Autumnal Spirituality . Inner Wise Woman Field Guide

The moon is waxing, reaching its full moon peak in just a couple more nights. We are manifesting whatever we put out there, so let us be intentional and conscious. Prune what no longer belongs and purify and realign our lives. Autumn is a beautiful time to chart new courses and initiate changes for the coming year. The following thoughts originate from the Inner Wise Woman Field Guide and I am finding them very valuable so I am going to share my vision and self.

What have I harvested this year? In what ways have I grown?

During the past year, we have had many people come and go through our community which always brings about the opportunity to grow, to heal, to become stronger. At one point, we had to ask a long term resident to leave and that was difficult for me. I believe all should have equal access to land and basic needs, that sharing with anyone is a good thing. But at the same time, some people become leeches or moochers, and refuse to take responsibility for what happens in their life. When that gets to a certain point and only continues on the downward spiral, we have to call it quits and move forward. To do that with compassion and care was difficult, but we did it the best we could. My partner Carlos and I went through some challenges in our relationship. We both have become far more honest and transparent in our relationship, in the ways we act, the feelings we share, and the language we use. I have become far more patient, understanding, calm, as well as firm with my needs. There is much to learn still, but I have come a long way. We brought our second child into the world this year. In the summer I gave birth to our baby girl Inanna. She came into the world here at home, in the Library of our community, with dear friends at my side and our family awaiting her arrival in the main common house. It was the most beautiful and absolutely blissful feeling that I have ever experienced in my life. The highest high and the most serene yet penetrating power. She came out through screams, cries, laughter, and a deep connection to source. The beauty of it… I learned more from that experience than any other in a moment, one instant. Bringer or creation. I am truly a goddess.

What do I want to celebrate?

Our perfect baby girl Inanna and our perfect, blissful birth!! Both of the children I have brought into the world! Music. Animals. Nature. Trees. Art. Flowing waters through our property. Winds blowing through the woods and turning our windwill. The fires that cook our food, that we dance to and that we create magic with. This big beautiful earth that gives us all the things we need to survive. The rocks to build our floor, wood and mud for our walls, tin for our roofs. The sound of the birds outside our window in the morning. The ability to communicate from my heart. The interconnection between me and Great Spirit, inner knowing, intuition, third eye, vision, creativity, all of it. I am woman! We are all united!

What do I need to let go of in this next season of my life?

The feelings of betrayal well up inside me frequently, mostly in relations with my partner. We have a deep past, long long history, that I find a challenge to let go of. I also feel jealous and self conscious, envious, resentful, and tend to beat people down accidentally or sub consciously to try to get my way. I want to let go of what happened with the people who have entered my relationship with Carlos and move forward with love in my heart. I want to let go of the need to be part of everything and the feelings of jealousy when I am not included. I want to let go of the feeling that people are against me or don’t care. I want to let go of the fear I have of confrontation and trust that all things will be well when I confront conflict with a will to understand and come to agreements.

Are there any opposites in my life that need balancing and reconciling?

Oh yes, thank you to Jack for helping me to identify this one. I display a sense of organized chaos in my daily life, from the office I use for our business to the room I sleep in. I want things to be beautiful and simple and basic, and to  great extent they are, while these things continue to look and feel chaotic around me. And so to balance all that, I tend to act controlling of the lives around me to feel a sense of control over my own life. I believe a certain amount of organization is necessary for community to function, but I become overbearing at times.

What am I most longing for in my life?

Harmony with the land, my family, the community, and all of my surroundings. To live in harmony with this place, living simply, while creating space for pure creation to occur in the form of all the things I value. Love. Peace. Joy. Song. Dance. Food. Community. Being in harmony with the moon and stars and sun and trees and all the life around me. Being loud and feeling great about who I am!

What is it I see, feel, and intuit as I enter the New Year of the Soul?

I am becoming whole. I will see the spirit more closely and become more aware of my sense of self. Simplify. Realize more of my true power. See the goddess within. Feel bliss again, repeatedly. A deep sense of joy, gratitude, peace, liberation, and understanding.

Autumn is the time of the inner midwife, which is better represented by the waning moon (this phase returns this weekend), or the ebbing tide. The pre-menstruum woman.

Narrow the gap between where you are and who you want to be.

Principle – Vibrational Alignment

Practices –

• Soul-centric – identify and feel your deepest longings. identify and let go of what no longer serves
• Womb-centric – menstrual map my monthly cycle on a daily basis
• Nature-centric – follow one’s emotional guidance and practice Vibrational Alignment in Nature

Waxing First Quarter Moon / growth and emergence

• focus on growth and development within projects, goals, and dreams
• pay attention to what is emerging

We are building a Shower Shack attached to the Catbox, our primary communal building. We are compromising here and there to come to a consensus on how the building is unfolding using some natural elements like wood, stone, and even a little cob as well as a little treated lumber, some plastic, industrial insulation. I realize the significance of finishing the building soon and recognize that all in all, the small amount of industrial junk we use is going to greatly benefit a large number of people and this outweighs the environmental damage. Plus most of it was locally sourced and/or refurbished. We are rolling right along with developing infrastructure here and sailing through conflict with love. I am giving and receiving trust, honor, gratitude, strength, fulfillment, and great confidence in our future here together and I look forward to the others who will come.

Full Moon / manifestation and gratitude

• focus on finishing projects or phases of projects
• celebrate what has been accomplished this month
• manifest outcomes

I plan to work hard towards finishing this Shower Shack in the ways that I am inspired. I have been screwing on boards with a power drill and getting pretty good at it, so that is my compromise to industry. Tomorrow I will be making some cob mix to add to the cracks between the boards, as well as get the supplies to make  a natural vinegar based stain for the untreated local boards we are using. This will help move the project toward completion while doing the magic to manifest more natural ways of doing these projects in the future. I am also working on my music daily, practicing new rhythms, singing new songs, practicing old ones, and manifesting a tightness there. We recently helped with a cob wall at a friends place manifesting more natural building there. I made a conscious choice to let go of my obsession to further the herbal business in exchange for having more time to natural build. Fall and winter seem a perfect time to focus on Earthworks.

 

 

Life with Acorn, the natural birth of my second baby

She was born into pure bliss on the night of June 3rd at 11:40PM into the hands of her papa Carlos. With the support of Carlos, Sage and Maria I felt empowered and confident even through the most excruciating pains of my life. I had faith and courage to keep going through the cycles of contractions and power through every push with more and more strength then I knew I even had. The head peaked out and went back in three times and on the fourth time I told papa to pull her out! He says it looked like a sci fi movie from his angle and he couldnt pull her sweet little head. I pushed from the center of my being from a place deep inside that works on instinct and intuition. I kept pushing and pushing, arching my back and breathing through, roaring like a lioness with all the force of the great mother. Out she came into the hands of her daddy and in that moment all those feelings of courage, strength, pain, force… became absolutely bliss and the purest form of love that is not even describable with words. I wept there on my hands and knees, uncontrollable tears of absolute joy for this new baby girl, this sweet blessing from the great mystery of life. I did it!!! On hands and knees with the strength of a lioness and the deepest love I have ever felt, I did it. Without drugs. Without doctors. Without intervention. With the loving support of dear friends who believed in me, encouraged me, and flooded me with confidence. With all that love, my dream of a pure, natural, courageous birth was realized.

We slept in the trailer that night. I couldnt move much so we spent our first blussful night with our new baby there in the space that she was birthed. The next morning Kaylee, Nate, Jay, and Bert arrived for their visitor period. They sold their old life to make a life on the land with us here. Their new home for the time being is the same trailer and there we all were sharing the bliss of this amazing space. Slowly I gather myself together and carried our sweet little Acorn to our nest in the Catbox. We spent most of our first day in our room snuggling, snacking, loving, sharing our bodies and our souls. Maria and Nesto came over with tons of fruit and the community made a cheeseburger feast with homemade buns and all the works. It was a beautiful celebration. Darin also arrived and fell into the shared state of bliss with us. That night our planned midwife came over to do a check up on baby and me and found us to be in perfect health. She was unable to attend the birth but did reach Carlos that evening to encourage him that all would be well and she would come see me when the baby is born. We took our first warm bath together, with healing herbs to help our recovery process. It felt so nice.

On her second full day of life here on Earth in her new body, I began to feel a little emotional and sad. Post partum feelings and general feelings of overwhelm from all the huge changes that happened in the last day. Im normally a very active and involved person in all the things here at Oran Mor Community. Obviously just having given birth put me into a whole different reality and frequency and I wasnt able to be there to direct the family who is just getting settled into a life turned upside down from what they are used to. And they also felt like they have no idea how to plug in and what to do, and so there were some misunderstandings and a general break in our communication. We were able to talk and just communicating about the issues made everything feel so much more calm. I also began feeling some doubt and sadness about Carlos and my relationship because of past events that occured during my pregnancy and my own self doubt and trust issues. Baby Acorn was awake more this day, becoming more alert and aware with her eyes focusing on the people around. She is absolutely gorgeous. That night I wept tears of joy standing in our communal kitchen holding Acorn and sharing a moment with Carlos. I wept from the memory of the birthing that flooded into my consciousness when she looked at me. She felt my body and I felt hers and there was a moment of intense connection that only a mother and child will ever know and share. Carlos was there holding her feeling that moment with us and told me how strong and courageous I am, such power that I hold in my being. He expressed that he knows we have shared a deep bond for lifetimes and he knows that we are meant to travel through this lifetime together as a unit. I felt the truth in that statement deep in my soul. We stayed up late with our friends and family rejoicing in our life together.

Today, On day three I woke up early and spent some time in bed cuddling this precious new life and my two loves Kalani and Carlos. Kalani is so joyful
about his new baby sister, gives her kisses all the time, hugs, cuddles, watches her, and says the sweetest things. He loves having his friends Jay and Bert here who are 4 and 1. He and Jay play together almost all day. Life is beautiful. I was able to get up that morning and start doing the chores. Baby Acorn, Kalani, and Carlos were all in bed together. Kaylee was up making breakfast. I got to milk our goats and when I came back Acorn and Kalani were the cutest little peas in a pod cuddling on the couch together. What a blissful beginning to our day. Nesto and Maria brought us hay for our goats. Kathy stopped by with food and cookies for Kalani who shared them with everyone. I am such a blessed mama. I harvested fresh greens for our goats and took baby with me to harvest greens for the bunnies. My energy is coming back and my body is healing up quickly. I still rested a lot of the day, snuggling with this precious girl and took a nice nap together. We took our first car ride with her today, down to a neighbors farm to pick up some alfalfa. Kalani came along too. She was aware and content on the way there and then snuggled up and fell asleep. Later in the day, I left her with Opa so I could take some hay up the hill to our other goats. I actually pushed the wheelbarrow up there and felt great, and Kalani helped me fill the wheelbarrow with sticks for our cook fires and bring it down to our Outdoor Kitchen. When I got back down here, Acorn and Opa were snoozing on the couch. She is such a peaceful little fairie. She also had her first excursion to the creek today! Carlos and I took some laundry down there to wash and the kids, Kalani and Jay were already down there playing. After doing some of the laundry, I took a dip with our fairie babe who felt a bit cold and uncomfortable. It was a beautiful experience though, sharing natures beauty and healing with this incredible newborn life. Since then we have been lounging around and now she is laying on my belly as I document our life together so far. I feel absolute gratitude, love, joy, bliss, and the power of mother earth and great spirit charging through me and I am excited beyond words for every moment we share together.

All Natural Cough Syrup

Our family does not get sick often, and when we do we normally take some Apple Cider Vinegar and raw honey, up our probiotics, and we get over it in a day or two. Recently there has been a really intense virus going around that almost everyone we know from Michigan to Missouri to California has come down with and this bug is persistent and very hard to kick. It started with a runny nose, lots of mucus, and then a nasty cough. In cases like this we have a regimen of Ayurvedic and holistic herbal wisdom and we needed something to soothe the night time coughing fits so we could all get some sleep! Normally I use homemade Elderberry Syrup or Elderberry Wine, but we have been traveling and dont have any with us so I came up with a really simple syrup that anyone can make in 5 minutes!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Raw Honey, local is preferable
• 1 whole squeezed Lemon
• 1 grated Lemon Peel
• 2 inches grated Ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Directions –

Mix all of the ingredients together in a glass or bowl. Take a tablespoon in the morning, a tablespoon at night, and as needed anytime a cough comes on. This recipe makes enough to give some to your whole family and then stick the rest in the refrigerator to use later. Take it in the morning and at night and anytime symptoms arise. It can soothe coughing within minutes!

This syrup is amazing! Heres why – Raw honey is full of anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and immune boosting properties.It also naturally helps to soothe a cough just by itself. Lemon is naturally disinfecting, alkalizing and high in vitamin C. Ginger is anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and a natural expectorant. It also helps cleanse the system of toxins. Cinnamon is warming, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. Turmeric has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries and is also anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral. Black pepper has vitamin C, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and when used with honey it helps to break up phlegm.

A Local Cooperative Cafe and Store

The Farm Fork and Fiddle is a project started by the members of Ozark County Homegrown Food Project in Gainesville, Missouri about four months ago. We are renting a historical house that we are utilizing to operate a donation-based cafe where we serve meals sourcing many local ingredients. The store also offers fresh baked breads and pastries, local hormone-free chicken, produce, herbal medicinals, art, and many other handmade goods from our local community. Our mission is to make local, wholesome food more accessible, to foster  community and support the local economy of the greater Ozarks County Area through the sale and trade of local products and services, and to promote local skills, knowledge and culture.

We are a volunteer-run cooperative business, completely run with volunteer hours. We work together to make this happen, cooperatively making decisions through open dialog. It is a lot of work, but we have several people involved who have great big hearts, experience in community building, and a drive to get this going. We are motivated and optimistic that Farm Fork and Fiddle will succeed and wonderfull things will happen!

We have three months to make a name for ourselves in the community and get this co-op off the ground, to bring in some profit so we can to turn this concept of local resilience into a reality.

If you are in the area, please come in for lunch and shop in our store to support us! If you are not in the area, please consider donating to our cause. We have a GoFundMe campaign here  –  https://www.gofundme.com/farmforkfiddle

You can check out our website and learn more about us here – http://www.farmforkfiddle.com

Also like our Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/farmforkandfiddle/

And join our Discussion Board – https://www.facebook.com/groups/656956544401236/

Sharing Primitive Skills

We have a new member of Rising Roots Collective, our worker-run collective based at Oran Mor Community where I live. We are so happy to welcome Keven Statwick, a primitive skills artist and teacher!!

He has been involved with teaching and demonstrating primitive skills since 1998. He works with local organizations like the Boy Scouts and Oran Mor Community to share the wisdom and knowledge of primitive peoples so we can carry these valuable skills on with us. Among other things, Keven is skilled at making and using bows and arrows, primitive pottery, flint knapped arrow points, stone knives, leather tanning, drums, and he even welds beautiful metalworks!

Keven frequently joins us at Oran Mor Community to help with work projects and to share skills with us here. We plan to have a Pottery Making class this year and he would love to share knowledge on any of these skills. Please feel free to contact us if you have a particular interest in primitive skills so we can plan a class or workshop!

Contact us at 417-250-9252 or oranmor@speedymail.org

See Keven’s work on etsy here – risingrootscollectiv.etsy.com

And check it out in person at Farm Fork and Fiddle, a local co-op shop in Gainesville, MO. www.farmforkfiddle.com

 

Farm Fork and Fiddle July Newsletter

Farm, Fork & Fiddle Ozark County Homegrown Food Project Newsletter 7.16.16 This is our first newsletter, if you don’t wish to receive it in the future, just let me know and I’ll be sure your email address is removed from the list. No worries at all! farmforkfiddle.com http://tinyurl.com/FFFCalendar http://tinyurl.com/FFFdiscussion Subscribe, unsubscribe or send your questions, suggestions or comments to, Jewel at FFFNewsletter@outlook.com ~ Meeting & Event Dates ~ Café & Shop Hours Café is open for lunch Mon, Wed & Fri from 10:am to 2:00pm Shop is open during Cafe hours plus Wed & Fri 4:30 to 7:00pm FFF General Meeting July 21st at the Yellow house. Potluck at 5:00pm, meeting at 5:30 Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. Farm to Table Community Potluck Hosted by Amelia LaMair July 29th   5:00 to 8:00 pm at the Farm, Fork & Fiddle Bring a dish to share featuring something grown or raised in the Ozarks. Prettiest and ugliest vegetable competition- bring your entries and cast your vote. Musical entertainment by Buzzards Hollar, bring your instruments for jamming before or after Yard games for all ages Free event, donations welcome Shop will be open Ozark County Home Funeral Group Meets every other Wednesday or as listed Nest Meeting is July 20th Upstairs at the Farm, Fork & Fiddle Eat at the Café at 12:30 – Meeting at 1:00 ~ Special Notices ~ The Seed Swap has been put off until the fall because so much has been going on but I’ve been working on Garden Starter packs and lining up some speakers. ~ News ~ We have a new treasurer, Mindy Pippin. And a new Member Coordinator, Renee Schmucker. Thank you both so much!! We were without AC for quite some time but, thanks to Pearl and the Hammonds, we now have two window AC units and are cool and comfortable. Even without air we were open on a few days, thank you to everyone who worked in the heat and humidity!! ~ Monthly Specials ~ * ~ Currently at the Farm, Fork & Fiddle ~ Homegrown & Handcrafted in the Ozarks! Make your shopping list and stop by to fill your home with whole, fresh foods, natural herbal medicinals, one of a kind artwork and handcrafted goods! Baked goods, fresh produce, fresh eggs, nut butters, aprons, artwork tinctures, oils, salves, knitted goods, soaps, cards, artwork, jewelry and so much more. Produce List tomatoes, banana peppers, jalapenos, beets, onions, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, and more! ~ Meet A Member ~ For our first addition it’s Meet the Crew. These are just a fraction of the dedicated souls who work hard and long to keep the Farm, Fork & Fiddle going. Jessi Dreckman – President Dennise Lawson – Secretary Carole Long – Kitchen Coordinator & Board Member Amelia LaMair – Grant Writer & Board Member Pearl Schneider – Vice President, Board Member & Garden Committee Dez Fleck – Volunteer Coordinator Jule Kruger – Vendor Coordinator Candace Butler – Vendor Coordinator Susie Fijinaga – Events Coordinator Crystal Marshall – Perishable Goods Coordinator Renee Schmucker – Member Coordinator Jewel Krasinski – Newsletter & Board Member ~ Product Highlight ~ Handmade Greeting Cards by Tracey Meal of Cardsavvy – Vendor #41 “My trade is Interior Design, I love working with color shape and texture in any medium. started making cards about 12 years ago, I have been scrapbooking since 1998 and it was kind of a natural progression into papercrafting. I use hand stamps, inks, different archival quality papers, digitally created and printed images and hand lettering occasionally, to create my cards. I cut each card by hand, I prefer not to buy pre-made blank cards.  I love the creative process and selecting the materials for each card is my favorite part of that process. I prefer to leave the inside of my cards blank so that people can write their own sentiments inside, thereby making them that much more special. Each design is unique and I try to not use the same design over again, once those papers are used up I do not buy them again. If you see a few cards that look alike they are limited editions and will not be created again. Sometimes I can get 5 or 6 cards out of a single sheet, and part of the creative process is determining if the paper is better suited for condolence, get well, birthday or all purpose use. I hope people enjoy receiving them as much as I enjoy creating them. Thanks! Tracy” ~ FFF Needs ~ Upstairs office … Small desk Desk chair Locking file cabinets or lockbox Shop is looking for the following… Local honey Baked goods Produce Any local homegrown or handmade goods If you’re interested in vending, contact one of our Vendor coordinators, Candace at 417-294-0755 or calinkenauger@yahoo.com or ochfpretailsales@gmail.com Jule at 417-679-0446 We’re always in need of volunteers! If you’re interested in volunteering, Please contact Dez, our Volunteer coordinator at 417-250-9252 or greenearthalive@gmail.com Areas needed – *Assistant Volunteer coordinator (to help Dez) * People willing and able to be trained on the register (may include a background check) *Marketing / Advertising – Getting the word out about when we are open and events that we have going on. This could be a group working together. Some places to advertise include facebook, website, blog, bulletin boards, newspaper, signs on the street, etc. Classes If you would like to teach a class or hold an event that coincides with our mission (wholesome local living), we would love to have you! Susie Fujinaga is our Events Coordinator and will be able to help you set it up. 417-989-1035  or susiefuji3@gmail.com ~ Recipe ~ Submit your from-scratch recipes, along with your name to FFFnewsletter@outlook.com I’ll include one recipe per issue  J In Season Fruit Crumble  – (by Julia Catfeather) You can use most any kind of fruit or berries or combinations. Apple Raisin in the fall, Mixed Berries in the summer etc.. As always, use what you have  🙂 Fruit 6 cups any fruit or berry or combination, fresh, thawed or rehydrated 1/2 cup honey 2 T brown sugar 3 T flour Topping 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup oats 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/3 cup honey 1/2 cup softened butter Prepare fruit as needed (core, chop, thaw, rehydrate etc) then add to a large bowl. Drizzle the honey over the fruit and mix to coat. Add the brown sugar and then sift the flour in. Mix again but not overly to crush much fruit. Pour fruit mixture into a baking pan, dutch oven or deep dish pie pan. Glass, ceramic or pottery is best, especially for very acidic fruit. Topping Combine first 3 ingredients and mix well. Add softened butter and honey and mix well again.  Top fruit with spoonfuls. Bake at 350 F for around 40 minutes. Until topping is browned and fruit is bubbling. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. ~ Meeting Minutes ~ May 26, 2016 Opening The regular meeting of the Ozark County Homegrown Food Project was called to order at 5:4 0PM on May 26th in Farm Fork and Fiddle by Amelia LaMair Approval of Minutes The minutes were approved after one change. Subsequently Pearl Schneider accepted the role of Vice President of the Board Financial report Finance report was given and accepted unanimously Open Issues Mindy Pippin has taken the Treasurer position. Dennise will remain as secretary. By Laws distributed. Another meeting is suggested to accept or make changes. But, the current By Laws were accepted at this time until a later meeting is scheduled in the Fall. New Business: Keep the upstairs closed if not in use. All agreed Coordinators job description discussed. The coordinators have been empowered to make decision on their own. If they have concerns or questions, it can be pushed upward to the Board for assistance. Jon Kruger has offered to mow the lawns Jeffrey Goss has offered to get soil for the garden boxes. Chrystal has offered to take the Produce Coordinator position. Vote of majority approved her position. The produce coordinator has the right to remove plants, vegetable of less quality. Event coordinator has the right to approve all events. Events should support the mission. If the coordinator has questions/concerns it can be pushed upward to the Board. Discussion was tabled on renting out the facility to others Reminder to log volunteer hours. During the Workshop it was discussed that communication continues to be a problem. Please work on approaching this in a positive way. Ways to communicate include using Face Book discussion, check bulletin board, read and use email. Dez has offered to call and email persons if they want to be more involved. Bullet points of issues can be posted on Bulleting Board. Jessi has difficulty keeping up with pushing out all the info. Dez will help by sending out info once a month as well. Carole suggested that coordinators should send to email for each area once a week. Jon recommended a monthly coordinator report. Jeffrey recommended a comment box. Close Memorial Day. Please don’t park in handicapped parking area Candace will make signs Also do not park in front of the building if you are volunteering for the day. Farmer’s Market is scheduled for June 4. Credit Card Machine. Wireless now. Discussion took place on internet and phone services. Land line for machine rather than wireless. Bundled services discussion took place as well. Trash service: Discussion took place on different costs and benefits of trash services. Tables until can talk to Dennise Air Conditioner is not working. Rachel Klessig has offered to work on getting someone to fix it. Received donation of $1000 from St. Louis Realities. Living the Dream Properties. Dez will ask Tracie Meal to send Thank you. It was agreed upon to make a $50 donation to the Historium for use of the building for our workshop Donna Yeggy quilt raffle details discussed. Miriam will be in charge of the raffle. Will have the raffle closer to Hootin and Hollerin. Kitchen: policy for scheduling is needed. Clipboard is kept in the kitchen. Cooks need to stay in contact. Local foods: We are doing well with using local foods. Need to publicize it more. Weekly list to cooks of what we have. Garden: Jeffrey will get a pick up load from MLH soon. $40 Trellises: T posts need to be pulled. Raise the trellises. Will send message out when we can have a garden workday. Composter: Miriam and Phil have a composter. Vendors; Rearranging items and food in the retail room. Membership: Monthly deals? Events and workshops: Jewel is working on a seed swap. Eric and Carlos are interested in giving music lessons. Wait until after baseall season. Candace is interested in teaching rock painting. Set up a meeting about the house contract. Contract ends June 30. June 9th was the day set for the meeting. Membership: Lottie wants to exchange items and labor for membership. Jule will call her. T shirts: Order forms should be returned with the payment by June 15th in sealed envelope. Jessie will bring catalogue Agenda for Next Meeting Agenda will be distributed at the next meeting Adjournment The next general meeting will be at 5:30 on June 16, 2016, in Farm Fork and Fiddle. Minutes submitted by: Dennise Lawson Secretary

Oran Mor seeking Volunteers, Interns, and Members

We are looking for new members at Oran Mor Community!

Farm and Food Jobs

Ozark County, Missouri

Accepting volunteers, interns, and members! We are working on several natural building projects utilizing timber framing, cob, and rock. Our gardens are taking off and we are in the process of adding layers (shrubs and trees) to our primary vegetable gardens, as well as adding annual veggies to our wilder spaces.

We are a small egalitarian community and organic farm established in June of 2003 and situated on 113 acres in the hills of Ozark County, MO. The terrain is rocky with several creeks and we enjoy four distinctly, beautiful seasons.

We raise dairy goats, egg chickens, geese, guineas, dogs n cats, and various vegetables using local organic inputs and no-till design. We work to put the principles of Permaculture into daily practice, using clean energy resources and recycling our waste as best we can. We are stiving to minimize our reliance on fossil fuels and electricity as much
as possible, while still being involved in our broader…

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Cob Oven Workshop at OM

Spring is here again!! Flowers blooming in the fields, cherries growing plump on the trees, strawberries ripening, bees buzzing, greens growing everywhere… and we have been busy busy planning, growing, and BUILDING! Our most recent build is our beautiful, brand new, earthen cob oven.  Lots of local folks came out to help us with the project, friends from East Wind Community, folks from the Ava Growers Market, and some good friends from down the road. Most of the materials were sourced from the land we call home. We dug the clay from a hole next to the Outdoor Kitchen, shoveled creek sand into buckets and hauled it up here, and the platform the cob oven sits upon is built from beautiful large rocks from the creek bed. We used firebrick that we salvaged from here and there, tiles for a lovely countertop also laying around on the property… this land is just full to the brim with useful supplies!

The structure on the left was built over the Winter and finished this Spring using roundwood Cedar timbers from our beautiful forest. It is primarily timber framed and we attached it to the timber frame building on the right side which was built several years ago by a former Communard. That beautiful structure on the left side there surrounded by river rocks is our cob oven platform. There are pallets on top of old metal barrels that act as the real structure, all sourced from our scrap piles, and the rocks serve as beauty and form. We filled the pallets with a simple clay and sand cob mixture to insulate the cob oven.

Cob oven form.

Making the sand igloo.

Finished touches on the sand igloo.

Carlos digging sand.

Igloo wrapped in newspaper..

Cob stompin family!

We began the build by first setting up fire bricks where we wanted the cob oven. Then we made a form by putting some salvaged cinder block and a bucket full of bricks to take up space within our sand form. The sand form was made from sifted creek sand and water, basically like building a sand castle, but a sand igloo! This is just to make the shape of the cob oven. You build the middle to be the size that you want the interior of the oven. When the oven is dry, we will dig out the sand castle and remove the blocks and bucket. Once the form was complete, we covered it in wet phone book paper. This is to insure that the sand igloo doesn’t mix with the cob and making it easier to dig out.Without this you could easily dig out extra or have sand falling onto your first pizzas.

Starting our first layer of cob.

More cob stomping fun!

Pat and Joy and me cobbing it up.

More cob cob cob!

Almost complete…

Cob cob COB!!! The mixture we ended up using was one bucket of clay to two buckets of sand, give or take some handfuls. With every batch we mixed, we did a drop test to check the consistency. After stomping and mixing the clay and sand and water thoroughly, we took a handful of it and kneaded it about 50 times, then dropped it from chest height onto the tarp we mixed it on. If it crumbles and breaks apart, there is too much sand. We always veered on the side of too much sand and gradually added more clay until we could drop it without crumbling. Too much clay in the mixture will cause more cracking as the oven dries. The ration of sand to clay in cob will vary a lot from place to place depending on the amount of silt and soil in your clay.

First layer of cob is complete, about 4 inches thick… now for the second layer!!

Fire to celebrate cob and Beltane!

Our second layer of cob.

Craig and Richard digging and sifting.

Carlos, Delta, and I playing with mud..

The second layer is complete!

After a firey Beltane and cob celebration, we went to bed, woke up the next day, and went wild with more mud for layer two of the oven! We didn’t get as many photos of the beginning stages of this layer but it went on the same way, from the bottom up. This layer is made from the same clay and sand mixture with added straw this time for extra insulative properties. This layer was intended to be about 3 inches thick but is between and 4 and  6 inches in many places. We decided when the oven is dry we are going to chisel out the door a bit and make it wider so we can fit up to 14 inch pizzas in there!  During this awesome workshop, we splurged on loads of yummy pizzas from our small cob oven that we completed a couple years ago. Wish I would have snapped some shots of our scrumptious yummies! I promise they were beautiful. So now we are letting the cob oven dry out for a while. We may add some sculpting to the oven to make her super awesome and one of a kind and we will add a plaster and mosaic once she’s dry.

This is our mini cob oven, built long before the Outdoor Kitchen extension. We still use it once a week for pizza nights!

Hope you found this inspirational and educational! Let me know if you have any questions and get out there to play in the mud…

Perfect Ingredient for Tipi Village

Carlos, Kalani, and I are loving living in our Tipi. Now we have the opportunity to expand into a Tipi Village! All we need is one more tipi and we found one on Craigslist for just $200! It includes the poles and everything. All we need is to raise $200 so we can buy it. We have started a fundraiser on gofundme to raise the money we need. Help us by donating whatever you can afford and know your money is going to a great cause. This second tipi will provide a home for someone to live in. We will be living in ours through the winter and would love to share primitive space with another tipi dwelling family!

https://www.gofundme.com/tipivillage

September New Moon

I awoke to a bearded man knocking on the truck window just before dawn. “Are you okay?” he asked “We got stuck here.” and so he helped push us out and led me back to Hwy 95. Kalani and I got home and everyone was still sleeping so I collected some local produce, goat cheese, eggs, homemade bread, butter, a cast iron pan, and some bowls and headed up the hill to make a campfire tipi breakfast. It was so good, such a delightful experience to have a family mealtime in our new home.

We spent the day at a leisurely pace, honoring the September New Moon. Did some morning yoga, washed a few clothes in the washtub, gathered sticks, brought up a wheelbarrow with food jars, our orange metal shit bucket, and other various items. We have adopted a norm to not bring any plastic or trash up here to the primitive tipi life. Makes us think deeply about what we surround ourselves with.

This morning we realized our sleeping space gets really cold because it is downslope from the fire, so we moved our bed upslope and tada! Now wa are much more coze. We restaked our tipi today ith rope tied onto the loops so it can be pulled out tighter. I’m so excited to spend my second night in the tipi!!