For me, other than actually working in the kitchen ( which means that one gets to hang around the back of the kitchen close to the fire and occasionally get goodies such as fresh strawberries when there are not enough to go around), I am attracted to Instant Soup because of the music and the conversation. Endless amounts of it. Sometimes the conversation is just good humour banter and other times the discussion is intensely political and serious.
It is hard to explain where the time goes when one is at a Gathering--- or at least I never can. During the 10-12 days that I was there a spent part of three or four days visiting with Sally and her friends. I visited with some old friends and some new ones, and I walked around visiting other kitchens stopping to chat when there was an interesting conversation happening. I also spent a lot of time helping ensure that there was lots of water for the kitchen and that the containers of filtered drinking water were full. It is a job that requires occasional diplomacy, little strength and even less skill. It is something that I can manage quite nicely.
Water is a precious resource everywhere but even at a Gathering it is critical. There are 1,000s of people who need water to cook with, to drink and to wash pots and pans and dishes. All of those people need to to have water that is clean, clear of all contaminates.. At Instant Soup, water that came down the lines from the springs, if it was unfiltered, it was boiled for 20 minutes. If it had come through the 4 separate filters, it was assumed to be safe. Making sure that all of the kitchens had access to water is a significant task and the guys who find the springs, and run the lines down to the various kitchens work flat out for the entire Gathering. They were still laying new lines two days before they had to take them up again. It is a job that takes a good knowledge of hydraulics and the Gathering. The water lines can be somewhat fragile. While some of the lines are comprised of black ABS piping, much of it is 20 foot lengths of friction fit tubes. It is a fragile system.There are times when people trip over lines and the joints separate, other times it is just the pressure that blows the lines apart. We ran out of water surprisingly often and frequently I had to follow the line until I found the break.
Sometimes the pressure in the lanes was very low, especially around supper time when every kitchen needed fresh water. Sometimes there was not enough pressure to push the water through the filters and it took 30-40 minutes to fill a five gallon jug. During those times there would be long line ups as kitchens and other folks lined up for drinking water. There was nothing to be done but just to relax and enjoy the company. Most folks were pretty good about it, but every once in a while some would get frustrated and complain. I usually reminded people that we were very fortunate to have clean water when so many people around the world had to walk for miles for dirty ditch water. Quite often I suggested that the reason why the water pressure was so low was that someone had left the toilet running or that someone was running the shower too long.
I was always surprised when sometimes someone would say in surprise " there are flush toilets around here!! Where?"
For me, other than actually working in the kitchen ( which means that one gets to hang around the back of the kitchen close to the fire and occasionally get goodies such as fresh strawberries when there are not enough to go around), I am attracted to Instant Soup because of the music and the conversation
It is hard to explain where the time goes when one is at a Gathering--- or at least I never can. During the 10-12 days that I was there a spent part of three or four days visiting with Sally and her friends. I visited with some old friends and some new ones, and I walked around visiting other kitchens stopping to chat when there was an interesting conversation happening. I also spent a lot of time helping ensure that there was lots of water for the kitchen and that the containers of filtered drinking water were full. It is a job that requires occasional diplomacy, little strength and even less skill. It is something that I can manage quite nicely.
Water is a precious resource everywhere but even at a Gathering it is critical. There are 1,000s of people who need water to cook with, to drink and to wash pots and pans and dishes. All of those people need to to have water that is clean, clear of all contaminates.. At Instant Soup, water that came down the lines from the springs, if it was unfiltered, it was boiled for 20 minutes. If it had come through the 4 separate filters, it was assumed to be safe. Making sure that all of the kitchens had access to water is a significant task and the guys who find the springs, and run the lines down to the various kitchens work flat out for the entire Gathering. They were still laying new lines two days before they had to take them up again. It is a job that takes a good knowledge of hydraulics and the Gathering. The water lines can be somewhat fragile. While some of the lines are comprised of black ABS piping, much of it is 20 foot lengths of friction fit tubes. It is a fragile system.There are times when people trip over lines and the joints separate, other times it is just the pressure that blows the lines apart. We ran out of water surprisingly often and frequently I had to follow the line until I found the break.
Sometimes the pressure in the lanes was very low, especially around supper time when every kitchen needed fresh water. Sometimes there was not enough pressure to push the water through the filters and it took 30-40 minutes to fill a five gallon jug. During those times there would be long line ups as kitchens and other folks lined up for drinking water. There was nothing to be done but just to relax and enjoy the company. Most folks were pretty good about it, but every once in a while some would get frustrated and complain. I usually reminded people that we were very fortunate to have clean water when so many people around the world had to walk for miles for dirty ditch water. Quite often I suggested that the reason why the water pressure was so low was that someone had left the toilet running or that someone was running the shower too long.
I was always surprised when sometimes someone would say in surprise " there are flush toilets around here!! Where?"
For me, other than actually working in the kitchen ( which means that one gets to hang around the back of the kitchen close to the fire and occasionally get goodies such as fresh strawberries when there are not enough to go around), I am attracted to Instant Soup because of the music and the conversation
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