Front Page of the Mail Tribune Again

Tipi Village front page news again today. A neighbour, we suspect Bob and Suzi Given (the people who want to displace us for the BLM National Monument), paid a lawyer to have the county code 're-interpreted' to make our way of life illegal. We are asking for subsitance to be a basic human right. Stand in solidarity for the benefit of all:

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130830/NEWS/308300325

Sunset circle at the end

 

 

Participate

   This is more than a story, as the end is yet unwritten. This is the moment of possibility. A dandelion through the concrete, it is alive. We are Tipi Village, a collective of families and single people, young and old dedicated to living on the ground, around the fire, migrating seasonally in dwellings we manifest with our hands and feet.  Established since 2008, the village moves in spring and autumn from the high mountains of the Cascade-Siskiyous of Southern Oregon, to the valley below.  Fetching wood and carrying water are daily practices.  Children are born here, our blood and tears are in this soil, the echoes of our laughter are in these mountains, we hope to die here.  Our priorities and inspiration are maintaining and cultivating a way of living which is spiritually and physically harmonious with the land, flora and fauna. Fauna including ourselves and our relationships and their names.

   After a five year relationship with the private “owner” of the land on which we reside, we have been offered an opportunity to purchase this land.  There is a wealthy neighbour who intends to buy it, have us removed and then sell the land to the national monument for preservation in exclusion of living, human relationship.  We feel strongly that re-introducing humanity and wild, inside and outside, is of great importance at this time.  Wildness is a neglected aspect of much of our species, especially in the industrialized world.  Humans can live symbiotically with mother earth.

   We have no interest in 'owning property' (how can we own that which holds us?) so we have come up with the Land Liberation Project.  Land that is part of The Project will never again be sold, will belong to no 'one' and shall maintain an open place for all who have the inspiration to live in harmony, low-impact, movable.

   This message is a call for help, guidance, ideas, money.  We have until the 1st of October, 2013 to raise $300,000. We have fiscal sponsorship from The Way Foundation (EarthTeach) which has non-profit status.  We're reaching out in all directions.

   This is where we call upon you to become we and participate in this project of unprecedented movement. Together, we can free this land. Free ourselves.

Financial Contributions are tax deductible and can be sent to:
   

                                                               

Tipi Village Land Liberation Fund
c/o The Way Foundation (EarthTeach)
10025 Dead Indian Memorial Road
Ashland, OR 97520


The Village maintains an open place for all who have the inspiration and intention to participate. The Big Lodge is our central community space, a 27' tipi used for musical gatherings, talking circles, ceremonies, shared meals and as a place for guests, visitors and all newcomer. For more information regarding visiting Tipi Village, click here.

              Ways In Which To Participate!! 

 

1: Spend some time in the Big Lodge, bring a bed roll

2: Buy a 'Coyote Share'. Shares are $1000 each. A share is an ongoing connection to The Project. It's a way of stating a clear intention of support and it's a stake in the future. It all     ows for continuation. The term 'Coyote Share' comes from the new paradigm thinking of 'owning' 'free' land. It subverts the notion that land can ever actually be 'owned' and it empowers the relationship between one and Mother Earth.

3: Buy a raffle ticket. Tickets are $3 each. Prizes include a 13' Rogue Dwellings tipi, with poles. An obsidian, horn handled knife. A tricycle. A 1hr massage from a licensed therapist. Lindy Kehoe artwork. More prizes are being contributed all the time (another way to participate). The draw will be on the 1st of October and winners will be announced here. To buy tickets online use the paypal donate button above and include your name and phone number in the note; we'll fill out a ticket and put it in the hat. You can also send money to The Way Foundation (address above). Be sure to make a note that the contribution is for Land Liberation Project (LLP).

4: Make a straight, simple donation of any amount, by the same above methods.

5: Spread the word about the cause, pass this blog address on to everyone you know even if you think they might not be interested. Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/landliberationproject 
Striking sparks in dry tinder can make a big fire.

6: Watch, like and share our short video at

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/land-liberation-project/x/4291885

Contribute there and receive a gift.

All contributions will go towards the Land Liberation Project for purchasing land. Large or small, all are most welcome and necessary. The Land Liberation Project extends beyond the current deadline of the sale of the Summer Lands.

Go on, do it! Join in! But be careful, you might not get out! Big love and hugs from us all.

Dear friends and family

Dear friends and family,
This is solidarity, not charity. 
This is more than a possibility, as we know it works. 
A harmonious way forward that is inclusive to all.
Our birthright here on the great earth mother.
I sit here now, on the ground, next to the hearth in my home of canvas and pole,
writing to you and praying to something bigger.
There must be a place for us to live as one with wildness. 
For years I have cultivated this internally and with my family. 
And now, the law is needing to be integrated. 
I suppose we as a village could walk away, and hide in the woods elsewhere.
My inspiration whispers to me.....
It may be time to share this now....
Where are you?  People who love the land, who value a deep relationship with it, who recognize that we can not own the earth?  Come forth.  We need you now.  For real.  Right now.

Donate.  Nothing is too small.  33 days left and tens of thousands more to raise.

            

                                                                  

 

-Kayla

Another KSKQ interview

Ellen Hufft interviews Kayla and Ande in the KSKQ studio.  Click the link and listen to them discuss village life, roles, raising kids, and the Land Liberation Project.

 

http://www.kskq.org/index.php/schedule/current-shows/129-b-battery-show/2044-b-battery-show-8-24-2013-guests-kayla-and-ande-of-tipi-village-and-the-land-liberation-project

A birds eye view of village

 

We soared like birds,

catching the wind in upward spirals,

again and again,

until we dived into the next current,

only to be lifted higher.

 

A flight over the Cascade-Siskiyous and Tipi Village on a hand-made two-seater plane.

-Kayla 

The Resonance of Chief Sealth (Seattle)

Chief Sealth's intention has resonated through generations and across cultures. What's all the more remarkable is that his original oration in the mid nineteenth century is obscured. It was spoken in Lushootseed and translated into Chinook, and then various English versions have transpired. It illustrates how authenticity is an internal understanding. Here is the most recent version. This long dead man walks still...







"The President in Washington sends word that
he wishes to buy our land. But how can you                
buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is                      
strange to us. If we do not own the freshness
of the air and the sparkle of the water, how
can you buy them?
Every part of the earth is sacred to my people.
Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore,
every mist in the dark woods, every meadow,
every humming insect. All are holy in the
memory and experience of my people.
We know the sap which courses through the
trees as we know the blood that courses
through our veins. We are part of the earth
and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are
our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle,
these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the
dew in the meadow, the body heat of the
pony, and man all belong to the same family.
The shining water that moves in the streams
and rivers is not just water, but the blood of
our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you
must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy
reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells
of events and memories in the life of my
people. The water's murmur is the voice of my
father's father.
The rivers are our brothers. They quench our
thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our
children. So you must give the rivers the
kindness that you would give any brother.
If we sell you our land, remember that the air
is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit
with all the life that it supports. The wind that
gave our grandfather his first breath also
received his last sigh. The wind also gives our
children the spirit of life. So if we sell our
land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a
place where man can go to taste the wind that
is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
Will you teach your children what we have
taught our children? That the earth is our
mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the
sons of the earth.
This we know: the earth does not belong to
man, man belongs to the earth. All things are
connected like the blood that unites us all.
Man did not weave the web of life, he is
merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the
web, he does to himself.
One thing we know: our God is also your God.
The earth is precious to him and to harm the
earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will
happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered?
The wild horses tamed? What will happen when
the secret corners of the forest are heavy with
the scent of many men and the view of the
ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where
will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle
be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the
swift pony and then hunt? The end of living
and the beginning of survival.
When the last red man has vanished with this
wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow
of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these
shores and forests still be here? Will there be
any of the spirit of my people left?
We love this earth as a newborn loves its
mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land,
love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we
have cared for it. Hold in your mind the
memory of the land as it is when you receive
it. Preserve the land for all children, and love
it, as God loves us.
As we are part of the land, you too are part of
the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also
precious to you.
One thing we know - there is only one God. No
man, be he Red man or White man, can be
apart. We are all brothers after all."

To the sociopaths with political power (you know who you are). An answer of love.

Tipi Village in the Mail Tribune!

Awoke this morning to raindrops, a small but cozy fire and a lovely article on the front page of the Mail Tribune.  Thank you Mark Freeman and Jamie Lusch for your interpretation of this place through words and photos.  Well done. 
Check it out.

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130825/NEWS/308250314

-Kayla

Farm Talk

Here's a link to Michael and Tim on KSKQ the other day. Enjoy. And comment!

http://www.kskq.org/index.php/schedule/current-shows/153-farm-talk/2037-farm-talk-8-19-2013-tipi-village-the-land-liberation-project

Did you get your raffle ticket yet?

Support The Project and join the raffle!  Some awesome prizes include a Rogue Dwellings tipi, a new adult tricycle, an hour massage by an LMT, Lindy Kehoe artwork, Fair Ophelia Designs hooded scarf, an obsidian antler-handled knife and more being donated all the time!!

Tickets are $3 or 3 for $10  ;)

Be sure to include your email, phone and the words RAFFLE ENTRY with your payment! We will put this info on your ticket(s), draw names on the 1st of October and contact you then.  Thanks!

            

                                                                  


Contact us if you would like to donate a prize to the raffle.
541-864-9250
LandLiberationFund@gmail.com

Video launched out to the World!

Yes! Our Project video was released into the world for the first time at The Peace Village Festival last night. Thank you everyone who helped make that happen. Please watch it, feel it, like it and share it wide and far. It's all about getting the word out now. And that means we need your help to do that. Much love and gratitude.

Mail Tribune, Video Editing

Today the Mail Tribune came. We had some good conversation 'round the hearth. We'll see if we can post the audio.
And then we did some video editing with stalwart Uncle Ed for the indiegogo movie...

Interview on KSKQ

Tune in to KSKQ tomorrow, Tuesday 13th August, 3-4 PDT to hear people (not sure exactly who yet) from Tipi Village speak about the Land Liberation Project!

http://www.kskq.org/

Autumn migration- winter spot...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PHVl57oy04&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Hearth Tidings Issue 2

Here's a link to the second edition of Hearth Tidings, newsletter of Tipi Village, literally cut and pasted and typed on a proper typewriter (then taken to the print shop and turned into a .pdf ;^):

http://www.scribd.com/doc/158683640/
Hearth-Tidings-Issue-2

Daniel Quinn, author of Ishmael...

Thanks to Daniel for giving his support to the project. His work has been a big inspiration to many with aspirations towards turning to the ancient future:

http://www.ishmael.org/Interaction/NewsAndInfo/detail.cfm?record=350

Ande's Version Of How He Came To Be At Tipi Village

To fill out some history of Tipi Village in Southern Oregon, here's my version of how here came to be now- Ande

This story is true.
It does not begin with the man who tasted Mother Earth and her moist, green, Cymreig hills. Nor with the legend of an Irishman who showed him how to shelter himself from the horizontal sleet of that place, or the many who dreamed with that dream or lived with that life of that valley tucked between those moors.
It does not start with his journey West across the ocean to the back of the Great Turtle. Or with the lodge he made and his bamboo poles and his Rainbow trail and his lodge-pole pine.
Not, too, his arrival in the North-West, or even when he met, and loved for the first time, his wife and took her to the aftermath of Ms. Katrina to shelter the people.
We can begin this story after their first child was born and their second was due. Longing for a place where they could simply pitch their lodge, surrounded by Cascades and Siskiyou's, they gazed towards the horizon and said,"Look at all that Mother Earth, let's just go there and see what happens."
So they faced some fear and they went and they found a place of iridescent splendour, by the creek. And their baby arrived.
Then a man in a uniform with a gun arrived and said,"Well, this place is beyond my jurisdiction, have a nice day." And he left in his white truck.
Then a woman came and said,"Yup, this is our land, you're welcome." That was five and a half years ago from the telling of this tale.
Many more and different things have happened since and this small valley has continued to open in welcome abandon to this family now of six. And families and non-families have come and gone and stayed and children have been caught again and again in the arms of the Great Mother and her connection and their connection has grown and strengthened and deepened through their blood and water, breath and fire, bone and stone.
They are re-learning life and balance and harmony and how to walk that walk in honest love. Not to teach or educate, or even to be an example but because it feels good to walk in inspiration with Great Mother in a wholesome way.
The process continues to unfold and the people become more whole. They de-fragment in the sweat lodge. They see the land flourish and thrive as they flourish and thrive.
The strength of their connection is supported by precepts such as moving twice a year, Autumn and Spring dropping 2500' in elevation and moving 5-6 miles in distance. Maintaining an open community through the openness of the Big Lodge. Living away from the road and maintaining living place free from the oppression and inherent damage of fossil fueled machinery. Carrying wood, fetching water. Living around the fire and sleeping with their love, on the ground

Letter to a tipi enthusiasts newsgroup

The following is a response to the Lodge Owners newsgroup to which I am subscribed:

Thanks the feedback. Yes, landowners have more 'rights' than the people who dwell in a place. That seems to have been the history of settlement in this Turtle Island. The current landowners have left us, largely, to our own governance and, of course, it's not been without difficulty (but also a massive dose of harmony). The group proposing to buy and evict the community are intending to sell the land back to the federal government, as a part of the Soda Mountain National Monument. Which is not compatible with nomadic human use, apparently. We can see the touch of millennia of human interaction in this land. The land thrives as people thrive and interact symbiotically. Preserving land is as detrimental as logging and fire suppression. Many species are disappearing through the lack of regular burning and then through the catastrophic effects of huge fires when there's been too much fuel build up. The land lives as we do We have 501(c)3 status under The Way Foundation (Earth Teach Forest Park).The land will be owned by the trust and will never be sold. We know that Mother Earth is always there, stopping us from hurtling towards the Sun and we know how to move swiftly, pitch and strike our lodges and roll out our beds, stay in a place for a night, couple of weeks or, in this case, a few years. A big part of the inspiration of The Project is to be an example, or maintain an option within western industrialization, of how to live with Earth. No other structure, to my knowledge, facilitates this like a tipi does. When it comes to income we are autonomous within the collective. I have a tipi making business, completely off grid, off road, treadle powered. Others widcraft, tan hides, make bows. The Village is an ongoing workshop, in some senses. It's of paramount importance to maintain openness to anyone, while we acknowledge that this way is not for everyone, extractivist exploitation is recognised as completely unsustainable. Please don't hesitate to join in. Through my kids born here I can see that we're talking about the healthy future of humanity, tipping the long overdue paradigm shift that is really close... Thanks All! Ande landliberationproject.blogspot.com

Re-introducing Humans to the Wild; Restoring Balance with Mother Earth

"We are living today only because the generations before us - our ancestors - provided for us by the manner of their responsible living."    ~Simon Ortiz

   In a time and place where the culture of the industrialized world is dominant, humans seem to be neglecting their relationship and forgetting their responsibility towards earth and how to live directly with her.  Mainstream society has a dualistic relationship with the land; either exploiting it or preserving and leaving it alone, both of these extremes being destructive.  At one end of a spectrum there is conserving wild places, keeping human interaction with them minimal (a day hike, camping, etc.).  Inherently, when these places are visited or preserved, there is a separation from them.  People come from the outside for a short time and then leave.  To preserve a place and treat it as though humans would harm it if they touch it is an indicator of a fractured culture.  If there is an attitude of 'leave no trace' then how can we feel a belonging here?  The trace we leave isn't inherently detrimental, just as a bird, snake or ants is not.  Of course a trace will be left, and hopefully, in the sense of the words definition 'a small amount or barely noticeable indication'.  At the other end of this spectrum there is exploitation (which created the need to protect the land in the first place).  There is an extractivist mentality of relating with the Earth.  This leads to a monoculture with harmful farming practices, clear cutting, strip mining and water poisoning.  Wildness disappears and culture ends up finding its place rooted in something unsustainable and disconnected.

   If humans are to continue here on Earth, we must begin again to live sustainably.  Not sustainably in the sense of electric cars, solar panels, radiant flooring and biodegradable eating utensils, but in a deeper sense (although, sure, these things may be a small step in a more considerate direction).  This deeper sense of sustainability comes from having an intimate relationship with the natural world.

   There is a way beyond this paradigm, a life way where humans live together, physically, on the ground, rooted in a place with nature.  Daily practices involve engaging directly with this place and a wholesome relationship with it thus developed.  This direct relationship demands greater awareness and reverent responsibility which inherently cultivates a healthy basis for deep, sustainable living.  This is where we can begin to weave and mend the fragments of a fragmented world.  This is where we can remember our deepest relationship with all.   

-Kayla