Slow Drip and Bright Fire
Lately I’ve been spending most of my time at or around the freezing point. Tall old maples, mixing with basswoods and oaks, head on up toward the sky, intertwining their fingers up above to roof us while leaving only their trunks down below for us to wander among. I can see all the way down to the lake, where, past its fringe of dense cattail marsh, the ice is still thick but slowly darkening. Last year spring came in February and never left. This year it still hasn’t found its way and there’s only a week until April.
Solo
And Some Extra Bits
Solo
It’s Thursday today. On Monday I did a few morning chores and had my last day at ARC, and left with Misty for Minneapolis. Monday also happened to be the day of the March Snowpocalypse, and we had to turn back. I spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday happily snowed in, with just me, Misty, and another community member named Medora bouncing around in a 10,000-square-foot log cabin.
Items
Being a Recounting of a Selection of Events which have late occurr’d at ARC, & divers Reflections thereon.
Item: What have I been doing at ARC? I’ve been becoming a human. I always used to think I was one already, but it turns out every time in my past when it was time to do human things, I was elsewhere.
What ARC Is and Why We're in Minnesota in January
I know, I didn’t expect to be this far north at this time of year either. But sometimes you just have to go where life is telling you to go.
Feel Like Shimmering
Here comes another poem. They keep happening. I hope that’s okay.
Shoestring Permaculture
The last time I wrote anything about where I was, Misty and I were happily in the middle of doing odd jobs at Feral Farm in Washington. We’re not there anymore; we like to stay at places for about a month and then move on to the next place with a lesson. But I wanted to mention something we learned from being there. After all this is a trip that’s all about learning, and although we’re mostly targeting ourselves at learning how to live off the land, a lot of the lessons we pick up will be useful for people who are planning to do nothing of the sort.
The Hat
Misty got this hat, from our friend Willow. And somehow, it was never the same twice. Not all of Misty’s head gets cold at the same time, so they have to arrange it very particularly.