My Dream-Avalon-A Sustainable Community

I would like to create a sustainable community.

There I said it. 

I am looking into Grants, investors, and playing the lottery as often as I can as well. I want to make a small part of the world a better place, maybe others may see this dream and say hey, I want to do this too. Can you imagine the world if it were like this?

This has been in my head for a while now, but I finally took the chance to write down the full of my idea and tried to write it as if it is already in the makings. 

One day I WILL do this and hopefully be in the top to change towns and cities as others are trying to do now. This will either be a new town on the list or be called a Farms or Gardens. I am not sure of the route this will go, but it will be pretty large.

I want us to know our neighbors, peacefully. I want to make the community a blend of suburb homes and tiny homes. There will be a school, those who have been homeschooled or are homeschooled or wanting to transfer can go to this school . 

Going into the community from the main road, there will be one large gas station, mechanic shop, and a car wash. A road next to it that enters into the community.

Along the way you will see a lake with a river, as you'll go over a bridge. The lake being stocked with fish from the fish hatchery as a source of food. Near the lake will be farmland, raising livestock, such as cows, goats, sheep, and chickens, etc. This will be for meat, milk, and eggs. Along with the farmland will be horses, to tend to, to ride and take care of, to be social and take a relaxing ride on the trails provided in the woods.

There will be a park near the river, where there will be a pool and kiddie pool, swings, slides, and playgrounds along with grills. Near here will be a dog park for our furry families.

Near the park will be a water wheel along the river that will make it easy to have access to water the plants in the large community garden. 

There will be a library and a museum. The museum will hold all sorts of things and I'm hoping it will hold any artifacts that we find while making a community and homes.

There will be a central area with a fountain, in this central area will be a 2x weekly farmer's market, selling extra goodies and gifts, along with food and possible trading/bartering. In the same area mentioned, there will be picnicking area with grills and a community area to do activities outside together, such as yoga and dancing. Near here will be a Gym.

There will be a second smaller lake/pond that will be near the farmer's market, where you can relax and have paddle boats to enjoy the water and get some exercise while having fun!

There will be several smaller buildings that is for religious purposes, I want everyone to feel welcome and non threatened. Included will be a small Christian Church, a Pagan Temple, A Norse Hall, a Buddhist Temple, Catholic Church and more. I want to exercise that we can live in harmony and there are no set days to go to these places as many others say you have to go, but to utilize these as hang outs to meet on level grounding terms and activities that one can do together in your religion. If you choose to go on certain days, who are we to stop you?

The school will hopefully have teachers that have a passion for teaching and children. In this school I'd like to see Kindergarten to 12th grade and the two sides will be divided out. Each side will have a school garden to learn how to grow food, at different difficulties, what's easier and what's not. The  cafeteria will reside in a huge sun room, if you will, to allow some sun, and easy access to watch the playground. The road into the school will be a one way circle with two exits. You can easily pick up your child, have the mini bus take your child home, or walk home with your child. 

I'd like to have alot of land and the community be in the middle of it. I'd like to divide wooded area into section. The bottom left area being farmland for livestock and trails and greenhouses. The top left for cabins and wooded retreats such as camping and trails. The top right side be used for hunting, there will be barriers that will show how far you can go in certain areas. The bottom right will be for Solar energy, water tower, and sewage. 

There will be all underground wiring, no above ground wires anywhere to take away from the beauty of the land.

Downtown is the fun part. I'd like to foresee several things here.

A Mini Theater, a Fire Department, a Police/Security, a small grocery store- to get those items that you can't get from a farm or farmer's market. A butcher/meat processor (for when you are hunting and need it cut and trimmed or that deals with our livestock). A doctor, the first level will be the regular things and first aid area. The second level will be patient treatments and overnight stays. If needed, they can have you transferred to a larger nearby hospital. There will also be a vet for our furry friends and for our livestock as well. With the vet or next to it will be a pet store for food and toys. There will be several restaurants, all ranging from cafes, pubs, sandwich shops and dining. All will be affordable using local fresh ingredients, maybe not from our farms but we will strive to ensure that it be local to our state. I'd liked to see a few small gift shops and a pharmacy next to the hospital. A post office as well for letters and boxes, if something must be shipped to your home as some places do not allow PO Boxes, please make sure to write your home address and we will deliver it to you personally.

You will be able to walk everywhere and will have easy access into all buildings. Perfect for walkers, runners, and wheelchairs alike.

To keep homes affordable if one buys, I'd like to sell the house and not the land. You will still be able to enjoy the property it is on as it will be yours and it if possible, have it transfer to your next of kin/children. If there is any reason you'll want to sell, we will buy the house back from you to sell it again. This is how we will keep our homes affordable, as many places, such as land trusts and habitat for humanity homes are doing now. Each home comes with a personal driveway and a tilled back yard garden. The Tiny Homes will include a fire pit area and two medium garden rows for the tiny home plot to share. Each tiny home plot will have 6 to 8 tiny homes. I am hoping that all homes will have energy efficient appliances.

To make everything easy and simple, there will be monthly HOA fees. Included in these fees, besides care of road and walkways, pay for our own fire department, police, and teachers (if you do not have a child, we can exclude you out of these fees), these fees will be price adjusted from the houses, tiny houses, downtown shops, and etc that will include Solar Energy, Water from a Water Tower (there will be 3-one large and 2 smaller ones and will be more than sustainable for our size of a community), and sewage area. Included in fees will be wifi and cable (we can hook you up or you can go to the library for computer access or the local pub/cafe to catch the game) We are hoping to work with Charter Cable and Internet. Think of the HOA fees as the bill that pays everything you need in at home all in one payment instead of multiple payments to a multitude of companies.

You'll be able to walk and know your neighbors, know what goes on in your childrens school, volunteer to help with livestock and gardening, and most of all, have an open mind for everyone involved. We want to get along and make friends, we want to be involved and reconnect with life around us. 

This is not the place you go to run away from life, this is the place you come to have a life. This isn't a place where you go to get away from the outside world, I want to include as much of the outside world as I can, but for some reason, our world just isn't that understanding or open minded. We strive to be understanding and open minded. That's why there are different religious temples and if you aren't religious, we aren't looking to judge. Anyone that wants to judge, ridicule, and make fun of, this is not the community to do so. We are here to be free and relax in this life. It is your life's choice after all and being happy should be the top of the list!

 If you decide that you aren't sure, no problem, come take a look before hand, feel the vibe. We don't want you jumping into something that is not for you and will make you unhappy. 

We want you to be happy, to be involved. Does it mean you have to stay forever? No! Only if you want to of course, we also want to have the downtown buildings to include jobs, but if you have a job on the outside of our community, that's fine too! You do what makes you happy and feel best. That's exactly what we are aiming for. 

Thank you for taking the time to get to the end and I am looking forward to one day greeting you in our community Avalon!

A festival and a homeless war vet changed my views

So I've been busy getting ready for a one day show to sell my wares, a Pagan Pride day that has been moved downtown in my town, the year before it was in a park, but it was the first time I ever accepted myself and did a festival on my own without my family, I normally let them sell the goods and crystals and I just help move stuff, last years festival set me in the direction where I am today.

Anyways, so it was going good, and I met some new and interesting people and some even gave me that family vibe. It was great.

Now, I try to give back when and if I can. 1st there was a five guys burgers and fries there in front of my tent downtown and I went to go get drinks and a burger to share with my husband during halfway through the pride day festival. As I was getting my drinks ready and waiting on our food, I saw the first homeless man sitting outside with a cardboard sign saying anything helps and god bless. So I asked for a water cup, got him some ice water and gave him five dollars, he ran for a cheap place called The Grill, cheap but good food and open 24 hours which is a plus, he came back out with a baggie of food and I saw him go back to his spot and and eat.

I had people look at me funny for doing that, but I didn't care. We were all making money out there and yeah, I'm poor and have bills to pay and if we don't make a certain amount to pay, our bills may be turned off or we could be homeless too.

Nearing the end of the festival since it lasted from 5-10pm (I got there at 3 like others though thankfully, those extra 2 hours helped bring in a little extra funds), a man walked up ever so quietly to my tent. I saw him asking other tents and booths and I saw them ignore him. He asked me for clear crystal for healing. I could barely hear him, he spoke so softly.

I asked my husband to come over and listen to him, and then we understood he was homeless and told us he didn't have much but heard that day that crystals were good for healing. He wasn't asking for charity or anything, he even offered to pay something.

I asked him why do you want a quartz for healing. He asked me if it was okay to show us his scars. We nodded yes.

His left hand was missing three fingers, he had a line go from his hand to his shoulder, showing us an air force tattoo with his numbers. He then asked my husband to steady him while he took off his boot and sock and put his pant leg up. He fell over and my husband caught him. He had a scar on his knee and was missing 3 toes. Another vendor was walking around and saw him and stayed around.

I asked him if he would be okay with me asking him what happened? His eyes got cloudy, and started to tear up. You could see probably a thousand memories slip through his mind and his heart break. He spoke up in a rattled voice trying to simplify his wounds, "Air force...I was a bomber pilot...I murdered innocent people..my leg and foot always hurt...the pain, and the memories...they are the worst....sometimes I can't breath they are so strong"

The woman vendor came to him and held him and whispered in his ear that it was not his fault, but he was only doing what he was told. She mentioned to come to her tent because her husband was ex-military and she wanted to go into the air force as well, but was too short. He later went with her and sat with her husband, I don't know for how long.

He looked at me with tears in his eyes asking me slowly "crystal....for healing...something has gotta give".

Now I'm going to be honest with you, I grew up with crystals and people talk about how lovely the energies are and the healing and such, but I don't feel it, but then again, I've grown around it and probably accustomed to it. I know people talk of it, but the feeling of the healing stones is still foreign to me, but I have seen it work for others.

I found two small pieces at first, two flat pieces, one to put in his shoe, I wrapped it in plastic. My husband took his shoe and put the crystal in there for him, so it wouldn't hurt him. 2nd, I gave him a singing quartz necklace, they are known to bring about positive energy, get rid of negative and stagnant energy, this man really needed it. My husband put it around him and told him no charge and put on his sock and shoe for him and brought down his pant leg and helped him up. The man had tears in his eyes.

I had one more piece to give him, another small flat crystal, a golden healer, good for a pocket rock/worry stone. I told him it'll be good for a worry stone, so when he gets upset, he can hold the crystal and rub it with his thumb. He freaked out.

"M'am, you don't even know me, but when I was in the air force, they gave us a worry stone/worry pendant to hold in times of stress or fear. You don't even know me but gave me a piece of myself again, I'm never going to lose this." He held his heart while speaking.

My husband and the woman continued to speak to him while I had to talk to other customers in my tent. Other vendors were looking at us of course, some in disgust, some trying not to stare, and some just not caring. One group was walking by, and this irritated me because they were wearing wounded warrior t-shirts and looked at him in my tent on the ground with a scrunched up face and kept walking. If only they knew, if only they supported what they wore.

The man said he was in "the bay of pigs invasion", he was a bomber pilot for the air force. He kept telling us softly but got a little more stern "You all...you all are sweet people, innocent people, ya'll never killed nobody, I did, I wear their souls on my back everyday."

This man was homeless, is a war vet, has been severely hurt and wounded, has PTSD, gets no help from the looks of things, and was looking at my crystals as a last resort to help his pain, he heard people talking about the healing crystals and asked around and got shunned. He cried in my husband's arms, cried in the other vendor's arms, his eyes were so lost and filled with so much pain, anguish and resentment, these memories haunt him everyday and people just pass him in the street.

We never even got his name, he was never angry, he spoke soft, in almost whispers, like it hurt him to get angry, like it hurt him to speak louder. I imagine him screaming from the memories alone like so many others. I imagine him going to the liquor store near there to get whiskey to try and sleep, to try and forget.

He mentioned that he wanted to learn more about crystals from my husband,  but he is still learning and didn't know what to say.

I hate that our people who served in wars for our own country are homeless, jobless, and like anyone who fought for any battle, the memories, however old, will be forever fresh in ones mind.

I had such a good day yesterday, meeting new people and seeing people from last year, but this man stuck out to me, I sit to relax and try to meditate or even to cook and his life comes to my mind. I'm so glad my husband was there, he had wanted to go to the navy seals,  but his knee would constantly blow out along with his shoulder from a dirt bike accident when he was 11. But he loves all things military with a passion and treats everyone with respect.

I hope other people saw what we did, saw that we treated him like a human being, like he was one of our own family, as many of others should've.

But most of all, I really honestly hope those crystals help heal him, even if it not be physically, but mentally and spiritually. His eyes that night made me want to believe in the healing powers that crystals give off.