Minnesota 8/31-9/1 - Cousin and Friends in the Twin Cities

(From Michelle - glad to have time to blog, now in Wyoming!)

Minnesota was our next destination after the Chicago area - about 6 hrs to the Twin Cities for two days to see Kule’s cousin Bob in Minneapolis and the family of his late friend Rochet in St. Paul. My very first impression of the area was that it is relaxed and green-conscious, and that is so true. The food co-op in Linden Hills had the slogan “How local can you go?” There were so many windmills along the rt 90 stretch (that goes from Boston to Seattle) of pastures and cornfields that it put us northeasterners to shame. We even saw a windmill being transported, and others staged on farmland ready to be assembled.

It was fun hanging out with Bob, Toni, and Will, and getting to watch 6th grade Will do his impressive skateboard tricks and start his first day of school. They enjoyed playing with our sound healing instruments.

The waterphone and the big drum (that resonates with your voice) were also big hits with our friends Andrea, Milo, and Noah in St. Paul; I always get a kick out of how many new ways someone can make sound with them.


We were lucky to catch the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in the Museum of Science in St. Paul – a great presentation combining science, religion, and mystery. I was struck by how central the Jerusalem area is to all religions, at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa.


Next destination: The Badlands national park in South Dakota. More corn, corn, corn everywhere… and gorgeous fluffy clouds! The Midwest farm vistas are very beautiful, I must admit. It got much windier as we travelled through South Dakota, feeling like wilder country!

Photos: Bob and Will and Kule, clouds and rolls

Illinois-Wisconsin - Visiting the Brothers 8/27-31/10

(from Kule 9/2/10)


Midwest – From the land of Corn to the land of Cheese

Leaving our brief but warm connection with the barn yard animals, prolific gardens, and friends, at Monica's Muddy Fork Farm, we set our next heading to reconnect with that ribbon of pavement known as Interstate 90, West. Westward Ho!

Trade Offs:
In order to make it to Seattle before the “Gray” sets in for the cooler months, we have chosen to limit our stop times along the way. At times I feel frustrated with the chosen trade offs, and mourn the loss of potentially longer celebration times with precious family and friends. 'Short but sweet' seems to describe most of our connections along the way, so far.

On to visit 3 brothers:
I am the forth of five brothers. We all grew up in a northern suburb of Chicago, Glencoe. We share a bond, not all that common in families these days, and celebrate it during our monthly conference calls.

Our next stop was with brother Jon, 'number 3 son', now in Aurora, IL, west of Chicago. A one-nighter, we caught up on Jon's and wife Martha's recent cruise to Italy and Greece, and enjoyed some catch up with nephew Dan. A surprise and delight, that night, was to also catch up with another nephew, Roger, from Seattle while our paths crossed on his west coast to east coast bicycle ride. The evening was heartful and animated.

After breakfast and a few cups of Jo from Jon's latest fashion coffee maker gadget, we headed due north to catch up with 'number 2 son' and 'number 5 son' brothers in Wisconsin. In route, we lunched with a friend, Davi, who we know from our Network for New Culture Summer Camp group. Davi had put up Roger when he bicycled through Madison a week earlier, after some telephone introductions on my part.

We made it in time for dinner to my older brother, Kim's, place in Rhinelander, WI, with my younger brother, Mark, having extended his own visit, from near Chicago, to catch us. Kim lives in 'God's Country', his house abutting the Wisconsin river. Swimming, evening campfire, 22 target practice, and dining on a table at riverside punctuated our visit. (Note from Michelle. Impressed with Kule's hitting the dime sized bullseyes several times from 50 yards away.)

I got my brothers joining me in a celestial navigation project, using the sun's position to calculate our Lat. Long., which worked out with minimal error, but (in retrospect) took more time than I had hoped, so I missed out on some time fishing, or otherwise spending time with my brothers getting dirty in the outdoors or with some household projects, or more protracted discussions about what is meaningful in our lives. We headed out the next day for Minnesota.

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!

Love,
Michelle and Kule 
http://www.muddyforkfarm.com/
Link: www.muddyforkfarm.com

Photos: Michelle and Monica on the hill, Monica and daughter Lia at Local Roots, tomatos,  video of goat, photo of Kule and Monica walking.