Tryon Life Community Farm

Hello old friends, especially Brush and Brenna,

I was checking out the website to see what you have been up to . Wow, you are doing many wonderful things. I am especially appreciative of the website's list of herbal information. Right on!!!

I see that Tryon has become quite the business venture. Most of it seems to be business that I think has true value. My question is about what is at the heart of community there... and well, being honest about what is going on is just good karma.

In our culture I see that the greening of the planet is being mainstreamed. Taking care of Mother Earth is becoming good business. The Seattle Green Festival is coming up shortly and well it looks very American and very much about business. It is a shift in the paradigm I think and to go with the flow of the bigger picture of the world will be more helpful than trying to stay outside that box called "normal".

How do we all create a better "normal"? Normal, that is inclusive of anything and anyone that is "other" . Red, blue; activist, couch potato, blue collor, corporate exec ... perhaps the common ground can be found in "green"...

So much wonderful work is done at Tryon. Well done!

bright blessings and best of luck,
Lucy aka Pixiemomma from FAWC

PS here's that personal comment that always gets me in trouble, but is inherent in my way of "teaching" and sharing :

I am up in Olympia WA ( rurally ) now and have lost some of my passion for Intentional Community. Well, not really lost it, but have watched it morph into something I think will be more advantageous to Mother Earth. That would be the mainstreaming of Intentional Community mindset and ideas. My observations of life tell me that many living examples of IC exist that are not called IC - businesses, families, farm communities, neighborhoods . Tryon seemed rather elitist to me the half dozen times I visited. When living in Portland, I had found it difficult and uninviting to participate in community there. Perhaps a matter of taste - all that work and mud and party culture, and the arts and music stuff and multitasking expectations. ( and what is with volunteer teachers for the children - are your children not a good investment opportunity and do teachers of children not have much value???? ) But I am an old woman, full of middle class values. I did, however, truly enjoy the biodynamics workshop I attended there once and thank you so much for that.

Where is our common ground? What do we all agree has true value? I mean, I like plumbing and having enough TP to keep things tidy. I want a world where you get to flush the toilet , albeit, in an environmentally friendly matter...

I went to an apple tasting event last year up in the hills of southern WA, at a small rural community building. 200 kinds of apples, many heirlooms, lots of old folks with country redneck values, little old ladies selling quilts in a raffle to raise funds to replace the outhouse with a modern bathroom. It was so much goodness , Mc Cain signs all down the road.... those heirloom apples are common ground, the tastes, the smell, the heart, the support of community, and children, and rich and poor. uneducated and university degreed - talk about diversity...

Well, it would help to actually put content in the site. :)