We Survived El Niño
by Maqui

Mud, Mud, Mud was the word at ZMS this winter. We were blessed with some glorious weeks of sunny skies in mid-January allowing the mud to just about dry. Then the "child" started crying on us. Almost daily the little brat let go of more snow, more snow, and even more snow. For almost two weeks the temper tantrums of weather were upon us.

Winter Solstice was a quiet affair. John (from Zuni) stayed with us for the weekend. Several of us visited Shalako, a Zuni tribal ritual of dances and feasting. R. Young HERO dropped in expecting to meet up with his ride to San Fran. While here, he discovered his ride broke down thousands of miles away and was forced to change his plans. (We get so many unexpected steward candidates.) Fortunately, as temperatures dropped, Maqui and Eden dropped what they were doing and escorted R. Hero to Sunny Tucson on holiday time. After seeing R Hero to the bus, they returned in time for the New Year. Buffy visited San Francisco for the holidaze and Granite was in New York City visiting Speciak, where he came down with some bug. He found warmth needed to recover in Taos for the winter.

Winter has been an inward reflective process. The isolation from almost everything challenges us during this time. We do have warm spaces, still semi-private spaces, but many chores that require outdoor activity daily. Health concerns forced Granite to reconsider his stewardship here. Warm wishes to him wherever he settles. Granite resided here since the Sanctuary started, building a residence along with establishing the core infrastructure. His efforts in starting the community are appreciated. He decided to give his Dog, Cupid, to ZMS and we are embracing Cupid as our first "community" dog.

We had planning meetings, planning meetings and then some more meetings in preparation for the spring. There were many different questions before us pertaining to the development of the coming summer. For two years it has been a push to finish our projects before the onset of winter. The stress of that is something we want to avoid. A studio is the next step in establishing our sustainability, which is possible with continued donations and we propose the ground breaking in late March.

Our first step towards expansion of the garden will be the addition of a chicken coop with the help of a local neighbor, Kate Wilson, who will care for the chicks until our coop can get built.

The Eggplant Faerie Players from IDA in Tennessee stopped in to perform their currently touring show, "Next Year in Sodom", in Ramah, a few miles from here. The town folk laughed...a lot. One town folk was even overheard as saying "That had to have been the raciest thing ever to come to Ramah." I agree. Gabriel Q, from Destiny, visited in February and gave a mask-making workshop with the local Arts council and several stewards. A real fun time was had by all!

Then more snow, mud and stranded visitors. It seemed every time someone came to visit they got stuck in the mud. Each time we were able to get them out without the help of tow trucks. Ajita came to visit before his trip to Key West. He plans to be there for a while. We will miss him. Frog, Dancing Bear, Zoom, and Douglas also dropped in for a bit.

During the winter, we created a budget committee focusing on examining last year's expenditures so that we can create more long term plans for "stuff" that we need, such as tires for the truck and planning for repairs, rather than digging ourselves in deeper. The stewards have also expended most of their own savings resources in order to meet the financial commitments of the community. Several stewards have contributed their time unconditionally but have little money to buy them their "needs", (i.e. boots, socks) not to mention contribute to the food needs of the group. Others have dug into their savings to pay what is necessary in order to eat. We started looking at how we can conserve our dollars by being more "aware." This created a closer bond of trust and communication.

In a recent meeting we decided to try sharing income, requesting that we examine our needs and wants in order for this to have a centered approach. Our pottery business is to provide residents their income. We also know that not everyone wants to do pottery and may find outside income more desirable, taking time away from community input. With this in mind, we have decided to stop requiring stewards to contribute "rent," so that we may expand the boundaries of sharing our time. Nobody wants "big brother" watching. What has been decided is as follows:*Pottery income is for all stewards.*Outside income received by stewards is being shared with all. *We will work together in trust and communication to share our needs and wants collectively. *Savings that have accrued prior to living here remain as savings while living here. *Donations are always accepted.We are trying these decisions as an experiment and look forward to presenting our results at the board meetings at the Summer Solstice.

Expansion has occurred. We spent much of our time in the Pottery Studio. Owl focused on making bowls, Maqui creating cups and vases, Eden and Buffy crafting Gnome houses. We celebrated the March Full Moon with a FABULOUS Firing. Dipper's birthday coincided with the full moon. We invited many of our new local friends to come and celebrate. We drank from our cups, ate from our bowls and finished the evening with a bonfire and drumming.

As we go to print, spring has arrived, the roads have dried up, our pottery sold, Buffy and Eden off planting trees with TREES N.M. which is re-foresting the Acoma Pueblo, and Maqui celebrating his 40th birthday. Life is so good. BLESSED BE.