After Mick bought the hat, he sat down and started to talk with me. Right away, I felt like he was a guy I could be with. It kind of seemed like love at first sight, for me anyway. We started talking, and he asked me where I lived. I said I was staying in Northport, Washington with some friends. He asked me, "Do you know my brother Will, he lives there?" I say, "Yeah, I live on the same land as him and I am here because he told me about it". Small world.
To make a long story short we all ended hanging out all weekend together. Me, Mick and the two woman set up by me. We had a grand time. The woman who I didn't know from before, knew Mick already, and they spent sometime talking. I think she was a psychic. He told me later that she told him if he was looking for a woman I was the one. When she left she told us that the next time she saw us she wanted to see our baby girl with my hair and eyes and his features. That is what happened!
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
This is me now
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
I Meet Mick
On our way home we decided to stop at my cabin, to check in on it. That was a good idea, because it turned out the land had been sold, and all my possessions had been boxed up and put in the shed. I think I just took them and stored them at a neighbors for a while. Then we headed back to Northport.
We got back to Alyssa's and Kindheart's place. I need to mention that we weren't the only ones staying on this land. Kindheart's ex wife, her new husband Will, and their baby were there too, as well as Kindheart's two little kids who came with us on our trip. Shortly after I got back, Will comes up to me and tells me I ought to go to a barter faire they are having in Idaho, about 3 hours away. I decide to go.
I got to the barter faire after I got a speeding ticket a few minutes before. I was going 45 in a 35 mile zone. I was a little frazzled. I got there, and it was teeny. I had wool hats to sell, and it was about 95 degrees. Plus nobody there looked like the type that would buy my hats anyway. I had 35 dollars to my name, and the ticket was for 35 dollars. I thought "What the heck am I doing here? I shouldn't have come." I told the woman next to me all my problems. I said I thought I was just going to go. She told me I needed to slow down, look I already got a speeding ticket for going too fast. And beside she was selling all woolens too, and she was here. So I stayed.
Besides the woman with the woolens, I was set up next to two woman on the other side of me, one of which I already knew, and was friends with from festivals and had even been to her house, here in Idaho.
So it was 95 degrees, and I set out my hats and some heavy wool socks I had knitted. It seemed pretty hopeless for sales, and even hopeless for fun. Then here he comes. The only prospective customer in the place. A organic looking hippie guy, who is just the type to buy my hats. I think " This is my only hope of ever making a sale. I have to nab him.". He comes over to my stuff and I was right. He picks up the pair of heavy socks and takes off his sock and boots. I tell him he can try them on, and he says "Oh that's ok, but I'll look at your hats." He ended up buying one of my nicest handspun hats and gave me a five dollar tip. This is how I met Mick, the father of my child.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
We got back to Alyssa's and Kindheart's place. I need to mention that we weren't the only ones staying on this land. Kindheart's ex wife, her new husband Will, and their baby were there too, as well as Kindheart's two little kids who came with us on our trip. Shortly after I got back, Will comes up to me and tells me I ought to go to a barter faire they are having in Idaho, about 3 hours away. I decide to go.
I got to the barter faire after I got a speeding ticket a few minutes before. I was going 45 in a 35 mile zone. I was a little frazzled. I got there, and it was teeny. I had wool hats to sell, and it was about 95 degrees. Plus nobody there looked like the type that would buy my hats anyway. I had 35 dollars to my name, and the ticket was for 35 dollars. I thought "What the heck am I doing here? I shouldn't have come." I told the woman next to me all my problems. I said I thought I was just going to go. She told me I needed to slow down, look I already got a speeding ticket for going too fast. And beside she was selling all woolens too, and she was here. So I stayed.
Besides the woman with the woolens, I was set up next to two woman on the other side of me, one of which I already knew, and was friends with from festivals and had even been to her house, here in Idaho.
So it was 95 degrees, and I set out my hats and some heavy wool socks I had knitted. It seemed pretty hopeless for sales, and even hopeless for fun. Then here he comes. The only prospective customer in the place. A organic looking hippie guy, who is just the type to buy my hats. I think " This is my only hope of ever making a sale. I have to nab him.". He comes over to my stuff and I was right. He picks up the pair of heavy socks and takes off his sock and boots. I tell him he can try them on, and he says "Oh that's ok, but I'll look at your hats." He ended up buying one of my nicest handspun hats and gave me a five dollar tip. This is how I met Mick, the father of my child.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
The Harmonic Convergence Healing Gathering and Mount Shasta
That summer was the summer of the Harmonic Convergence. It had something to do with the Mayan Calender and a bunch of planets being all lined up. It was supposed to be a special cosmic time for us spiritual seeking types.
Kindheart knew of a healing gathering that was going on down in Southern Oregon to celebrate it, and we decided to go.
I forgot to tell you about healing gatherings. They were the best. They were gatherings we would have out in the woods and the focus was healing. Everybody camped out for the weekend, and the main thing was workshops. There was a big board with workshop times and locations. Anybody could teach a workshop. You just put it on the board for whatever time and place you wanted. It was great. People taught all kinds of things. Besides that we had big Oming circles and Sufi Dancing. Sufi dancing is also called Universal Dances of Peace. It is what it sounds like. You have a teacher, and she teaches you dances from all traditions that are about love and peace. They are usually interactive and wonderful. We also would have a massage area, for people to work on each other, a tea kitchen to go and drink tea and visit, and a big regular kitchen, where all the meals were cooked. we all ate together from the meals prepared in the main kitchen. There was also a sauna and a Native American Sweat Lodge. For me, Healing Gatherings were heaven. They don't have them up north anymore.
Back to the story. So now we were going to go to a special healing gathering for the harmonic convergence. Kind of like double heaven.
So we packed up my trusty van with the three of us, Kindheart's two little kids, and Alyssa's hyper dog and we were on our way. We went to the gathering and that was that. It was nice, but nothing spectacular. Then I guess the thing to do was go to Mount Shasta, which is considered a power spot of the world, to continue on with the speciall energy of the time. So on we went!
When we got to Mount Shasta things did seem more intense. We went up the mountain and spent the night. I was feeling kind of tripped out from the gathering and decided I should go on a fast. So I spent the day wandering around the meadows by myself fasting. Since I was in a kind of natural higher state, I decided to meditate. I sat there and started seeing a woodsy place and a bridge going over a creek. Then I somehow got interrupted. later that day, I tried again. I sat there and saw the same woodsy place, the little bridge and the creek. But this time I saw a man walking over carrying a little child. That was it. It ended there. I kind of felt God had given me a vision, but I didn't know what it meant.
The other interesting thing that happened that day was with Alyssa. Now, you had to know her, but she was interesting any day. She was very sweet and fun, and was convinced that she channeled this entity named Philon, all the time. When she channeled him, she would speak another language out loud to you. Now both Kindheart and I were both pretty level headed, and sometimes we would wonder how she was our best friend, but she was. Not only that, she had been convinced that during the Harmonic Convergence, Philon was going to manifest in physical form and take her away with him. It was a disappointment to her when this didn't happen.
What did happen that day wasn't quite so dramatic, but interesting none the less. That morning Alyssa tells me that she saw rays of light coming out of her finger tips. Nothing that unusual for her. Then we go down the mountain to Mount Shasta Town. I was with her the entire time we were in Mount Shasta, and we hadn't been in the town yet, only on the mountain. We go into this Angel Painting store. The paintings are basically visions people have had of angels and celestial beings. Alyssa and I are looking at the cards of the paintings. I couldn't believe my eyes. There is a painting of a woman who looks exactly like Alyssa. Alyssa was kind of exotic and different looking. And out of the woman in the paintings fingertips are coming rays of light! Maybe it was one of those you had to be there experiences, but I was blown away. Of course I made her get the card. Then we headed home.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
Kindheart knew of a healing gathering that was going on down in Southern Oregon to celebrate it, and we decided to go.
I forgot to tell you about healing gatherings. They were the best. They were gatherings we would have out in the woods and the focus was healing. Everybody camped out for the weekend, and the main thing was workshops. There was a big board with workshop times and locations. Anybody could teach a workshop. You just put it on the board for whatever time and place you wanted. It was great. People taught all kinds of things. Besides that we had big Oming circles and Sufi Dancing. Sufi dancing is also called Universal Dances of Peace. It is what it sounds like. You have a teacher, and she teaches you dances from all traditions that are about love and peace. They are usually interactive and wonderful. We also would have a massage area, for people to work on each other, a tea kitchen to go and drink tea and visit, and a big regular kitchen, where all the meals were cooked. we all ate together from the meals prepared in the main kitchen. There was also a sauna and a Native American Sweat Lodge. For me, Healing Gatherings were heaven. They don't have them up north anymore.
Back to the story. So now we were going to go to a special healing gathering for the harmonic convergence. Kind of like double heaven.
So we packed up my trusty van with the three of us, Kindheart's two little kids, and Alyssa's hyper dog and we were on our way. We went to the gathering and that was that. It was nice, but nothing spectacular. Then I guess the thing to do was go to Mount Shasta, which is considered a power spot of the world, to continue on with the speciall energy of the time. So on we went!
When we got to Mount Shasta things did seem more intense. We went up the mountain and spent the night. I was feeling kind of tripped out from the gathering and decided I should go on a fast. So I spent the day wandering around the meadows by myself fasting. Since I was in a kind of natural higher state, I decided to meditate. I sat there and started seeing a woodsy place and a bridge going over a creek. Then I somehow got interrupted. later that day, I tried again. I sat there and saw the same woodsy place, the little bridge and the creek. But this time I saw a man walking over carrying a little child. That was it. It ended there. I kind of felt God had given me a vision, but I didn't know what it meant.
The other interesting thing that happened that day was with Alyssa. Now, you had to know her, but she was interesting any day. She was very sweet and fun, and was convinced that she channeled this entity named Philon, all the time. When she channeled him, she would speak another language out loud to you. Now both Kindheart and I were both pretty level headed, and sometimes we would wonder how she was our best friend, but she was. Not only that, she had been convinced that during the Harmonic Convergence, Philon was going to manifest in physical form and take her away with him. It was a disappointment to her when this didn't happen.
What did happen that day wasn't quite so dramatic, but interesting none the less. That morning Alyssa tells me that she saw rays of light coming out of her finger tips. Nothing that unusual for her. Then we go down the mountain to Mount Shasta Town. I was with her the entire time we were in Mount Shasta, and we hadn't been in the town yet, only on the mountain. We go into this Angel Painting store. The paintings are basically visions people have had of angels and celestial beings. Alyssa and I are looking at the cards of the paintings. I couldn't believe my eyes. There is a painting of a woman who looks exactly like Alyssa. Alyssa was kind of exotic and different looking. And out of the woman in the paintings fingertips are coming rays of light! Maybe it was one of those you had to be there experiences, but I was blown away. Of course I made her get the card. Then we headed home.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
Spring Barter Faire : Alyssa and Kindheart
It was spring again. Up north, living the way I was, you become very in tune with the seasons. It was spring, and I was getting kind of lonely now, living way back there by myself. It was nice for a while, but I was starting to want some company.
Back in those days, we had lots of Barter Faires, in places other than the Okanogan too. We had Spring Barter Faires too. They are probably designed just for this. Social interaction, after a long winter. I headed out to the Northport Barter Faire. Northport Washington, is on the Columbia River about 3 hours east of Tonasket. It is on the Canadian Border.
While I was wandering around the faire, I started talking to a woman sitting at a little table. It was one of those instant connections, where you meet and the next second you are best friends. At least that happens to me sometimes. She said her name was Alyssa. I told her that I had spent the winter by myself in a cabin and was feeling kind of lonely. She says right and there, you should come stay with me and my boyfriend for awhile. He should be right back. Then he shows up. His name was Kindheart.
Now this is getting more cosmic. This may be hard to follow. I knew her boyfriend, not well, but I had met him a number of times. The first time was in my house in Oregon, when him and his wife, and their kids were living in my living room for a while. The second time was at a Rainbow Gathering in California, in a circle of like 1000 people, I was holding his hand. The third time was the first day I arrived at the land in the Okanogan, he was there, living there with his wife. I met him 3 times in three different states. Now here he is again. I just turned instant best friends with his girlfriend. The coincidences get even bigger later, but I won't tell it now, or I'll ruin the story.
Well anyway, Alyssa and I hung out together the whole barter faire. It turned out they lived nearby in Northport. I went to visit them a few weeks later, and ended up never going home. I stayed and lived with them for the entire summer. I still had my cabin, I just wasn't there. Like I had done before, I used my van as my bedroom. The three of us were together basically all the time. I was right about us being instant best friends.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
Back in those days, we had lots of Barter Faires, in places other than the Okanogan too. We had Spring Barter Faires too. They are probably designed just for this. Social interaction, after a long winter. I headed out to the Northport Barter Faire. Northport Washington, is on the Columbia River about 3 hours east of Tonasket. It is on the Canadian Border.
While I was wandering around the faire, I started talking to a woman sitting at a little table. It was one of those instant connections, where you meet and the next second you are best friends. At least that happens to me sometimes. She said her name was Alyssa. I told her that I had spent the winter by myself in a cabin and was feeling kind of lonely. She says right and there, you should come stay with me and my boyfriend for awhile. He should be right back. Then he shows up. His name was Kindheart.
Now this is getting more cosmic. This may be hard to follow. I knew her boyfriend, not well, but I had met him a number of times. The first time was in my house in Oregon, when him and his wife, and their kids were living in my living room for a while. The second time was at a Rainbow Gathering in California, in a circle of like 1000 people, I was holding his hand. The third time was the first day I arrived at the land in the Okanogan, he was there, living there with his wife. I met him 3 times in three different states. Now here he is again. I just turned instant best friends with his girlfriend. The coincidences get even bigger later, but I won't tell it now, or I'll ruin the story.
Well anyway, Alyssa and I hung out together the whole barter faire. It turned out they lived nearby in Northport. I went to visit them a few weeks later, and ended up never going home. I stayed and lived with them for the entire summer. I still had my cabin, I just wasn't there. Like I had done before, I used my van as my bedroom. The three of us were together basically all the time. I was right about us being instant best friends.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
I Go Back to the Aeneas Valley
Spring was on it's way. I made it though the winter! The first day I came to the Okanogan and the Circle, I met a woman named Flyingsky. We became friends. Then when I moved in with John, she lived down the road, and we visited more. We had kept up with each other through letter through the winter. Now that the weather was better, I decided to go see her. Back to the Aeneas Valley!
I went and ended up staying with her, her two children, and her boyfriend all summer. I just used my van for a bedroom. She lived on an old homestead there. It had electricity, a wood heat and cook stove, and cold running water, that always ran, from a spring. It had an outhouse. I guess I should mention everyone had an out house, and her house was pretty deluxe with the electricity and running water.
We had a nice summer and now winter was coming upon us again. One thing about living in the North country like this. You are always getting ready for winter, and it is always coming. I couldn't keep staying in my Van. Flyingsky's house was way too small for me to stay in. I needed to find my own place. This is where John comes back in. He lived up the hill from Flyingsky. We didn't see each other that often, but we weren't enemies or anything. Well John hears I need a place to live, and he tells me about a little place he built and lived in a few years back. It is way back there, pretty isolated, and the guy who owns it lives down the hill. He was an old guy. John tells me to go ask the guy if I can stay in the place, and he says yes. I offered him money, but he wouldn't take it.
It was a little cabin that was half sunk into the ground. It had a barrel stove, that didn't hold a fire all night. It had an awesome picture window, that would let the sun come in so good, that you could let the fire go out, and bask in the sun, even in the dead of winter. The water was on another piece of property, with another empty house, probably like a 5 minute walk away. It was the most amazing spring water ever! it was very peaceful there. It was back there. I moved in and I was home.
I spent the winter back in that cabin by myself. People wonder why even now, I don't listen to the radio or music. I tell them that I learnt to listen to the quiet in that cabin. I was way back there by myself. My closest neighbor my landlord, was a bit of a hike, and I didn't see him very often. My main worry, was what if I got sick. So I got myself 5, 5 gallon buckets for water, and made sure they were always full. And then I made sure I always had plenty of chopped kindling for starting fires, and plenty of wood chopped and cut in my house. I never did get sick once. Probably because I was living such a healthy lifestyle. I had a new kitten, and she was my company. I chopped my wood, hauled my water. I went for walks, and listened to the coyotes. I read the bible, and prayed. I tried to observe Shabbat days as an intense meditation on God and felt his blessing shower down. But I also came out and related to people.
There were alot of hippie people living in those hills. Everyone knew each other, and were all basically friends. I had no shortage of friends and human contact. I seemed to follow a pattern of 3 days by myself, and then go out. I could take walks to go visit people or drive a few miles. One thing, there was snow, and plenty of it. Somehow I managed to plow myself through it, with my trusty Ford Econoline Van. And there were dinners and parties for things like Christmas and Thanksgiving. I had a social life. I had lots of nice girlfriends, and I felt like my relationships were rewarding.
I had one friend whose house was more civilized than most of house. She lived in a Old Ranch house. I would go down there and stay overnight at here place alot. She had a VCR and we would rent videos, and I could take a shower there. I also heated up water and took baths in a wash tub by my wood stove.
The other thing I remember is somewhere in all of this I had a babysitting job for a few months, for 4 kids. I would go down a few days a week and babysit them, and make some money. So I wasn't a total hermit, but I did spend alot of days back there, all by myself, listening to the quiet. It was a very rewarding time.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
I went and ended up staying with her, her two children, and her boyfriend all summer. I just used my van for a bedroom. She lived on an old homestead there. It had electricity, a wood heat and cook stove, and cold running water, that always ran, from a spring. It had an outhouse. I guess I should mention everyone had an out house, and her house was pretty deluxe with the electricity and running water.
We had a nice summer and now winter was coming upon us again. One thing about living in the North country like this. You are always getting ready for winter, and it is always coming. I couldn't keep staying in my Van. Flyingsky's house was way too small for me to stay in. I needed to find my own place. This is where John comes back in. He lived up the hill from Flyingsky. We didn't see each other that often, but we weren't enemies or anything. Well John hears I need a place to live, and he tells me about a little place he built and lived in a few years back. It is way back there, pretty isolated, and the guy who owns it lives down the hill. He was an old guy. John tells me to go ask the guy if I can stay in the place, and he says yes. I offered him money, but he wouldn't take it.
It was a little cabin that was half sunk into the ground. It had a barrel stove, that didn't hold a fire all night. It had an awesome picture window, that would let the sun come in so good, that you could let the fire go out, and bask in the sun, even in the dead of winter. The water was on another piece of property, with another empty house, probably like a 5 minute walk away. It was the most amazing spring water ever! it was very peaceful there. It was back there. I moved in and I was home.
I spent the winter back in that cabin by myself. People wonder why even now, I don't listen to the radio or music. I tell them that I learnt to listen to the quiet in that cabin. I was way back there by myself. My closest neighbor my landlord, was a bit of a hike, and I didn't see him very often. My main worry, was what if I got sick. So I got myself 5, 5 gallon buckets for water, and made sure they were always full. And then I made sure I always had plenty of chopped kindling for starting fires, and plenty of wood chopped and cut in my house. I never did get sick once. Probably because I was living such a healthy lifestyle. I had a new kitten, and she was my company. I chopped my wood, hauled my water. I went for walks, and listened to the coyotes. I read the bible, and prayed. I tried to observe Shabbat days as an intense meditation on God and felt his blessing shower down. But I also came out and related to people.
There were alot of hippie people living in those hills. Everyone knew each other, and were all basically friends. I had no shortage of friends and human contact. I seemed to follow a pattern of 3 days by myself, and then go out. I could take walks to go visit people or drive a few miles. One thing, there was snow, and plenty of it. Somehow I managed to plow myself through it, with my trusty Ford Econoline Van. And there were dinners and parties for things like Christmas and Thanksgiving. I had a social life. I had lots of nice girlfriends, and I felt like my relationships were rewarding.
I had one friend whose house was more civilized than most of house. She lived in a Old Ranch house. I would go down there and stay overnight at here place alot. She had a VCR and we would rent videos, and I could take a shower there. I also heated up water and took baths in a wash tub by my wood stove.
The other thing I remember is somewhere in all of this I had a babysitting job for a few months, for 4 kids. I would go down a few days a week and babysit them, and make some money. So I wasn't a total hermit, but I did spend alot of days back there, all by myself, listening to the quiet. It was a very rewarding time.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
Back in Eugene
I had been in the Okanogan for three months, when I got back to Eugene. I went into virtual culture shock. I couldn't stand it there. I just longed with everything in me to be back in the Okanogan. I tried to be practical, and stay and sell at the market, to make money. I was dying. I couldn't do it. I just wanted to go back with all my being. Finally a woman at the market asked me if I went back, without making the money what is the worse that could happen to me? I said I could die in a snow drift. I went back.
But it wasn't that easy. I checked the weather, and it all seemed ok, so I set out. It was me and my cat I had retrieved in Oregon. It isn't an easy trip under the best of conditions. I got to Portland and it was raining. I turned right, onto Highway 84, which is a freeway along the Columbia River Gorge, and it was snowing. I wasn't the most experienced of drivers and had never driven on snow. I didn't have snow tires. I am lucky I am here to tell the tale.
I was driving for a while, and I was near Hood River. I was going kind of slow, and thought, maybe I should speed up a little. Bad idea. I put more gas on, and suddenly the car went out of control skidding all over the freeway. If there had been another car, or especially big truck, that would have been it for me. And I was afraid I would just crash into something on the side too. Somehow I got the car under control, and inched my way to the next exit, Hood River. It was so good I got off. The snow was way worse than I realized. On the freeway, it was melting some as it came down. Once I was off, the reality of the situation was way more obvious. The snow was deep, and the town was shut down. I drove my car down a hill, and I got stuck and stranded by the train station. I was there for the next two days.
Finally the sun came out, the roads got plowed, and people in town thought it would ok for me to continue on. I still had most of the journey to go. Hood River is the most a few hours from Portland. So I took off all confident about the weather. Not. I crossed over the Columbia River and was in Eastern Washington. Oh yeah, it was sunny, but it was zero degrees in the day. It was me and the cat. I wasn't used to weather like this. I had lived in Hawaii and Western Oregon for the past 10 years. I went on. I was on the eastern side of the state and how to drive through desolate stretches. I was going from dot to dot on the map, saying if you can only get to this next point. I spent the night in a motel, and begged for my cat to come in. I was so exhausted by it all, I took a shower and passed out on the bed.
The next day I still had more to do. I finally got there, to my destination but I was shaking. It was a very hard journey. The last 40 miles, were on those back roads, and that is treacherous too.
Now the weather in the Okanogan Highlands was way different than I had left. It was before Thanksgiving and the snow was deep, and it was zero degrees in the day, probably 30 below at night. I got to John's and it was stressful. I don't remember exactly what happened, but we weren't doing so well and I left. What a time to leave. So I drove 60 more miles in that weather, and went back to Oak and the Circle. I needed somewhere to stay. I ended up staying in a friend's candle making shop for a while. It was warm because it was underground. Then Arborsun was leaving to go take care of his mother, so I got to live in his house for the winter. His house could barely be called a house. It was more like a little underground hobbit hole. It worked though and I made it through the winter. I chopped wood and carried water. I had friends around me, doing the same thing. I was on 500 acres of beautiful land. I made a little money selling hats at Christmas bazaars. I didn't even leave the land for 6 weeks, so I didn't really need much money. It was quiet and peaceful.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
But it wasn't that easy. I checked the weather, and it all seemed ok, so I set out. It was me and my cat I had retrieved in Oregon. It isn't an easy trip under the best of conditions. I got to Portland and it was raining. I turned right, onto Highway 84, which is a freeway along the Columbia River Gorge, and it was snowing. I wasn't the most experienced of drivers and had never driven on snow. I didn't have snow tires. I am lucky I am here to tell the tale.
I was driving for a while, and I was near Hood River. I was going kind of slow, and thought, maybe I should speed up a little. Bad idea. I put more gas on, and suddenly the car went out of control skidding all over the freeway. If there had been another car, or especially big truck, that would have been it for me. And I was afraid I would just crash into something on the side too. Somehow I got the car under control, and inched my way to the next exit, Hood River. It was so good I got off. The snow was way worse than I realized. On the freeway, it was melting some as it came down. Once I was off, the reality of the situation was way more obvious. The snow was deep, and the town was shut down. I drove my car down a hill, and I got stuck and stranded by the train station. I was there for the next two days.
Finally the sun came out, the roads got plowed, and people in town thought it would ok for me to continue on. I still had most of the journey to go. Hood River is the most a few hours from Portland. So I took off all confident about the weather. Not. I crossed over the Columbia River and was in Eastern Washington. Oh yeah, it was sunny, but it was zero degrees in the day. It was me and the cat. I wasn't used to weather like this. I had lived in Hawaii and Western Oregon for the past 10 years. I went on. I was on the eastern side of the state and how to drive through desolate stretches. I was going from dot to dot on the map, saying if you can only get to this next point. I spent the night in a motel, and begged for my cat to come in. I was so exhausted by it all, I took a shower and passed out on the bed.
The next day I still had more to do. I finally got there, to my destination but I was shaking. It was a very hard journey. The last 40 miles, were on those back roads, and that is treacherous too.
Now the weather in the Okanogan Highlands was way different than I had left. It was before Thanksgiving and the snow was deep, and it was zero degrees in the day, probably 30 below at night. I got to John's and it was stressful. I don't remember exactly what happened, but we weren't doing so well and I left. What a time to leave. So I drove 60 more miles in that weather, and went back to Oak and the Circle. I needed somewhere to stay. I ended up staying in a friend's candle making shop for a while. It was warm because it was underground. Then Arborsun was leaving to go take care of his mother, so I got to live in his house for the winter. His house could barely be called a house. It was more like a little underground hobbit hole. It worked though and I made it through the winter. I chopped wood and carried water. I had friends around me, doing the same thing. I was on 500 acres of beautiful land. I made a little money selling hats at Christmas bazaars. I didn't even leave the land for 6 weeks, so I didn't really need much money. It was quiet and peaceful.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
The Barter Faire
I stayed there with John a couple of months. It was fall, and everyone gets ready for winter there all fall. There is food to harvest and put up, and wood to cut. It is a busy time.
One thing I kept hearing everybody talk about was the Barter Faire. This was a yearly event they had every fall, after harvest time. People would come and gather, and trade and sell, whatever they brought. It was fairly large, and people would come from other places other than just the Okanogan. It was a gala, hippie event. People would set up stalls, and go around trading each other, and selling out of their stalls. It was also a huge social event, and everyone camped there all weekend, and visited and partied sometimes through the night. There were lots of campfires, because the nights were really cold, and people would go from fire to fire visiting and meeting each other. It was a camping thing. There was no electricity so there was only acoustic music. Musicians would wander from fire to fire, playing with each other. That was one of my favorite parts.
So John took me to the barter faire. I had some hats to sell, and in his usual fashion he set me to work making pies to sell. It was all very fun. We woke up to snow on Monday morning. It can get really cold there.
After this I had to go back to Eugene. I had called my roommate and told her I was moving out. Then my friend went and cleared my stuff out of my room for me, and was storing it at her house. I needed to go get my stuff, and also I was low on money. I thought I could go to Eugene for a few months, stay with my friend, and sell at the market. So I took off. I planned to come back after my selling was done, and me and John were still together.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
One thing I kept hearing everybody talk about was the Barter Faire. This was a yearly event they had every fall, after harvest time. People would come and gather, and trade and sell, whatever they brought. It was fairly large, and people would come from other places other than just the Okanogan. It was a gala, hippie event. People would set up stalls, and go around trading each other, and selling out of their stalls. It was also a huge social event, and everyone camped there all weekend, and visited and partied sometimes through the night. There were lots of campfires, because the nights were really cold, and people would go from fire to fire visiting and meeting each other. It was a camping thing. There was no electricity so there was only acoustic music. Musicians would wander from fire to fire, playing with each other. That was one of my favorite parts.
So John took me to the barter faire. I had some hats to sell, and in his usual fashion he set me to work making pies to sell. It was all very fun. We woke up to snow on Monday morning. It can get really cold there.
After this I had to go back to Eugene. I had called my roommate and told her I was moving out. Then my friend went and cleared my stuff out of my room for me, and was storing it at her house. I needed to go get my stuff, and also I was low on money. I thought I could go to Eugene for a few months, stay with my friend, and sell at the market. So I took off. I planned to come back after my selling was done, and me and John were still together.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
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