I used to go to these gatherings called Rainbow Gatherings. The Rainbow Family of Living Light Gatherings to be precise. 50,000 hippies in a national forest, feeding each other, supporting each other off of the land and what food we could gather from local town castoffs at the grocery stores. A gathering that rivaled the nearest small town. A place I had to hike 7 miles into with a pack on my back I called home.

We had kitchens that would grow bean sprout crops, folks that would pack in supplies to feed everyone from the nearby town when groceries would give us castoffs, Folks would do chores like dig shitters, fetch water from springs, and do camp maintenance like making sure the wash stations had clean, sanitized water to wash dishes, dumping the gray water after cleaning is done. Such a beautiful thing. And, after the few months we had to bliss out in a beautiful national forest, there were cleanup crews who would go through the entire site and make sure, as best as they could, to make it look like we were never there. All people who attended Rainbow Gatherings wanted to bring that sense of community out here into the world that we called Babylon.

I remember being part of Milliway’s Kitchen. We were a camp right on main trail at the edge of the gathering. (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe) See Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)) All sorts of people came through our camp. We fed so many people. I loved it. I remember one time in Wisconsin.. I wore a yolk. I got volunteered (don’t let this dude bullshit you. He volunteered lol) to be sent to the spring to gather water. 2 3-5 gallon water jugs hanging from that yolk. I walked through the woods in only my overalls, barefooted, picking up water from the spring. It took about twenty minutes or so to fill those jugs. The travel to the spring was like 1/2 a mile. 1 mile round trip. I then put each one on each end of the yolk and then proceeded to hike back so I could get our camp fresh water.

One time we dressed in Ghillie suits and went through the woods from kitchen to kitchen freaking people out. We would creep up to the edge of kitchens and then crouch down so people would think we were bushes. Lol. One time, some drunk brother thought my brother, Harmony, was a bush and started taking a piss on him. It was dark lol. Kitchens would play capture the flag with each other. Just a good time.

I could go on for hours about the adventures we had and the sights. Trading Ramen Noodle 12 packs for candy at the trade circle among other things. Such a liberating experience and hard to come back from. I got back into my hometown and straight into a bar with karaoke going because the rest of the group thought it’d be fun. My senses were totally overloaded from being out in the purity of nature for 3 months and I had to go outside and breath. Like my whole soul had been cleansed of the bullshit and I was being poisoned again.