Pub 107

 Pup 107

Our dog friends are part of our family, and we love them. Bringing a dog to a gathering carries both special joy and extra responsibility. In many ways, dogs are like small children, and need as much attention and care as children do. If you are able to leave them at home, your gathering will be more spontaneous and worry-free, and your dogs will be much safer.

If you do decide to bring them, attach waterproof I.D. tags to their collars with their names, your name, where you are camped, and your home phone number so you can be reunited if you become separated. Be sure they are current on all their vaccinations because there will be many dogs there, and contagious illness spreads quickly.

Be sensitive to your dogs' physical and emotional needs. Offer them food and water often. Make sure shade is available. Even though you are busy, don't forget to give them attention throughout the day. Be patient with them. They're in an unfamiliar environment, and it may be exciting or confusing. It may take them awhile to learn what "out of the kitchen!" means, and you'd probably rather teach them your way than have someone else teach them.

Be considerate of others. Teach your dogs good manners. When coming to a circle, ask them to lie quietly beside or behind you. Keep them out of kitchens, compost pits, and shitters. Don't let them fight with other dogs. Females in heat can cause serious problems, so leave them at home if at all possible. Spaying or neutering your dogs is always a responsible thing to do, and will spare you much hassle in a gathering situation.

Be environmentally aware. Keep dogs out of water sources and other sensitive areas. Pick up their poop, drop it in a shitter, and cover it up, just as you would your own. Remember that dogs are essentially pack animals. When they get together in the freedom of the open woods, they love to run. It's not a good idea to let them do it. They can harm wildlife or get into serious trouble by chasing sheep and cattle. Tying a dog in camp for long periods of time can be unfair both to your neighbors and to your dog. Keep your dog at your side – on a leash if necessary.

As with so many other things at the gathering, respect is the key: respect for your own needs, respect for your neighbors' needs, and respect for your dog's needs. We can have it all. It just takes some attention to detail.

Rap on Access

 For people with special needs, ask for Handicamp - a space for people with mobility and other related disabilities with lots of folks willing to help you make the most of your gathering experience. However, keep in mind that not all people who need close in parking at Handicamp will be able to get it as the lots do fill up.  Sometimes our ability to maintain Handicamp parking is constrained by the United States Forest Service. But the situation varies year to year and even day to day. Providing access for those who need it is one of the hardest things to manage at the gathering. We often work something out, then have to change it for a variety of reasons.  My best recommendation is arrive earlier as the later you come, the more challenging the parking situation tends to become.

The gathering proper can be 1/2 to 2 miles away from vehicle access and may involve hills. There is usually a drop-off point where people and gear can stage at the trail head even if parking is further out. While the trails can be tough and conditions vary from site to site, there's usually a couple of friendly folks just waiting to assist with the rough spots. Sometimes we have cool things like rickshaws to assist people in getting around but sometimes we don't or the service of such assistance devices is intermittent and it may take hours to coordinate transport.

Also, while I understand the desire to sleep in your rig, it is actually easier if you camp in the central part of the gathering by the kitchen of your liking as it will be much easier for others to provide support and you will have access to all the magical happenings. Getting volunteers to help 200 people into the gathering is one thing. Finding volunteers to help 200 people twice a day as they commute to the parking lot is a lot harder for everyone.

~~ Access Rap ~~

While the gathering has always been open to all people with physical disabilities of all levels, as people get older and more people with disabilities want to gather, it becomes more important to address their needs and their problems with access.

The gathering is a back country experience with minimal modifications to the natural landscape, and all people who gather need to be prepared for rough conditions that vary from year to year. However, there is an abundance of helping hands to assist with needs as requested, and, as our family grows and changes, an increasing awareness of how we can assist our family when they are coming home.

People with strong backs and strong arms: Our siblings sometimes need help in getting from point A to point B, especially while carrying gear. Be alert, and if you see someone having difficulties, ask if and how you can help. When constructing all those wonderful Rainbow spaces, think about how someone in a wheelchair would get to and into it – or better yet, find someone in a wheelchair and ask what would be best. Think about how someone in a wheelchair or on crutches can use a shitter and design accordingly.

People with special needs: Ask how to get to HandiCamp, a place for people with mobility problems and other disabilities, with folks willing to help you make the most of your gathering experience. While the trails can be tough and the conditions can vary from site to site, there are usually a few friendly folk willing to assist you with the rough spots. Sometimes people bring cool things like rickshaws to help people get around. Sometime we do not have any mobility transport devices. If you have a handicapped placard, please bring it. Some years that helps us get people closer parking, some years it doesn't.

We will have registered nurses and medical doctors on site during the main days of the gathering. It's a great idea to connect up with a health care practitioner when you arrive and before you need assistance so that someone is familiar with your needs and can assist more quickly.  Please, ask for help when you need it and give another gatherer a chance to be of service.

People with ongoing medical needs: Bring your own personal supplies, like catheters, wraps, special chairs, diapers, cleanups, oxygen, other medical items. Bring your own attendant if you need assistance with personal care (like bowel programs, skin transfers, catheterizations, dressing of wounds), or with supervision or other issues (like mobility, access, or safety).

Everyone: Come celebrate our interdependence! Participate in the joys of helping and the joys of being helped.

Creating a Healthy Gathering Through Handwashing

 One thing that goes a long way to keeping folks at a gathering healthy and safe is washing hands - a lot. And I don't mean just rubbing your hands with sanitizer, but actual biodegradable soap (Dr. Bronner's is great) and filtered or boiled water. Some awesome Rainbow engineers have designed a hand wash station that's transportable and light weight. One goal of a Rainbow hand wash station is to make it hands free, so no one picks up germs in the process of washing their hands. (A smaller setup of this same type can be used for soap dispensing).

Here's a great drawing of what I'll explain in words below. Thanks TimBear (RIP).



"From our experience, the primer bulb check valve can fail if the water gets trash in it. The solution we found was a small piece of filter material (like the filter from a wet vac) or fine mesh screening (a couple of layers of panty hose) around the end of the water intake. The pvc pipe allows you to direct the water where you want it, even if there is no tree where you want the water." - TimBear's words, not mine. What ever you do, make sure the grey water is at least 300 feet from creeks, rivers, and ponds and preferable somewhere where no one is walking. Dogs and people can get into the grey water and spread the germs all over the place and that's not healthy. Placing a covered great water pit in a clump of trees or bushes is awesome!

The key is a one-way syphon valve. It's made of rubber and can be squeezed by hand. Each end has a place to clamp hose onto. I usually get them at my local Marine supply store. Hook it up to some clear plastic tubing - one end to go into a bucket of filtered water. It looks like this:


The other end should be fastened somewhere (if not using TimBear's Pipe method) and hopefully have a drain system so people aren't standing around in gray water. To conserve water, get spare sun shower nozzles and put it on the end. These are $1-2 each from a camping supply store. They work great for the "faucet" end. Here is a photo of one.



Then to wash hands, all people need to do is pump the black syphon ball with their feet, and water comes out the shower nozzle. Portable hands free hand washing and kids love it and will wash their hands a lot!

Filtered water is best for hand washing. Providing an alcohol based hand sanitizer and/or a bleach wash as a final step is a great idea, but please label what is what so people can make informed decisions.

I also like to make a sink to minimize the amount of mucky grey water around the faucet. I've used a plastic bowl in a round tomato cage. Then drill a hole in the bottom and put in a connector so you can clamp a discharge pipe and run the waste water into a gray water pit. WARNING! HIPPIES CAN BE DUMB. Every time I use my sink setup, someone thinks we should recycle the gray water by putting it back into the fresh water container. THIS IS UNSANITARY AND IS WORSE THAN NOT WASHING YOUR HANDS AT ALL. So if you use a sink, please make a sign telling people that the drain DOES NOT go into the water source.

I'll be bringing a few extra setups to give out - but we needs lots of them. If someone(s) are looking for a great public service project for this year's gathering, here's a great one. Let's make sure we have enough hand washing stations scattered around the gathering so that people can't help but wash their hands at least twice a day. Every year I promise to make them at home and bring everything but the sink, but it doesn't seem to happen. Sure is easier at home with my tools.

Clean hands creates a healthy gathering.

Just a quick reminder, no soap in any surface water. Biodegradable soap only biodegrades in the soil.  All soapy water should be kept 300 feet from surface water like creeks, rivers, ponds and springs.  Don't be the dufuss who tries to wash your hands, clothes, hair, body in the creek. All you're doing is creating dirty water for the animals (2 and 4 legged) who drink the water.

Rainbeau Weaver's Heartsong on the Gathering

 Today's guest post comes from Rainbeau Weaver

Attending my first gathering in the 80s changed my life forever & helped me find my purpose, my people, my family.  When we drove up to the front gate that first day, a beautiful woman gently walked up as my very young children & I exited the van.  Offering a wide hug she exclaimed joyfully, “Welcome Home!” I looked around as several smiling, friendly, dusty, colorful hippies rushed up to help us quickly unload the van.  The energetic, loving group touched me so deeply that I feel to my knees in tears.  I had never felt more welcomed or at home ever before.  I felt that this was what I had so fervently looked for as I traveled to different spiritual ashrams around the world, seeking guidance & purpose, a place to serve. 

During the next couple of weeks, I realized that my first impression was only a hint of the deep connections & wonderful celebrations that we would experience together.  We discovered so much natural wonder, magical synchronicity, authentic generosity, great food, beautiful music & amazingly loving, funny & talented people of all types. 

The acceptance that we felt was complete as we grew to feel family with such divergent personalities.  I felt comfortable immediately & was wide open & trusting.  I had only been as simpatico at Sunday morning meditations at music festivals or picnics in the park with old friends.   I was so filled with gratitude that I vowed that “the Rainbow way” ethics would be my guiding star.  These were our folks!

I felt that my children were safe & happy & were even more so at a Regional Katuah Family Gathering a few weeks later.  We were overjoyed to discover that our tight knit local group was very family friendly & enthusiastically welcoming.  We were so happy that most of these folks lived nearby & we could visit each other often for potlucks & drumcircles, councils & campouts.  I loved that almost every Camp was serving only vegetarian food & that alcohol was respectfully only carried or consumed outside the main camp, on the road, away from the Main Circle.

Over the last 37 years I have learned so much & been so inspired to share what I have learned at Rainbow Gatherings such as how to make a roaring fire in the pouring rain to create a Sister Sweat (Katuah Summer Solstice, 88) or gleefully cook dinner for hundreds.  How to make five different giant pots of food at the same time, keep from burning the pots & make them all come done at one time.

Years later, we opened our own Rainbow Free Kitchen in my hometown  that served  6-8% of the population 3 times a week, a full 4 course gourmet meal, in house, on real ceramic & glass & silverware with flowers on the table (no plastic or styrofoam) & delivered to many shut ins as well with just 4 hardworking Rainbow volunteers).  We composted all of our scraps, recycled all of our cans & bottles, burned all of our paper.  This I learned at Rainbow as well (Swami Mommy’s Yoga of garbage).  We grew vegetables in our garden or bought our food from the local Food Bank with money we earned by musical or theatrical events or small donations.  Daily, I prepared vegan, vegetarian, carnivorous, diabetic & salt-free meals for various diets.  We served several latch-key children (who didn’t have reliable evening meals at home) after school & started a group on Saturday afternoons called “Rainbow Kids”.  Before every meal, everyday, we would hold hands in a circle & sing “We are Circling, Circling together. . .” Often, we would go around the circle expressing gratitude.

For many years I have felt honored to bring Rainbow Family values into every community I enter.  Another important teaching that I’ve learned at Rainbow is natural, herbal, Earth Medicine; foraging plants & healing juices & teas, helping with natural home births & being a doula.  I have been awed by the amount of high quality, selfless health care given freely, constantly at Gatherings for 53 years.  I have generously been taught so much at CALM & am grateful to have been able to serve @ my own version of a downtown CALM since 1990 Minnesota, “Rainbeau Weaver’s Tipi Teapot & Lemonade Stand, Rehydration Station”.  I carry what I’ve learned with me & teach others to feel empowered to take their health into their own hands as often as possible.

I have been extremely moved by the Spiritual ceremonies at gatherings & the overall surrender to the “flow” of Spirit.  I am awed by the depth of love in the Spirit House.  The Oooooommmmm on the 4th at noon is the highlight of my year.   I love Ooommeba hugs & parades, small OOmmm circles & Oomming before meals.  Singing Spirit Songs, ecstatic drumming & dancing have filled my heart & restored my Soul for decades.  I will always be grateful to Rainbow for this gift.  I had been seriously Ooming for 15 years before I came to a Gathering & learned how to Really share an Ooommmmnnn.  It is so great to feel at one & surrendering to the Flow when on an “Impossible Mission” & miraculously find that All of the various aspects & requirements to accomplish said mission magically appear exactly on time out of the blue!

This supernatural-seeming help has arrived often in my work with the incredible Call Your Mom effort & powerful DKCSC (Dirty Kid Couchsurfing Coalition) over the last few years.  Talk about being a unified family!  The network of support & care shared by phone, internet, care packages, word of mouth, letters or perhaps smoke signals to traveling wanderers, unhoused families, destitute, lonely aged-out-of-foster care orphans, train hoppers, lost addicts or street people all over the country has been phenomenal to witness.  Inspired by the style of sharing at Rainbow & deeply, starkly exposed gaps in loving service that needed to be filled in our communities for our humblest siblings, this Love has expanded out to remote wild places or inner city wastelands to nurture & protect our most vulnerable family. 

One Mission that was exceptionally marvelous in its unfolding was The Red Moon Lodge that some wonderful Women & I created in Georgia.  It was the culmination of many years of building feminine energy at Gatherings.  The feminine flow & empowerment, Sisterhood in the Rainbow Family is stronger than I’ve felt anywhere else, ever.  In that camp at that Gathering, at some Women’s Lodges, Sister Circles, Grandmother Council, Silent Sister Meadow (NC 87), whenever I’ve been in a Sacred, protected, respected place with only women at gatherings I’ve been grounded, restored, inspired, empowered, bonded.

The most important thing I’ve learned at Rainbow that I try to give to the World is the sense of responsible Community.  Respectful Building, complete Recycling, Fire Safety, Kitchen Cooperation & Conflict Resolution by Circling, Counciling, Listening, being fully engaged, empowered & involved.  Restoring the wildness back to Itself before we go home.  All this we do with consciousness & respect.  No one is alone, an island.  There is support & help on all sides.  We are Family & we care about each other.  Impossible things happen as a matter of course every day.  This has given me such Faith that incredible things can be accomplished if we work/play together.

Thank All of You, my 🌈Rainbow Family for teaching me so much.  For giving my Life focus, purpose, health, joy, music, art, fun, skills, laughter, ecstacy, friendship, belonging, hard important lessons, strength, self-respect, Sisterhood, support, Spiritual sustenance, meaning and Unity, but especially real Love. 💖

Blessed Be your safe Way~~Rainbeau Weaver~

Rap 107/701

 

Rap 107

Gathering Consciousness

Please protect this Beautiful Land.

 

Walk softly. Harm no living thing. Harmonize - Blend in. Cut no living trees. Use only down, dead wood. Preserve the meadows; camp in the woods. We are caretakers of this land.

Everyone sharing makes a strong Human Tribe!

Please Protect the water sources by staying out of DELICATE spring areas. Avoid camping, peeing, washing above spring areas. Keep ALL soap out of streams, springs or the creek! Use a bucket to take your bath 100 feet away from any water source. To be certain of drinking water, boil it!

Protect our Health!

Use the slit trenches or covered latrines – cover your paper & waste with ashes or lime, wash hands. Dig no shitters near water areas or kitchens.

Break the fly/illness connection:
shit > flies > food > YOU!

Use your own cup, bowl & spoon. Wash them after eating and rinse in bleach water. Visit C.A.L.M. if you are injured or if you feel ill – especially if you have a contagious disease!

Camp Together - Establish neighborhoods. Community Fires only! ~ Each with a 5 gallon water bucket and shovel for Fire Protection. If you are the last to leave a fire PUT IT OUT! Watch your gear: Be Responsible ~ “Tempt Not Lest Ye Be Lifted From.”

Pets are discouraged but if you must bring them keep them fed, on a leash and out of the kitchens, springs, & fights. Clean up their shit. Love them.


PACK IT IN - PACK IT OUT !!!

Cleanup begins when you arrive. Bring in only what is necessary. There is no janitor here ... you are the cleanup crew. Separate garbage for recycling. Don't litter - Find collection point. Compost in pits only.

You are the Gathering! Participate in Shanti Sena, the peace keepers – and all activities, councils, work crews, workshops. Volunteer wherever needed: kitchens, welcome home, firewatch, parking lot, shitter digging, supply, front gate, etc. R-E-S-P-E-C-T eachother’s energies.

Keep the Balance: 
Earth, Sky, Trees, Water, & People!

Alcohol is Discouraged, Guns are inappropriate, violence is contrary to the spirit of the gathering. Please take no photographs or videos of people without permission. Discourage drug abuse.

Buying and selling endangers our legal right to be here. The Magic Hat is our bank, donate early to fund our needs. The Magic Hat goes around at mealtime circles and with the Magic Hat Band.

Our power together is many times 
our power separated.

Enjoy the Rainbow with an open heart 
and you will see the Vision.

Join us for the 4th of July Silent Contemplation & Prayer for Peace. Please respect those maintaining silence from dawn to noon.

WE LOVE YOU!!

Rap 701

In preparation for leaving...

Pack up all your trash and take it away. Take it far away. Do not impact the small towns near the gathering. Drop recyclables in appropriate collection areas.

Dismantle and disappear your encampment. Pick up litter, douse fire, ashes cold, scatter fire rocks.  Replace turf. Vanish ALL traces. 

Cover your local latrine and compost holes solidly with lime and soil. Burn any wood structures used for latrine seats. Remove string and twine from tree limbs. Break up hardened ground with shovels or picks for future root growth and moisture catch. Intermix humus from forest ground if possible.

NATURALIZE! When an area is clear and clean, scatter logs, branches, leaves. Disappear trails, renew forest habitat. Water systems are removed, cleaned and stored for next year.

Help with disabled vehicles, fully dismantle ramps and bridges. Water bar steep places to prevent erosion. The final crew re-seeds with appropriate vegetation to complete the process.

Transport as many riders as possible out of the area. Treat local folks with great kindness.

Drive safely and share this love wherever you go.

Happy Trails!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Sounds From The Rainbow: A collection of field recordings

 Just to get you in the vibe!

Sounds From The Rainbow Website

The essence of America lies not in the headlined heroes…but in the everyday folks who live and die unknown, yet leave their dreams as legacies. ―Alan Lomax

Featured within the site are a collection of field recordings a long time gatherer has made at a variety of rainbow gatherings over the last 17 years or so. There are over 1100 songs, poems, sounds, snippets, and stories for you to listen to and/or download. They are live, rustic, and spontaneous recordings made out in the forests of the world. More often than not, they were recorded in a rugged and unpredictable environment – each of these tracks are a one source recording and no additional studio elements have been added.  Feel free to listen to, download and/or share these recordings, but please ― No Sale or Commercial Use. Visit Sounds From The Rainbow.

USFS on Permits

 For the short clip on a meeting hosted by the Forest Service where they 

 

 

 

For the full video that is just over 42 minutes long