Where am I?

We left the gulf coast of Florida and drove through the southeast corner of Alabama, then the back woods of western Georgia and ended up somewhere near Americus Georgia. I say near because we haven't actually seen it. We didn't have an address for the Koinonia Farm that our GPS would recognise, but we happened upon it as we were heading to Americus. It is not what I expected. There are a number of buildings and homes on the farm,most in need of repair, or demolition. The farm produces pecans, blueberries and grapes. They have a bakery here that makes a peach, date and some other fruits kind of cake. They also produce a chocolate pecan candy. They have a brisk mail order business for their products, especially before Christmas time.

I am hesitant to comment on the place because I've only been here 24 hours and I'm hoping that my opinion will change. The people are really friendly and hospitable, but I would characterise them as redneck hippies. There are about 30 full time residents. Some are interns that commit for 3 months first and if they still like it after that they commit for a year. Then if they still like the idea of living in this community they become an apprentice for a year, then a novice for a year, then they take a vow and become a steward. They have a few employees and there are some people who help out but don't live on the farm, they are called partners. They are a peace loving community that is trying to live as Jesus would.

They are getting heavily involved in the permaculture movement. It is a system of living that tries to minimise your "footprint" and restore natural symbiotic relationships, man, plant, animals and soil. I read the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" not long ago and it deals with the concept. I can appreciate their goals, but they don't throw away anything, "you never know when you might be able to use it". They love to recycle and re-purpose everything. So they have piles of junk everywhere. They have old farm equipment and vehicles and stuff all over. Their chief source of income is the 90 acres of pecans, but the pecan orchards don't fit with their permaculture plan. They require chemicals and machinery to harvest. So they will phase them out. They have some chicken tractors that they move around, pigs in a pen that has a fence made of all kinds of re-purposed material and cattle, some are some kind of endangered species. They have some large garden spaces that are pretty weedy. I can understand their goals, but it is all way to cluttered and messy for me. It is probably more of an indictment on me then them, they really pride them selves on living simply and being happy with much less than most of us "need".

One of the first things we saw when we pulled in was a half finished steel building. Just like the kind I built before I retired. The contractor they hired to erect it had been paid and now he won't come back to finish it. Rusty said it reminded him of Africa, I must admit there are some similarities. We spent some time today correcting some mistakes and started to put the siding on. We didn't have a stapler for the insulation so while the forman tried to find one, everyone else just picked everything up and quit early. The forman got sidetracked and I'm not sure if he'll get one tonight or just begin his search anew tomorrow. Calm down Jack, they are a community of peace, they just don't get excited about things. The building isn't very big, if I had Ric and Rusty here we could build the whole thing in about a week, but they don't think that way. They really only deal with today. They have some long range plans, but they don't set schedules and worry about stuff like that. It is really a hard concept for me to grasp, I see projects and they have to be done!

They start the day with meditation time then a short devotional. They have lunch and dinner communialy and ring a bell a couple times a day so that you stop what your doing and meditate and pray. It is almost like what I think a monistary would be like. Most of the Stewards are older women, kind and gentle souls. It will be an interesting week, I'm going to try and understand this lifestyle.