There and BACK AGAIN!

As I sit down to write this, it is raining in Duvall. I have a few videos to post from the trip, and some more pictures, and plenty of reflections to sort through in my mind and at my sit spot.

And now all of a sudden it is three days later - those videos have been posted (see the last post if you missed it), it is no longer raining in Duvall, and I am back in the middle of administrative work in the office, appreciating the view from my window across this green valley I love, where my roots go deep.

This morning I sat at the fire in Malalo Ya Chui ("Laire of the Leopard"), one of our classroom spaces at Wilderness Awareness School, in a circle of the people with whom I just spent 12 days on the road. As each person shared their voice and reflections, I closed my eyes and imagined the strands of who we are weaving in and out and amongst each other to create the basket of who we are together. We are not the same, and what each of us brings is exactly what is needed to make the whole. On this trip to California there were moments of beauty and hilarity and frustration and sadness - because all of those pieces were present and acknowledged and drawn out, we were able to be a beautiful basket. Sitting at the fire this morning and looking around at the faces, it was so apparent to me that our basket is woven more tightly now than it was when we left Duvall to head South 2 1/2 weeks ago.


The stories and reflections that were shared this morning showed the variation in who we all are. Many people talked about permaculture and chickens, the feel of getting their hands in the dirt. Others appreciated songs and community, connections strengthened and formed for the first time. And of course, many remember fondly the silly jokes and banter and the fun we had at gas stations along the way. Through all of those things - absurdity, community, and hard physical work - laughter and music were strands that tied it all together for me. I haven't laughed so hard, so much in a very long time, if ever, nor have I so enjoyed the spontaneous improvisation of music so fully.

The last epic layer of epicness from the trip was our stop in Portland on the way home. After leaving Bolinas at 6:00 am and pushing hard all day, we arrived at the home of Trackers NW at 8:45 pm. The images and feelings in my mind of tired people spilling out of vans and getting plates out of the trailer on a quiet Portland residential street, weaving amongst the cars and wandering across front lawns, to funnel through the gate of Tony and Molly's yard and stand dazed in a staring circle with strangers from this urban-dwelling primitive skills school... are indescribable. Describing what it was only captures the edge of it. Quick introductions, and then a funneling through yet another doorway into the downstairs basement apartment to descend on pots of chili. The meat version included meat from a bison the Trackers NW students butchered the week before, as well as a nutria trapped earlier in the week and collected via bicycle. A quick hour of connections and laughter, pool, and the first-ever video taped performance of the Winter Wren Rap. Our tour of schools complete it was on up the road and across the Columbia River back to Washington.

Check out this link for a VIDEO of the Winter Wren Rap performed by Alexia Stevens at our Trackers NW rendezvous..

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/9d2c0acf0e88f23723ef1c01e94a8b15/video/3343682



On a personal level, the reintegration from this trip into my "real" life has been a really good experience. From on the road with such a large group of people 24/7, I have come back to what feels like a really solid, cohesive, supportive community. I am excited to plant strawberries and raspberries, to start some seeds inside for planting on the terraces I built before the trip,a nd to finish pruning the fruit trees in my yard. I am looking at what concrete steps I will take this evening and tomorrow and this weekend towards integrating some of the things that inspired me on this trip into my life here at home. At Sunol, at Quail Springs, and at Commonweal Garden I was in some of my favorite places and with some of my favorite people. And now, back in Duvall, it feels good to be here, now.

There is so much more I could say and reflect on, and part of me feels like I "should" try to get it all out here. And, I do believe it's good to leave a few things veiled and unsaid, allowing the mystery to remain.

So, signing off for now from Anake On The Road....

Some Videos from Quail Springs!

I thought would post some videos taken during the first half our trip, at Quail Springs.

In this first video, Ryan and I are explaining the food forest to Marcus. Do we seem a little tired and sun-dazed? We are! Happy too though... check it out. :)



In this next video, we are with roughly 1/2 the class, towards the end of a morning of tracking on the Cuyama River. We had set up tracking stations for the students - basically tracks or sets of tracks and/or sign with specific questions associated with them for the students to answer. After they had gone through all of the stations and written down their answers, we went back through as a group and talked about the questions, with Marcus and I sharing our knowledge and/or thoughts. The purpose of this exercise was for the students to evaluate their own tracking knowledge. Something about this setup also seems to be really effective for many people as a learning tool. The exercise was modeled after the CyberTracker Evaluations which were developed in Africa and brought to North America by Mark Elbroch.