Kule and Michelle's SoulJourn: Ohio - Muddy Fork Farm 8/25-26/10

(From Michelle)
What better way to start out a new life-transition journey than to reunite with a dear friend I haven’t seen in half my life, and who happens to be a leader in sustainability?

Two weeks ago we were wondering where we would stop in Ohio to break up our long leg to Chicago area to visit Kule’s brother Jon. That same day I got a Facebook message from a graduate school friend Monica from Colombia, who switched careers (with a Ph.D. in Biochem) 14 yrs ago to start an organic farm in Wooster, Ohio called Muddy Fork Farm. We immediately made plans to reunite, and we spent 1 ½ days touring her 27-acre farm, catching up, and hanging with her farm-mates. Monica hasn’t aged a bit, and I felt ageless hanging out together, like old times!

The visit flip-flopped my judgment about ever considering living in the Midwest. The land is beautiful, and the energy she and her co-workers and Woofers (volunteers who work on organic farms in exchange for room and board) have brought to the land and the food grown there is wonderful. The gardens and meadows are peaceful and productive. Her hill has a magical forest overlooking the Muddy Fork River valley, houses a hidden yurt for her co-workers Chelsea and Purser, and has a spring house in which to capture the headwaters from this highest point in the area. The spring waters run down from her farm to spread the energy to surrounding land.

Monica and her alternative-minded friends have joined up with the local traditional farmers to start up Local Roots, a co-op supported by the city of Wooster (who also provides the building, with community meeting space) that is an economic incentive program that promotes sustainability by encouraging buying local products, including of course organic produce. They are getting national press, and are a model for sustainability and community-building.
We enjoyed hanging with Monica and her three beautiful daughters, who are all artists, from several generations of artists. We shared a sound journey with my instruments in the room where oldest daughter Isabel was painting a portrait. Kule took the waterphone outside to play to the farm animals, and noted the goats seemed to enjoy it (although they enjoyed just nudging up to us, as you can see from the video).
The morning after our midnight arrival from Ipswich, MA, we were greeted warmly by the household, reminding us of our sweet community times in recent travels to NC and VA. They don’t call it an intentional community, but it is, and it includes the dogs, cats, goats, chickens, and bees as well as the nourishing garden plants.

We were inspired by the sustainability consciousness, that we are seeking and attracting in our cross-country journey! Not sure about living in Ohio; the winters are as cold as New England, but land is so so much cheaper here and of course fertile for growing food. We will certainly stay in touch and come back to visit.
Thank you, Monica and Muddy Form Farm for a wonderful visit!