Permatours, a volunteer group working with permaculture activities, was having its last event of the season at a farm in Acton, Maine. We would be building a cob oven, a wood fired outdoor oven built mainly of mud, clay, sand, and straw, and a hugelkultur garden bed, a nutrient rich, moisture retaining mounded bed with rotting logs as a base, topped with compost and soil.
I arrived at the land on Friday evening as other people slowly trickled in. We weren’t going to start working that night, with winter coming, the days were growing shorter. They had planned a potluck dinner and a fire to begin the event.
Many people brought different things to add to the meal. Luckily for me, most of it was gluten-free. There were all kinds of gluten-free pasta dishes, veggie dishes and sweet desserts.
After eating, we started the fire, and brought out drums to play. We began the festivities by each of us singing our name to the beat of the drum, then everyone sang it back in return. It was a nice way to learn everyone’s names.
The fire went late into the night. We sang all sorts of songs as we danced around the fire. It was great to be with community again. At the end of the night I returned to my bus for a restful sleep.
The next morning I woke up early to make it to yoga. I knew I had to walk the pups first so they wouldn’t be hyper. Unfortunately the walk was not enough. Sophie bounded about during yoga, trying to lick everyone’s face. I ended up taking the dogs outside, skipping yoga. I decided to walk to the pond instead. My friend David joined me and we sat on the floating dock taking in the morning sun.
Afterwards we went back over to the still smoldering fire. He had brought salmon and the ingredients to make wraps, luckily I had gluten free wraps in my bus. He cooked the salmon over the fire and we enjoyed the wraps for breakfast, sharing them with anyone else who wandered over and wanted one.
It was time to start the day as a group, and everybody circled up. We went around the circle, each saying our names again since more people had arrived, and this time we each added our spirit animals. My spirit animal is the wolf.
We went over what we would be doing for the day, which consisted of a few different projects. Besides a hugelkultur garden bed and a cob oven being created, a large sign for the farm also needed painting. They told everyone to do whatever they felt called to do, and if you didn’t want to do something, simply don’t do it.
I didn’t feel like doing hard labor yet, and since I love painting, I started off helping with the sign. It said “ Wonder Flower Farm” in big letters, and the rest of the sign was up to each individual’s inspiration. We could add whatever touch of magic we wanted. I painted random designs along the bottom. I also helped with videotaping bits of what was going on.
I also helped out placing some large rocks for the foundation of the cob oven. But I spent the majority of my time hanging out with Izzy, a seven year old girl who lived on the farm, whom I had met the year before.
At the end of the long work day, a meal was put together consisting of foods that everyone brought. After dinner I was feeling exhausted so I laid down to rest; daylight savings time was really throwing me off. I ended up falling asleep and having a great nap. When I woke up, I noticed Julia and Hailey were giving each other hair wraps. This is where you braid tiny strands of hair and then wrap craft string over the entire thing. I had been wanting one for forever, so I went over and asked if I could get one. Julia offered to do mine while Hailey did hers, and I was so excited. We did our hair to the music from the drums that another group was creating.
When we were about halfway done, Brooke was about to start doing a sound bath. We paused our hair wrapping so we could join in. Everyone spread out, laying down across the floor. Brooke spoke softly as she used different instruments and chimes. Normally with sound baths, I have trouble getting into them because staying still for me can be very difficult. But this one was different. I fell into a trance-like state where I felt like I was sleeping but I could hear everything around me. And when Brooke spoke of the wind outside it howled even louder as if it was working along with her. It was my favorite sound bath ever. After she wrapped up, Jalal asked if she could do some healing on an ankle injury that he had. She started speaking softly while using her chimes again and everyone fell back into the trance. I eventually decided to slip away. I knew I would fall sleep there if I didn’t, and I figured Julia, who also looked like she might be sleeping, would want to wait until morning to finish the hair wrapping. I instantly fell asleep in my bus.
The next morning everyone worked together to prepare breakfast. It was a slow-rise morning, and we all lounged around. We did a group yoga again. I was actually able to join in this time because I decided the pups would be okay in the bus for a bit since they were able to free-roam all day.
It was Blue’s, one of the volunteers, birthday. Someone had made a card for her that everyone signed. She was surprised as Hailey, Joy and Pat came in carrying her card and two cakes as everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to her. After she blew out her candles, everyone swarmed into a giant group hug.
Before going out to continue working, I asked Julia to finish my hair wrap for me. It had three different colors: light blue, dark blue and gold, and she added a few wooden beads. I was thrilled with how it turned out.
Then it was time to start work again. The hugelkultur bed was finished, so most of the people were either working on the sign or the cob oven. The rock foundation was already in place, so the task today was to make the clay and start forming it to the oven shape.
That evening some vendors would be setting up booths to sell. I had spent a lot of my day hanging out with Izzy, who wanted to set up a tarot card reading booth, and recruited me to help. She would draw the cards and then I had to read from the book to tell each person what their card meant. We gave a reading to almost every person there. She also did a sage cleansing for each person after the reading, and even made herself some money. She used the money to buy herself some gifts from the vendors, and also bought me some too. She got us each magnets and little mushroom shaped crystals.
Then it was time for face painting! One of the women there named Angela was a professional face painter, and offered her services. She painted everyone beautiful masks. My friend Kendra even had her pregnant belly painted. When it was my turn I asked her to do whatever she thought would look good. She used purple, blue, and green to make a swooping flower design on the side of my face. I absolutely loved it.
Jeanne the woman who lived on the farm, was starting a fire cider workshop. Fire cider is an herbal tonic that increases immunity and helps fight off illnesses. She showed us how to make it by chopping up horseradish, onions, ginger, peppers, jalapeños and garlic, and filling a jar three quarters of the way with a mixture of those ingredients. The rest of the jar is filled with apple cider vinegar. The mixture then has to sit for a month or two before straining out the vegetables. The leftover liquid is your tonic. I have had fire cider before, but this was my first time making it, and I was grateful for the experience.
That night I took a walk with Jalal out to the little pond. We laid on the dock looking up at the sea of stars. Thomas the cat even jumped up on the dock and joined us. Afterwards we went for a little walk in the woods lit only by the moonlight. It was the perfect relaxing way to end the busy day.
The next morning most of the people had left since the event was technically over. A few of us stayed behind to finish the tasks that hadn’t been completed. The cob oven was mostly done, but they wanted to use crystals to make designs on the surface of the clay. Jeanne brought out a little treasure chest full of crystals, and we pushed them into the clay, making beautiful flower designs.
I also jumped in and helped paint the finishing touches on the farm sign. It was a bright masterpiece that everyone had contributed to. I wanted to stay later, but I knew the sun would be setting soon, and I do not like driving in the dark. I said my goodbyes and hit the road again.
If you would like you help me along on my travels,
my PayPal is:
my cash app is:
$TeaganDavis47
My Vemo is:
@TeaganDavis47
If you would like to subscribe to my blog there is a section where you can on my homepage. You can unsubscribe anytime and will only get emails when I post a new blog.
Comments