Woman at the Well

Usually I go to our home in the city for two days a week. But I have a Mama "percolating" so I thought it would be wise to stick around the farm for now. This created the need for me to go get some more water. There is a municipal, spring fed well just down the road. We went there for an emergency once, now we prefer it to any other water.

So I was the Woman at the Well. It caused quite a stir. I'm not sure where all the women in this community are, but evidently they rarely venture from their homes, once they get married at 18. Not less than 12 cars drove through the area (there is absolutely no reason to drive through,unless you are just checking out who is there) all men, all slowing down to watch me pump water, to watch it splash into my bottles, and onto my feet.

I imagined that old story about Jesus and the woman at the well. What did He see? What did She see? You know he had been traveling for a long time, on foot. He was probably as happy to see water as he was to see a woman. Water...Woman...they go together. They quench the thirst, wash over you, make you clean, change your inner temperature-up or down. She may have seen the Stranger, her first instinct to ignore, walk away fast, but the warring feelings inside her told her to stay and give what release that she could.

She had a man, a good man, at home waiting for her to come back with the days water. He loved her, and there were lots of women in the village who admired him. And yet this Stranger called forth something in her that she thought had passed with her girlhood. So she stands at the well, for all to see and gossip about later; the Stranger asks for a drink, she lifts her cupped hands to His mouth...They are both released, unglued, awed, made whole and it takes only seconds. Whom has baptized who?

No one knows who this woman really was, or if this actually happened, or if it is another great teaching story; for me she is the Magdalene. She gives her emotion and her body, risks her life and lifestyle, for love, for the lover, for the Beloved. Later, in a tense moment, when the Stranger called out "I thirst", it was for Her.

I do not typically wax biblical when doing random chores, but I felt exposed at the well, open, necessary. When offered help to carry in my water, by dear friends visiting the farm this week, I had to say no. Carrying that water to my home seemed like a sacred duty at that moment. I felt tied to all women by that simple task. I imagined African women with big pottery jars on their heads, South American women with skin bags tied with rope, ancient Irish women throwing gold into wells to bless them. I am just an average American woman, with bpa free plastic bottles, but we are all one, thirsting, at the well.

Chores

Everyday we have chores. They are not super intense, but they are required and it's everyday regardless of how much I'd rather sleep, or if I want to go out of town.

Chickens have to be let out, watered and fed, pets need the same, and need to be walked and cleaned up after, and the garden needs to be weeded and watered. At first it was daunting, now it adds a peaceful rhythm to my life.

I had a mentor once, Rena Tarbet, who said "The less you do, the less you want to do. And the opposite is true too." I have found this to be accurate in my life in all aspects. The more I do, the more I want to do, and the more gets done. So starting out the day feeding 8 animals, taking a walk, and tending to the plants, makes me more productive overall and sets the pace for the day. By the time evening rolls around, and I'm knitting or crafting for pleasure and profit, I feel good about the day, like I've earned the down time and the rest.

I noticed last night, while in bed reading magazines with a flashlight (so summer camp) that the knot I have carried around in my right shoulder for the past 17 years is almost gone. How's THAT for a benefit of country living?

Voluptuous Update: The design for my meditation room is crazy, sexy, amazing!

Simplicity Update: We will be opening our sweatlodge this weekend.

My first week

Well the big move happened, but only with the generosity of friends and family. It took eight friends and 2 sisters to make it work, but we’re here. I was “can’t get out of bed” ill for the big moving day, so my dearest girlfriends finished packing up my house and cleaned it, while another cooked for all our volunteers at the farm. My sisters and the rest of our friends finished the floors and trim in the farm house and unloaded the truck. All of this happened while I was sleeping and trying to get healthy…

Everyone was sweet and gracious, but imagine my horror! I could not make myself move, but had to continually remind myself that if these women were this sick, I would gladly pack their crap and scrub their tubs. My parents sent a cash gift with a nice card. I would scrub their tub too!

I started full speed at my new job on Tuesday, only to run out of ink in my printer and have to make a 2hr round trip to get more. DH and I started our list of “things we can never run out of” on Wednesday night. We are not on a deserted island or anything-I mean one can have a pizza delivered here, but it’s 14 miles to gasoline and groceries, and almost an hour to the nearest office supply or discount box store, so it’s not financially or ecologically responsible to make too many trips. In the City, we were seven blocks from Target (from which all good flows) so learning to stock up and get everything we need when we’re at the store is going to be a big shift for us.

I got six laying hens for an early birthday present from DH, he built the coolest coop for the gals, but I won the recognition of being the most fearless chicken wrangler. As soon as I unpack my camera, I will post photos. We feel like real farmers now with our garden, our bees, and our chickens!

Voluptuous Update: This one is hard this week, there is nothing sexy about the amount of phlem I am producing…DH made breakfast sandwiches that we packed with coffee, water, and cherries in a basket for our chicken field trip.

Simplicity Update: The wood scaffolding was reinvented into our outdoor shower. I still have to boil water for our solar shower to make it warm enough though!