today we adventure further into biochar and soil wellness.
love and permanent culture joining in the garden
at the wonderful waltz in late august we met many new folks who made there way to sunswept farm.. that night was magical, full of star light streaming down into our mountain cove and mixing with the fiddle and guitar and lifted us all to a melodious community moment. children dancing with elder children along with seasoned waltz steppers, and those looking to in joy the romance of dance for the first time. in this musical mix appeared the biochar man,, jon and his daughter full of life, dance and talk.. jon and i talked, when feet were still, and brained up this day as a day to apply jon genius to our mind’s eye of dreams to grow better understanding of fertility and soil based beauty. jon comes to consult and give us the intelligence based understanding of modern bio engineering of mycrobes and bacteria and manure rich investments into soil. if you don’t mind some rain come this way and learn about the wonders of bio char, and wealthy soil lasting a millenia..
currently only a small handful of people rule the corporations who control our food industry.. we refuse to be content with this historical moment’s march. small as we are, we are one of the many voices & biceps that makes small farming and family farming continue in this modern moment. got to get back to the garden in heart mind recommunion with the real earth which we are a part. 
to me this is the only answer i can wrap my self around on a daily basis. politics and the current march of humanity numbly marking today as same as yesterday and wakes not to the conditions of vulnerablity we bring to ourselves and our planet does not weaken our resolve to continue to herald the microbes and terra petra.. little it may be to make good soil, but start where you stand,, rise up in little ways as a citizen of the earth, and claim a better way.. today we will do that.. come listen to jon talk to us if you have the time to attend.. fresh made cornbread and fresh pressed apple cider to in joy while ears are open to new info for applications of your own..
a quote, as to our ability to return to a more full citizenship of our land, by returning to the soil and gardens that were the lifestyle this country found origins, within the cycles and intimacy with land and food. 
Food Power: Only Connect
This rising global food movement taps universal human sensibilities—expressed in Hindu farmers in India saving seeds, Muslim farmers in Niger turning back the desert and Christian farmers in the United States practicing biblically inspired Creation Care. In these movements lies the revolutionary power of the food movement: its capacity to upend a life-destroying belief system that has brought us power-concentrating corporatism.
Corporatism, after all, depends on our belief in the fairy tale that market “magic” (Ronald Reagan’s unforgettable term) works on its own without us.
Food can break that spell. For the food movement’s power is that it can shift our sense of self: from passive, disconnected consumers in a magical market to active, richly connected co-producers in societies we are creating—as share owners in a CSA farm or purchasers of fair-trade products or actors in public life shaping the next farm bill.
The food movement’s power is connection itself. Corporatism distances us from one another, from the earth—and even from our own bodies, tricking them to crave that which destroys them—while the food movement celebrates our reconnection. Years ago in Madison, Wisconsin, CSA farmer Barb Perkins told me about her most rewarding moments: “Like in town yesterday,” she said, “I saw this little kid, wide-eyed, grab his mom’s arm and point at me. ‘Mommy,’ he said. ‘Look. There’s our farmer!’”
At its best, this movement encourages us to “think like an ecosystem,” enabling us to see a place for ourselves connected to all others, for in ecological systems “there are no parts, only participants,” German physicist Hans Peter Duerr reminds us. With an “eco-mind” we can see through the productivist fixation that inexorably concentrates power, generating scarcity for some, no matter how much we produce. We’re freed from the premise of lack and the fear it feeds. Aligning food and farming with nature’s genius, we realize there’s more than enough for all.
As the food movement stirs, as well as meets, deep human needs for connection, power and fairness, let’s shed any notion that it’s simply “nice” and seize its true potential to break the spell of our disempowerment.
the full moon will keep you from seeing the conjunction of venus and the pleiades this first week of april.. open to the truth and heart of all things. but this is part of the mayan knowledge of the skies, venus so central to their calendar. this event is noted as timing in 2012.
May Day
for those who come to the farm this time of the year, might be good idea to love the sounds of tree frogs right out open windows, as is the sound of water on all sides.
if natures ons and offs are of an interruption to sleep earplugs are a must. cause everywhere in a year of rich water, the land is alive with sound and gusto. all seeds sprout, even the potatoes so protected from light in the root cellar, they too must reach for the sun. out piggies (two) are now big enough to be in the pasture with our two milk cows Babe and May.. the graze as a foursome through the field as if of one unit. cute, and actually really good to grow. Daisy, our older cow, now happily lives with Mac and Ethel, our only other milkers on the creek.. their needs are such that Daisy will be good for them and their family as we do not need 3 milk cows for our family farm attitudes. 
Babe still is producing over 2 gallons a day, which we share with ourselves, and like minded few, and much goes to the piggies,, making bacon on the hoof… Ruddy Stew ( he got two names )the baby steer that we are milking Babe from his birth is still in a lower field till he fully forgets about mom’s nipples.. then he will join them up above the farm house. the garden is much planted with spring greens. still too soon for summer crops up here. although we now have low lever hoop hut technologies to add to the finges of growing time.. we will put those into the mix as we go along for future times and summer shades.. 22 varieties of tomatoes are growing along,, as tomatoes are loved by all first to last.. and the sauces we make,, umm.. say no more,, let me go sing to those babies, and see if they will come along a bit stronger for me.
this is the time of year where all needs a little touch, and i feel small in the mix.. john loves his mix into here and as life moves forward, finds more and more the pace we share here to full fill the deep places.
we have been stirring beautiful art from john brown hand into a calendar, and greeting cards. john is the artist, and any one who knows something about gettting this to a print point, there are many steps in between. imagination and ability to draw are wonderful gifts john has in him.. computer and worldly side, tis me.. doing my part to suppport to beauty in this man.. just about to move outside this membrane here… this is very good,, long birth ..
last weekend in May ( 25th -27th),
Sunswept has the honor to share her lands with josh fox and juneberry fest.. I’d like to invite you to the Juneberry Lovefest– a celebratory, open-space gathering for love and healing. Join us on the magical Sunswept farm for a weekend of yoga, qi-gong, plant walks, sing-alongs, school-house games, sunrise hikes up Max Patch, pond-swimming, chanting, and whatever magic you wish to bring! This family-friendly festival will be limited to 50 participants and registration has already opened. 4-5 amazing fresh, local, and wild meals; and camping (limited cabin space is available on first-register-first-serve basis).
More info and registration at:http://juneberry.joshfox.com
we are growing more food than we need as usual. most of what we grow we use, and have margins in case of failures.. then we expect to offer food toward gatherings. and then there is much more of the rest. at present neighbors come help through the summer and pick and take what they need from the bounty that is here. if this idea appeals to you as a way to visit with a goal as well. please come and share in the summer wonder of the mountains that this land is..