Today was the first official day of the class, but I chose to arrive early (on Friday) to connect with the land a bit more and attend the Equinox event happening on Saturday.
I arrived late friday evening and was able to spend a bit of time upgrading the Galactik trading card display and then settle in. It was great to ground in here and get ready for what so far has been a super epic journey!
Some newer art that has been added since last time (more to come!)
Saturday I spent the morning doing some volunteer duties and it was a great way to connect with the staff and volunteers of COSM. It is awesome to see the love that everyone puts in to create beautiful events. There are a small number of staff here that work super hard to allow this place to exist and a number of dedicated volunteers who are super passionate about the work being done here.
In the afternoon I was able to have a few hours with Delvin and his good friend Keala from Portland. Delvin and Keala are both key members of Gaiacraft (www.gaiacraft.com). I have recently been invited to join which was a big honour so being able to spend some key time with the two of them and was a great way of starting to understand some goals of Gaiacraft and how I could contribute. The best part though, was walking the land again, grounding into the beauty of COSM and the importance of the work we are doing here. On the walk we were able to identify the Turkey Tail mushroom and almost got a squirrel, but couldn't quite tell for sure as we didn't see the markings on the face which are the distinguishable characteristic on the squirrels.
The Equinox party was in the evening and we were all graced with the presence of the world famous mycologist, Paul Stamets. His talk was inspiring and it was such a pleasure to hear of his stories and experiences with the sacred mushrooms. If you want to know more about Paul and his work please visit his website: www.fungi.com. After Pauls amazing session, it turned into music and art mode. There were some rad artists here doing live painting including Alex and Allyson Grey, Amanda Sage, Mars 1,
Damon Soule and Randall Roberts. There is a beautiful community here and I felt so blessed to be a part of it all! The highlight of the event was seeing great friends James and Christy who happened to be in NY at the same time as me and were able to come to event! I have been stoked about COSM and it was super special to be able to spend time with chosen family here.
I didn't have a camera during the party, but thankfully Christy sent me a few pics. Thanks Christy!
I should have some Paul Stamets ones soon!
Yay James!!!
Sunday was mellow here on site as everyone was tired from the night before and it was pretty much all tear down. I did my volunteer duties, did some research and spent a little time with Delvin talking about the class prep etc...
Monday was set aside for mapping etc, but in the morning Delvin and I got to touch base on my diploma. We didnt make it all the way through, but it feels good so far. I was feeling a bit nervous, but it seems I am on track with a few great pieces of advice from Del so I am super excited! The diploma process so far (although I am just getting started) has been super rewarding and a great way for me to track all of the work I am doing and get credit for it!
The mapping in the afternoon was sweet. Starting to see all the faces from the class warmed my heart and grounded me in even more for the class. During the mapping we were able to identify a grey squirrel, a jesus bug, wild onion, and a wood thrush. It is awesome to see the mapping happening, even if in a micro way. There are thousands of species to discover and identify and it is important to be careful in identification. I also started the sun study for the pool area where there is a small existing garden. The long term goal for COSM is that it will be a world heritage site not only for art, but for plants and animals as well. Our planning and visioning is a 1000 year plan, which is super epic and super deep and makes it sooo very imperative that we take consideration in what we implement or modify.
A crazy mushroom we were unable to identify
Our epic mapping books (some of them anyway)
In the evening we watched "Transition 1". What a great film, I highly recommend it. It is really positive and helps to showcase great solutions and tools to changing our system! Afterward we watched "End of Suburbia" which was also good.
Today was the official start as I mentioned earlier and we began in the altered states where we did a meditation to bring us into the now. I kept hearing the strong message:
Be here now. Live in your heart ALLways.
Moving into the nest we reviewed our last session, the permaculture ethos and principles. Then we reviewed names and started to share a bit about our last 4 months. Patterns emerged and the sacred mirrors in all of us were revealed. The most common was this feeling of Chaos, yet order. So much happening, and nothing that we could have planned, yet this strong feeling that everything is going to be ok and realizing we all got alot done, despite feeling a bit scattered. We are reminded that being here grounds us in the important permaculture work and we can all work together to support the work we are all doing.
This afternoon we were blessed with a visit from mycologist Martin Bridge to relate mushrooms to soil ecology but also share with us some cultivation techniques and do a mushroom walk. I have been noticing a mushroom theme in my life as of late, so it was so auspicious to have Martin here right after seeing Paul and really start to understand mushrooms more.
The beginnings of our class alter ;)
A slide from Martins presentation
Martin with us on the land at the mushroom sculptures
In class with martin :)
Turkey tails (sorry they are super hard to see ;) )
A mushroom we were unable to identify. Any ideas?
This evening we watched a super deep film called Anima Mundi. Please please please watch this film. It is evolutionary! I am finishing off the evening with a little research on the mushrooms we identified today for the mapping book and working on a little art as the creative juices are flowing freely again.
The greatest gift I have received by being here at COSM is the ability to immerse myself in my work, recognize how deeply I still feel about Permaculture and reconnect with my heart in the deepest of ways. What do the next 3 days have in store??? Oh and photos to come very soon!
All my love,
Kym Chi
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