gpaul's blog

One of the many perks of living at Acorn includes our town trip system.  Whenever members need something from town—be it a library book, ice cream, beer, materials for a project at hand, etc.—all they have to do is put it on the trip request sheet, and whoever has signed up for the next town trip will pick it up.  Since our allowances can be adjusted digitally, the requestee never has to even see their money to have their needs and modest wants met: the tripper deducts the expenses of the items purchased on each town trip and charges them to the appropriate accounts.  Upon the tripper’s return, the acquired items are delivered to their expectant owners.

And, for the tripper, personally fulfilling everyone’s tri-weekly Christmas list is a fairly enjoyable task in itself.  Whereas the non-communitarian may feel drudgery in running their own errands, the consolidated, utilitarian, and of course, labor-creditable act of fulfilling the communities’ errands inspires selfless heroism and virtue.  A handful of routine and semi-routine activities serve to establish a familiar pattern that each tripper can look forward to and plan for in the most efficient means possible:

-pick up the PO box mail for the Business (every trip)
-drop off community mail at the Post Office (most trips)
-go to the bank (most trips)-pick up food and alcohol requests (almost all trips)
-drop off excess produce at the local food bank (often)
-pick up parts/garden equipment/misc. supplies at a hardware store (almost all trips)
-dumpster at the local grocery stores (preferably every trip, at the discretion/preference of the tripper)
-pick up/drop off books at the library (often)
-check thrift store for commie clothes/misc finds (at tripper’s will)

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Despite the project of Acorn community encompassing enough engaging and essential endeavors to keep us indefinitely busy, many members here are deeply committed to activist causes.  When word of the March to Blair Mountain reached us, nine out of twenty people here quickly signed up to participate, along with a small group of Twin Oakers.

Blair Mountain is the site of the 1921 historic battle between coal companies and pro-union coal miners.  With between 10,000 and 15,000 participants clashing against heavily armed police and coal operator backed union busters, it was one of the largest armed insurrections in United States history.

In 2009, Blair Mountain was enlisted as a historical site, which contemporary coal companies instantly sought to reverse.  The political and legal clout of coal companies quickly had it unlisted and seized control of the property, slating it as the sight of a future mountain top removal operation.

In response, a coalition of anti-mountaintop removal groups organized a reenactment of the historical march of Blair Mountain with hopes of raising awareness of the historical and environmental richness of Blair Mountain.  Since the full length march was scheduled to take five days, us Acornistas weren’t able to get away from the garden and business that long, but we were able to meet up with the marchers for the final day of rallying and marching.

To make the five and a half drive there, we left Friday after lunch to get there in time to set up tents.  In order to encourage an early bedtime (we were forewarned that we would all be woken up at 5:30 AM), dinner and speakers for that night were combined.  My favorite speech from the night will probably be available soon–stay posted for a link.

New High Tunnel at acorn.  Just finished the roll up sides.  We had some problems with these sides blowing in the wind and tearing through straps, which are intended to hold them down.  This time we used some old drip tape, attached by washers and screws.  We will see how it holds up to the high winds.  Now we have to figure out why the roll up sides collect water…when rolled up, with the roll being on the inside of the tunnel.  Now on to finishing the removable east and west sides.  More information to come.

The first signs of spring are upon us.  Daffodil flowers are blooming, warmer weather has come, and we are very excited to have our first set of ducks.  Cute ducklings, that will follow folks around.  These ducks will live at our newly restored pond, and acorn will enjoy their services.  Our population of animals is ever increasing: 11 ducks, 2 goats, 20 hens, 2 Rooster, 2 dogs, 3 cats, and 1 guinea pig.  I hope to see meat rabbits in the future of acorn.  There is also talk of dairy goats, a Nubian breed. Photos by Cora.

I am not the only one whose excited.

It’s finally winter!!!!  And to prove it there is a light dusting of snow covering the gardens left from the last snowstorm.  I have been looking forward to winter for a good long time.  Temperatures have dropped from triple digits to the occasional single digit, which is cause enough to merrily sing the glories of winter. But, I have also been looking forward to the legendary busy season.

Ashley chipper as always picking orders at 5:00am Saturday morning.

I have been hearing the tales post late night customer order assembling (picking) marathons, and pleas on the message board to help ship orders.  As a new member who arrived for a visitor period just after Land Day picking is something you do for about a half an hour to an hour after breakfast.   And shipping is something that just magically happened — not something I learned.  But, the whole enchilada is different during busy season, so the legend goes.

It seems like people are always coming and going in community.  It’s not very often that somebody sticks around for a quarter of a century.  So, when it does it is cause for celebration!  The cause for celebration gets kicked up another notch or two when that person is River.  Friends, neighbors, and communards came out in droves for the dance party at Acorn.

Which got me thinking…

25- years in community

2 Different communities

54600 labor credits

1300 Sunday brunches

endless process

and one awesome co!

Bees rock! They buzz around all day, pollinate our crops, then go home and make wonderful honey. We keep two hives here at Acorn. I like to think that we have happier bees than most. We constantly have new crops in bloom, whereas almost all commercial bees have a clover exclusive diet. We do use clover as a cover crop and the bees like it, but with so many open-pollinated varieties, they’re not restricted. As a result,  they make THE BEST honey.

Airy has been teaching me the basics of bee-keeping. We dress in all white, with our fancy hoods, and gloves. Bees don’t register white, but see color (especially black) as threatening. We get our smoker filled with sawdust and light a match. The smoke doesn’t hurt the bees; but encourages them to stay down in their hive- rather than coming and investigating their intruders (us).

Last month we cracked each hive, and checked the bees for health. If they have little holes in their wings its a (bad) sign of mites. Don’t worry though, our bees look very healthy! Then we took just a little honey from one hive- not too much, they need it to survive in the winter. When we cracked open the other hive it was clear they needed more space. So we added another box. Annnnnnd, Airy identified the queen (which, according to a book I perused at Sandhill, makes her a master gardener)!!!

Thank you for asking. I’d be happy to tell you. Back in 1915 Gillette started a marketing “assault” on a woman’s underarm hair to sell more razors. It started out in Harper’s then soon moved to McCalls, too. Since then, women have been tricked into thinking that to be sexy or hygienic they must shave off all their hair, except on their heads. Let me tell you something: it’s not fun or pleasant in any way. Shaving causes painful rashes and cuts. It’s expensive and produces needless waste. It is merely a fashion fad that has stuck way too long. I choose not to shave, and I have never felt more comfortable in my own skin. I don’t have to change who I am naturally to be appealing to the people I want to appeal to in my life. And I don’t expect or want them to change themselves. If you choose to shave, that’s great, and I won’t judge you for it, Reader.  I only ask the same courtesy of you. It’s not gross. It’s hair. It’s womanly. [and women are sexy =)]

Free yourselves of oppression!

Kay, thanks.

Ashley

I fielded a call from a wonderful middle school student from Ohio; doing research on Utopian societies for a project. It got me thinking… are we Utopia?

Have you ever lived, learned, worked, and managed with another person? 23 other people? We do it everyday, and to say that no one’s feelings never get hurt or that conflict never arises is… a hopeful future, at best. But we value open and honest communication and with no where to hide, problems are met head on.

Acorn is bulging at the seams with people. I heard one member say today “the thing about having this many people around means there’s always someone in the bathroom”.  Ain’t it the truth.  Not only are nearly all of our rooms full, but it’s getting too be cold outside so we’re all seeking refuge in heated common buildings. As the busy season kicks off with the creation of the new seed catalog, the space may seem to be shrinking.

Left to Right.

Top Row:  Stephanie, Jacqueline, River, Irena, Ken, Ira, Andros, Abe

Second Row: Mardock, Fox, Fiver, Ashley, (Arlo),  Thomas

Bottom Row: Ginger, Lisa, Paul, Tess

Tomato season is starting to slow down around here. In the last month or so, though, we’ve collected lots of seed!

Tomatoes are one of our crops which can only be used for either seed saving or for eating. To save the seed, we’ll select ripened tomatoes, puree them, and then let them ferment for four days. During fermentation, we speed up the process that occurs naturally in the tomato life cycle. The goo substance that holds the seeds in place will deteriorate, and the good seeds will collect at the bottom of the bucket. The tomato skin and flesh (and bad seed) will float.
It’s  important to stir the tomato mush several times a day to avoid mold production.

After four days of fermenting and stirring, comes the fun part!

To separate the seed from the tomato we implement a succession of water pours.

First I add water to the fermented tomato mush

After adding water, pour off floating tomato particles (we strain out the tomato to feed to the chickens). Add more water and repeat until only seed remains. Be careful not to loose any seed from the bottom of the bucket! If too much seed is escaping with the tomato particles, you can always go back at the end and repeat the process.

This batch is almost clean!

It started out like any other Monday morning, the birds were singing and Laurne's long locks were secured in a very pedestrian ponytail.

Lauren had been talking about wanting a mohawk for some time. She didn't a faux-hawk but a real one kind of like the one Nightshade has...

Yeah, Acorn is pretty much in the sticks, so not much happens. So when something finally does there are sure to be at least a handful of spectators- Here Mardock, Andros and Darla (who also just got a DIY haircut) came to offer support and to be among the first to catch a glimpse of Lauren's new 'do.

heirloom tomatoes

Heirloom tomatoes…are ripening everywhere, and acorn is rich in them. Our tomatoes are used for seeds, eating, processing, snacking on, etc….and some of the lucky hand selected tomatoes are even fortunate to get their photographs taken by Airy.

Photo by: Airy

Jess was very excited to make these Chocolate chip bacon cookies.  And decided to also make some vegan cookies that are/were gluten free and not sweeten with white sugar for special diets.

Vegan gluten free no white sugar cookies

And as one would guess the Bacon cookies were more tasty than the vegan cookies.

Nightshade and the vegan cookies

Both types of cookies were made at the same time, in the evening after dinner.  and when the morning came, there were only vegan cookies left…mmmm…vegan cookies for breakfast….