World of McCool

First design projects

McCool — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:37:38 +0000

With a soft whitish whirl, my consciousness dives into the matrix, where I see not the screen before me, but the faces and thoughts of friends, images of the wildest things conceivable, and brilliant connections between billions of glowing dots, flashing flickering and fading into a single illuminated sphere when seen from far enough away. Navigating this network, I lay forth my thoughts.

We have a great deal of work to do, but it will be much fun. What a project! We are going to transform our environment into one that supports and sustains human life without depleting or and destroying the planet. In emotional swells of understanding and concern, ordinary citizens of this world, filled with the divine authority that shines compassionately through the eyes, are going to stand up to the perpetrators of war and pollution and environmental atrocities and simply say no. We can do this another way. Just watch us.

My participation in this permaculture design course has everything to do with the situation at hand, and like so many others I meet, I am training myself in the skills we really need to survive, and I don’t just mean growing food and storing enough water. (Though these are certainly essential.) There is a deeper level to this, at which one must cease to name and measure and simply observe. The range of things we are going to have to know how to do in order to rebuild our world in a sustainable way is enormous, and there is no way one can thoroughly study each science/skill. What is needed instead is the practice of simply sitting and being. Before we act, we must first feel things out, get to know what we are truly working with. When we understand the beings and systems that surround us, we don’t need to be specially trained for each thing… the whole of it will begin to emerge, and we will figure out what our role in it should be.

Not to say that training and study aren’t necessary. They’re just secondary to our inner work, tending the garden of our soul. If we don’t flourish and bloom there, we can never create a lasting bounty on the land around us. I can think of no better way to prepare myself for the projects I have in mind than to be studying with Tom Ward. He is a luminous being, keen of wit and casually comical, diversely learned and never reluctant to answer a question.

He’s familiarizing us with permaculture terminology, exemplifying the idea that permaculture is something that can apply to not just environmental systems, but every other aspect of our lives too. Stacking functions and looping energy are effective strategies in any economy, and the general way of thinking about things that permaculture promotes equips us to achieve incredible things in our relationships, our hobbies, and our means of making a living.

Withing my class I’m in a small group, with each group working on a design project together. My group is working with an animal sanctuary called Sanctuary One. We all went out there today to walk the property and observe the land. There are horses, goats, geese, ducks, and cats, all of whom have been rescued from abusive situations. I met the animals, and for the most part they were sociable and laid back. It’s sad though… so many refugees from such a destructive way of life. I consider myself among them, and I’m honored to get the chance to help permaculturize a place of refuge. Our vision for this converted farm includes the creation of water catchment ponds, irrigation canals, and swales, tree guilds, and an organic garden/farm, just to name a few. Our group is tasked with designing new systems (or ways that old structures can be retro-fitted) after we’ve spent some time observing, taking notes, and considering every factor. Others will implement the changes. But this project will give us an idea of what it is to be someone’s client as a permaculture designer, as well as practice at studying an actual site through the lens of permaculture.

Through this lens, we can see a far more beautiful world, full of mystery and majesty, abundant and peaceful, though never boring. When we learn to look at the world a little bit differently, everything changes. This change begun in me many years ago, but it’s taken me a while to clean out my guts and thoughts and get in position to actually do something other than complain about it. (Believe me, I could have had some fun just doing that.) But now I am poised, and once my training is complete, I will pounce on the piles of garbage all around me and convert them into something that serves our needs, leaving in their places patches of trees.

The purpose and focus of my presence in this cyber world has shifted. My site doesn’t currently reflect this, because it takes lots of time to edit and change the site, and if I got so caught up in doing that, I’d have far too little time to actually do the many things I’m trying to do. The basics of this shift (in what I’m all about and why I’m even bothering to have a website) will be revealed by the last few things I publish here on the good old World of McCool, but I’ve decided to create a new domain within this site, which will then become my primary place of work, so to speak, here in the matrix. This new domain will document all of the projects I am working on in the realm of permaculture, eco-communities, culture transformation. It will also contain tales from my latest adventures, unlike anything I’ve ever been into before. I’ve entered a more settled stage of life, working to create a sustainable homestead with my beloved and her two beautiful children. We are a family now, united by our desire to create a new reality around us. This new site will follow our journey into the realm of living off the land and in balance with nature, and will serve as a network for meeting other awakened individuals who likewise strive to make this a feasible reality.

It will be challenging, but we can do it. We sort of have to. The culture I came from is in no position to promise me I’ll have perpetual access food and water, and the food they offer is usually toxic anyway, so I figure it’s up to me to get these things taken care of. I am blessed in that I have many good allies and the best teachers I could ask for. We have been given some land on which to build our home (an Earthship/hobbit house of sorts, as the design stands) and we are very excited to get started. In a way, we’ve already gotten started, though we probably won’t start building until late spring.

It’s all really incredible, and I wish I could share in more detail some of the cool things I’ve been going through, but my work is elsewhere for now. I wish all my people well, and I’ll be posting some more things as time permits. Peace and prosperity! (For real, though!)

Checking back in

McCool — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:37:11 +0000

Hello everyone. Indeed, I am still alive, even though I’ve not been very active on this site for some time. I finally gave up on trying to keep up with documenting all things that have been going on, as the story is crazy complicated and I am busier than I have ever been.

Doing what? Attempting to homestead some raw land, creating a paradise oasis all around me. But in order to start this sort of long run work, I have to be on some land that I know I will be able to stay on, and can expect my children and their children to be able to be there as well, if they wish. For those of you who are not familiar with the Anastasia teachings, (which I describe in the New Human Culture section) there is a formula for creating around us thriving gardens and food forests, capable of supplying us with all we need to live, with far less labor involved on our part than people tend to think when I describe this vision to them. My mission, purpose, passion and aspiration in life is to apply this formula and create a genuine Space of Love, a living system of energy that is not only a home, but a work of art and a spiritual journey. This way of life, I believe, is the path to true sovereignty, and it is the most clever and most delightfully simple method to saving the planet from toxic destruction.

Overpopulation is one of the biggest threats to our planet, with most of our other problems stemming from our unsustainable numbers. What’s so genius about the Anastasia vision is that it turns that, one of our biggest problems, into an advantage. What’s the fastest way to restore the environment and eco-systems of this planet? Task close to seven billion people with the job of converting a single hectare into a beautiful garden that produces large quantities of food. (There is enough space for this - I did the math.) If these garden homesteads (called Spaces of Love or Kin’s Domains) were arranged in small hamlets, each community could locally produce everything needed to live, without the power grid, fossil fuels, hospitals, banks, police, and other such trappings of imperial civilization.

But all things in time. The old paradigm will continue to unwind itself, spinning faster and faster as it reaches the center of the spool, nearing the end. But its hold on the thoughts of humankind is slipping, and people all over are waking up, realizing that our salvation, health, and happiness are not in the hands of any outside authority, but in our own hands. Because of this, we will see more Spaces of Love emerging all over the planet. This is a good thing.

So yeah, that’s the vision. As for what I’m actually doing day to day to get there, that’s a bigger, crazier story. Some of you will remember that I moved up to Oregon to join a community of people attempting to create a hamlet of Kin’s Domains, but what actually happened with that project I’ve not discussed. At first it was because I was too busy to keep up with it in writing, but then the story got so crazy that I started to wonder whether or not it would be a good idea to publish the things I was witnessing and taking part in. I’ve taken flak before from people who dislike being included in my website, and I am 100% sure that if I published the whole story of the first North American Anastasia community - Shambhala Shasta lots of people would get super pissed and everyone else involved would be made very uncomfortable. Considering the fact that this story extends far beyond the eco-community and Anastasia scene, involving people who wield power, money and fame, discretion must guide my moves.

So what I can tell you guys is that it’s been a wild ride, which has taught me much. Pieces of this story will come out as I try to draw into a larger conclusion about how to best go about getting onto a Space of Love. I am still a part of the Shambhala community, but the project of developing the land we already own is sort of on hiatus, with major financial difficulties holding us back, and with most of our original settlers wanting their money back. This is most unfortunate, but not unexpected. For those of you who might be acquainted with this world, the Colorado Kin’s Domain project was granted millions of dollars to start their community, but they never received any money. Powerful forces are at work attempting to waylay this Earth-changing vision, but they can only slow things down.

One way or another, we will return to the land. Laura and I have already found another piece of land that would be perfect for building a Kin’s Domain, and we are doing all we can to get on that space and get started. This is a story unto itself, as is my current relationship with Laura. In short, we met through Shambhala, and quite naturally fell in love and partnered up. We have crossed quite a few things off the list of what it will take to build a Space of Love, and we are totally committed to making this happen. We are just trying to be patient with all we must endure to get there. But we will overcome, and we will be among the first families of the Vedruss people to once again walk this planet, which will rapidly return to its pristine state as the Vedruss culture awakens.

So more on all this as I have time. Now that I’m a family man, my time is even at a higher premium, and I currently care for a ten acre parcel of land with woods and gardens and horses, which has me outside a lot. (This is a very good thing, but it makes it hard to get very involved in the Matrix…) All my love to all my people! Peace on this Earth!

Southward Sinking Sun

McCool — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:53:16 +0000

How it seems summer does fly! The plums came in, the peaches and the corn all have come in, and the strawberries and tomatoes and blackberries and apples keep on producing. The grapes will be in soon enough, and apples will be getting bigger and sweeter. It’s good to be back on a space of the Earth that abounds with fruits to eat. May we all endeavor to so surround our lives with living gifts from the Creator.

I got a ride back from Portland last night from a dude named Gary, who had enough tales of adventure and travel and spiritual growth to fill our entire 5 hour ride. Originally from Germany, Gary came here when he was a young man, on a whim, with the aim to stay a while and see what was what. He arrived in LA, but moved all around the country, staying in places for a month, three months, a year, whatever. He got involved with this thing called the Longest Walk, an eclectic bunch of journeyers treking across the US on foot. Japanese Buddhist monks, Native Americans, hippies, and international explorers all hiking along, twenty miles a day, San Francisco to New York, San Fran to New Orleans, to Chicago… it sounded fascinating. Gary had all sorts of stories of things that he experienced on these six month long hikes. Once he fasted for three days without water and food and had a vision of another realm, at which point he was guided out of his fast and been cleansed with a flush of saltwater. It reminded me of the nine day fast I had done back when I first came back out here from Texas. There’s nothing like a good gut cleanse! But three and half days without water, while walking twenty miles a day? Hard to fathom.

Now, back from another trip to visit family, I settle back into life out here at Shambhala. The story is getting so rich that I can’t even begin to think about how I’ll present it, but I’m socking away every detail, and it’s a trip just to think back on it all. And it’s only getting more interesting now. Much to be announced, whenever I get around to that. I know it’s been an incredibly long time since I posted anything new up here, but that’s just been because it’s all coming at once, and I’m really in the zone riding on this cresting wave. You always tell yourself, when you’re out there beyond the break, waiting for a good wave to ride, that you’re getting tired and you’ll just ride the next one you catch all the way in and call it a day. But then… right as you get the roll tumbling along behind you and you zip across the surface of the ocean, you get so excited by the feeling that you immediately begin swimming back out as soon as you hit the water again.

Anyway, I’m back to my routine here, taking care of our gardens and making considerations for winter. It’s an ongoing struggle to fund the various things that need to happen, so I’m just doing what I always do - scrimp along and pick up whatever work can be found. But I’m certainly not sacrificing anything as far as my personal standard of living. All of funding currently goes towards eating, which is more costly than it used to be back in the days when I was careless with my health. My living foods diet involves lots of nuts and avocados and frequent restockings of vegetables and fruits. It will be a lot easier to live this way once I am surrounded by the garden domain of my own design, producing all that I love in an ever turning cycle of seasons. For now, it’s the coop, and it’s expensive. But a man who wishes for his body to be a temple must have certain standards about what he allows in.

My time in Louisville was grand. It was wonderful to see everyone, and Callie, my sister’s baby, was quite the attraction. I got to see relatives I haven’t seen in some time, and we had one big fancy table full of great food after another. We played cornhole, a bean bag (or corn bag) tossing game in the backyard, and we took walks down by the spring in the backyard. We also went to the Kentucky State Fair, where we saw the usual fair stuff, with some fun ag stuff like hay and prize produce, dairy vendors and pigs and sheep and cows and the whole durn farm. We skipped the rides, and the concessions, but we saw some amazing acrobats doing a little show, and a dog jumping show that most entiertaining.

Life is moving along in a most exciting series of events. I’ll tell all about it sometime. But for now, I hope everyone is ready for a wild ride, because things are about to get interesting all over this country! Until then…

Back at Home

McCool — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:03:46 +0000

In a flurry of motion, I flew down from Oregon to San Antonio, eager to see my niece in person for the first time, and looking forward to a nice visit with family and friends. My grandparents and cousin Kathryn came down from Kentucky, and this happened to be the weekend of a big surprise party for Stephen Carrell, (the music minister of First Baptist SA, for those who might not know) who has now been at FBC for twenty years. Over a hundred of us who sang in the church choir during our youth came forward to sing at the end of the church service, and Stephen was outright flabbergasted. But joyfully surprised, and we had a cool little banquet afterwards, where I saw so many old friends, many among them people I haven’t seen since my childhood. Always fun to catch up with people.

But aside from all that, I’ve been up to New Braunfels to hang with Laurie and Phillip, and they’ve been down here quite a bit, and there was a big Henderson/McCool/Engle gathering last night here. Callie Jane is absolutely beautiful, and she’s the most popular person in the room at all times, and the rooms have been full of people since I’ve been here. All this to say, it’s been a very social weekend, and I’ve had little time to do much for the website. Isn’t that always the story? I was so busy before I left OR/CA (the state of Jefferson, actually) that I hadn’t updated this site in close to a month when I left. Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.

To catch up quickly, I’ve moved out to the land, and though I’ve spent many more nights in town at the house, I’m mostly on the land, where there is no electricity. It’s so nice! Not that I don’t love sitting in front of these glowing machines all day, but it’s so quiet there, and my soul wants to do no other work than to harmonize with my Motherland. However, certain things are required of me before I am free to return to that pristine way of living, including, my dear friends, sharing with you all the wonders I ponder as I tread my across this spacetime.

I had some very wonderful times before leaving Oregon, including a spirit-quenching trip to this isolated mountain lake near Mt. Shasta, which we followed up with a trip to Jacksonville to see Andrew Bird play. Laura and I had an excellent time, as did Gaia, though I’m not sure she was into Andrew Bird as she was the grass and twigs of the lawn we sat on while he played. We had to buy her a ticket to get her in, so I’m glad she at least enjoyed crawling around in the grass, stuffing it into her mouth as she so loves to do.

But now I’m in a totally different plane of reality. When I returned to SA, I felt the chaotic vibrations of the matrix programming hit me from all sides. I’ve adjusted to being back in this zone, but it still is strange, and it makes me feel extremely lucky to be living in a place where this isn’t nearly so much of an issue. The toxicity of city reality is astounding, and it stands out to me more than it ever has. I taste the chlorine in the water, and I feel the pollution in my lungs and eyes. And the smells of the restaurants…. Lord save us from this horrible confusion over what constitutes food.

I was delighted upon arriving in town to find that the proof print copy of my next-to-be-published novel had arrived (though I had been waiting for it OR… they just mailed here instead) and it looks very nice. Sadly, I’ve determined that there are simply too many errors to go on with a bulk order, so I’ve got to read through it and send back an updated edit of the text. This will delay the process of getting it distributed for a while, but it must be done. Still, the book looks very nice, and it will be great to start getting it out there, as this one will have a totally different market than A Savage Life has, one that will be more up the alley of quite a few people who visit this site. I’ll discuss Lost Angels at greater length soon. For now, I’m enjoying reading it again as an actual book this time (not as words on a screen) and I’m finding myself laughing quite a bit as I read.

I’ve been taking tons of pictures, which I’ll get up at some point. I’ve also got some wild stories to tell, and those will unfold as I take more time to contemplate the recent events of my life, and, of course, when I find time to write it all out. I did finally get a laptop, so that will help, but even with the right machine, I have so little time to allocate to computer work that we’re all just going to have to wait and see what happens with my writing and this site.

As I think about all the loved ones I share my world with here, along with all those whom I’ve come to love so deeply back at my new home, I feel very blessed to be who I am, bridging these worlds as I was destined to do, sharing in this blessed journey. Thanks my friends. Be well.

Continuing Development of Shambhala

McCool — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:46:28 +0000

Greetings my dear friends. It has been a long while since I’ve posted much, as so much has been happening all at once that I can barely keep up, and my time at the computer has been very minimal.

The good news is that we have finally begun to settle our land! We acquired three new parcels contiguous to and close to our current Motherland, and though we are totally understaffed, we are going ahead with the initial work to make the land liveable over the winter for people of all comfort needs. (One of our settlers is a lady in her seventies, so she’s not game with living in a tent over winter.) I was responsible for setting up our base camp, to be used by the land team as we begin building the first infrastructure of our community. I initially went out to the land with plans to stay there and be working there full time, but there is still so much to do here in town that I am needed yet, doing lots of back and forth between the land and here.

I spent several days alone on the land, scouting and developing trails. It was an awesome time, and I got to cover lots of ground and get much more familiar with the terrain. Once our friend Tom arrives from LA, we will really begin doing serious work. He’s bringing his whole shop and all his tools up, and he knows how to get things built.

It’s all quite exciting, though it’s quite exhausting as well. Our work on the land has been sidetracked by a wild situation arising: Rolando found on the internet that somebody was about euthanize two Belgian draft horses that they couldn’t take care of, so he went and rescued them. This was all very last minute, in the midst of tons of other stuff going on. And to top it all off, the truck didn’t do so well hauling 4000 pounds of trailer up and down all the hills around here, and Rolando got stuck somewhere overnight, managing to find lodging with some nice people and make friends with a man who works for BLM.

Then the next day, after he got the truck fixed, he struck out again, only to have the same problem. He figured out that the transmission fluid was overheating, and he just took it really slow, stopping a lot and adding fluid, and finally getting the horses to this completely providential location where he managed to find some stables for them, totally last minute. Some friends of ours are living on this property a ways up the road, and the place has a really nice double stable with fenced in corrals and pasture. They were totally excited to get to work with the horses and try to get to know them (these animals have been free grazed and are not halter broken) while they stay there for a while. Eventually we will get some stables and a corral built up on the land and take them there. But for now, they need human contact. The arrangement for them now couldn’t have worked out any better, and it was fun going out there and helping to get them settled in. They are such beautiful animals, male and female, three years old. They’re enormous, and they’re still going to grow.

I took a load of hay up, and we also went to a co-op for some more feed, a whole truck load of it. They should be nice and comfortable, with some good people to look after them. I enjoyed getting to hang out with Sam, McKanah (I have no idea how she spells that) and Sophia again, and it was a fun day.

There’s all sorts of other business to attend to around here, most of which doesn’t interest me in the least, but someone’s got to do it, so here I am slipping on my sunglasses, flicking through the ipod, and shifting back into the Matrix to do some business. The land awaits me, and I will hopefully be back out there tonight, but I’ve been hoping that since Monday, and now the truck is broken down again, needing a new transmission. We shall see.

The most intense and confounding part of the drama that is unfolding out here is a story I cannot go into at the moment, but let me just say, my life is far from dull. A great deal is being asked of me right now, and I am rising to the call with all my strength, sworn to hold this vision, to protect our Motherland and our entire Earth from all toxins and harm.

A vision that I have mulled over and dreamed upon for many years now is finally coming together, and it is the grandest thing to behold. Thank you to all who support me in this, and I look forward to sharing more details, and posting some pictures. I took some of the horses, and of the really incredible waterfalls out on the land. I had heard about them and thought, oh yeah, sure…. but then I saw them…. man.

So yeah, take care everyone. I’m not sure how much I’ll be in touch, but I’ll do my best. Peace and love shall heal the Earth!

Getting Behind

McCool — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:40:58 +0000

It’s all happening so fast, my friends, that I can’t even keep up with it all in real time, far less, keep up with writing about it. But it’s all awesome stuff, so I don’t mind. I’m having so much fun, but I’m also learning great things, working hard, and growing in deep ways. I’m juggling more projects than I ever have probably, and every time I turn around, there’s something else coming up that I want to do or take part in. In spite of all this, I’m keeping mindful of the moment, breathing deeply, and not letting my energy get too chaotic. My meditation practice is deepening, and I’m taking plenty of time to sit in quiet and get away from all these illusions of form and thought that can easily carry me away from where I sit grounded on the Earth.

I’m only writing this post to let everyone know that all is well, and tons is happening that I’ll eventually write about, but for now, some pics and a sum up is all I can offer.

Things happening of late:

Expanding garden - I’ve added a few more garden beds to the hill, and we’ve been transplanting and seeding like crazy.

Greenhouse - we bought a big arch greenhouse (eventually for the land) for some trees and other things we’re going to get started here. Adam and I have been working on putting that thing together.

Boat - the greenhouse came in a huge packing crate with wooden ribs, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I was going to turn into a boat. (A toy boat, but a big, realistic one.) As I started planning and drawing, the whole design got increasingly complex, and I got increasingly exciting. This was going to be so much fun. Fun for Eva once it was built, and fun for me to build. It’s almost finished, though not quite….

Lithia Park - I’ve been going to the park in Ashland some, absolutely loving that place. It’s a fantastic park, with common hang out areas with live music (not just the festy kids with guitars and bongos; I’ve seen a cellist, violinists, and a bluegrass trio with an upright bass…) playgrounds, ponds, a climbing wall, and trails leading way back into the forest, following a crystal clear creek that is dammed up in one area with beach and a rope swing. This time of year, the park is glowing with bright colors, flowers on trees, bushes, and stems in full bloom.

Mt. Shasta - We went down to Mt. Shasta (the town) to get some more water from the springs there. We spent the whole day in the area, visiting a couple of lakes, a beautiful isolated creek area, and the park around the springs. What a neat place!

I’ve also been spending a good bit of time working on fiction, and I finally sent Lost Angels (my next novel to be released) off to be printed, so it will be great when that’s ready to be distributed.

My best to all my friends and readers! May life be full of blessings for us!

(Note: I plugged pictures into this post, but for whatever reason, they’re not showing up. I have more problems with getting photos to work right on this site than anything else…. my apologies.)

Correction

McCool — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:12:59 +0000

Thank you Mom for pointing out my (accidental) omission of the rest of the story regarding the carrot cake. (This is from the last post, a trip to the land.) That was indeed a part worth relating. I’ve updated the post, but if you want to jump right to the story, I’ve copied it and pasted it below. I added a few other details surrounding the fate of the carrot cake! I also forgot to include the encounter with the snake, which I’ve also added to the old post, and here, below the carrot cake story.

(This picks up right after we arrived on the land.)

We decided to look for a place to camp up in the woods, not down in the valley we usually frequent. This would put us closer to the creek and give us better shade, for these days were getting hot. We drove around for a while, eventually finding the perfect spot. We set up our camp and got the fire started, warming the soup on a wood stove and eating our delicious raw food. In order to keep it away from the ants, I left the carrot cake on top of the truck, to be retrieved when the time was right.

We heard a car go by back by the main road (within the land, the road is more like a trail) and knew Rolando was on his way. The problem was, he’d never be able to find us. We went to see if we could flag him down, but we couldn’t get to the road in time. Realizing that we had all the food, Adam and I decided to go after him in the truck and fetch him. We drove back into the valley and up the hill to where we knew he would be. Now that we didn’t have women and children aboard, I really opened her up and let Cowboy gallop across those bumpy roads. It was fun.

We found Rolando and let him back to our camp. When we pulled back up to where we had parked, something not of nature caught my eye. It was a perfect rectangle, a shape the Earth rarely creates. It looked like a metal cooking pan.

Doh! The carrot cake! Left on the top of the truck, destined for the dirt. But was it totally lost? Oh no. I scooped up every bit of it that wasn’t actually in contact with the dirt, getting just over half of it. “Blast!” I said. Now it was carrot pudding. It didn’t look very aesthetic anymore (it didn’t look great to begin with, but at least it was smooth and even) and it was half gone, but it would still be delicious.

We ate supper, and shortly after, Rolando took off. He wanted to spend some time alone on his Space of Love, over the hill from where we were camping. We bid him goodnight and kicked it long into the night, talking about all sorts of things, looking at the stars, and walking around. We ate our carrot cake mush with great relish. It was still really good. I even went back over to the fateful spot and scooped up an additional portion from the ground, less concerned with whatever might be in there. It boggles my mind that people think it’s disgusting and dirty to eat things like soil, pieces of wood or grass, or whatever else might be on the ground, yet they put aluminum, mercury, lead, fluoride, and processed plastics into their body every day without even batting an eye. You think because the official guys, with their fancy acronym department names and their unidentifiable little plastic bottles and seal-wrapped products, sell it to you and tell you that it’s safe that it actually is, but that’s the whole illusion. They’ve got us downing all sorts of toxins and poisons, pretending they’re helping us to be healthy. Don’t buy into this criminal scam, people!

Sorry, tangent-rant!

*******************

(Picking up after we hiked back from the creek.)

Back at the camp, we ate some more food and reflected on the day. It was a good day, and we all felt totally awash in the power of it. Thank the Creator for such a life! Both Adam and Laura reported having seen several snakes, but not even worrying about them. I was sort of sad that I hadn’t seen any snakes. There are rattlers all over the land, but I saw none. Adam saw both a rattler and a little grass or creek snake (not poisonous.)

But then the next morning, as I was loading some things into the truck, I saw some movement in the grass. There slid by a three to four foot rattler, fat as a Red Bull can. I was actually standing on a big fallen log, and I jumped down to get my camera. The snake, of course, felt the vibration of my landing, and was alert to me. I went for my camera and returned to the log. To my surprise, he was coming right for me. I tried to shoot pics of him in the grass, but they didn’t come out all that great. He came right up to me and raised his head off the ground to see me up on the log. I put the camera away when he got within five feet, looking him right in the eye. Hello friend, I said to him with my mind. I mean you no harm. I’m only curious.

He slid under the log, and I crossed over to the other side. He had positioned himself in a coil in a small cave created by the curve of the log. With him now coiled up, I didn’t get within eight feet of him, and had no chance of getting a good picture. He never rattled, so I knew he wasn’t feeling aggressive, but he was definitely in the defensive, so I left him well alone. At least I got to see a snake though! Snakes are very magical creatures. By exploring our connection to them, we can learn much.

Trip to the Land

McCool — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:11:37 +0000

Four times I had journeyed to the Motherland, and yet still I had never been down to the creeks. This I was determined to change when we decided it was time to return to the land and camp again. We were all in need of a recharge, and some quiet time in nature. Things with the community have been very stressed, as we’d just won all this land at auction, but were now dealing with having to pay for it. The funds simply weren’t there. Our financial people (mainly Reina, but also a new addition to our team, a brilliant guy named Christopher) were in communication with lots of potential investors and/or benefactors, but getting someone to wire the funds immediately was a hard sell.

Rolando had just talked with the people down at the county tax office (from whom we were buying these parcels, ultimately) and won us another week to get the money in. He was totally worn out from having to raise money and coordinate this whole land acquisition effort that he was in serious need of some time away. The power of connecting with our Motherland cannot be conveyed.

This journey down to the land would also provide, after almost a month of waiting for the right time, the perfect situation for doing a sacred psilocybin ceremony. I spent most of the day on Saturday shopping and then prepping food for the whole crew, making some soup and a raw carrot cake, that was delicious, I knew from licking the spatula. My poor, delicious carrot cake. Ill fated, it was.

Samantha joined us for the camping trip. She and her boyfriend Chris are part of the core group of our community, and she’s a really cool girl. She too is more or less raw, and she told me when we met up with her at the campground near the entrance to our land that she brought some raw bean dip and salsas, as well as guacamole. Excellent!

We camped in a new place, off in the woods above the valley we usually went into. It was closer to the access point to the creek, and off the beaten track. The reason I had never gotten down to the creek before was that it was no easy journey, and those who have done it all told me that it’s very easy to get lost and that I should go with someone who’s been. I of course had no doubt in my ability to get down there and find my way back, but I had not ever really had the time it would take me when I was out at the land in the past. But this time, it was going to happen.

We heard a car go by back by the main road (within the land, the road is more like a trail) and knew Rolando was on his way out. The problem was, he’d never be able to find us. We went to see if we could flag him down, but we couldn’t get to the road in time. Realizing that we had all the food, Adam and I decided to go after him in the truck and fetch him. We drove back into the valley and up the hill to where we knew he would be. Now that we didn’t have women and children aboard, I really opened her up and let Cowboy gallop across those bumpy roads. It was fun.

Doh! The carrot cake! Left on the top of the truck, destined for the dirt. But was it totally lost? Oh no. I scooped up every bit of it that wasn’t actually in contact with the dirt, getting just over half of it. “Blast!” I said. Now it was carrot pudding. It didn’t look very aesthetic anymore (it didn’t look great to begin with, but at least it was smooth and even) and it was half gone, but it would still be delicious.

Sorry, tangent-rant!

Camping is about the best thing

I woke at dawn and did my yoga, but wasted no time setting out for the creek. I wanted to scout the whole place out and get an idea of how to get there and back before we went with the whole crew. I knew there was lots of poison oak, so I wore long sleeves and brought my gloves, some clippers, and a machete. I followed the downward slope of the land, letting my instincts guide me to water. I could hear the falls off in the distance.

I came to the gorge, which wasn’t very severe in this particular area, but that was still a pretty steep drop with lots of sheer cliffs here and there. Rather than going along the top, I went straight down, having to go very slowly and carefully when I came to a big drop off. I made it down with only moderate difficulty and headed right for the water. It looked beautiful, flowing more like a river. There was a good sized rapid/waterfall right where I got to the water, and I sat admiring it for a while before moving on.

I followed the creek back upstream to where I knew a smaller creek met with it. This was the area we wanted to end up on our trip later that day. When I got to it, I was blown away. It was such a powerful place, alive with magic and flowing with gentle, clean waters. It was warming up, but it wasn’t yet hot enough for me to swim, so I just sat and contemplated the serene paradise around me for a bit, and then headed back up the hill. This would, I knew, be the difficult part of the journey, especially once we were toting Eva and Gaia. But we would be strengthened by the medicine, and we would be refreshed after a day by the water.

I made my way back to the camp, where only Adam was up. But soon the others came out, and Rolando showed back up too. He took us around in his Jeep to see the new parcels we had won at auction. One of them had a solar panel and the foundation for a building. Another had a cabin and a well. The other contained the geologically renowned agate flats, and the other gave us control of the gate that gave access to our land. We got out and walked around in several different spots, and were all very impressed with the new land we had acquired.

Rolando and Samantha had to get back to town, but Adam, Laura, the kids and I stayed, deciding we would probably just stay one more night. We wanted to go spend the day down by the creek, and who wants to have to break camp and drive home after a long exhausting day of hiking, swimming, and then climbing back out of a gorge?

I skipped lunch and did some meditating. Adam and I both wandered away from the camp a bit to eat our portions of the mushrooms, and Laura ate hers at camp. We all sat around relaxing, readying ourselves. When I felt the energy begin to stir, I smoked a bowl and packed up my satchel. Oranges, apples, nuts, water bottles, gloves, and go. Getting the family together took a bit more time, but eventually we were on the hike. By the time we had left the camp area behind, I was already vibrating with that good old feeling. The shrooms were kicking on, and the long journey had begun.

It was hot and the walking was difficult, with no real trail to follow, and lots of rocks to contend with. We moved slower than I ever walk, mainly because of Eva. Eventually I just hoisted her onto my shoulders and we picked up speed. We followed the gorge, heading for the gentlest area of slope, down by where the creeks meet. It seemed to take forever to get there, but we did, and we started our descent. It was slow going, because we were totally tripping and because Laura had Gaia in her arms and had to be helped a lot. Eva too needed much help, and though a part of me thought that I could already be at the water if I was just on my own, it dawned on me that my role in life had been changing, and that in this situation, I was one cell in a larger body, a part of this group. My strength in navigating the wilderness and finding the right spots was put to good use guiding us as we went, and it was my duty to give of myself and share my energy and strength with others.

When we finally came to the water, it was like a dream. I stripped down to my boxers very quickly and slid into the cool, shallow creek. It was really hot out, and I had been wearing long sleeves to protect from poison oak, and carrying Eva for much of the way.

We spent a while in this area before moving on, which was difficult. I literally had to haul little Eva out of the water. She was splashing and squirming around in the water like a little nature child, speaking her own child language and singing and laughing. But we eventually got her dressed again and we followed the creek down the terrain. I didn’t know how far it was, but I knew that this creek met with the bigger on, and that was where we were bound. (We wanted to get all the way in the water and actually swim and we couldn’t do that on this smaller creek.) It was a slower route to follow the creek bed itself, but it was far more interesting, and we came to several spots where we just chilled and got in the water again. Laura ended up in the water in her clothes, and I did too, though only after I slipped in while doing some interesting rock yoga over the creek.

As if lost in a dream paradise, we wandered slowly downstream, stopping when spots called to us, sitting quietly or talking and laughing, marveling at the beauty of this place and rejoicing in the random outrageous things we recalled from life in the Matrix. Here, we were as unplugged from that whole joke as one could possibly be.

When we got to the final spot, Eva knew it first. She insisted that this was the spot and she told me to put the poncho down. I couldn’t see the big creek yet, and I wasn’t sure. But I put it down anyway and left to scout things out more. Sure enough, there was the big creek. We had arrived. Laura wandered off upstream (of the big creek) while I stripped down naked and got right in. It was really cold, but it felt so good. I floated and swam against the current for a long time, lost in the liquid world. I got out and ran around, finding a place to sit on the rocks in the sun with my feet in the water.

I met up with Eva and Adam and we ate some fruit and lounged in the grass. (Indeed, we were in our garden paradise!) I went for some walks up the surrounding hills and back up the little creek bed. I ran and climbed, I chanted and sang. I meditated, I thought of my loved ones, and I thought of Anastasia. I felt her too, knowing that this was the kind of world she was talking about in those books, the kind of reality she lived in all the time. This was what it really was to be human.

Such a lovely gift is this life, and that afternoon we all knew it, through and through. We hiked back up the hill when the sun hit the tops of the trees, and we went slowly back. I was a bit concerned about getting there before dark, as we only had one flashlight and the camp would be hard to find in the dark, but we made it in plenty of time. We built a fire, ate supper, smoked some more, and reflected on the wonderful day. I felt so very at peace, and I thought about the many lessons I had learned that day. I got much clarification about my role in things in the community and in life, and I felt very rejuvenated by the waters, the exercise,, and the communication with nature.

When we got back to town, a whole bunch of other things came up for us to deal with, and I’ve had several fun little mini-adventures since last weekend when this all went down, but I don’t have time to write about them now. Too bad, because I’m about to have a whole bunch more, and something really incredible is in the process of happening right now involving our community and our land acquisition. I’ll write about that more later.

Welcome to Our World

McCool — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:25:17 +0000

So, as they tend to do, things have been happening. The biggest news of late (in my life) is that my sister bore unto this world a young wee creature we shall know by the name of Callie. She is a beautiful child, and she’s now in the care of some very exceptional people who will radiate love and home all around her. This is a great gift. What an experience to witness the energy of life manifest in this new relative of mine, who I know shines with the purity of the Creator, un-imprinted with the paradigms of thought that weigh down our world. Much from the purity of childhood consciousness can we learn. The real fun will come once she’s ambulatory and coordinated enough to explore and climb with me, of course. But this early part will be exceedingly fun (to a soul satisfying level) for my sister and Callie’s grandmothers (Nana and Mimi they shall be called). It will be hard work and lots of difficulty, but that part is good in it’s own way. Congratulations, Laurie and Phillip. I look forward to seeing Callie in person this summer.

In other news, Codex Alimentarius shall soon criminalize production and distribution of alternative healing and nutritional products, and then remove almost all nutrition from “legal” foods being produced and consumed…. oh wait, wrong news category. For me, as of late, I’ve been working hard. On top of my usual responsibilities around our house, I’ve been doing some work on the side for a really cool lady who lives up the road. She’s got a great piece of property with all sorts of projects working. I, along with several other guys, helped to dig out a huge number of large beds, adding some soil amendments and stirring it up. Lots of digging in the dirt, and watering as well. It’s been good work, and I have some cash in my pocket now.

So naturally, I’m heading out to the bar, then to the casino. If I have any left I’ll buy a big sack of smack and sail to the moon. No, actually, my money is all budgeted for food and plants for our garden and for my domain. I have about 300 trees to get a hold of, just for the outer perimeter. Ultimately, I will have thousands of trees, all planted by myself. The project I’m undertaking isn’t just big; it isn’t just a lifetime project even; it’s many lifetimes in its scope. How do I plan on completing it then? That’s the whole thing….

But that’s not blog sort of material. Look into the spirituality, new human culture, and fiction sections if you’re interested in such things.

Other news… I shaved off the old partially-red beard. I always want to grow along and flowing beard and then tire of it after a few months. It sort of gets in the way sometimes. It’s getting hot too. Of course, before completing the task, I left the mustache long enough for a few pictures. This is always fun. Laura was kind enough to give my hair a bit of a trim that afternoon as well. So I’m looking rather different.

As far as things with the broader community go, we have just this morning won four more parcels of land at tax auction. This is all part of a larger plan to own the entire area around where we currently have land. There are so many elements of this project that are coming together on this land, and it’s going absolutely mind-bending once it has manifested for the world to see. As of now, we are the vision holders, those who see what will be. We are people from all walks of life who have dreamed of something marvelous and dared to believe it can be real. We are in the process of turning this vision/dream into a concrete, tangible reality for the rest of the world to see.

I’ve got some pictures to link up to this post, and more to write about, but it seems I seldom have more than about ten minutes at a time to write lately, so that will have to wait a bit. Peace my friends.

Planting Season

McCool — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:52:35 +0000

Well May has finally come, which means we should be done with frosts this year. It’s been pretty gloomy and rainy these last few days, but that hasn’t stopped us. Yesterday we planted our tomato plants, along with some celery, marigolds, herbs, and garlic. Yesterday Laura and I put all of those in, with Eva alongside digging in the mulch for rolly polies. (I wonder how that’s supposed to be spelled…. Is there even an official spelling?)

Several days back, we met with Scott, who is going to run the Shambhala Organic Farm. (Aside from our nature preserve and garden domains, we’re also going to operate a commercial organic farm, a different piece of property.) Scott was a brilliant guy who has been growing things for a long time, using biodynamic and perelandra techniques. (Google those if you want.) He gave us some very good advice about our garden around the house, and he invited us to see his garden, in Ashland. We had some things to do in town, so we went over and visited him later that day. His house was incredible. Or I should say, his yard was. The house looked nice, but I didn’t go in. But we spent quite a bit of time walking about, looking at all of the things he was growing, and I noted the various systems he had in place. Very clever stuff!

“This is the seedling room,” he said, taking us to a small hand built greenhouse. “Here we have the ones we just planted, on a heating strip to warm the soil. As soon as they sprout, we move them over here, where they get full light.” Two trays of seedlings sat on the counter. Directly outside was more counter space, covered, but with no walls. “And here are the bigger seedlings. We keep them here until they’re ready to go in the ground.”

He discussed interplanting, harvest times of different things, and pointed out several species of non-food plants that served different functions. “This one is a ladybug attractor,” he said, pointing out a bush. There were several ladybugs on the leaves. Permaculture, you see, brings huge varieties of species together in such a way as to account for all factors of an ecosystem. Normal gardening sees weeds and pests as intruders, the enemy. But they are not. They are part of the ecosystem too, and their presence is a reminder to us that something isn’t right. People who garden in complete balance with their surroundings don’t have problems with pests or weeds. People who spend huge amounts of money and labor on pesticides, herbicides, weeding, and worrying are simply further acting out the imbalance that they are reacting to. It is important for us to become aware of these things. A thriving, healthy life is much much simpler than most people think.

I also enjoyed Scott’s strawberry spiral bed, and his moon deck, a small wooden deck where he planned on putting in a water heater so he could take hot baths under the moonlight. The tub was already in place, and the area was shielded by a little curved wooden fence that he’d weaved together from branches.

We looked in on the chickens, and talked some more before leaving. This incredible garden was in Scott’s backyard, an area no more than half an acre in size. He grows huge amounts of food, trading and selling surpluses on special market designed specifically for home growers. I didn’t get the full info on that system (it has some acronym that I’ve forgotten) but I plan to look further into it. So much is going on, and so many people are working towards the same direction with their personal and family efforts. It’s so marvelous.

It was much fun going out to the big festival that was thrown the weekend after Earth Day, celebrating yet. There were hundreds of booths, and hardly any of them were selling anything. It was all information exchange, product and design demos, course and seminar information, and art and presentations. There were some places selling food, but most of it was just a big free exchange. There was a really cool drum circle that I sat in on for a while.

I was there with Adam, who ran into an old rivalry of his. (I’ve not watched much Family Guy lately, but how could I forget the legendary chicken fight?)

I cannot say it enough - this area is unlike anywhere in the world. The west coast in general connotes, in many people’s minds, this earthy, organic, peace and harmony sort of lifestyle, but what’s going on in Ashland is unique even out here. This is an awakening of consciousness, and the energy that has gathered here is pulsing with potential. The hour is upon us! We are so lucky to be alive at this cosmically historic time. But hear me friends; we must be ready.