These last weeks were as always an adventure and now a slowing it down a lot. Its rainy season here, which is an amazing time for me to plant lots of food and go inward. Less travel, more long walks with my dog, reading, time in the garden and occasionally an Ed-Pasana. Its important to slow down, take a pause, re-assess things here and there and spend time with ourselves. Sometimes I forget that.
For now, I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure. Its a good one! My hope in some of these newsletters, is to save y'all the time on your discovery process for becoming a land steward and also share some lessons along the way as people try to build eco-villages, retreat centers, jungle dwellings and Plan B set ups. But the point is, we are all in uncharted waters here and so we need to tread with humility. Especially when it involves doing anything to land and mother nature, and moving into another country and culture ethically and with utmost respect. Okay lets get to some of the adventure already!
Playa Garza - Beach Front Community + Waldorf School
Thea Retreat - Santa Teresa
Next stop, Nosara for two site visits and some beach time...
Here's What I Want to Share This Week:
1. On Safari - Let's Roll!
This trip took us from Santa Teresa up the coast to Nosara. Adventuring deep into the mountains and down to the oceans.
In the mountains of Saragoza,
Yes you can be on the coast and still be up in elevation
Ceibo's Shala in the works - homesteading 101
Santa Teresa Sunsets
After a long day at the office!
This was quite the adventure - part learning and studying different neighborhoods and areas around CR, part seeing how people can live abundantly growing their own food, building their dwellings, and a big part of this adventure was simply good living and modeling the lifestyle of health and sustainability we are always talking about!
2. Its been an amazing year of service!
This year marked an incredible leap into service from small healing centers in the South Pacific to 3000 acre land conservation projects and communities in the North, its been an epic season supporting over 25 of these land projects with a vision for a new earth and more sustainable ways of living with each other and within nature. Having the privilege to support in advising and building these amazing projects in their various stages has been a blessing. And its just the beginning! Its our responsibility to be good stewards to the land and integrate into the culture of the country and this involves a nuanced complexity thats hard to explain, and even harder to achieve. But we try and we do our best to evolve as humans and create ways to preserve land, help people heal deeply, and begin to broach the idea of living in community as we evolve our capacities to relate to one another and care for one another as much as we cared for making income, the new job, the car, the house, the trip. What about human capital? Well what about it. The projects below mark those pioneers who took the leap, into experimenting with these very questions...
3. Designs that caught my eye this week!
I see some cool designs on my travels - love this A-frame from my friend Lindsay. Goddess temple upstairs - hang space below.
Third Curiosity: Weekly love from a man's best friend.
Some great moments with dogs and good living...
Who We Are Celebrating This Week: Darius
This week I'm shouting out mi amigo Darius - for staying committed to making his land stewardship in Costa Rica a reality! It was an adventure to say the least, over two years and various trips to feel into how this way of life really lands beyond a one week vacation. We drove through some serious terrain on our Safari and got to see the North West Coast of CR from Santa Teresa to Nosara in the Guanacaste province. We made sure to keep it healthy, taking runs daily and training, working a bit, walking land in deep nature and then usually some beach ritual for sunset! Was a healthy mix of work and play. Shouting Darius out for taking the leap, for making the work -life balance lean further toward life, and for exploring the tough questions involved in becoming a land steward and pursuing more sustainable and healthy ways of living.
