There's really no better way to return from Common Ground Fair than to spend some time sitting on the knoll, looking o'er the garden/orchard. Reminiscing and letting my mind sift through the weekend. It is wonderful to process the experience that IS Common Ground.
It infuses my view from here and brings to life the time and changes that have occurred here. I look out over the space we call our " orchard", recalling the various transformations it has undergone. Keenly aware of the expectations we are planning for our future together, feeling a near tangible cord connecting us.
By "us" and the ... "our" I mean the 3. The 2 well-intentioned, bumbling humans and 3rd, larger share by far, The Land. I feel inspired to do the honest to goodness right thing by her.
We grow organic. We fortify the soil, nourishing and nurturing the raised, beds shaped by the outline of the logs that make up their "walls". Rows, orderly but slightly askew. These beds produce vibrant, beautiful, healthy and delicious, lush food for family, friends, and down the road, customers- we hope.
But, I feel that I want to do better than we have done till now. I know we have to do better. Not for just ouselves, our children and grandchildren, but for others and their offspring too, in the now and for the tomorrows to come.
My intention is to honor the commitment and the contract we have to this earthspace we call home. To extend our loyalty to this land that is providing to us the chance to figure out a way to make our dreams a reality - loosely woven threads belonging to a dreamy tapestry tossed, outstretched before us.
The beauty of the Common Ground Fair is that it helps to pull those threads together, a wisp here, a tangled-up string gently, coaxed and to untangled, a loose wafty strand over there, grasped and tucked back into place to complete the image. As gratifying, (almost) as when the knotted, twisted black-hole of Christmas lights at last, is jostled, and wrestled and tamed into submission finally. Loose and freely stretched out into a jaggedly, linear rope running between me and that wall socket - it's beautiful and wondrous ~ worthy of a shout, a jump AND a happy dance!
THAT is Common Ground. Just like the tentative but tenacious, and adamant expectation that the tree WILL be lit for Christmas , anything to avoid the mad dash to the store in that hopeful but typical bummer of a quest for a box of lights that is white, or colored (but please not gaudy, 2 feet long and /or battery-operated) ---- That feeling is the same! Exultation!
The dreams are back on track, jump-started. Not far-fetched, outlandish and certifiably not crazy thoughts! Thinking the plans that are in fact Do-able, of course. Achievable! Possible! even!
And not just the individual dreams... popping indiscriminately from the minds of each of us, but those that unite us together. I speak for us as a couple, but also for the near 60,000 or so that make the annual trek to Unity.
Could there be a more perfect name of a place for an event such as this? Common Ground. A place to dream.. The Dream which can be done. Just put it on the To-Do list. And in the spirit that is Common Ground, not done just in a standard -sheet torn from a stenopad in a "get-er-done and-check-it-off " kind of way. Make this dream out of a SCROLL!
...with paper you make from the pulp of that fallen-down maple, dyed with a smidgen of beet juice and press in some dandelion petals and pearly-everlasting, air-dry under a gibbous moon and wrap round a spindle of appletree wood, turned on yout foot-pedaled lathe, softly-buffed to a glisten with beeswax and lamb's wool. When perfectly imperfect and complete...: Grab a gold- sharpie and a turqouise highlighter, and a palette of pastels, or primaries and create the masterpiece that is a compilation of activities to en script > here. Exclaim there! Question why here! Where? ?
And by all means, accentuate the possibilities. Underscore the positives and CAPITLIZE on those negatives.
Because, remembering it's the journey through the trees, It is the path that may in all probability be less, better yet, maybe just maybe, never traveled that makes it worth it! The discovery that the journey is the gift. The adventure is the teacher, and that we should always expect the unintended.
Embrace the coolness of the moment. -and Just let IT happen.
We will all find the way, and be joined on the path with like-minded folks, never in lock-step, but instead linking arms with history's "fools" that have blazed the trails before us.
I know there is a future that we all must work on passionately in the present, if we are to make a difference today, for tomorrow. So, knowing this empowers me to try to be mindful of my 1/12th of a teaspoon's share* of the job ahead of us, to make our world the garden for everyone to enjoy.
I would like to send out a Thank you to Russell Libby. I did not know you, but I can feel what you gave to us all. Thank you John Bunker. Deb Soule. David Buchanon. Ross Conrad. Sandor. Barbara. Eliot. Jillian. Eli. To Edie and Geo, a special hug and love to you for allowing us entry through the doors of the first Eldertide School.
The list of mentors is endless... and I hope for the sake of all of us, continues to be so. There is such inspiration and gratitude for what you do to help this place in Unity, Maine, help the world. Offering to lend a hand and lift up others in partnership with you. The awesomeness of the impact that you each are making on lives now, with an eye to those generations ahead, and the honor you have shown to yesterday's dreamers is immeasurable.
I know I speak for myself, and my husband, but I know, thanks to this Fair- commitments were
reignited, and new passions were set aflame. But what was we take away from the experience and is instilled into us is the belief....
that what we are doing is good for us, fills us up to the brim, but also is for the good health and healing of others.
We may stumble on the journey ahead-and that's pretty much a given, knowing us. But to remember we can just keep charging forward, and reach into the uncertain, staunchly, and proudly towards a common ground.
~An infinite purpose. We are making a difference.
And Last but not the least - The volunteers of CG are the best. Cheerful. Helpful. - (Go Owen LUV YA)! The Bean Hole Bean folks, you rock the world in other ways of course!
I will cherish the knowledge gained, and try to be more sustainable be more "good and green". More mindful and aware. But I also will cherish the sweet memories of a grand weekend; with Lilu- MY hero, oxo, your are grace, strength and beauty. The fun and hilarity of playing Moon Ping-Pong -Golf -Hackey-Soccer Tennis Ball. Lastly, is it a bird, a plane, a train? Nope, it's ...it's Sewbert, and how can I ever forget the dread of my drenched phone saved by the cosmic kitchen! Recalling the taste of Roasted Creamy-Chunky Tomato Onion Soup by candlelight, beneath the moonlight. The laughing as I remember seeing MY husband, strolling barefoot, through the rain, at the fair, (Sun)day-tripping, soaking it all in, literally and spiritually .
and N?- You'll be a compost-TOILET convert yet. ;)
Great and Wonderful lifetime MEMORIES. Fabulous time.
Thank you. One. And All. See the things that can happen when you are in your garden? geesh.... and all that being said, a 12th of a teaspoon"? heck ya!
:)
can't wait 'til next year!
To know learn more, click here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bees/buzz.html
It infuses my view from here and brings to life the time and changes that have occurred here. I look out over the space we call our " orchard", recalling the various transformations it has undergone. Keenly aware of the expectations we are planning for our future together, feeling a near tangible cord connecting us.
By "us" and the ... "our" I mean the 3. The 2 well-intentioned, bumbling humans and 3rd, larger share by far, The Land. I feel inspired to do the honest to goodness right thing by her.
We grow organic. We fortify the soil, nourishing and nurturing the raised, beds shaped by the outline of the logs that make up their "walls". Rows, orderly but slightly askew. These beds produce vibrant, beautiful, healthy and delicious, lush food for family, friends, and down the road, customers- we hope.
But, I feel that I want to do better than we have done till now. I know we have to do better. Not for just ouselves, our children and grandchildren, but for others and their offspring too, in the now and for the tomorrows to come.
My intention is to honor the commitment and the contract we have to this earthspace we call home. To extend our loyalty to this land that is providing to us the chance to figure out a way to make our dreams a reality - loosely woven threads belonging to a dreamy tapestry tossed, outstretched before us.
The beauty of the Common Ground Fair is that it helps to pull those threads together, a wisp here, a tangled-up string gently, coaxed and to untangled, a loose wafty strand over there, grasped and tucked back into place to complete the image. As gratifying, (almost) as when the knotted, twisted black-hole of Christmas lights at last, is jostled, and wrestled and tamed into submission finally. Loose and freely stretched out into a jaggedly, linear rope running between me and that wall socket - it's beautiful and wondrous ~ worthy of a shout, a jump AND a happy dance!
THAT is Common Ground. Just like the tentative but tenacious, and adamant expectation that the tree WILL be lit for Christmas , anything to avoid the mad dash to the store in that hopeful but typical bummer of a quest for a box of lights that is white, or colored (but please not gaudy, 2 feet long and /or battery-operated) ---- That feeling is the same! Exultation!
The dreams are back on track, jump-started. Not far-fetched, outlandish and certifiably not crazy thoughts! Thinking the plans that are in fact Do-able, of course. Achievable! Possible! even!
And not just the individual dreams... popping indiscriminately from the minds of each of us, but those that unite us together. I speak for us as a couple, but also for the near 60,000 or so that make the annual trek to Unity.
Could there be a more perfect name of a place for an event such as this? Common Ground. A place to dream.. The Dream which can be done. Just put it on the To-Do list. And in the spirit that is Common Ground, not done just in a standard -sheet torn from a stenopad in a "get-er-done and-check-it-off " kind of way. Make this dream out of a SCROLL!
...with paper you make from the pulp of that fallen-down maple, dyed with a smidgen of beet juice and press in some dandelion petals and pearly-everlasting, air-dry under a gibbous moon and wrap round a spindle of appletree wood, turned on yout foot-pedaled lathe, softly-buffed to a glisten with beeswax and lamb's wool. When perfectly imperfect and complete...: Grab a gold- sharpie and a turqouise highlighter, and a palette of pastels, or primaries and create the masterpiece that is a compilation of activities to en script > here. Exclaim there! Question why here! Where? ?
And by all means, accentuate the possibilities. Underscore the positives and CAPITLIZE on those negatives.
Because, remembering it's the journey through the trees, It is the path that may in all probability be less, better yet, maybe just maybe, never traveled that makes it worth it! The discovery that the journey is the gift. The adventure is the teacher, and that we should always expect the unintended.
Embrace the coolness of the moment. -and Just let IT happen.
We will all find the way, and be joined on the path with like-minded folks, never in lock-step, but instead linking arms with history's "fools" that have blazed the trails before us.
I know there is a future that we all must work on passionately in the present, if we are to make a difference today, for tomorrow. So, knowing this empowers me to try to be mindful of my 1/12th of a teaspoon's share* of the job ahead of us, to make our world the garden for everyone to enjoy.
I would like to send out a Thank you to Russell Libby. I did not know you, but I can feel what you gave to us all. Thank you John Bunker. Deb Soule. David Buchanon. Ross Conrad. Sandor. Barbara. Eliot. Jillian. Eli. To Edie and Geo, a special hug and love to you for allowing us entry through the doors of the first Eldertide School.
The list of mentors is endless... and I hope for the sake of all of us, continues to be so. There is such inspiration and gratitude for what you do to help this place in Unity, Maine, help the world. Offering to lend a hand and lift up others in partnership with you. The awesomeness of the impact that you each are making on lives now, with an eye to those generations ahead, and the honor you have shown to yesterday's dreamers is immeasurable.
I know I speak for myself, and my husband, but I know, thanks to this Fair- commitments were
reignited, and new passions were set aflame. But what was we take away from the experience and is instilled into us is the belief....
that what we are doing is good for us, fills us up to the brim, but also is for the good health and healing of others.
We may stumble on the journey ahead-and that's pretty much a given, knowing us. But to remember we can just keep charging forward, and reach into the uncertain, staunchly, and proudly towards a common ground.
~An infinite purpose. We are making a difference.
And Last but not the least - The volunteers of CG are the best. Cheerful. Helpful. - (Go Owen LUV YA)! The Bean Hole Bean folks, you rock the world in other ways of course!
I will cherish the knowledge gained, and try to be more sustainable be more "good and green". More mindful and aware. But I also will cherish the sweet memories of a grand weekend; with Lilu- MY hero, oxo, your are grace, strength and beauty. The fun and hilarity of playing Moon Ping-Pong -Golf -Hackey-Soccer Tennis Ball. Lastly, is it a bird, a plane, a train? Nope, it's ...it's Sewbert, and how can I ever forget the dread of my drenched phone saved by the cosmic kitchen! Recalling the taste of Roasted Creamy-Chunky Tomato Onion Soup by candlelight, beneath the moonlight. The laughing as I remember seeing MY husband, strolling barefoot, through the rain, at the fair, (Sun)day-tripping, soaking it all in, literally and spiritually .
and N?- You'll be a compost-TOILET convert yet. ;)
Great and Wonderful lifetime MEMORIES. Fabulous time.
Thank you. One. And All. See the things that can happen when you are in your garden? geesh.... and all that being said, a 12th of a teaspoon"? heck ya!
:)
can't wait 'til next year!
To know learn more, click here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bees/buzz.html
RSS Feed