Living Routes: Findhorn 2007 Fall

dinnertime soon

Emily is talking to Karl on the couches. Zak just walked in to use the internet access. There's a few people taking a look at the community newspaper, the rainbow bridge. Oren is playing with the kids toys. The kitchen crew is working on preparing dinner, 20 more minutes to go. The homecare angels just finished up here, the place looks beautiful and welcoming of everyone to dinner. People will keep trickling in, and at around 6 the food will come out. Then we'll all join hands...

feedback session

This afternoon was spent in the yurt, all 17 of us. the 11 students, the teachers of each module, david and stacy our program co-focalizers, and Diane, the college director. Just to have this opportunity was amazing. Emily and I were holding the discussion, we were asked to facilitate it, the learning never ends, we're still being given experiences that will be a way to practice our learnings. Being able to reflect on the semester was really helpful for me. I loved trying to discover...

thanksgiving day

This is a list, including many things, excluding even more. Its got some things on it though, thanksgiving was yesterday. the first time away from family for some, a closeness to the ones we are with, a family to be with. water, red wine, white wine, boxes, bags, freedom beer, hard cider brussel sprouts, bannana bread, turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, roenberry jam, spinich leaves, walnuts, blue cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, candied yams, tofu loaf, hats,...

two acres of consciousness a permaculture poem

Where do I begin? I was reading a book today, about planning cities. Then a trip to the sky ensued, thursday on the battlefield I remembered, the catholics facing the protestants. What do you need from me. community support. I was in the graveyard the first time it snowed. In a country, sacred to some not to me after not doing the dishes for a week it makes you want to move out, but then here comes emily to the rescue, saving our kitchen and our hopes. As the classes...

in the middle of our eigth week here at findhorn

Sure has been a while since the last entry, life has been crazy here with the program, so much excitement, one thing after the next, and now realizing it's week eight of our experience. wow, time flies. lately we've spent time, working with the youth program here doing a permaculture project around their building. we did some work restoring an old strawberry patch, put up a huge hammock, two swings from old ropes from the beach, a bench from an old door, and plywood 'graffiti boards'...

how you can tell a lot about a person by the type of fence they put up

Yesterday during lunch break I was invited by my friend Storm to go on an adventure. I finished my food, and got rid of my plate, I wanted to go play. We ran out of the park, through secret short-cuts, and over to his house to get his line for crabbing and his toy kayak. Then we started running down the road towards town, throwing blackberries at each other, balancing on the curb, and began talking about fences. I told him about a deer I had heard about that got caught on the top of a...

we're on holiday

we're on holiday This was our first long weekend of the program. Friday night, while riding in a converted bus (his third home as he calls it) owned by our friend Nicky, to a music jam in an old stone stables, Nicky said that we're on holiday here, so do as much as you can, and see as much as you can. We've been doing exactly that. Just throwing yourself fully into what is going on, and being here, it�s a great place to be. You're always here. Never there. When you get there, the...

my classroom is a yurt

(This post is by Emma Dines.) As my friend Lisa has taught me, (through reading her blog and being her friend) it is important to every once and a while sit back, take stock, and recognize what is going on in your life - i.e. where you are, what you're doing and what it all means. Lisa lived in NYC for 2 co-op terms, and her "taking stock" phrase while she was there was "T.I.N.Y" - short for "This Is...

A day of sustainability through creative expression

Today we had our sustainability through creative expression class for the day. We spent the morning working with the five rhythms that Gabrielle Roth explains in her book "Maps to Ecstasy". Moving felt so good. We were dancing in the universal hall here for the morning. Using our whole bodies to move through the five rhythms of flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical and stillness. Deborah, our instructor for that class, described it as a wave, building up and up to a peak...

work work work

(This post by Emma Dines) I am used to working. I got my first part time job at the age of 14, and spent two years after high school working full time (one year volunteer-working, and the other year getting paid-working). I don’t mind working, in fact, I kinda like it. I like being productive, taking responsibility, gettin’ ‘er done. In group projects in school, I was always the kid who did the work. (More on that later) Anyway, that being said, it’s always been important to me...

what's in a name?

(This entry by Emma Dines) Introducing.... Wendy the Wheelbarrow and Naomi the Vaccuum Cleaner!