Only one thing has decidedly changed: No more Thursday Community Dinners for the duration, since they inevitably draw way more than ten people. Otherwise, for we who are more in tune with nature than with the existing culture, not much changes here; or I should say, whatever massive, ongoing changes occur in the “outside world,”…
Antique Orchid || Art print @ Zazzle Pro Gallery || by Gabrielle Jones Price
[UPDATE] Now available in wrapped canvas. Large wall sizes are available – contact me for a custom fit for any room!
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Me at the old studio in Indianapolis, 2008. After five long years of journeying I’m setting up space again at the new homestead in southern Indiana, where I’ve been reading a lot of Wendell Berry’s writing. This rang out like a bell:
“I am a pilgrim, but my pilgrimage has been wandering and unmarked. Often what has looked like a straight line to me has been a circling or a doubling back. I have been in the Dark Wood of Error any number of times. I have known something of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, but not always in that order. The names of many snares and dangers have been made known to me, but I have seen them only in looking back. Often I have not known where I was going until I was already there. I have had my share of desires and goals, but my life has come to me or I have gone to it mainly by way of mistakes and surprises. Often I have received better than I deserved. Often my fairest hopes have rested on bad mistakes. I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley. And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led – make of that what you will.” ~ Wendell Berry
No matter how enlightened we are or aren’t, we must have food, water, and shelter. Because civilization is so demanding of our time and so giving of its cheap rewards, the people of this culture will almost certainly need to be forced by changing circumstances, rather than any voluntary impulse, to adopt sustainable ways of living or even to realize the potential for bettering their lives. If industrial agriculture were gradually disabled, for example, local permaculture would suddenly become not only relevant – but critical for survival.
Swiftly confronted would be things like obesity, alcoholism, and drug addiction. Another reward will be life returning. More birds every spring; more fish in the rivers, lakes, and oceans; happier children; less stress, crime, and misery. More freedom – more joy.
Michael Carter, Kingfisher’s Song: Memories Against Civilization
Gabracadabra Studios 
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