A Foggy Day at the Farm

Some images from a foggy day hike at the farm...

Thanksgiving 2015

There have been annual Thanksgiving meals at Dave and Cindy's home for many years, open to any and all who had need for a loving family to spend Thanksgiving with. It has been a lovely tradition, treasured by many.

This year, for the first year, this annual meal was held at the farm and what a joyful day it was. We give thanks, indeed!

What we need is here.

Another dream...

I (Dan) had another recent dream that reminded me of the farm community, so I thought I'd share it here... it was very vivid, detailed and long-lasting...

In my dream, I was feeling ill, heavy, bloated, slow-moving, weighed down.

I went to the doctor's office (walked and bused there, in spite of not feeling well), where they did some tests and seemed quite concerned, but also unsure of what to do next.

So, they recommended more tests from more doctors, and told me to get with the front desk to find out details of where to go and when.

I went to the front desk, where I could see the nurse had some official-looking document printed out with four or five doctors' names. But instead of giving that to me, she handed me a piece of paper with a hand-written address on it and, looking furtively around, said, "Go here, now..."

While this seemed a bit odd, to be sent directly to another doctor for more tests right away, and with no name, no phone number or anything but an address, I followed her directions and started walking to this new appointment.

The trip to this new place seemed to take a long time, but I don't really remember any details (I think I stopped for a fund-raiser for homelessness and saw there the guy who sells hotdogs down the street from my office... but that may have been a separate dream...). I just remember feeling more and more weighed down and bigger, as if this illness was literally making me rounder, larger.

I believe the address was just an address, nothing else, but I kept looking at the paper as if it were giving me directions, leading me further from a developed city and further into the woods, until I was literally on a path in the woods. Then, at the "end of the woods" (or so it felt), there was a beautiful, oddly-shaped tree.

I felt I was supposed to climb it, but by this point, I was totally worn out. I felt even more tired, uncomfortably physically larger, my legs were tired, my hands were swollen and I just couldn't do it. Besides which, there was a storm brewing, the wind was blowing, leaves were whipping around and it felt rather unsafe.

Then, I think a wolf (or coyote or some large, scary animal) showed up. I heard it first, a large animal moving in the woods around me, it seemed on all sides. Finally, it came out of the woods and while I don't think it was behaving in a threatening manner, wolf, you know, so I was sorta scared.

In my fear, I began climbing the tree. As I did, the wolf ran over to the bottom of the tree to chase me further up. Up I climbed, further than necessary to escape the wolf. Up into the blowing leaves with the limbs whipping around, threatening to knock my tired and gravity-soaked body to the ground. Eventually, I reached an opening in the tree branches, where I could see the forest around me and all the trees blowing in the wind.

Having a secure, large, flat branch below me and the tree against my back, I stood up and stretched out my arms, enjoying the terrifying wind that was flowing through the forest like an out-of-control river. And, as I stretched out my arms and stood there - autumn leaves blowing all around - parts of "Me" were blowing off, all that bloating and excess that I had accumulated were blowing off just like the leaves that were blowing off the trees.

I began to feel lighter, less weighed-down, more invigorated and still the wind whipped off bits of me to flutter away. Finally, I reached a point where I was so light, so freed from gravity, that I knew I wouldn't be able to stand there much longer, I was going to lose my balance and fall.

And then, I did.

Only, by that time, there wasn't much of "me" left, and - with the sky clearing and the wind lessening to a gentle breeze - I floated down to the ground below like just another autumn leaf.

Although I thought I was dying by then, it was an exhilarating and freeing fall to the forest floor that seemed to last a very long time.

From that point, I think it was as if I were seeing the scene apart from myself. I saw the bottom of the tree, the forest floor with golden and red leaves, and the wolf, still waiting at the bottom of the tree. The wolf padded over to a pile of leaves and began pawing through them and there I was, made whole and healthy.

I woke up soon thereafter.

It was a very invigorating and fresh-feeling dream! And very obviously-metaphorical, some might say.

As with some of my recent dreams, I'm not sure that these are the exact details, this is more the "feeling" of the dream, if not the details.

Hmm.

Photos from the Apple Cider Festival day...

It was beautiful weather, perfect peak fall colors and a wonderful day. So wonderful, in fact, that I didn't take too many photos, I was too busy enjoying it all. A great time, as always, was had by all...

2015 Apple Cider Fest & Highwater Hootenanny

THIS Saturday!

Fun and photos forthcoming...

The Fox and the Dragonfly

I had a dream the other night and I don't remember much in way of details, but the "feeling" of the dream was like this...

We (whoever "we" were, probably farm friends) were at the farm, at dusk. We were sitting in a circle around the firepit, quietly enjoying the evening.

We were watching a bronze-colored dragonfly lazily spinning around the field, buzzing around us, unusually close, unafraid.

Then, as the dragonfly went over towards the edge of the woods, a fox comes out of the woods. The fox was beautiful and golden red, not unlike the dragonfly.

The fox began chasing the dragonfly, but in a playful kind of way, around the field. We who were watching were mesmerized.

After a while, it appeared the two were chasing away down the lower pond path trail. Some of the friends got up and began chasing the fox and the dragonfly.

"Let's not let this go!" someone said, enthralled.

I don't think I was part of the chase myself (or maybe I was, at times), but was seeing it through the eyes of the chasers.

Down the path they went, through a rather magical looking woods, again, golden and red like fall.

It seemed like the chase lasted a pretty good time, and other things happened, but I don't remember the details. It was a joyous chase!

The next thing I remember was being around the firepit at night, with the campfire going. Around the campfire, Roger got out his guitar and Cindy her concertina (I didn't know she had one!) and the people there together wrote a song, "The Fox and the Dragonfly..." whose words and melody do not return to me, but it was SO lovely.

And I don't think it was something seen or recognized during the chase part, but I think the reason the fox and the dragonfly weren't afraid of us, the reason we could follow them, was that the people were transformed, themselves, into foxes and dragonflies.

Birthday Celebration, Hootenanny and Contra Dance

We celebrated Kate's big birthday with a potluck dinner, birthday cake, hootenanny and our very first contra dance in the Main Room, demonstrating that there is just enough room for a dance. Barely. A great time was had by all and Kate was well-feted.

Late Summer's Night Magic

Sitting in the middle of a field and watching
the curious white cloud, shaped like a dancing bear or, no,
shaped like a great Titan struggle, and
I know that, even though the cloud seems static, like a
photo in a frame,
it is always moving, always shifting,
but for the life of me, I can't see it.

It is a mountain, made of steel and
frozen in time.
I make up my mind to just
stare
at this mountaincloud -
that looks like Frederick Douglass, now... no, like
Sitting Bull -
sitting and staring and watching this cloud until
at last I can see some change to its shape
or its location in the sky,
but it is concrete, set like stone
above the stand of sycamore on the
edge of the field.

There is a crackling of limbs in the trees to my right
and a flutter,
then a roar of wings
as a hidden murder of crows
takes to flight, sailing out of the trees
in an everlasting armada

and then, they're gone
and two bluebirds fill their absence
with a lovesong that is urgent
and a single dragonfly busies its way
across the field, visiting last summer flowers
beneath the setting sun
in the solemn sky
and that reminds me of the cloud, that mountain of water and mist,
and I turn to see if it has moved
even one inch
but Sitting Bull has left
his last stand
and the cloud is gone
entirely.

Werifesterians

Werifesteria: (v.) to wander longingly through the forest in search of mystery

Dragonfly fields of summer

          Shimmering dragonflies
hover over the surface of the field
 like God, hovering over the surface of the waters
     so long ago,
              and I know
                 today will be a day for miracles

Trails

with each trail I hike
I gather stones in my pockets,
twigs and moss in my hands

and one day
I will build a small home
made up of all those trails.

Our First Hobbit Day

We had our first ever Hobbit Day at the Farm back in March and just realized I never posted any photos. It was a lovely early spring day, ripe for adventures and good food.

"I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone."
"I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!"
+++++++
Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.
+++++++
Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!
+++++++
Still round the corner there may wait
 A new road or a secret gate
And though I oft have passed them by
 A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
 West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

Hunting Bigfoot with Jesus, 1

While walking through a dark forest tonight
Leaves beneath my feet
Guiding my path

I came across Jesus
Sitting on a stump
In the black woods.

Jesus
I said, a bit surprised,

What are you doing out here?!

He sat quietly

Do you like night hikes, too?
With the moon casting velvet shadows
And the spring peepers
Providing sweet night music?

Yes
Jesus said.

That's it.
The quiet beauty of
Creation at rest, and all that...

It's certainly not because
I'm out looking for
Bigfoot
Or anything like that.

There was another awkward pause and
Then he said

Well, enjoy your hike.

Jesus is a funny guy, sometimes.

Hidden

The snow falls softly
on the good and the gentle
and we are made one

The sound of crickets

The sound of crickets
is my joy and my anthem
listen, those who choose

~Cindy BK

Retreat

The farm friends retreated this weekend, in part, to hang a door in the woods. An invitation to enter into Creation, into Life, into a New Way or, perhaps, an Old Way, but certainly, into a Way Different and, we'd hope, Beautiful.