Personal Adventure Blog and Professional Portfolio
HSS Week 5
We started off the week with Justin, who explained the history of Lost Valley from its original land use to its current state, with plans for the future of the ecovillage. Having arrived at Lost Valley as an apprentice years ago and eventually took the position as executive director, Justin had great knowledge and context that we didn’t know about Lost Valley.
Corvallis Weekend Day Trip
In a last minute moment of synchronicity, a few of the students – Caitie Mathews, Sasha Bugler, Ashley Shenk and myself – went up to Corvallis, OR, for a weekend day trip. Ashley is a local to the area, so she was our ‘tour guide’ before we met up with another student, Tuula Perry, who spent time in Corvallis with her boyfriend Taylor, (A cool dude with an awesome name!), and reached out to famed permie, Andrew Millison, and just so happen to schedule a group outing with him and tour of his home!
HSS Week 4
The week started off with Ravi, continuing our lessons on economics – specifically discussing local economies tied with social entrepreneurship to promote healthy trade and strengthen local communities. On that same vein, we also discussed cottage industries and the logistics of possible businesses to implement on-site at Lost Valley as a hypothetical exercise. The main obstacle we encountered was the high rate of transience within the community, which doesn’t promote longevity in terms of implementing and running a business – a factor that led most of the working residents to find sources of income outside of the community.
HSS Week 3
This week was definitely the most “kinesthetic” week of the program, as we got to do hands-on mapping activities, in-field surveying, and painted the entrance to the maintenance building!
HSS Week 2
Our second week of the program started off with a major emphasis on the social aspects of the program that included several classes with Larry on deep listening and nonviolent communication (NVC). I’ve referred to NVC several times, and want to provide the definition from the Center of Nonviolent Communication to help explain this specific style of communication:
My First, First Saturday Ecstatic Dance
I was still reeling from Friday’s LEAF and was in a very vulnerable space. Which probably influenced how I experienced my first ecstatic dance at Lost Valley.