Once upon a time I left the city to face my
fears. My fears about Poirot style murderers
living in the woods, my fears about working in the elements whether rain or
sun, my fears about leaving my dresses and home comforts for rough hands,
insects that terrify me and mosquito bites, my fears that I wasn’t strong
enough, fast enough, brave enough and my fears of being lonely, missing my
familyand friends, bezzers, having no group, leaving Josh….
Sitting in the airport here I am leaving
again. Though I am obviously so excited to go back to the arms of my bezzers, I am going home and facing new fears.
Fears about sitting in an office all day, fears about staying vegan
without support and sticking to my values in the city. Fears about loving my
clothes again and remembering how to wear mascara. Fears about how I will wake
up without goats, without getting my hands in the soil, without the lake,
without being part of the food I eat, without my beloved farm friends who have
become a part of me?
Well enough of me pouring out my emotions
to the internet – this is what the farm has done to me! On to the Rounders bit…
There are some solar panels on the farm
that power the main office. There is a little bed - of I think peppers? – down
there. My work schedule which I get every Friday said there was to be a solar
panel dedication with Tsuf (Janna and Arthur’s baby) on Sunday which I of
course didn’t question. Why wouldn’t there be a solar panel dedication with
Tsuf named as the leader? Well after a bit of an emotional afternoon of packing
where I mostly just sat surrounded by all my things and moved bits of scattered
collage pieces around the floor, trying to work out how I would get my 5 ft
collage into my suitcase, I rode down there on my bike. There all my friends stood, under the huge
maple tree and they ushered me, the last person to arrive, into a circle where
we all had to huddle up and do a bit of singing and swaying – also a usual
activity. All of a sudden they parted
and there it was – a picnic table laid to the nines with Twinings English
Breakfast Tea, Vegan Spinach Filo Pastry bites, Sourdough and a whole china tea
set. After some odd squealing for about
ten minutes where I kept trying to say something but high pitched type yelps kept
coming out instead… things started to come together.
I remembered that time during lunch where
Meredith had asked which kind of tea did I drink at home? And I went on an hour
kind of soliloquy where I explained about all different types of tea, posh tea
vs builders tea, the difference between tea-cups and mugs etc. I mean I went ON
and she didn’t stop me!
I remembered that time I was hand weeding
next to Janna for the afternoon when she asked me what kind of parties I liked.
It was like nothing could stop me talking, I described Dad’s Moroccan party,
Mum’s 1920’s party, the Alice in Wonderland party, various tea parties etc. I
mean I thought she wanted ideas to throw a party – maybe for Arthur? So I just
kept throwing out the ideas till it sounded like the Chain family were some
kind of party fiends!
After I calmed down enough to speak, we
drank lots of tea, ate a bunch and then sat in a circle where I got more and
more embarrassed as everyone went round, gave me a special stone and said -
like - really, really nice things to me.
Can’t talk about that bit too much – still a bit embarrassed in a good way - I am English afterall…
We then played Rounders – a game
which we had had so much chat about on the field. They even found the right bat
and set up 'posts'. Is it like Baseball? NO OBVIOUSLY! This was proven by an
epic game which I filmed a bit below... – though much of it was just me
shouting rules which were probably a bit wrong... The tea party was beyond
brilliant and I think it was the first time Rounder’s had ever been played at
Adamah.
A bit more leaving…
I threw another leaving party
Tuesday night (maybe we are party fiends) which of course was also fabulous with a loud/exciting game of
salad bowl, some gin and tonic and vegan cake where everyone wrote me nice
messages which I read on the cab on the way here because I couldn’t wait for
the plane….
I stayed last night at Marisa and Eitan and
crashed the second week of their marriage – thanks for the welcome guys!
This morning, though I was half an hour
late having wondered around Union Square with all my baggage and my goldfish
sense of direction I finally met up with Danny and Yemi at the Coffee Shop and
had brunch - a great send off!
Time to go - they are calling my flight!
A
note to my dearest Adamah friends - it has been an honor
to know you all, you have taught me so much and shown me there is another way
to live that I can align with my values. Though I go home to face new things,
you have made me brave.
Please come and visit!
Remember the picture of building this? Look at those Tomatoes
Tea party pics!
ROUNDERS
