Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

I have spent the last couple of weeks at the foot of the “Indian Peeks” wilderness area at a Boys and Girls Club sight call “Gates Camp”, in Ward, Colorado. Each morning I woke to witness a spectacular sunrise shimmering across a high mountain lake as the sun slowly illuminated the dramatic glacial capped peaks. I felt blessed and grateful to be immersed in such beauty and to have the health to enjoy it.

Gates Camp is designed to bring inner-city youth to commune with nature. Various ages and groups come to re-establish a relationship with the earth mother. It is run by an energetic and vibrant man named Tyler who became a good friend and confidant.

I participated in two weeks of Past Skills classes with Billy McConnell out of Bozeman Montana. Billy was one of a team of teachers for me at Tracker School and welcomed me to volunteer in supporting the running of the same two classes. I felt pulled to learn more from Bill as he impressed me as a teacher who spoke from a place of heart and vision.

We worked on skills of making shelter, purifying water, making fire, and finding food. I enjoyed the re-exposure of the skills after having tried them out for myself with Paul over the last month. I learned of an important shelter material of the high mountain area I had missed, Pine Duff. A vital and life saving shelter construction material.

I feel much more competent at making fire, traps and reaffirmed regarding some of my skills that had worked well for me.

We also reviewed the right relationship of humans to the earth. One thing that Bill said that moved me is that “We are not a mistake”. It is really our lifestyles that is mistaken. Humans are meant to live as an integral and harmonious part of the earth ecology.

I met an 18 year old young woman named Amanda who has studied with Coyote Trails for the last three years as a youth. She demonstrates such a beautiful relationship to the earth and it comes so natural for her.

Kristie is a woman a few years younger than me who touched my heart as well. She lives in southern Colorado on a ranch with a heard of horses and a pack of dogs. We found that we have a lot in common and are on a very similar pathway to learn about ourselves our relationship with survival skills. I spent an evening with Kristie and her roommate in a awesome valley at the foot of the Sangre De Christo mountains. It was such a joy to share our hearts so openly and to know that we could be safe, accepted and even honored for our experiences.

I also made a friend named Marie who is developing a community to practice ceremonies and share education around healing our relationship with the earth. Marie and I hope to do some work together in the future including helping connect the idea that the way we eat determines how we treat the earth.

I felt honored to spend this two weeks with a group of people so committed to increasing their relationship with the earth that they would suspend their lives and invest their money in becoming closer to the earth.

After leaving the camp I visited an intentional community in southern Colorado. The community was very open and welcoming. I participated in a Sweat Lodge with them. A Sweat Lodge is Native American Ceremony practiced with the purpose of spiritual cleansing, praying, and communing with the earth mother. We spent 2.5 hours sweating, chanting and praying. I shared my affinity and concern for the water that has been ignited within me as I have traveled the world and come to know the status of the world’s watersheds. This was such a powerful prayer to share in a Sweat Lodge.

The community land was amazing with seven springs filled with watercress. The group consisted mostly of Natives of the South Western lands of the US. They shared their families’ and individual struggles to reclaim the native lifestyle. I felt moved and honored to be allowed to share in and witness the commitment to reclaiming their birthright.

I hope to spend more time in Colorado someday and contribute my energy and enthusiasm for living a conscious life in harmony with the earth.

The Next Step- Making Friends with Giardia

I no longer have a camera, no cell phone, no computer. I hope to spend more time out of the Matrix than in. I am using a library computer and will do so occasionally to keep in touch.

As a result, there will be no more pictures. I have found that not having a camera helps me enjoy the moment more and not worry about having to preserve it at the time I see it. I am journalling when I have quite time and that will be my record of this part of the journey of my life.

I have traveled with Paul across the US over the last five weeks. Every day with this amazing man includes various ceremonies. Each all organic, all raw meal is an event as is each sunrise and sunset. In the middle are some of the most profound conversations I have had.

We have slept on the ground, drank from the water, walked in our bare feet and eaten what grows wild in the areas where we have spent any significant amount of time. I love traveling this way and am feeling much more connected to my role as a human in the ecology of the earth.

During our excursion into the wilderness, Paul and I intentionally brought only one gallon of water. We decided that to be part of the ecology of the wilderness, humans need to develop an immune system that can deal with natural occurring life inside of the water.

On our way up over the Continental Divide, we dug a shallow seep under a rock that was emitting moisture across the trail. We drank using dry grass straws from the seep. Once we had crossed the divide, we drank freely of the streams as they were pure glacial runoff and rain water.

We spent three nights total in the wilderness and hiked out on the fourth day due to an incoming storm that was going to bring close to freezing temperatures and a lot of rain. We have yet to master the art of a natural shelter in the Rockies that would protect us from this weather. While there was the option of a cave, the best we found was a very tight fit and would have been a miserable place to spend more than an hour.

It rained from 3:00 pm and through the night that night. We were grateful to have made the decision that we did.

The next morning we awoke to a fresh sunny day. A large meadow with a small stand of pine trees about 100 yards away was our view. We shared a beautiful breakfast when suddenly, I had an intense, immediate call from nature to empty my bowels occured.

I made a hunched over dash for the pines. My stomach, upper and lower intestine felt as though something had reached inside and twisted them to empty all contents.

While I squatted at my emergency toilet sight and moaned freely in pain (a 9 on a 1-10 scale), a humming bird came and hovered in my face. As I focused on the humming bird and less on my pain and fear, my pain reduced. I staggered away from my spot and lay myself down in the grassy meadow. I called out to Paul who came running to comfort me. “They’re here” I told him.

We made a plan of action to help my body through the process of reacquainting itself with the small protozoa. We decided to go to the local co-op and ask what herbal or natural remedies they might suggest.

Once there, various people suggested that Giardia are the nastiest of critters to deal with and that I should immediately seek medical attention. I repeatedly made the point that I was interested only in natural remedies. Finally someone suggested that I try an alternative, grapefruit seed extract. Rather than by the processed and isolated version, we bought several grapefruits. We bought coconut water  for rehydration and ginger put in our water hoping it would support my immune system. We trusted that with support, my body would be able to make an agreeable relationship with these naturally occurring critters.

We then decided to take three days at my dad’s in order to allow my system to make friends with Giardia. By the end of the day, my pain was down to a 4 on a scale of 1-10. During those three days the pain never again went above a 5. I was able to keep food in me long enough to gain the necessary nutrients. I drank a lot of water. I talked to my visitors and welcomed them to find an agreeable relationship with my body. After a week, I had no more symptoms of Giardia.

In the end, I gained a lot of things. I had a natural lower intestine cleanse. My eating style was reaffirmed!!! My thoughts profoundly affect my experience of pain and how my immune system deals with an invasion. Nature is my friend and not something I have to be afraid of. Even the humming bird wanted to take care of me.

An amazing end note is that Paul drank the same water and never showed symptoms of an invasion of Giardia. He has been eating a raw an natural diet for a year and a half.

Moving Onward

The following is a newspaper article that was written by a friend of my for the Daily Item.

Mother Natures Daughter: Joanna Castro

By Paula Cochran

For the Daily Item 

Everything she owns fit in a backpack: three pants, five shirts, two jackets, two pairs of socks, two pairs of shoes, a hat and a week’s supply of underwear. When night falls she can be found sleeping upon the Earth under a hand made shelter.  

Yet Joanna Castro’s tale is not one of woe; she has not lost all she owns to any natural or manmade disaster. Limiting her material possessions and sleeping upon the Earth is a conscious choice, one that intimately connects her to the ecology of whatever location she is in.  

There was a time when Ms. Castro lived the American Dream; she had a master’s degree, a good job, a choice property and a dog. “Somehow it wasn’t enough,” she said “I found myself feeling like a parasite on the Earth. I would take, take, take and had nothing to give back.” Despite the influence of growing up in a “back to the land” household and her desire to live an eco-friendly life, she felt “surrounded by the influence of American culture,” a culture too often consumed with work, money, consumption and waste.  

In her search for something more she embarked on a trip around the world to explore other ways of approaching life. Funded by her savings, the trip has taken her to Hawaii, England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Dominican and Guatemala. In each location she exchanged work on an organic farm, community or commune in exchange for room and board, immersing herself in the local cultural and ecological community. All of the locations offered experience and education in eco-friendly living and peaceful resolution. “Each destination has been a unique experience and I have gained something different from each of them.” Ms. Castro said.

In the end Ms. Castro found “that there is another reality from the work-a-day-plan-for-retirement-prove-your-worth reality that I have been socialized to believe. I know that happiness is really the meaning of life. I am not going to find it outside of myself, but only by embracing the fact that it already exists within me.”

The journey will continue here in the United States where Ms. Castro “envisions deepening my relationship with my environment and living more harmouniously with my ecology.” But this time Ms. Castro will not be traveling alone. In New Zealand Ms. Castro met Paul Blake who was attending a class in the community where Ms. Castro was staying. “We had a strong connection and are now committed to supporting each others evolution,” Ms. Castor said. The trip is a “sabattical into connecting with ecology, to find a truly natural landscape, and immerse ourselves in our natural surroundings,” Ms. Castro said.

From the road Ms. Castro writes, “Paul and I are heading into the wilderness. We plan to practice and become proficient at our wilderness living skills of shelter building, friction fire making, purifying water, and collecting wild food. Life is good, and I am feeling very passionate about establishing the most intimate relationship possible with the earth of the area. I walk barefoot to feel her pulse, drink the water to share in her blood, eat the food to gather her strength and sleep on the ground that we may know each other’s energy.”  

Kristen Markley, owner of Sweet Miriam’s Farm in Beavertown, and longtime friend of Ms. Castro said, “I find her simple lifestyle and adventures really positive and refreshing. I see her as stripping away at the superficialities of our society. She’s getting rid of all belongings she finds unnecessary and is able to fit all of her stuff into the trunk of her car. She is eating this very simple, pure raw food diet based on the foods grown and produced locally. I think that simplifying one’s life strips away at the unnecessary stress we tend to put ourselves through and helps you get closer to the core of your existence. I see Joanna as having an adventure in discovering the truth about life and herself. It’s really beautiful.”

Ms. Castro no longer feels like a parasite on the Earth. She has learned that following her heart and being aware of her relationship to the earth makes her happy, “and when we’re happy we spread happiness,” Ms. Castro said, “I have found that, for me, the only way to create sustainability with personal integrity is to reduce my impact on the earth through making my own food, using my purchase power to buy local and organic food and to buy products that are made with a conscious effort that when they are no longer being used they feed the earth rather than pollute it.”