Fire Feast

So I was at SVI this weekend for my first workshop before starting to work there. It was great. SO many great people who are experianced in all manner of interesting skills. From Mushroom growing to building, to grant writing, to cooking and everything in between. We had some excellent sessions. The whole workshop was run on Open Space Technology- which is a great tool for organizing people and projects, can't wait to learn more about it. The workshop will hopefully be availible on podcast soon and I will post links. One interesting thing we did was celebrate Fire Feast at the end. Seemed appropriate considering the ocassion was a visioning workshop and we are planning the year.

Fire Feast or Imbolc or Bridget’s Feast or Candlemas or Ground Hogs’ Day is Feb 4th this year.
Falling half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, Fire Feast is considered a predictor day for the year. What you do, what you discuss, who you see on this day predicts your year. Fire Feast hails the end of winter. (sure beats having a ground hog telling you when its over.)

So my intentions for the year are pretty simple. The grand plan is to learn how to build some things out of stuff around me, and feed myself out of whatever comes out of our yard at SVI. And to help out with some kids in the city of Chattanooga learn to garden etc. Cameron and I also want to find land and start getting sorted with our homestead.

Specific tasks surrounding this are:

• Planting two large gardens at SVI with one other person.


• Learning some building, cobbing techniques- first project: to build a solar shower/ compost toilet for the bungalows maybe up at SVI if they agree.


• Learning lots of food prep/preservation skills.


• making a worm bin. (if it works, making a second for the community center in Chatanooga with a friend)


• Working with the kids from a community center to build a community garden.


• Learning all about grant writing.


• Making some art to sell at craft fairs or Etsy. (pyrography of useful things.)


• Organizing a large workshop called Food for Life with SVI.


• Going to Haiti on an exchange program for 10 days. (fundraising for it)


• Finding land for a home.

I will be sharing pictures & stories of this process for the following year.

The view from my seat

So folks have often said they live vicariously through me which I actually find very strange. I would hope they would see something interesting and use it as inspiration to go off and do something even more interesting. (Or at least see my mistakes and know what NOT to do.)

Another friend stated, "If you have something to share and it takes longer than 30 min to tell the story, you should just write it down." (I'm thinking she stole that quote but its good advice)

I have seen a few blogs where people lament the daily mundane things that happen to them. The traffic jam that made you late or the line at the bank (unless its a robbery why repeat that?) and some co worker that laughed at your skirt stuffed into your pantyhose while you got a drink at the fountain. I hope not to delve into that when I'm strapped for something to say. If I run out of stories, I just share the interesting, inspirational, funny, or insane things others put out there. (I hate being unoriginal so hopefully I can stay true to that.)

And why, you may be asking yourself, would anyone say they are living vicariously through the chubby, middle class, miss matched more often than not, kansas girl? Well, I've gotten the opprotunity to spread my wings (and maybe my legs too... if your lucky I'll feel the urge to write some erotica too...) and go do some interesing things (and people...ehem... I am not going to pretend its a family show here.)

Short list of accomplishments (and maybe I will list the failures too for perspective - just to show ya that it ain't all roses all the time) :

I went backpacking for 6 weeks through the mountains when I was 10 yrs old. Had my first house sitting business that same year. My first job when I was 13 as a dog washer in a groom shop. I was a band and art geek in highschool and very activist driven in environmental causes that wern't just about recycling cans by the vending machine. First person in my family to go to college and afterward I was managing a group home of three fantastic guys. I went off to the Peace Corps and didn't come home right away. I stayed in Namibia for 5 years developing my non profit / consulting business. Came back to the US for graduate school and changed my perspective on our future, economy, the reality of graduate school etc, went to work in an Elephant Sanctuary. I stage managed, painted backdrops for plays, created a haunted house, and now I'm off to learn how to cob build and permaculture. Life has been grand.

Thats a short list of the fun things.

I've also been rejected on jobs, been lazy and missed opprotunities, wrecked 2 cars which changed everything in those times of my life, and I've had my heart broken, mended, and broken again. But my scars and callouses make me stronger.

I truely believe our way of life that the masses are enjoying so much in this culture are going to come to an end. How that happens, how we say good bye to so much technology or supposed luxury and what we replace it with interests me. So expect some doom. Expect some ideas on how you can escape the culture of makebelieve with me.

"If your a dreamer come in" - shel

1 luv,

Trish