Feel good do good tour
“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”~ Margaret Mead
At The Garden of Eden, I have experienced true unconditional love and acceptance and have shared in the creation of a chicken coop and the beautification of the garden. I have found a light and loving way to progress through life inspired by ideas and fueled by passion. I feel good, therefore I do good.
My time at the Garden will be ending soon. It’s bittersweet. I’m heartbroken and falling in love at once. I enjoy it here and don’t want to lave, but I take the change as an opportunity to create something new elsewhere and within my self.
I trust that everything I do with good intent will be exactly what I want.
Michelle “Maggie” Maggied (pictured left) and I will be setting off toward the Southwest to visit intentional communities, eco-villages, and to meet others living the sustainable American dream. Our idea is to travel from Texas to Arizona in March then to the Northeast in April.
We’re raising money for our trip and for organic non-GMO seeds that we will share and plant with do-gooders we come across in our journey. I will be guerrilla gardening along the way as a protest to Monsanto’s agricultural monopoly and ties to the FDA. (FYI: Monsanto controls most crops and sues organic farmers for saving seeds.)
We’re planning an event to benefit organic growers and small farmers, sustainable activists creating community, and individuals planting good in the world, so check back soon!
(**UPDATE** We can’t accept donations through paypal at the moment, but we’re working to resolve this, soon.)
We are selling earrings as a fundraiser this Saturday at the Bicycle Swap Meet at Rahr & Sons and at Hump Day at the Where House on the February 15.
In love and with gratitude,
dumpster birthday surprise!
“Love is like a good cake; you never know when it’s coming, but you’d better eat it when it does!” – C. Joybell
I was that little girl standing in line before the birthday girl/boy to make sure I’d get the biggest and best slice of cake. I call this condition “Birthday Cake Syndrome”: awaiting my piece of cake excitedly, to behold it as a sweet luscious opportunity, and to scarf it down joyously as if it was a last meal.
Dumpster diving sends me to that birthday cake place. It’s a reminder of the giddy little child I am when I do what I feel. It’s an opportunity to be in ecstatic love with every moment as a surprise.
Last night, Maggie (right) and I found a whole decorated birthday cake and cupcakes on top of the overflowing bin. It’s as if they were there for us to celebrate the dumpster fare of the evening. Man oh man, did we celebrate! We found organic corn and breadcrumbs for our hens, organic chips, a pound of flour, organic juices and cereals, oatmeal, along with all the fruits and veggies we could ever need.
Rustic hands for roosting hens
Today I awoke to begin work on the Garden of Eden chicken co-creation project. I remembered an old friend and neighbor Gladys, a witty hard working 80-something-year-old. She’s a serious powerhouse of a woman! One day I remarked about her strength and capability. She shot back quickly, “Can’t sit on your rustic hands!” I looked down at her hands in wonder and laughed realizing I’d misheard her in a beautiful way. What she really said was, “Can’t sit on your rusty cans!”
I was in pure admiration of her strong hands and her unwieldy self-attitude. I used to dream of being that kind of woman. Today I know I AM that woman.
Rewilding: myself and the worms
“[Rewilding is] returning the land to the creatures that once flourished there.”–Eric Dinnerstein
spiritual body
One body in a wave. Motion, shape, and color
plump as a cherry floating on the sea.
Our organs feel pain, a desire–implosions!
An expulsion, impulsions to be free.
An orchard of feelings: breaking of a vase.
The vessel is my body.
There is no danger in letting go.
I stare into plasma oceans
awaiting this supercilious birth.
Crab dropping fertilizer
like manure on a lazy baby–
Growth.
We look upon the green coast
for breath. Deep breath. I’m home.
You’re home. You are my home.
I dismember you to remember me.
Passion and stuff
Passion rebuilds the world for the youth. It makes all things alive and significant. Ralph Waldo Emerson
I wake up to sun risen birds at The Garden of Eden, a co-op farm in Kennedale, TX. I drink organic orange juice harvested from the dumpster and sweet potato harvested from the earth. I go out into the garden to check on the tractor tire greens that slept under the frosty moonlight. I take a deep breath. I am thankful to be me.
Last night I fell asleep in front of the wood burning stove, laughing and playing music with my house mates. We peeled sweet potatoes for pies and did yoga exercises together. I am surrounded by passionate, open people. I am in daily meditation with community, food, laughter, dance, music, nature, and honesty.
A lot has changed for me lately. I quit my job and I am separated from my husband. But before you think “how sad” or “I’m sorry to hear that”, please know that I don’t have any remorse. I am grateful to be living true to myself, passionate in whatever expression it takes at each moment. I am happy.
Of course, my feelings and experiences are in a constant state of evolution. I hold them in the palm of my hand. I observe them like a bird, but I don’t harbor them in my heart. Expectations are flighty. I let go of them freely to welcome each experience fully.
I’m breathing and living moment to moment. I don’t want to miss a passion-filled heartbeat.
Life lessons
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. -Ralph Waldo Emerson