Minnesota / Wisconsin Gathering 2019

Thanks to a certain fiddler

Be bear aware. Last bear sighting was 2 days ago. Do not store food in your tent. Above ground community fires only. Prevent root fires Camp, compost, latrines, gray water should be 200 feet away from lakes and other surface waters Please swim in Haples lake as we are pulling drinking water from other lakes Don't molest the oaks. Do no break branches tie rope to or remove bark Dogs on leash to protect wildlife Place stick at 45 degree angle in latrines compost etc to give wildlife an escape ramp Bring bikes and wagons as parking is 2 miles away from main trail head Rear trail is not great for wagons. Ovens is there and there is lots of great camping. Don't trample the meadow to protect endangered monarch butterflies

There are 2 lots for RVs/buses on the left hand side of the road marked by the forest service. All other parking is on the right hand side of the road and on the road. We still have a handicamp parking / camping area. Keep dogs on leash to protect wildlife including bears and wolves—both of which have been seen on site. Just yesterday bear cubs crossed main trail not too far from INFO Camp at least 200 feet from lake Ask where to swim. There are many lakes and some of them are being used for drinking water. Rinse off 200 feet from lake. Think public pool rules Be prepared for rain Do not tie a thing to oak trees. Scratched bark leads to oak wilt. More details at INFO. Lots of dragonflies on site. Cops stopping people in vehicles frequently for the typical stuff. Read how to avoid a mandatory court appearance on top of blog Court in Washburn Wisconsin. Next court date July 1st. If you missed June 24 show up on July 1 to avoid a warrant for your arrest We love...

Please keep dogs on a leash due to wolves and mama bears in the area. Please no soap in or around lakes and water sources All parking is along the road. 1/3 of handicamp parking area was taken over by forest service for admin parking. Please call forest service office to complain. Send this info to media. Parking is on one side of the road only. Iron River is friendly but watch speed limit First court date is on Washburn WI on Monday June 24 at Federal Courthouse. If you can attend please be there to support. Many kitchens have agreed to post info on how they are treating water so gatherers can choose water that meets their own needs. Great site for carts and bikes Warm days cool nights Do not tie things to Oak trees. When bark peals off fungus is entering and killing oaks. Sometimes many at a time as they can be connected by roots Don't molest birch trees or peel off bark When driving be careful. Lots of deer in the area. Turtles crossing the road. Hon...

INTERSTATE 35 out of Minneapolis/Saint Paul :  Please note that Interstate 35 out of Minneapolis (and away from the airport) is full of construction. There are many detours and unexpected merging throughout the area of construction. It can be confusing. The construction continues on and off for about 100 miles but is less bad once you are outside of Minneapolis. Doing more digging it appears that I-35 has two parts: I-35W and I-35E that run north and south kind of parallel to each other. It's the Western one that is getting most of the construction. If possible take I-35E North out of the cities. Updated info from the Dept of Transportation can be found HERE. FOREST ROAD 412 : Some good advice for when you are just arriving at the Site of the Rainbow Gathering itself: The final road, Forest Road 412 is a ONE WAY road. When you see cars parked along the road, on the right hand side, pull off, making sure that all four of your wheels are off the roadway. Get your gear an...

Bad Tent Location - Too Close to surface water ( Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/meganpru/5914413517/ ) Lakes and other surface water provide water for animals in the area and spawning grounds for fish.  Water is the heart of the ecosystem. When folks disrespect the lake, they disrespect the land on which we gather as well as the heart of the gathering itself. While one or two people swimming in a lake can have minimal impact, when there are a few thousand of us, we can negatively impact the lake if we do not take the same precautions our local public pool requires. Tips & Tricks for protecting the lakes Grab a bucket of water and rinse off at least 300 feet away from the lake and where the water won't run back into the lake.  This helps remove sunscreens, tick repellent including natural remedies, and skin oils that are harmful to the lake and the creatures that live there. Don't pee in the lake. Do not camp within 300 feet of the lake.  Let's ...

The Iron River Police Department will be holding a meeting on Thursday, June 20 at 7 pm at .Community Center: 8275 East Mill St, Iron River, WI 54847. Please note, while rainbow gathering participants may be in attendance, this meeting is being planned by the local police department.

Dear residents of Northern Wisconsin, especially those in the vicinity of the Rainbow Gathering, Some of the gathering participants are putting together a Town Hall Meeting.  LOCATION:    Uncle Bob's Bowling Center  68290 S Main St Iron River, Wisconsin 54847 TIME: 4 p.m. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:  Anyone under 21 will need to bring a parent or guardian. This will be an opportunity for gathering participants to provide an overview of this gathering, allow local community members to ask questions, share concerns, and for many of us to get to know each other on an individual basis. Please come meet everyone!

Hi all, Here are the updates I have collected over the last two days in nor particular order and copied and pasted as I have collected them. ******************************************* News from the land: Please be careful digging near the Old Oak Trees -- they are sensitive and with all the moisture very susceptible to a disease. Please do not dig shitters, dump grey water nor compost, nor disturb the ROOTS --- I speak for the TREES and PLEASE SHARE>>>>. Thank you folks on the land. The site is beautiful and many are working hard to build the village'. Dogs are mostly leashed, cars are parking as directed, locals are visiting and very curious and friendly, cops and biologists are visiting, Ahoums (Ohmmm, Aum) are happening, all systems are go..... ******************************************* Heard about the Rainbow Gathering on WOJB radio this morning, 89.9 FM. That is a native owned, community radio station very near to the gathering site. They are interest...

Information being provided by the United States Forest Service on the annual Rainbow Family Gathering is available here .  Please check this site for parking information and other changes info about the roads.

The gathering functions as a temporary community where we practice creating the world the way we want it to exist. Not only are we creating a temporary community, but we are also creating hundreds of communities within a community. The gathering itself is a temporary community with not exactly rules, but guidelines on how to gather and create the peace we want to see on this planet. In gathering speak--these guidelines are called the “Raps.” I strongly recommend you read the raps, which you can find here  as well as the Mini Manual of Gathering Consciousness . Or read Paul's a rainbow guide. At the gathering, we have hundreds of individual camps (some small, some large) that might have their own special community standards. For example, Serenity Ridge is a camp for people in recovery so they request no smoking of any kind and no-mind altering substances of any kind (including caffeine). Tea Time is up and noisy all night long, while Kid Village tries to maintain...

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I love this video for sharing such a deeply personal experience of a first timer's gathering.

Copied from Facebook Hey everyone. This gathering is literally in my backyard. Like I can walk to it through woods. I know this place real well. You need to bring permethrin for your clothes and a old cotton sheet that you can tie to a stick like a flag and sweep grasses around tent and on paths for tics they cling to cotton then kill them. This is deer tic heaven and lymes is probably your biggest concern In these woods. They are everywhere. Tic check daily do not miss a day. Always be watching everyone else too. It is very serious. I’ve lived most of my life here and haven’t contracted it yet but have treated for it a few times just in case. I just had one imbedded this morning from 5 minutes in the woods yesterday. If they remain on you for 30 hours you need to go get a dose of antibiotics antibiotics are effective within first two weeks after infection. If you wait they become ineffective quickly. So many people around here have lymes disease.  You can...

Updated information will be available here for the next week or two. Check back frequently.  Updated June 17 @  9:00 am California time. 48th Annual Rainbow Family Gathering of the Tribes July 1 to July 7, 2019 We, who are brothers & sisters, children of spirit, families of life on earth, friends of nature & of all people, children of humankind calling ourselves the rainbow gathering, humbly invite: All races, peoples, tribes, communes, men, women, children, individuals -- out of love. All nations & national leaders -- out of respect All religions & religious leaders -- out of faith All politicians -- out of charity to join with us in gathering together for the purpose of expressing our sincere desire that there shall be peace on earth, harmony among all people. & to hold open worship, prayer, chanting or whatever is the want or desire of the people, for three days, but upon the fourth day of July at noon to ask that there be a meditative,...

Bosnia - 2007 Circles helps us focus our energy, ensure that everyone's voice is being heard, and create a grounding for the gathering as a whole.  When good strong circles happen, the entire energy of the gathering is changed. Not only the people who participate in the circle, but all those bellies hard at work around the gathering will pick up on the positive vibrations coming from the circle and we'll all be a bit more loving, a bit more peaceful and a bit higher in spirits.  Have a problem, call a circle.  Want to share your love, call a circle.  Want to focus energy in your area, call a circle.  Having cop issues, call a circle off to the side.  When you hear the call "C I R C L E,"  please participate. If world peace is what we're after, a circle never hurts and often helps. July 4 Om in California 2004 (photo taken by Greg Van)  

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 ...

When I get into the woods, my brain changes. The way my brain works changes.  The way I interact with other life on this planet changes.  Being in the rhythm of the woods is a magical part of the gathering. Everyone changes in the woods. I connect with human beings under the canopy of Douglas Fir and cedar trees. My brain slowly returns to rhythms marked by sunrise and sunset, rain and sun. It is a helpless feeling at first because I am so used to the endless push to analyze texts, fix computer problems, and tame databases.  The pace is relentless not just in what I am doing but in the already identified list of things to be done. Walking on forest duff, I deal with that which is in front of me. I slide into non-logical ways of knowing and stop thinking in words. Under the panorama of stars, I awaken all my ways of understanding. As Glen Slater writes in his article “Cyborgian Drift,” ,“the privileging of the intellect over other aspects of being—animal sensation, i...

WE LOVE YOU: A Rainbow Gathering Documentary" from New Jersey Pictures on Vimeo .

As we are all starting to pack, plan for, and head towards the gathering, here are a few tips for information that will be common to any of the potential sites.   Planes, Trains, and Buses According to people out scouting, the gathering will probably be within 200 miles of Duluth, Minnesota.  Call the lightline for updates @ 651-356-8842. Planning Ahead for the North Woods Please plan on bringing jugs of drinking water. I always recommend one gallon per person to bring with you on the day you arrive for the hike in, plus leaving one gallon per person in the car, just in case. We are also asking everyone to bring a .2 Micron Filter system and be prepared to boil or filter your own water.  We have a bunch of family engineering water filtration systems for sites without elevation drops to push water, but the more self-sufficient you can be the better.  Some recommendations is to buy or build a Sawyer filter bucket system, , Katadyn filters are a...