AUTUMN REVOLUTION



To kick off the Great Autumn of 2014 the Earth Abides Farm community is hosting a regional Catholic Worker gathering which celebrates the 80th anniversary of the CW movement. You can see info on the website over here. We were disappointed that our friend Sr. Megan Rice (and her companions Mike Walli and Gregory Boertie-Obed) will not be released from a private prison in time for the Faith Farming and Resistance Retreat.

Meanwhile, we were happy to have Joan Thomas (Ammon's widow) visit us for a day--her 79th birthday, October 1st 2013. A few days earlier, Xels' "alien mutant slave" named "Dun" was enjoying the trip in the Catherine's House Van to San Francisco, where he and "Blu" got to see city-style hospitality in the realm of dogdom. It's rare to find a published photo of Joan Thomas, and the one below is about 15 years ago. It's also rare to find a shot of Dun looking "happy" by anthropomorphic standards.
and ...
On October 1st we were able to pull in a third of the apple harvest in a single day:


In discovering a route from the Farm to Arnold, The Chearcus went hiking for our 4th anniversary since the wedding--St. Francis Day....

... and figured out how to cross the river near the Arnold Rim Trail.

As a de-winged pegasus, i have to count the steps for these hikes, rather than measuring the breaths for flight from Earth Abides Farm to the nearest town of Arnold, CA. In the shot above i'm calculating 1,103 STEPS uphill to rejoin the common trail between Avery and Arnold, since i can't fly up there with my Unicorn friend these days. We have not yet traveled the whole distance in one single trip together from Farm to Arnold via hoof, foot, paw, or wing---we have only used the ingenuity of motorized rubber-wheel contraptions ("cars") to roam these parts, in which we missed out on the great autumn bountiful beauty you see in the shots above. Perhaps next year we'll walk it with our as-yet-to-be goat friends. (Remember LAST YEAR's goat friends?)

Faith, Farming & Resistance Retreat

We missed Sr. Megan (still in jail) and her accomplices (Mike & Greg),
but we discussed integral nonviolence deeply,
including the ability to save seeds as an act of revolution.


... AND we put up the new greenhouse ...




... and in the end, it's a lovely way to work for justice.

Cutting Winter Wood

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Before we got busy with cutting wood for this Winter's fuel needs, we started thinking of some new hobbies to keep us extra-busy. So we had the piano tuned up and plan to learn to play it for entertainment purposes. (Scroll down to see the shots from the woodcutting party.) Our other hobbies became obsessions after the woodcutting weekend. Chelsea is expanding her pack of canines, so that two little doggies, Dun (Earth) and Blu (Water), take trips to the City, but on the land she has some training to do for the new doggie, named Wind (Air). Coming soon is the fourth one--Fire, which will complete the pack, God willing.
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Dun/Earth becomes a lasso around Norman, our AIDS Advisory Board member, while Wind takes to the Air.

Meanwhile, I am missing New Mexico so much that i've taught myself how to make tortillas. I'm limited only by limited access to time, propane, water, flour, oil and baking powder. Maybe now that we are burning wood, i can learn to heat the raw tortillas on the stove when we relax after a hard day of double-digging the new beds in our ever-expanding garden.


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We have both the psychedelic style, and the ordinary whole-wheat style.

Here's the lyrics for our NEW song about the history of this farm: Our planet is alive for all creatures God provides but humans broke the balance they filled the world with violence. Chuck, Beth, Joan and Chris joined other Catholic Workers to make justice for the poor; to make a better world. Inspired by Dorothy Day in nineteen seventy-six in Calaveras County they started a farm. CHORUS: Peter Maurin taught us well we can use our head AND hands! Scholars become farm workers, and we go back to the land! Here at the farm we protect the land, we take care of the gardens, saving seeds for generations. Here at the farm people come and help us work, we love all our neighbors, we share the fruits of our labors. Here at the farm We host HIV+ Retreats we practice hospitality we perform the Works of Mercy. ( CHORUS ) Growing more food every year, saving more seeds every year, it's revolutionary resistance to agribusiness. Like St. Francis we are joyful. Like St. Claire we fight greed. It's mutual aid, give what you can, get what you need. We're here to live in peace! What do we call this place? It's the Catholic Worker Farm. Earth Abides Land Trust and Farm! ( CHORUS )