A reflection on our New Vision Statement: Recovering from a Culture of Separation…..

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“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time.”
― Mark Twain

Last Week the four land partners of Full Bloom:  Myself, my wife Eden, Jo Ferneau and Rosie Demmin collaborated on a new vision statement with the intention of having the statement be something we could read at the beginning of any meeting or gathering to remind us why we do what we do, to awaken our deeper purpose behind all the myriad things we do to keep Full Bloom growing.   I’m finding that one of the lines has been really working on me ever since we nailed it down:  “We are recovering from a culture of separation and disembodiment, rediscovering what it means to have a sacred relationship with the mundane”.

I find that uttering that line leaves me with a sense of relief.  I believe it has something to do with the admittance that I am in the process of recovering from certain patterns and conditioning that have led me to feel separate and either ambivalent towards our downright disrespectful of my body and the earth body.  This shows up in pushing my body to just do one more thing regardless of what its telling me through back pain or fatigue, or buying the new shiny thing rather than repurposing what I already have.  These habits disturb me, or not in alignment with the kind of person I want to be.

But rather than expecting myself to not feel separate, to feel deeply connected to my body, to always be a model eco-citizen this statement allows me to say: “I’m working on it, I’m doing my best to remember that this earth, this body, this food is sacred and not separate from me and to relate with it accordingly.”

Over the years I’ve frequently fallen into a state of guilt or shame around the habits I have that place my needs above the earth, other people.  Habits of mind that turn me into an island to defend and bolster rather than a node in a web of relationships to enjoy and honor.   Bit by bit I’m intentionally shifting those Habits and giving up the tendency to try to “fling them out the window”.  Patience, acceptance, self-compassion are virtues that are becoming my refuge as I mature.

All I know is it is of utmost importance to me to have companions to explore these difficult issues.  Friends in recovery from patterns that don’t support life of deep connection to the earth and all living beings.  Friends who can offer that gentle reminder of why I’m here and what really matters.

Below is the Vision Statement in its entirety:

We are a community weaving a web of heart intelligence so that every being we interact with is inspired to thrive.

We are in recovery from a culture of separation and disembodiment, rediscovering what it means to be in sacred relationship with the mundane.

We are committed to deep connection and radical care with ourselves, each other and the earth.

Thank you all for reading and please post any feedback and/or thoughts about this post.

Ryan

Our Very Local Artisan Bread Bakery: Rise Up!

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Last night after watching a movie in our community room I stepped into the upstairs hallway and was blasted by a wave of the most intoxicating aroma know to man:  fresh baked french bread.   It still blows me away sometimes that I share my life with landmates that have devoted themselves to baking the finest artisan bread known to man.

5 years ago during the design  phase of our communal building at Full Bloom Jo and Rosie our land partners and founders of Rise Up! Artisan Bread designed into the facility a fully functional artisan bread bakery complete with a traditional “Lopis” wood fired oven with a rotating deck.  Below you can see Jo and his oven:

DSCN1528Even though I’ve heard him speak about why he does what he does, I asked Jo again last night why he bakes bread to see what answer I got (the thing about Jo is he’s going to express what’s actually true for him in the moment rather than giving some rote reply) and last night he spoke about the way baking bread with the hand fashioned wooden peel in a wood fired oven connects him with a baking tradition that stretches back hundreds and hundreds of years.   Baking artisan, organic bread is his way of contributing to a growing effort to reconnect humans with the source of their food, to re-humanize the food growing and preparation process.   Rise Up! does this through creating a baking environment that is sociable, humane, a place people want to be around.  Its no factory, its a hearth.

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Jo and employee Melissa shaping loaves in the Bakery.

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Jo delivering the fresh baked loaves to the rack with his peel

Watching all that goes into bringing bread to market from mixing doughs, shaping loves, and baking loaves (3 days a week) I’m in awe at the dance that is Rise Up!.  Check them out at  http://riseupartisanbread.com/ (They’re going to have a video on their site soon about their operation).

“Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.“
Nelson Mandela 

 

 

 

Winter Camp has Begun….

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The beginning of 2014 brought with it the arrival of an amazing crew of devout forest tenders, naturalists, and bold experimenters in “social forestry”:  Winter Camp.   What exactly is Winter Camp?  Its collective of 10 mixed gender individuals committed to learning together what it means to truly care for the forests of this Bioregion.  Using whatever skills and practices they have at their disposal (Permaculture, Regenerative forestry practices, primitive skills, non-violent communication/process work) the winter campers are discovering and rediscovering practices that bring human beings into a more intimate, regenerative and sustainable relationship with the forest ecosystem.  And by all accounts they are having a fun time doing it!

Yesterday most of the Full Bloom residents participated in a work day at their site, where we helped gather and burn the lopped branches from several days of  thinning the forest (Historically the native people performed periodic understory controlled burns to keep the larger trees healthy, reducing competition and cycling in nutrients) and peeled usable poles that came from the forest thinning.

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Burning Cedar branches and returning nutrients to the forest soil, while providing the most pleasant of aromas…..
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Burn Pile
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Pole Pealing Party. These poles can be used as posts and rafters for small cabins on the land.

After a morning of working together on the poles and the burn piles we gathered at their camp headquarters for a delicious meal then the group as a whole began a ceremony initiating the restoration of an Oak woodland that had been taken over by conifer species (cedars and firs).   Rather than going right at it with a chainsaw we started with song and hand tools, which felt good and not so much like work.

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The beginning of our ceremony: we are all gathered around an old oak tree that is barely perceptible amid the crowd of conifer trees.

I feel deeply appreciative for the vision of these young folks to have put together such an undertaking that provides untold benefits to the land and to the residents here at Full Bloom.  Yay Winter Camp!!

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
John Muir

“If you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke?”
Steven Wright