Winnie's Whereabouts

San francisco & greengulch farm

More writeup & photos coming up soon.. abt my 4day stint at a zen organic farm 30min drive fr sf :)


Green Gulch =========
I was at GreenGulch for 3 nights, as 50%-guest and 50%-volunteer scheme. Green Gulch is an organic farm built around a zen community, right by Muir beach. Muir woods, a famous conservation grove of giant red wood trees is just 15min drive away. Its a beautiful place, and lots of work is put to make it that way. Herbs, vegetables, flowers, guesthouse and a zen community coexist. Every morning.. i think its abt 5am, there is meditation! This is followed by a short community work, such as cleaning the zendo or temple hall, rearranging the pillows etc. There is a beautiful concept of keeping to time - when the bell goes, everyone stops what they are doing, and finishes there. A bow-out happens, and its time for breakfast. The Guest retreatant program includes compulsory meditation, helping out in the kitchen after breakfast, and/or other allocations such as gardening, guesthouse housekeeping. After lunch, its free n easy for this program, at which i spent the time visiting the beach, muir woods and reading.

Learnings:
* Stop when e bell rings :) . There's a beautiful discipline to this practise.
* Eco-friendly detergents work very well.. Guesthouse is kept very clean & fresh using just vinegar and baking soda. No chemical detergents are used.
* Generosity. A very nice lady named Paula offered to drive me from SF to Greengulch. It seemed way too much to accept. But she said this: just think of it like a buddha giving another buddha a ride :) ! That was so beautiful, and reflects e zen attitude that buddha nature is right there, and we have enlightenment right in our hands, right in e moment. So i accepted.

posted by cloudz1 @ 9:55 AM