Mule Mountain Love

These are the hills I see every morning when I rise.  The house I live in is nestled in the tiny valley below.  It is glorious to be where I am.

I have been living with a beautiful family and helping them out in anyway I can.  Little do they know how deeply they have touched me and have helped me through this transitional time of my life.  Thayer, the glorious seven year old who surprises me daily with her insights and direction.  Jhrma, the almost three year old who blows me away and inspires me to love deeper and deeper.  Hazel, the bundle of joy who is now two and a half months, she is my definition of life itself.  The mamma goat who has brought these three joys into existence has become a great friend and partner.  

In one week I will be leaving for California.  My adventurous ego is kicking in and I feel the need to explore a little and live on the edge.  I will be harvesting and saturating myself with knowledge.  The people in the area which I am headed think like me.....or at least somewhat like me, so it will be inspiring to experience them and share everything we all know.  The intention is to be back by Halloween.  To party in Bisbee and then be with the people who I love most.  The path continues on and in each moment a new surprise pops up and I am blown away by life's magnificence.  

moments of inspiration

I take is as it comes in this town.  It's all I can do.  

Currently, I'm busy.  Busy missing the kids, busy taking care of chickens, busy worrying about what the hell I'm doing.

Busy living.

The bike plan is coming along.  I have a gig out in California to harvest and make money in October.  Once there is cash in hand and a good time under the belt, I will purchase the soon to be love of my life.  My bicycle.  It'll either be a Miyata or a Soma.  It will fit me and provide the freedom I have been lacking.  

The train will be taking me to Davis California within the next four weeks.  I will ride along the tracks and meditate and contemplate about the why's in life.  It will be a good time. 

These next weeks will be improvised and filled with many activities.  I will be sleeping well in the night time.  I will be living hard in the sunlight.  I pray for more monsoons to refresh me a little more.  I look forward to the coloring of the leaves and the rich harvests which are almost upon us. 

 

Struggle

This week was hard and filled with truth.

Living in this town again provides me with insight and memories which come no matter what.

The sorrows of broken hearts and the joys of new friends and love.  

I become so deeply effected by everything and usually find myself struggling. 

The struggles come because I find resistance while walking against the currents of society.  The dreams I have seem unattainable. Not because they are difficult or I am incapable, but because they do not fit the "norm".  

Hemp farms, sustainable living, off grid existences, weeds for food, bikes for transportation, love.    

Everyday there are bumps in the road.  Jolts of awareness and stimulation.  Sometimes I feel inspiration and motivation.  Other times I feel regret, sorrow and frustration.  Since I've been living outside of town I have been using a car to get around.  I carpool in as often as I can and have been mentally training myself for the bike ride in and out of the tunnel.  Because of this vehicle usage, I find myself in states of contradiction and embarrassment.  The only excuse I have is the same I used while working for the corporate menace Starbucks.  "Use the system to screw the system".  Only now, I'm not coming from a place of anger.  It's a place of awareness.  Use the system to change the system.  I can not deny the awesome power of the motorized vehicle.  I will use it for as long as I need in order to attain the means to move forward in a positive, clean direction.  These next few months will be spent in contemplative movement along the path towards the good life.  

The Method

Man on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than the pedestrian, but uses five times less energy in the process...Equipped with this tool, man outstrips the efficiency of not only all machines but all other animals as well.  Bicycles let people move with greater speed without taking up significant amounts of scarce space, energy, or time.  The use of the bicycle...allows people to create a new relationship between their life-space and their life-time, their territory and the pulse of their being...

Energy & Equity/ Ivan Illich

When I was a child, my favorite afternoon activity was to pedal around on my bike.  To invent new places traveled and take "friends" along the way.  I would ride for hours up and down the couple of streets around whatever house I lived in at the time.  The freedom which I felt while riding in the open air was indescribable.  

I look back and wonder why I allowed the temptations of "normal" life to take over the simple beauties.  Instead of riding my bike to school I rode the bus and dreamt of the day I could be behind the wheel of a massive four wheeled "beauty" of modern technology.  I dropped the simple ideals and worked towards a more established well off "style".  The bike was forgotten.  Years have passed and I think of all the lost time spent in a typical life.  I miss the bike rides, I miss the freedom.  The annoyance of consumeristic america has rocked me off the boat and I am swimming against the current, ready to be free.  

My next step is to find a bicycle.  Because so much time will be spent with her, and so much will be placed upon this endeavor, I must be wise in my searching.  A good bike which fits and flows with the ways of this path.  A bike which will take me wherever I want to go......... 

THE PLAN!

To ditch the conventional typical way of this consumerist modern society.  

To learn how to love and grow and be where peace and serenity flourish.

To leave Bisbee using only the energy I know how to produce to move forward.

To travel and experience life.

I have begun the beginning stages of planning an epic adventure.  The emails have been sent out, the course has been plotted and the waiting and training begins.  The winter will be spent living consciously and intentionally eating locally, supporting this community I live within and planning how to walk and ride in grace in the future times of my life.

As each moment passes I will keep an update on the adventure through this handy little blogging device.  

Right now my energy is in making contact with various farms/communities and spreading the web of opportunity.  

If you have any ideas, or would like to be apart of the farm tour please let me know and we can grow from here.