helps us make it happen. I brought the vision and the venue, but it’s your dollars, your resources, your time, and your trust that make this generosity possible.

Alongside this gratitude, one of the things I’m reflecting on this morning is the way our culture can make it hard for us to interface with generosity, without interpreting it through the language of charity. I heard a lot of folks refer to All Hallows’ Feed as a food bank or food drive, or tell their children not to come in because it was only for people who really “need it.” I’m torn between an appreciation for people’s attentiveness to their resources and privilege, and a feeling that it also misses out on a little bit of what makes this event so special.

All Hallows’ Feed is not charity; it’s trick-or-treating with the volume turned up to 11. It’s taking a beloved, joyful tradition centered on the sharing of free food among neighbors and expanding it by diversifying what food we share. I can’t help but wonder why it isn’t shameful to receive free candy, but somehow it might be shameful to receive something more nourishing?

Yes, All Hallows’ Feed is an intentional way that we build food security in our town AND at All Hallows’ Feed, everyone is invited to receive.

Everyone is invited to receive, because it offers a form of dignity through anonymity by masking a family’s need to the community and the children.

Everyone is invited to receive, because it’s more neighborly to practice sharing what we have rather than adjudicating who “deserves” it.

Everyone is invited to receive, because some years families might give more while other years they might receive more—and because it’s reciprocity, relationship, and co-created wellbeing that makes a community.

Tonight, we’ll be focusing on rest. Next week, we will be distributing the rest of the leftovers to local food pantries. You heard right—leftovers—because even still there is more to share. Thank you for growing this experiment in care and abundance with us; we can’t wait for next year.

11/01/2026

We recently sat down with The Leader to talk about how our community space came to be, and what it is we really do there. (Hint: it’s neither witchcraft nor seances.)

Guiding transitions from one world to the next

BY JON DECKER
[email protected]

When AJ Hawkins started her store, it was a transition from one world to the next. In 2019, Hawkins founded Kalma, named for a Finnish folklore character associated with death and decay, as a digital store to sell her artwork.

In that online space, through her social media channels, Hawkins grew a community centered on grief that opened up and discussed the taboo topics of death and decay. In 2024, Hawkins brought Kalma to the material world in the form of a small shop and community space on Port Townsend’s Washington Street, where artists, writers and others congregate to create, discuss the heavy topics of mortality or simply grieve together.

“The simplest answer is that this is a store that funds a community space,” Hawkins said. “It is ideologically rooted in something called the ‘death positive movement,’ which is the idea that death is a natural and normal part of the human experience and story, so it shouldn’t be stigmatized to talk about, be curious about, or to work with death.”

Inside is a carefully curated gothic world of the macabre and the beautiful, with black walls, Victorian accents and grim motifs. For the uninitiated, the store may appear as a spooky or spiritual shop like those made famous on the streets of Salem, Massachusetts, but there is something far more grounded here.
Beyond the gothic fashion on the clothing racks, visitors will find ingredients for care packages, such as candles and worry stones, along with a plethora of artwork created by Hawkins.

For the full story pick up a copy of The Leader or go to ptleader.com

10/22/2026

🎃 Thanks to everyone who contributed to this year’s All Hallows Feed grocery fund! Yesterday, I popped over to Whidbey to do the big grocery run with my mom; here’s a little vid if you want to tag along.

10 DAYS LEFT: There’s still time to contribute to this year’s feed by sending funds (Venmo ) or dropping off food at KALMA’s storefront at 821 Washington. I’ll be doing one more small grocery trip here on the peninsula to grab the last couple things too heavy to walk across on the ferry before the Big Day on Halloween.

Thanks for making this tradition so magical!

10/20/2026

SHIPPING UPDATE: Thank you, again, to everyone who supported us in the wake of our It’s Okay To Decay design being stolen. So far, y’all have found the infringing products sold at two major retailers, and at 8 locations in 7 states across the country. You showed up for us hard, and placed over 5 months worth of online orders in 24 hours. Thank you to everyone who placed an order or preorder, and for your patience as I’ve been getting each one prepped, packed, and shipped to you.

Last week, our first shipment of preordered shirts arrived; I was able to process them, and pack about 60 orders over the course of the weekend. I’m excited to say that I’m currently caught up on orders that are ready-to-ship; there are still about two dozen open orders. If your order has not shipped yet, it is waiting on an item—likely a shirt— that is expected to arrive sometime this week. So far, every order is still on-time, or has been ahead of time, for the mid-late October expected ship date listed at the time of purchase.

Over the last 4 weeks since our viral post, I’ve shipped hundreds of orders, we’ve hosted 8 community events, I had one serious food allergy exposure resulting in anaphylaxis (I’m okay, but also 🫠), I’m quietly managing the legal side of the infringement, and I’ve got 5 more community events we’re hosting in the next 10 days—including our biggest of the year, All Hallows’ Feed. This has been an unexpected and intense transition from summer into spooky season, and I appreciate both the support and the patience.

As soon as all of the preorders are shipped, I will process our excess inventory and it will be back to business-as-usual with sold out items once again available ready-to-ship.

With care and gratitude,
AJ

10/20/2026

THIS WEEK IN THE PARLOR // OCTOBER 19-25 // It’s a packed week! Want more regular updates about what’s happening in The Parlor? Give us a follow on IG

✦ WEDNESDAY // GRIEVE IN THE EVE // 5:30-7:00pm
Enjoy a warm cup of coffee or tea, and hold space for griefs of all kinds in community. Sit on the floor, put your feet up on the couch, or bring along your knitting—whatever helps you feel more comfortable. Sharing is not required.

This gathering is facilitated by Jess. Jessaca Kéet (she/her) is a community weaver, anti-racist organizer, and certified somatic coach. She is a q***r Indigenous person of Łingít and European descent born in the Tongass rainforest. She is warm and curious, weaving her fascination with the cosmos, the natural and the unseen worlds with deep listening, story, humor, and play to offer expansive support toward embodiment, connection and liberation.

✦ THURSDAY // C.A.R.E. // 5:30-7:00pm
The Club for Abolitionist Reading + Education (C.A.R.E.) is a deep-dive into community accountability and transformative justice (TJ), which are pillars of abolitionist organizing. Through collecting knowledge and cultivating skill, the hope of C.A.R.E. is to build resilient members in community that can address interpersonal violence without use of the state. This gathering we will be sharing and reflecting on our core values.

This gathering is facilitated by Eamon. Eamon (they/them) is a regular person, who cares deeply about building more compassionate, connected communities.

✦ SATURDAY // UNDAS // 6:00-7:00pm
Make paper sampaguita garlands and share stories of your beloved dead, in a gathering inspired by the Filipino cultural holiday, Undas. Feel free to bring photographs and offerings for a small altar during the event, or cultural snacks to share. This gathering is facilitated by AJ and Ave, as an opportunity to connect with and share their Filipino heritage and grief traditions; while it centers Filipino cultural identity, it is open to all.

10/11/2026

Today someone reached out to ask for permission to start their own All Hallows’ Feed in their community, and the answer is a resounding YES!

Here’s the scoop on how to start your own All Hallows’ Feed where you live. While this is how our All Hallows’ Feed event has looked, don’t feel like you have to do something at this scale. Whether you, like us, can get a team together to bring All Hallows’ Feed to large community event, or whether you add a couple nourishing options alongside your candy bowl at home—however you Feed is part of the magic-making.

Tell us where your Feed will be—or your favorite treat—in the comments! And if you host your own Feed, don’t forget to tag so we celebrate all the community care and all the magic being made.

10/07/2026

I’ve been keeping a secret! There’s a new ribbon scarf design in town, inspired by all you—and how many of you were incorporating these ribbons into your special days! Meet your new dearly beloved—the ‘Til Death Do Us Part ribbon. Tie it in your hair, around your bouquet, or wherever your heart desires.

I’ve been sitting on these for weeks, since you all decided to wholeheartedly support a small business (me) in the wake of having my art stolen and sold on products at a major retailer (Ross and Marshall’s)and I’ve been focusing on catching up on existing orders rather than making new ones. For the next week, I exist in a magic little lull where I am all caught up on orders until the t-shirts arrive, so I have listed a handful of these new ribbons, as well as as the classics, that I have ready-to-ship.

If you miss out on this round, have no fear. There will be more opportunities to grab ribbons, more often, now that my workspace has been rebuilt. 🖤

Get yours: https://www.shopkalma.com/s/search?q=scarf

10/05/2026

Welcome to Project All Hallows’ Feed—be a part of this year’s magic-making by:
✦ dropping off donations at our storefront at 821 Washington St.
✦ contributing to the grocery shopping fund by venmo’ing
✦ or starting an All Hallow’s Feed in your community

10/02/2026

ALL HALLOW’S FEED // What began last year as experiment has become tradition!

Each year, hundreds of families—about 1,500 people—come to our door as part of Port Townsend’s downtown trick-or-treating. In the spirit of harvest season and its abundance, help us create an offering as sustaining as it is sweet.

We’ll cover the candy. During the month of October, we’re accepting donations of grocery funds, healthy snacks, pantry staples, and locally grown or gleaned produce to stock our 3 different trick-or-treating stations—Creepy Candy, Spooky Snacks, and Haunted Harvest. Parents will be encouraged to participate, too—afterall, no one is too old to trick-or-treat!

During last year’s All Hallows’ Feed, we distributed over $1,500 worth of food into the hands of our neighbors in just one hour. The leftovers seeded our Parlor Pantry, which continues to support The Parlor’s Snack Cauldron in keeping tummies full in our community all year round.

Join in the magic-making by dropping off donations at our storefront all month long, or contributing directly to the grocery shopping fund (Venmo with “All Hallows Feed” in the memo line).