Ecovillage update #9 - The plot thickens...

| the video is from a couple of months ago |
Two months have passed since my last update, which in todays content driven world, is akin to retiring... But I have good reason (I think) for the delay..

Building takes time...
In fact, most things take time. And building from only locally sourced materials by hand, takes a hell of a long time...

I have been working on the Tipi floor for over six months now... Not consecutively I might add, consecutively it's probably 2 weeks 8 hours a day. But having Tao, running the company, maintaining the house work, and creating all of my online content, means things take a lot longer than they could..

This is a choice of mine, ours, of course. All the other families here have a very clear division of labour, the women stay home with the children and house work, and the men go and work on the land.

We do things a little differently. We have a pretty clear 50/50 division of all our work, on and off the land. Not to brag, but as you might have seen in the video, Lila is there felling trees, debarking, collecting rocks, working the land. Granted, of course we do divide the work sensibly, ie, Lila collects the rocks into neat little piles for me, and I carry the wheelbarrow full of rocks back to the Tipi. Lila is focusing more on the sanding of the poles and I'm building the retainer wall, but still, we both work on the land. We're both building our house.

And we're both raising Tao.
Together.
I know many fathers who have never put their child to sleep. Don't feed them, or cook for them, don't do the laundry, or give them a bath.
It was clear to me, and we both agreed long before Tao was born, that I wanted to play a very active part of Tao's upbringing (and his life in general...)

And that comes at a price. Not just waking up all hours of the night, cooking 4 meals in one concentrated day to last the week, or cleaning up after he's made a mess. But the more difficult price for me to pay, is that it comes at the expense of working on the land.
If I didn't take care of Tao, and left Lila to it, I could get down to the land, work an 8 hour day, and we'd probably have finished the Tipi and kitchen by now.. (even just me working alone ).
But I chose differently.
And let me be the first to say, I stand by my choice. Every day.

So..........
That's why it's been a while since the last update..
There hasn't been much to update about the land.
Until now...

Because we have a very special announcement.
After over a year of inviting, courting, wooing and pandering to many couples and families, bachelors and bachelorettes, and being rejected (sooner or later) by everyone, we finally have found the perfect addition to our ecoVillage.
I will be making a video soon where he can introduce himself, so you have that to look forward to, but suffice to say we have an extra pair of hand on the land.
Which is huge!
Not just for our selfish agenda of getting the Tipi up ASAP, but just having someone living on the land, changes the energy and atmosphere. For better or worse, Human presence changes things. When you are truly somewhere where no Human has been for a while, you can feel it. You feel a little out of your element. At lest I do..

So that's our biggest update to date..

As for the actual work on the Tipi, things are moving forward. Albeit slowly, but progressing nonetheless..


So that's it from me for now.
Hope you enjoyed this little update and the video.
Hope it won't be too long until the next....

Until then, stay safe, and be well.

▶️ 3Speak