Turkey with stuffing and Otis Redding

Last night we had a turkey dinner in honor of one of the homesteaders leaving to go to Europe. A friend of the homestead brought a turkey which he had slaughtered and cleaned the same day. I made a stuffing based on how I remember my mother always made it. Of course I used fresh herbs from the garden. And there was gravy and mashed potatoes, homemade goat milk pennroyal mint ice cream and vegan brownies.

It was deliscious especially with all the wine we drank. And then we put on a best of otis redding album and danced like crazy. It was one fo the best nights I've had in a while. I love good food and good music and good dancing.

Today a friend of the homestead brought some lingcod( a kind of fish) to the homestead, a big bag of it, all clean and filleted. we'll batter and fry them up tonight.

Sweat lodge and more!

Yeah, last night I went to a traditional native american sweat lodge. a couple who used to live at the homestead and who have studied and practice native american traditions set it up, both as a way for everybody to help after the whole search and rescue thing and cause the husband was away for the last 3 months for work. in a tiny dome structure covered in layers of blankets we sat in a circle and in the middle were placed volcanic stones straight out of a huge bonfire outside. a few splashes of water, and voila, a sweatlodge. plus native american chants with drum and rattle. there were five "sessions" lasting about ten to fifteen minutes each, with breaks to open the flap for a few minutes then add more stones. It was an intense experience. I'm claustrophobic and have a hard time being in plain old saunas, but because there were other people there all sending out positive energies I made it through the whole thing without clawing my way out. When it was all over, I felt like I had lost two pounds, maybe i did. I must have sweat out every disgusting thing in my body.

Life at the homestead is good. I seem to be fitting in just fine, and I'm looking forward to the months ahead. The people here are really nice and I will probably stay for the season.

Yeah, I sometimes get the urge to just pack up and go somewhere else. It's almost as if when I'm traveling I want to settle down, and when I finally settle down, I want to travel.

I'm beginning to find faults with the homestead, things that aren't "permaculture". But I think I'll roll with it for now. Maybe. We'll see. I can pick up and go anytime I want. Sometimes I forget that.

Free full body massage!

Payta, a former mountain homesteader offered all the homesteaders and anyone else that helped in the search effort massages at the masage school and center where she works. So today I got a full body massage from two people, payta, and a student. It was divine, my body is so limber now. I'm gonna do some streching tonight before I go to sleep. I made cornbread for our picnic lunch which we made for the homestead meeting we had at the hospital.

I didn't really explain about clara in my last posting. She's seventy, very fit for her age. About ten years ago her mind started to go. Now she doesn't really talk. She just repeats what other people say. She walks around the property all day, needs help using the toilet. As much as that sounds hard to deal with, clara is the best thing about the homestead. She is the most important priority to everybody there, brings everyone together. Loving, caring and all that.

While this whole thing with clara going missing has been hard on everybody including me, I think I like the homestead a lot and as long as they like having me I'll stay. Though I'll mostly be doing his building project and not food related stuff, the community is so nice that it's worth it.

Search and rescue

Clara boggs, the cofounder of mountain homestead and 70 year old suffering from dementia went missing Friday morning. We looked for her for two and a half days and finally found her closer than we ever expected to find her. In those two and a half days I probably walked twenty miles of trails and not trails, bushwhacking my way through tough terrain. Really got to know the 365 acres like I was hoping to do, jus never thought that I would get to know it so quickly. Everybody came to help on the search. Power of community