Getting Hip at Home

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#006633" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="05ad6c00ddvuru.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#0066FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Enchanted Garden Intentional Community</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#333399" FACE="Arial" >    </FONT> |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Enchanted Garden Intentional Communi"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rooms for Rent"><U>Rooms for Rent</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="We are looking for YOUHousemates Profile"><U>We are looking for YOU--Housemates Profile</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mission and Purpose"><U>Mission and Purpose</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Every Day Upkeep"><U>Every Day Upkeep</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Description of Our Community"><U>Description of Our Community</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Soilmates Sacred Circle"><U>Soilmates Sacred Circle</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="How the House Runs"><U>How the House Runs</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The History of Peace on Earth Begins at "><U>The History of Peace on Earth Begins at Home</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Related Links"><U>Related Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Food from the Farmers Market"><U>Food from the Farmers' Market</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A>   |   <B>Getting Hip at Home</B>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Great Earth Clean UP Photos"><U>The Great Earth Clean UP Photos</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Master Plan 20062026"><U>Master Plan 2006-2026</U></A></div> <div> Getting Hip at Home</div> <div> In the Winters of 2001 and 2002, I underwent two Hip Revisions.</div> <div> I approached these as Performance pieces as a way of being bigger</div> <div> than the discomfort of the two surgeries.  </div> <bR> <div> I set an intention, that through my "Getting Hip"  I would help </div> <div> Health Care "Get Hip" to being the best it could be.</div> <bR> <div> You can read about my Journey of Getting Hip</div> <div> at <A HREF="http://lesliegoldman.com/GettingHip.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://lesliegoldman.com/GettingHip.html"><U>http://lesliegoldman.com/GettingHip.html</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Not long after my first surgery,  less than a month later</div> <div> we had a fire at our home.  Two of our outdoor structures</div> <div> burned.  The fires signaled an incredible shakeup in</div> <div> the life of our community.</div> <bR> <div> Luckily a stand of lumber bamboo stood between our home</div> <div> and the dried cane that burned at high temperatures.</div> <bR> <div> We are still rebuilding one step at a time, after massive cleanup.</div> <div> Our gardens are still in recovery, and this community is best</div> <div> suited for individuals who can see the potential of this beautiful</div> <div> land as well as not be overwhelmed or take on more than they </div> <div> are being asked to do.</div> <bR> <div> I am approaching the rebuilding of our community,</div> <div> our gardens, and our structures as "Getting Hip at Home"</div> <bR> <div> Living in community in this day and age is not a choice</div> <div> that many people make.</div> <bR> <div> We live together on 1/3 acre with lots of greenery.</div> <div> As house manager and visionary,  I would have to say</div> <div> that living with others is one of the most difficult growth patterns</div> <div> of my life. I am by nature happy as an extrovert in public, but</div> <div> in my private life, I need many hours alone to rebuild;</div> <div> and yet out of my choice to live here and live with others,</div> <div> I am constantly having to learn more and more about myself</div> <div> and refine ways to fulfill my goals as well as respond</div> <div> to what the house and living with others asks.</div> <bR> <div> Many people in the USA cannot live together with others.</div> <div> Divorce rates are sky high.  The effort to live with others </div> <div> in community has its rewards. yet it definitely is not </div> <div> as simple as living alone.</div> <bR> <div> To live with others here, a person needs to be </div> <div> committed to personal growth. There are asked</div> <div> to be sensitive to others, and yet have boundaries.</div> <bR> <div> In our home,  we each of our individual lives, and yet</div> <div> we each are asked to do<A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Every Day Upkeep"><U> Every Day Upkeep (EDU).</U></A></div> <div> Most here choose to do 12 hours of work a month for</div> <div> lower rent, although the option is available to pay $120.00</div> <div> a month higher rent. </div> <bR> <div> We live by agreements, and creating and living by agreements</div> <div> asks a willingness to spend time in house meetings (approximately</div> <div> one hour a week), as well as be mature enough to keep up with</div> <div> house responsibilities as well as personal responsibilities</div> <div> without being told what you have to do, and yet willing to accept</div> <div> the natural peer pressure that occurs here, as well</div> <div> as acknowledgments.</div> <bR> <div> Many people who come here see the potential of our home</div> <div> to be more than it is. They want it to be more. Each person</div> <div> must constantly evaluate the value of living here for themselves</div> <div> as well as the pros and cons of living with others.</div> <bR> <div>  It is a old house.  There is always something</div> <div> asking to be fixeds. Many times simple repairs become part</div> <div> of the 12 hour work exchange.  Each person has natural areas</div> <div> where they are strong, and people who live here are chosen</div> <div> for the qualities they have, as well how I sense they will fit</div> <div> in with others, as well as  the needs of the house.</div> <bR> <div> My Seed Dream is that each person receives more than they</div> <div> give, as well as the opportunity to learn some of the things</div> <div> that the Earth is asking that we each learn now for her</div> <div> very survival. There is a large natural healing arts library,</div> <div> and in my personal travels to conferences, there are always</div> <div> new books and little treasures showing up, as well as the need</div> <div> for other that become clutter to be released. There are many</div> <div> who come here who become my teachers.  </div> <bR> <div> Most of us do some work outside.  There is more work </div> <div> to be done that can actually be done, so a person needs to</div> <div> work as best they can, one step at a time, one project at a time</div> <div> and be satisfied with what they can do.</div> <bR> <div> Most people are not even on the map when it comes to</div> <div> living on the earth.  It is so much easier to cover over paradise</div> <div> with cement.  As a poet, and writer, as well as a visionary</div> <div> who travels and teaches about the Enchanted Garden,</div> <div> I experience our garden as a metaphor for consciousness, </div> <div> and each plant and activity as an aspect of working on ourselves.</div> <bR> <div> I experience every little thing we do here, as a way to influence</div> <div> "The History of Peace on Earth."</div> <bR> <div> The type of gardening I teach is called</div> <div>  Enchanted Gardening.</div> <bR> <div> I do not expect each person who works in our garden</div> <div> to approach working here as a metaphoric or metaphysical</div> <div> activity; and yet working a garden is an uplifting activity</div> <div>  for many who garden in any way.</div> <bR> <div> You cannot help but gain if you work outdoors in one way or another.</div> <bR> <div> As a house manager here, I have come to see that what I say or do not</div> <div> say shows influences the natural growth. </div> <bR> <div>   I am not a person who enjoys</div> <div> telling others what to do, or directing others, and yet I have found</div> <div> this at times a necessity.  I am grateful for what I have learned</div> <div> from others who have taught me that the more structures that are in place, </div> <div> the more each person know what it will be like to live here.</div> <div> My goal is for each person to be self-directed within</div> <div> guidelines that are set and continue to be reinvented</div> <div> at higher octaves of experience.</div> <bR> <div> There is always a better way to garden, and more to learn</div> <div> for me personally about keeping order in our home.</div> <bR> <div> In the Enchanted Garden, I believe that the new year begins</div> <div> with the Fall Equinox, somewhere in the month of September.</div> <bR> <div> Here is a piece of writing I did in September of 2004 as I looked</div> <div> at all the deep lessons I needed to learn in the next year,</div> <div> and the growth that would come in the next year</div> <div> as we continued what I like to call</div> <div> "The Great Earth Cleanup."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Getting Hip at Home</B></div> <div> .</div> <div> The place I live is in need of 1000 Cures.</div> <div> and if these Cures are found our entire world</div> <div> will never be the same.</div> <bR> <div> This place is called the Enchanted Garden Intentional Community.</div> <div> You are invited to add your love,  muscle, and vision,</div> <div> that this land  bear fruit that will grow 1000 Years of Peace</div> <div> and you will come to receive more than you gave.</div> <bR> <div> Leslie Goldman</div> <div> Your Enchanted Gardener</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> I want to approach Getting Hip at Home</div> <div> with a similar </div> </td> </tr></table></body>