IV. Sunseed

*Written May 7

Another three months later and here we are again. I’m laughing as I’m writing this because it’s just so very in-character. For those of you who have been reading these, my earnest thanks for bearing with me so patiently. 

Perhaps I can give you the run-down of what I’ve been up to in a later piece of writing, but for now, I’d like to update you on what’s happening now. On Thursday I arrived to Sunseed after two long days of overland (and sea) travel from Morocco.

Sunseed is a small eco-project in southern Spain near the town of Sorbas. It was founded in 1987 by some folks from the UK. Since then, it has transformed in a lot of ways, and it is now an ever-changing community of young people with a common interest in socially and ecologically sustainable living. 

I’ll be spending the next two months in this community as an intern. I can’t say I have a clear idea of what it will look like, but I’m hoping to work a lot with herbs and medicinal plants and learn how to use them to support my fellow community members. Right now, we are about 20, but that will change as volunteers come and go. The place is gorgeous- dry, bone-colored hills full of life. Birds, trees, snakes, shrubs, mice, cacti, insects of all kinds. The desert is a great teacher of resiliency. How can this much life abound in such harshness? It is dry, but there is water. A creek cuts through the hills, languid and blue-green, teeming with turtles, frogs, and flies. 

Daily life here is different and lacking many of the luxuries I’m accustomed to back home. The water comes from a spring, and it is shared amongst everyone in the village. I hear that some days there will be no water. Some days there will be very little. Showers are short and more infrequent and the bathrooms are baños secos, or without water. The nutrients that we usually flush away are processed and eventually returned to the earth. The energy comes from the sun, so on cloudy days, there will not be enough power to charge phones or laptops or run the electric kettle to make a cup of tea. We cook and eat together, almost exclusively vegetables, grains, and legumes, and the laundry machine is bicycle-powered. Life feels a little slower and much more intentional, and it’s wonderful. I’m very excited for what’s to come and very excited to settle into a bit of a routine.

I’ve been thinking a bit about purpose, and I’m not quite sure what my purpose is here, or what anyone else’s is for that matter. The question of “Why?” remains. Why live a life like this? Why do it here? Why do it in this way? I know I want to learn about and practice living a sustainable life, which I define as a life that helps create social and ecological balance. A sustainable life is a life of reciprocity and free of exploitation. It is something they have not achieved here at Sunseed, but it is the first place I’ve been where people are working so actively to create it. They succeed in many areas and fail miserably in others. But, so much of what I’ve experienced throughout these last seven months has challenged my often very dichotomous thinking- thinking that people or things are this way or that when, in reality, everything is so complex, usually so complex that it’s beyond my comprehension. I think because of this, I’m cultivating consciousness and empathy in small but important ways. 

Now that I’ll be settling in for a bit, maybe I’ll be better about writing. I’ve been feeling ready to come home for the last month or so, but for now, I’m going to try to make this my home.