Rootstalk - Part One

Wednesday -
There were five of us girls from our local farmgirl chapter who went off to Rootstalk for an adventure in back to nature. It began with a 4 hour road trip that would take us to our first overnite stop where we were staying at Robin's folks home up in Drain, Or. Their beautiful spread on a hillside with wild berries and pines abounded. We pitched our bedrolls out on the driveway thinking we would enjoy the night stars. Before we even had sat down to a wonderful, filling dinner Robin's folks put together for us, dad tells about a bear they saw a week before just down across the yard. So guess what? Yep, we all moved our beds into the garage although we did leave the door open for the fresh air,we felt like we were not so much bear bait. Yeah, right. We laughed well into the night with silly stories.

Thursday -
By early morning after a splendid breakfast feast, we hit the road to Salem which was another hour and a half away, and were the first campers to arrive at Rootstalk. How excited we were to think we could have first pick of our camp site and begin enjoying the vendors wares early on.

We were greeted by this nice gal who was given orders that no one was to enter the grounds until 2pm so she allowed us to park at the side of the road until opening time.


We pulled out our chairs, munched on goodies, chatted with others who came from afar and waited for 2pm to come.
Nearing 2:00 we had several cars behind us and the road was not very wide for allowing the vendors and larger trucks to get by us, and it was not easy to see what was around the bends, so I think they let us in a few minutes earlier for safety reasons.
This is a first for Rootstalk so there will always be kinks that need worked out.

Well, once inside we were instructed to unload our vehicles onto the side of the road near the registration area. Then someone would come by and load up our things into their vehicle to take us up to the camp site. So I went in the direction they sent me to park my truck while the other girls road up to where we were to be deposited on the side of another road. The parking lot they sent me in my truck, and Cheryl in her car, was way down in the back forties and if you needed a body adjustment or not, you got one. We were driving through an open field of holes and tall grasses. We were then instructed to walk back or wait for sometime before a ride came to take us back up the hill and that it would take us only 15 minutes to walk it if we chose to. With the steep hills ahead of us, we began our first hike, but knew it would take us probably 30 minutes to get back up there. One unhappy traveler decided he would not park that far away and proceeded back up the hill and gave us a lift to the top. Thank you Grant.

Once back up to the registration area, we caught a ride on a golf cart, which we had to hang on to for dear life from falling out the open back, and we were taken to our camp site where the girls had been dumped and were busy hauling everything to a spot where we eventually set up camp. It is close to the bath and showers and near the pond and just down a path not far from all the activities.

By now we have all worked up a good sweat with loading and unloading our tons of stuff, and with the humidity in the air, we were off to hit the showers and then hopefully to find something to eat as it is now close to 4:30 and we had done nothing but snack since breakfast.

Well, I'm not a health nut by any means, so finding food I could eat and know it would fill me up was a bit of a challenge. Octopus, anchovie pizzas not my thing, cabbage wrapped strange veggies, not my thing, aahhh..... cafe latte won my heart. It did'nt hurt that I had crackers, cookies and yogurt back at camp.

The night comes on and we settle into bed listening to some of the singers and musicians playing beautiful relaxing music as we drift off to sleep. But...........lo and behold, hours later I am awakened with someone shouting like they are looking for their kid, and then it starts this beating of a drum and others chanting or something. It is as though I am in some far away place like the Amazon or such and the natives have started a ritual of some sort. At first it is kinda cool music to the ears and then when you're hopeing it would slow and come to a hault, it only gets louder and louder and louder and lasts well into the wee hours of the morning.

Friday -
Morning is here, the natives have gone to bed, we climb out of our tents and I am in search of an eye opener so I'm off to retrieve my latte then back down the hill, through a beautiful path of wild berries and wild fern and flora, to the outdoor amphitheater to see speaker Kathi Keville talking to us about medicinal herbs for sustainability. Some of the gals have joined in for yoga, but I am too sore for this this morning. I take notes for an hour, then it is off to another class.

I have come to see speaker KP Khalsa. He will speak about the holistic healing system of India. It is about the practices of every aspect of a person's health and lifestyle.

Here we are to learn about the ancient healing wisdom of Ayurveda. I have learned that my Dosha is that of a Vata, a swan. I have the body of a weak and frail structure, I am of creative character and I crave sugar. Boy, he sure knew what he was talking about. Had me down to the science of all being.
After tasting some very strange things which were passed about, that are good for you,  I just had to go find something to wash my palate once the class was over. But first I was going in search of some real food to stay my hunger pangs. I managed to find some quinoa with shredded pork. YUM!

Around four I went to sit on the side of a hill to listen to speaker Wren Davidson who told us about 12 master healer herbs we probably see on the side of the road or our own backyards. She told of their healing properties and how to collect the plants themselves.

Afterward I shopped at some of the vendors booths where I found a nice walking stick to help me up and down the hills and I found a sample of some pain reliever to apply to my back and arms, which by now are hurting really bad, so it was back to camp and early to bed.
Sleeping soundly for awhile, I am once again awoken sometime into the late hours with beating of the drums. Yep, well into the wee hours of morn. These natives aren't sleeping tonight. I tried the ear plugs that I found at the medic tent earlier on. I tried covering my head with a pillow but nothing worked to quiet the sounds, until I discovered I had brought some Advil PM. Oh what wonderful stuff.

                             Stay tuned for some more adventures tomorrow.