Sometimes I think we in the GAPV (Green Acres Permaculture Village) are even greener (not in a virtue-signally, political(ly correct) sense, but in the sense of not-much-experience, but learning-every-day, and, BTW, eager!) than the seeds we have been tenderly caring for since late January.
Especially, I see our “greenness” as an Aquarian Group of Equals, something we decided to do instead of recruit a new Farm Manager, as in the old Capricorn mold, where there’s a leader and a bunch of minions, to do the leader’s will, which devolves, unfortunately, at least it started to here, into the burn-out of the Farm Manager and the infantilization of the minions. After all, why worry? Rebecca (Charisse) will figure it out. She will check out everything that’s going on around here, or isn’t, and should be, and all each of us had to do was follow her directions, i.e., obey her, rather than observing the entire place for ourselves, taking personal responsibility when we see something out of order,
The shift from Capricorn to Aquarius (on December 21, (when Jupiter and Saturn conjuncted at 0° Aquarius and signaled the formal beginning of the Aquarian Age), at least for us, came none too soon!
Here we are, on top of a nearby hill, trying to observe the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction on that amazing day.
Here’s Annie, followed by Rebecca (Charisse), coming back to return tools from this morning’s work party.
Rebecca (Charisse) is going to go live with a cousin with whom she feels an extraordinary bond, on the coast of Washington, and is looking forward to the rest and relaxation she deserves, after ten years mothering/fathering this squirrelly little place into the tiny paradise it is well on its way to becoming. Her 40 years of experience as an organic gardener, and her teaching ability and exceptional design sense have been exactly what we needed to get going as a permaculture demonstration farm set in the middle of an existing midwest suburb. Meanwhile, until her moving date, April 5, she is advising us when called upon, working with us on work days, nudging us when we forgot something essential, and so on; a very welcome, extended transition time for all.
To me, the other day, Rebecca mentioned that she is amazed at how the community has now transformed into what she wanted for it all along — now that she’s leaving! I reminded her that it wouldn’t have done so had she not poured her heart and mind and energy into it for all these years. That the timing, on every level, and for everyone individually, was perfect. As if divinely ordained.
Then, today, she remarked, looking at the tools on the wall, on how all the tools, large and small, actually got cleaned, oiled, sharpened, and reorganized!
Yep!
As a newly spawned, still squirming Aquarian Group, what we’ve noticed so far is that we have to communicate among ourselves much much more than before. That we need to meet formally as a group every two weeks on schedule rather than once a month (give or take a few weeks) That we have to consciously decide how to go about directing our energy into the future, including the immediate future of this year’s growing season. That we need to revisit the original Visions and Values section of the GAV website, and look again at our long-term goals, decide what didn’t work, what did, what still needs to work, what we’d like to see ourselves take on, and so on, This reflection and ultimately decision-making process will take up part of our bi-weekly meeting agenda for many meetings to come.
The evolution of each individual here into a more grounded and centered person, at least in regards to our common goals and community life in general, is, after not even three months, palpable. Every person shows up when asked to, or when needed. In all sorts of ways. Will talk about that more later.
For me, it’s been an amazing journey these past six days, to have the support of the other people who live here (9 altogether). Thanks especially to Gabby for walking Shadow those two back-to-back surgery days; to Dan, for making me enough terrific soup for an entire week; to son Colin for taking me to and from the Eye Center (and having to wait outside in the car for hours both days, thanks to Covid rules) where I had the surgeries performed (will talk more about that experience in a near-future post); and to housemates Annie and especially our new one (five weeks in residence now), bright spirit Ethyl (only 21 years old!), who has been precisely landing my eye drops where they are meant to go four times a day. (This will go on for four more weeks, with one drop less per eye per day per week.) Indeed, Ethyl reminds me, if I forget!
What would I have done, given my hand tremor, if I lived alone?
So grateful for this community!
Here’s Ethyl this morning, direct seeding beans, into two places where they can cling to something and grow up.
In this next photo, she has just announced her surprise at unearthing an old chicken-of-the-woods mushroom. She’s going to attempt to get spores from it and inoculate a number of old stumps around here.
Plus! Another Aquarian experiment is upon us. We are now sharing the large greenhouse with four more people, two couples who run two different permie places. In turn, they suggested they sometimes participate in our twice-weekly work parties. This is in part why the greenhouse looks so very full this year. We invited them to present their proposal to us at the beginning of our pod meeting three weeks ago. Then, with them out of hearing, we considered it, and with a few adjustments, agreed enthusiastically to the plan. We will also be doing a few work parties with them at their places, sharing seeds, plants, etc. in a larger cooperative Aquarian networking adventure, again, with everyone equals in their own groups, and then combining our groups as nodes in the larger cooperative group to git stuff done!
All this, not even three months into the Aquarian Age! This, this single, local node in Bloomington, Indiana, pulsing with aliveness, situated like a mushroom fruiting up from the vast vast, interconnected, decentralized webby world that lies, like mycellium, beneath the other — still very Capricornian, top-down — political and geopolitical world that gets most people (including myself, on a daily basis), both mesmerized and riled up. Why? Because in that other world, scarcity is the name of the game. So who gets the most, the .0001%, wins the game while the fabled 99.999% loses, always.
In our newly emerging permanent-cultural world, abundance is the name of the game. And this natural world of immense vitality emerges everywhere, once we utilize our God-given imaginations (which are infinite, folks!), and make a strong, inner decision to begin. Just begin! Take the first baby steps in the direction intended!
Of course there will be “mistakes.” Mistakes signal that another growth node has been reached, and that we must fully inhabit that node so that we may burst into even greater life. Mistakes are necessary. Without them, we don’t even know we exist in these bodies which we are forever learning how to occupy as, for each of us, the center point, ground zero, of the permaculture life. Our bodies are the soil that our souls use to create and express personality. Unless we are embodied, we can’t git shit done! And I mean fully embodied. Each of us a sovereign being, making decisions for our own health included. I’ll write another post on my continuing ruminations on covidiana in the near future as well.
Meanwhile . . .
