So we arrived in Oregon just a week or two ago now.
And its been full on since we got here!
Firstly a super rapid induction into the local community with a midnight drive from the airport to Ashland and dropped straight into Ashland life with a contact ecstatic dance session in the morning 🙂 Met lots of wonderful people and then headed to what I can only call the most epic supermarket I have ever seen! The Ashland Co-op is nothing short of an organic food lovers paradise! And LOADS of it is grown in the VERY abundant Jackson County!
They are very much into organic and NO GMO farming here and currently undergoing a MASSIVE campaign canvassing to bring in a measure (15-119) against GMO farming. The link for the organisation behind the campaign is at the bottom of the blog. Do check it out, and share it wherever you can! Its a one off chase to get this opportunity to put this measure through and most states don’t get the chance so its FULLPOWER Our Family Farms Coalition at the moment! ‘Ill add some photos of some of the campaign bits as I get along in the blog. Its been FUN!
So anyway then we all jumped into the car and headed out to the Applegate Valley. A GORGEOUS forest lined, mountain backdrop, drive with windy roads and gravel tracks towards Yale Creek Road. Our destination for the next 2 months on a community and farm called Full Bloom (The link to their blog and site is at the bottom!)
We arrived and got shown round, dropped off all our stuff and had our first community dinner and sauna (yes, sauna) this is NO ordinary community! The land consists of natural buildings to reside in, a community building with communal areas and bakery (YES BAKERY! and the bread is EPIC! – their website is also at the bottom of this blog), kitchen and greenhouse gardens for nutritious permie organic food growing, and then the pond (great for dipping after the sauna on a cold night) and acres of native forest and fields. Animals include a bunch of chickens, a few ducks, the community dogs, several cats and a whole WORLD of natural wildlife and birds that interact daily.
There is a creek at the base of the land that runs through the valley and it feeds the irrigation systems throughout the land, the rest of the water is from the well and is some of the crispiest yummiest water I have ever tasted!
Solar power systems support the power usage and there are communal washing areas and compost toilets in the main buildings. We however are in the guest accommodation which is the old primary building on the land, complete with an ensuite and hammock that looks over the valley! More about our place in another blog – its taken some settling into but is now alive with us and John, the other roomie, amongst others that come and go daily! 🙂
The snow capped mountain that is our daily morning and evening meal backdrop, as well as the perfect view for meditation is called Dutchman’s Peak and is powerfully present and strong. Looking forward to exploring it before the snow fades for Summer!
So anyway….. we got introduced to the community members and embraced wholeheartedly into community life then headed off to bed.
It was straight to work the next day with our tasks while we are here. To facilitate a creation of their values, vision and objectives, manifest it into a brand and then set up as much marketing structure as we can, as well as rewrite all the systems documentation, application forms for new people to apply to come and work here, as well as get some new landowners to join. The community is at an amazing unique point in formation where a few people have moved on and the remaining landowners have formed a strong foundation but are inviting new landowners to come and co-create the next steps with them. It is rare to get the experience of coming into a community as a founder or vision creator so it is wonderful to be able to support this chapter in Full Blooms life!
So after meetings and some more meetings, LOTS of document reading and organising of files we now have a solid starting point. Values and visions and objectives have been captured and timelined and some of the documentation is already underway. Things are coming together nicely. Another brand meeting on Monday will step it forward another inch as we start the visualization process of how to put a “face” on Full Bloom!
Initially when I met Ryan (the founder) two years ago in Bali when I was working at the Green School (link is in the Empowerment Toolbox) he had said casually about me coming to check the place out. One year later and he is emailing to find out if I was interested in coming out to help him set up an events centre here. YES! Was the answer. However the centre building got delayed and so this year shifted to the target time. However, with this new wonderful chapter the new landowners and organisational side is priority. BUT it turns out events were NOT off the cards!
A couple of days after our arrival one of the community members Jo got a message enquiring whether a festival could be held here! This was the day after a “up til 3am” led him to start thinking that holding music events could be something he wants as his input for Full Blooms Vision! AND I am here and offering my support. Coincidence? I think not.
A few emails, on site meetings and discussions later and the festival is ON! Apple Jam Music Festival is going to be held at Full Bloom 16-18th May 2014! Their link is below!
I wrote them an Environmental Policy and we had some sessions making sure they are on board with being responsible for their impacts on the land and resources as well as the local environment. They are on board. In fact, Brandon, their waste guy is HIGHLY inspiring! Definately someone I’d love to use on future events I think!
Aside from music festivals and work, the life here is thriving. The kids in the community add a wonderful ALIVENESS to every day with their vibrancy and love of life, the community dinners that we have every night brings everyone together in a shared space and celebration of food (and you only HAVE to cook dinner once a week during weekdays – remind me why EVERYONE doesn’t live on a community!), the hot days give rise to time outdoors doing farm chores (I do LOVE a good mower), walking in the acres of forest and wilderness, or practicing juggling (my wonderful roomie made me some from organic (!) rice, and old material) and the people are inspiring and full of heart.
We’ve had a few community gatherings too. A community mapping day where resources from all throughout the area were noted down, to move away from the insular lifestyle and into a cooperative resources bank. And an Easter Egg Hunt where we had sexy waffles and whipped cream breaky…. and a hand painted (natural dye) egg hunt 🙂 Fun times!
The bakery on site – Rise Up! Artisan Bread is a family affair and one that keeps a fire burning (literally) in the heart of the community. It is based in the community building in the centre of the land and the smell of incredibly tasty organic hot bread deliciousness fills my days and evenings at a desk with a burning desire to indulge on their wonderfulness! Their rosemary ciabatta is so good I haven’t spent a night able to resist and their cinnamon pastries are to die for. The multigrain sprouted bread has however taken the lead. YUM! The whole range is cooked the old fashioned way and their family values of good food and heartfelt work are reflected in every stage of the process. Even their attitude to work sometimes leaves me breathless. Even with a doubling of flour prices this week due to a drought in the mid west (there’s some interesting theories as to WHY this is happening on you tube if you feel inclined) they have kept a positive and highly motivated solution based approach. They are now looking to collaborate with other local artisan bakers and organic flour users to pose ordering options to try and get the prices down by working with other bakeries. They have inspired not only my tummy, but my heart and my mind. This level of collaboration is serving businesses the world over as we are stepping forward into a more collaborative business model (Some more on that in a link below).
The community believes a LOT in transparency and dealing with the pain that we all carry within us as well as celebrating the joy and wonderfulness of life, and we hold sharing circles in every meeting we have as well as more structured Matrix heart circles and Gratitude sharings. It is amazing to be able to just be so completely YOU in all your rawness and insecurities and get held by a WHOLE community. I am not going to lie, even for an experienced heart sharer it is still a challenge to trust that being open and transparent is “ok” but the more you do it the more AMAZING it leaves you feeling afterwards! Thankfully with a little experience gained in Simon Paul Suttons circles held in Malta last year (link is in the Empowerment Toolbox) this kind of sharing is a familiar territory so we have fit straight in with an enthusiasm that sometimes takes a few sessions to gee up for first timers!
What an experience!
Beautiful place, beautiful values, beautiful people, beautiful sharing!
Things flow along at a SWIFT rate here and with only a little time out up until now with a couple of trips into local towns, we are looking forward to more weekly adventures now we have settled in and got the preliminary work under our belts! We’ve even found an EPIC rock climbing gym and hot springs locally so they are first on the list when the time comes!
Today however was a SPECIAL day! We had a community outing to Medford. For none other than a TRACTOR RALLY FLASH MOB!
Never heard of one of those? NOPE! Me neither!
Basically its a whole bunch of awesome farmers, and their awesome tractors, coming together with a whole bunch of supporters, and whooping and beeping their way through the centre of town. All for a good cause!
An initiative driven by the “Our Family Farms Coalition” it was to raise awareness of the NO GMO Jackson County campaign. As described above this was in aid of the Measure 15-119 to protect family farming in the county. The campaign has been running for weeks with tens of farmers and supporters collaborating and hitting the streets door to door knocking, holding presentations, and handing out information about the damage GMO’s will do to the land, the farms, and ultimately the standard of food and life that this and future generations will experience in their home county unless the Measure comes in. Its been amazing to see a whole community come together in so many numbers to activate awareness and solidarity about this issue.
The morning was warm and we started by picking up Ben at a local farm with the community truck, another farmer Rouke was lending the trailer, and Ben had the tractor. We loaded up and headed into town!
When we arrived we were greeted by one of the key coalition drivers Elise Higley (who we had met at one of the presentations) and set to work helping farmers (who were arriving in increased numbers) to decorate their tracotrs with signs, and also to get their signatures on signs to send to the TOP supporters of the campaign. The biggest thing has been getting enough money together to fight the opposition. Needless to say the chemical companies Monsanto and Syngenta have been throwing VAST amounts of money at the opposition which is headed by a PR company and funded almost completely by out of county corporations and are yet calling themselves (interestingly) Good Neighbour Farmers PAC! They have put on TV ads and all sorts of PRO GMO paraphernalia, so Our Family Farms Coalition (funded entirely by supporters funding) have taken to investing time more face to face and visibility in local areas to inform and educate people on the implications and impacts that a GMO county will be on them and their families.
Following the tractors as they left that car park, dressed in signs, and driven by farmers wearing smiles, dungarees and a passion to stand up for their rights, I can honestly say that the coalition has done a GREAT job!
People in the cars passing and those that came out of offices and shops that lined the streets waved, honked their horns, cheered, whooped and held up signs and t shirts showing the campaign. They are educated and wanting to make a difference, together.
After cruising through the town, the tractors convoyed into the central street where we gathered for a press conference with signs waving, air horns blaring and a WHOLE lot of cheering!
The atmosphere was alive and buzzing and post press conference it was time for a last stop… WALMART!
Walking the rest of the way the support continued as we passed km’s of open road (everything in America is miles apart – god knows what they will do if there is a petrol crisis!) and we stayed positive and pumped.
Gathering in the car park first we lined up the 17 tractors and then lined their pathway past Walmart’s front door, handing out flyers and talking to customers about the measure. It didn’t last long and the management came out to send us along our way! Our work was done, a few non supporters had been targeted and spoken to, but it was clear there is still a LONG way to go in Medford to get people inspired to support the measure, and even to bother registering to vote in the first place! Every little helps!
We all grouped off the Walmart property for a photo then headed back to where we started to reload onto trailers, take down signs and head back out to the rural quietness of Yale Creek Road!
An awesomely inspiring day, showing the effect of collaboration and community life. And of people that feel hope IS possible, that there ARE choices, and that there IS alternatives. And even if the measure doesn’t pass that energy will remain, alive in the hearts of those that believe whole heartedly in following their hearts, of living in the best way they can, and of helping and inspiring others to do the same.
I think in the last few weeks that has been the biggest lesson. That in spite of all that is going on in the world, amongst all the crazy, there is an incredible beautifulness growing. In small pods around the world. That are slowly becoming bigger pods, and connecting globally to show the rest that there IS light at the end of the tunnel. That by being REAL and OPEN we can empower ourselves into our FULLEST BLOOMING to make a difference in the world. And that difference starts with US. By stepping into our highest JOY and shedding all our fears to follow our hearts into a better world 🙂
That’s all for now
Much love from a little community with a big heart in Oregon!
Gayle
x x x x x
Full Bloom – blog and site http://fullbloomcenter.com/
Rise Up! Artisan Bread http://riseupartisanbread.com/
Our Family Farms Coalition http://www.ourfamilyfarmscoalition.org/
Apple Jam Music Festival http://applejammusicfestival.com/
Collaborative Business written by Julia Howell