Woolman Blog

                                                                         

It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since my first days in Nevada City. The following is a college application essay I wrote about a very dear Woolman experience. I am so thankful for the wholesome, enlightenment Woolman promotes and sustains. Best wishes to the incoming Spring 2013 class!

 

Washing Leeks

The sun sat heavily on the surrounding Sierra Nevada foothills. The acre garden spread out in all directions—to the east lay the tool shed followed by rows upon rows of lettuce, kale and spinach to the west. My classmates were dispersed through the garden, some weeding in the strawberry bed, others hoeing an area destined for tomatoes later in the spring. At the washbasins, constructed from old bathtubs on wooden stilts, I eyed my assigned task: a box heaped with dirty leeks to be stripped and cleaned before their final destination in the campus kitchen.

I dumped the leeks into the bathtub of cold water before me and began to swirl the leafy greens around until the water became a dusty brown. My forearms deep in the tub, I searched for my first target, pulled out a large leek and began to wipe away the grime.

“Wow.”

This was food. Food that had come a long way to reach my hands. This plant was seeded in October, watered daily, protected from the cold and nurtured until February when someone plucked it from the ground and sent it to me for cleaning. From here, it would go to the kitchen where a group of students and faculty would use it in an edible masterpiece.

I shook the leek dry and sought my next victim. Pulling back the thin outer layer of skin along the stalk, I uncovered the tender white center. I reached for the knife to cut away the entangled roots and coarse, green tops. The box of clean leeks was growing steadily.

How many people did it take to grow this little plant?  Many. Behind each stage in this plant’s life was a different person with a different task who had invested time and effort in its cultivation. The seeders, weeders, waterers, harvesters and washers.

I looked around the garden at my classmates and teachers scattered among the rows of bounty doing their respective chores. In our small community, we worked, studied and played together. We had been brought from across the country to this small Quaker school in Northern California to learn about peace, justice and sustainability. We represented a range from New York City to the suburban Midwest, the incorporated areas of Los Angeles to rural Vermont. We came as pagans, Christians, Jews, atheists and Quakers. As bisexuals, heterosexuals and transsexuals. As mixed races and Caucasians. Our differences had brought us together in this place to learn and grow.

We had raised this. This leek. This meal-to-be. Our daily labor and individual tasks made the farm and community whole.

With a satisfying plop, the last leek dropped into the box. In the distance, I could hear the dinner bell ringing.

Here are some photographs that I have taken in class over the last couple of years... Snap shots of serious/hilarious discussions, role plays, art and more!

a warm up improv activity early in the morning

in the old classroom in Madrone Hall

in a workshop with spoken word artists

working on a board game project

theater exercises in Peace Studies

small group discussions

For my sustainability project, I was in charge in adding more native plants to the garden. At first, we faced a huge challenge; we did not know the location of our project in the garden. We thought about making it behind the Blue Oak. We were then given the bad news that we could not do it there because that place was going to be cut and be made into an out door classroom with benches. We quickly had to find a new place. We could not find a place for weeks until we learned that we could use the part in front of the Blue Oak and also on the right portion by the nursery tables. As soon as we knew what place we were going to use, we had to make sure that the plants were going to survive the winter. We had learned about the conditions here in Nevada City; cloudy days, humidity, average temperature, precipitation, snow fall and sunshine. At first, we had all sorts of plants that we wanted in the garden; herbs, medicinal plants and fruits.

The sad news was that we did not have enough time to actually order any plants, so we were freaking out. We were asking about going to a park or near the river and get plants. We had 4 plants already that we got from a Native Plant Sale in Grass Valley. We got Salvia Hot Lips, Salvia Guara Siskiyou Pink and Oregon Grape. We knew that this was not enough because the amount of availablle space was huge.

So there was about 3 weeks before going into Thanksgiving Break and we thought it was time to clear the land. I started to take out as much poison oak as possible. There was so much poison oak in the piece of land. It took me about 3 hours to 'clear' it out. I was tired! There were so many rocks in that garden, which made no sense at all. The roots went really deep and they dispersed all around the area. It seemed as if the plants has runners that grew more stems and plants. While I was doing this, I also had to take off the Blackberry bushes. It was painful; these plants would just not uproot. All the rocks that I was taking out, I pilled on the side.

When it came to dig the holes for the trees, we just knew that it was going to be painful. There were still so many rocks down in the ground that we were not sure what we were going to do. We had to dig these huge holes to make sure that the redbud trees' roots would fit. We just did not know if these redbuds were going to make it. After the trees were planted, I planted the Dogwood and the Oregon Grape.

When we got the lupins, we did not know what they were going to do. We had never heard about these plants. We then learned from the interns that these were nitrogen fixers. They would help plants get the nutrients that they need. We planted some next to the trees and some by the Hot Lips and the Guara Siskiyou Pink.

All we have to wait now is find out if they would survive the harsh frosts of Nevada City and flower next spring. We really hope that they can grow and help the plants around them get the nutrients necessary for a sustainable life.

When we got the list of sustainability projects available for us to work on, I was less then thrilled. Only one item on the list caught my attention- beekeeping. Ever since reading Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees a few years ago I've been curious (and a little scared) of these unique insects. At the time I had no idea how fascinating they could be. First my partner Hannah and I wrote an eight-page paper on the structure of the hive, and the history and anatomy of bees. This required a lot of research and time, but the knowledge we gained made it worth while. We then put together a Powerpoint and shared the information we had learned with our classmates in a fourteen-minute presentation. We also put together a calendar for Woolman's future beekeepers, which instructs them roughly what they needed to be doing during certain months of the year. For instance, doing a mite treatment for the bees around November is crucial to their survival.  On our first visit to the beehives, we got all suited up and our project mentor Rachel walked my partner Hannah and I through the process of lighting the bee smoker. We took a few deep breathes to calm ourselves down, then approached the hive. We simply started by looking around, prying the top off of the hive, and then slowly un-sticking and taking out the trays while we began to look for the queen. Unfortunately, we didn't find her this time. But we did see drones feeding larvae, and a bee with pollen on its back legs!  A large part of our project was doing a mite treatment for the bees, we do this by covering them in powdered sugar! While cleaning themselves and each other off, they also eliminate most of the mites all on their own. It was still a process to coat each bee with the sugar, and at times they seemed a bit frazzled. But by the time we were finished they had already started cleaning each other up, it was so exciting to watch. We also found the queen in the bottom part of the hive, she was huge! I'm so thankful that I got to work with the bees this semester, I have learned a lot about their lives and loved getting to see them work up close. I wish the next semesters beekeepers good luck!

Standing Against Global Exploitation is a non profit organization aiming to support Human Rights. SAGE primarily focuses on human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation to children and adults in San Francisco, CA. They bring awareness to the public about these issues and also provide resources, such as treatment, to the survivors. If they do not have the right tools to help someone, they send them to other organizations that are better able to help.

In my independent study, I did a presentation about sexual abuse on children, and it was hard realizing that many of the victims would not have access to help. Learning about the things that these children suffer from made me want to get the word out there and advocate for them, so that there would be more organizations that would help them get pass their suffering. Therefore, I really appreciated coming to this organization and learning about their services and realizing that there are people out there who are helping children who have gone through abuse in their life. SAGE helps these people get through the trauma and give them resources to move on with their lives. I think it is really important work because no one should deserve to carry trauma like this in their lives without help.

SAGE not only helps the victims, but also the person that caused the action. In less serious cases, they make sure that the person learns why their action was wrong. Instead of the person just going to jail and not learning their lesson, they take classes so that they learn the reasons why it was wrong. When this person takes classes and learns why it was wrong, they learn to not do it again. They make sure that the person does not repeat their actions later on in the future.

I also liked this organization because the way that they have built community with their clients. Many of the people who work at this organization have been through exploitation. This helps form bonds between the clients and those helping them because the client knows that they can trust the person they are telling their story too. The client knows that the other person is not going to judge them for what has happened to them. This atmosphere of acceptance encourages true healing to take place.

SAGE is all about helping their clients continue with their lives. They are doing a very good job at that.

To learn more about their work, please visit: http://www.sagesf.org

During our Global Issues trip we went to a lot of organizations. One of the organizations that I really liked was Trash Mash-Up. It is a community Art project that goes into low income neighborhoods and creates art using nonrecyclable materials. Trash mash up reduces waste and inspires people to see each other and our environment in a new way. From the trash, they make masks and costumes inspired by traditions all around the world. They are doing something that is sustainable and beautiful using trash! It seems like the best and cheapest way to not trash this planet.

 When we visited there on the last day of our trip we did some creative art called "Eco-Warrior Medallions" on recycled cd's and some of us turned those cd's into chains and some of us donated them to an interactive art exhibit in the Art museum in San Francisco .

Ultimately, they make saving the world look good. I think that if there are more organizations like this.

 

This last week, we took a trip into the bay area to visit some life changing organizations. One of those organizations was 67 Sueños. The mission of 67 Sueños is to help undocumented youth get a voice into The Dream Act. The Dream Act is a piece of legislation that would provide the opportunity for undocumented youth to apply for a six year path to citizenship through college or two years in the military. But it was found that 67% of youth would not be included in the Dream Act, hence making 67 Sueños.

Soon after meeting Pablo, who helped found the organization, I was blown away by how knowledgeable he was about the issue. He answered every question so confidently and very precisely. Pablo was helping youth find their voice, and speak out about their stories. I felt like I could relate to this issue well because I have known a few people that have had to go through being undocumented, and the struggles they faced. I admired the dedication Pablo had, and I hope that someday I can feel that way about one of my passions.  

 

To learn more about 67 Suenos--please visit: http://www.67suenos.org

            On Monday, the first full day of our Great Turning Trip, we ventured into an alley between Mission and 24th street in San Francisco. The walls were covered with paintings ten to twenty feet high. A chaotic, beautiful collection of art thrown into a place for the public to observe for free. At first, to me, there was a sense of misplacement with the murals and it took me a while to understand why this art was in an alley instead of a museum.

            This was a space created to give a venue for artists to be able to put up their art for the world to see. It is an unwritten law that whenever an artist sees the opportunity to portray their message on a wall, they simply paint over an existing mural. This took me by surprise because I've always looked at art as a permanent format. It is something that artists work on and strive for other people to see. It was clear in the end that this was not the case with the Mission Murals. I believe it takes a very confident and dedicated artist to put their artwork in a place where they know it won't be there long. Yet, these people were able to put themselves out there by painting their pieces on an ever-changing cycle.

            I realized after walking through the alley that these murals were meant for people to see. There didn't need to be a price or a restriction on the art because their message was meant to be reached by anyone and everyone. There was a sense of awe looking at the art because there could be a mural that I looked at and connected to that someone else may never see, and vice versa. Nothing lasts forever, but it is possible to find beauty in temporary forums. 

Upon our arrival at our location, it was strange in a way. I felt as though the atmosphere changed so much. We stood outside of the house and two members of the farm were there to greet us at the door, Will and Sam. When we were getting ready to enter the house, they briefly stopped us from entering because they had a regulation where everyone had to take off their shoes. In my mind, all I was wondering was: “Why in the world are they making us take off our shoes just to get into the house? This is so strange!” Just taking in the way that they all acted towards us and how they were happy to be there was nice to see. They were really wanting to show us the way that they do things and how they run the farm. In the basement, we sat in silence for a while and then ended with a song. It was a beautiful way to end it. Once we left the basement, we got a little tour of what they did and where everything was. It was so amazing what they were doing that I couldn’t find the words for it.

Once the whole tour was done, it was time for business! We all got to work, helping them in anyway that we could. The tasks varied for the different groups that everyone had. The leaders of each group were assigned to smaller groups of people and had to do anything that we needed to get done. What I did to help was to put things that were not useful into a truck, move cement and bricks around, and carry rotting things into a pile in front of the truck. The whole day was so exciting because I got to have a one-on-one talk with Sam about college. I guess he must have sensed my stress because it was so high up that I did not even know what to do. I was really grateful that he was there to help me clear my mind and just to listen to me and my problems. The Canticle Farm was a magical place with caring people who do so much for their community.

 

The Canticle Farm is an urban intentional community in Oakland based on the principles of peace, service, nonviolence, and sustanability. The following description of the community was taken from: http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/making-peace-inner-city-oakland-one-block-time 

 

The name "Canticle" comes from St. Francis' hymn to creation and reminds them to give thanks and praise for the wonders of creation. Over lunch, they told me how they want to be a presence of peace and nonviolence in the neighborhood, and how that means going deep into contemplation and connection with the earth, especially if you live in the inner city.

They hold two one-hour "receptive silence" (meditation) sessions each day, and some of them practice silence on Mondays, as Gandhi did. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they hold open meditation and yoga sessions in the nearby Cesar Chavez Park. On Friday nights, they offer an open house hour of silence, followed by group sharing and a meal, which 40 people usually attend.

They have just begun their Canticle Farm Saturdays, which begin with meditation followed by public service, such as picking up trash in the neighborhood and local creeks, and connecting with the neighbors. They welcome neighbors for lunch and invite them to work in the garden with the hope that someday, neighbors would take seeds to start their own gardens. In the next few weeks, they will start offering afternoon programs on practical items such as cooking or repairing clothes. These neighborhood Saturdays end with their "Loaves and Fishes" Eucharistic sharing, a meal and a social.

Recently, they purchased another house where they intend to hold intensive training sessions for neighborhood youth. They plan on teaching nonviolence, urban permaculture, eco-literacy, creek restoration and other forms of selfless service. Throughout all of this, the community practices active hospitality and peacemaking with the neighbors by greeting and welcoming everyone.