Ever felt like you’ve been missing something, without knowing it? I just learnt I’ve been missing allies in our everyday life on the mountain. And it surprised me!

Yesterday we had some guests from Vermont, U.S. (and a few other states, too) for lunch at Vukov konak. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon moment together. I don’t exactly know what happened during our conversation, but I felt this gush of warmth, easiness, and loving familiarity.

We talked about rural living, life changing happenstances, choosing one’s path in life, (un)schooling choices, tiny bit of politics. Just enough to know we have something in common, something we share.

As they left I tried to focus on my work and reading. But I was overwhelmed by emotions that arouse from this encounter. A person in the group said ‘it’s always difficult to be pioneers‘. Another said she wanted to visit us, because she’s familiar with this region and she knows ‘how out of ordinary it is what you do here‘.

I know it too. But looks like I needed to hear it from someone.

Over time I’ve grown tired of being the strange one, doing things off the mainstream. I’m often not so comfortable being admired for our lifestyle or told ‘I wish I could live like you do’. There are times when I wish we weren’t the only ones.

I miss having comrades. I miss having allies. People that are fighting a similar fight  – although from the outside it looks like no fight at all, as our weapons are gentle methods of parenting and gardening, our war tactics are permaculture and self-sustainability. People that choose love and light, authenticity, freedom, simplicity, raw. People that do fine without a leader, that have no need for kowtowing, and yet there’s an air of loving kindness in their everyday life. People that live in awe and wonder, as much as it’s possible for each of us, endeavouring to open up little by little.

And there are those people, everywhere. It’s just that exactly here, on this mountain, they aren’t many. They come to us as guests at our inn, or as volunteer workers for a moment. We find each other online, through blogs and social media. Luckily we do.

My comrades are in Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Slovenia, Sweden, France, U.S. and other far corners of the Earth. And as much as I appreciate my distant support system, I really do!, I would love to share my everyday life with my allies.

Most of the time everything feels fine. You know? Because you’re accustomed to your surroundings and what it provides. And you go forward because you have to. But then something happens, you meet people, you visit another place, you have a dream. And you realise what you’re missing. That’s what happened to me.

Strangers from Vermont told me that what we do was done in Vermont in the 60’s, and it was considered hippie and crazy back then, but today it’s mainstream. They told me we’re pioneering and we’re brave, and that they understand we feel alone sometimes.

Whoah! Somebody had to tell me that, how ironic… And really! How I sometimes wish we weren’t so off mainstream. Yet this is our only way. Living this way, hippie and crazy, this is the only way. 

Love, light, and respect from our mountain.