EARTH & US — Headed back to Barichara!
It’s been 7 months since I was last in Barichara. My original plan was to return there in January, but then I fell and broke my kneecap. Now that my physical therapy is complete and I’m almost fully healed, I’ll be flying back to Colombia on April 29. My goal is to stay for a year this time; I have the paperwork done for a “Pensionado” (retiree) visa that’s good for three years. It’s been such a glorious Appalachian spring here that I’m almost reluctant to leave…just as the weather is finally warming up, the fruit trees and azaleas are filled with radiant flowers, days are lengthening, and the birds are energetically flying about.
This time, there will be more volunteers visiting, some of whom I’ve met on Earth Regenerators zoom calls. In May alone, some 5–6 other volunteers are expected to arrive! One of these is Charles Upton, a water permaculturist who has studied how Thar desert people in India/Pakistan have creatively met their needs for water (without pumps) for hundreds of years, despite only 6 inches of rainfall per year, often in one rain event. I’m excited to work with him to help Barichara solve some of their water issues.
Biogas
With the $1000 I raised thanks to generous friends, my pet project of getting a biogas digester into operation will begin, on a cooperative farm in Guane with several families involved. Manure from goats, sheep, and pigs owned by Paul and Katherine will fuel it; the methane gas will be used for their kitchen, and the “biol” (liquid fertilizer) will be applied to the farm. Meanwhile, my friend Margarita, at whose hostal I’ll stay again for awhile, has been visiting other small farmers who have biogas digesters.
New parcel of land
The biggest new endeavor will be regeneration of “Las Albercas:” 300 hectares of degraded land below Barichara, which Joe Brewer and the Earth Regenerators purchased about a month ago, in order to restore it. He envisions this area becoming the site for an “Ecoversity” learning center, and being reforested by many volunteers planting trees. It is not far from the land where Joep and Julia have their permaculture farm; a river once flowed through it, and Joe’s dream is that a river will yet return, with good land and water management.
Building relationships
A big part of what draws me back to Barichara is the heartfelt connections with people there. “Prosocial for Territories,” Joe’s current webinar course, has been focusing on the human relationship dimension of earth regeneration. “Prosocial” refers to eight elements that successful organizations share, as outlined in a previous Earth & Us. A definition of Prosocial: “A living energy to create together from shared vision, trust, generosity, collaboration, passion, and engagement.” It’s guided social evolution. Affinity groups form among those who resonate with each other. Everyone needs a sense of belonging. All of us non-indigenous people suffer from disconnection, not belonging to the stolen land we live on. The perennial questions, such as “Who am I? Where am I from? Where am I going? Why am I here?” are not asked by indigenous peoples, because they know.
Joe believes that healing landscapes helps us to heal our sick culture and ourselves. Body-based trauma healing can involve getting one’s hands into the soil, as well as mindful movement, dance, and martial arts. Our ancestors lived in communities. But the illusion of separation of people from nature, and people from other people, began with agriculture in which the feminine earth was dominated and exploited, not seen as our sustaining Mother.
Design for belonging
How do we design for belonging instead of separation? By creating conditions in which love can be given and received, such as practicing deep listening with nonjudgmental acceptance, curiosity, humor, and forgiveness. This gives others the confidence to relax and express themselves openly. When someone listens to us in this way, our nervous system feels safe. Healing occurs as we understand ourselves more through another’s listening. Such deep listening has been rare for many of us, and in these times of turbulent change, grief and loss, we need to create more spaces in which it can happen.
We often feel unworthy of another’s caring, or even of our own self-acceptance. But — “If I’m part of the Earth, I can’t love the Earth without loving myself.” Thus, work on ourselves is necessary in order to regenerate the Earth. Says Joe, “That’s 90%. Building soil comes from that.”
If we are lost children of Gaia, how can we be found? The land spoke to Joe and asked to be healed, and he dedicated himself to that. Over half of the cells in our bodies are micro-organisms, not human cells; separation is an illusion. As we transform our pain, we become more open to giving and receiving, and the forest finds us, because we were never really separate. What healing do we need, for our hearts to open? “We each have the potential to become something the planet is seeking,” says Joe.
If you’re interested in the work of Earth Regenerators, please visit: https://earth-regenerators.mn.co