first camp out

And so, as everything went full green, the sugar maples springing up, the aspens quivering in the breeze, we organized a small band of friends and spent our first nights out on “the land”.

But even before our circus came to town, we had a lot to do. First, we dug ourselves a toilet, as suggested by Living on the Earth, an excellent resource book for life. We even got fancy with some tarps and an old shower curtain.

Danila gave it a test run.

Next, I felt the occasion required a teepee and, with moderate success, a teepee was born.

We were ready. Lea kept a look out for friends. And birds, of course.

Here is a glimpse of the characters who came to frolic and make merry with us:

Ilusha, the rockstar. Werd. Peace.

Liz, the explorer. Woot!

Dima, the bearded one, our new benefactor.

Rachel, doctor in training back from India. We’re so glad you came!

Michelle, the swan, our three legged wonder.

Anastasia, artist in residence. The things she can do with cheese wrappers!

And a gaggle of other fantastic folks.

The land was our playground and future homestead. Dima and Danila felt strongly about protecting it and created weaponry in the case that we might need to stand our ground.

Liz and Ilusha set out to discover the wildlife of the area, yielding fantastic results!

Honestly, it was a wonderful first gathering. Lea had sweet dreams, me and Marina met our amazing neighbors, we sang, we drank, we lost ourselves in the brambles, we created “Ikea” furniture out of old concrete forms, we chopped wood, we solar showered ourselves, we slept on our bit of earth and the chickadee sang. We left in a good mood, the right balance, reassured that the synchronicity was real.

Thank you to those who came to play. I hope all of you make it out here at some point and add to it all. Think good thoughts for us, because we have a long way to go. So far though…damn. As my friend Justin often quotes “life is sweet and the time is now.”