Long days of plastering where off set with plenty of laughs, experiments in food, and learning. Every day we build off the past, both figuratively and literally. Two weeks ago we came in fresh faced and new. Now we’re covered in plaster, and significantly less new.
Ever try a Kool-Aid pickle? Not many of us here have. Experimenting with food is a wonderful way to journey outside ones comfort zone. And what a journey it was. Pickle juices are juxtaposed quite nicely with the sweet flavor of Kool-aid. In addition to trying out some not so traditional foods, we started to make our own cultural cuisines. Our group was pleasantly surprised by the taste of Spongebob macaroni and cheese quesadillas. A new spin on a classic Mexican dish. With a crispy outside, and a soft gooey inside, it proved to be much better than it sounded. And it it sounded pretty good to begin with. Along side our brand new dish we tried some blue corn on the cob. Boiled and buttered. It was tougher and had a more earthy taste than other corn you are likely to find. It was a pleasant shift from our normal meals.
We’ve been watching a collection of different movies. Some of them relevant, some of them not so much. The Truman Show is a classic. One of the more relevant movies we had viewed as a group was Power Paths. A documentary about coal mines on the Reservation that have been destroying the local ecology, and the efforts of The Just Transition Coalition attempting to shift the local economy to widely accept the uses of renewable power sources. It’s a documentary that shows a lot about how the power corporations are heading in the wrong direction, and how we as citizens can fix it.
We recently had our friends Lilian and Jacobo over for dinner, along with a few others. We enjoyed a wondrous feast among friends, sharing laughter and merriment where ever we could. After dinner Lilian was kind enough to share with us some pictures of the construction of the house we have been plastering, and give us a crash course in Perma-Culture. The amount of good Perma-culture can do exteneds far beyond the environment, and in to the realms of communities, and economics.
With heavy hearts we say good bye to friends made on the Hopi reservation, and ready ourselves for the next leg of our journey. We prepare the Road Whale for travel, filling her with all of our belongings in a real life game of Tetris. I’d say we have the high score at this point. As we finalize packing, and do our last sweep of the house of our benevolent host, we wave good bye and ready ourselves for our trip to Piñon.
