Becoming Fool of Love: u-topian musings

I feel like celebrating it again:

I live in utopia, I do

I live in the midst of chaos,
and never-beingness,
at the juncture of always-almost being-ness,
u-topia, non-locality, non-focality,
no-place... but in the Wheel

I live in a small storm of 7-plus roommates, which actually is more like 9 or 11 these days - since family and friends from both Vancouver and Amsterdam happen to be visiting at the same time.
Indeed, it's a lot of people to see first thing in the morning, and to eat breakfast with. A it's a lot of people to coordinate house cleaning with.
A microcosm.

And I'd say we're managing pretty well.

Ten different personalities, ten sets of unclear needs and non-threatening neuroses, ten sets of brains, ten beating hearts, and ten stomachs to feed.
A daily life.

And that's what its means to be Fool of Love.

I thought I'd address the title of my blog again. To clarify to you, and to myself.
I am not 'clowning much' these days, but I am still Fool of Love.
It's part of a larger practice.
In the case at hand, I'd say that one must be a bit of a fool to choose such a chaotic environment for a home. One must also be full of Love...

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As I said it before, it's obvious that living in a co-op is not the easiest thing to do. For instance, we all have phases when we need some calm while others are making noise. There's often dirty dishes on the drying rack, which leads to more dishes on the counters and in the sink. We never quite know what old food to throw out of the fridge. There are tons of challenges. But I'd like to speak now about the perks of communal living:

First of all, we all very much value food politics; what it is that we eat, what it means, where and how it is grown, and how and with whom it is consumed. We have at least one professional chef among us, and most of us love cooking healthy and original dishes for the whole family.

We subscribe to a CSA (community supported agriculture) program, which ensures that we get fresh and organic, locally-growned vegetables every week:

Community-supported agriculture (in North America sometimes known as community-shared agriculture) (CSA) is an alternative, locally-based socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA also refers to a particular network or association of individuals who have pledged to support one or more local farms, with growers and consumers sharing the risks and benefits of food production. CSA members or subscribers pay at the onset of the growing season for a share of the anticipated harvest; once harvesting begins, they receive weekly shares of vegetables and fruit, in a vegetable box scheme, and also sometimes herbs, cut flowers, honey, eggs, dairy products and meat, as well. Some CSAs provide for contributions of labor in lieu of a portion of subscription costs.

More things I LOVE:

We buy bulk grain and cereals, we dumpster tons of artisan organic bread;
we sprout beans.
we have a steamy compost bin in the backyard and a smaller vermi-compost in the backroom of the apartment.
we have tomato and spicy pepper plants, basil, and more tomatoes.
we have a washer and dryer, and a clothing line! (and isn't it wonder-full how fast the sun can dry your clothes so quickly and for free?!)
we have a guitar rack made out of used bike tubes. Sporadically, there will be spontaneous jam session taking place... we can never predict.
we even have a adopted cat and he's both the laziest feline ever and the most impressive hunter.
We come from Québec, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. We have found each other by following our values and our vision of a better world. We are a generation of world citizens and we are seeking to adopt better behaviors in order to contribute to a more sustainable culture.

I live in utopia, and you do too.
There are challenges to perfect happiness and comfort: that's 'cause it's the nature of Existence. But it's what we make of it; the choices, the attempts, the creativity...
It's good to remember we live a life of such abundance. It's all around, if we can see it.