Thursday, January 24, 2008

I am Hunter and here is just a little note about Paradise....
Safe, comfortable, supportive, and good people driven by a sense of community. I entered Paradise in Homestead Florida at the end of the rainy season as a snowbird inorder to duplicate the organic process in a Northern climate. I am now so entwined within and have formed such a deep bond with this farm that the thought of elsewhere no longer exists. The intern driven experience which brings volunteers of diversity into this cornucopia like enviroment has taught me many lessons on what cooperation trully means. The harvesting of the crops is mirrored upon all of us that become harvesters of each other. I am at many times in awe at how well and how much each individual intern brings or gets from this simple basic concept. A conceptualization borne and embodied here upon these five acres. Walking around there's a sense of presence and familiarity. The plants somehow have become my plants, and the people my brothers and sisters. Thanks to all, and peace to all those travelers.

Till we meet again, Hunter De-Mouse.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The First Entry

I am Helen McKinney. I am in Paradise. I am a student at Hollins University in Virginia, studying creative writing. I will be a writer one day. I am living on this farm for one month to learn as much as possible about organic farming and to learn as much as possible about myself. When the sun sets in Florida the sky is tangerine at the horizon, rises into hot pink and sandwiched between petunia purple. The sky above the horizon is the brightest baby blue i have ever seen. Here is the kicker, no matter where you are in Florida, no matter where you are: there is ALWAYS a black palm tree against the horizon. Whether you be driving or sitting or walking, high up or down low-- I assure you, you will always find a black palm tree set against the horizon. When I'm here, I always look for the mountains of Virginia and realize that as long as I am here I will never find them. I know now that when I am back in Virginia amongst the mountains, I will find myself looking for that Florida sky and black palm trees and realize that as long as I am there, I will never find them.