By this time next week, this site will be alive with people attending the Four Corners Earth Skills gathering.
It starts on Sunday, on a farm just east of Durango.
My friend Ken is helping with setup, and I dropped him off a few days early.
People can take classes on wild plants, hide tanning, basket weaving, pottery, drumming, archery, and lots more.
A bonfire in the central firepit will burn all day for cooking and pottery firing.
The organizer is an outfit called the Winter Moon Initiative, run by a guy named Cannon, who I met a few years ago when he and his partner were living nomadically with a herd of goats in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona.
The gathering is a screen-free event, so I was lucky to get photos of the site before digital cameras are banned.
I got to go barefoot in the mud and soak my toes in the cold water of the creek.
I even got stung by a yellow jacket. When I asked for a remedy, Cannon gave me some homemade salve. He put it on a stick for me to take with me.
Events like this are taking place all around the country – called earth skills or aboriginal skills gatherings, where people celebrate and learn about living with nature.
If you’re interested, there’s still space at the gathering. Registration is also screen free – it’s by snail mail or in person only. But there is information online at wintermoontribe.org.
Originally posted at magnificentpassage.com.