We are discovering the gifts of living on such a vast and beautiful stretch of land, stewarding the trees, tending to the gardens and raising our animals as family members. We are learning to care for our environment as we care for ourselves.
As an aspiring sustainable community or permaculture village, we know that learning how to harmoniously commune with the land is critical to our evolution as a community and our mental health and well being. Our property is breathtaking, but a closer look reveals how generations of humans have unconsciously shifted the environment. Our roads become rivers when it rains, our fields are plagued with invasive species, and our oaks are dying from exposure to drought, beetles and carpenter ants.
Though there is much to heal, the process itself is healing our relationship to the land. How we treat nature is a reflection of how we treat ourselves. When we inherited our four chickens, known to us as Plum, Orange, Lemon and the infamous Marla (front and center in the picture above), they were flea ridden mangy creatures that were in desperate need of love.
“How we treat nature and our environment is a reflection of how we treat ourselves.”
Thanks to a communal effort, and an undying commitment from our resident Sophia, we nourished these chickens back to health, and they thank us with a bounty of eggs every morning. We can taste the love we offer these beings in the food they offer us.
Most of you know we're mostly on a humanure composting system. Recently we've offered this newly composted fertilizer to the trees. Not only have the trees taken on a vibrant green, but the natural grasses beneath them have lasted months longer as the weather warms and dries.
There are a myriad of ways we want to grow into an intentional community, intentionally communing with the land. Conserving water, building berms and swales to create more ground water and feed trees that in turn feed us. We hope to have more animals harmoniously sustaining us as we harmoniously sustain them, creating a constant feedback loop reflecting our own mental, emotional and spiritual health. For now we have dedicated residents, four chickens and some really great intentions. Every day we step toward consciousness and awareness of the gifts all around us.
