Where we are Starting.

There are many challenges to be faced in today's world, and countless more in the years to come.  Those of us living in the USA will be facing years of increasing economic hardship, as the tide of oil and capital upon which the country rose to great wealth begins its long ebb. Climate Change is threatening to endanger the basic necessities and livelihoods of a substantial fraction of the world's population. Additionally there is a dysfunction in many of our institutions, problems can evolve much like organisms: legal, social, scientific, religious, and political systems which are relatively stable breed resistant forms of corruption just as surely as antibiotics breed resistance into bacteria; problems that particular institutions are very good at solving are dealt with very effectively, but those at first minor problems the institutions can't detect or control run rampant. No doubt by the same logic new institutions will rise to fill the niches no longer maintainable by current systems, but of course the transition is very taxing in the best of circumstances. These challenges listed above are challenges of circumstance, over which we as individual have little control; focusing on them, except in anticipating future limits we may have opportunities to prepare ourselves for, does little except invite despair. Circumstance is not what we must overcome, but is the context in which we must carry on.

This Thanksgiving I want to talk about one of the most useful habits in being able to carry on through times of hardship: gratitude. When times are tough, there is a constant temptation to take our circumstances as a misfortune; this temptation is realized in the opposites of gratitude, entitlement and nihilism. By entitlement I mean the feeling that we deserve a certain life, and that if we do not get what we feel we deserve a great injustice must have been done; by nihilism I mean (in this article's context) the feeling that if we do not get the life which we feel people ought be entitled, then life must be worthless such that there is no justice. These are very similar, but quite distinct, (and both members of a broader family of vices which are beyond the scope of this article) in the former case one believes in justice, and feels it has been slighted, one believes that things should be going differently, but a evil completely separate from ourselves is preventing it, a tell-tail sign of entitlement is the projection of blame for our problems onto a moral failing in some other group, idea, or force; in the later case of nihilism one concludes from events seeming unjust that there is no justice, and that there isn't anything worthwhile to be worked towards, a sign of this is seen in cynicism run rampant to a point of dysfunction, such that no effort can be gathered to change circumstances.

Fostering a sense of gratitude undercuts the shared premise that both pitfalls rely on, it means letting go of preconceived notions as to what we deserve and making the choice to find joy in what we have; poverty can be crushing to many, yet there have been great people who choose to find grace in what little they had and thus avoided the emotionally debilitating effects of hardship and sudden limitations on ones life. The difference this makes is huge, when the reality of hard times differs from our narrative of what we were taught we deserved we find that the narrative no longer works, with out a working narrative our minds can latch onto any number of dangerous habits of though, including the two explored here; gratitude's essential step of letting go releases that disconnect, and allows us to consider our circumstance as it is, with out the blinders of how we wish it were. Our long era of prosperity has hollowed out gratitude, because people for generations have habituated to getting what they want far more often than is typical, and we were for a long time able to get more exactly by disconnecting from reality and promising to fulfill everyone's wildest dreams. As that era of grown turns into an era of decline, those who remember and foster gratitude in their lives will find themselves blessed, not only by what they have been given and take time to acknowledge, but blessed by many new strengths that follow. A source of joy in small things keeps away depression which in many areas ravaged by decline debilitates huge parts of the populous; courage is fostered by gratitude, as the world no longer seems unjust and adversarial (never make an enemy of your circumstances, every blow you land will haunt you many times over) but instead as a place that has given you much and which will continue to give in its own time and manner, thus the world is a place where meaningful work can be done; clarity of thought comes from no longer having any motive to find blame for circumstances beyond our control, and our mind can put its considerable power behind constructive and creative responses;  generosity and good nature are fostered by the exercised ability to find goodness in others, which gives us the support of community, which most thrives in times of need.

Matt and I have been very blessed in the last year, and have received great boons toward setting up our school. It is easy to lose track of those blessings during the stresses of day to day life. First I want to send thanks to my colleague and best friend Matt Holzapfel, and his daughter Maria, living alongside their family we have learned so much about what is truly important in life, the most precious wisdom. We have received many opportunies to raise more revenue for sponcering a Thinkery base in Oregon thanks to the Lairmer County Conservation Corp giving me an opportunies to begin as a sawyer professionally, and in thanks to The Fire Camp for giving Matt the opertunity to develop his Saw teaching skills, while building experience for more work. Thank you to our coworkers this summer for a great season on the crew: Andrew, J.C., John S., Tom, Rachelle, Tylor, Grant, Peter, James, Will, Leon, Zach, Justin, and Sam! Thank you to The New Earth Farm Project in Berthoud where we were so blessed to have a place to stay, and given countless learning experiences. Thank you to our friends who came out to visit and help us here in Berthoud, a by no mean comprehensive list: Mathias Babel, Dave Carter, Theran, Ryan, Jake, Devin, Eric Chancellor, Joe Haag, Samson, Brightheart, Trip, James, Dylan, Carly, Ryan Gray, Rachelle, Vanessa, and Peter; if anyone notices their name missing where it should be, remind me so I can give proper thanks. We thank circumstances for introducing Matt and I to Devin and Jake this summer, they have opened our perspective on many issues, and are both men who will one day offer so much to the communities in the terms of good old fashion craftsmanship rethought for helping a world of decline and salvage. We thank our families for being supportive of what on the whole is a rather ambitious and radical project. I thank fate for introducing me to Saraswoti Adhikari, who for the past few months has been a brightening source of inspiration for me personally. We thank our teachers: Jack and Kathy for educational projects around their homestead, Brightheart for introducing us to the possibilities of lime plaster and showing us his excellent leadership/teaching style. We are grateful for the opportunities we were given for education and information by being born in this narrow window of time, it is a blessing of world historic scope. We are thankful to the pioneers of permaculture, lime plaster, natural building, natural energy, organic farming, sawing, and countless other skills that I won't list here for doing the hard work of discovering that there is a way, after that point the road is much less frightening for those who follow using their map. We are grateful to have encountered the great thinkers of the western tradition, and grateful to those souls who are trying to continue their work in light of our current circumstance, I will for now just name John Michael Greer, James Carse, and Gregory Bateson. Thanks for the music: Andrew Bird, Grateful Dead, Bach, Scroobius Pip, Simply Swoti, Buckethead, Ghost Finger, The Talking Heads, and many many more. Thanks for the books: Plato, Nietzsche, Spinoza, Heraclitus, Deleuze, Zizek, Freud, Poe, Emerson, Wallace, Tolkien, Bateson, Greer, Wittgenstein, Russel, Moore, Ianto Evans, Bartman, Carse, and many more whos names escape me at the moment, but who are mostly too long dead to be offended. We thank the technological advancements which through the internet allow us to gain practical information and network with people across the world in making sense of our current global circumstances and building responsive networks.

There is more that I didn't mention than there is that I did mention, but this post is already wordy by my taste. The best way to show grace is to accept a gift fully and to make the most of it. So, this is where we are starting.

Motive.

There are a growing number of people who are considering ways of life that are some how grounded outside of mainstream modern life. Their reasons vary greatly. For some there is an apocalyptic fear that society is going to fail in a brutal way in our lifetimes; this could very well happen for many reasons - climate change, peak energy, peak resource, over population, change of empire regime - but this is not my reason for wishing to leaving mainstream life, if such a disaster happens leaving society (even preemptively) only offers a thin layer of separation from such events.

For others there is a moral imperative to not participate in various "immoral" acts upon which our way of life is built. Simply put one can not create, en mass, the American way of life without building it on actions which are not compatible with the commonly taught American sense of morality. There are untold many rituals in our society to off set guilt. From recycling to charity and hybrid SUVs  to ethically responsible coffee brands. We buy these things like Catholic indulgences, granting us release from moral responsibility. For people not satisfied with the consumer indulgent cleansing we also have various brands of amoralism and analytic distance to offer. Yet moral concerns are not why I want to leave mainstream society, it is hard to feel moral outrage about operating in a system which has no implicit layer of significant moral choice. Though American morals in word do not agree with American morals indeed, who knows another moral code to judge them from? Who judges the judge? As a mortal I have no place to impose moral judgments on a society, what knows man of true morality? to feel guilt about such things is only barely in my nature it seems.

But I have always, even before thinking of the issues discussed above, felt like it would be good to try something else. A life of philosophy and discussion has been appealing, and to be able to control the means of production of my own necessities would make things simpler, even if it would involve giving up the luxiouries I was subjected to of being an American. Yet even then I will still be an American, think like one, talk like one, live in America... all those things; just maybe I can live where I rarely have to encounter the baggage of that fact.

Study and Practice.

This winter Matt is getting ready to settle into a project where he will get to do some really quality work making cob walls to retain heat. I can tell he is getting excited to be able to design and test some ideas on natural building, and I am excited to, in fact I hope to be able to join him for a while in January so I can keep up with him on practical knowledge, or at least stem the rate that his lead is growing.

Right now I am staying with my good friend Mathias a little outside of Philadelphia. We are going to work on some writing relevant to a larger cultural project that the farm is a part of, and hopefully condense some skills and resources relevant to the farm itself, but more on that later after more is settled.

So I am studying the farm project, and Matt is practicing it. Of course by the end of winter I am sure we will both get in plenty study and practice.

So Much to Learn.

I find my self being quizzed about how to solve the various small problems of farming, and I am surprisingly good at giving very convincing answers to these questions. But I want to admit to a degree of hesitance about thinking that I have 'everything in order before I being.' I have witnessed many farm techniques enough to know that the solutions are out there, and they work. But to make the farm requires coming up with techniques for the exact circumstances of that particular, yet unknown place. So it is important to remember that I will be flying my the seat of my pants for a few years on the farm, and needing help who have more experience in particular skills. Going to other farms and learning can only ever go so far.

To reach the level of mastery sought I will need to do types of trial and error that I have no right to do on anybody else's land but my own. So I am not worried about getting everything in order before I begin, instead I want to have a more relaxed pace for the first year, during which time the sufficient basics to go on can be learned. This requires resources to support the project at the beginning. The resources available to the project right now are enough if we are lucky enough to get a good land deal.

Conversations with people traveling off the west coast suggest to me that if we go around to a few desirable properties willing to put decent cash on the table, even if the land is going for a much higher price or not at all for sale, and willing to do it right quick (let's assume we have already inspected the land and deemed it suitable) alot of people will be willing to listen, and maybe for a bit under the expected price. If this money can be saved, the relaxed pace of the first year can be afforded. Also there have been a couple of people who have implied that they might be able to offer some small aid, always in a casual conversation and I understand the offers as very hypothetical, and any small aid would go a very long way in helping us afford the farming education we need, the time to figure stuff out thinking with our hands. So if you are able to contribute information, equipment, money, books, labor, or any other kind of support; do.

Not knowing.

I know that Matt is going to be with me on the farm project. And I have several other friends that I hold in high hope. But even the ones that I feel generally confident about, other then Matt, I don't know which ones will actually be there. I think that for some people it is hard to commit to a project that doesn't actually have its land purchased, which I admit makes a lot of sense. And even if I knew who would be there, there would be no way to know who will be staying, that's fine though, I wouldn't want someone who didn't like it to stay. So I am always looking for more maybes.

I am on a train heading out of Chicago, I go to the observation car, not for the views of the halogen speckled darkness, for the company. I have meet many good people on this trip, and some people that even if they aren't good I still like 'em. Folks ask me where I am going, why I am going there, where I have been. And talking about the dream of the farm is tied to every aspect of my life, my trips doubly so. And people from all walks of life are very impressed, in fact sometimes more impressed then they have any right to be, I must be too good at spinning this yard. But there is more to it then that, folk are eager to hear that there can be an alternative to the way of life that surrounds us. Its a story that people want to hear, and they pull it out of me more then I give it to them.

Are these people the people I want to invite to the farm? If they want to wwoof for a few weeks or two they would be worthy as soon as we are able to support such visitors. And maybe by grace we will find a couple of people that would fit in for longer. More importantly it has shown me that there is a hunger for projects of this nature, it gives me cause for cautious optimism. The close friends who I have invited, I hope they come and at very least try the farm life for a while, because some of the cases I am thinking of are people I already know would be good for the farm, just if the farm can be good for them.

Look at your hand.

I will tell you how to see everything you need in life right on your five fingers.

Look at your pinky finger, look at it and be reminded-
     You need to breath.

• Good air, fit lungs, medicine to stay healthy, and good aromas.

Then look at your ring finger, look at it and know-
    You need to sleep

• A lot goes into a good nights sleep. You need shelter, one that feels save and warm; you need to have a satisfied mind that won't keep you up with thoughts half thunk, a tired body healthy and well exercised from the day, and a clean soul that won't trouble you with deeds left undone.

Now look at your middle finger, it reminds you of a basic need-
    You need to shit

• Some of us don't like to talk about it, some people don't even like the word, but we all know deep down how important it is. It means you have to eat, and to shit well, you need to eat well. Means you need to exercise and move around. Means you need to be able to take care of the shit somehow, most people just flush it out to sea, but its better to decompose it on land, leave those minerals to the earth, but you gotta find a safe way to do it, compost it. You need to keep your body clear, inside and out.

Your pointer finger
    You need to love

• "I ain't  gonna tell you how to love or be loved, because you get a different genie each time that lantern is rubbed." To be human, you need love in your life, maybe not always a special sweet heart (though that is nice when it happens), but you need to have love, your very life depends on it. Without love you never would have made it past your first week, and I doubt many of us could live a whole day with out some love, even if its just caring for yourself. We can't be a human alone, our speech, our thoughts, our triumphs, our deaths, it's all with others, part of our shared life.

But then there's your thumb, the one that grasps things, it gets you in trouble.
    You want to control things.

• Now control ain't a bad thing, we all know that its mighty useful to have some control from time to time. But wanting to control things gets us in trouble. Most the other animals don't have so much control, and they do just fine making do with the world as it's given to them "the sparrows in the sky, they do not sow or reep..." but we can shape the world. The thumb makes us want to hold on to things, to control things to shape the world. Make a fist, see how your thumb covers the other fingers: you can't love with control, you can't control the fact that you shit, you can't maintain control in you sleep, and you have no control on how much longer you will be breathing for. Controlling things can be good and can be useful, but be mighty careful, the chains that bind go both ways.

I stole the basic idea for this post from a cool dude named Leaf living in Eugene, as far as I know its his original material, and I wanted to give credit where credit is due. But I did have to rebuild a lot of it from scratch and half remembered conversations long past.

This blog is also about the adventures of getting to the farm, and this gem is one of the real highlights of going through Eugene a couple weeks ago.

The basics of the first encampment.

A tent, large, to sleep in and to protect tools which are vulnerable to the elements, with a rocket-stove to stay warm by and to cook with.

Garb for multiple weathers with good boots, good sandals. SOCKS

Cot, and sleeping bag.

Food, mostly rice, flour, beans, lentils for bulk. Also seasonings and various other things to compliment. Coffee? Supplement of wild forage until the crops start growing in a couple months.

A composting shitter. large bucket, bench, hole in bench, tarps, sawdust, tp.

Tools, Shovels, picks, hoes, machete, maul, wedges, sludge hammer, hatchet, two bit ax, bow saws, pruning saw, leather man, survival knife, digging knife, draw knifes, hand drills with bits. Rakes, forks, scythes. Rope. cord, blocks,

Files, sharpening stones.

Water filter

Cooking rocket stove. metal barrel, a few feet of chimney with a chimney joint, cob.

Cooking equipment, dutch oven, frying pan, utensils, my mug, my bottle, my bowl.

Electric source, power converter from a farm truck if there is one, or a bike generator.

Laptop, lights, camcorder, notebooks, pens, classic books (Going full Thoreau). Chest to keep these things safe from rain and such.

Chain saw, and saw mill. full personal protective gear. chaps, helmet and ear protection. a dolmar--a type of gas can that also has a reserve for bar oil. files, and a couple extra chains. there is specific chain called ripper chain for the saw mills too. two cycle mix, wedges. spair parts: air filter, chain tensioner, sprokets, needle bearings, e-clips. a scrench and a raker gauage and the special small flat file stihl sells ot file down your rakers.

Seeds, much more on this topic in another post.
Maybe sapling, get some food trees started early. something to protect the trees when they are young.

Pigs, electric fence, moving pig shelter, water source.

Not Past or Future, but Present.

I have touched on the history of the project, and said a few things about the plan for what will be. But I want to discuss where we are.

The funds to start the farm are tantalizingly close, with in a few thousand dollars of buying the land. And we have much of the equipment needed for the initial encampment, with a plan for the first few seasons that is quite minimalistic, to save costs. Matt and I are both completely committed to the project, with all the appropriate bridges burning. Our mutual friends Will and Vernon are both interested, and will certainly be important allies, and perhaps residents as well. Mathias, another friend made through the philosophy department, is dreaming his own life on the east coast, a kindred project, yet offering to spend a season or so helping us get founded; a favor that will surely be repaid when his project takes concrete form. Through his work in the forests of America Matt has found several good people that have shown some degree of interest, or at least curiosity in the project. Since beginning work as a wwoofer I have filled my contract book with good people, some of whom have shown interest in helping break ground on the homestead. One even showed interest in seeing if his dreams of homesteading are compatible with the type of community, as a resident or close neighbor. Its wonderful to have found some people who are already acquainted with community life to help us get of to the right start.

Its a bit nerve racking watching the economic brinkmanship games being played across the globe, hoping they won't damage the economy too badly before we are ready to support ourselves. Trying to simply conserve funds and wait for the time to be right is sometimes the best we can do. But there is alot of reading, alot of writing that needs to be done, alot of details to work out.

A taste of the history of an idea.

In today's post I have to contend with one of my recurring sins, being verbose.

I want to share with you the first part of the story of The Thinkery. But its a story that has been occupying my mind for three years, and its difficult to prune all the branches to something that fits in one blog post.

Once upon a time, my friend Vernon went to Graduate school. He looked at it from the inside and said "this place is not good for people to live."

Hearing this, and being dedicated to a life of philosophy I asked "is there a good way for people to live, and practice the 'life of the mind'?"

We debated all evening, discussed all week, and thought all month. Finally we had an image that seemed plausible. A self sufficient community of thinkers, teachers, craftfolk, and artisans. But it was just an idea.

A couple months later though, things changed. Matt, a friend of Vernon and myself, showed up in Greeley and said "Start looking for farming internships to learn from, someday we will actually create the philosophy farm." He had heard the idea from Vernon, and had the vision to recognize that it was a true possibility.

Since then I have learned a lot about farming, permaculture, and community. And the vision for the farm has transformed. Its goals have changed, more focused on the pure issue of community. Philosophy was once the purpose of the farm, now it is only an aspect of the higher purpose of human community.

My next post will be about finding the people that are ready for community and one of the great difficulties for the farm. Specifically we will have to look at how the modern idea of family is a major challenge to overcome.

Welcome to the Thinkery.

It is a place where people come to think about the most important questions. Where most of our living comes directly from the land we dwell upon. Where music and celebration accompany conversation and meditation.

Come here to teach or study on any topic with interest enough to generate conversation. Physics, maths, music, dance, philosophy, etymology, linguistics, poetry, farming, culinary arts, wood working, smithing, carpentry, lime plaster, anthropology, psychology, chemistry, community building, economics, politics. Any interest can be shared, skill learned.

Or at least someday it will be. Matt Holzapfel and I (Ray Wharton) have been working toward the foundation of a farm, home stead, eco village, school. A community of people interested in a simple life of conversation, celebration, family, and friendship. Also developing Permaculture knowledge to increase the general understanding of this exciting new way of life.

I can't predict what parts of that vision we will be able to realize, but this blog with follow our work to try realizing that vision, and search for other visions.

[Edit: The long term goals of the Thinkery eventually supporting and being supported by self sufficient learning communities, inspired in large part by monastic traditions and intentional communities remains true, but our current starting point is the formation of skill sharing lessons, tool co-ops,  community out reach, and pragmatic services for the local community while we build the broader community which the Thinkery has come to be synonymous with in our hearts. We are still shopping for just the right piece of land, still building our skills, and still finding new friends who can offer increasingly divergent approaches to how a community of learners can subsidize their educational efforts during hard time while helping to add resilience to the local community. 23 November 2012]