Through much of the summer, while working alongside Caroline and Laura, it was easy to see why some might call us garden slaves. Long days and endless wheelbarrows full of mulch, weeds, and compost getting carted every which way in the garden. Needless to say I would end each day feeling heavier than big blue is full of weeds (our favorite wheelbarrow that weighs more empty then most wheelbarrows do full). But as the summer deepens and fall sights begin to appear on the horizon a bittersweet change is happening in the garden. 

The fruits of our labor all through June and July are finally starting to ripen which means less slave work and more munching and preserving. Each day is filled with harvesting more fresh produce from the garden then I ever thought possible when I started here back in June. The garden poundage grows more and more each day which means food preservation is in full swing. Pickled beans, beets, and cucumbers, jams, jellies, syrups, dried fruit, canned fruit, you name it and we have probably preserved it. These days you are just as likely to see us in the kitchen as you are in the garden. 

The bitter has been the sending off of Laura and Caroline with whom I have cultivated a strong friendship more pungent then the lingering smell of fresh compost on a hot July afternoon. As to the sweet, the harvesting of beans, pears, potatoes, onions, apples, and new friendships with our most recent additions to the garden intern clan, Leila and Louise.

We only preserve food we have an excess of which means that there is lots of fresh food coming from the garden that is becoming a large component of our community dinners. To me this is the most exciting part. I find it somewhat rebellious and freeing to make dinner where the only part of it that comes from the store are un-growable goods. The feeling is not just satisfying, it also is delicious. 

As sad as it is to bid our farewells to summer and new friends, the anticipation fruitful harvests dulls the pain just as a dash (or a mountain) of sugar masks the astringent taste of a bowl full of freshly picked aronia berries. 

I am in my third week here at Songaia and I'm not sure where to start when it comes to my experience here. I sat down and thought about some of the things we have been engaged in and I kept coming back to the ideas of experimentation and play. There is no one here who isn't involved in some cool and interesting project and there is an overwhelming sense of support from the community to explore these neat avenues. 

The fact that the community is so willing to let us be a part of the permanent design is amazing. I had assumed as interns our role would be to just kind of do what we are told, but very contrary, everyone is interested in your opinion and input. Once we have a general idea of where the permanent paths and structures will be the next step is to build them and to decide what guilds of plants we will incorporate. I can only hope I am here long enough to see the project through to a comfortable place.

Patricia is the "mother hen" of the interns. We meet with her every morning and work with her throughout the day in the garden and kitchen. Everyday is a surprise because you never really know what you'll find in the garden. The garden is only a semi-predicatable creature and everyday it tells you what you need to do. One thing I've heard from a couple mouths here is, "the best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow." From what I can see that is Patricia. She moves through the garden inspecting everything. I don't think I have a single picture of her in the garden where her face isn't down in the plants. 

If you're interested in bees, worms, black soldier fly larva or if you need anything really talk to Brent. Somebody once told me, "Possibility ends where we think it does" and that is what I think of when I see him. Brent is constantly exploring new avenues and immersing himself in weird and interesting tasks. One of the highlights of my time here was exploring what seemed like a hive of angry bees. It was truly awesome. I haven't had the pleasure of working with the maggots and worms, but I fear the time will come….I mean, I am unimaginably excited! 

I was drawn here because of my interest in permaculture and Songaia is beginning to implement this style of gardening for the community. Katie, the resident landscape architect, is in the midst of building out a permaculture inspired food forrest. We have begun meeting with her on Tuesday's and mapping out the existing landscape and planning walking paths. It is a very organic kind of process - walking through the environment and paying attention to our natural curiosity to define the movement of the space. There is a certain creative freedom and responsibility I feel for this area. 

I'm learning that you really need to look at your plants as individuals.  By watching how they grow and tinkering with their environments you can achieve the best results.  If you take the time to think critically about the plant's health on a personalized level you can really help get the most out of them. 

One thing I didn't really think of was food processing. My brain was so focused on how to grow and organize your garden I forgot that you'll eventually need to do something with all of your beautiful produce. Often we spend our mornings harvesting and our afternoons cooking and canning. I never thought I would be able to say I AM A CANNER, but I think I could do it at home now…maybe with an email or two to Patricia for advice. 

Composting, roses, goats, natural building projects - there are so many things to be a part of! I recently started poking my nose into the workshop here. From what I can tell, Nartano and Jean are the master builders and tinkerers on site. Nartano buzzes around with a wrench in hand fixing anything that can be taken apart and put back together. I think between all of these people I might be able to learn how to take care of myself as a human being. The journey continues….

Have you ever designed a food forest? Heard of a hugelkultur? Made homemade pectin from unripe quinces? Thought black fly larvae would make good pets? Well, if you asked me any of these questions about a month ago, the answer would have been a resounding no, and indeed my likely assumption would have been that it would stay that way.  However, in my few weeks at Songaia, my eyes have been opened to a place of endless ingenuity, resourcefulness, and genuine compassion that create all kinds of yes's where there used to be no's. It is the thoughtful and natural concentration of these faculties that allow for an environment where all of these questions, and infinitely more, transform from distant possibilities to exciting realities. 

One question that keeps coming up among friends and family, both old and new, is whether I am learning anything here at Songaia. This question always seems to catch me off guard, provoking a knee jerk reaction: YES! This questions never fails to surprise me, not because it is at all unusual or irrelevant, but purely in the necessity of its asking. Of course I am learning here at Songaia, I always reply; I never seem to stop! To say that each conversation I have with any of the friendly and extraordinarily forthcoming members of this community provides new information, although unequivocally true, would be an understatement. It does little justice to the rapid and radical ways I have absorbed new ideas and experiences in a steady, brilliant stream since my arrival. 

Before Songaia, my familiarity with the concept of permaculture was exactly that: conceptual. It was based largely on a few peripheral articles and, if I am being honest, a casual familiarity with its Wikipedia page. Not a hugely confidence-inspiring base from which to spring into practice. However, nervous as I was about my lack of practical knowledge, here at Songaia there is no shortage of exceptionally capable and knowledgable teachers more than willing to share their encyclopedic understanding of permacultural practices. The genuine passion and excitement that defines Songaians when it comes to permaculture and the beautiful, living earth that surrounds them simply radiates, and it is impossible not to be stimulated and enchanted by it too. 

One question that keeps coming up among friends and family, both old and new, is whether I am learning anything here at Songaia. This question always seems to catch me off guard, provoking a knee jerk reaction: YES! This questions never fails to surprise me, not because it is at all unusual or irrelevant, but purely in the necessity of its asking. Of course I am learning here at Songaia, I always reply; I never seem to stop! To say that each conversation I have with any of the friendly and extraordinarily forthcoming members of this community provides new information, although unequivocally true, would be an understatement. It does little justice to the rapid and radical ways I have absorbed new ideas and experiences in a steady, brilliant stream since my arrival.

My weeks so far at Songaia have been defined by a series of firsts. It is both a thrill and a privilege to be able to do something, often many things, for the very first time every single day. I feel so lucky to stay in a community where creative experimentation, trial and error, and intuitive learning are so joyfully encouraged. It is uncommon and inspiring to be able not only to learn from, but right along side people I am learning from as we try new things and build new possibilities together. Seeing my wonderful mentors and hosts take risks and follow their own intuition to further their goals, both in permaculture and community, has helped me begin to build the confidence to do the same. Trusting my own intuition and creative instinct has always been a challenge for me, and in a few brief weeks here, I already feel a little less diffident, and a little more brave. 

I have recently been reflecting on the past several weeks spent in the garden and how to carry this on in my future back at Purdue. The image that keeps coming to mind is our large career fair held each fall in which hundreds of industry companies come to recruit engineering students for internships. 

Here at Songaia, Laura and I are often referred to as the interns because that is exactly what we are for the community, helpers and learners at the same time. Yet, I picture the conversation I could have with a recruiter for one of these big name companies in the fall such as Caterpillar or John Deer when I tell them, “ Yes I had a summer internship, I WWOOFed at an intentional community and worked in a garden.” 

 I feel more in touch with the food that I eat and what it takes to get things to the table which I realize is largely taken for granted. These are not lessons I could have gotten in any old setting.

Not to mention that the days I get spend whilst absorbing this knowledge are spent on tasks that no student working at Boeing for the summer could get to do.

 I wake up and weed a bed for winter planting, feed the goats, and harvest oodles of raspberries to make jam.

I suspect that a recruiter would be slightly taken aback by this untraditional experience. But, I can attest to anyone who questions it that I have learned many valuable lessons that could help me in the future in industry or any other field.  

I have learned the importance of communication and teamwork and how this helps get things accomplished much more efficiently. 

I have learned that hard work and attentiveness to detail is needed to see success, but that not everything can always get done with perfection and that is okay. 

I have practiced ingenuity in coming up with solutions for things like water leaks,  plants in need of support and finding the best way to transport gravel.