Frog Belly Farm is an enchanting place in the light of a waxing Lupercalia moon.
As I strode into the barn yard through the muddied remains of the a sunny Colorado February day, I noticed some goats under their stall lights and wondered if any of the ancient rituals of the season’s most notable pastoral festival were slated for later. Before my attention turned to the glow radiating from inside the event house, I gave the sky above the horizon line one last glance before entering the barn with a dearest friend keeping stride in trendily booted fashion.
My spirits were flush at the prospect of the merging of so many of my favorite local things under one big rural roof. The hum of the cameraderie crowned the festivities and schmoozing with the warmth of open hearts celebrating life – and the sacred fragility of it – as we had all come together to support the lifeforce of Lisa Sanchez. One of my most favorite Gregory Alan Isakov songs is Garden, about this very circle of life. It’s those nuances of the greater cycles spinning from earth to stars to the human heart and back again that hold me enrapt when I listen to his music imbued with those sensibilities that could only come from one who pays attention to the cosmic and the microcosmic at once.
In no time, I had bid on my favorite Boulder-based eco-centric body-product-line in the silent auction, taught the guy behind the bar how to pour the potential explosion that is a bottle of Kombucha (“Pop the top fast and pour half in a glass. It needs SPACE to expand…”), and found myself nestled on the stairwell overlooking the carpet draped area filled with strings ready for strumming by Gregory, Jeb and Phillip and a piano waiting to come alive by James Han (of Bela Karoli). After a day spent wondering what the wind would blow in, I found myself double fisting kombucha in a barn brimming with the biggest hearts in Boulder awaiting to hear the most beautiful music in the most intimate of spaces. As I took it all in, I looked at my friend Heather and smiled a smile that came deep from my heartspace: “This evening could only get better if Johnny Depp walked in wearing a pirate outfit,” I said to her.
Before the music played, the man behind the camera asked if Gregory was a big name. “If he’s not, he should be,” I said. “There’s not one person that I introduce his music to that doesn’t love him instantly.” And that is true of my experience – it was aural bliss at first listen, yet it was more soul stirring than that: I feel more connected to the whole of life, as though all the fragments we piece together in this universe come together and everything in my world rights itself again. Of the 10 shows I’ve been to of his, this private performance in a barn topped the charts in the way that you toss that last hay bale on top of the stack at the end of summer. Heather had been with me to 4 of those 10 shows, all at different venues, and agreed. His music once again shone through soft and wild, like the light filtering in from the heavens.
It seems as if so much aligned to make this event the happening that it was, not only in the practical sense of planning but in the more auspicious ways that I wouldn’t doubt someone had considered when you remember the biodynamic persuasion of Frog Belly Farm. The evening held more than a wisp of magic in the air, love was palpable in the energetic warmth fueled by intentions of health as winter begins to lose its firmness.
Winter may be still, but it is still moving. The lyrical vibrations reverberating the heart strings of all who held that space tuned us to the innate joy of the human experience and the richness that the compost offers for new growth. Such is the seasonal cycle we are in – ready to emerge anew. But, perhaps we need the contrasts to deepen our appreciation for it all.
words mean more at night
like a song
and did you ever notice
the way light means more than it did all day long?
- from Words, on This Empty Northern Hemisphere
* * *
Allison Schultz was a cowgirl in a not-so-distant past life who writes best when wearing Pangea Organic’s Facial Mask (also loves the Balancing Oil and Eye Cream she got from the silent auction) and has a penchant for permaculture, pansies and starlight. She’s a writer, artist and the force behind Auspicious Projects – the creative agency for creative agency that dishes up text and image with soul and savvy – based in Boulder, CO. She’s the betider of The Manifest Sessions, the starlet of Swell+Stellar, the writer of The Kissing Lessons – and the creative conspirator behind Love.Life.Art.Work – a blog about cultivating the creative art of living.
Thank You! Lisa and I are sitting here having a good cry to your words that capture what was a most magical evening. Love is real and you share that reality beautifully. Lisa couldn’t attend the event but you captured the essence of the experience perfectly.
thanks, Dave! it really really was a special eve. I was more than a little blissed out. big hugs to both of you! xo ali