We spent the weekend, along with many others, trying to say goodbye to Paul Moshimer, a friend and the co-director of Blue Star Equiculture, a draft horse rescue and retirement farm, an organic farming research center, and a powerful place of connection for many people.
In some ways, Ruth diBuono, a University of Massachusetts student who loves Blue Star and works there as often as she can, and Doug Anderson, a decorated poet and war veteran, are at opposite ends of life. They are different in so many ways, yet the Blue Star idea suggest that they are, in so many ways one, connected to people, connected to the horses. Blue Star has become a focal point for both of their lives.
It s very typical of Blue Star that Paul and Pamela Moshimer Richenback’s vision of a community that loves and celebrates human and animal life, and respects the earth, brought them together. There, people who are very different love and care for one another, share their souls with one another. That is the miracle that Paul and Pamela wrought.
Doug and Ruth met recently, they were both drawn to the farm and share a love for it and the people and horses there. That is a powerful bond. Both mean to get even closer and help Blue Star through it’s challenge and transition. Their connection is inspiring to me.
Ruth and Doug were very close to Paul. Doug was one of Paul’s closest friends, his death is a great loss to him, and both are struggling to accept and understand it. Paul was a mentor and friend to Ruth, she is already figuring out how to help Pamela and the farm. They also joined hundreds of other people this weekend to say goodbye in many different ways. In Native-American tradition, there were four days of public mourning, a fire that burned from Thursday to Sunday evening, a farmhouse kitchen bursting with food that scores of people prepared and brought. And then the horses, who were quiet and restless, picking up the emotion and intense energy, as animals will do.
A weekend of laughter, tears, ceremony and ritual, death and rebirth, courage and strength. This image was one of the first I saw when Maria and I came to the farm on Friday to say goodbye to Paul and stand with Pamela.