Nature of the Village

Fall is the time to celebrate our harvest, to reconvene as a family. We eat great feasts and get ready for the stories of winter. The fall village naturally does what happens in fall. Wild foods are abundant for harvest, foods ready to preserve and the first drop of cider will be pressed. During the day you could learn primitive skills such as shelter building or bow making. You may also be building the proverbial barn in a natural building project for the land. Every night you will find yourself a great big (adopted) family meals. Trackers will walk the land helping you to follow elk, deer and bear, finding the magic of their trails. You may even prepare your own meat, from the very start to very finish. Just remember, everything in open space is by your choice, so all in good time, and only what you are ready for. Every day should feature music and dancing interspersed with permaculture design projects, and real work in the garden. The days end with campfire and stories and even conversations on the culture of care we are creating. Just remember, at open space you can never predict what will happen.

Winter is the time for story and healing. We are waiting patiently for the spring, breathing a little more slowly, walking in the quiet of the winter forest. The stories of the land become about winter tracking and ecology. The skills turn to felting and other arts of making real warm clothing. Meals are hearty and rich. Primitive skills are centered around fire, building it with no matchers, burning and carving both practical instruments and toys for the children. This is the time to weave baskets and other containers for harvesting. There are still winter wild plants to harvest, including tree teas for our tea ceremonies. To stay fit we train martial arts or yoga and of course play more music, dancing the winter blues away. Stories take on the wonderful dark of winter and we turn in reflecting on our journeys of the year.

Spring is when we come alive again. There is an abundant harvest of wild edible plants, including making Grandma Rinella's fried nettle patties. We tend to the wild and kitchen garden through permaculture design and understanding the heritage of seeds. Wilderness survival in the wet pacific northwest is unlike any other, eventually you have to decide for yourself if you are cold or warm. The ecology of spring is about everything growing into new life and our music and dancing sings the song of this. This is a celebration of things growing and new goals set out for the village and community. Through healthy social technology we learn how to passionately inspire one another. It is when we can walk a trail, living on the wild greens from the forest. It is when we learn to id plants in vast numbers and begin our apothecary studies of medicinal edible herbs and plants.

Summer is both the time to work and the time to play. Here we harvest berries and spend a lazy day by creeks and rivers fishing for trout. Through the warm nights we practice shelter and survival skills for harsher times, or we take only a wool blanket into the wilds and find ourselves sleeping warm even under stars. The summer is a time to build boats, come together and build a traditional skin-on-frame 30 person whaling boat (an umiak). Plus, set the stage for great theater on the meadow with improv and spolin games that help everyone find their voice. If that seems to epic, spend an afternoon reading poetry in the meadow or play a game of stealth with some friends in the shadows of the forest.