BALANCING ACTS AND GOAT GUARDIANS

At CAL-Earth they would make anyone who called the earth “dirt” do push ups or laps, but I think Heather and Sheefteh let us off easier because our “earth” was actually old landfill and many treasures were to be found in the mountains of “earth”: old woollen jumpers, glass bottles, plastic bags and unknown squishy things. But that’s all part of the fun, spongy boots, mud pie gloves and dirty jokes.

This week had the post peculiar weather, it was humid and wet like tropical Asia. Chili peppers everywhere joyfully doubled in size whilst we felt slightly wilted with our boots bogged in the mounds of mud. Dylan added a happy little mud goat man to the top of a window sill for the next group who would finish the top of the dome and I think now that we have all gotten into such a good group rhythm everyone was sad to drop shovel and pack up our yellow dish washing gloves.

 

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THE MENTONE DOME

Went to visit Mystee’s little woodland dome at Mentone Primary. She’s the super cool gal with the dreads. Heather and Kat looked like little woodland fairy creatures, Kat made the felt hat herself and I’m rather in love with the little bird perched on it.

We did a soil test and it ended up looking like a landscape on some barren planet far away.

Luke wanted to be king of the castle and much embracing our inner child was to be had. Murray continued to wear a hanging basket lining as a hat.

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EARTH BUILDING AND LOST CAMELS

A man stood heartbroken in the middle of the village square asking everyone who passed by “have you seen my camel? he has a tuft of hair on his head and a white spots on his hind legs.” but no one had. The villagers took pity on him and offered to search the desert for his beloved camel.With high spirits they set out at dawn scouring the desert for the tufted camel. But, amongst the group there was a man with a closed suspicious mind, he whispered under his breath that he thought there was no camel, that the man was an attention seeker, that he was mad, that he was probably a thief. Slowly spreading his poison in any ear that would listen.

At midday they came across a camel by a pool and cheered but the man with the broken heart knew it was not his camel and the group trudged on. It was at dusk  when they crested a massive dune, despondent and weary and there below them was a great herd of wild camels . The man at once ran down crying with joy because there amongst the herd he saw his beloved camel. The villagers then realised that the man with the closed mind was missing. They found him with tears in his eyes next to a camel, with a shaking voice he told them “this is my camel, I didn’t know I had lost it, but he is mine”.

 

This week we began a  Superadobe course at CERES to create a dome for their “Dangerous” kids’ playground, as Stephan put it. Sheefteh started the first day with this sweet, funny story by Persian Poet Rumi. Her late father Nader Khalili had often begun his courses in the California desert that way, to remind us that sometimes if you are lost, you should help others on their journey to achieve their goals because whilst helping them you might find your own path. His “camel”, she said with a smile was to develop a fast and cheap, but also solid and beautiful building technique for disaster relief. It uses the materials you would have access to in a war zone, earth, sand bags and barbed wire to tie it all together and celebrates the inherent strength of domes and arches.

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THESIS IS OVER!

It’s been so long! I’m afraid thesis got in the way but now it’s over! Hooray! Now I have my degree in my hot little hand. Oh oh, the real world beckons.

Now because I have been so slack posting in my darling blog I’m going have to kick my ass into gear and attempt to post in this guy everyday for the rest of the week on second thought perhaps once a week is a little more realistic for a lazybones like me. 😉

xoxo

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