🌈 April 2026 – Family & Community

Posted April 22, 2026

Family and community have been the most present themes this month at La Floresta. Every year during the lunar cycle of the spring Equinox we help to organize a rainbow gathering in Costa Rica. In my nuclear family we've gone through a bit of turbulence this month, and in our extended community an interesting film project is beginning to brew.

The rainbow gathering just ended and, as usual, a wistful feeling lingers on the days following our return. On the flip side, a sense of stillness and peace of mind endures as well--the side effects of spending many days deep in nature and away from phones and EMF radiation. The nostalgia mostly stems from the fact that I'll probably have to wait another year to sit around a big fire with a large tribe of kindred souls--singing heart songs, playing drums, telling stories, etc...

At the gatherings we call each other 'family' and the custom is to treat ourselves as such. It is a global movement encompassing members from all around the world and from every background. The intention is to come together and pray for peace and unity. It's been going on since 1972 and is one of remaining threads of the hippie era still alive today. It's one of the few true movements I know where there's no central leadership or capital interests--just humans coming together for a common purpose.

Sometimes it seems easier to feel familiar with complete strangers, from across the globe, than it does with my own blood family. My father and I started La Floresta together, and we've now lived in the same house on the farm for over a year and half. That in itself is quite a feat. I've realized how our relationship was much easier when it was long-distance.

To quote my dad when we first started this project, "If it were easy they'd all be doing it." It still rings true today, and I certainly understand why most people don't live with their parents. Yet, the most valuable things in life are rarely easy and the value of our collaboration is evident in the beautiful farm we've been creating together. In 2024, we survived a roundtrip driving adventure to haul down all of his things and tools from the U.S. to Costa Rica--crossing all of Mexico and most of Central America. If we could get through that I'm sure we can transcend our recent misunderstandings.

We're currently working on remodeling one of the containers (our house was built on top of two shipping containers). Once it's done my dad will move downstairs and I'm sure a little more space will do us both good, as we currently share a wall and can hear each other turning over in bed. A few people came back with us from the gathering. They're helping us remodel the conatiners.

In our extended community we work closely with the Patos Suertudos permaculture farm nearby. For the past 8 months we've sold their organic products at our farmer's market stand, and we've had a close relationship with them for several years. Recently Kristy proposed that we get together for a film project, 'Biofilm.' We haven't yet worked out the details of what we're actually going to film. But, I've been playing around with an idea--I once heard of an alliance of farms in South America where they had a program called "mano vuelta." Basically the idea is that once a month, the members of each farm get together at one farm and help with a project there. The next month everyone goes to another farm and the process continues until every farm has had help on a project. I think something like this could make for a very intriguing documentary.

As world affairs seemingly move towards conflicts and fabricated scarcity, the value of strong community and family is clearer than ever. If we row towards a common purpose we can much more easily face any storms that come our way. Individuality seems great until we need help. Our plants are also part of our community and family. One of the things that I love most about working with plants is the intimate feeling of symbiosis. The love and attention we put into them comes back out in abundance--just as it does with our human relationships and communities. This month we've been blessed with and abundance of community, as well as endless lemon-drop mangosteens (Garcinia intermedia), gin berries (Glycosmis pentaphylla), custard apples (Rollinia mucosa), strawberry guavas (Psidium cattleyanum), Amazonian grapes (Pourouma cecropiifolia), miracle fruits (Synsepalum dulcificum), and more!