busy

i've been really busy the last few days. i'm finding time to sit down and write lacking. last weekend i visited barra, the homesteading project lead by jim merkle and rowan sherwood, and funded by the global living project. my friend danny and i spent the weekend there learning about edible wild plants. we consumed lots of them including stinging nettles (very nutritious), succulent parslaine, a weed i used to hoe from my father's garden, and even daylilly roots, a peculiar but delicious taste, raw! on our way back to montpelier to drop danny off at his place, we stopped in at the institute for social ecology, whose plainfield, vermont campus is for sale. danny and roger are thinking about buying it to start a retreat center of their dreams and nina wants to move in too! it was great to check it out. it's on a beautiful piece of land with a pond, but the buildings are old, mostly, and in need of some tender loving care, as well as more insulation by the looks of it. i stayed over in montpelier at nina's place and hung out with her and her friend linda from colorado (always nice to meet a fellow coloradoan). i drove home yesterday morning, stopping in sharon to visit the town offices for some info on the land i've been looking at and at the prices of similar parcels in the area. the difference between the asking price and sales price can be surprisingly high. the lowest price i've seen in vermont for land, and a huge tract at that, was about $1500/acre. but sales of land has happened for as little as $800/acre. i also stopped up at the land itself and happened to run into the neighbor who was very friendly and encouraged me to "move in!" i got the low down on the history of the area and what it's future may hold. i found that the soil in the field is called pomfret/teago, which is good for agriculture. i also discovered a brook running next to the meadow that "is never dry" according the neighbor, which could serve as a water source. i walked the woods a bit and discovered more heavy duty logging. i don't think there are any larger trees left on the property and the slash the loggers left is all over the place making walking in the woods treacherous. this evening roger is visiting after a four day breathwork retreat. he's going to meet me after i teach yoga for dinner.