Snakes and bikes and thorns...oh my!

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!