Written By Mancala
What do me and the Kool Aid man have in common? Well other than our charm, beauty and ability to make people laugh we also love to say “OH YEAH!”
I have been in love with my permaculture class since it started. I am still heart broken that it has come to an end. I am so incredibly grateful for my kind and patient instructors aswell as my lovely and humorous classmates. Last Friday’s class was all about buildings and bricks. Permaculture is about a lot of things but the biggest components are community and self sufficiency. I learned that these two concepts actually go perfectly hand in hand. Our instructors had made their house, however because there were only a handful of lessons we did not get to build our own houses. We did learn how to make our own bricks. I never would have thought that this would be such an intimate process.
Permaculture works because of how community centered it is. It was so beautiful to witness how much the community works together and how much they truly know and care about each other. They share tips and tricks for growing the most and best produce. They help each other out with anything they might need including fixing roofs, piping issues and more. They even build houses together and that can become a community space. It was so refreshing to witness such a caring community. America’s individualistic culture has made it so hard to find community even close to this. Next door neighbors don’t know each other’s names. People don’t know what’s going on in their own communities. The individualistic ideals that America thrives upon is the reason Americans are so lonely. I cannot describe how happy I was to just be able to witness a community that feels like a community; a community that can be a family.
Anyways, back to this intimate experience. You might be wondering how could this brick making experience ever be intimate? Trust so did I. Well until our instructor Tunu Pa asked us to take our shoes and socks off because we were going to mix all the brick making materials with our feetsies weetsies. I thought it was a joke at first but unfornately it was not. I hopped into this swimming pool sized plastic tub that was not even close to full. It had rocks, dirt, clay and water and the 4 of us began mixing. The rocks did not make this the most comfortable experience, but the Dragons experience is to get out of your comfort zone. Picture this, 4 people who have met approximately 3 weeks or so ago are shoulder to shoulder in this tub mixing rocks, clay and hay together with their feet. Because this tub was not full to any extent, there was a lot of room for slipping and sliding. There were multiple times someone had to catch me as this brick making lesson turned into the mud equivalent of an ice skating rink.
The day previous to this brick lesson, we learned about the importance of connecting with Mother Earth. During the ceremony, I was gifted a reading. It was that I had a big step to take to enter the next part of my life and I think that big step was me stepping and sliding into this big plastic tub with my toesies woesies out for the world (my classmates and instructors) to see. Allowing my feet to be percieved by other people. Allowing myself to be seen. There was a softer brick making mixture that I had the pleasure of getting to mix, there were no works and the clay was soft. I allowed myself to enjoy this moment rather than worrying about how I was being perceived. I was jumping around, I was dancing, I kept saying “Oh Yeah!” In a Kool Aid Man voice. I was truly just happy and free.
I am learning a lot about geography, farming and the importance of having a supporting community. I am also learning about the importance of letting yourself be present in a moment. The importance of letting yourself be percieved and not letting that ruin the moment. And most importantly, the importance of letting yourself enjoy life because you only have just this one. Life can be so ugly when you’re constantly worrying about things out of your control. However that same life can be so beautiful and so joyous when you allow yourself to be vulnerable and loved by the people around you.
As weirdly intimate as the brick making experience was, I am so grateful that I had it. As much as I hate the fact that other people have seen and touched (story for another day) my feet, I have learned the importance of allowing myself to be vulnerable and I am so utterly grateful for the experience and the people I shared it with.
To Gwen and Cam, please for the love of everything good, never touch my feet again.