A Glimpse Into a More Beautiful World

My experience here was really beautiful. Ten weeks living in community with 10+ other people with earth-oriented values brought me to rethink what it means to be human. Sleeping in yurts in the forest, cooking meals together, learning about how to practice earth regeneration in tangible ways, sharing deep parts of ourselves with one another, were all facets of a beautiful (and I believe possible) way of life.

The intra- and inter-personal growth has been immense, and I cultivated a sense of closeness with those around me that this loneliness-stricken culture longs for. This is in part due to the specific people who came, but it is also due to the kind of social environment the program's structure encouraged. We share things in circle. We learn and use healthy communication tools. We play silly games. We sometimes process grief together. The tools I've learned in this program I use in all my relationships to this day.

The practical skills aspect of the program is abundant as well, and contributes to the wholesome lifestyle here. We dabbled in a little of everything: foraging, fermentation, natural building, animal care, and lots more. The garden we help out in (and learn a LOT from) overflows with food, and provides for me a feeling of utmost fulfillment: being connected to the source of what goes in my body. We also learned the principles of permaculture, an approach and method to human collaboration with natural ecosystems. No longer do humans need to exploit the planet to thrive---quite the opposite. Healing natural ecosystems is actually the most conducive to human well-being. I once understood this as an abstract concept, but during this program I could feel it with the wholeness of my being.

This program feels both like a training ground and a blueprint for how we could run the world in a beautiful way.