Today was pretty relaxing to start off with. The team leader gave out all the interns here some time to work on personal project. Which left me having to improvise other task I can do when necessary.

Early afternoon I had got a call from one of the ‘farmy’s’ asking for my help in planting sweet potatoes. I of course accepted his request in a heartbeat. I caught up with the ‘growing fire‘ intern and told him the news. He was definitely interested in helping to. Since he has a automobile he could just take us to the garden about a half of a mile away.

We arrived to the garden to be embraced with a warm and genuine hug. This farmy had a very interesting personality. What I have grasped from my time with him, is that this man has been exposed to alternative cultures and lifestyles throughout his life. I have gotten the opportunity to work with this man before so we hit it right off and begin showing love to these little slips of goodness. 2 hours into planting mulching and watering we had finished. He asked us if we had the energy to help cardboard and mulch his squash bed. We gladly accepted his offer and knocked the squash bed out. He gave us his gratitude for are services, and he gave us is gratitude for our services, and proceeded to inform us of a gathering for a birthday tonight. We exchanged hugs and left back to the ETC.

The growing fire intern seemed pretty pumped for the new opportunity to socially grow as a person. He was ready to step outside of his comfort zone for the sake of evolution. I was supporting his drive. The gathering was down in the neighborhood by the swimming hole. It was a chill atmosphere. I got to meet a lot of new farmy’s, and the growing fire intern was interacting with ease. It was such a special scene. These humans living in this community were sharing time and space with their neighbors.

We must enjoy each other.
We must accept each other.
We must realize how perfectly imperfect we are.
With that comes peace.

The farmy from the garden today came in and slammed a 12 pack of brew in front of us and said “I got you some drinks for working so hard today brothers”. We gladly indulged in his gesture. Not to long after that one farmy suggested a night dip in the swimming hole since it was so close. So we all rallied up and about five of us initially took off for the water. We ran splashing in the frigid water and swam with joy.

The memories of these moments will last a lifetime. After that we traveled back to the gathering with the intent to move the gathering to the head of the roads (a point on main street where all the roads split) and sit around the fire. Many great words were spoken. The night came to a end when the fire did.

Today I embarked on getting some chores and cleaning done around the hostel. Being that I am granted access to some ecovillage training with out financially contributing as much as the interns have, I feel it is more than necessary to carry out my roles to fill in that gap.

I was able to knock out a lot of “projects of potential” (is what they call it on the chalkboard). The highlight of my day was the end if it. One of the interns had lit a fire and was going to burn some of cedar to we had collected a couple days back. The conversations that followed the lighting of the fire were that of growth.   It is amazing how when you hold positive space without any judgments people really sparkle and light up.  Deep sharing is a communication art that most people in our society do not have the opportunity to learn.  One young intern and I had a very special connection and I can see a bright evolution for him happening.   I’m extremely grateful to have been able to share with this human and to be able to hold space for his growth.   I will cultivate my continued support for him and everything around me. See you in my dreams Humanity.

The stimulation continues here today at the EcoVillage Training Center. I had a call to push myself a little bit more then usual today. we were going to the local food Forest this morning and our team leader was going to jog there. I instantly got inspired, and I decided to join her on the Run. I made pretty good time and didn’t stop to walk once in heavy boots. I was quite pleased with how much my body was able to endure.

After a sweaty couple of hours in the food Forest, we begin to pack up to go back. At that time I didn’t know if I was going to be able to run back or ride with them in the truck. In a second my body seemed to have overrode my mind and I began to run back. I was able to get back while they were walking down the driveway.

I have come across individuals with perspective that this screams that ‘I want attention’ or I am ‘trying to assert my dominance’ with my fitness to other dominant figures in the environment. It is in my experience that the quality of life that I am living now is greatly increased when I am able to push my body and mind to its limits.

One must practice humility and combine it with ability to push yourself. I am but one human, I realistically cannot create any real big positive changes in this world without my fellow humans. Which means that the social dynamics between humans co-habiting space together is of the highest priority.  We carried on with the day with finishing the bamboo lafting and earth primer on the wall, and stained some wood with a walnut Brew. After that I pest proofed a worm crate, then I helped make a dish for our pot luck dinner tonight. The food at dinner was delicious and I enjoyed the video Albert showed us on a German architect that was very creative in his design. Tonight I shall sleep like a baby.

What does it mean to thrive?

What criteria must you possess to consider yourself to be thriving?

There is this perspective that I have been entertaining today. What if thriving means to be positively stimulated in both mind and body. To be stimulated in such a positive manner that it induces evolution. In my opinion when evolution takes place, it inherently shows you what is truly important in life, therefore brings you to the awareness of what real value is.

It is my perspective that after so much space within you and around you has evolved, one begins to understand how profoundly valuable nature is. I personally consider myself to be at this level of evolution.

So what happened today in my mind is I had my mind and body positively stimulated constantly throughout the day. According to my theory I would be thriving. My thoughts tell me this is what it is like to live and breathe on this planet.

I woke up to a horn call for the 8 am rise and shine. I began to work in the garden for a hour. After that I assisted in helping put up bamboo wafting on a wall of a straw bale building.  I got to use a machete to process whole dried bamboo(machete work is one of my favorite things to do). I also helped apply earth primer to prepare the wall for the plaster.

Next I got to sit in a class with Albert (the mastermind behind this center) and have my mind blown yet again on how great of a solution permaculture is. I had lengthy breaks in between all of these activities. With a wonderful solar shower and a meal made with mine and a friends love to cap things off for the day…I was thriving.

I am thriving.

Now I’m going to give my body a stretch and possibly open up the 5th Anastasia and the Ringing Cedars of Russia series of books. I sit here with a attitude of gratitude breathing out the negative, and breathing in the positive.

Today I lived.

Today I thrived.

With the sunshine on my face and the birds singing away, I couldn’t ask for a more delightful way to wake up.

As I walk into the Community Kitchen I am giving a warm greeting by three of the fellow interns. I sat down to have some breakfast and engage in some conscious and thoughtful conversation. Even the way one communicates in an EcoVillage is vastly different than how one would conduct communication in the mainstream world. It is as if people in EcoVillages take on empathetic traits when conversing with one another. Also they are more prone to entertaining an idea without accepting it, which is in my opinion essential for harmony to take place between humans.

Since today was Sunday, which is a personal day for the people here, I thought I would enjoy a long walk in the woods to the swimming pond nearby. I was fired up with excitement on my walk to see all of the life around me in this woody environment. I got to the pond to find a few people there relaxing soaking up the Sun. I decided to join them and spent a few hours embracing the cosmic rays with a few dips in the pond to cool off.

I then found my way back to the Eco Village Training Center to more clearly observe this environment and all it has to offer. I got to have a wonderful conversation with one of the leaders of the center. I had some questions answered and got informed on many realities that take place here. Talking with her cultivated more comfort within myself for being here.

I decided to take a long bike ride to check out the farm on my terms. It was so fulfilling to have the wind blow against my skin while I got to smell the Aromas of wild flowers everywhere. When I returned I introduced myself to the mastermind behind this center, Albert Bates.  I did not get to talk to him much, but I could feel the love in his voice and presence. The energy he has devoted to this place is clearly shown. I am looking forward to connecting with him more.

Now I lay here in my simple new home listening to the voice of the forest. Today was a very relaxing day, but tomorrow is when I get to experience what this place is truly about. It is now time to let Mother Nature sing me to sleep.

The time has finally come.

I will be embarking to my first destination on my tour tomorrow morning. I will be sharing space with the oldest intentional community in the nation. It is safe to say that this is a path I will be on for many years to come.

I would like to reach out and give my humble gratitude to a few humans that have impacted my life. I believe I wouldn’t be who I am today without their influence.

First I would like to thank my family. They don’t fully understand what it is that I am doing, but they are in full support of my happiness. Which is all I could ever ask for.

Next I want to give my deepest gratitude to Dakota Dickson . When she came into my life many years ago, she brought with her a plethora of conscience ideas. These ideas that she exposed me to facilitated my Awakening. The love and support she has given me played a major role in the birth of Apollo.

It is my honor to give a special acknowledgment to Quinn Eaker and The Garden of Eden. Being exposed to this man and everything he believes in has shaped my perception into what it is today. Compared to where I was at before I meant him, to where I’m at now. I feel I have evolved so much in so many ways.

 

 Last but certainly not least, I want to send great love to Green Fire EcoMinistry and the people behind The Rocky Mountain Sustainability Center for all that they have done and continue to do for me. Everything I am about to experience from this point on would not have been possible without their support. Their continued involvement in my life is going to play a vital role in my growth to becoming the man I envision myself to be.

 

Everyone else that I didn’t name and that have shown me love. From the bottom of my heart, I honor all of you. Now it is time to give all that I am to support a world I want the next seven generations of life to exist on. It is no longer about me, it is no longer about my happiness. It is now only about what is Honorable and responsible to this planet and everything living on it. This is the beginning of the rest of my life.

Green Fire Ambassador Apollo Mission launches in May.  Apollo will be landing first at The Farm in Tennessee to get a full inoculation at the EcoVillage Training Center where master JSun DaGreen, Green Fire cohort, will be guiding his education.

Apollo will be learning many skills while at The Farm that will help him to land and navigate the communities that he will be setting his navigation coordinates for during this upcoming years Green Fire Communities Tour.

Apollo has been loaded up with resources that he can share with these communities and will be writing reports that will be posted on this Green Fire blog to kick off the official relaunching of the Green Fire EcoMinistry.  Apollo was ordained as a Green Fire Minister which empowers him to represent Green Fire EcoMinistry and ‘share the resources with the resourceful’….as well as other clergy duties.

If you would like to help support the Green Fire Apollo mission directly please visit Apollo’s GoFundMe page where you can give some Green Fire support to his journey!

Around two years ago I made a decision that would change my life forever. I dropped my normal life to go live in a ecovillage near Dallas Texas. Everything I thought I knew about living life was questioned here at the Garden Of Eden. I have gained not only a whole new outlook on life but some tangible skills as well.

I feel I am competent in organic gardening, composting, sustainable construction (aka building with trash), Cobb, husbandry, plus many other things that revolve around being more sustainable. I sit here now with a passion to help my felow humans in creating harmony between themselves and their environment, the Earth.

This passion to learn, this passion of service, it is burning inside of me. The time has come for me to move on to travel through out the world giving my blood, sweat, and tears to people’s efforts for a happier life. I will dedicate my life to serving other ecovillages, sustainable homesteads, and intentional communities for however long this passion exist within me.

 

The story of Green Fire goes back to 1996 when founder Darlene Cavallara began what she now refers to as ‘The Great Exodus’…..leaving behind the world she knew to find a path that would lead to a better future for all whom she loved – which as a humanitarian included all humans on Earth.  She had grown up in a small town in Northern California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains but had left home at the age of 14 (her first exodus).

From 1996-2000 she underwent a complete rebirth and awakening to the Great Transition that is happening on our planet.   Her journey began with a backpack, a prayer, and an open road across the deserts of Nevada and Utah.  Colorado would be the place where the first embers of Green Fire would be fed by powerful agents of change within the emerging sustainable living paradigm.

Green Fire was officially born in the year 2000 after those years of living and learning among communities of pioneering individuals.  It was a ‘nomadic’ ministry based upon the principles of Deep Ecology and operated within the framework of the Sacred Tzolkin Mayan Calendar.  You can read more history about Green Fire here.

Now in this beginning of 2015 – almost a decade since the ministry went into a hibernation cocoon – Green Fire is emerging once again to spread its wings and fan the flames of the regenerative fire that is engulfing our world……