I'm so happy to read that things are on the up swing.

rock on! yay Bear!

thank you all for your work ( and fun I'm sure ) and thank you for posting on Tribe. I think more people read than respond or post.

yehhhh bears,, what a fun week, it was great to see the old ( not so old) bears come up to the ranch and work together, eat together and play together. great to see new faces all excited about living communaly, thanks john for sticking your hand in that septic pipe to get the last of the splooge out , althou bob was gagging and i was shuddering we love and thank you for your thourlaness. also want to thank dorriane , ernesto, bebe , ray ray , for all thier hard work and collarborative spirit, the mainhouse living room looks awsome , thanks ernesto for putting a light in the medicine room., systems all up and running, and HOT WATER, thanks to hurricane bob, wind, john and travis. me john and bob worked on the tile in the mud room, i like it , but its allittle wavey, blame me for that, ive got pictures i will post up tonight , it will now funtion way better, and will be able to be cleaned easily and more sanitary when making cheese or grinding ext ,, i hope you all like it, it was a great use of some thick commercial grade tile that has been laying around the ranch for years..

I think of the main house as the center of the commune, where the very essence of "COMMUNAL" liveing is exerienced, that being, cooking food together and eating food together, playing music together doing dishes together ext... one of the most immediate magical experiences one has at the ranch when entering it for the first time is the sharing that goes on in the main house, that natual gift reminds us so quickly of whats so RIGHT and wonderful, the fact that we buy and grow cook and eat the food together helps us bond so much better as a family and reconigze much clearer what we have forgotten when it comes to sharing. there is alot of purpose and magicalness when it comes to our mainhouse , therefore with great respect for maintaining that simple perfect beautiful tradition may i request that folks put thier personal food somwhere else like in thier cabin so as not to give the impression of possesion seperatness and un communalness in the mainhouse . to walk into the cold larder and see boxes food with folks names on them really saddens me, im not against haveing personal items and foods for oneself, but to see that seperatness in the mainhouse when it comes to food just doesnt feel right , i hope that new trend stops. id like to know how others feel about that .

we had a nice meeting on the sunny knoll giving our intentions we have for the bear and talking about projects immediate and future, the plan thus far for the barn project is for janjaap to go up and make another assement collaborating with john on what materials are needed, thats the first step, when we have a figure of how much it will cost to get the stuff , we will shoot out a number to ya all, and than we got to get the doe, at the moment there is 900 bucks in the building fun, im sure the amount to fix the barn will be several thousand 3 to 5 g's maybe i really dont know,,Sooooo... im here to say,, 'hey bears old and new here and there , everywhere,, can ya spare some change" i think the donations can be sent in thru the black bear ranch web site , or to geba, anyone have an address for that? i wish i could give more but i will donate a $100 bucks + to the barn project and my time to help fix it, anyone else want match it or less or more, whatever you can afford , so many folks give to the ranch in so many ways, if its donation of wood, nails, money , or your sweat we all appreciate it, also let us know who wants to be part of the barn project.
it would be awsome to do this project this year,, this solstice might be pushing it but possibly before thanksgiving time, it would be great to coincide it with one of the bears gatherings...
speaking of... SOLSTICE gathering,, great music partys and games, food galore ext ext... me and beth want to put up the little kasbah up again and bring up maybe some silk screening stuff, and other crafty thingys, petey katie and I raised our hands to create a black bear flyer, me and beth did the last one, i would be happy to do the format again,, but i need "your words and ideas ", for it..

the cold larder and its moisture mold problem , and falling about walls i think is a HUGE concern , its quite a project but has to be done , in talking with janjaap we would have to take out the earth from the outside put up real retaining walls ext..., the would floor in the mainhouse kitchen is really starting to wear more and more,, it needs somthing, how about a temperory wood floor over it , bamboo wood flooring is really cheap and durable and very cleanable, just temporery for now and just in the kitchen, any ideas?
the spider dome has a big hole in the bottom side and is in need of fixing, not just the hole but the whole thing..
meadow fence needs more care and better tightness so the goats dont go in it, which has been the case, there is damage to apple trees in side the meadow from the goats..i started to try and clear the enchroaching forest coming into the meadow garden all along the right hand side by the creek. ahhhh so much to do,, what fun......

travis found a beautiful baby king trout ( i think ) in the upper gulch by the crows nest, he put it in the pond,, ITS RESTOCKED! yehhh..

a cool cat from east wind commune came and worked with us and gave us one of thier cool hammock seats, THANKS TROUT come again.

thanks john for making up to the ranch,, you rock dude , i love your enthusiasm and hard ass work your doing , its amazing you can do all that stuff being such and old man........
44,, yeh right....love ya bro..

i love the bear, geez i think this post is long,, i will stop now..
my plan is to come up a weekish before the summer solstice in june
peace and love