Getting to Work at the Soul Fire Farm

The past

couple days we’ve have been excitedly getting down in the dirt at the Soul Fire Farm! It has been exciting visiting with friends out here in Grafton, New York on an incredible sustainable farm. We spent the day yesterday exploring the land, learning about the chickens, and planting some potato plants. It has been a great learning experience working with Leah and Jonah, who own the land here and built the beautiful eco-home they live in. They built their home from scratch using all natural materials found from the land, timber wood frame, straw bale and natural plaster construction, and even a solar hot water heater.

Its been a very celebratory gathering here as friends and companheiros from the area came bringing partners, family, and kids for a delicious potluck to kick it all off. We had a great night sharing music and performances among all the talented folks here. We were especially lucky to have a performance from the kids here who sang their own version of “This Land is Your Land,” singing “This land was made for planting seeds”.

Special musical performance by Taina Asili and Gaetano Vaccaro

Also Taina Asili performed for us and was accompanied by her husband and bandmate, Gaetano, on guitar, as well as Leah, who did a silk trapeze act for us all overhead! It was incredible.

Yesterday we had a great visit at the Peace Pagoda where we connected with Buddhists from Japan who are doing peace work here in the United States. The visit was very meditative and had a sacred feel as we all partook in playing fan drums together, along with a couple Japanese women who have come to live at the Peace Pagoda after the tsunami and Buddhist nun who built this peace pagoda, Jun Yasuda.

Inacio shared a couple songs during the ceremony and through translation we all connected, communicated, and enjoyed the songs in Portuguese, English, and Japanese.

Peace Pagoda

I was comforted and intrigued when Jun Yasuda reminded us that “we must play our drum for others, not for ourselves,” resonating with me not only for that moment, but also as explanation for why we all act, make music, share, write poetry, grow food, sing, and really, why we were all there together.

The Ciclovida crew at the Soul Fire Farm

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