trippyj
Member
@stacysadistic asked what The Garden was really like, and figured this was a perfect time to post a story on here. (sorry if the tag didn’t work, i’m on a phone)
I’ve been twice, once towards the end of winter and another time in the fall. I’ll try to keep this short but it was such an interesting time. This is when I visited during the winter.
The garden was kind of a mixed bag. Travelers passing through, people taking breaks from college and whatnot. Was staying at a fruit farm in Aventura, FL and decided I was done with that, and felt the travel bug bite me again. I went with my then girlfriend after a friend told her about it. At first I was like nah, no way because everyone said it was a cult. Then again anything that goes against societal norms is bound to be labeled a cult, so I said screw it and we drove from florida down to the middle of nowhere tennessee.
We get there and it’s around 12 am. Deafened by the crickets mixed with the anxiety of what was to come. Can’t see a thing other than shadows moving beyond the headlights. Her friend tells us to park in the front and we’re led to the back of the living areas to a cabin. Handmade from scrapwood (they made a deal with a local lumbermill) and it was honestly nice. We walk in, greeted by a wood stove, and we meet a girl named Bhodi I think her name was? Beautiful, joyful hippie girl that was as excited to see us as we were to finally get some rest. She gives us a spot to sleep and we drift off, wondering what this place really was.
Wake up in the morning to look around the cabin, and we’re blinded by the rays of the sun peering in through a makeshift window. Saw a ton of hand drawn art (bodhi is an amazing artist), recycled blankets, pillows, bunkbeds made of the same scrapwood, handmade jewelry and trinkets. We hear a horn/trumpet and bodhi tells us this is the breakfast call. I thought it was a battle cry signaling a raid from neighboring communes but whatever.
We make our way up the little hill the cabin was at the bottom of and in doing so I noticed a gorgeous river flowing beneath us. Honestly one of the most breathtaking things I’ve seen, the pictures don’t do it justice.
These guys are heavy into permaculture/recycling, living with the land and overall an egalitarian type community. I realized this as we walked along paths made of woodchips, passing compost toilets and other beautiful scrap cabins. Converted school buses, vans, and a few tents in areas under fruit trees. Chickens were running around, and the garden beds were ready to be planted into. Tomatoes, squash, cabbage, chard, you name it they grew it. Constant projects going on all the time. Turning the compost, hauling in woodchips, foraging mushrooms/wild edibles, building a compost toilet atop cinder blocks, chopping wood for the fire.
The horn was coming from deeper into the actual community and we saw an irish man, smiling from cheek to cheek with fire red hair. This was Tree. He says “new travelers, welcome!”. (I’m paraphrasing sadly). The community kitchen was a converted schoolbus. Wish I had taken a picture, but they built a porch out in the front for people to sit. There were so many interesting people from different backgrounds, sharing a meal. It was awesome. Nick was a carpenter from georgia just wandering. Tony and his wife taught me how to do a little masonry. He said he worked on some of the bridges in new york. Eventually they made an actual kitchen at another location on the property but that wasn’t the case during my first visit.
We ended up staying for 2 weeks and they taught us quite alot about gardening, self reliance and it was a shock to me how down to earth these guys were. They got water from the nearby river, collected rain, or just bought some at the store. They dumpster dived for food they couldnt grow and I’ll never forget the day they went to a panera dumpster and came back with an absolutely crazy amount of bagels. Blows my mind to this day.
I’m sure I’m leaving alot out, but I’ll update this and have a part two for the second trip one day.
Vice and Discovery made these guys look like trash. I think these channels have sold out in regards to the agenda they have, and it’s pretty sad. I’ve been from Idaho to Hawaii to South Carolina and these were some of the nicest, well spoken people I’ve met. Obviously there were problems, but nothing related to violence or drug use. People on social media were the biggest problem I saw when I was there.
Cinderland in Pahoa, Hawaii though… do not recommend lol.
I’ve been twice, once towards the end of winter and another time in the fall. I’ll try to keep this short but it was such an interesting time. This is when I visited during the winter.
The garden was kind of a mixed bag. Travelers passing through, people taking breaks from college and whatnot. Was staying at a fruit farm in Aventura, FL and decided I was done with that, and felt the travel bug bite me again. I went with my then girlfriend after a friend told her about it. At first I was like nah, no way because everyone said it was a cult. Then again anything that goes against societal norms is bound to be labeled a cult, so I said screw it and we drove from florida down to the middle of nowhere tennessee.
We get there and it’s around 12 am. Deafened by the crickets mixed with the anxiety of what was to come. Can’t see a thing other than shadows moving beyond the headlights. Her friend tells us to park in the front and we’re led to the back of the living areas to a cabin. Handmade from scrapwood (they made a deal with a local lumbermill) and it was honestly nice. We walk in, greeted by a wood stove, and we meet a girl named Bhodi I think her name was? Beautiful, joyful hippie girl that was as excited to see us as we were to finally get some rest. She gives us a spot to sleep and we drift off, wondering what this place really was.
Wake up in the morning to look around the cabin, and we’re blinded by the rays of the sun peering in through a makeshift window. Saw a ton of hand drawn art (bodhi is an amazing artist), recycled blankets, pillows, bunkbeds made of the same scrapwood, handmade jewelry and trinkets. We hear a horn/trumpet and bodhi tells us this is the breakfast call. I thought it was a battle cry signaling a raid from neighboring communes but whatever.
We make our way up the little hill the cabin was at the bottom of and in doing so I noticed a gorgeous river flowing beneath us. Honestly one of the most breathtaking things I’ve seen, the pictures don’t do it justice.
These guys are heavy into permaculture/recycling, living with the land and overall an egalitarian type community. I realized this as we walked along paths made of woodchips, passing compost toilets and other beautiful scrap cabins. Converted school buses, vans, and a few tents in areas under fruit trees. Chickens were running around, and the garden beds were ready to be planted into. Tomatoes, squash, cabbage, chard, you name it they grew it. Constant projects going on all the time. Turning the compost, hauling in woodchips, foraging mushrooms/wild edibles, building a compost toilet atop cinder blocks, chopping wood for the fire.
The horn was coming from deeper into the actual community and we saw an irish man, smiling from cheek to cheek with fire red hair. This was Tree. He says “new travelers, welcome!”. (I’m paraphrasing sadly). The community kitchen was a converted schoolbus. Wish I had taken a picture, but they built a porch out in the front for people to sit. There were so many interesting people from different backgrounds, sharing a meal. It was awesome. Nick was a carpenter from georgia just wandering. Tony and his wife taught me how to do a little masonry. He said he worked on some of the bridges in new york. Eventually they made an actual kitchen at another location on the property but that wasn’t the case during my first visit.
We ended up staying for 2 weeks and they taught us quite alot about gardening, self reliance and it was a shock to me how down to earth these guys were. They got water from the nearby river, collected rain, or just bought some at the store. They dumpster dived for food they couldnt grow and I’ll never forget the day they went to a panera dumpster and came back with an absolutely crazy amount of bagels. Blows my mind to this day.
I’m sure I’m leaving alot out, but I’ll update this and have a part two for the second trip one day.
Vice and Discovery made these guys look like trash. I think these channels have sold out in regards to the agenda they have, and it’s pretty sad. I’ve been from Idaho to Hawaii to South Carolina and these were some of the nicest, well spoken people I’ve met. Obviously there were problems, but nothing related to violence or drug use. People on social media were the biggest problem I saw when I was there.
Cinderland in Pahoa, Hawaii though… do not recommend lol.
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