“The New Farm Convergence, Year 1.0” - New Myth #52 / Myth Lab #11. Paintings by Wisconsinite Laverne Kammerude as Artifact. By Willi Paul, NewMythologist.com

* * * * * * *

“The New Farm Convergence, Year 1.0”

Myth Lab #11 follows

Venoco’s fracking well collapse and deep earth “volcanic erupt-release” in Fairfield, CA in 2033 left the planet with a dinosauric-killing carbon load unforeseen in human history, temperatures world-wide rose 12 degrees in six weeks and the coasts climbed 13”.

Cooked Earth.

Community as they knew it was gone: Main Streets became abandoned for better air and garden plots in nearby mountains. Security from hastily formed neighboring Tribes suddenly was the issue. How can folks see their seeds through to harvest when unprepared hoards are stealing the local greens?

* * * * * * *

“That woman with the dogs and kid came by again yesterday. I gave her some dried meat and roots.”

“She will be back with more folks - more than we can help at this point.”

“I told her about the upcoming Multi-Tribal Convergence in Susanville but her agenda is obviously tilted toward hunger pains.”

* * * * * * *

The plan for the Tribe Network is to occupy and share abandoned homesteads in the Northwest. They have a preliminary map of these farmsteads but no on the ground intelligence.

But is the well water drinkable? Is there a viable aquifer? Any roofs on the old barns out there still? Wild animals to tame or to shoot? With no gasoline, the pioneer agriculturists will toil on their hands and knees without something or someone to pull the plow.

Farm fences are not likely to have survived years of foreclosures, corporate risk tables and the GMO seed fights. While the infrastructure looms high on the ethics of the permaculture Tribes, fostering values that will create a better neighborhood than the ones smoldering in Sacramento and many other deserted towns are in the other vein.

* * * * * * *

“We need a planting and a harvest sharing ritual.”

“And a Permaculture Design Course.”

“And fix the roads and the windmills.”

“Should we create teams of experts that can visit each settlement and quickly fix one major thing?”

“How do we repair the dislocation and fallen love between brothers and sisters?”

* * * * * * *

How do these folk move forward without an empowering emotional ladder from their past? There are no web communities, no iPhones and few if any photos of grandma and grandpa on the porch. Perhaps the Convergence will bring an evolved DIY spirit with open arms from the farmers on their emo-map?

* * * * * * *

4573 people overwhelmed the organizers at the first annual New Farm Convergence in NorCal.

New Mythologists, Shadow Walkers, Moon-glow Pagans, Eco-Alchemists, Nerdy Permaculturists, and ever hopeful Transitionites were all there, including the loved but lost peeps from places like Carson, Davis and Seattle. Most danced with the hoops and tended buried pigs and waved wands at the festival.

The Convergence folks decided to take-on the following projects as a new regional community in Year 01:

1. Mobile Seed Sharing Library

2. Wind Mill Repair Squad to help get water and local power moving

3. Garden / Compost Design Workshop (quarterly)

* * * * * * *

Building the Story of Cascadia: New Tools for the Transition Workshop
Video & Hand-out from 2012 NWP Convergence by Willi Paul, newmythologist.com

* * * * * * *

Myth Lab #11

The Myth Lab #11 Process Model that follows includes discovering an Artifact and mythic imprinting. The goal is to integrate permaculture, transition, Nature and sustainability with the emerging values and struggles in the Chaos Age. Myth Lab is designed as an interactive, open source and iterative experience. One goal is clear: we need to build new values and myths to support new post-occupancy food and governance systems.

Here are some key ideas in the Myth Lab Process:

Mythos – The pattern of basic values and attitudes of a people characteristically transmitted through myths and the arts. What is the mythos of the Post-Chaos Era?

New Mythology – Is a call for new Nature-based, globally integrated stories without allegiance to any classic mythologies. New Mythology incorporates new symbols, alchemy and rituals with an eye on the future.

The Transition Movement includes new business exchange schemes where waste is used by another business; garden sharing that allows neighbors to re-use barren land. The movement encourages people to choose local food, including support for smart transit and sharing / barter.

Mythic Imprinting – Imprinting is defined as a two-way interaction with a selected Artifact that has generates synergistic meaning for both creators and the reader. This iterative and transmutative process is grounded in the initiation, journey and hero work from Joseph Campbell and is one way that neighborhood artifacts can help participants generate new songs, poems and myths.

8 Key Elements in the New Mythology include:

1. Localization – back to sustainability and community; self-sufficiency

2. Nature- Centric

3. Spiritual

4. Future-based

5. Universal themes(s) and message

6. Para-Normal in conflict or characters

7. Initiation, Journey and Hero

8. Permaculture & Transition: values and principles

Please enjoy all 52 New Myths.

* * * * * *

5 Step Process Model for Myth Lab # 11

1. Discover the Artifact
(Read the Paintings)

Barns
Hay
Horses and Buggies
Cats
Crops
Harvesting crops
Men working in fields
Harvesting Equipment
Wind Mill & Gear Shack
Farm House
Maple Sugar Shack and collection activities
Wood Fences
Trees + Forests
Blue Sky & Clouds
Seasons

2. Incorporate the Artifact

Rural Life
Pioneer Spirit
Seasons as Calendar ….
Old Ethics?
Land-based living
Neighbors in the Nuclear Family
Promises
Church
Nostalgia as Preparer
The Reservoir
Familiar
Rituals – chores, church, preparing for next season, picnics, school

New Sustainable Communities

Permaculture Ethics and Principles as New Re-Localizing Bonds & Codes

Seed Library – protecting Nature’s harvest

“Translation Back then Forward” - Can we “go back” and capture the lessons and technology and values from history?

3. Mythic Transmutation

Community as Hero

Initiation – back to the past for values and tools and into a changed future; the “convergence”
Community Transition

Nature as Land as Crops as Sacred?

Journey in the Post-Chaos Era

Disaster Planning - re-learning (Initiation), re-localizing

4. Create the New Myth

(see New Myth #52 - above)

5. Share New Myth and Journey

Storytelling, Social Media, Town Meetings, etc.