A Site Visit

Following up on a seed that was planted over a year ago, a small scouting party goes to explore a possible site for a Permaculture Design Certification course for next summer.  I am the pilot of the trusty new Volvo.  Sharon, fellow Permaculture Designer is my copilot, and in the back are our spiritual guide Liz and her daughter, Raquel, the animal tamer.  The weather is beautiful as we drive out to the valley, past the state fair where families are lined up with strollers to get in and the ferris wheel turns endlessly.  We turn onto a smaller farm road, and drive just past our destination.  As we turn around we see a sign on a mailbox... "The obstacle is the path."  

As we pull into the driveway of Yoga in the Valley, tranquility engulfs us.  A picture-perfect farm house, flowers everywhere, the snow peas beckoning us from the garden, "come eat me!"  We meet our hostess Tammy who is a bundle of light and energy and has a contagious laugh.  She shows us the yoga studio where we can hold the classes.  It is not huge, but peaceful.  We walk around the site, through the hayfield, by the creek, through the woods.  There is so much to talk about... where people can camp, what their hopes for the property are, which mushrooms are edible.  

I am floored by the beauty of all this raw land.  How lucky their three daughters were to grow up with all of this.  It is no accident that they all decided to study environmental science and education.  Tammy and her husband Mike are at a turning point, they are sending their youngest off to college and need to figure out what to do with all this property and their big house.  They are thinking of making it into an eco-village.  The big house could be the common house, and many smaller homes could be built around it, with thriving gardens and a community aspect.

A permaculture design on this property would be ideal.  Drawing people into the project and possibly even having work parties to implement some aspects of the design.  Mike and Tammy don't know that much about Permaculture yet, but it as if we have all been sent there to help them achieve these dreams.  We arrive on their doorstep with the right information just at the time that they need it.  And they provide us with the space to help others feed their hunger for knowledge.  Some might say, "the obstacle is the path."  In Permaculture we say, "the problem is the solution."

Marriage

Ok, ok, so I kind of skipped over a very important event in my life that happened almost two months ago: I got married to the love of my life, Matt.  

The wedding was more beautiful than I ever could have imagined.  We were married on the beach by our good friends, Margi and Scott, with our parents standing in support behind us.  The sun was beaming down on us as a black rain cloud threatened, making the backdrop of the tall mountains across the fjord even more dramatic.  Our friends KB and Emily sang the song "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles.  Matt's mother read a poem.  Matt and I exchanged vows and rings and a kiss.  The rain blessed our marriage as we ate elk kabobs under the tent.  The amazing food was generously prepared by our friend Sarah entirely from scratch.  We cut the cake, lemon-raspberry, with real frosting, and had a champagne toast, and then the band played.  We danced, sang, played games, laughed, and hugged, surrounded by all the people most important to us in life.  All the stress and work of putting together this event was gone, we were married and we were happy.

I can't tell you exactly how it is different, but I love being married.  It is somehow comforting to know that we will be together no matter what.  Other people now know the strength of our commitment to each other as well.  Every time I look at my ring, I think about the symbolism of the circle, and I know that Matt and I are in for an amazing ride.