superhero ride part 1: three roods farm

the first four days were spent at three roods farm in 'superhero training'. activities such as breaking through the impossible, team-building games, costume-making, and superhero initiation were interspersed with other bonding activities like sharing meals, skinny-dipping, sacred song circles, yoga, and massage.

i felt blissful during these days. joy blossomed in me to be in this camp of young people with a shared vision and mission, so full of love that it overflowed in jubilant smiles and song

. the atmosphere was much like a small healing rainbow gathering i attended in sicily back in 2007.
my first morning there i got up early, meditated, and played a little mbira as wake-up music. people who heard it really appreciated it, and we decided there would be music every morning as a wake-up call. wandering wolf really took the lead on this with the guitar carries. laughing moon was a strong support with the harmonica and fantastic, humorous songs, and sun belly played violin and sang. after the second morning a joke was made by Split 2nd that led to this morning music being referred to as 'the minstrel cycle'.

our host dancing breath facilitated a wonderful song circle in the tipi. she joined us in other group circles and shared a few of the  dances of universal peace which she carries. at the song circle i shared the song i had learned from the twelve tribes folks in the car when i got a ride to Erie, PA. dancing break asked me after that to come sing it to her daughter, who she thought might get some encouragement from it. i was happy to do this and felt like i was able to offer healing this way.




after spending a couple nights in lapeer, MI, we made our way to a peaceful place of natural building called strawbale studio. many of the superheroes in our group are familiar with this place and knew we could be of service there. we stayed a couple nights, working on projects around the place and taking some time also for rest and rejuvenation. the second day i got to coordinate lunch and dinner, as my team, KABLOOM!, was in charge of cooking that day and nobody else was interested in coordinating. i made black bean soup for lunch and roasted potatoes and squash in the evening. the roasting was done in the beautiful cob oven before the batch of sourdough bread went in! this round of sourdough bread i got to learn another technique for making loaves from my comrade Slow Truth. it was really fun learning how to make this rustic, peasant-style sourdough.

we share all our meals and gather in a circle three or more times per day. we sing and dance together regularly. we share our hearts and care for each other. we are learning to work together and communicate more effectively. there is something very important happening here.