Follow the Journey

Blog from Jack F.
Over that last week we had the pleasure of being allowed into the Ohana Amani experience. The Ohana Amani Holistic Living Center is lead by sisters Chevy and Curry Anton, Curry’s partner Luca, who pursue the holistic living style by not only having a permaculture-style farm, they also have a tree farm, and well-treated livestock.
Hitting the ground running the first day (as all days start) we began with our morning movement. The majority of the time this mainly consists of yoga and other spiritual movements led by Curry. While most struggled with the flexibility and concentration aspects at first, all took it head on from the very first downward dog. Then we were handed the task of bringing trees up for their firewood. While that may sound like a non-beneficial activity it would have been almost impossible to hear a single complaint or frown from any of the Carpe Diem students, as we quickly found the more energy being brought into any of these tasks only made them easier. After lunch the Carpe group circled up and we spent most of the time speaking about our beliefs and outlooks on the world and group as a whole. While many truly did enjoy taking this time, others were not as enthused about speaking about these topics for as long as we did.
On day two we were split up into groups, one was the cooking group with Chevy. This group got up early but was rewarded with this early wake by the shining smile of Chevy. In the cooking group we learned to cut, stir (correctly), picking the foods from the garden, and the overall information about the ingredients that are going into the foods we will make. The second group was the overall camp restoration. This group’s tasks consist of having to tend the fires, sweep most of the public areas, and move the furniture for what is needed for the next task. The last was the dish washing group, which does not need much explanation.
On different days we had different tasks, none of which were enough to shake the unrelenting energy of this Carpe group. We learned a lot about permaculture and sustainable living. We also learned a lot about ourselves and others and the group while eating fresh foods cooked by our peers. There is not a single person in the group that walked away from this week without learning something about both ourselves and the ones around us. Overall this was a very positive experience and would highly recommend for future Carpe groups.