Abun-Dance was born for me in the Smoky Mountain foothills of North Carolina just outside Asheville. I had finished my project at an intentional community helping them become stewards for the bamboo that had taken over many areas of their community. Some consider bamboo a plague, others see it as the gift it was meant to be when it was brought to the U.S. by ancient travelers from the orient. On the one hand, it takes over everything and drains the water from the land. On the other, it is one of the highest nutrient dense foods you can eat. It can be used to feed animals in winter and has the potential to replace wood as a material in construction, saving the forest in the process. It takes two acres of forest 30 years to produce the material needed for a three bedroom house. It would take land the size of the house 1 year to produce the material to build that same house from bamboo.
Everything in life is like this. Which side of the fence you are looking from determines how you interpret its true nature.
This RV/GCR is no different. To some it's become a plague; to others a salvation. There will be a whole lot of re-education needed after this is over to help the world see this event from the perspective of Heaven.
The intentional community I stayed at was located on 300 acres and had 150 people living in it. It received 200-400 visitors a month, mostly college students wanting to learn how to build a better off the grid, organic place to live. Many of the visitors liked the ideas presented, but wanted a little autonomy and ownership, so they bought a 5 acre lot in the surrounding hills. Hundreds of families moved into the area and a bigger community was born. The road that circled the community had one way in and one way out.
I ended up renting a room in an old farmhouse at the entrance to the road. It had been abandoned and one of the elders from the community had rented it and refurbished it into a teaching facility. He and his son taught Survivalist and Thrivelist – how to live off the land. The old guy was a former commander in the militia and decided that he wanted lay down his gun and pick up a wand. He was Merlin material through and through. I would go on daily walks and eat my breakfast, lunch and dinner from things he showed me growing in the woods. He used to say, "There's more food growing in these woods than all the grocery store warehouses in the U.S.”
When I came along he was overjoyed to let me do the Garden thing to help him feed the many people who showed up every weekend to learn to live off the land. I did my little Shaman calling to the land and asked it what it wanted from me. The response made me laugh, "Keep it small and fill it with peace." I went to the old man and told him no big gardens here, only small spots of abundance and the place has a new name "The Peace Farm."
The first thing I did was to give the front lawn a haircut so the peace would show up. Then I built a peace man to watch over the garden.
Once the harvest came in, we had enough to not only feed ourselves and the students coming for classes, but a whole lot more left over. So I decided to set up a little free veggie stand on the road that went past the farm and I put up this sign.
I loaded the stand with goodies and sat on the porch for the next few days to see who would take me up on the offer. We got over 40 cars a day going by the farm so when everybody slowed down to read the sign and then drove on I was a little confused. Then something hit me. People are not sure about generosity these days, they tend to think it might come with a catch. So I went out and put a great big jar on the table that said in huge letters across the top DONATIONS, then in small print below I added, "Free seeds. If what you need is not here please take some of the money and go buy the seeds you need." Then I loaded the jar with several one dollar bills. Every car that drove by after that stopped and got out to check out the stand. I could see several people laugh as they read the sign, then many of them would turn to me up on the porch, give me the thumbs up and take some of the veggies. Over the next several months the community fruit and veggie stand at the Peace Farm became a gathering place. Ladders were borrowed, help was offered, honey, natural herbs and so much more showed up and a community of A-Bun-Dance was formed.
I hope you will take your time when our blessing comes in to re-educate those you involve to help them understand why a complete stranger would be so nice and then I hope you will invite them to join you in H.E.A.L.ing Earth And Life. Many people are not looking for a handout, they are looking for a hand up, so give ‘em one please.
I love you all and guess what? Just because I do not believe it has been said enough I am going to say it one last time just for shits and giggles "Tonight's The Night!"
Cowboy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-lgTVdRAoM