“We abuse land because we view it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” – Aldo Leopold The late afternoon light did nothing to lift our spirits. Our first glimpse of the land in early […]
Category Archives: Our Journey
Learning New Skills
“Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one’s liberty.” – Henri Frederic Amiel The time, energy and effort it takes to learn something new can be so overwhelming or intimidating that we simply shy away from it, even when it is something we are […]
The Big Bang
“Faca.”I frowned.“Faca.” She repeated, this time adding a hand gesture.It took me another split second before it dawned on me that she was asking for a knife. A big one. I nodded and walked inside. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This story, although it ended last week Saturday, started at the beginning of the […]
Departures & Arrivals
“I like to believe that life is half-light, half-shade.” – Fernando Pessoa Any big transition is filled with uncertainty and stress, but making one now currently has an added layer of ambiguity, as official rules can change in the blink of an eye. So, when the Immigration Lawyers strongly recommended, a week before my scheduled […]
Manoeuvring in Tight Spaces
“Many times we are our worst enemy. If we could learn to conquer ourselves, then we will have a much easier time overcoming the obstacles that are in front of us.” – Stephan Labossiere Covid-19 has not only complicated our plans for the year, but also amplified the insecurities we have. We had various trips planned […]
Projects: Old, New & Incomplete
“Change is slow and gradual. It requires hard work, a bit of luck, a fair amount of self-sacrifice, a lot of patience.” – Robert Greene We’ve been in a state of change since the land was transferred into our names in November 2017. Work on the little ruin started in January 2018. Since then work […]
Clearing Olive Cuttings
“Any major effort takes time, and the time it takes travels through various states of our soul . . . “ – Fernando Pessoa My boots squelched as I dragged some branches deeper into the clearing closer to the sharka. Michael was adament that the rows olive tree cuttings shouldn’t be too long, as we […]
Pruning the Olive Trees
“In many ways, the word “creativity” has been in a cultural pigeonhole; its association with the fine arts has led people to believe they are not creative if they are not involved in painting, music, dance, poetry, or the visual arts. This categorization has undermined the brilliance of a large portion of the population. It […]
Deadlines & Pandemics
“The course of life depends on how you react to opportunities and challenges that randomness presents to you.” – Leonard Mlodinow When Michael returned from his trip to the land at the end of January he was adament that I should join him on the next one, as working alone is always harder and more […]
Encounters with Officialdom – Part 1
“Some people will just go with the flow of things and sway in life, while others will fight against the currents and go upstream to reach their destiny.” – Anthony Liccione From the beginning we decided when it comes to official matters we will take the ‘flow with it’ approach. Our very first encounter with […]
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