Simplicity

I have almost been on the farm for a week now, and I am starting to get into the flow o simplistic life. before, I explain what that simplicity is here, I will describe my surroundings. We live on a hillside with pathways only created to water plants. the property is in a medium sized space of land, in a valley that is surrounded by rubber plantations. You can smell the fermenting sap from the slashed trees everywhere, but at the farm. Our home is a vibrating jungle that is full of papaya and banana tees, frogs and geckos, and the occasional scorpion. Insects call out as loud as sirens, and birds attempt to over power their cry. Often, I think a cell phone is ringing, but I have come to learn that our phones mimic this sounds of insects and not the other way around. Slugs seep into my hut during the coolest hour in the evening and dry out at my door. White geckos dance along the ceiling of every room, and i your lucky they will poop on your head. There are two bee hives that when you get near them, the buzzing sound reflects that of an electric cable transfering power to a small city. To say the least everything is springing to life.

Every morning and evening we water plants. We water coconut trees that we want to grow fast, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelon, oranges, lemons, passion fruit, small egg plant, long beans, flowers, chilies, various leafy and dark greens, roots including ginger and tamaric. There are also a ton of strange plants that I will just show pictures of instead. Some of the volunteers have started practicing eating raw food. together we pick both leafy and dark greens to make a green smoothie and salad. Because the jungle is teaming with life we also have a constant supply of bananas for the raw food.

To describe the simplicity here I will start with what we don't have. We have no grocery store, paved roads, internet, or toilet. We are here to take care of the plants and help teach the children of the village below the same. We want to create a space that will one day be able to grow and reproduce on it's own. With that in mind we have to select plants and locations for plants that will encourage this kind o prosperity. Otherwise, the mono-culture of rubber trees which is silent and stark will destroy the diversity of this living place.

A tree has fallen on one of our huts. Ironically, we were cutting down trees elsewhere to build a new hut. So we used the wood from the fallen tree to repair the roof and make a new hut as well. Everything is a valuable resource. After cutting all the wood into perfect slices we carried them up the side of a steep slope almost eating it every time a plank slid from one hand to the other on the fire line. Inside the planks were grubs that were fat, juicy, and to anyone in Papua would have been prime dinner skewers. the life is festering everywhere here. Everyday a new animal once camouflaged by my fresh eyes appears to my heightened self. A color changing lizard that shifts between orange, grey and green reflects the dangers of a living house. A sack of frog eggs reflects the chances o survival, which in a dog eat cat and compost world is very slim. A tree may fall, a drought may come, or even  house may be destroyed. Yet, the more prepared you are to risk the flow of nature, the abundance it may bring is worth the danger. Even the spider in the bathroom that is bigger than my head is apart of that abundance, and the cycles of life.