"You were once wild here. Don't let them tame you!"
--Isadora Duncan, the grand matriarch of Modern Dance
From imbalanced psychological states to violent communication, from a painful suicide to the death of my ego and from barren soil to unfertilized seeds, I have been repeatedly rubbed raw by the tumult of these times.
Most recently, the loss of La Milpa Organica - as a thriving and vibrant local farm here in San Diego County where people of all walks of life gathered in communal celebration and to witness the art of agriculture first hand - cuts deep. It isn't as though La Milpa is some illusive Garden of Eden, free of human fallibility and contradiction. Rather, it's a deeply human meeting place where we could gather to simply be FREE ~ free of OSHA and forced obedience; free of oppressive constructs and life-sucking dread; free of must do's and gotta have's; free of commercial refrains and noxious subliminal messaging. La Milpa isn't perfect, mind you.
(What would perfect freedom look like, anyhow?)
I compare La Milpa to my favorite southern California hot springs - Deep Creek in Apple Valley, just outside of Victorville. Deep Creek is a wonderland hidden below towering pines in a remote canyon, where a meandering Mojave River runs along the Pacific Crest Trail in San Bernardino County. With a large, cold pond surrounded by seven hot pools (helpfully erected by humans), there is truly nothing like sitting naked in a hot spring as dusk descends overhead and as the sense of being held safe within the comforting womb of planet Earth once again settles deeply into your soul.
On busy holidays and on weekends, hiking the strenuous trail down to Deep Creek is best done early, before the tourists and the locals come out of the woodwork, like termites for a feast. On these days, I have been disappointed to discover my fellow revelers dressed in bathing suits, covering up their human glory with manufactured designs. On these days, I always wonder why these revelers can't just go naked ~ like everyone else! Why must they feel the need to still shamefully hide their naked vulnerability? Why can't they go to the beach if they want to wear their swimsuits?!?!?!?
The recognition that I must work to preserve and protect these places, where we can still be relatively "free," dawns on me.
And, this is what La Milpa Organica has represented to San Diego County for the past seven years and to me over the course of this past year. La Milpa manager, Barry Logan, isn't a farmer or a businessman. He's a philosopher - hence, his and my connection. From his vision, La Milpa grew into a haven for counter-culturals, post-modern revolutionaries and neo-peasants. All people - just like you and me - who simply want to experience what it means to truly sustain the Self along with the Whole. Who want to amble in fields of gold, bare-footed and fancy free, humming melodic tunes while strumming funky banjos. Who work together toward something bigger than one mere person ~ a just future, perhaps? Whose very BE-ing reminds us that discovering and unleashing the unique rhythm of our own wild hearts isn't just for the privileged few - it is a neccesary mandate for a life well lived.
So, raise that hoe of yours and start planting the awesome gifts that you were born with - those "fertilized seeds" - into the soil around you. When asked what he'd do if he found out that the world was going to end tomorrow, St. Francis said, "I'd keep hoe'ing."
