319 Busby Road :)
12/15
The simplest way I can think to describe my two weeks spent with Rex, Jo and fellow WWOOFer Blake would be that it seems I lived lifetimes of experience in the period of fourteen days. Most of what happened here cannot be put into words. The conversations we all had about permaculture, sustainable practices, the state of the world, the state of ourselves and the state of Being, can really only be comprehended in the context of our shared experience.
Rex and Jo are wonderfully enlightening human beings. I first noticed that their home was packed with books. Books on permaculture, zero point field theory, childrens books, science fiction books, self help books, its virtually a library here. On top of all this they are both full of information and are so happy to share their knowledge on whatever topic one may be curious about. Jo is a white haired fire cracker of a woman who is an energetic planner and a DOER. She takes in the situation and the problem at hand, the people involved and spits out solutions and plans of action. Rex is her perfect counter part, a quiet 65 year old boy from England, who reads children's books, wears a Buddha smile and laughs from his belly. :)
Upon our arrival Jo gave us a tour of their three acres and introduced us to their two Kune Kune pigs, Juno and Ceres, they are kind fat waddling dogs, they love to eat and they love their belly scratched.. There was definitely not a lack of things to learn and spaces to explore.
Rex and Jo have an amazing job doing a lot with a little. They have 5 garden beds, a food forest, a section for native species of plants, a paddock for the Kune Kune's, a tunnel house, a small area for the chooks (chickens), they collect and store all their own water, and have a shelter belt of olive trees and other trees that they incorporate into their permaculture design. And everything on their property is organic and chemical free. :) So of course we ate really well! :) Jo is an excellent cook and we had so much good food, and delicious deserts. Rex and Jo are such good teachers as well. All of their permaculture practices and design principles they had made into power points so we could study at night what we had learned during the day and really get a good idea of the philosophy and execution of what a permaculture property looks like. :) I feel like I've taken a two week intensive course in permaculture design.
Not only were we learning about boots on the ground kind of stuff but we were also getting “Way out there” with some really juicy abstract thinking :) Both Rex and Jo work with Reiki, which is a form of energetic healing. Our first evening here we were talking about quantum physics which led into the new sciences, research and practices coming up around energy work. I know some people reading this may be skeptical of energy work and energy healing but I assure you it is real, not only can I attest to it's validity from my own experience but this is also a very real phenomenon that is supported by many scientific studies, many of which were not conducted until the 80's or 90's, so this is certainly on the cutting edge of how we perceive and interact with the universe. This is an incredibly dense topic and certainly a long conversation that I cannot even begin to touch on in the space of this little blog but I invite your questions if you have any and would be happy to share with you what I know already and what I learned here at 319 Busy Road. :)
12/19 I'm sitting in a hammock looking at the garden of my new WWOOFing spot. The atmosphere here is way more relaxed and laid back. It's certainly a welcome break from my last experience. I loved Rex and Jo's place immensely but it feels like I took a two week intensive course on Permaculture, Energy work, and Myself. It will be nice to spend some time relaxing with only my imagination to fill my time. That said I feel like I should start getting into town and meeting some people. The home I am at is a wonderful place. Ian, Katy, and their son Jackson are great, and the way that it worked out to stay with them for a few days before Christmas is a blessing. But they do want to have Christmas to themselves and their own family. So I have between now and Christmas in order to find some place to crash and some good people to spend the holidays with. I remain optimistic but I'm beginning to feel the pressure to meet some people.
What an interesting thing to think about... Ha, I am literally forced to meet new people in order to have a home or a sense of community or belonging on the holidays. What an interesting departure from the everyday grind where we can be so isolated for weeks getting caught up in our own routines. I kinda miss routine. :) Blake, the WWOOFer that I was working with at Rex and Jo's, her and I were talking about how all this can be so damned exhausting. I mean we went through two weeks of what felt like university courses, did an overnight in the mountains, found out that we're great friends, who have drastically different perspectives on the world but, though honesty and communication, as well as some head butting and toilet humor, make each other better people in the end by truly sharing perspectives. All in a period of fourteen days! And then after all that Life learning stuff, we have to say our good byes, promise to keep in touch and launch into an entirely new situation with new people and new dynamics! Ha, this travel stuff is crazy. Its teaching me so much about how we all spend our time, and how challenging, rewarding, and astonishing simply Being in the moment can actually be...
I'm very interested to see what my Christmas will be... If your reading this promise to appreciate those that are close to you, and wish well those that are far away. Take a moment to be thankful to be with family and think of all of those who will be without close Loved ones near, or even a warm place to sleep, and don't feel guilty if you don't do those things either ;)
Just take a deep breath, and be a present as you can....
Lots of Love.
Joe
