Blog Posts

Synchronicity's Story, by MistyDawn Forester - Garden Intern 2017

9/26/2017

For some time, I had been struggling to trust - truly trust - in my agency to manifest the future of my lived reality. I believed firmly that if I called out to the universe and verbalized my intentions, magnetized, I would meet my desire, my need. Still, below the surface was a heavy need to affirm this belief.
No more than 8 months prior to today, I had announced that I was leaving my job of six years, my safe place - an art studio that raised me - to pursue an opportunity unknown. With absolutely no plans for myself, I was in the process of finding a new hire to train as my replacement. I was away on a short vacation when in walked a woman who, on a whim, decided to see if the studio was hiring. After a short interview, my old boss - a woman with beautiful intuition - hired Leila on the spot.

Now it was clear from the beginning that our dynamic would deviate greatly from the typical manger and new hire relationship. Skip small talk, we delved deeply into our contemplations and outlooks. Over a bucket of ceramic glaze and dozens of pieces to be processed, we created an art-centered, therapeutic space for self expansion. A space in which to verbalize our visions and continue the work of realizing our future selves. In this space, I allowed myself to be wholly vulnerable in articulating my desire for a restructured and shared life centered around a connection with the earth.

In May, nonchalant and cool as always, Leila opened her mouth and said something like, “I once did a permaculture internship in WA. I think it’d fit with your vision. You should apply.”

Just like that, here I sit, finishing up my first blog post as tonight’s volunteer chefs chop and prepare produce grown right here at Songaia. We spent my first couple of weeks harvesting buckets of plums, grapes, apples, and pears. Plucking squash. Blending pounds of freshly pulled pesto.

Decimating beautiful but invasive bind weed. Steaming out grape grape juice and reducing elderberry syrup, and plum jam. Transplanting strawberry plants. Shaking cover crop into fall beds. Turning compost and watering the garden quadrant by quadrant. Building a rabbit fence. Unclogging a kitchen drain. Dancing - ecstatically! Stretching, embracing, and singing in unison. Rejoicing at birthdays and the rain. Endlessly pondering as true farm folk philosophers.

And now, harmony reverberating within me, I sit, awestruck by the dedicated community, impassioned by permaculture and cohousing as means of revitalizing the deep bond between humans and habitat. Overjoyed at the intergenerational abundance of family, food, and wise council. And grateful. Grateful for the living reality that is Songaia, for a soul-friend like Leila, and for a universe that answers when I call.

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On Divine Duality & Sacred Opposites by Joey Crotty, Garden Intern 2017

9/26/2017

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I’ve just come back from a journey, one could say. If you are interested, I can tell you the story.

Thursday marks the International Day of Peace. Though today is Wednesday, dear Hayra had sent out an invitation to join her in a Peace Ceremony in honor of this energy. When 3:00pm struck and the ceremony was set to begin, I had been writing my first blog - determined as I was to finally finish a post to get a heckler (Patricia) off my back.

My shallow-rooted self almost convinced me not to go.

“Stay and finish what you're doing,” he said. "You know you’re too busy for ceremony.”

“Too busy for ceremony?!” I thought, mortified. I got up without another thought to find the group for ceremony.

Moments later I approached a circle of women standing by a pear tree. I immediately noticed there were no other men present beside myself. Of course it would be women, I thought, who took the time to honor peace. I felt sadness by the thought. How had I had almost discounted this? I felt a renewed determination within myself to be of service to these remarkable women.

A few words were said, and off we went to the labyrinth, the place we would have our ceremony. I instinctively trailed behind the group, lost in my reflections. When we arrived, Barb told of the history of the labyrinth to deepen our intentions there. Hayra then instructed that she would ring little bell-chimes, and when we felt called, we could enter the labyrinth one at a time.

I felt an unexpected well of grief bubble to my inner surface. Despite the long-trauma that has afflicted our world - along with the unthinkable hardship our beloved mothers, sisters, aunts and daughters have endured - it is still they who show up to pray for peace. I was surrounded by stunning brilliance: the Sacred Feminine that possess both grace and power, shamelessly held by each woman before me.

I have once heard, that in some Indigenous traditions, The People are represented by a great hoop. Within this hoop, children, women, and men each have a place in which they belong, a sacred role for them to fulfill for The People. Children, I was taught, are in the inside of the hoop - playing, learning, growing in their gifts. Surrounding them are the Women, facing toward them in a layer of nourishing, life-giving power.

However, in a hoop that is broken, men indeed surround the women and the children, except they face inward, toward the center. It was revealed to me that it is not the role of men to face within the circle in this way. Such is an orientation of control, power, abuse, negligence. No... instead, the sacred role of Men is to surround the women and children, but to face outward, into the world, as shields of their people. True masculinity, in its life-enhancing form, protects the life within and around women and children. That is our sacrifice and source of honor for The People. Women are life-givers. Children are life and living legacy. Men are life-protectors. A completed hoop.

At the labyrinth, we were asked to hold an intention as we ventured into its winding center, which represents a journey to our inner life, the place of spirit.

Hayra chimed the first bell. What would my intention be? In honor of a completed Hoop of the People, I decided my intention would be to wait for my fellow women to go before me into this sacred place. I would wait at the entrance, and enter last to ensure they each made it safely inside. (Symbolically, of course, nothing was threatening us.)

The bell chimed, and one at a time a woman entered the labyrinth. Patricia entered, then Christy, Barb, Mary, Anita, Carol. In honor of my intention, I offered to let Hayra - holder of the ceremony - go before me, knowing she'd likely decline. She did. I respected her wish and stood before the labyrinth. She chimed the bell for me, and I, too, entered.

I began to wind slowly through the labyrinth, passing by the others, surprised at the distance I felt between them as if those labyrinth stones were really forty feet tall. Yet I also felt immense closeness to the others, a delightfully paradoxical juxtaposition. My thoughts drifted to our ancestors, the Celts, and the ancientness of this labyrinth’s design as well as the intentions they may have held there, thousands of years in the past, in times felt but no longer remembered.

To the outer edges I went, then to the inner circle; all when I least expected it. Each step I held my intention of honoring and protecting these women moving around me, on inner journeys of their own, trying to find a rhythm of beauty in my gait to reflect how I might walk in the world in honor of them.

With surprising slowness - so much path being coiled into such a tight space - the others made it to the center one at a time, which, coincidentally, was the only place where green grass was growing. Witnessing them standing there within this sacred space gave me goosebumps. As I entered I noticed they had left a spot for me, right at the entrance with enough room to hold us all in this special patch of green.

I felt power here. I wanted to stay in this beautiful space forever. Yet, just as I was getting settled in, not even a full breath had I took, Hayra chimed the bell again. I had anticipated leaving last in here as well, fully honoring the trajectory of my original intentions. Then I realized, in that split second, that I should in fact venture to the outer world first. Going within represented to me a kind of safety, dangers that are less physical and more spiritual in nature. The outer world represented, to me in that moment, a type of inverse. And so felt it was I who should be first to face that world, symbolically shielding any burden that might exist there.

The bell chimed, breaking the silence. I broke away before I had time to exhale, making my way outward. Just as we entered, one by one we exited the labyrinth, forming a circle together. We then held hands, and were instructed to breath in from the left our bodies and exhale to the right, to push a spiral of counter-clockwise energy between and through us. Hayra offered her beautiful words, of seeing the wounded, perpetrators of hurt within herself, the parts of her that were once wounded, the wounds that echo there still.

My mind wandered to the Old Way, a way in which it was often the hunter who would eat last after a kill. First the elders would eat, then the children, then the women, then the men, then, only when everyone else had eaten would the hunter eat. In honor of this tradition, I chose to stay silent in this space, opening space to others who wished to express their thoughts.

No one else spoke; the tender silence perhaps spoke more than any one of us could. We hugged, straggled a bit, and the ceremony for peace had come to an end.

I write about this because, in the dominant life-destroying Monoculture, there is seldom a clear expression of what a healthy masculinity in the world can truly look like. The counter-cultural 60s represented a resurgence of the Sacred Feminine in both women and men. As storyteller Robert Bly describes it, this was a wonderful, powerful, and necessary shift. The world desperately yearns for the Sacred Feminine once again. Except that... the world equally yearns for the Sacred Masculine. Authentic masculinity - mistaken as it was for the horrific wellspring of the world's pain, exploitation, war - was cast into a place of dishonor. Masculinity was feared, thought to be wantonly brutish, and so it was suppressed. Many men grew into the feminine-sided nature of themselves - guided as they were by powerful women - with tenderness and emotional openness unfathomable to men a generation before them. What they did not grow into, however, were the qualities of the Sacred Masculine in balance with their Sacred Feminine, a balance that gives men their true power as men.

Life-preserving, but not life-giving, Bly describes this condition. Heart without a skeleton. Compassion without fierceness. Vision without action, which may be just as harmful as action without vision.

Divine Duality... Sacred Opposites that, only together, lead to the living mystery of our existence. I recognize I have a long, long way to go in healing the sham separation so imprinted within me of these luscious counterparts, spacious yet whole. Nonetheless, I offer this story as a humble step toward trusting the regenerative capacity of Life that moves within us all.

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Bull and Authenticity, by Anita Higgins

9/19/2017

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Something I have been realizing about myself is that I am a horrible bull-shitter. That’s not saying I cannot tell a convincing lie. I can, I have, and I probably will. But the amount of stress that keeping up a lie causes me is wearing in a way that really affects me. I have found myself increasingly sensitive to, and aware of, how that affects me as I learn the value in showing up authentically.

Earlier in the summer, I became aware that my partner David’s mother was reaching out for help to throw a surprise party for him. She was so sweet, so excited, and so determined that I bit my tongue when I felt compelled to remind her that David hates surprise parties. So the plan went on. For months. Up until the week of the party I wasn’t too concerned about keeping it a secret from David, because that basically entailed just not talking about it.

Me and David, June 2017

As the weekend of the party crept up, my stress did the same. I knew I was going to have to do some serious lying. David trusted me, so I was going to get away with it. But my stress didn’t come from worrying I was going to blow the secret of the party. Like I said before, I am increasingly sensitive to lying in any form (even if it’s lying for the sake of a damn surprise party). The morning of the party came, and I was sweating bullets. I had stayed with David the night before and had made up the story that I was needed at Songaia for a few hours that afternoon to do some watering. His mom had asked that he come “help her with a party she was throwing” that afternoon, so he and I we were going to meet back up for dinner.

Now, I am not sure how else to explain the irony in this, other than the universe testing me. The morning of the party, as David and I ate our favorite breakfast together (potato hash with peppers), we got on the topic of trust. Specifically, how important and fragile trust can be in relationships. Well, shit. Yes, I agree with the things you are saying and here are my opinions on the value of trusting and being trust-worthy. But also, here are a bunch of lies. “I need to go water at Songaia for a few hours today” “You can’t drive me to Songaia because I need my car for doing errands” “Yes I would love to watch that movie with you tonight that we’re definitely going to be home in time for”. The list goes on. And he asked no questions when I walked out of his door wearing a dress and makeup to go work in the garden. What a sweet man.

The party was a hit. David had no clue, I got to meet so many people who are important to him, and despite the fact that it was a surprise party...I think he really loved it. Even though the party was a hit and David was happy, something had changed. I had lied to him and gotten away with it. This was new. And it wasn’t just one lie, it was a whole set of lies, designed to deceive. And it felt bad, even after the truly innocent purpose of the lies came to light.

Patricia asked us the other day what we are “addicted” to fostering in our lives. What are we passionate about? What do we go out of our way to create? For me, it’s intimacy. Usually people reserve the word “intimacy” for romantic relationships. But I think that there is so much value in applying the word to friendships. I am passionate about developing intimate relationships with people. When I say I am a horrible liar it’s not because I cannot tell a convincing lie. It’s because in building relationships, intimacy can only be really realized if we show up authentically. This cannot be achieved if you are perpetuating lies, no matter how innocuous they seem, because those lies can shatter the same trust that authenticity builds. I believe showing up authentically, as challenging as it can be, is a pillar of social permaculture. Who could have guessed a surprise party would be an opportunity for growth?
P.S. Still not convinced David has totally forgiven me ;)

From left: Andrew, Me, Christy, Joey, and Mark while visiting Farmer Frog. I’ve learned a lot from these people this summer. Including the value of authenticity. Mark and Brumby left this week, off on their next adventure. I am honored to have met both of them and to watch them strive to live with as much authenticity as possible. The intimacy they create in their relationships through living that way is absolutely inspiring. I’m better for having known each one of these people and I cannot wait to see what they do with the rest of their lives.

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Haiku

9/17/2017

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Haiku

by Christy McKinney:

Center on the edge
The sides are all around us
Is that an otter?

Let's be blackberries
Opportunistic and wild
Bearing fruit with seeds

Zone 8 B ate me
But where will it go to next?
Follow the earth’s path

by Anita Higgins

Sun kissed tomato
Patricia scrapes the jar clean
Peanut butter toast

No such thing as waste
Food waste spews from the chipper
I smell like cheese

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Dirt is my Dry Shampoo, by Christy McKinney

9/17/2017

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9/14/17
Dirt is my Dry Shampoo. The name of my next blog. Haha. For the past couple weeks I have been coming inside for lunch with dirt warpaint on my face and a dirt “tan line” on my legs, but this is all just a testament to the work that’s going into putting up the rabbit enclosement. Yes, that’s right, enclosement - not fence. My new plan is to capture all the rabbits and put them inside the garden for a bunny wonderland. Think how cute that would be. It takes meticulous effort and some digging in the dirt, but I can all but guarantee a profit for the future. But really, the rabbit fence has been on my mind and has been a source of great work and a great learning experience for me - from tool use and knowledge to building materials and proper body mechanics.

In other news, as the summer is coming to an end, I am beginning to plan my next steps after Songaia. I plan to road trip to the east coast and stay for a bit before embarking on some travels internationally. One thing we have been discussing among the intern group is how to not “fall back asleep” once we leave this magical place. What pillars do we want to stand on as we lead by example moving into the “new story”? What are things we can return to to give us back that strength and energy we felt at Songaia? How can we operate in an environment that’s so different than our ideal? Lots of things to ponder and mull over, but this leads to great questions and conversations.

The bittersweet feeling of moving forward is beginning to creep in as my departure date is approaching, but I am anxious to absorb what I can from the remainder of my time at Songaia.

Leaning on the (still to be installed) fence.

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Our Common Ground is the Ground by Christy McKinney, Garden Intern 2017

8/30/2017

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One day Patricia said to me: “This place is going to mess up your mind”, and oh my goodness has it ever. In the best way possible. I have been inundated with such high level of thought, understanding, care, and knowledge that comes from the Songaia community and the greater connections I’ve been fortunate to make.
I could go on for ages about what I learn while at Songaia, whether it’s interactions with the Earth or with the people - each day is a vital learning experience for me. We discussed this week about how the internship is marketed as a garden internship in a community environment, but the community aspect of Songaia is what is really outstanding to me.
As well, the community of the greater Seattle area is truly amazing to me. Each place we visit (namely The Tilth Alliance, Magnuson Park, Farmer Frog, public Universities, and even just Parks and Rec parks I swim at) seem to be supported in some way by the city or the counties and I feel as if that is very telling. Coming from the south (Houston, TX) and the east (well, Eastern Washington) I have become very cognizant of the differences in each environment, not only within local government, but with local mindsets and cultures as well.
I am very thankful to have the opportunity to be in this environment and to learn as much as I can so I can take it back to where I come from. After all, we are all connected and our common ground is the ground.

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Soil Health by Zach Pole, Garden Intern 2017

8/18/2017

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My time at Songaia and 21 Acres so far has been very interesting and enlightening. I am coming into this internship with almost no real knowledge of gardening practices or background in permaculture, so every day I get to experience and learn something new. I came into this thinking it would be a much more formal learning experience, but it has instead turned out to be a very experiential and experimental learning experience which is perfect for me and I am very grateful for. I have spent my first few weeks getting oriented to the spaces I am working in and adjusting to the type of work, garden philosophy, and a new schedule.

To be honest, I’ve been pretty worn out these last few weeks but in a good way.

Of all the things I have been experiencing and learning, the thing that really stands out to me in these first few weeks is the approach to soil health that has been taken in the Songaia garden. Instead of focusing on making sure everything looks very clean and pretty, instead you will find piles of rotting weeds and many different plants of all different sizes and ages growing in the beds together. There is a large focus on what is actually good for and natural for the soil and the plants. This is in direct alignment with the permaculture philosophy of learning from nature and working with it instead of against it.

This practice helps to keep nutrients cycling within the soil and reduces the need for weed control since other plants are already established and shading them from the sun the need to grow. It also helps immensely to keep the soil nice and loose, which is necessary for a vegetable garden to function properly. On top of all of this, the decaying material also works to feed the microorganisms in the soil so that they can both thrive and support the growth of food.

I have learned a few different methods of composting, for instance a method called the Berkeley Method and the Bokashi method, and how and when to utilize them. I have also learned a few of the principles, designs, and systems utilized in permaculture, such as “Water, Access, Structure” which refers to the successive steps of planning a new permaculture garden, keyhole and spiral gardening designs which maximize area utilization and water efficiency, and supporting soil structure and life in a way that emulates the natural process. So far, I am very pleased with how things have been going and what I have been learning and experiencing. I’m looking forward to the next few months working at Songaia and 21 Acres.

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What a Week! ...a combined blog from all the interns

7/24/2017

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What a week! Songaia was buzzing with a happy energy this week. Not only did we host Permaculture Woodinville for a pizza night, but we also broke ground on a gathering space (informally dubbed “the terr-aahce”) that’s going in between the common house and garden. The space went from a buttercup-laden field, to a full-on construction site within a week.

Breaking Ground!

With Brian leading the charge, we were shoveling, pounding, encouraging, adzing, raking, gluing, scraping, hammering, leveling, and wheelbarrowing our way to a good grimy sweat. We shoveled to the beat of the songs from “Permaculture: A Rhymer’s Manual” by The Formidable Vegetable Sound System (A must-listen for any permaculture enthusiast), as we worked up a good appetite for Douglas’ “World-famous” curry and for cob oven-baked pizza.

The topic of discussion for the pizza night was “social permaculture”. How appropriate it seemed that we were focusing so much energy on this gathering space, this area that will promote the very concept? After everyone crafted their pizzas, we gathered in the common house and Brian told three stories of how social permaculture has manifested at Songaia. He emphasized that “social permaculture” is not really separate from permaculture itself, but an integral part of fostering sustainability in any system.

The interns shifted their attention from the garden to the gathering space and attempted to wrap their minds around the concept of social permaculture. This week was truly unique compared to the weeks prior. Each intern wrote a few words on what stood out for them.

Caroline
It has been immensely helpful and wonderful having some new interns join the garden workforce these past few weeks! Fresh new perspectives fill the air as the energy rises, tickling the senses of those intertwined in the piglet and biogaian projects. The Terrace excavation has begun, ensuing lots of digging down and rocking around. Work is always more fun with many working hands and smiles! Everyone has adorned their personal skills, filling in the puzzles pieces task by task as the hours pass.
The garden is growing in abundance and we have been eating wonderful zucchinis as well as onions, garlics, and broccoli. The raspberries are ripe and deliciously plump! The blueberries are beginning to blue and swell. Fresh fruit out of a garden is perhaps one of the most amazing experiences i have ever tasted. I cannot believe i have been missing out on this for so long! I do not know how i will ever eat grocery store fruits and veggies ever again, it just doesn’t seem right! I really feel like i have been developing into my own in the community, feeling more comfortable and present, feeling like i am in the right place in this moment.
I had been feeling overwhelmed the past few weeks, thinking i had taken on too much participating in this internship and working at the salon every other week, and so i stepped down from going to 21 Acres on Fridays and Saturdays. I will be working extra shifts at the salon in order to make a little more money, seeing as we are moving into a house soon, closer to Seattle. I have realized that commuting is not a joy of mine. I do not enjoy driving for 2+ hours for work purposes. Learning more and more about myself and the way i want to be living my life as i grow and intake more information about this crazy life! I cannot wait to grow some things in my own garden at the end of the summer! It is going to be so fun planting my own lettuce and kale and being able to make delicious salads this fall. I am also really looking forward to making more jam and learn how to can the extra produce we harvest from our garden this year.

Zach
One of the things that has really been on my mind lately is the large plethora of knowledge contained in this community. It is really amazing to watch different members of the community come together and offer their expertise in order to accomplish goals. This has really been overwhelmingly evident as we are working in the community space next to the garden. So many different minds and ideas have come together to design and implement the plan for this space and it is starting to really take shape. For instance, Brian has been extremely instrumental in keeping things organized and moving forward and his clear knowledge of landscape construction is invaluable. Nartano’s expertise in mechanics and utilities really opens up just how much can be done in the space. Patricia has an understanding of design that adds some real ‘je ne sais quoi’ to the project. This has really shown me that coming together and sharing our talents and effort with each other is a vital part of the human experience and is clearly the best way to accomplish great things.

Christy
I have always felt pressured in our society to be a goals-driven individual. To always know what you’re working towards and have the proper steps lined up to reach an end result. This week at Songaia we spoke a lot about the story and the journey of our so-called goals and how that portion can be even better than the finished result. Think about a kitchen - the food that we put into our recipes, the tools we use to chop food, the people who are doing the chopping, and the plates we put our food on all have their own individual stories. The sum of those parts create a final piece, but the stories behind it all is what really makes it special. In the supply chain of everything, every story is meaningful and makes a difference.
I’ve found myself focusing more on the journey than on the end result which has proved helpful to living life in the present and to being open to receiving opportunities as they manifest themselves in front of you. I still find value in goals and in preparation and follow through, and I am not sure that I will ever be able to see past this Western way of thinking, but opening my mind to considering the journey more is something I feel as if I will continue to work on. I think one challenge that I could see myself facing is identifying when something has been manifested and should be utilized. That could be because I am still very much a task-driven, steps-oriented person, and I would be fearful of poor timing, but I think the realization of that potential challenge is helpful in overcoming it.

Anita, Christy, Neal, and Brian testing out the stage in the gathering space with a little can-canning.

Anita
It’s been a busy week at Songaia. I have been interning for about a month and there has been more excitement here in the last week than in the weeks prior combined. We hosted Permaculture Woodinville for a pizza night and discussion about social permaculture. This event happened to fall the week right after we broke ground on the new gathering space, which is coming along at an incredible rate.

Writing about the week feels so...watered down. In all honesty, it’s hard for me to do justice to things that have occurred here and in my own head in just a few paragraphs. I think that’s why I’ve had a hard time getting myself to write these blogs (Patricia wanted one every week...this is my first. Whoopsie). I came here a month ago, but it feels like it’s been three. I’ve learned so much and fallen in love with the people. How do I express that in words? How do I capture Patricia’s spirit? Brian’s loving energy? Nartano’s openness? Helen’s contagious passion? Caroline’s goofiness? Jacob’s flair? Nancy’s Nancy-ness?
Through all the excitement, Brian said something this week that stood out to me. Like Patricia, I am a very goal-oriented person. Like Christy, I find comfort in having a plan. I like making goals and getting things done, which often interferes with my enjoyment of the process. I don’t remember his exact phrasing, but one morning during our daily check-in Brian said something like “it’s not about the end-goal, it’s about the story”. If I ever needed to get a phrase tattooed to my arm as a daily reminder, it would be this.

And I think that’s the key to capturing the essence of what I am learning and feeling--stories. School has given me the skills to do technical writing. Songaia will make me a storyteller.

Through this internship I am hoping to develop a “permaculture mindset”, to go forward with the tools to foster sustainability and community in my own life. What that really means, I’m not exactly sure. But I feel like this week has helped me to lay the initial bricks (or lock n’ load retention wall, if you wish) to start developing that mindset.

Stop. Observe. Listen. Go forward with intention, but flexibility. Enjoy the process. Express gratefulness. Be.

And unless you like puns, don’t get Brian and Caroline going.

Anita takes in the view of the garden from the eventual height of the garden overlook gathering space.

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Week # 4 at Songaia, by Caroline Langevin

6/7/2017

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I can’t believe I’ve been living at Songaia for almost 2 months! Time is flying by. Last week was my 4th week in the garden and life has really bloomed in the past few weeks from the amazing sunshine we have been lucky enough to receive after such a wet winter and spring. Summer Solstice is already coming up in two weeks!

Its crazy how quickly the change of temperament happens from wanting to relax and stay inside, internalizing during winter, to slowly shifting to an external view and interaction with the world as the sun comes out in the spring time.

Then all a sudden, like a flower bursting out of its little cocoon, boom! All i want to do is hang outside and bask in the sunshine, share my time with friends, eat, drink, dance and laugh!

We are cyclical creatures of nature, whether we want to admit it or not. Everything in this universe cycles and i love watching the progress unfold of it all.

Life in the garden is not easy by any means, but i do feel my stamina growing stronger each and every week. I must say i felt fairly resistant in the beginning to the harsh conditions of working out in the rain and cold, followed by the hot sun and miserable heat all day.

My work at 21 acres was especially painful and unpleasant at first, but i am slowly acclimating and starting to enjoy these places i am acquainting myself with.

The garden is finally coming together and looking good. The more people we have the easier and faster things get done! (who would have thought… hah!) It really is incredible though to see everyones energy come together and accomplish things much more productively!
The beans are growing tall, the roses have bloomed, we have tons of lettuce! and the broccoli and cauliflowers are slowing coming in. I had my first handful of freshly grown strawberries and they were absolutely delicious!
I’m continuing to learn tons and looking forward to what comes up next in the life of the garden. Im just realizing that i only really have about 3 more months in the garden since ill be on vacation for a month in August..

This chapter is going to end much quicker then i anticipated… Im already starting to wonder and contemplate what will be next for me in my life adventure. Cant wait to see what the universe has in store for me!

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Week #2 at Songaia by Caroline Langevin, Garden Intern 2017

5/10/2017

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Spring really is an incredible season. So much renewal and growth, animals and insects slowly migrating back as everything blooms and greens. The once dead looking garden wasn’t ever actually dead, but more so dormant as it conserved its energy, waiting for the sun to shine on and metabolize life with every shining ray. Watching trees, plants and flowers come to life bring such a beaming bright energy to my life, filling me with gratitude and awe in natures magic. Tending to plants in the garden and giving them a fruitful environment to bloom in generates such joy and satisfaction. Walking through and noticing how hard these plants are working to grow themselves and produce nutrients for us as humans is incredible. It really makes one step back and analyze their own lives and chosen path.

The plants most often take the path of least resistance and always grow towards the sun, reaching to catch more light then their neighbors, creating healthy competition for each plant to grow as big and as fast as they can in order to obtain enough food and nutrients. The garden may be extremely labor intensive and tiresome, but i have done few other things in my life that are as satisfying and rewarding as growing plants and food.

There is an extraordinarily gratifying feeling that comes from the knowledge and wisdom of understanding and taking care of plants. We really are just like these little plants, fighting to get our needs met, shelter, food and water.

We lay dormant in winter, gathering our forces for the summer time, as we will be fed by the suns gracious touch. The sun is life for everything on earth no matter what type of animal or critter you are.

Learning how to compost this week was quite fascinating, reusing and recycling energy, making sure no energy gets unused and left behind. It is a really interesting process learning how to use energy cyclicly in life. I feel like we waste so many resources and energy living in this society and its a breath of fresh air learning and observing others actually making a difference in their own lives. Everybody has a part to play and works together to make life happen here.

We celebrated day of the earth this past Saturday and danced the may pole which was filled with love and laughter. I had a really great time dancing and laughing with the community. It was amusing watching everyones faces light up while trying to merge ribbons up and down and around the pole.
I loved observing the reactions to the facepaint since it is such a fun and creative outlet that i enjoy sharing with others. All in all it was a very fulfilling week, learning in abundance and letting go of stress through weeding.

xoxo
~Caroline