Yes, it’s been a minute since we’ve shared what’s happening up here at Rock Bottom Homestead. As with many things in our life right now, we think we’re going one way, and life redirects us. It feels a bit circular at the moment; we don’t feel like we’re getting anywhere. This year has been a struggle, for sure. But we’re hanging in there, just barely, on the edge of sanity and health, of security and stability, but hanging on. We’re constantly thrown by the fantasy of ‘the village’, as we have yet to see it, but there is a sense that it comes and goes — less like a village and more like a revolving asylum (ever see King of Hearts, the 1966 French film? It’s hilarious, like that…).
We’re still here, though easily forgotten by nearly all of our compatriots of the last three years. It’s funny (not funny) how you can live somewhere the longest you’ve ever lived anywhere in your life and have no real connections with folks. I’m sure this is a cultural/modernity issue with the ability to move around/away, though we have never struggled with this as much as we have here. We’ve never really felt welcome or a part of anything. It’s a real Twilight Zone situation. For many years, we didn’t mind or notice; it was easy to be distracted by our homestead work and dreams, and then the pandemic, and then the business. But when all is said and done, here we are again, looking around and realizing there isn’t a lot here to keep us. And it has been nearly impossible to get out, too. All efforts stymied by forces we have little control over.
It’s selfish to complain, though. The world energy is particularly bad right now, and so many folks (even right here in Maine) have it much worse. We are compassionate about those people and situations, and are trying to help in the small ways we can, but we’re not in a great position right now to do much. On one hand, we’re just trying to make it through, and it is wearing us down; on the other, we are safe and have each other, which is a lot. We are grateful despite our struggles.
It’s not all bad. There are definitely some folks we like and get to see occasionally (though no cohesion as a whole to our life), but no safety net. No one to really call when we’re really in a fix. It’s like we’re on our own island but surrounded by people. Weird. We try and focus on what we can, when we can. We’re not going anywhere for another Winter…and The Good Life Center is no longer a part of our lives. So, now we’re jobless, and relatively purposeless, unhappy, and trying to manage all the things.
As Emerson teaches, we need to re-evaluate…all things. Knowing our values and how to support them is our goal right now, and taking care of each other in the gentlest ways possible.
So, we’ve been collecting the Fall fruits and medicinals (hawthorn berries, peaches, apples, grapes, blackberries, mullein, wild sarsaparilla, burdock root, apple mint, self heal, cleavers, yarrow, echinacea, etc), going to the Common Ground Fair (where we get to enjoy all the farm animals, D gets to see her spinning ladies and buy yarn, we see many familiar faces at this point, I get to buy a bunch of herbs and seeds, we got stuck in insane traffic this year and missed the presentations we wanted to see but D got her pickle on a stick, we got yummy Heiwa tofu fries, and saw some great values being supported), and trying to appreciate the small things (making apple cider donuts, watching the chestnuts ripen, bottling tinctures/drying herbs, cleaning up the sugar shack, seeking bees and salamanders and dragon flies, buying records and books, licking our wounds and trying to get back on track).
This year certainly signifies ‘the great tucking in’.
