Will You Repeat Your Programming As Temporary Caretakers on The Land, Building Your Temporary Dream Life, Or Will You Instead Create Something On Your Land For Eternity?

First Visit To Our Land

For educational purposes I've left this report on line, of our first visit to this land we loved.  As time passed we chose not to pursue this land for several reasons.   We also ran into funding delays that changed our tactic in looking for land.  We did, nevertheless, love this property and had two pretty magical visits there. 

Yuri Ben and Joyce visited our land the first time on Saturday Jan. 17, 2009 just before 11:00am.  Following is their report of the highlights of the visit but the personal and collective experiences they shared were far too big and complex to capture in a few pages of words.

We each felt something important happening even before we saw the land.  In truth we all felt the pull to this land in one way or another long before this trip.  On Friday some of us felt the “pull” as we viewed several properties on the north side of hiway 160.  We longingly thought, “I wish we could look at something on the south side of the hiway.   

The realtor was surprised at how quickly we were able to view all the properties he wanted to show us on Friday.  We were disappointed in all of them and it only left one property for Saturday morning.  We began to think we might be able to return to Denver afterward rather than Sunday, as planned. 

We didn't know what the realtor was going to show us Saturday.  He had not sent us a profile of that land nor had he spoken of it.  However, in his office Saturday morning he spoke of a 1500 acre piece of land south of Mancos that we were going to look at, and two of us felt exciting energy begin moving in our bodies.  The closer we got to the land, the stronger the excitement grew.  

A mile or more before we reached the land, we met the other realtor, Sam Hoffman, who showed us a map and gave us preliminary information.  By that time all three of us were feeling the pull of “home,” even though this area was not what any of us in our group thought we were looking for.  

As we drove to the land we passed an apple orchard and a few small farms.  Later, the realtors spoke of nearby vineyards.  The snow sparkled everywhere.  It looked like acres and acres of diamonds.  We learned that the realtor for the land was also the owner of it.  As we got to know Sam our respect of him grew tremendously.  When he described the changes and improvements he had made we were awed.  

He explained how he had restored an artificially straightened river that flowed way too fast through the valley, to a naturally meandering river that caressed the land and fed it as it wandered through.  He had introduced beavers that had dammed up a portion creating a wetland area.  Sam had built many ponds on the land as part of a gravity flow system of irrigating, eliminating the need for pumps. (We’d hoped to find a property that would allow us to do that, but he had done it for us.) 

Sam had built an island in one large pond as a predator free stopping place, for Canada geese flying south.  He had planted trees strategically to protect the ponds and the pond life.  He had restored severely overgrazed land to productive pasture for harvest and for wild life.  He created watering ponds and grazing meadows for mule deer and elk herds.  

Sam loves the wild life and has worked diligently and lovingly to bring as many varieties as possible back to this land.  He has built habitat that attracts many varieties of birds rarely seen in this area, including his beloved bluebirds.  He created habitat that supported the over-wintering of herds of large animals that used to only pass quickly through on their way to nearby wilderness areas.  

Among others, the land supports bears, mountain lions, lynx’s, coyotes, wild turkeys, golden eagles, blue heron, ducks, huge rainbow trout and even a lobo wolf that has come over from New Mexico where they were recently re-introduced. 

For six years Sam has poured his love into this land, the wildlife, and nature.  He has also beautifully cared for two 100 year old log cabins that are historic heirlooms.  He has cared for two large barn structures and a small one room “writer’s” cabin that overlooks ponds and the lower valley.  He put in a three bedroom modular caretaker home that is now empty.  

Sam’s eyes and face light up when he speaks of this magnificent and exceedingly rare piece of land.  He showed us where the Mesa Verde Wilderness meets the land along the West; where the Ute Reservation Sacred Wilderness Lands border the South side of the land; where BLM wilderness land borders the land to the Southeast, East and North.  He told about the Anazazi ruins along the East Canyon fork of the land. 

Every new thing Sam told us fueled the fire of excitement and joy we were feeling.  The water rights on this land exceed any land we’ve looked at.  The land not only has four times the water Sam could ever imagine being able to utilize on the land, he has the right to take water directly from the two rivers that run through the land (one through each canyon).  

This land was once populated with 100,000 Anazazi who lived in the cliffs and the mountain tops, and farmed the valley floor similar to the current lifestyle of the Hopi’s who say the Anazazi are their tribal ancestors.  Some of the piñon pines are 400-500 years old – possibly present when the last of the Anazazi were leaving the area. 

The 1500 acres of this land has piñon pine, cedar, juniper, ponderosa pine, cottonwood, aspen, willow, and sage.  The elevation ranges from around 6500 feet at the lowest point of the valley floor to around 7500 feet at the top of the East Canyon.  The growing season begins mid May and generally ends mid October.  

Even though the road into the East Canyon was covered in deep snow, keeping us from driving it, Yuri hiked back nearly two hours on his snowshoes.  The two realtors left us there soon after Yuri started off.  He only got about a third of the way but reported seeing cliff dwelling ruins, small secondary valleys like culdesacs, and wonderful rock formations.  

While Yuri was hiking the East Canyon, Ben and I followed a snow mobile trail for a while.  We communicated with trees and the land and each of us had a personal Native American pipe ceremony (Ben is a Lakota Sioux Pipe carrier).  

As we smoked the traditional sacred tobacco mix with the spirits of the six physical directions, we expressed our gratitude for the knowledge, resources, wisdom, help, health and endurance to support our easy and abundant transition to this land.  We thanked all the spirits of the Land, Earth and Sky for bringing us back to this place.  

I knew I was home.  We all did.  All our questions and doubts that we’d had while in the city and when we looked at other lands were gone.  All our concerns were gone.  As Yuri put it after he returned from his hike, “There are only answers now.” 

After Yuri's return we talked about our thoughts and feelings.  We all three knew we were in a place we’d once called home.  We knew we had been meant to return here and we knew that we were not just fulfilling a recent desire of this lifetime but a destiny born from desire much bigger than a single lifetime.  We knew that our lives had long been preparing each of us for this place and the kin’s domain settlement we are creating.  

We also knew that we were family.  Ben offered to share our private family pipe with Yuri and we helped him communicate with All That Is in this special way with his own personal pipe ceremony.  

We could hardly tear ourselves away from this land.  We wanted to spend the night.  We wanted to spend the rest of our lives there.  A red winged raven flew over us and clearly greeted us by hovering over us for a minute, flapping its wings twice and calling out before it flew southwest directly into the sun and disappeared from our view.  

We lingered for another two hours, not one of us willing to suggest that it was time to leave.  Even when we finally walked to the car we could not make ourselves get in.  For a long time, standing near the car, we silently took in every sight, sound, sensation, breath, and feeling that was the experience of this magnificent special place.  

It was only very wet cold feet that finally drove me into the car to put on dry socks.  Yuri and Ben followed and we reluctantly drove off with the windows open, unwilling to shut out the energies and connection that we had been feeling in this powerful place of love. 

We came upon Sam who had begun to worry about us and was driving a tractor in our direction to be sure we were okay.  We gave him a ride back to his car and shared our joy and love of his land and our gratitude for the healing and caretaking he had so lovingly given it.  He invited us to return and stay in the cabin for several days while we explored the land.  

We said goodbye to Sam and his wonderful easy smile, and drove back to Mancos and then on to Pagosa Springs where we spent the night.  We were mostly quiet.  Each of us being present with the overwhelming feelings and awareness that filled us.  Once in a while one of us shared a thought but mostly we could not turn our attention from the power of the experience. 

The only thing that remains is to complete our written plan and receive the means to purchase this land.  Then, the residents of the settlement will begin to come home to this sacred place where the energies of love have been collecting, preparing to help us remember and heal the loss of love.