“REAL WORLD” VT Style

Eight people, picked to live in a house, off the grid in the Northeast Kingdom of VT. They did not have their lives taped and put on MTV, but they could have, just maybe they should have…

What a time we have had during our first few months living in Vermont. We have seen the rise and fall, the coming and going, the arising and passing of many things. As is the way of life, the changes came and came, but these particular changes felt pretty unique and… interesting. After the late summer’s work exchange experience at “Lettuce Bee” farm, we watched the family prepare to leave in the fall for quite the adventure on their newly refurbished grease powered school bus. We began paying rent for the cabin as we watched the house become filled to the attic with 6 new housemates, most meeting one another for the very first time. And so begins the next chapter of our life in Walden, VT.

Let’s get together and live all right…

Our great friend Chris Kleinberg was interviewed by the Philadelphia Metro newspaper this week about his communal home in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. I thought it would be appropriate to share this article with you because, not only did Chris tour the country in a veggie powered bus (like us) with his band MewithoutYou, but he and his wonderful wife live in this great communal home (again just like us). Their story and lives have been quite an inspiration to us. Read the article on the Metro’s website.

Thanks and SNOW!

Though we missed being with family for Thanksgiving, we were lucky enough this year to share delicious meals with some new friends. Our afternoon began with a visit to “community supper” in our neighboring town of Hardwick. We have volunteered at community suppers two times now, and we try to make it out for the meal whenever possible. Local farms and businesses donate much of the food, and many of the smiling faces helping to cook and clean up are people from a wonderful community called Heartbeet Farm. The meal was fantastic. We were thankful for the abundance of many tasty meatless dishes and happy to feel at home in such a positive environment filled with love and goodwill.

Back to the Kingdom

As I sit here typing this, we are in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in our little cabin. With our newest computer battery, we have the ability to bring some modern life into the woods. Though we are enjoying the “simple life” very much, we really love to be able to cozy up in front of the fire and watch a film! Jon also has worked some magic, and ran a long cord down here so that we can also have phone access! Keeping our fingers crossed that the line stays unharmed through the winter, we are hoping to enjoy some chats with loved ones living elsewhere.

It’s a Happening

The great thing about where we are living is that, as rural as it seems, there are many fun and interesting events and activities to keep us entertained. Forget TV when you can take a trip over to Glover to catch a Bread and Puppet performance. Glover, VT also hosts an annual type of carnival that includes a handful of hand-built and human powered amusement rides. We decided to check out the carnival this year, so we headed out with a few farm visitors to Glover for the evening. We arrived when the carnival had turned into a wild festival.

Work, Work, Work… FUN!

We have been pretty busy while living the “simple life.” Farm work never ends, there is always something to do. Besides the obvious planting and harvesting of yummy veggies, we have had the pleasures of learning some new skills such as preserving and storing what we harvested (cabbage, carrots, turnips, potatoes, beets, beans) for the winter in the root cellar. Whether it be freezing, pickling, canning, we are doing it.

Into the Wild

I suppose this blog could be over now (but it’s not), as we have come to settle our belongings for a time in Walden, Vermont. Just as the previous entry explained, we arrived at Lettuce Bee Farm with the intention to work for 2 weeks and possibly stay another week. We have now been here for almost two months and we are gearing up to stay thru a proper Vermont winter and then some.

Lettuce Bee Farm

It has been over a month since we arrived at Lettuce Bee Farm in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Through www.organicvolunteers.com, Lettuce Bee was the only farm we had secured a date to come volunteer before we had left Philadelphia in April. We signed up to volunteer 2 weeks with the possibility of extending it another week or so, and here we are 3 weeks later planning to stay the rest of the growing season and straight through a very snowy Vermont winter! Did I mention we have been staying in a little rustic cabin in the woods?

Camp Sister Spirit – Ovett, MS

Before we meet up with Parham in Jackson, we are planning to check out a community in Mississippi Called Camp Sister Sprit. One of our goals on the journey is to check out come intentional communities along the way, and volunteer to help out in exchange for a place to rest. We have both been very curious about ic living and are hoping to learn a thing or two about them as we visit. So we found and contacted a few places in the south on the ic.org site. Camp Sister Sprit wrote us back and said we were welcome to come by! CSS is in Ovette, MS which is really off the beaten path, but more or less on the way from Biloxi to Jackson. And we can handle the less beaten paths in our beast, we hope at least.