skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Today's weather was crazy! One minute it was pouring down rain and blowing so hard I felt like I was getting knocked over. The next minute it was bright and sunny.Jan and I today tackled the rest of the weeds and thorn bushes. We had about
half the section left and had only been working for a bit when the weather had one of its mood swings and forced us to retreat to the barn. I helped pull some metal staples out of some cardboard boxes that she was going to use in her garden. Of course after we got set up in the barn doing this the sky cleared to a beautiful blue and the sun came out. Needless to say, we had already started another job so that had to be finished before going back out to the bushes.For some reason, I felt like time flew by today while I worked. It wasn't long before Jan had to leave to get ready for her choir practice, but I wanted to finish was we h
ad started so I worked alone for a while until it started raining so bad again I had to call it a day. Working alone gave me some time to think. It is one of the things I had always loved about being a janitor -working hard physically and letting your mind wander and tune out and think things over. I hardly notice how sore my shoulders get or muddy I am while I am working because I think my mind goes to a different place and I go into robot-mode.
Today I thought about how great it was to be outside, sweating and working hard. There is something very satisfying about physical labor. You get to see the result of all your hard work. You clear bushes or build a pile or do whatever it is you are doing. At the end of the day you are dead tired, but you feel good because you accomplished something and your body was active. And you probably fixed something/did something that improved your life, yard, home, etc. Definitely it is not the same accomplished feeling I get after spending 10 hours typing a research paper. Maybe I feel the same sense of accomplishment when I see a finished magazine with my article and byline, but that is so far removed from the actual work process sometimes that I forget what I even wrote about. It makes me realize why people love to garden or work on their homes in their spare time, especially if they work a desk job all day. I have come to the conclusion that 90% of what I do with my job and school is done on the computer and it is quite frustrating to realize how tied in I am to technology. That is the beauty of SuBAMUH for me. It is my salvation this spring that allows me to be outside and experience the sun -or the rain- and unplug myself from the world.
Here is my little blurb that will be included in some way in the May SuBAMUH newsletter that is being sent out. I wish I had been able to be more involved in the creation and layout of the newsletter, but since I came in so close to the publishing deadline most of it was all put together. Hopefully I can give them some suggestions and input for upcoming editions: I have lived in Athens for three years now, and never once ventured very far out of town. Sure, I’ve taken trips to Stroud’s Run and walked through downtown Nelsonville, but never have I really been outside of my tiny bubble that is Ohio University. You can imagine, then, what the first drive out to SuBAMUH was like for me. Twisty windy roads, dirt and gravel, road signs hidden by high grass and trees – this is not exactly Court Street. Not only am I new to this side of Athens, I am new to the entire concept of SuBAMUH. I’m a feminist, yes, earning a women’s and gender studies certificate to accompany my journalism degree, but coming into my internship at SuBAMUH I know next to nothing about intentional living, womyn’s communities or the wimmin’s land movement. I didn’t even realize there were that many ways to spell “women!”
That is why I am so excited and feel so blessed to be spending the next few weeks learning and helping out at SuBAMUH. I am suburban born but have a heart that grew up camping and spending as much time outside as possible. When I had to choose a place to intern through my class this quarter, SuBAMUH seemed like the perfect fit for the skills I have and for my desire to learn. I hope to take in as much as I can from Jan, Crissa and Michelle about their experiences and beliefs while helping them out in any way I can. Whether it is getting down and dirty to help maintain the land or helping design fliers and promoting SuBAMUH online, I can not wait to see what the next few weeks hold. I look forward to rifling through some of SuBAMUH’s history and hope to be able to have a somewhat complete history written out before the end of the quarter in June. Most importantly, I hope and look forward to growing as a feminist and as a person and to expanding my horizon…stepping outside my box.
Yesterday was my second working day on SuBAMUH. I helped Jan with a number of tasks: pumping tires and testing out an old bike that was being donated, moving a picnic table from the barn up to the farm house, cutting down some weeds/thorny bushes/stuff (sadly, got some cuts on my hands but it was a great outlet for some negative energy I had!) and getting the straw off from on top of her strawberry patch. I uncovered a sleepy little snake that gave me quite the startle! Jan and I puzzled over if this was how the fruit got its name, from the fact that you put straw over them during winter to keep the ground warm, and I have searched the internet and gotten no definite answer.
Obviously since last week I have created this blog, started on a MySpace (which is a lot more complicated then I remember it being back in high school when everyone who was anyone had one) and read through Maize and the newsletter to create some ideas. Since SuBAMUH's 30th Anniversary is coming up this summer, I think a story highlighting it's success and history would be a great piece to produce for Maize. Jan also liked the idea of having some kind of written history about SuBAMUH...which I was surprised to learn did not already exist. I spent some time in the farmhouse leafing through documents and fliers from waaaaaay back when SuBAMUH was created. It was so interesting and cool to look at some of the old fliers for events and things.
This place has so much history and I think it is amazing it has survived for so long and still maintained its integrity and purpose. I feel like as times have changed fewer women are attracted to the idea of intentional living and women's communities. I look around at myself, with my laptop computer, wireless internet, iPOD, cell phone, TV on in the background and leftovers in the microwave and I know there is no way I could give up all these many creature comforts. Beyond the aspect of "things" I sometimes wonder if the way feminism itself has changed and evolved, combined with all the increases in technology, has altered the popularity of such communities. Are that many younger women interested in this type of lifestyle? From some of the stuff I have looked at so far, it seems that the majority of women living in these communities are all older...hmm..It is definitely something I will ponder during my time this quarter!
Yesterday was my first actual day working out on the land at SuBAMUH. It was a designated work day for Crissa, Michelle and Jan, the three women who live on the land, and I arrived later in the afternoon after my classes and after they had already been hard at work. I was a little unsure what the day would hold and a little nervous about meeting Jan and Michelle for the first time. I have heard so much about Jan, how amazing a woman she is and how she has been with SuBAMUH since the beginning, so I hoped I wouldn't say/do anything stupid! Not to worry though, I got there and with quick introductions jumped right in helping put away plates of glass from Michelle's winter green house
. I helped lift a rototiller that Michelle was taking with her to fix and after a quick conference between all about what my schedule would be like I was off with Crissa to work on the gutter on the barn. Using some power tools and a level (!) I helped her slope one side of the gutter down from the middle so that eventually rain water can be collected and utilized. Crissa had to run to a fiddle lesson and so we finished that and before I left I collected some copies of the SuBAMUH newsletter and Maize, a lesbian country magazine, to look at and get some ideas from...oh, and I snapped some pictures! Even though things are not quite budding yet, SuBAMUH is still a beautiful piece of land that I can not wait to explore!
This handsome lady is Camille 
Crissa showing me how this whole gutter system is going to work.
Today's weather was crazy! One minute it was pouring down rain and blowing so hard I felt like I was getting knocked over. The next minute it was bright and sunny.
half the section left and had only been working for a bit when the weather had one of its mood swings and forced us to retreat to the barn. I helped pull some metal staples out of some cardboard boxes that she was going to use in her garden. Of course after we got set up in the barn doing this the sky cleared to a beautiful blue and the sun came out. Needless to say, we had already started another job so that had to be finished before going back out to the bushes.
ad started so I worked alone for a while until it started raining so bad again I had to call it a day. Working alone gave me some time to think. It is one of the things I had always loved about being a janitor -working hard physically and letting your mind wander and tune out and think things over. I hardly notice how sore my shoulders get or muddy I am while I am working because I think my mind goes to a different place and I go into robot-mode.
