September 2013 - Full Bloom Community

Community Workday: A Plaster Party

September 18, 2013/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Ryan Ginn

Last weekend we had our monthly community work day at Full Bloom. It was super gratifying and fun as we applied the finished coat of earthen plaster to our landmate’s Jo and Rosie’s sweet little Cob home on the hillside. We had lots of help from the folks living here and some friends from the neighborhood. It was really supportive to have master natural builder Lydia Doleman there to make sure the plaster formula was right and that the application methods were not too wanky or wonky for that matter.

Lydia Doleman: our local natural building guru.

It was also the kind of work party that easily incorporated kids into the scene. No dangerous power tools and lots of mud and sand to play with.

Lydia’s daughter Madeline on track to surpass her mom in building skills.

There’s something very nourishing about this kind of “work”. Everyone’s joking around, getting dirty, the kids are playing (and occasionally fighting: “That’s my bucket!”). It makes me want to have these kinds of days more often than once a month!

Rosie full of joy as her house finally get’s its finish coat.

Community Fun Time

September 10, 2013/0 Comments/in Community Life, Uncategorized /by Ryan Ginn

We made a recent decision as a community to have one of our weekly Tuesday afternoon meetings be for fun instead of logistics. We realized that sometimes there’s a need to schedule fun, and a postpone the endless “issues” that come from living in community. Currently we have one afternoon a month for the whole gaggle of us to do something like play in the pond together, go picnicking on the river, or roller skating in town. It all depends on who volunteers to lead the fun time and we end up being at their mercy so to speak.

This past fun time we were led up to the pond for a tug of war contest over the pond with the losers being dragged into the pond. After that there was contest to see who could stand on the old pond surfboard the longest. Ocean is pictured below as she stands resolutely for over one minute. The closest any of the adults got to her was 4 seconds.

Sky, Ocean’s sister, displaying her unadorned cuteness with the siskiyou crest as a backdrop.

Like a Zen Master on top of a 40 ft pole, Ocean stands with unwavering resolve on her surfboard in the middle of the pond.

Contest Onlookers hangin’ pond side.

I think we could definitely increase the fun to work ratio around here, but it’s certainly a good start.

“It’s the game of life. Do I win or do I lose? One day they’re gonna shut the game down. I gotta have as much fun and go around the board as many times as I can before it’s my turn to leave.“
Tupac Shakur

Successful Fundraiser at Full Bloom

September 3, 2013/0 Comments/in Community Life, Dance, Food, Permaculture /by Ryan Ginn

This past Saturday Full Bloom hosted a fundraiser for the non-profit Speak for the Trees (www.speakforthetreesoregon.org) that was formed to protect 120 acres of our watershed from being clear-cut by a timber company. The organization hopes to raise enough money to buy the land from the timber company and put it into a land trust to protect for generations to come.

It was an incredibly fun event with a silent auction full of donated items like massages, hand made black walnut cutting boards, and hand-knitted caps. Rise Up! Artisan Breads (Owned and operated by Full Bloom members Jo Ferneau and Rosie Demmin) brought out there wood fired pizza oven and were serving the over 200 guests with delicious pizza all night.

Rise Up! pizza oven

Several musicians played on our stage over the course of the evening.

Trever Jones Rockin’ his “punk americana” on the Full Bloom stage

It always fills my heart to witness all the community connections that are nourished and created at an event like this. Amidst the stresses and complexity of our lives it becomes essential to gather together in celebration and in care for our watershed.