Village Life, mid-May 2017: bottling mead, seedlings for sale and for planting, compost roof structure

Like everyone in the northern hemisphere who is at least vaguely aware of the larger earth environment — I exempt, for example, those who go from air-conditioned house and back to air-conditioned car in garage every day except weekends when they spend all day inside on their screens — it’s spring! — the greening time, when Earth’s inner mysterious primal power begins to arouse and open seeds, push roots down and plants up into myriad glorious forms, all the while birds start to call and respond, frogs spawn and jump about, insects proliferate. Hopefully. Hopefully all these phenomena are still occurring. Sometimes, given all the dire news we hear about, we’re actually astonished to feel the eternally cycling signs of spring yet again, not only via Earth and her air and fire and soil, but inside our own bodies which thrum to the same quickening.

Here in Green Acres Village, of course work ramps up; and so does the fun. As podmate Dan said to me the other day, after an entire day spent on outside projects — “I feel so good. Spending my entire day outside makes me feel WILD.” Yes yes! Our natural wild aliveness springs up in concert with nature’s glorious blooming.

Here’s Dan, our fermenter, on his one recent inside job, bottling from one jug of mead that he started back in February. After one week, the mead found the yeast and started bubbling. Check it out!

That was three months ago. Two days ago, Dan filled and capped 25 bottles; and with the other jug, will get 25 more.

With all the ferments that Dan produces — lots of krauts of various kinds and kim chi, can’t remember what else, but it’s all extraordinary, the best I’ve ever tasted — I keep pushing for him to sell some of it.

One thing holding us back so far, is that we haven’t decided on a logo for Green Acres Alchemy,  the name we’ll give to our various land and food based businesses. I mentioned this to my friend Julia who used to live a few doors down, on the phone awhile ago, and she said “the name gives me chills.” Then, instantly, she continued, “Here’s the logo, an actual alchemical symbol,” and sent it to me on the phone. “It could be green,” she said, and as Evan — who does calligraphy! — noted later, “the name could go above (Green Acres) and below (Alchemy), creating the circle with the letters. Ah yes! And Oh wow, I just noticed.  The logo is also the letter “A,” (for Alchemy), and it has three prongs, symbolizing the three houses with three occupants each in our village pod!  So that’s in the works. Evan: “Shoot me the logo and I’ll see what I can do about it.”

Meanwhile, Rebecca has all the plants outside the new greenhouse now, with some of the seedlings for sale —

— and the rest going into our various gardens. Here’s Grant, an Indiana University intern who is with us for two full weeks, and who Rebecca says, is unusually aware and observant.

(Unusual because it’s true, she and I and other elders both notice that many “millennials” seem to be preoccupied, even when they think they want to learn how to garden. Too much screen time too early in life?)

Okay, back to “Dan the man,” who, with Evan, is here outside, constructing the frame for what will become the roof of the compost area. Compost is another form of alchemy . . .