It takes a village

Some new friends have already joked that I belong to a cult. And they are not far off base. Camphill Village is an intentional community - I have gone from one cult (Allegheny Mountain School) to another. And so far I love it.

Camphill Village in the US started in 1961 at the site I work at. It is the largest and oldest of the Camphills in America. There are about 25 homes in the village each headed up by a house mother and father. Some have children and some do not. 4-6 villagers (adults with disabilities) along with 2-3 interns/assistants also live in the homes.

All villagers, interns, and some or both house parents have work placements in the different workshops in the village - the seed shop, the book bindery, the weavery, the bakery, the cafe, the glass shop, the estate (they work the grounds), the vegetable garden, the healing garden, the dairy, the woodshop, and the candle-shop.

Each morning, the village rises and each house has their morning meeting followed by breakfast and quiet hour. After quiet hour, everyone heads out to morning work (9-noon). I am the "work-master", yes this is the actual working title that gets used at the village and I have told them I don't like it, of my room in the seed shop where we are responsible for getting the seed clean and ready to be packed.

In the morning, I work with three villagers Kelly, Elizabeth, and Danny (we are joined by Patricia on Thursday mornings) and three interns Arafat, Greg, and Philip. Greg and Philip are with me all day. At 10:30 am we break for tea and cookies, for real, and then go back to work until noon. The village eats lunch from 12:30-1:30 followed by a rest hour. Some days I eat at a house and other days I eat in the seedshop or greenhouse and then try to take a nap usually in front of the wood stove in the greenhouse. Then I have an hour to catch up on things I need to do or ask questions of Ian, the work-master of the other seed room where seeds are packed and shipped. Ian has largely been the person training me and getting me up to speed while my supervisor, Lia, gets back in the swing of things (she is a new mom to an extremely cute 9-month old Eleanor).
Afternoon work begins at 2:30. There are eight villagers that work with me in the afternoon and one new intern, Lindsay. The villagers in the afternoon, Oliver, Rukin, Mishka, Ellen, Danny (again), Sheila, Linda, and Sherry are talkers and the room is noisy and semi-productive. Oliver, Rukin, and Ellen especially make me laugh with their antics. Work ends at 5 and after cleaning up my room and shutting every thing down, I am usually leaving and headed back to 1715 Mill River Great Barrington Road around 5:15.

Everyone I have met at the village so far has been extremely gracious and a little crazy for sure. I fit right in. When I get in my car, often times I am emotionally tired and sometimes physically as well. It is only possible to stay in each moment with the work and with my co-workers. Of course I still have nerves about whether or not I am doing a good job especially with the high bar set by the previous assistant manager and each day I feel a little more comfortable and get to know my co-workers a little more that I am starting to feel like a tile in the mosaic.

I am inspired to write a blog post about each of my co-workers or maybe a couple at a time as there is so much to be said about each one. I feel incredibly lucky to be in the position I am and to have such a full work life. I think I am in danger of making my work my life (which would be the same of my past two jobs - they always came first).

And with that, Poe and I say goodnight!

Your Reflective Posts Made Me Feel Reflective

New Yeeeeear!

In 2014 I'm proud of:
-Going back to school!
-Starting a yoga program at Sturgis and landing a salaried yoga teacher job!
-Saving up enough money and moving somewhere totally new!

My favorite memories of 2014:

-Teaching my kiddos at Sturgis

-Visiting Lisa in Virginia

-Nina and Pat's road-trip visit to the Cape

-Gaby's bachelorette and bridal shower and Gaby and Jake's wedding <3

 -Enjoying our last beautiful summer days on Cape Cod, and then packing our whole life into our car and moving to Colorado

I kinda gave up on personal New Years' goals, but I do have one goal this year: submit my grad school application in the fall! It's actually a lot of mini goals within one big goal. I only have four prerequisite classes left, and I'm 95% sure that I'm going for Occupational Therapy. There's only one school here in CO that offers it, so I'm putting all my eggs in one basket, but I'm doing it! Ahh!

I'm so thankful for all of you beautiful people in my life, and I miss you all the time!

happy new yeeeear!!!

Happy New Year, dear loves!!!!

Lisa's list of intentions for the new year has inspired me to finish a list of my own, born of gratitude and hopes and loves <3 (We have a lot of crossovers, Lis! Not surprising. Let's do some of them all together:)

• yoga everyday. be truly, utterly, blissfully committed to my training and my practice

• meditation everyday, no matter how short or how long

• surfing! (at least once a week)

• trip to Colorado with friends!! yes!!

• begin to plan my next big trip with Patrick. Some ideas are Iceland, the Shetland Islands,
 or Costa Rica (it's okay if the trip doesn't happen this year, but we'll start making plans for the near    future)

• grant the patience and kindness I give to others to myself

• begin work on a children's book (I have a few ideas!)

• eat more super foods and green things

• begin volunteer work (some ideas are food banks and animal shelters)

• go hiking in the White Mountains! All the tiiime!!
(Once a month is probably a more realistic time frame)

• learn songs by heart on the ukulele and sing them with friends

• make GoPro videos! (I got a surprise one for xmas! it was on mega sale:) Take adventures to make  them! We made our first one last night when we went wandering in the snow storm by the water and  found our neighbor's lost little pug shivering in the snow! Our next one will be when we go out  surfing today.

• write creative stories inspired by people I know

• do a new drawing every two weeks

• cultivate and nurture my etsy site. post something new at least once a month

• host potlucks! once a month

• do at least one random act of kindness a week (this could be sending someone a letter, paying the    toll for the person behind me, baking someone surprise cookies, etc.)

• and, though I'm not really in control of this, become an auntie!! Provide loving support for Angie and Tim throughout their experience and hug the heck out of that little bean when it gets here.

xoxoxoxo.
love to you all.

Yanuary zee sickond Tweenty Fifetine

The 2015 list is made and I need help coming up with number fifteen. I want your thoughts!

In no particular order, well, the order that I thought of them and wrote them down, 15 Things I Want to Accomplish in 2015:

1. Meditate more, as in everyday, even if it is only for 30 seconds.
2. Cut back on sugar
3. Visit La and Antonio
4. Go on at least one new hike per month April-November. This is eight new hikes. I'd like to do Tumbledown Mountain in Weld, Maine as one of these hikes if anyone is interested! Preferably during the summer so we can swim in the pond at the top.
5. Go on a beach camping trip
6. Save $10,000
7. Spend an entire day/weekend with a good friend at least once a month
8. Blog every other week (this entry counts)
9. Play guitar/fiddle/piano for a 1/2 hour once a week
10. Develop rock hard abs
11. Go kayaking/canoeing/paddle boarding once a month April-November. Surfing would count too.
12. Limit Facebook time to a total of 15 minutes per day
13. Participate in a community theater performance or join a choir
14. Plant a fruit tree in my parent's yard
15. ?

Pond at top of Tumbledown