Turning over a new leaf

Dear Friends,

In the beech and maple woods that shares its edges with our backyard
and the Hampshire farm, I walked this afternoon with the four-legged
lopers, slinkers and the climbers, watching the tracks they had made
over and under the snow on their daily comings and goings. I am so
fortunate to be here.

A retracing of my travels (after long last!) begins at home in
northeast Pennsylvania, where I had been for a month after departing
Lost Valley in Oregon. If you peek through the doorway at 14 Greenwich
road, the little lilac single floor house set back against the woods,
you'll find four comrades, Ben, Mo and Olive (and the little insect
that we spotted over several days, first on the windowsill above our
kitchen sink that looks into our backyard, then on our old wooden
chest that sits in the living room, and even all the way down the hall
in my room) and myself, each running our own unique lives and
converging to share our dumpstered cake, bushels of ! organic !
bananas and bread enough to soak up all the snow that's been melting
in our driveway with today's sunshine.

I had been home in northeast PA for a couple weeks, then to NYC to
visit Sara and Tim and pick up a Seagull guitar, and I am now carving
new paths down my present journey in western Mass, excited as
conversations, rebonding, dancing and fiddling lure me back to this
valley and its hills. I've already run into Susan and Madison from
Lost Valley and spent time with Laura several times, including our
most recent afternoon spent designing the budding Montview Farm in an
intensive and highly productive and idea-generating permaculture
design charrette in Northampton yesterday.

I lived for 3 1/2 months at Lost Valley in Oregon, a home like no
other, that has imprinted my soul. From work trading in the garden,
spending time with my 8-year old buddy Ben who has autism, to taking
the month-long permaculture design course, I was immersed in a loving
community that continues to fuel me. From cabin 8 at Lost Valley, my
next dwelling was my home with family in northeast PA, where I stayed
just long enough to catch a brief bit of a winter so mild the
blackberry buds started popping out, surely convinced they'd not
witness any snow this year…I partook in a sweat lodge with a few
friends as well, which gave me great grounding and turned over my new
leaves. To Del Tura I traveled next, where the road marked Via Del Sol
(way of the sun) took us to my grandparents' sunny southern home in
Florida for Christmas. I sang songs with my grandparents, mom, dad and
sister, as we realized again just how charming those two are,
especially when they're singing barbershop quartet songs from back in
their day. On the manicured golf-course of their residential
development, we found solace as we stalked Sandhill cranes, beautiful
four-foot tall creatures with a playful curiosity I couldn't resist
laughing out loud at. We walked the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp
Sanctuary, teeming with wildlife I've seen only in Southwest Florida.
Then, before flying home, I spent time with John from Lost Valley,
whose folks lived just a ½ hour away.

Back to PA for the next holiday. Over New Years at the annual
gathering with "extended family" (other past counselors of Journey's
End, the Quaker based farm camp in lil' ole' rural Pennsylvania), I
excitedly shared all that I could with people about the basics of
Permaculture, knowing that these are just the right people who
appreciate being infused with the info. Divine harmonies, the kind
that you hear only sung by the peace-loving, 20-somethin',
foot-stompin' folk, streamed through the air in the farmhouse, warmed
by wood crackling in the stove and circulating with one of those nifty
self-propelling eco-fans. In the morning, I started chores--I
gratefully took eggs from the ladies-of-the-coop, which get sold by
the dozen to many-a local-yokel, went down to the creek to fetch them
some water and brought grain in exchange for these eggs (not so sure
that's a fair barter), and then visited the cows. I took much delight
in watching Caramel, a calf, have her ears licked by her close
companion, Molly dog. I trio-ed with two other female fiddlers and
then a few days later played waltzes with the Warrington Family Band
over the New Year's contradance held just south of here.

On returning home after the New Years fiesta, my brother, Prana, gave
me a heads-up that a friend of the family had a need for some hefty
hands to help on the day that his new book was to arrive, en masse.
This landed me a job for the month of January, while Prana and I
placed book orders (a book titled "The Happiness Revolution" about
changing diet, outlook and health using the wisdom passed down by
yogic, ayurvedic and other ancient traditions) and did all sorts of
office and web work.

Mondays, I'd been going to what I feel is the best thing Honesdale's
got going for it lately, a well-attended herbal study group. We test
tinctures, read Radical Healing, Planetary Herbology, and have even
practiced kids songs written about herbs to sing at next week's
gathering. Great hits such as "Plantain, plantain, I love you,
plantain, you grow everywhere that I'm planting. Some call you a weed
with the power to cure bites and stings….and to cure urinary
infections..." and "comfrey, comfrey, comfort me. Comfrey, comfrey,
heal me. Make my bones strong again, cool inflammation, comfrey,
comfrey, helps me to breathe."

Meanwhile, I'd been planning my next move, and thought for a while I'd
be living up at Sirius, but the bike into town would have been a bit
too serious for me (1000 ft relief over 7 mi). I'm sure to visit
often, though, and I'll keep it in mind for the summer or fall. I'm
sharing a house in Amherst with Hampshire students; I knew I was in
for a musical household with some good inspiring conversation and no
doubt delicious dinners.

And, what might I be doing in Western mass (more precisely, why have I
decided to do anything but return to my most recent home and loves of
life in Lost Valley)? A mix of jobs, for starters. In the springtime,
I will be doing in total three afternoons of work for Earthwork
Programs & Adventure in Adventure out, both native skills and
environmental education/nature awareness programs for public school
and homeschool children. One thursday a month, I will be co-teaching
Daughters of the Earth, a homeschool program for 5-6 girls, held out
at Sirius, through Earthwork. I just met Michelle with whom I'll be
instructing and we walked the land last week. We'll may build a
quinzee hut, have wild edibles walks, track, use a many-person-powered
fire-by-friction bow drill and more. Our headquarters will be the
little nooky cobb structure (with a swing inside!) on Sirius land.

Occasionally, I'll substitute bike for a workers cooperative called
Pedal People, an alternative recycling/deliveries service that totes
loaded bike trailers along their routes in Northampton, Ma and founded
by Alex, my good friend and fellow contradance bandmember of
Ubertuber; build bike carts to mimic Aaron's "Flatsy" design of a cart
that hitches to the back of a bike and is relatively simple to build
with some welded EMT conduit poles and BMX bike wheels; revive
Ubertuber and see if we can get any gigs, perhaps busk on the streets
once the weather allows; substitute teach at the Montessori school in
Amherst (starting tomorrow for my first full day with the toddlers!);
respite health care jobs if these other prospects are spotty; heck I
might look into modeling for art classes in the five colleges. Oh,
right. The two other main work possibilities are in an international
studies office with a friend previously in the sustainability
department or working at the Eric Carle Children's Book Museum cafe,
both a mere 5-8 minute bike ride from home.


Joyful journeying to you. By receiving this letter, you are in my
heart and I am thankful for you. I'll be glad when we can share in
each other's company, and until then, I trust that you will be making
strides as you set your own course, wind at your back and doing
endless acts of good-heartedness for the earth and all those around
you.

Love,

Dhyana

Our mailbox would love some attention; it's hinges are aching for some
exercise, and I'm sure yours is too...As always, I'm delighted to know
what brings you joy in your life right now, as well as simply a
two-liner email to let me know your updated contact info if you've
moved in, say, the last year. Want to see some photos or read about my
past ventures? http://dhyana06.blogspot.com/ I'll send a link again
as I upload a second batch of lost valley photos and beyond.


Wisdom from Margaret Mead:

"The solution to adult problems tomorrow depends on large measure upon
how our children grow up today."

"We won't have a society if we destroy the environment."

"I was wise enough to never grow up while fooling most people into
believing I had."

"It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and
learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the
regrets into old age."

"I have a respect for manners as such, they are a way of dealing with
people you don't agree with or like."