July 9 Closing Circle

July 9, 2011
Saying good–by to the class started early. I had a nice chat with Charles and Starhawk about future plans to meet and work together again. The barn was busy with early showers and everyone packing, I didn’t bother because I knew my packing was going to be a huge chore and since I wasn’t leaving till Sunday I spent my time chatting. I didn’t run, I was tired from a restless night.
I was up stairs brushing my teeth when I felt someone standing behind me. I had the door open and people we coming and going but when I turned around no one was there but the towel hanging on the wall across from the tub was suspended in the air. The towel still hung on the hook but swung back and forth as if someone held and dropped the end of it as I turned to look. The first thing I thought was "Oh, that took a lot of energy" and immediately felt a male presence. I walked out of the bathroom and Silven was standing in front of his room and I asked him if he had felt any spirit energy since he was staying right there? He said the first week he woke up to feeling something in his rooms that really scared him and he asked it to leave, and it was male energy, it did not bother him again. The room next to his is where the little boys were staying. Later Kyra told me they talked (only in French) about shadows with red eyes and things that woke them up at night, which we all witnessed during the week, they often would wake up crying durning our evening sessions. I also know their mother Iris does not allow them to watch TV and they are not exposed to the Hollywood version of ghost as some kids are. I personally do not feel there was anything to be afraid of, the spirit just wanted to be acknowledged.
Our morning circle was very powerful with less emotion that the night before. We received our certificates and our readers, which is information and such that we studied in the class. People started leaving with lots of photos, hugs and tears after closing the circle and until around 2pm when Shabina, Krya and I were left on the farm. Shabina which is 22, slept since she was up partying all night and Kyra spent a little while just letting down after the last car pulled out of the drive. Kyra is the daughter of Dawn the owner of Heartroot and the organizer of the workshop, she is 23. I spent over an hour organizing my stuff to pack, which is a real job. I moved into the Barn in the room behind the kitchen because it is right next to the only real bathroom in the place and it is cozy and secure. Later in the afternoon I spent some time cleaning and dragging laundry and garbage down stairs. The Barn is huge and odd, full of junk and just stuff, dust and spiders. Who ever build this place had strange reasons for putting this here and that there, or started something and never finished. It is creepy and old and some places are just nasty with mold or filth. And it feels completely different with everyone gone. I really feel we made a huge difference her in the physical and energy work we did. I felt the male spirit in the area of the two bedrooms and the bathroom as I was cleaning but I just felt it wanted me to know it was there, no communication.
Later in the afternoon Shabina, Krya and I built the last Spiral in the garden to complete the triple. It was very labor intense doing this with just three. We tore tons of cardboard and laid it over the grass and wild flowers, wet it and covered that in manure we hauled up the hill wheel barrow after wheel barrow. It came to shape and we cleared out the paths and laid down the straw to complete it. It is a little smaller than the other two but it can and will be expanded once it is planted and tended.
We sat and talked for a while drank Chi and ate leftovers. Telling stories and learning more about each other. These young people have such incredible energies and experiences. It was so awesome to have so many in our class. Our youngest student was Willow from New Mexico, she was 17 and just a trooper. It makes me feel good that what they learned over the past two weeks will change their lives and hopefully the world around them.
We spent our evening at the house watching a Bollywood movie on the computer. I slept like a rock and sometime during the middle of the night Shabina came in and slept in the other bed, she said the barn was creepy and she got scared, I had offered to share my room but I think she wanted to experience the creepy-ness herself. She is also the one that would take a sleeping bag out into the forest and spend the night until some critter or some strange sound would send her back to shelter, interesting person she is.
I sit in the quiet barn with the flies buzzing around the kitchen table, Shabina’s parents are coming around noon to take me to Sherbrook so I can catch the bus to Montreal. That may change according to their plans but for now I will just go for the ride. I will catch up with Louise tonight and see what other adventures are in store for me.

　

July 8 Presentation Day our class comes to an end

July 8, 2011
Presentation day! We broke up into five groups and took different areas assigned to us by the teachers. We had to interview the land owners, make a site map, fing out what the land needed as for physical improvements, for drainage or shade etc. then we had to design and use the permaculture principles we were taught with details, including a plant list, press release and group process. Each group had 12 hours to pull it off. No Stress…SURE!
But we did and the presentations were really good. May used power point but we didn’t because there were only three of us and none of us were any good at power point. We took the front of the barn area and the animal section in the barn. We added parking lots and roads, efficiency in feeding animals in winter and feed storage, improved play area and a pond to catch the run off water and tap the springs off the slope. Very detailed and very glad to accomplish. After the presentations we had a class on contacts and what we can do with our certificates in Permaculture Design. We can actually call ourselves Permaculturist!!!
And for dinner we had turkey!!!
The talent show was a lot of fun. The teachers always do a skit and theirs was a mix between Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and permaculture, they were very funny. Others sang and read poetry, some told stories and jokes. It was very entertaining. Oh and the answer is…. I watched and enjoyed, no I did not entertain, but in some ways I did.
After the talent show we could smell the cake down stairs as we closed our daily circle and sang and danced. There came to a place where we had opened the circle and no one moved, everyone was just frozen and some people were crying. That was a very odd moment for both teachers and students but it said a lot about the work we have done together and how close we have become as a community. Starhawk started another chant and we raised a cone of power and when it was over the same thing happened. Everyone just stood there and the same feeling came over us, this time it was almost like a fear of what waited outside of this place and time. We stood there looking at each other and no one said a word or moved. So I stepped into the circle and with trembling voice talked about how important our work was and how we all came here without knowing how we would be changed, but we all came because we were called. That this is powerful and important work. That we needed to not say good-by but to say until we meet again and take our passion and permaculture out into the world and use it. We sang the one song I brought to circle, "Humble yourselves in the arms of the wild" and I said, "Now, let’s eat cake!" and the spell was broken. It was powerful and later both Starhawk and Charles came to me and thanked me for my words about the moment, I spoke to them about our fear and our work in the world. They both told me they have never had a class that just froze like that before, one the last night when there was cake and a hot tub waiting. They also felt it was powerful, and I am glad I had the words to break the spell.
I did not sleep well. This was the first night I tossed and turned all night. A huge storm rolled in and my bones ached. A skunk must have been right outside our cabin and there were things moving around inside. I would have gotten up but I did not want to wake Louise and I didn’t have anywhere to go so I just tried to go to sleep. Early this morning I talked with Charles and he said I was processing and I am sure he was right, I just need to be careful not to let the it get my energy, I still have a few days before I get home.
So it is closing circle at 9 am and most everyone is on the road.
　

July 7 getting to the end of our workshop and cramming for exams

July 7, 2011
Back to school, we all feel like we are cramming for a huge exam, which we are in a way. Our final projects are due starting Friday morning and the house is a buzz with people working on projects. I will not post much till we are done. Friday Evening we have our Talent show and wrap up on Saturday morning so things will be moving pretty fast.
Thursday morning, I did my strongest run and later I fell into the ditch on the road taking photos, kinda crazy day.
The morning session was about invisible structures, meaning economy and different ways to finance projects. Then Brook gave us an hour on farm management which I took detailed notes and really thought about how we have such a difficult time managing our farm.
From after lunch till after midnight we were in and out of the house, taking photos, measuring, looking up trees and information in books and using all our resources. Our section is the front of the barn area which includes the playground, the driveway, several sitting areas, a fire pit, but I also was asked to redesign one end of the barn used for horses. They wanted tractor storage and ways to feed the animals in the winter with six feet of snow. That was what I spent most of my time doing since I had some experience with such.
All for now gota get to work for presentation…Oh…we actually had meat for dinner last night, farm grown beef. I didn’t feel it was welcomed at the table but yesterday I declared "No More Beans" even if I spent the rest of my time here eating bread and salad. WooHoo almost done!

July 6 Press releases and projects

July 6, 2011
We are diffidently moving toward the end of this course. People are getting edgy. I have had it with the food and finding myself hungry but eating less and less every meal, snacking when I can on my stash and drinking lots of coffee and less water. It is not as hot here but we are also doing class inside in a warm room and I am trying to keep from missing information by staying tanked on caffeine.

Morning session, we talked about relationships and how we communicate. I have done some of this work with Starhawk before. Active listening, witnessing and engaging in conflict with different models as we worked with partners. The we talked about story telling and writing stories and books. The about press releases, how to write them and how to communicate with the press.

All afternoon we worked on our designs for our final projects. It rained really hard and we watched the wind blow across our little cabin.

In the evening we had to listen to our host go on for 2 1/2 hours about her view of humanity and almost everyone fell asleep. So goes the last few days. We are very busy with our finals, we present tomorrow in small groups.

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