Monday –  at 7 Seeds – Thunder Storm
1 hour – helping friends clean up old home and move out stuff
1.5 hours – reading Neuro, working on Sem pass
4 hours – Hula Hoeing onions
1 hour – transplanting lettuce
I. Love. Thunder Storms. The elemental power is so beautiful.

Tuesday –  at 7 Seeds
1.5 hour – feeding animals, watering plants; a vital part of the cycle of this farm
3 hours – lost in cycles of the mind
4 hours – moving, cycling, running, swimming toroids in toroids; fractals of the body
2 hours – weeding – another important part of the cycle of growing food on this land at this time
1 hour – playing piano!
This was a really hard day for me – I was alone on the farm and just felt lost and uncomfortable. I kept finding myself mindlessly eating instead of doing something. I ended up spinning my wheels (metaphorically) for more than 3 hours, jumping from one task to another before I finally got myself to leave the land. I just needed a break. I ended up doing a mini triathlon – bike, run, swim.
While I was swimming I had this awesome experience. I’ve been thinking a lot about the mirrored cycles of the shape of the torus, and I decided to swim in the pond in that shape (it was more of a figure 8, but that’s close). I had this realization: I was embodying a fractal. I was making a torus in the pond, while I was making the same shape with both my arms and my legs!

Wednesday – at 7 Seeds
1 hour – connecting with the plants and animals of this farm
2 hours – cycling backwards to catch neglected computer work
2 hours – taking pictures
2 hours – biking into town go buy some food! 

Thursday – at 7 Seeds
2 hours – harvesting willow branches
3 hours – patching a cobb bench that was falling apart
4 hours – harvesting pea greens, wild oyster mushrooms, other wild and cultivated edible plants, rolling out whole wheat noodles, and finally, digging in!

A community project day – we harvested willow branches to cure, and later soak and weave into baskets, we reshaped a cobb bench and we cooked a delightful meal – home made pasta, with fresh veggies from the garden!

Friday – 7 Seeds towards the Redwoods
7 hours – cycling and re-cycling the pedals; stopped because of the headwind, which was no longer manageable at 7pm
I camped on this evening at a day use site, on top of a picnic table, since it was the flattest, least rocky area I could find. It was a beautiful night full of stars, with many cycles between sleep and dreams and looking at the stars which somehow are a part of my perception of this reality.

Saturday – to Crescent City
7 hours – inhaling and exhaling, finding a rhythm between fear and calm as I wound my way through the mountains to Jedediah Smith State Park and the Redwoods and the ocean.

Sunday – Crescent city to a rest stop
8 hours – cycling and recycling neurons
I met so many cyclists today!

55 hours

Monday – Wolf Creek to Grants Pass
5 hours – cycling of inhalation and exhalation
4 hours – listening, holding, and digging deeper
Got my second flat of the trip today. It only took me about 20 minutes to stop, unload, figure out what had gone wrong, and put everything back together again, which was awesomely fast compared to last time. Tire pries that didn’t break definitely helped.
I got to GP, went into a little health food store there, and connected with one person after another. I ended up gearing up to go see a shop, when a man walked past me on the side walk, and I asked if he had a lawn I could spend the night on. I picked the right man. He let me use his guest room, and computer, fed me a wonderful dinner, and we talked about what I was doing, and also a lot about his life philosophies.  One of the biggest lessons I gleaned from this conversation was the importance of seeing the patterns, rhythms, and cycles that aren’t helpful in my life, and confronting them within myself. To take responsibility for all that I do, for the ways I react, and for the things I attract into my life.

Tuesday – In Grants Pass
2 hours – fueling
2 hours – physical movement, mental stillness
6 hours – reading, writing – on the computer. Mental movement, physical stillness
I feel so good being caught up on all this work that I was starting to feel a little behind on. This is the day that balances out all of the physical movement I’ve been doing, as well as all the interactions I’ve had with so many amazing people – the majority of today was  for reflection, writing, organizing, preparation and solitude.

Wednesday – 30 miles from Grants Pass to 7 Seeds Farm near Williams Oregon
3.5 hours – cycling in excitement!
1 hour – fueling
1.5 hours – weeding and talking; immersion in the cycle of physical and mental movement
1.5 hours – pulling and organizing drip tape
3 hours – connecting with conversation and food

Thursday – at 7 Seeds – community day
1.5 hour – cycling into disorganization and organization
4 hours – weeding the garden we are all welcome to eat from
1.5 hours – making and eating food; talking about enough, abundance, and the triple bottom line (economic, ecological and social sustainability)
Moved into my space while I’m here – a bus which has been outfitted with a stove, a wood burning stove, a sink, a bed and some benches! It’s an awesome space and it feels so good to be able to spread out my stuff. Sometimes I feel like I have to live in a perpetual state of ultimate organization.

Friday – at 7 Seeds
4 hours – weeding parsnips (yes, just one row)
1 hour – cycling into town to grab some food

Saturday –  at 7 Seeds, a day off
2 hours – reading and writing Seminar Pass
3.5 hours – Intro to Permaculture taught by Don Tipping
1 hour – hike to Medicine Mountain
5 hours – diving into the depths of conversation around a fire – constantly in cycling between burning hot, and needing more fuel

Sunday –  at 7 Seeds – we got some rain!
1 hour – hiking down from Medicine Mountain
2 hours – weeding onions
1 hour – reading The One-Straw Revolution
2 hours – re-creating paper outline
1.5 hours – getting together some lilac brew
This day was a trip. I got a few hours of sleep up on the Mountain, and then entered the intense world of re-creating my paper outline – cycling in fractals of dreams

59.5 hours

Friday – Leaving Olympia… arriving back in Olympia!
6 hours – biking and eating, expending and consuming energy, solitude
3 hours  – disordering, ordering
It was my intention of making it to Chehalis when I left, but I learned some important things about my pride when I learned there was a package arriving for me back in Olympia  after I had left. Turning around was an arduous process, and nearly physically painful for me. But I did it, and discovered that I can turn around, that it is a possibility, and no one will think less of me for it.

Saturday – Leaving Olympia, arriving in Chehalis
2 hours – organizing and un-organizing
10 hours – biking and eating – expending and consuming
I knocked on doors to find a place to sleep for the night. For me, choosing which door to knock on, and then asking the person if I could sleep in their yard or on their floor was so hard, and brought to my attention another somewhat similar pattern – remaining silent rather than speaking what is on my mind or in my heart.

Sunday – Chehalis to Deer Island
2 hours – organizing and un-organizing
10 hours – biking and eating – expending and consuming
I met a wonderful cyclist today who showed me the way through Longview, and right into Oregon! My passage through this city was the sketchiest and scariest part of my journey north from Portland. It seems that the people and things I need are popping up to support me when I need them most!

Monday – Deer Island to Portland!
2 hours – creating order from disorder
5 hours – biking and eating, inhaling and exhaling, gathering and dispersing, <strong>movement</strong>
1.5 hours – working on bike, a cycle of creating chaos and restoring greater order”
6.5 hours – <strong>Stillness</strong>
Movement and stillness are a major cycle in my life right now.

Tuesday – Portland
2.5 hours – creating and destroying… food
4 hours – working on blog
1 hour – consuming, grounding
1 hour – stillness, settling

Wednesday – Portland
4 hours – Reading Neuro, and Pattiann Rogers, Writing, Reading others’ seminar passes
3 hours – attending a talk at Clackamas Community College with a person who calls himself the Planet Walker. He walked around the country for 22 years, and spent 17 of those years without speaking, just listening. He was such a being of love and light. It seemed to me that he had totally let go and was entirely trusting the universe to lead him, and let light shine through him to all the beings around.

Thursday – Portland
3 hours – Reading Neuro and Pattiann Rogers
3 hours – attending a playful play about the cycles of the constellations – astrology, and the affects of the movements of the planets and the moon on our realities.
1 hour – run, finding movement, and stillness within movement

Friday – Portland
2 hours – creating order from disorder, or maybe just containing the chaos
4 hours – getting to know my first interveiwee – Jas – and learning about community organizing and social permaculture
1.5 hours – doing the interview
2 hours – working on my blog, logging hours
I’ve been seeing how cycles permeate every moment, every object and life around me, and every movement of thought or emotion within me. I see permaculture and cycles merging together in so many different, distinct yet overlapping areas – socially, economically and ecologically.

79 hours

Saturday – a visit to Tryon Life Community Farm
1.5 hr – biking there; a lot of deep inhalation and rapid exhalation
7 hrs – at Tryon Life in a cycle between community and solitude
I accidentally chose a treacherous route up a very steep road with lots of cars and no shoulder. Once I got there, I was welcomed warmly by a beautiful group of people laughing and singing. After being there for a half an hour, I was asked to leave the area – I could be in the garden, but the person whose party was being held there had asked, through a community member that I leave this private party. To be honest, this was probably the hardest thing on my journey so far.
I chose, as this community member was asking me to go somewhere else, the path of vulnerability. I was able to express with words, through my tears, that I was confused and that what was really important to me in that moment was connection and acceptance. After hearing this, the community member softened, and offered to join me in the garden for a while. What, to me, seemed like rejection, hurt really deeply, and throughout the rest of the day I found myself worked into tears by little things. And, simultaneously, felt so held by this community. Each person that I expressed my pain to made space for me, as I was, which I am so deeply grateful for.
After returning to Portland that evening, I felt so cleansed and light from my experience. I also learned something I need to keep in mind as I continue visiting places – a) communities are navigating the boundary between public and private and b) I need to make a point to become aware of communities’ structures, rules and boundaries as I enter. So far, these include dress code, meditation practice, housing situation, pronouns, or the membrane between private and public events and property.

Sunday – Portland to Salem
8 hrs – cycling, using energy and refueling
3.5 hrs – expressing and listening
1 hr – reading and writing, consuming and creating
I stayed in Salem with a friend of a dear friend from high school. She happened to be hosting a couch surfing couple from New Zealand (where I spent two months a year and a half ago) on the same night! It was so wonderful to hear their accents and to talk about New Zealand, and food and vocabulary. They fed the whole house a wonderful dinner, it was heaps of fun!

Monday – Salem to Corvallis
3 hrs – cycling, getting warm, going fast!
3 hrs – cooling down, slowing down
5 hrs – reconnecting and connecting
A super short day of biking, with the wind at my back! It went so fast, and then I went to one of my favorite spots on Mary’s River – a sweet tree hangs over the river, with some lovely ropes attached to it! Needless to say, and despite the cold water, I went for a nice swim. Not a long one. I also visited the Organic Growers Club Farm near Oregon State University, a lucky coincidence that they were having their annual Hoo Haa event! Dinner and free face painting for all!

Tuesday – Corvallis to Cottage Grove- 65 miles!
6 hrs – in the seat
1.5 hrs – giving my poor butt a break
3 hrs – reconnecting 🙂 and refueling
I decided to make it a long day, since the wind was still at my back, and I was feeling so good, and had a place I knew I could stay in Cottage Grove with a friend’s wonderful parents 🙂

Wednesday – Cottage Grove to Oakland Oregon
5 hours – cycling between movement and stillness
1 hour – a bath! In a claw foot tub! SO. GOOD.
5 hours – talking about cycling, routes, gardening, places I could visit… and eating some pizza
35 miles of up and down and up and down and some gravel; an exciting, beautiful, short day! I stayed with this sweet couple that I found on Warm Showers (couch surfing for cyclists). The cyclist of the household recommended some routes which have been really excellent so far, which have kept me off of I-5 for all but 4 miles 🙂 Karolyn and Wayne recommended a little organic shop and meditation center called Lighthouse Center Oregon to me.

Thursday – Riding Oakland to Lighthouse Center
2 hours – excited cycling!
2 hours – in stillness, at the shop, waiting to see if they could accommodate me
4 hour – settling in, sharing lunch with the community, connecting –
2 hours – My first stop where I got to pull weeds! And we talked a little about the form of meditation the community practices.
It was so sweet to be welcomed into this community on such short notice. They all were so genuine, and excited to meet me and hear all about what I’m doing, and I was so inspired to hear what they are doing. They have a bakery, café, and shop (mostly bulk items) where they sell bread they bake in a crazy awesome cobb oven they created, sell produce that they grow, create beautiful, nourishing, vegetarian food, and delight all that enter with warmth.

Friday – A day at Lighthouse Center Oregon!
6 hours – in the garden and greenhouse
2 hours – fueling up
4 hours – in the cycle of communication – listening and expressing

After such a wonderful experience Thursday, I wanted to spend another day, and so I did! I got to work more in the garden – they have two very large hoop houses that are side by side, creating probably half an acre of indoor space. We planted peas and beans, I harvested nasturtium leaves, and we planted a bunch of different varieties of flowers outside.
I found these people to be so loving and gentle and open. I shared many touching moments of vulnerability, trust, and generosity.

Saturday – Leaving Lighthouse
8 hours – cycling –
2 hours – finding a place to camp, making camp, filtering water, making food, bundling up for the night
I was biking a little against the wind towards the end of the day, and didn’t get as far as I was aiming for, but found a sweet little camping spot right on Cow Creek – I got to sleep on sand, which I think is my most comfortable night camping so far 🙂 Sand camping is a different game – you know those little square games where you make a picture or put numbers in order by moving pieces around to the one open space? It felt like I had to do that with all my stuff to keep from getting sand in everything.

Sunday – Arrival in Wolf Creek
3 hours – gathering, organizing, re-organizing, disorganizing
2 hours – reading, writing – receiving, expressing
6 hours – cycling
Another day when I was planning on making it further… This time it wasn’t energy or wind that stopped me though. I got to Wolf Creek, and went into the Inn there to see if I could charge my phone which had died earlier, and they welcomed me in, and let me play their piano 🙂 yay! And when I asked if they had any recommendations for places for me to camp that night, the innkeeper just handed me a key to a room, and said that I could have breakfast in the morning. Of course I said yes – not only was there a bed, and food for me, there was also the amazing invention that I no longer take for granted – a shower.

98 hours