Self Evaluation for this contract

This contract was a jumping off point for my best friend and co-contractor Heron and I to make plans for the vision we share of building an intentional community. Looking back at all the hard work we have done, I can see how much closer we are to making this dream a reality.
Beginning this contract I set out for myself a list of goals. The first goal was to attend the Earth Activist Training (EAT), a two-week intensive permaculture design course that incorporated sustainability practices and activism through systems farming and design. This course not only taught us about systems farming and design but also covered such diverse topics as gray water and black water usage, micro-hydro electricity, consensus decision making, earth based ritual leading, grounding for activists, nature awareness, bird language and much more. I used this course mostly for inspiration: a way to get an introduction to many topics and select the ones I was most interested in for further study.

I found that nature awareness and bird language was one of the topics I wanted to continue learning when I got home. I used the book Body and Earth, by Andrea Olsen, to inform myself on this. I also attended a bird language workshop put on by the Wilderness Awareness School. In working with Body and Earth, I found a “secret spot” in nature and spent three mornings a week sitting and observing what I saw there, while maintaining an awareness of my body in the process.

Through observation I began knowing the place I live and the creatures that inhabit it. I was so engaged by my spot I craved going back there throughout the quarter and plan on continuing to go after the quarter is over. At the bird language workshop I was able to identify the birds I heard in my secret spot and what their different sounds meant. I listen each morning out my window to hear what the robins, song sparrows, and juncos are saying. I believe that the first step in creating community is getting to know the place you live in. By doing these exercises I have felt more connected to my neighborhood, bio-region and my vision of community. I want to create a land-based culture that has a built-in bonding system for people to feel connected to the place where they live and the natural rhythms of the ecosystem.

My second goal in this contract was to make an art installation to further my learning and challenge my skills as an artist; I researched and created an art installation using solely natural and found materials. I crafted an intimate piece about place, land, working with your environment, and living simply. The installation, a spiral labyrinth enclosed in a white parachute tent, took place on the side of my house in the front yard. I saw this installation as an opportunity to visually express my experience at the EAT, using seed balls that the viewer takes into the middle of the spiral. This installation is equally political to the work I did at the EAT but engaged on a heart felt level. I created space to contemplate these bigger issues, making art for pleasure and beauty along with engaging social justice themes.

The final project in this collective contract was creating a set of documents outlining our vision, values and goals for living in community. Heron and I used the book Creating a Life Together, by Diana Leafe Christian, as a tool and reference to start crafting these documents. We began this process by brainstorming the skills we already have for creating the community we want. I enjoyed doing these exercises as a way to connect our vision. It was fun to see what were the most important values to us and how they fit together. We did a similar exercise with our goals document. My favorite part about these exercises was getting a sense of how possible this goal is. Heron and I have talked for years about wanting community and land to work on. Starting now, with these exercises, I am seeing how we can make that vision come to life. I am learning about structure in a community, collectively working with another person and believing in our vision.

As I look back at this past quarter I can truly see how much I have grown. I am spending more time doing the things that I want to be doing, like exercises that give me energy and knowledge to continue working beyond this contract. Through engaging with nature as an observer I have learned many of her subtleties and feel more connected to the land. Through working on my installation and using my neighborhood for resources I have gotten to know the people that live here more and I have created a form of sustainable art: an art that is replenishing to the land, the people and the creatures.
After attending the Earth Activist Training I am inspired to be an even more active participant in creating a healthy planet. I feel more confident as a leader in ritual and public speaking. I feel more ready to take on my new project this summer helping to co-manage an organic farm and to incorporate permaculture design into it. I also feel more informed and ready to work with my current intentional community of friends and housemates. I plan to start a conversation café in the spring focused on intentional community in Olympia. I hope this will start a dialogue with people of different levels of experience in community to share stories and information so we can network and help each other out.

I look forward to engaging with my community more and continuing the work I accomplished this spring. It has been a wonderful opportunity to focus on the things I love and the future I want to create.