This isn’t the first post in which I’ve mentioned or pointed to Charles Eisenstein … however … this is another one 🙂
Today we finished making another batch of Zakuska (cooked vegetable mash prepared as a winter preserve). We started working outside and got most of the cooking done before a welcome fall-rain arrived. So we had to move inside to do the packing and final cooking. The following video of Charle’s giving a presentation played in the background. The experience felt whole … so I got a camera out to make a note of it.
We used money from our last “available batch” to move to Bhudeva and to become stewards of its lands. This has been our second summer here and we are preparing to move into our second winter. The produce we used to make our garden is not yet ours since most of our garden did not survive this years difficult drought. Instead we (again) purchased this produce from our neighbors Ildi and Levente. However this year the money we used to pay them for the produce was money they had given us over recent months in return for helping them sell their produce with Cutia Taranului. They also loaned us the large pot in which we did our cooking. The pot (when it was outside) was sitting on top of a simple rocket stove which we learned about by knowledge used on the other side of the planet made freely available on the Internet. The stove was fueled by a small quantity of scrap wood (due to the amazing efficiency of the rocket stove). The cooking work was fueled by our satisfaction from experiencing that we can provide for ourselves an abundant, healthy and pleasant life … all with a diminished and diminishing depdence on money.
I came to Romania feeling like an outcast, seeking sanctuary. I wanted nothing to do with people. I wanted to find a corner of the world where I could supply my own needs and never need to interact with people again. Yet as times goes by I find myself immersed in a passionate effort to build and be part of … something … the word community is most appropriate … though I use it with hesitation since I am just beginning a process of giving it life and meaning.
Within this context I invite you to view this presentation by Charles Eisenstein’s presentation:
If you’ve enjoyed this I also invite you to a recent interview with him (and a strange, charming, amusing interviewer) here.