Abundance! The Newsletter of Abundant Dawn Community Issue #22, Spring 2003 Hello Readers, Abundant Dawn now consists of three pods and we are seeking new members to join us in our collective visions and endeavors. Following are updates on some of our large and small projects, and the new, musical trend in our community culture. Enjoy! -Mark Pond We built a small but grand swimming pond in the valley by the community house a couple of summers ago with great enthusiasm. Unfortunately, while it holds some water it has never filled, presumably due to seepage. It is discouraging every time we walk by it, which is often. We've put some time and energy into asking for advice and trying to learn what will fix it. Finally we did gobs of research on the internet, made quite a few phone calls, and put that together with what we'd already learned. Does this give us the answer? No--it gives us a summer of plans for testing. The most sure solution seems to be bentonite, an expanding clay that seals leaks. If we mix many tons of bentonite into the top few inches of soil, we are almost certain to fix the problem--although this will not work on two very steep rocky sides, if it turns out that is where significant seepage is occurring. There are some spray-on solutions that might work for those sides. The biggest problem with this is not only will we spend many thousands of dollars, it will also be a very large amount of work. We also found a magic elixir that can be poured in to decrease seepage at a cost of only a couple thousand dollars. It's vegetable oil based, and basically non-toxic, although it will suffocate fish that are in the pond at time of application. We're all in favor of this - if it will work. So this spring/summer Lester and Velma are going to do a scientific testing program, examining the efficacy of bentonite, magic elixir, and some other wild schemes. Maybe by summer 2004 we'll be swimming in the pond! Pond Landscaping Last year we planted a wildflower seed mix on the pond dam bank, which was quite successful, and several varieties of wildflower seed on the steep bank by the path, with more mixed success. This year we reseeded the dam bank lightly with a few showy flowers to fill it in some more, and reseeded the path bank with those flowers that were most successful last year--moss verbena and alyssum. Eventually, we hope to get enough organic matter and roots established on that bank that it becomes a more stable growing environment. Music "A Musical Culture" was an early vision of Abundant Dawn, and we have had music - sometimes more, sometimes less - since the beginning. Some thought there might be less music at AD with Rajal and Nina's departure last summer--they were two of our main musicians. But the way it's turned out, most members of Abundant Dawn are making music as a frequent or daily part of their lives. Lester takes mandolin lessons, plays the mandolin daily, and has just finished building a bass. Martha takes piano lessons, bought a spinet piano and had it tuned, and plays the piano daily. Rainbow is teaching herself the piano, and bought an electronic keyboard, which lives on a side table in the community house dining room. Velma sings and whistles with her mother several times a week. Sumati drums and is part of a women's drum circle which meets weekly and performs occasionally. She also leads a Sanskrit devotional chanting monthly in Roanoke. And the group as a whole sings together almost every time it gathers. Guest Rooms Fixed Up Last year we decided our visitors and guests would feel more welcome if we fixed up our community guest rooms. We began by getting rid of all the junk that had accumulated (some from ex-members, some from the former owner!), and we cleaned. Then we installed ceiling light fixtures in each room, and added adequate lamps. We replaced mattress pads, got a queen-sized bed to replace a futon on the floor in one room, and got matching sheet sets. We got bamboo roll down window covers for two of the rooms. We got fans for each room, hanging the fan on the wall in the smallest room. We hung some pictures. Everybody agrees the spaces are more pleasant. Now, how to maintain them?! Electrical System Upgrade The circuit box in the hammock barn was old, verging on dangerous, difficult to get parts for, and in general needed to be replaced. The only one of us with the skills to do this work is Lester, and we try to find other ways than calling on him for every project. We ran down our list of possible electricians for six months or so, before we got lucky and engaged a neighbor electrician who is primarily a gardener now, who is available in the winter off-season for this kind of work. He came and replaced the circuit box in less than a day--so no one was without power for an inconvenient amount of time. While he was here, we asked him to surface mount an outlet in the community house dining room, surface mount ceiling fixtures in three community house bedrooms, and replace the light fixture and add an outlet on Velma's front porch. A very successful endeavor. Tool Marking System Abundant Dawn has implemented a tool-taping system to help us keep track of tools and other items. After much research, we bought rolls of brightly colored drumstick tape with which to mark tool handles (www.sticktape.com). The community has a color, each pod has a color, and each individual or household within a pod has a color. Individually owned tools are marked with a narrow strip of pod color and a wider strip of individual color. Pod tools are marked with a single band of the pod color, and community tools with a single band of the community color. Everybody has a chart showing the colors. The tape is also used to mark other items--such as the back of pictures hanging in the community house, which belong to community members. The Big Mud Last summer, as the merciless sun seared our fields into their fourth year of drought, everyone in Floyd prayed for a long, wet winter. Well, we got what we asked for!. Drenching fall rains recharged the thirsty soil, followed by a long winter of snow, sleet and deep freezes that (hopefully) killed off some garden pests. When a particularly heavy rain fell on frozen ground in late February, our river surged to the top of its banks and spilled over the lowest part of the road to the River Field - for the first time since we moved here. Elsewhere in the county, springs and streams that had gone dry flowed again, and farmers gave thanks. This was also the season of the Big Mud. All our yards and paths became muddy, and our driveway became a nearly- impassable hog-wallow of deep sloppy ruts, and most dirt roads in the county suffered the same fate. We tried to plan our town trips early in the day, when the mud was still crusted-over by night frosts - or we stayed home. We called our trusty local gravel supplier to spread a few truckloads of gravel on our road, but it was another couple of weeks before it dried out enough for them to do the work March came in, and stayed, like a lamb, with 60-degree sunshine and, yes, more rain. It was too wet to till the garden, but this did not stop us from clearing a few small patches by hand to plant peas, onion sets, spinach, lettuce and other greens. These seeds sprouted while elsewhere daffodils and forsythia came into bloom. Then Coyote visited at the end of March. After a particularly balmy Saturday, the next morning brought over six inches of wet snow and strong winds! Breaking tree limbs knocked our power out for parts of two days (Velma said, "I finally get to use some of those Y2K supplies!"). The snow melted by Tuesday afternoon, revealing the greenest pastures we have seen in years. As soon as the April downpours subside, we plan to finish fortifying the garden fence (to exclude hungry critters) and begin planting. Earth Pod The new Earth Pod, consisting of Sumati and Mark, is working on the outline of its vision, and checking out two possible sites on the land. We want to produce a substantial part of our food, and seek earth-friendly ways to make our living and to build our homes. Of course, we need more members to make a viable pod, and are looking for possible candidates among Abundant Dawn visitors and others we meet. One of the sites we are looking at is a nearly-level area perched halfway up the ridge overlooking the main vegetable garden, and protected from cold winter winds. The big drawback is that a long access driveway would be needed, which could mean being snowed in a lot during hard winters. The other site is on "Corkscrew Ridge," which extends into the woods beyond the Cabin Meadow where we currently live. It has beautiful hardwoods and a south slope, but is rather crowded by a power line right-of-way. Mark traveled to five agricultural conferences this winter, followed by a trip to Hampstead, MD to meet with family members and take care of some personal business. Mark's brother Niels and his wife Heather came to Floyd and Abundant Dawn for the first time, and really enjoyed their visit. This spring, Mark is involved in the annual start-up of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program at Seven Springs Farm, and helping Tekiah in the hammock shop. Other activities include some writing jobs and the Abundant Dawn garden. Sumati has been teaching four to six yoga classes each week since the many snow cancellations stopped happening as winter gave way to spring. Without milking chores it has been easier to travel, and this winter included several much appreciated short trips, with Mark or other friends. After keeping the cows near the barn and feeding them hay every day all winter, Sumati decided it was time to give the pasture a chance to grow. So, when the weather got nicer, Shanti and Nandi traveled in a small trailer across town to Sumati's farm where they have plentiful grass to graze and still get some hay as long as they need it, until Nandi is ready to have her calf. Also with the lengthening days Sumati has been starting seedlings for the community gardens. Tekiah Pod This has been a quiet winter for Tekiah. The cold, long winter encouraged us to take on tasks like reorganizing the office. We now have a much lighter and more open office space. This project also helped to integrate Rainbow, who became a full member in January. Joy is very grateful that Rainbow has taken on handling hammock orders and several other office tasks that are often not preferred work for communitarians. Kali, who was a member here for a short time, is now living in her own apartment in the town of Floyd. Rainbow and Joy are paying attention to language, how it relates to building community, how it relates to co- empowerment and how we create our world (or at least our inner landscape) by how we speak. We have had fun challenging each other on speech patterns and self-limiting vocabulary. It's exciting to see and support the evolutions we are each going through. Our newest product in the hammock business is a hemp cloth hammock pillow. We are using the design developed by Twin Oaks (TO) and both Rainbow and Joy have gone to TO this winter to make pillows. We have had so many hammock orders that we need to be sure we have enough production labor. Mark and Sumati now do hammocks work as independent contractors. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this year's fruit is not damaged by severe late frosts. We are preparing for the fruit share for the Seven Springs and hope that there will be lots of luscious fruit this year. Many Abundant Dawn folks will be going to Mo's graduation ceremonies in mid May. Mo is eager to be done with school. He is planning to spend his summer on the river - guiding raft trips and teaching kayaking. Joy again spent time at TO this winter, and is planning a trip to Dancing Rabbit community with the Star family in May. In various ways, the Star family is exploring how we might live together, defining how we see who and what we are and clarifying our vision of what we want to create together. A martial arts class in the town of Floyd, that is linked with the association that Joy has been part of for years, was a great boon to her practice. It is so wonderful to have classes closer to home. Joy is also attending a week of ceremony in Arizona with the Deer Tribe this spring, which she is doing in place of going to Sundance this year. Rainbow adds, "my big news so far this year is that, on the first of January 2003, I have officially transitioned from being a provisional member to being a full consensus group member of Tekiah and Abundant Dawn, which I'm very excited about, of course. "During the past few months, I have been thinking about acquiring a Norwegian Fjord horse sometime down the road. I have very fond memories of the time that I cared for a Fjord mare in my mid-teens. In addition to being gentle, fun, good natured and easy to care for, Fjords are hard workers, used extensively in agriculture and forestry work in northern Europe. My hope is to eventually use horses at Abundant Dawn to plow our gardens, haul logs, and provide transportation to and from Floyd and nearby areas. It'll still be at least 2-3 more years before acquiring a horse can become feasible, since the community is still so small and finances a bit tight. Meanwhile, it is fun and exciting to consider and prepare for this possibility. I'm glad that winter is finally ending, and I delight every day in seeing a few more flowers open and green shoots growing everywhere. Garden season is beginning and I've been planting seeds and tending seedlings. I'm looking forward to an abundantly positive year 2003. Dayspring Circle While we three members of Dayspring Circle look forward to having new members at some time, we have enjoyed gathering weekly just the three of us for sharing current events in our lives, and for planning the use of our Dayspring Circle meadow. This spring and summer, we hope to complete some paths and get started on a guest cabin. We want to make a wide circular path around the center area of Dayspring inside of which we will have a dining area, landscaping with flowers, and maybe even a fountain. Then the paths to our houses and areas outside the meadow will radiate out from this central path. Velma says, "I missed visiting Mom several times due to winter weather, and was grateful she is in a place in which she receives good basic care. My life has been perhaps too bogged down with Mom for the 2-1/2 years she's been living down here. I'm trying to disengage some of my energy for a better level of functioning and survival for myself, at the same time as I continue to be there for her enough. It is confusing and hard. "I built two new online stores. One, at communitymade.com, features products of intentional communities, including Tekiah's hammocks and Lester's bread. The other, at floydcrafts.com, will feature the products of Floyd area crafters. These are partly service projects, partly businesses. I'm excited about both projects. I see them as long-term projects that will slowly build a strong niche clientele, and hopefully provide some retirement income. And I hope they're going to be a fine service for their vendor communities. "This year has a fair number of big family events--among others, my sister's 50th birthday, my Dad's 80th birthday, and my eldest nephew's college graduation. I'm growing some plants from seed again this year, and hope to put energy into planting and landscaping around my home, as well as Dayspring landscaping in general." Martha says, "After a long hard winter, I am delighted with the spring weather and time to get out and dig in the dirt. I hope to begin the Dayspring vegetable garden this year. Lester will help me to build a fence against the deer. I will also play with flowers in my bamboo-enclosed meditation garden. I am disappointed that a work project I had hoped to be involved with called CHIP (Children's Health Improvement Partnership) failed to meet my expectations. I had thought I could work part time at it, but the job was more demanding than the energy I had for it. I made a winter project of, and have greatly enjoyed, inserting old pictures into my mother's story of her life that she wrote before she died. I hope to share it with my siblings soon. Daughter Bets had her third child, a boy Eamon, in early February and we have been enjoying his addition to their family. I have greatly enjoyed piano lessons. I sit at the piano daily and play; often Lester is upstairs practicing his mandolin at the same time. One day we were simultaneously playing "The Irish washerwoman"...we are becoming a home where music is often heard live! Lester says: "I have just finished building a bass viol. I think it looks nice, and plays well, too. I used local woods as much as possible. The scroll is carved from cherry that came from a damaged tree we had to cut about a hundred feet from our house. The tailpiece and fingerboard, instead of the traditional ebony, is local locust, a very dense, hard wood which is ideal for this use. Some of the woods I bought: sugar maple, spruce, and a few others. I also bought a bow. My next project is to re-learn to play it, as it's been about 40 years. Then I can re-live my misspent youth. I'm also excited about my mandolin lessons. I've been doing this now for about 6 months, and I think I've made good progress. Right now, I'm mostly playing old-time and bluegrass numbers. On a recent visit to son Tom in Falls Church, VA, he played guitar (one that used to be mine) and sang while I played mandolin. We had a great time. Incidentally, I recently bought a guitar, but I'm not going to let it compromise the effort I'm putting into mandolin right now. I'm looking forward to planting corn soon - I generally grow the corn - and also helping with the potatoes, our most important crop. We've been in our house for two full winters now, and are very happy with our passive solar heat, augmented by propane fired in-floor hot water pipes. Abundant Dawn Community P.O. Box 433 Floyd, VA 24091 This newsletter is also available in a print version. If you don't want to receive this newsletter in the future, email info@abundantdawn.org, or send a postcard to the mailing address above.