Minnesota / Wisconsin Gathering 2019

Enjoy this brief video of what main meadow looked like on July 3, probably the peak of the gathering, and again on July 22nd at the end of cleanup.

Check out this video made by Connect Culture.

This year, we had a heart shaped meadow and many rainbows. Most of the people I met at the gathering were kind, loving people who were there to experience magic, healing, create love, and participate in a beautiful and mellow gathering. I met many people from the Midwest who came home for the first time or the first time in a long time.  Welcome home to all the new faces and those whom we haven't seen in awhile. The gathering took place at the site of a former hunting lodge and deer ranch that was purchased (or given) to the United States Forest Service about 15 years ago.   I found leftover irrigation pipe scattered around the gathering. Despite the rumor mill, I learned that the Forest Management Plan for the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is currently being updated and the process will last three to four years. There will be opportunities for public comment. Until the plan is completed and approved, no logging should occur at the site of this year's gat...

Thanks to a certain fiddler

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 ...

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...

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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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...

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...

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...

For people with special needs, ask for Handicamp - a space for people with mobility and other related disabilities with lots of folks willing to help you make the most of your gathering experience. However, keep in mind that not all people who need close in parking at Handicamp will be able to get it as the lots do fill up.  Sometimes our ability to maintain Handicamp parking is constrained by the United States Forest Service. But the situation varies year to year and even day to day. Providing access for those who need it is one of the hardest things to manage at the gathering. We often work something out, then have to change it for a variety of reasons.  My best recommendation is arrive earlier as the later you come, the more challenging the parking situation tends to become. The gathering proper can be 1/2 to 2 miles away from vehicle access and may involve hills. There is usually a drop-off point where people and gear can stage at the trail head even if par...

One of the many questions that come in regards to gathering, is how to I handling menstruating at the gathering. The question really becomes what products do I use to capture my menstrual flow that does is easy to manage. The first key is that there is no trash service at the gathering. If you bring something to the gathering, then you are responsible to take it home with you.  That means planning ahead is key. Many sanitary napkins are made with petroleum based plastic products and therefore are not biodegradable.  Non-biodegradable items need to be hauled out of the gathering. And who wants petroleum products on one of the most sensitive areas of their body?  Not me! To learn more about how to select products that are biodegradable, click here .  Make sure not to buy tampons with plastic applicators. Cardboard is OK. If you purchase plant-only based biodegradable sanitary napkins, panty liners, and tampons, you can put them in the shitter where they wil...

There have been a few versions of booklets that help gathering participants understand the logistics of the gathering. Where Do I Poop? is the latest?   Find the full PDF online , print out copies, and distribute when you get to the gathering.

The Mini Manual has been around for decades and has seen some updates from time to time, but it contains all the basic info. This is a great document to make copies of to bring to the gathering. Everyone needs this information and accessing the Internet at a gathering is a tough thing to do. Find the Mini Manual 2014 edition online .

A message primarily for my family at the Rainbow Gathering who do not have a penis. If you're drinking enough water to stay hydrated, you're probably peeing a lot. Now when you pee, hopefully you'll be peeing behind a tree or a bush or somewhere in the woods (Not the shitter). If you're like me, you like to wipe after you pee. But then you have some slightly used toilet paper to dispose of - and NOT by burying it under two inches of duff. Some one will have to pick up that tissue - let that someone be you. I've taken to bringing extra wash clothes or bandanda to the gathering. I keep one in my day pack at all times. Then when I need to pee, I wipe with a washcloth. I put it in a plastic bag in my pack. The next day I grab a new one. The old one gets rinsed out and left to dry for a day or two. 4 or 5 wash clothes or bandanas will last me 3 weeks using this method. The other option is to carry all that used TP to the nearest shitter and toss it in. Or burn i...