Our trip to Sedona was a pretty magical experience. Lena was able to get a scholarship for an Indie Birth skills workshop for 3 days. I just so happened to find out soon after that my permaculture friend, Raven, and her family moved just outside of Sedona, so we got to stay with them. The drive to Sedona showed the change in ecosystems, with a greener climate of pines and more towering red rocks that held deeper lines and levels or reds and yellows as they towered. It is just an experience getting to drive in the “South West”.
We arrived to a beautiful home with wonderful people, adorable animals, tasty food, and good wine. The next morning, Lena and I drove to her course and I stumbled my way right next door to the Amitabha Stupa. This experience was wonderful. The stupa is a structure that “embodies the enlightened mind of the Buddha”, constructed incredibly intentionally, filled with hundreds of millions of prayers, a sculpted, wood spire, and much more. Amitabha is the “Red Buddha” and the Buddha of the West. One comes to circumambulate it, go around clockwise, three times with mantras and prayers. Surrounded by prayer flags, birds singing, towering red cliffs in the background, and a simple silence with footsteps made for a wonderful place to be for several hours.
0 Comments
Some of the highlights from the past few weeks: I really enjoyed going out for my first campout since my injury during a New Moon up on the Sand Flats with Lena, Maya, and Dylan. The stars were incredible, and we talked about experiences, lessons, and intentions we have started observing and wanting to respect since we have been with CR. We got to visit a permaculture-inspired site in Moab as well and saw a lot of great ideas and examples of watershed and land restoration for the town! A wonderful diversity was already growing and a restorative pathway was making its way towards the creek. Alternative and creative natural building structures, recycling trash for structures and adobe, using newspaper for plastering, greywater systems, and so many fun and experimental projects to learn from. We also got our second letterr of recommendation for the Community Food Forest application we submitted to the Make a Difference Fund. We also started working with plaster mixing for strength and colors and made over a hundred clay balls for kids and others to learn how to slip and smooth them into earthen marbles. Lena has been getting really into the earthen colors and I enjoy working with it and experimenting with structure based on the mixtures, and it has been nice to get to work together again on site. Fall Break was surprisingly "much needed", and even though I have been recovering, it was nice to not feel obligated to work and allow myself more time to relax. Lena and I had a lot of good time in Moab and the house was relatively calm. I got to do some gardening, and I have generally gotten more capable of using my hurt leg while moving around. We also drove off for another campout. The maps led us astray and we drove until it was not safe to drive further and enjoyed an evening in a dry creek carving in the middle of nowhere. We were awoken to thunder right above us and rain starting to pour, which definitely got us moving out, but luckily it did not rain nearly enough to get water across the road creeks and trap us anywhere. One of my personal highlights of that trip was to be crutching around without my brace on, feeling freer and getting to touch the ground with my sensitive foot. And being surrounded by such spectacular plants being weird. We were finally able to go to the actual Food Bank as well, it was small and had no fresh produce whatsoever, and we avoided a lot that was offered due to quality. But still, we ended up with a LOT of dried potato, macaroni, Sun Chips, whole milk, and more. It was useful, but something we would not go during work for. It did seem like a possible place for us to grow the Community Food Forest, but I would be concerned about conflict for what grows there. We had some awesome visitors, but generally, the house was relatively empty so it was nice to relax, heal, and read. We also found out that one of my good friends, Raven, was in Sedona with her family, and that we could stay there when we visited the following week! She is designing the farm for her family (who I have helped move some and adore) and is curious about having help and doing some natural building as well. We are stoked to visit and for Lena to take her 3 day, indie birth / mid-wife intensive skills workshop. The next week back, I was able to work a lot more and took on the 3 days we had before our trip to making plasters for the homeowners to see and the help plaster and tidy up our strawbale walls! We have so much done now: interior walls, the whole exterior covered in mud/slip, and we are starting to put up windows.
|
Gary Michael ForesmanWritings about my projects, adventures, questions, & more. Categories
All
Archives
December 2017
|