above: The mural of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, long the entry piece to the Forest Garden, finally came down after falling into disrepair. It had been a group painting inspired and led by early member Ananda Vedanta. 

Earthaven’s mission is to be a learning model of what responsible Earth-respectful people can do to shelter species, water, and themselves through the inevitable stresses of major planetary transformation. Alive and becoming more conscious at this pivotal time in our story, we have the opportunity to help evolution along, even when some of the changes are saddening. So we learn to let go of structures (or parts of them), relationships, even lifetimes when we approach our own body’s limits, and come together with as much good-natured, well-intended attitude and commitment as we can assemble.

The big changes we’ve been evolving with lately are neighborhood (or pod) re-organization, folks becoming Full Council Members after years of delay, new folks arriving who are interested in joining, and—perhaps the most transformative of all—several beloved members dying over the last few years.

We’ve also had some clear seasonal shifts—the blip of a short, beautiful Spring, then Summer in May—85° temps several days in a row, then close to freezing the next night! We’ve had windy weather and, in June, a solid week of heavy rain. But, still, the lilacs bloomed, the irises disrobed, peonies opened with scents to breathe for, and the trees budded out and blossomed with their age-old, optimistic lifeblood flowing in guilds and life communities along soil-enriched, sun-drenched gardens and orchards. We can step outside, at dawn or dusk, in the lightness of the season, to garden, harvest bumper berry crops, visit or just be here! In the full sun of midday we can choose to bake our bones or wade in the creeks, or both, and in the dark of night, under mystical starry skies, we can listen to the symphony of (mostly small, but not all!) critter life.

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The first structure Earthaveners built together, called the Pavilion, was intended as a kitchen. Foreshadowing the design of the Council Hall, it was a yurt with round, straight walls and an experimental ferro-cement roof. Bamboo harvested from a Weaverville roadside made the purlins, and a wood fiber called excelsior was stuffed behind them. Not long afterward, we realized the flammable ceiling was a deal-breaker for a kitchen. That was 1995.

We went back to the tiny Mud Hut until the Hamlet Kitchen was completed a few years later, and in the ensuing years the Pavilion was renamed the House of Oneness, designated but rarely used as a meditation-yoga space, and then for childcare. I only remember using it for kids’ activities during the Bioregional Conference in 2003. Eventually, after the roof took a hit from a tree limb and the unmaintained interior began to slump, it became a barn for Yellowroot Farm’s adjacent field.

Enter Zev Friedman and his uncanny feeling for the meaning of things. Analyzing the changes in Earthaven culture, he began to call the deteriorating structure The House of Gathered Diversity. He proposed that we preserve the history and meaning of the structure by transplanting the surviving wooden posts to a new sacred space in the Village Center and building a memorial bench to preserve sacred space at the original site.

According to Zev, “this transformation ritually depicts the diversified direction the community seems to be taking, and it creates useful infrastructure to help maintain a sense of connectedness between different parts of the village as we enter the next stage of Earthaven’s life.”

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We have recently added a new regular activity – documentary night. We gather suggestions far and wide, which gives us a chance to learn what our community members are interested in, and then we gather to watch.

In our selection process we try to see things that are ‘meaningful’ and also mindful of the times we live in, in order to advance our understanding of current events. Further, we try to balance serious with interesting and fun. A little education AND a little amusement. This is what we have come up with so far:

• On the lighter side – Dr. Bonner’s Magic Soap Box is a delightful look at the soap product we have become accustomed to, how it came to be and how it has evolved since the ‘hippies’ made it a big seller.
• Life in a Day is a cross cultural look at life, especially how many people have good lives with little.
• Kumare is a thoughtful look at transformation through a rather peculiar methodology.
• Being an intentional community, we, of course, saw Wanderlust and in that same vein we will be seeing Random Lunacy, a look at a family’s very adventurous and fulfilling life on the fly as well as Choice Point, a young couple’s bicycle tour in search of community.
• Happy is a highly recommended international look at what makes life satisfying.
• On the more serious side we have seen Carl Sagan’s look at our precious earth in the last of a seven-part series, Who Speaks for Gaia?
• Queen of the Sun, on the dangers of hive collapse, soon to be followed up with Vanishing of the Bees.
• Zeitgeist Three; Moving Forward has been recommended but it is a bit long but not as depressing as one and two.
• Life and Debt is a look at the manipulation of the poor by international banking.
• On the savory side – Dirt, which contains some depressing parts and Botany of Desire, which  is a juicy look at the plant and human relationship.
• On our ‘to watch list’ is Searching for Sugarman, The Gatekeepers, Favela Rising, Five Broken Cameras, Life after Life, Chasing Ice.

Suchi has been living at Earthaven since 2002. She resides at the Tribal Condo in the Hut Hamlet neighborhood. Suchi created the Peace Garden and has been a leader in social organizing. She is currently studying Nonviolent Communication, Body-Centered Psychotherapy, and Zegg Forum. Everywhere she looks there are new opportunities to learn.

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