Jaya writes about May's deep rest retreat at the Moulin de Chaves, in France...
Last year flood, this year drought
the inner spring keeps bubbling up. ~~
...and also sends news from Dharmaloca, in Spain, where the one-month retreat is wrapping up.
Dharmaloca news
This week it's loquats and chard. We did not plant them ourselves, but they are here. Their giving is carefree, wild. Loquat juice running down our arms; chard appearing in lentil soup, quiche, stir fry.
For all the tomato seeds I sowed and lost, three have come up on their own--"volunteers"-- sometimes in the middle of the stone garden path, sometimes in clusters under the apricot tree. This month, retreatant-friends have helped transplant their crazy giving--sometimes to dignified, drip-irrigated locations next to the Zapotec Pleated and German Queen tomatoes, and sometimes next to volunteer calendula and morning glory by the caravans...hoping for rain.
It is curious how this year at Dharmaloca, the human life has followed a similar pattern: some friends from past years are back, but many of those who planned sincerely and enthusiastically on being here could not make it. Meanwhile, popping up unexpectedly along the way, surprises: visitor-retreatants to help us enjoy this season of harvests, and plant for the harvests to come.