Shire Vision Day…Learning Labs…Messages from the naturel…A day in Yarmouth…
Shire Vision Day
Shire happens to be the dream of an idealist, it is real and beautiful and it opened its doors to people from all walks of life from the globe, from Nova Scotia and Yarmouth on Saturday July 9th. There were approximately 60 people on the grounds that day, all invited to the Shire Vision Day. Wondering what the day would turn out like and what Shire could be, these people showed up that day despite the pouring rain.
Vision day was called to create a vision for the Shire, to call forth the possibilities and to explore the needs of the global and local community that the Shire can serve. The whole day felt like a village gathering. As we all sat together in the marquee listening to Jimmy, Tim and Katie opening up their land to the community, there was a sense of anticipation in the air. “So we have this 165 acre of land, how can we use it best to serve the community?” asked Tim to the crowd and the vision day started rolling.
Throughout the day, games were played, conversations around ‘what could Shire be’ took place, potluck lunch was shared; a sense of community swept over us!
Some of the visions of this community for the Shire, as a learning centre, are..
- A place to break down…barriers between people…
- A place to practice the many arts to find new ways of living and learning
- A place that is magical
- A place to guide and educate towards dialogue in a community oriented format
- Gardens – beautiful, experimental, organic and accessible
- The Shire should be a place where people can come in and share their talents and leave having learned something new – sustainable building, meditation, growing organic food, etc.
- A positive/welcoming environment for people to come together and share knowledge and ideas
- Create a sense of self sufficiency, working and sharing dreams and ambitions – acting as motivation for each other
- A place to open yourself and allow your ideas to come through!
- Togetherness – people communicating to each other what their dreams are, share their stories, opening up people’s ideas, exchanging of ideas, experience skills
- A space for young people to explore their passions and potentials and become courageous leaders – intergenerational meeting place
- Spiritual Retreat – awakening community
- Open to local community where people can learn from the land
- Unleashing potential and passion in people – towards independent living - but not alone –
- Discovering Treasures and Vitality
- Place for … Retreat, spaces on the land – Simple living – Sustainability – Healing – Fun – Connecting – Meaning to be found
Learning Labs
On Sunday, the day after the Vision Day, all of our guests left, leaving us with the quietness and stillness of the Shire. Having been through an intense week, we were really tired, so we took the next few days to chill out, reflect on the exciting encounters and learnings of the past week, and just be. I enjoyed working with my water colors; seems to take away all the physical tiredness.
Later in the week we started planning what we call ‘learning labs’ which are simply workshops on different topics that we, as the Shire hosts, will design and host for ourselves and the community. We are partnering with Yarmouth Youth Services Centre, so we did our planning with Sonya Vaschel who is the manager of the center and is also very supportive of the Shire and our work. At the end of some frantic meetings (!) we are now offering several workshops throughout July and August. Some of our topics are intercultural learning, deep ecology, leadership, interactive theatre and spiral dynamics. We hope to reach out to the local community, youth in particular through these workshops.
Messages from the nature
I go out and sit with the nature as much as I can…listening to the quiet sounds of nature is a wonderful experience. The other day I was sitting outside by this big tree in the middle of the backyard. It was a windy day and the tree’s branches were swinging with a sweet melody. I laid down and just listened. Was it saying something? I thought so, I felt it wanted to communicate with me and I wanted to communicate with her…So I walked around the tree in circles, very slowly, in a meditative mood. I ended up sitting with the tree for some time (yes, I am officially a tree hugger!) Afterwards, I figured out that this was actually a birch tree that represents pioneering and transformation. I took the wisdom of the birch with me. Clear the path, let the past go for pioneering new ventures and change to happen. It all seemed too meaningful to be a coincidence…
Later last week, on Friday, some people that we hosted on the vision day came back to continue some conversations about Yarmouth community. All of us were interested in coming together to discuss what we could do together to address some of our needs in this community, main issue being youth. Yarmouth is a little town which is losing its young people more and more to emigration. There is a very high teen pregnancy rate and seemingly a cynical, desperate feeling about how to revive the town, along with its young people…So as we gathered around the fire, pouring our hearts out, came a beautiful black bird out of nowhere and started circling above us. This ritual went on for a while and it definitely got our attention. This common nighthawk’s circles were almost intentional and it felt like a blessing of this little gathering. Its graceful flight through the night and above our heads left a strong impression on all of us…and we decided to meet again in two weeks time…
A fun day in Yarmouth
On this very sunny bright day, we got into our nice dresses (out of our shabby hobbit clothes) and headed the town for some fun! There was going to be a seafest parade in Yarmouth and we couldn’t miss it…We met our new local friends, took some first row seats and enjoyed this strange yet very quaint parade…some highlights were the Mounties, an old ladies club (old ladies wearing some bright red costumes and sexy stockings), seafest queen and some other 12 princesses (who couldn’t be the queen), two different churches presented by children singing in a zoo setting vehicle (?)…
Afterwards we headed the Lebanese restaurant where I feasted with falafel and humus while listening to the owner’s little lecture about Turkish vs Lebanese food…
Just when we were thinking the day was closing in, the fate took a sharp turn and we found ourselves in Yarmouth’s on
e and only exciting venue, Rudders, a sea food restaurant and brewery. Sitting by the water, watching the sunset and teasing each other, we (apparently) drank lots of beer…so much that we didn’t stop there and continued to the Yarmouth night scene with 3 Canadian guys we met at the restaurant. Finally we were out dancing! In the early hours of the morning, we came back home, tired but happy, having taken a full break from the rural living…
Harry Potter is back! I am now rushing to bed to get a good doze of the last book, into the world of magic.
Hope magic is with you as well…
Love,
Filiz
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment