I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I last posted, but I can explain. It’s a very phenomenal explanation, but hear me out.
The last post I did was the trip to the Tennessee Coneflower patch near Nashville and remember I mentioned taking a visitor from India with us on the trip? Well, he was scheduled to stay in America for one month but decided to stay. He’s a meditation teacher, and he had begun teaching people in the area about meditation. Before finding a place to settle down, he was rotating every few days, staying with several people, including here at the farm.
I really enjoyed his talks and was fascinated with the idea of meditation, and I could see that he was growing tired of packing up and changing locations every few days. The upstairs in my house was just a cluttered mess of craft projects (I had cleaned out one corner for him to sleep in when he was here every week or so), so I asked him if he would like to just stay here until he got settled in America. He said “yes, that would be nice”. So we cleaned out the upstairs (that was truly embarrassing) and he moved in. So much for a quiet retirement….lol!
He founded a non-profit organization in India called “Ahamo”. “Aham” means “self” and the word “Ahamo” means “celebration of the self”. He also set up the organization in America as well–he could clearly see that we are stressed and spiritually deprived–sad, but so true.
I had stopped doing the CSA and cut way back on market farming. That’s a good thing because now I’m knee-deep into helping transcribe talks into books, recording videos, writing blogs for the Ahamo web page, and on and on…..
After much discussion, we decided to grow Ahamo US right here in Crab Orchard. Yes! A meditation retreat in Crab Orchard. I think it’s a wonderful idea. The farm is way too spectacular to just sit idle and people just love coming to visit, so why not? We just completed the first student accommodations:
Still have to do rock around the bottom and a little landscaping, but we have a student staying here already!
Next up is a place to hold programs. We eventually would like to build a large meeting facility, but just getting started, funds are a little slim… so we’re going to build the Welcome Center/Gift Shop/Office first and use it as a meeting place until we grow enough to be able to build the larger one. It’s going to be awesome!
So, the Farm Life Adventures of the Happy Hoer continue. I still have bees and gardens, herbs and dogs, building projects, adventures of all sorts, and lots of interesting and inspiring things to share. Only now, I can add more adventures to the repertoire–spiritual things and yoga stuff and mystical musings. Stay tuned…..
Wild Things Farm 