Author Archives: Ann

PHOTOS Green Acres Village: Equinox Ceremony and Celebration!

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And yes, our celebration was two days late, the actual Spring Equinox (when day and night are of equal length, day ascending) occurred on Monday, March 20.

We started an hour earlier than usual. Actually, we started earlier than that, when Helen, a newcomer and new permaculture graduate, arrived 20 minutes early, closely followed by maybe a dozen other people, many of whom are first-timers! All together there were upwards of 40 people participating in last night’s celebration,

including around ten children from two to sixteen, and a number of folks from other neighborhood associations, two of whom had come to our Green Acres Village presentation at the local library on February 7. (BTW: podmate Logan has now established a youtube channel for GAV, so that show will soon be up there.)

Before dinner, we trouped over to the new (third, still empty) house and sat in a circle on the beautiful big new/old oriental rug that housemate Brie had purchased from Good Will and then hauled home (on foot!). Village member Mariella presided over the ceremony, introducing us to the way Andean villagers in her native Peru honor the Earth and her gifts at Spring Equinox. Each of us made a tiny bundle with various Earth offerings (seeds, shells, leaves, twigs), all of which represent her gifts that we actually hold inside us. Our instructions are to either burn or bury our bundle. I’m going to bury mine, and so savor  its slow decomposition. I do need to balance my usual tendency to burn, fast, through any encounter with the wild, the divine or the mundane!

I took no pictures during this wonderful ceremony that felt spirited, joyful, and marvelously energizing.

Meanwhile, the kids were all over the place, inside and outside, playing the way wild children do, with both abandon and full expression. So wonderful, to have children drum up Earth’s new spring energy for us older folks who tend towards stasis, habits, routines . . . all good, and all needing their own kind of balance.

Remember, a meditation on balance is key at the Equinox. Let us learn to balance and integrate the two poles of all oppositions, starting with day and night.

The food was, as usual, extraordinary —

— including two curries with rice, all sorts of veggies and chicken, and, the piece de resistance: persimmon pudding, with lemon sauce and whipped cream, “The way my grandma used to make it!” says Sydney, who came to us again, after a long absence. Here she is with my son Colin, of the Garden Tower Project, who attended for the very first time. (Also, he was here to pick up puppy Shadow during my coming four-day trip to Madison Wisconsin.)

I discovered that Sydney and Colin are old friends. Had no idea! Wonder what they talked about.

Onwards!

 

 

 

 

 

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Mid-March Photo Essay: Community Dinner — plus acrobatics!

By Uncategorized, Village

You just never know what will go on at one of our Wednesday Community Dinners. This past Wednesday, we enjoyed a more intimate dinner, during which a number of females got together talk about, guess what? RELATIONSHIPS with men. I noticed that the men present tended to congregate in the other room! Wow just like dinners in old-fashioned social settings, where after dinner the men retired to the den to smoke cigars and the women to the kitchen to gossip and do dishes. Well, in this case, everybody does dishes, nobody smokes cigars, and I’d like to think our talk was a bit more elevated than “gossip.” More like “consciousness-raising,” what we newly self-ordained feminists used to do in the late ’60s. Helping each other understand our processes as we go through various experiences.

One pic from the table. Sorry, my hand tremor sometimes produces out-of-focus pics!

Next, while the adults were eating, Mariella’s youngsters Asiri and her brother Juakim were preparing a performance in the room west of the kitchen (the men were in the room east). Finally, Asiri told me to get the adults in there in five minutes. Okay.

So here goes. First, the kids show off, then the adults. Who woulda thunk it?

 

In case you can’t tell, Asiri is driving Juakim forward, holding on to his legs.

Next, Asiri rides on top of Juakim . . .

Then their mom, Mariella, decided she’d hunker down on her hands and arms . . .

Hard to tell what’s happening here, either. Sorry! But it inspired Juakim to do it too.

Well, then, it really got wild. First Briana . . .

Then yours truly, who aspired to a cartwheel . . .

Then Aron. Wow!

And finally, Dan, a Virgo, and the only acrobat to exhibit perfect form, despite puppy Shadow trying to lick his face.

 

 

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Community Dinner, March 1: Featuring Dreams, Music — and Gurgling Mead!

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Last night’s Community Dinner drew an intimate crowd, and, from what I heard this morning, the music lasted until 2 A.M.! The meal, hearty and good — an interesting rice dish, equally interesting lentil dish, organic chicken, quiche, four types of ferments, smashed brussel sprouts, other sundries — was finished in a flash.

One interesting tidbit from dinner: two people there have had recent chicken dreams! Plus, in one of these dreams, the dreamer (who shall remain anonymous) was supposed to learn a foreign language; and when he went to class, all the others present were ducks, quack quack quacking away. This broke us all up in laughter.

A while later the music began, with troubador Logan instructing Ari on the intricacies of playing the mandolin.

Kat and Aaron sat off to the side, and agreed to pose.

As usual, I saved the best for last. This time it’s a tiny movie I shot a few days earlier, after being urged by our fermenting genius Dan to check out the mead. It’s gurgling madly, even though it was made with wild yeast. (I guess most people can’t get it to gurgle with wild yeast?) Check it out! Unfortunately, don’t know how to upload it here, but you can download it to watch. Only runs for a few seconds, but look closely!

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