what do we do here?

people generally ask what we do here and especially what we do here in the winter...

i think my ability to answer that question has improved overtime..., i believe Dacres is reinventing the food system, developing knowledge and a community network to provide access to local nutrition, we are empowering the populace with practical skills in sustainAbility,

we have established an opportunity for a community to grow by providing the time and space for a diverse group to gather and connect...this community consists on many levels from onsite residents, to the extended family of members workshop participants and members, we also interact with community art, agriculture, government, energy and recreational organizations...through the interactions we are manifesting a pattern of consensus format governance that through practice and experimentation is functional and improving with experience

its fun and exciting!!

as far as what we do on a weekly basis at D Acres,

this past week on tuesday after plowing we had a group garden meet then Louie, Trey, Andy Kevin and I did some woodswork as featured in the fotos, in the pm Lou and I worked pig share promo on the computer, then on wednesday Bill and I did grant work grind and dinner prep,

thursday we met with Andy to discuss his dacres experience then with cynthia robinson from http://www.ecoartalacarte.org/ ( say it 3 times), then went to the upper valley and frenzied flyering, then it was to P-town for the student organization Common Ground meeting where we discussed plans for spring/earth day events, then to the Common Man for music and to convince the Crunchy Western Boys to play at the Aliens & Astronauts party (mark your calendar MARCH 22,2008)

on friday i went to Stony field in ManVegas for the am yogurt run to learn they dont dispense to farmers on fridays, next to the Center of NH Farm & Forest expo at the radisson for a 1pm presentation, next jessie richardson and I found a cantina for a beverage then back to dorchester to eat 33%of dinner before going toa cajun music presentation at PSU,

sat was spent getting our recycling together and going to the dump and doing wood block prints with Eva

sunday brought more snow plowing and hiking the trails with brett and tyler solidifying trail marker decisions...monday we met with group of farmers from the Upper Valley to do a tour and then discuss plans to collaborate on a speaker presentation in nov for Derrick Jensen and a broader effort to bring speakers to the region and enact change, then we of course finished weekly cleaning chores, and met as staff and residents for definitely less than 3 hours...today we got the stonyfield run and dropped lou at the airport and then went to canaan garden club meeting for 2pm presentation...got home in time to tend to the oxen and write in the blog...

thats what i was up to, everybody has a diverse schedule on the farm, i gotta say working in the woods was the most fun personally, the speaking gigs are rewarding people interactions and intellectually stimulating...the grants can be tedious but there are ways to spice up those days (i think Louie will always remember that snowball shower) the meetings with the intent to collaborate is challenging, there is tremendous inertia and fear to doing things with strangers, through consensus in our culture...our communication patterns and the realities of the business of everyone's lives keeps us from progress to our goals...i guess this is the crux of it, we will not face corporate/government tyranny until we are truly desparate because we live in fear. But what is our fear, is it to be cold, poor, hungry, weak?

The reality is

Our society is cold, we are hungry for distraction from tv to psychoactives, we are poor in essential survival skills, and weak cowards in our ability to proactively alter the actions of the corporategovernment.

We need to pursue the community skills and traditions that will warm our hearts, fill our bellies with local food, develop our rich sustainAbilities, and have the strength to act for the love of the Earth.

NOW

well times are good as they always can be we...just gotta set priorities, pace ourselves and go

see ya there, enjoy

josh t