communal, independent, religious, spiritual, collective

Today, about 20 minutes ago actually, we ran across Jonathan Haidt's TED talk on

Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence

This talk is so amazing that I have to share it. This topic has special relevance to my life. Through high school and then a couple of years into college my life revolved around my religion. I even studied Biblical Studies for a couple of years at a private university and took Biblical Greek and Hebrew at the seminary there. The best classes there were on the Old Testament story and poetic structure offered by a professor from India. That man made the books of culturally misunderstood prophets beautiful.

Since that time I have stopped believing that anyone has the right to require someone to agree to one doctrine, one perspective and I ended up where many of the religiously transitioning/communally minded do, the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Society (in Cedar Falls, IA). Through this journey I have lived at an intentional christian community, and a yoga community as well as started a small community with another UU couple who studied shamanic arts. I have been a part of a secularist meetup group where we shared religious disillusionment experiences and attended a buddhist meditation group where we chanted and meditated by candlelight (at the same time period, but different days of the week). I got to hear the Dalai Lama speak on education and secularism. I think that I have gained a lot from all of these amazing people and all of these amazing experiences. . .but catch me on a grumpy day and I will tell you that I never want to have anything to do with a religious community.

I like that this TED talk covers religion, the group collective, and free-riders (when he discusses free-riders and group collective my mind immediately jumps to Ayn Rand novels). I love working with a group of people who share a vision and an intent. It makes me feel really alive. I want this type of community . . .but I also want my independence. I love that my particular modge-podge of spirituality makes me feel grounded and focused, but sometimes a few glasses of wine and some trance music (or Ella Fitzgerald) help me let loose as well. I think the ultimate goal of a spirituality is to have a life that lives ones beliefs, a life that is not split, but one. Whether one sees the world through a religious scope or just sees life in everything it is about connection and gratefulness, growing and journeying, balancing as we learn. Perhaps it is a pastor who is understanding and accepting of differences, or an atheist living a life devoted to caring for animals, a hippie that renounces the rat race to nurture plants, or a mother who loves her daughter, it is about integrating the best version of each of us to the rest of our lives and expanding that to show others this part.

We are looking at having community here, but ultimately what we want are independent, resourceful people who share a common vision. On that note I am very excited to share that next week we have our first possible member coming to stay for a bit and check us out. . . more on this later. I would like separate living spaces on this property (though one transitory shared living space). The type of community that I experienced that was the healthiest for me was during my internship at Earthships in Taos, New Mexico. At Earthships there are independent, hard-working people with open minds who know how to relax and have fun--and they are making a big difference in the world.

Intentional community doesn't have to mean "commune" or "socialism" (though it can if that works for you). I think that perhaps many people who live in unintentional communities aren't aware of how greatly their life, identity, and happiness are influenced by the existing social rules of that society or area. People working together toward a common goal (here sustainability) can be very powerful, but individual physical space seems to be a good buffer for acceptance of differences.

we have a Website!

A couple of weeks ago I threw together a website for our place.

There will be more to come soon, but events will be posted on the calendar if you would like to visit and help with building or pick some strawberries.

www.mooncatlife.com

We decided on the name moonCat life recently. Putting together the brochure for the first year of our CSA, we were forced to sit down and come up with a name. I wanted the site to be something fun and artistic. All of the pictures, unless otherwise stated are at the land here in Illinois.

Costa Rica part 2: a look at the land

We have been very busy here now that it has warmed up. I am finally taking a moment, however, to post a little about what we saw in Costa Rica.

Picture 1: Costa Rican lightning bug. We loved this golden firefly that crawled on our placemat at a coffee stop in the mountains. In the middle of the U.S. ours are black.

Picture 2: Bats on the outside roof of our hotel. These guys were so amazing! We are considering putting in a bat box on our land as well, to keep down mosquitos. These bats would sometimes utter soft cheeps, very cute.

Picture 3: We drove past a number of wind turbine riddled areas. Its inspiring to see renewable energy being implemented in different countries.

Though I wonder about the impact on bird populations.

I have a good book on turbines called

Homebrew Wind Power.

Picture 4: Beautiful spider. This gal was hanging from a web on a tree I climbed.

Picture 5: Beautiful tree in the middle of a cleared out field. It is clear in Costa Rica that they prize their beautiful eco-touristy coasts (as they should!) but as we drove from San Jose down to Povones in the south we saw that even beautiful Costa Rica has its environmental eyesores such as dark smoke coming from palm oil factories, pineapple mono-cropping, and

forest clearing as seen in this picture. Despite all this we have pictures of the flawless coasts as well, though I'm sure you can find those on any tourism website.

Picture 6: Serene Jerome and a flower on the beach.

Picture 7: Random mystery fruit. I'm sure I could find out what it is, but I'm kind of enjoying the mystery. This fruit had a large pit in the middle but tasted like a mix between cotton candy and gummy bears. With fruit like this

why would you ever want candy?

partnership & costa rica

Jerome and I having a heated discussion at Outback Dave's, an Aussie/Trash art restaurant with delicious food. We had dogs and cats wandering through to be petted. Every table had a basket of old glasses to wear so that we could explore different aspects of our personalities.

As of 1/11/12 Jerome and I have been married 1 year. A wicked lot has happened in a year. We found ourselves in January and February evaluating our past year of marriage. We also don't hold the traditional view of marriage. We eloped partially because it was practical and partially because we want this partnership to be what we make it, not what years of tradition in society say marriage is supposed to be (I see many people stuck in an unhealthy place because of societal expectations). Since the beginning though, our partnership has evolved around our mutual love of nature and desire to have our children continue to enjoy it.

The first couple of months of this year we filled in the calendar with our plans. Then we began looking for a space to have the honeymoon that we hadn't taken yet. In February Jerome got a bonus from work and decided that since Phoenix was going to be spending some time with grandpa he would see if he could take off a week from work and squeeze in a surprise honeymoon. Somehow it worked out. Three days later we found ourselves on a plane for some sunshine and adventure in Costa Rica.

Now I'm not going to say that the carbon footprint of a plane to Costa Rica is eco-friendly, but the country was very inspirational. Being in Costa Rica allowed me the space to bring up unresolved feelings from the past year, and we found that while our trip had not been what we expected it was cathartic and healing.

It was amazing to feel the waves wash away tension and stress while the sun warmed me. Persephone home in the warmth of her mother's joy. We walked along the beach and got a little extra crispy from the sun. We ate amazing fresh fish. We got a free surf lesson (I will tell about in another post). I had the challenge of relaxing and trusting Jerome with the details while both of us speak barely enough Spanish to ask where the bathroom is . . .

How does this fit into my blog about trying to be sustainable? It is part of our journey. Also, I am excited to share the inspiration I found there in the land, and the San Jose Art Museum.

electric vehicles, local

Last year I ran across this video of someone close to our area who converted his truck to be an electric vehicle (EV). I sent the man, Bud Wren an email and he said that we could give him a call to stop out sometime.

A couple of weeks ago I was in charge of date night. I decided this was a perfect opportunity for childless focused time that would give us an opportunity to check deeper into EV's. Jerome and I went to visit Bud Wren on Campbell Island.

Bud did his truck from scratch, no kit. He did his own custom welding and used junk parts and some parts he had to order as well. He had a lot to say! Basically, there is so much more to learn . . .

I know that things can be a lot easier if you pay more for a conversion kit. You will get more distance and oomph if you use the expensive specialized batteries. There are so many options!

I know that from here I continue to read my book and watch videos online. I am also going to continue researching veggie oil alternatives. This seems like a much easier option for the warmer months. Also, when it is cold this can drain batteries.

I need to end this post because my computer battery is about to die! :)

to be continued, but watch the video at the link above!

its always inspiring to see local people trying something alternative, green, and stepping outside of the box.

heart

Persephone

Knowing something about the fullness of the world's sadness

and the fullness of the world's joy,

I don't know how to proceed

Nobody acknowledges a walk through fire,

still I run torched and sputtering,

laughing, let my mouth spill garnet seeds

I could be spring's wet rupture under a blossom moon

I want the momentum of birth after

a thousand deaths, I want to do

what I'm scared to do, to do what I love

to follow the embroidery of blood

mapping my grandmother's voice to where I have not been yet

The key to resurrection is to re-member

remember pain shooting through you wet and tender,

agonizing in your growing, the heart sharply green in its need

You never know who will split your darkest seeds,

and draw light from your eyes

Remember we are golden benevolence,

like spare change angels,

we all pocket some redemption

give in to one thirsty kiss

kneel at your heart and drink

--Ellen Crow Vodicka

Finding the contradictions in life

opening

deconstructing

building

accepting

resource management

Retro art. This picture was stretched already, we found it at the local Salvation Army thrift store. Why stretch a new canvas when there are all of these great artworks waiting to be updated? ;) Phoenix painted this on her birthday. The hearts were cut from the foil of a Newman's chocolate bar.
Our upper room is evolving! I love these couches that we found at the consignment store in town. They actually have mattresses under the tweed covers for our future guests. These are also on wheels! Oh, couches on wheels. . . I made a room divider out of materials from the Habitat For Humanity Restore. The divider behind the couch is made from salvaged shutters, hinges, and screws.
One crate full of leftover potting soil. We will be mixing it with compost to start seeds for our veggies.
Wooden baskets for gathering strawberries.
Trays and starters for veggies to be. We are stacking these and moving them to a particular corner of one of the greenhouses.
Flower pots. These were outside in a crate. I moved them inside one of the greenhouses so that they didn't get too weakened by the cold weather.
More starter pots in the hoop house. Some of these had remnant of tomato plants past. We pulled out the old dried out plants and had fun burning them in the fireplace. The leftover potting soil we dumped back into a crate in the hoop house.

We put in a wood burning stove downstairs and have the fireplace in the upper room. Recently some friends of ours nearby that own land told us that we can have as much wood as we want by helping to manage their woodlands. We obtained a chainsaw from one of places we found on craigslist. One of their buildings had collapsed on a chainsaw and broke it. We were gathering bricks and tin from the rubble and they said we could take the broken chainsaw as well. Jerome got it fixed up and has begun teaching me to use it.

Bottles Bill Mccabe has been saving from his bar for us. We will be using these to build and make bottle bricks. I have fun plans for bottle bricks in tires and adobe around the fire ring, but I have to wait until Spring.

~ * ~

Mike Reynolds got my attention when he said (in the video Garbage Warrior) that trash is a natural resource of the world today.

Lately we have been doing a lot of resource management. By this I mean lots of cleaning and organizing. When we bought our land there seemed to be trash everywhere. The owners were cleaning it up and throwing it away, but we told them to just leave it! What appeared to be trash was a were a lot of slightly used and highly disorganized resources. Since last June we have been slowly sorting . . .

honestly to start our CSA most of the resources are already here. There are so many flower pots and trays and smaller starting pots that its hard to imagine

using them all, especially if we continue to reuse.