One of a series of orchids which bloomed during a study retreat. I'll be making this available as a large canvas print as well, so do check back for an update.
During my four month retreat, a lot changed in the world. I was hosted by a professor of deep ecology in Bloomington, Indiana while he was traveling and teaching throughout Europe and points East, from January through April. The country was quite different upon their return and frankly, so was I. I'll be writing about those changes here, doing a bit of traveling myself and sharing more of my photographic work. Something I've neglected far too long after an 8 year stint as a media analyst.
I'm choosing beauty. And also finding permaculture is a means of designing a life of beauty and abundance.
My psyche thanks me almost daily for ditching analysis and following my heart and my photographer's wandering eye. ~ Gabrielle
The way in which the "spiritus absconditus" speaks through the author of the first part of the "Aurora consurgens," reminds one of the spirit of earth in Faust. This spirit speaks to Faust, who writes down what it says. The author of our text continues later:
"Turn to me with your whole heart and do not spurn me
because I am weak and black, for the sun has changed my colour
and the depths have hidden my countenance,
and the earth is corrupted and infected in my operations,
The senses are overwhelmed here at the homestead in New Mexico. So much to study that it has been difficult for me to know where to begin. I had to introduce you to someone I met while weeding the raspberry patch. I stopped everything to take some photos of him.
Calligrapha vicina / Calligraphy beetle
I was quite literally stopped in my tracks when I saw him -- I had never seen markings this intricate on a beetle or bug in the Midwest and was taken by how much they looked like the hollows in a guitar or musical notes. Lucky for me, there are experts on site and all I needed to do was ask. The calligraphy beetle. But, of course!
There are many more creatures here that I have never seen in the wild; roadrunners and lizards to name a few. The lizards are quite funny to watch but hard to capture on film. I have set a challenge to do just that.
I am learning after my first week in New Mexico and hope you are enjoying following my adventure in WOOFing.
View from kitchen window in the WOOFers quarters [click to full view all photos]
WOOFers quarters, outside
Weeping willow out front is where the turkeys roost at night.
Biochar stove - just fired up today
Hothouse/greenhouse
Potatoes, squash, melons and raspberries
Solar water pump, pump house and cistern
Second solar water pump, in front of goat house
Yummy asparagus patch behind WOOFers quarters
View from the fire pit
Another fire pit view
The goats, L to R, Bella, Lillian and little Peanut
My host's straw bale house
Two of three turkeys that like to follow you around
Lillian is quite a ham
The solar oven - first try with beans but it was overcast
The outdoor kitchen
Wood oven in outdoor kitchen
It is indeed rare for me to find myself speechless when visiting a place -- but this is something that needs to be absorbed and savored [and I'm also learning and working every day!] Valuable life skills to take back to Indiana that I hope one day to build upon with a like-minded community.
Music has always inspired my photography. Before I put my camera down for a pen -- I hosted house concerts in my hometown. Booking only unsigned, independent artists who had a certain flair for storytelling; old souls who could truly turn a phrase and hold an audience spellbound. I regret to say my music project didn't bear fruit long enough for me to book Chicago native, Joe Pug.
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Joe in Indianapolis at a songwriter's showcase in 2008. When he performed this song in front of a packed crowd waiting to hear Justin Townes Earle, you could have heard a pin drop. I maintain this is one of the finest songs that year, hands down. It continues to be a beloved and incredibly profound tune for this traveler. Please look him up online -- his last CD is called Messenger. Joe will be on the road with me to New Mexico (at least on my mp3 player). Lyrics below the video:
Yeah I've come to know the wishlist of my father.
I've come to know the shipwrecks where he wished.
I've come to wish aloud among the overdressed crowd.
Come to witness now the sinking of the ship.
Throwing pennies from the seatop next to it.
And I've come to roam the forest past the village
With a dozen lazy horses in my cart.
I've come here to get eyed
To do more than just get by
I've come to test the timbre of my heart.
Oh I've come to test the timbre of my heart.
And I've come to be untroubled in my seeking.
And I've come to see that nothing is for naught.
I've come to reach out blind
To reach forward and behind
For the more I seek the more I'm sought
Yeah, the more I seek the more I'm sought.
And I've come to meet the sheriff and his posse,
To offer him the broad side of my jaw.
I've come here to get broke,
Then maybe bum a smoke.
We'll go drinking two towns over after all.
Well, we'll go drinking two towns over after all.
And I've come to meet the legendary takers.
I've only come to ask them for a lot.
Oh they say I come with less than I should rightfully possess.
I say the more I buy the more I'm bought.
And the more I'm bought the less I cost.
And I've come to take their servants and their surplus.
And I've come to take their raincoats and their speed.
I've come to get my fill
To ransack and spill.
I've come to take the harvest for the seed.
I've come to take the harvest for the seed.
And I've come to know the manger that you sleep in.
I've come to be the stranger that you keep.
I've come from down the road,
And my footsteps never slowed.
Before we met I knew we'd meet.
Before we met I knew we'd meet.
And I've come here to ignore your cries and heartaches.
I've come to closely listen to you sing.
I've come here to insist
That I leave here with a kiss.
I've come to say exactly what I mean.
And I mean so many things.
And you've come to know me stubborn as a butcher.
And you've come to know me thankless as a guest.
But will you recognize my face
When God's awful grace
Strips me of my jacket and my vest,
And reveals all the treasure in my chest?
