Villages in the Sky: DIY World Change

we’ve been here three days and already life is falling into an interesting balance.  rachel woke me this morning before sunrise with a kiss on the cheek and asked if i was still coming to play with the horses.  we were both confused; east wind doesn’t have horses.  of course i slipped into my jeans and went downstairs to the anarres kitchen where there were scrambled eggs and coffee all ready for me.  we woke slowly and then walked out to do our ranch chores as the sun rose over the valley.  really, i don’t think i could think of a better way to start my day than having calves follow closely as i carry their feed to the trough midway through the pasture.  oh and chasing the chicken, of course.

we finished our chores and went back to the main dining room at east wind to see what the day would be like.  i ran into qn, who has good relations with the neighbors and had offered to take me to meet the satterfields.  we wanted to pay them some sum of money to park festival traffic on a corner of one of their pastures nearest the entrance to the festival grounds.  so, fresh from stomping around the ranch, i decided to change into a plaid jumper dress and flannel shirt complete with my workboots and alfalfa caught in my hair.  it was perfect.

mr and mrs satterfield are sweet and they want to help east wind, they want to help their neighbors.  after doing a bit of background checking, asking about the kinds of people who’d be coming, the kind of event we were hosting, they were satisfied that the risk was limited and immediately agreed upon a liability free contract with villages in the sky to lease enough land to park the cars that carry festival goers to the ozarks.

and this will be the unique nature of our work over the next few months as we prepare for build up camp.  there will be lots of flirting with the neighbors.  we need crumbling barns for salvage, we want an old farm truck for hauling brush, we are going to need to find outside sources of volunteer labor and outlets for local promotion, in kind donations from local businesses.  this revolution we’re building will take all sorts: the 78 year old lifelong neighbors, the chainsaw wielding boys, the web maniacs and the money husslers.  if you’re looking for your niche in the work, find us at villagesinthesky@gmail.org.   i promise you there’s some super power you have that will make our team stronger!  and keep coming back; life at east wind promises to be an adventure in itself.