Most of the residents went home to their families at Christmas, so many of my colleagues took leave over the Christmas period. One resident in our home did not go home as he will be visiting his family in January.

My job over the Christmas period was to make sure the resident had a nice Christmas and to do a thorough clean of the house together with him and some colleagues. We did a lot of cleaning: the laundry room, fridges, sitting area, porch, oven, curtains, windows, guest bathroom, bathroom grout, microwave, cars, washing machines and the shoe room. We steam-wiped, sorted our board games, installed a new night bell, tidied up and re-labeled the spice rack and together we selected the best pictures from the last six months, printed them out in the copy shop and attached them to our fridge with magnets. 

In the mornings, we usually cleaned the house, and in the afternoons we organized an Advent program for everyone who stayed at Camphill. We sang, told stories, gave talks, danced and played games. A varied program that created a lot of anticipation for Christmas. Our contribution was a play. One of our residents loves the book “Strega Nona”, which is perfect for a play. He read the book aloud while we acted out the story on stage. It's a picture book for children, written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. It is about Strega Nona and her helper, Big Anthony.  The book was published in 1975 and won the Caldecott Award a year later. In a 2012 School Library Journal survey, it was one of the top 100 picture books of all time. According to the internet, it has been banned in some children's libraries because it portrays magic and witchcraft in a positive light. 

Strega Nona is a wise woman and witch doctor who lives in Calabria, in southern Italy. Because she is getting old, Strega Nona hires a young man named Big Anthony to do the housework. One night, Big Anthony watches as Strega Nona sings to her magic pasta pot to make large quantities of pasta. However, he doesn't notice that she throws three kisses at the pot to stop the noodle production.

Big Anthony shares his discovery with the townspeople the next day, but he is laughed at. Two days later, when Strega Nona visits her friend Strega Amelia, Big Anthony sings to the noodle pot and successfully conjures up large quantities of noodles, which he serves to the townsfolk. However, as Big Anthony is unable to prevent the pot from boiling, the noodles gradually cover Strega Nona's house and almost flood the entire town. Disaster is averted when Strega Nona returns and immediately blows the three kisses to stop the pot from boiling; she punishes Big Anthony by making him eat all the pasta. 

I played Big Anthony and was delighted to finally be back on stage in a play after six months. At Triform I took part in three plays, my own Halloween play, the Sheppards Play at Christmas and Romeo and Juliet in the spring.  It was a great experience that was rewarded with a huge round of applause from the community.

We didn't sing many Christmas classics; I didn't know many of the Christmas songs before. But I liked them: "In the Bleak Midwinter" (https://youtu.be/eIYw5x9MMLM?si=0-fb2nq0In4NqsmW  ) , "There comes a Galley Laden" (https://youtu.be/Lzue2U7lLic?si=zlX3q1hiVMeeOEkH  ) , "People look East" (https://youtu.be/wcqPz6rH0vI?si=sb1Z7ggx-2yPRZ3T  ) , "Advent Song" (https://youtu.be/J_5buKOxw4A?si=wQGrnjNH7I_6riEd  ) , "One Little Candle" (https://youtu.be/UaaLCdAMp0o?si=8NH_mm9tBUXhVQh2 ). Interestingly, real candles were placed on the Christmas tree, something I haven't seen in a long time, but it created a very nice atmosphere.

First Advent, Sunday, December 1

11:00 a.m., winter market

17:00, Introduction to the Advent theme and

“What I Do Matters” 

Eve of the Second Advent, Saturday, December 7

19:00, “What I Feel Matters” 

Sunday, December 8

10:00 a.m., Festival of Offering

Thursday, December 12

17:00, Santa Lucia 

Eve of the Third Advent, Saturday, December 14

16:00, Madonna Sequence 

19:00, “What I Think Matters” 

Sunday, December 15

16:00, Shepherds Play 

Tuesday, December 17

9:00 a.m., Kasper Hauser 

Eve of the Fourth Advent, Saturday, December 21

4:00 p.m., Madonna Sequence 

7:00 p.m., “Who I Am Matters” 

Monday, December 23

16:00, Christmas tree decorating

Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24

23:30, Christmas Midnight Service

Wednesday, December 25

11:00 a.m., Christmas brunch

Tuesday, December 26

16:00, Holy Nights Gathering

Friday, December 27

16:00, Holy Nights Gathering

Saturday, December 28

16:00, Holy Nights Gathering

Sunday, December 29

16:00, Holy Nights Gathering

Monday, December 30

4 p.m., Holy Nights Gathering

Tuesday, December 31

4 p.m.,Holy Nights Gathering

Wednesday, January 1

4 p.m., Holy Nights Gathering

Thursday, January 2

4 p.m., Holy Nights Gathering

Friday, January 3

4 p.m., Holy Nights Gathering

Saturday, January 4

4 p.m., Holy Nights Gathering

Sunday, January 5

10 a.m., Festival of Offering

4 p.m., congregational meeting

Monday, January 6

9 a.m., Epiphany

Before all the residents went to their families, we celebrated our Christmas party in the house. We held a ballot so that everyone drew a name and was supposed to give it a present. I gave our pensioner in the house a voucher for his favorite restaurant, the Britania Arms in Capitola, as well as a dark Schweizer Lindt chocolate. In addition to the house gifts, we also gave gifts throughout the community. Here I gave a gift to a young man who doesn't live in the community but comes to the Camphill Community during the day for the SAGE Program. He is a big fan of cheese and I gave him some delicious cheese. I don't know who gave me the presents, but I was very happy about the many gifts! 

At the last meeting of the SAGE Group, we went to a café together where we had a coffee (in my case a frappé) and looked back on our time together. 

• Thank you card from Camphill Director Ala Jacob on behalf of the entire Camphill community

• Pocket saw 

• Flint Striker

• Motivational shower sticker 

• Electrolyte drink mix 

• Socks, proceeds of which will be donated to Stanford Children Health Hospital 

My mother gave me a new pair of work trousers and lots of German Christmas sweets: Butter Spekulatius with chocolate, Baumkuchen and Schokochips with Belgian chocolate. She had seen the pictures of my work trousers with the numerous paint stains and wanted to treat me to a new pair. My old gardening trousers mean a lot to me, each of the stains is associated with a memory of my time at Triform. The brown stains are from painting the wooden fences of the pig enclosures. The white stains come from painting the horse stalls on Spring Break vacation with my good friends. Others only see stains. For me, they are a reminder of unforgettable moments. 

At Christmas, we organized a big buffet where all the homebound staff and residents participated. I talked to some former householders and volunteers and learned a lot about the history of Camphill. The food was delicious and afterwards we sang together and listened to a Christmas story.

One evening I was with colleagues at Pleasure Point, where the tide was low and we were able to walk where the sea normally covers the ground. We found a large crab walking across the sand. 

I took part in an online training course on how to help the residents make good decisions. This sounds easier than it is, as there are often many things to consider. Many residents tend to put on weight and should therefore live healthier lives. At the same time, residents should be allowed to make their own decisions. As caregivers, we therefore have the difficult task of giving residents a choice and at the same time helping them to make healthy decisions. A healthy balance has to be found, which is not easy. The video showed practical examples, such as choosing a meal in a burger restaurant. It showed the pitfalls, how not to do it and what a good example would look like. 

I used the time to redecorate my room. It takes me at least six months before I perceive a room as my home. Now I'm starting to feel at home and have personalized my room. My family gave me some beautiful LEDs that now light up my room. I found a dusty TV in the attic, which I have now put in my room. There was an old couch in the hallway that hardly anyone used. I ordered a faux fur blanket that turned the old piece of furniture into a very cozy couch. My grandparents always had a wooden scene with LEDs in the window. My mother sent me one of these, which is also in my window and creates a Christmassy atmosphere. I have a large poster cover on the wall that reminds me of my favorite place in the USA: Central Park. In fact, this very picture was the background image of my laptop for the entire period of my studies. In difficult times, when I was sitting in front of a large pile of books in the Grimm Center, our university library at HU Berlin, and had no more energy and motivation, the picture showed me why I put so much strength and energy into my studies for years. One day I would sit in this spot in Central Park and realize that all the work had paid off. When I sat in that very spot in Central Park after six years of studying, it was a magical moment. Now this picture adorns my wall and reminds me of the long road that led me here. 

During the Christmas vacations, I often prepared breakfast and cooked lunch. Before the vacations, I asked for lots of ingredients to make special meals. There were quiches, burgers, waffles, pancakes, spring rolls, sausages, Greek pita and other delicious dishes, because Christmas also includes delicious food. We went for a lot of walks in the neighborhood and by the sea. During a run along the San Lorenzo River, I saw a sign on a bridge. Apparently this bridge was paid for with funds from California while Arnold Schwarzenegger was still governor of California. There was no snow outside and it was warm enough to walk around in a (long-sleeved) T-shirt. But the neighbors had decorated their houses beautifully, so there was a bit of a Christmas atmosphere. I played Monopoly with my colleagues, which I haven't played for many years, and it was great fun! 

I painted pictures with a resident before the Christmas vacations. I had prepared some mandalas, but while painting I quickly realized that she didn't see the given shapes as a help, but as a limitation. So after a while I gave her white sheets of paper, which she initially painted in one color, but gradually she started painting with several colors. This resulted in some very beautiful pictures, two of which we chose to hang in her room. We put the others in envelopes together with letters she had written so that she could give them to relatives at Christmas. I watched ducks in a pond and enjoyed the peace and quiet, which is very rare here.

I sent three Christmas parcels. One package went to the Triform Camphill Community at my old home Christofferus. My beloved colleagues and residents were delighted to receive numerous homemade products from our weaving workshop, candle workshop and paper workshop. The fabric hearts from the weaving workshop even found their way onto the Christmas tree in Triform - that made me very happy! One parcel went to my grandma and one to my mother. They included homemade books, candles, bags and scarves.

One evening, we had a movie night. A resident came up to me and said that an animal was living in the couch. When I inspected the couch, I realized that an animal had indeed found its way into the couch. After some back and forth, we caught the lizard and took it outside. I spent one evening outside on the hammock looking at the stars. 

Our Executive Co-Director traveled to Rwanda to visit two initiatives inspired by the Camphill principles. On one evening, she reported on her experiences at the “House of Children School” at the Ubumwe Community Center and at the Mwogo Community at the Ubumwe Community Center. In 2024, a new training program, the Camphill Academy Africa, will begin in Rwanda, Botswana and Tanzania, providing local educators with the skills they need to build inclusive communities and support people with disabilities. She wrote in an article in our newsletter:

"In September, I had the incredible joy and privilege of traveling to Rwanda alongside Karen Murphy from the Camphill Foundation. This was my third visit to this vibrant country, and each journey has been a deeply moving experience. Over the past two years, I have witnessed the growth of a powerful initiative that is bringing the spirit of Camphill to Rwanda—a movement that is transforming lives and communities through inclusion, empowerment, and a commitment to social development.

We traveled through Rwanda’s breathtaking countryside, visiting two initiatives that are inspired by Camphill’s principles of community, care, and personal growth. The first is the Ubumwe Community Center’s House of Children School and training program in the Rubavu province near the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This nonprofit organization was founded over 20 years ago, and has blossomed into a beacon of hope and opportunity for children with and without disabilities. Here, the focus is on creating an inclusive school where every child is valued and supported. The school has grown significantly, and today it is one of the most vital centers of Rwanda’s inclusive education movement.

A few hours away, in the rural area outside Kigali, a second initiative is flourishing, a Camphill-inspired community that is giving adults with disabilities the chance to learn valuable skills, gain independence, and build a future. Founded just five years ago, the Ubumwe Community Center’s Mwogo Community (UCC) has already supported more than 45 trainees in areas like tailoring, culinary arts, and beauty school training.

This vibrant community is a lifeline for single mothers, adults with disabilities, and the surrounding population. It is a place where dignity is restored, and new possibilities are created.

One of the most inspiring projects underway at UCC is the creation of a library. Almost complete, this library will serve as a hub for education and literacy, while also offering nourishing meals to those in need. The library will be a vital resource for the entire community, ensuring that knowledge, culture, and nutrition are accessible to all. As I witnessed the excitement and hope surrounding this project, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude to be part of this life-changing journey.

But the work doesn’t stop there. In 2024, a new training is opening in Rwanda, Botswana, and Tanzania, a groundbreaking Camphill Academy Africa training program that will equip local educators with the skills they need to build inclusive communities and support individuals with disabilities. This initiative will bring together three countries united by a shared vision of social development and inclusion.

For those of us who are passionate about Camphill’s mission and values and would like to support these efforts, there are two incredible ways to support this work and be part of the change.

Help Build the Library: Thanks to the generosity of donors across the North American region and beyond, the library for the community in Mwogo is nearly finished, but now it’s time to fill it with books. A campaign has been launched to raise funds for the final stages of the project, and every donation will help bring education and hope to more individuals in Rwanda: https://givebutter.com/nNLtTR

Support the Camphill Academy Afrika Training: As this training program is set to begin in Spring, 2025, it is in need of immediate funding and resources to help ensure its success. Your support can help provide the knowledge and training needed to empower the next generation of teachers and community leaders. For more information: https://camphill.edu/afrika/

I continue to feel deeply moved by the warmth, generosity, and resilience of the Rwandan people. It has been an honor to witness the progress being made in these communities, and I wholeheartedly encourage you to join me in supporting this movement. Stay connected, spread the word, and consider visiting in the future to experience firsthand the transformative power of inclusion and community. The journey has only just begun for this new Camphill impulse, and I am excited to continue supporting this remarkable initiative for years to come"

On New Year's Eve, we drove to San Francisco after work. My friends showed me a great place: the Twin Peaks hills. From here you have the best view of San Francisco, you can even see the Golden Gate Bridge from up here. Here we marveled at the fireworks in San Francisco:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DETv0AoRMhv/

Afterwards, we drove through the city, met up with colleagues in Mission Dolores Park, toasted the year and watched other people watching the fireworks here. I called my family and wished them a happy new year. I was delighted to receive a call from Annika and Lobosch, who completed the IJFD preparatory seminar with me. Annika is a volunteer at Kimberton Hills, Lobosch at Beaver Farm. Like me, they have both decided to do another year at Camphill. We enjoy Camphill life very much, even though it can be very challenging, the many beautiful moments that you experience with the community outweigh it all. Thank you very much for your call and the great conversation! 

I recently went to McDonalds and was in for a big surprise. My favorite burger in McDonalds in Germany is the McRib Burger. The McRib comes with a seasoned, boneless pork that is dipped in a spicy BBQ sauce and topped with onion strips and tangy pickles. The whole thing is served on a toasted bun. A very tasty burger! In New York, I discovered that this burger is not part of the permanent menu. Now the burger is back on offer for a while. My absolute favorite burger! 

One afternoon, we looked back on the year together. We formed four groups, each group was asked to look back on their assigned quarter in a creative way. My group, which covered the last quarter of 2024, decided to dress up and act out some highlights in scenes. I played Big Anthony again and acted out the scene with a resident where Strega Nona says “Bubble, bubble pasta pot. Boil me some pasta nice and hot. I'm hungry and it's time to sup. Boil me enough pasta to fill me up”. The other group members re-enacted scenes from the Sheppards Play or the Santa Lucia parade. Great fun! The other groups painted beautiful posters, performed musical highlights and recited poems. A nice way to look back on the year creatively.

My running app showed me how much I ran in 2024. I tracked a total of 302 runs, which add up to 966 miles or 1554 kilometers. I ran 158 hours this year! I have a series of 47 weeks in which I tracked a run at least once a week, and I recorded a total of 528 activities (gym, races, bike rides) in this series. My record was 50:59 for 10 kilometers or 6.21 miles. Before I came to Triform, I weighed 94 kg. After my year in Triform, I weighed 76 kg, now 80 kg. I am very satisfied and now go to the gym more often to build up my strength as well as my endurance.

We were working in the garden when suddenly everyone's cell phones rang. We all got an emergency alert on our cell phones warning of an approaching storm. On December 23, a severe storm hit the coast of California, causing flooding and high surf. One man was trapped on the beach by debris and drowned. The Santa Cruz Wharf partially collapsed, throwing three people into the Pacific Ocean. The storm was expected to bring hurricane-force winds and waves up to 60 feet high as it moved from California to the Pacific Northwest. Some California cities ordered the evacuation of homes and hotels near the beach. I saw many television crews in Santa Cruz covering the storm. It was exciting to watch the work of the journalists, cameramen and people in the OB trucks and to see what a live broadcast looks like behind the scenes. The city of Capitola was closed off by police because the waves had flooded parts of the city. Parts of the beach had completely disappeared. 150 feet or 45 meters of the end of the Santa Cruz Wharf collapsed into the sea. The collapsed section included the Dolphin restaurant and one of the public restrooms. The Santa Cruz Fire Department said two people had to be pulled from the water by lifeguards and a third person was able to escape from the surf without assistance. One of the attached photos shows a worker working on the wharf who fell into the water with the wharf. The collapsed section containing the restroom and restaurant drifted about half a mile down the coast and became wedged at the bottom of the San Lorenzo River. During my daily run along the coast, I crossed numerous flooded and debris-covered streets.

A Mexican colleague had given us a Mexican bread and Mexican cocoa. While I was eating the bread, I realized that I had something solid in my mouth that I couldn't chew. I took it out of my mouth in surprise and suddenly had a white figure in my hand. I thought that the figure was perhaps on the bread as decoration and was perhaps accidentally pushed into the bread. But apparently it is customary to hide this figure in the bread, and whoever finds the figure in their piece is said to have good luck and has to bake something for the house/family on February 2nd. Let's see how lucky I am this year!

The year started with us in the SAGE group preparing a lot of granola for the houses. We have produced different oils. We leave the petals in the oil for three months so we can get all the properties of the rose, we filter the oil two times and add some vitamin E with Avocado oil as a base. Rose oil is good for calming and incarnating. The royals love to use Rose oil, so we can all feel a little bit royal.

In the garden we chopped wood and tied the logs together in bundles so that the houses could use it as firewood. Hard work, but it was rewarded: someone from the office came by and brought us delicious donuts! Our residents were very happy about the sweet surprise, which motivated us a lot. In the garden we replaced the ugly seating area, metal table and chairs, with a homemade wooden table and wooden chairs. The seating area now looks much nicer! We improved the parking spaces in front of the office by marking the individual parking spaces with colored stones and expanding the parking spaces.

For the Biography Seminar, I am currently reading the biography of Henry Kissinger. I will upload the finished essay to the Academy subpage at the end of February. Kissinger is a controversial man. Some see him as an eloquent foreign policy expert and clever strategist. Others see him as a war criminal and as a major factor in the Vietnam War. I am very excited to see what conclusions I will draw after studying his biography.

I organized a video conference with my old house and was very happy to see my former colleagues and residents again after six months. They were also very happy and we talked about what had happened in Triform since I left.

While cleaning, I found a sandwich / panini maker. My Korean colleague told me that there is a food trend in Korea where croissants are made with chocolate in sandwich makers. I tried it out with our device and found it very tasty!

I talked to an old friend from Bavaria about house prices. He was very upset about the prices in Bavaria, so I showed him the house prices here in Santa Cruz for comparison. The average price is 1.5 million US dollars for a house and 902 dollars for a square ft (1ft² = 0.0929m²). On a platform I saw a stationary trailer (180ft² = 16,723m²) with an old plastic chair in front of it. The asking price for that was a whopping 165,000 US dollars!

There is an old railway line that is no longer used from New Brighton via Capitola to Santa Cruz. You can run along it without having to wait at a traffic light every 10 meters. A beautiful route that leads over a railway bridge in Capitola, from which you can enjoy a beautiful view of Capitola and Monterey Bay.

During a hike I discovered a beautiful old house, which you can see in my photo.

I saw "Mufasa" and "Moana 2" in the cinema with a friend. I really enjoyed both films. "Mufasa" tells the typical "Lion King" story, but not in animation, but with realistic lions in a beautiful African landscape. After the film, I immediately wanted to go on holiday to Africa! I particularly liked Rafiki, who showed a very nice attitude to life. I also liked "Moana 2", even if the film doesn't come close to its predecessor. After receiving an unexpected call from her ancestors, Moana has to travel to the vast seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-forgotten waters to face a new adventure. "Moana 1" or "Vaiana", as it is called in Germany due to naming rights, which often causes a lot of confusion here, because Germans always talk about "Vaiana" and Americans always talk about "Moana". I saw the first film with my house in Triform, the film had so many great songs that we often listened to in the car on the way to trips. The second film has a nice atmosphere and has lots of funny scenes with the pig, the coconut pirates and the chicken. But the songs don't come close to the songs from the previous films and the story isn't as exciting as the first film. If you don't know the first part, watch it! I was never a big Disney fan, but the first Moana is a really nice film.

In the community we sang the song "Over the Hills and over the Vale" together. A beautiful song: https://youtu.be/HpqZBoFeJUw?si=XUBEjOxF734_V2m2

One afternoon, a cactus fell over in the garden and onto the table in front of it. I'm curious whether our gardeners will find a use for the fallen cactus or the juice inside. I went jogging with my resident in the Blue Ball Park. The park owes its name to an art installation consisting of several huge blue balls that appear to be rolling down the hill. We had some fun and took a photo that made it look as if the resident was rolling the ball up the hill. The picture amused the entire community and was even published on Camphill California's Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEvBW3_SV1B/

Our householder was visiting her family in India during the holidays. Together with the resident with whom I am doing my project, I picked beautiful flowers and surprised the householder with a beautiful bouquet! We were all happy about her return!

A resident wanted to visit his family in Los Angeles. The AirBNB was booked and the trip planned, but then everything turned out differently. A series of large fires broke out in Los Angeles County starting on January 7th. The fires, which were fueled by a combination of strong Santa Ana winds and unusually dry conditions, quickly developed into one of the worst fire disasters in the region's recent history. Current estimates suggest at least 27 deaths, more than 12,800 buildings destroyed and around 1,600 damaged, and more than 205,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders. The damage is estimated at tens of billions of US dollars to around 250 billion dollars, making the fire disaster possibly the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. As a result, the trip to LA was canceled, which left the resident very upset. A few doors were slammed and books were thrown around the room, as he couldn't see his family for Christmas and had been looking forward to this trip in January. But until the danger is averted, such a trip is too dangerous.

Google Analytics and Instagram keep statistics that help me understand how many people view my blog posts and Instagram posts. When I looked at Instagram, I was very surprised! Between November 5, 2024 and February 2, 2025, there were 38,814 views on my Instagram profile. Thirty-eight thousand! I never expected that. Thank you for visiting my blog and Instagram in such large numbers! This motivates me to invest my free time in the blog after work.

https://www.instagram.com/damonphilipp/

Blog:

-38,814 views

-72.8 % followers

-51.1 % men

-48.8 % women

-35.9 % are between 18 and 24 years old

-33.7 % are between 25 and 34 years old

-18.5% are between 35 and 44 years old

-5 % are between 45 and 54 years old

Website:

-7148 views

-1561 sessions

-486 users

-384 users from the USA, 33 from Germany, 17 from Brazil, 9 from the UK, 5 from Canada, 5 from Turkey and 4 from Taiwan

At the academy, we learn many creative methods. I really enjoy painting, as it's less about graded, realistic illustrations like in school, but more about creatively processing what we've learned. It's supposed to help us develop a better understanding of concepts. I really like that and it actually helps to break down more complex things and connect what we've learned. In the academy we continued reading the book "Theosophy" and I wrote an essay about it. Do you want to know what theosophy means and read my essay? Then I have good news. On the "Academy" subpage I regularly upload posts in which I summarize what I have learned and try to make it more accessible to others. I also upload all of my work, although I change personal information to protect the residents. Currently you will find articles on the following topics:

• Camphill Academy

• Inclusive Social Development

• Social Therapy

• Rudolf Steiner

• Karl König

• Three Stars of Camphill: Comenius, Zinzendorf & Owen

• Three Pillars of Camphill

• Three Essentials of Camphill

• Overview Courses

• Eurythmie

• Calender of the Soul

• Money and Finances

• Festival Planning Essay

• Care & Community Practicum

• Professional Practice Practicum

• Social Therapy Project

• Observation Essay

• History of Camphill California

• "Exploring Purpose and Community at Camphill California" - An article about my first two months at Camphill Academy

• History, Pillars and Ideals of Camphill – Reflective Essay

• Nonviolent Communication

• Theosophy Essay - Body, Soul, Spirit; Physical Body, Etheric Body & Astral Body

• Human Biography Essay - 7 year cycles, pre-birth-intentions & after-death-reflections

• 7-year-cycles of Henry Kissinger

Until recently, there were many photos from last year hanging in our house. I suggested that we archive the photos with the former coworkers and hang up photos of our highlights from the last six months. I asked my colleagues to send me photos of their favorite moments. I had the photos printed out in CVS and hung them on our refrigerator. This week I would like to share these photos with you. Out of respect for privacy, I had to pixelate the residents for the blog, but you still get a nice insight into the most beautiful moments in the ISHI house.

On January 19th we celebrated Martin Luther King Day. A coworker prepared a lecture on Martin Luther in the morning circle. Last year in Triform I was able to give a lecture on Martin Luther, where I explained why the civil rights activist, born Michael King Jr., was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. by his father after a trip to Germany. You can read more about it here:

Week 21 - January 19th, 2024 - Martin Luther King Day

https://www.damonruhlaender.de/woche-20-29#h.d081y86say8d

After that we drove to Santa Cruz. There the district association of the "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People" honored the achievements of Martin Luther King Jr. with a march on Pacific Avenue and an information fair in the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium.

After attending the Martin Luther King Day parade, we went to the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Here we enjoyed a delicious picnic and took a little stroll through the park. It was founded in 1964, is located on the campus of UCSC, the University of California Santa Cruz. Plant lovers can enjoy a wide variety of plants from the southern hemisphere here. There are many different regional gardens: Australian, New Zealand, South Africa, California, butterflies, eucalyptus, succulents and conifers. The Australian Garden, with over 2000 species, is probably the largest collection of Australian plants outside of Australia. My favorite is the Aroma Garden. Here you can find numerous plants that smell very good: mints, salvias, lavender, oregano, thyme and other drought-tolerant perennials and shrubs.

One evening we received the message that they should turn off the ventilation and close the windows. That's when we realized: something had happened. On January 16, a fire broke out at the Moss Landing Power Plant, a gas-fired power plant. The lithium-ion battery warehouse, which is reported to be the largest in the world, was on fire! It is a 22-minute drive (20 miles) from our Camphill. Battery systems (made of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides) ignited in the concrete hall and released large flames that reached the first peak of the fire between 8 and 10 p.m. The building's fire extinguishing system could not put out the fire. Local authorities ordered the evacuation of 1,200 residents. We in Camphill were affected to the extent that we were not allowed to work outside due to the toxic smoke. We gardeners therefore worked indoors and made apple sauce. The fire could be seen from our hill, and the factory's two chimneys can be seen from afar. As is usual with fires involving lithium batteries, the firefighters did not try to put out the fire, but let it burn. These fires usually release toxic gases and burn very hot. Local authorities raised concerns about the release of hydrogen fluoride and other hazardous substances. On Friday morning, the fire seemed to have largely died down, but by early Friday afternoon, the intensity of the fire was increasing again. After the fire was extinguished, the last road nearby was reopened on January 22nd. Some local authorities restricted battery projects due to the incident. On February 18th, another fire broke out and again we were not allowed to work in the garden, but instead sorted out the music room.

I am a big fan of maps. Not topographical ones, but maps that show political and social differences. The Instagram account "UniMaps" regularly posts very interesting maps. I found a map that showed the connections between the geology of Alabama and the election results very interesting. Around 100 million years ago, a coastline ran through the US state of Alabama. When the sea receded, it left behind a fertile region known as the "Black Belt". These rich soils were perfect for agriculture. The area became a center of cotton production in the 19th century. As a result, many slaves were forced to work on the plantations. After slavery ended, many former slaves and their descendants stayed in the Black Belt because it offered work and a sense of community. Even today, the region is predominantly inhabited by black people. This historical development is reflected in modern election results: While the predominantly white rural areas of Alabama tend to vote Republican, the Black Belt tends to vote Democratic. It's super exciting how the coastline shaped the soil millions of years ago, which influenced the economy, determined settlement patterns and ultimately shaped the political attitudes of the people living there:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DE799X4AKPt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Every other week I prepare breakfast on Saturday. This time I tried something new and mixed strawberries into the pancakes. Super tasty, definitely try it at home!

One evening, after the residents had gone to bed, we had a games night in the house. Since one of us always has a night watch, it is very rare that we all do something together. So we all had great fun spending an evening together. We played Mikado and the board game "The Crazy Labyrinth". I often played this game with my grandmother when I was a child, which I remember fondly. We also played a creative game: each player writes a sentence on a piece of paper. For example: Resident XY is lying by the pool. After a minute, the sheet is passed to the next player. The second player has to draw the sentence. After a minute, the sheet goes to the next player, who in turn has to express the picture in a sentence. Little by little, depending on the drawing talent of the players, the motif becomes more and more distant from the original. Very funny drawings and sentences often emerge here. A fun evening!