Out & About with Lori Sunflower - The First 5 Years

By Lori Nagel-Sunflower

Crestone is a lovely and very unique place, nestled at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range on the edge of the sacred San Luis Valley, and truly unlike any other place on earth. While the scenery is beautiful, the wildlife is spectacular, and energy vortexes abound, those things are not what sets it apart from other places, as physical beauty is ubiquitous in this world. What makes Crestone so special is the people who live here, those who breathe life into this little town.  This book gives you a glimpse into the lives of these people. None of the words are mine (except, of course, when I interviewed myself that one time! lol) and have only been edited for grammar and brevity. This is a compilation of the first 5 years of my column pieces in our local monthly newspaper, The Crestone Eagle.  I choose a different column topic each month. Sometimes they have to do with the month (i.e. "What are you grateful for?" for November, the month of Thanksgiving), and sometimes they don't.  A popular topic I've repeated a few times is, "What brought you to Crestone?"  People have many different stories about how they arrived in this interesting place, and it's very rarely "for a job," as the lack of employment opportunities happens to be one of the more challenging aspects of Crestone. There seem to be a lot of artists, musicians and healers who find their way to Crestone – some of the best in the world, in fact! Most come here to heal, to realize their peace within, and to celebrate life with others and with nature. I am a photographer, and so 99% of these photos were taken by me. This whole 'project' has been one of the most treasured endeavors of my lifetime, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed compiling it for you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lori Nagel-Sunflower
• Release date: Feb 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393311386

Lori Nagel-Sunflower

Lori Nagel, aka Lori Sunflower, has been the photographer and occasional writer for The Crestone Eagle monthly newspaper in Crestone, Colorado.  She left her 11-year IBM Project Management “career” in 2008 to pursue her current self-employed passions in Photography, Graphic Design and Web Design. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 1996, adding to a background which helps in her current endeavors.  She was once told by a psychic, many years ago, that she would “give a voice to those who do not have one.”  This column has been her first real experience at doing that on a large-scale level and she enjoys the process as much as she enjoys the end result. It’s about connecting with people and helping them to connect with others in a way that perhaps wouldn’t have been possible without this opportunity. Lori moved to Crestone, Colorado, where she currently resides, when she was pregnant with her only son in 2010.  Before that, she lived in 6 different states, mostly in her adult life, and always in busy suburbs of large cities. She immensely enjoys living in nature now, which she has deeply craved her entire life!

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I’d like to thank all of the people I’ve interviewed so far – over 350 of them in the last 5 years! I thank them for the small insight into their lives that has given my column the personal touch it has come to be known for. Each of these interviews to me represents getting to know people in my community better – home visits, cups of tea, mini-photoshoots, friendly conversations and insightful answers to my varying column topics. I feel like my life has become a much richer one because of the experiences I’ve had with people as a result of this column and I couldn’t be more grateful.

I’d like to thank my readers, especially those who don’t even know me and approach me while I’m out somewhere to tell me it’s one of the things they most look forward to reading in the paper every month. I am humbled to be able to spread the wise words of others via this medium. I feel like it is one of my give-backs to the world and I am deeply honored that I am able to do it.

I’d also like to thank my son, Ziggy Eilets, for supporting me throughout this endeavor, always there to offer feedback and give me insights as to which photos of someone are the best or pick just the right column topic for the following month. I love you forever, Ziggy, and appreciate you more than you’ll ever know. I’m also grateful to my parents, Frank and Carol Nagel, who raised me to want to incite positive change in the world and who faithfully read my column every single month and let me know their thoughts on it.

And last, but certainly not least, as this column wouldn’t exist without it, is the Crestone Eagle and its editor, Kizzen Lakai, who has been a gentle but firm editor the last 8 years I’ve been the staff photographer and the 5 years I’ve been doing my column. My gratitude for being a part of the Crestone Eagle runs deep. They’ve all been an amazing group of people to work with!

This book covers January 2016 through December of 2020. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Disclaimer: These interviews and photos were first published in The Crestone Eagle, PO Box 101, Crestone, CO 81131. www.crestoneeagle.com

January 2016 – What brought you to Crestone?

Morgaine Faust

It’s my 62nd birthday today, and I’m still alive! When I came to Crestone in February of 2014, I was literally close to dying. I could hardly walk across the street between the Bliss and the Cloud. I was SO ill. I had severe adrenal exhaustion then that was very debilitating. Before I got here to Crestone, I was close to being hospitalized and they wouldn’t have been able to do ANYthing for me—how could an MD treat Yang Qi Deficiency? I had lost my housing in Denver, I had lost my job. Everything is a blessing of course, and when I had no home to pay for, I could afford to see an OMD, and I give this man credit for saving my life.

Fast forward. I got to here in a roundabout way, and Crestone has been SO healing for me. It is the first place that I have ever lived where there are SO MANY PEOPLE WAY WEIRDER THAN ME! And I feel right at home! Because I’m in the middle of the spectrum now. Ha! And I put in place the foundations for my freelance editing and social media marketing business before I got here, knowing it’s a good idea to bring your job with you to Crestone. My business is doing well, and my health is constantly improving. I’m in the process of obtaining a USDA Rural Development 502 Home Loan, and I can build or buy a house through the program here in the San Luis Valley, so I’m here to stay—Crestone hasn’t chewed me up and spit me out yet!

I feel like I am more myself here in Crestone than anyplace else I’ve ever been. I’ve lived and worked in a lot of situations where I had to put on a hat to be something that I am not naturally. I’m really good at that because I’m a Sagittarius, and we’re naturally actresses anyway, but it’s so refreshing to not have to do that! I love my new life in Crestone. The sense of community here is something to be treasured.

Jesse-Re'

In November 2004, I met 2 friends, and those 2 friends and I were sitting on a hill one night in Cincinnati, overlooking the city, and they said, Wherever you go, there you are. They’d never left Cincinnati. I said, Well, if wherever you go, there you are, then you guys should go out west, and at least live somewhere beautiful. And they were like, Whatever. The next day, they told me, We’re going out to Colorado to visit a friend. We’re leaving at 3 o’clock. Our car or yours? And I said, Well, mine, because I need my car. So I drove them out here.

Initially, I was just coming to visit, but then when I got here, my dog of 9 years had just gotten diagnosed with cancer. And I really, really loved my dog – he was my best friend in the world – I mean, I LOVED that dog. 2 weeks after I got here, I had to put him down. It was the day after Thanksgiving. I was feeling totally hopeless. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had no money, and then Alan and Melanie offered me a job at the bar and I started bartending, and then I just fell in love with it here. Everything just got better and better and better and I was so comfortable here.

I grew up right next to the highway, near an airport, so I had to constantly listen to the sounds of the city. When I got here, I could hear the quiet – complete silence for the first time in my life. And community for the first time in my life. And I really just appreciate everyone here – I love it here.

I had a dream before I got to Crestone. I was dancing around in a stone circle with my true love. We were in a building in Crestone, and I had never seen any architecture like Crestone before because I’m from Cincinnati, and I had no idea what the dream was about. It was the very next day when my friends called me and said, We’re gonna go. When I got here, I ended up in the same house as the dream that I’d had, and the architecture and everything was the same - it was so crazy. That’s when I knew I was supposed to be here.

Shoshannah Asha

About 10 years ago, I moved to Crestone with a boyfriend I was dating at the time.  He showed me this place.  He was raised near Moffat.  We lived in such a cute strawbale house in the Baca for a year, which was built by a local resident.  I’ve maintained connections here ever since then. I had dreams about Crestone when I was living in Denver.  An opportunity then opened up for me 3 ½ years ago to return to the valley to do a 6-month farming apprenticeship.  I came down, and then rather than going back to Denver, I came here. 

Before I got back to Crestone, I had this really powerful dream about all these Ethnic people in their regalia.  Dancers and musicians from around the world.  

They were dancing and drumming and singing, and I was hanging out with them.  A man gave this little boy a seed and the kid ate the seed and he was translating and channeling all this information, and I was watching and listening.  Then the old Eastern Indian man who had given the child the seed looked at me and said, In a past life, you ate a hundred of these.  

So that was a really cool dream for me.  And then after I had been back in Crestone for 2 weeks, I saw an old friend of mine, who walked up to me at the creek and said, Oh my God, I just had a dream with you in it!  He hadn’t known I was here yet, but he had a dream of me where we went into this Kiva and there were all these ethnic people around, right here in Crestone.  And he was telling me all about this dream, and I just knew, as soon as he said that, I knew.  And he said, Does this have any meaning to you?  That was quite the understatement.

And so for me this place is like the modern old tribe - the future ancients.  I came here because I wanted to be a part of a village, meaning creating art and growing food.  I really feel like this is a village.

David Steele

We were in Florida, and originally, we were looking at moving to either Asheville, North Carolina, or Crestone. While we were trying to decide, it turned out we had some friends who were coming out west, and we ended up getting a free pass all the way to Crestone. All we had to do is pay for the car dolly. The guy was coming out to Colorado and he needed someone to drive the truck, so we got out here for about $200. It took us like 4 or 5 days, but we took that left turn at Albuquerque and ended up here.

We chose Crestone because it’s a vortex, and it’s not a secret that it’s a vortex. And the place we came from in Florida was a vortex, too. We came from Sarasota, which has sand on the beaches, entirely quartz crystal. It’s a magical place, not unlike Crestone. Crestone’s notorious – it’s known all over the world. The Indians in the past knew this place was magical. It goes on and on and on. There was no question when we came here we knew we wanted to stay for a long time. I mean, I love this place – what’s not to love?

February 2016 – How do you get through winter?

Mark Jacobi

Well, it’s kind of a function of making your way all the way to Winter Solstice, and then there’s this Ahhhh effect, where you’re just like, Oh, it’s all downhill from here. And part of the reflection is that Oh, but it’s gonna be like this again in another year, and yet, who cares, right? So ya get through the winter just like, well, are you ready to throw in your towel or not, ya know? I mean, people check out in the winter, cross the veil. And if you’re not willing to do that, then tough it through. Or you can go south and be a snowbird – a lot of people do it, and it’s respectable – nothing wrong with it.

I grew up in Wisconsin, where it wasn’t uncommon to have wind chills of 80 below – for weeks! The coldest I experienced there was negative 97. Where I was working, the guys would get off their shift at 7 AM, but at 5 AM they’d go out there and they’d climb under their cars with blow-torches to warm up the oil in their oil pans. Compared to Crestone? It’s much better here!

In the wintertime, the mountains and stars feel closer than they’ve ever felt. I mean, the atmosphere is coalesce and dropped to the surface. It’s thinner and clearer than it is all year long. There’s no haze. It’s immediate. And that’s just a thrill. That’s part of what gets you through winter.

Ya know, you have to take these things in stride. I accept the fact that winter weather creates summer weather creates winter weather creates summer weather. And I try to enjoy and appreciate what those dynamics are because it really makes it a richer experience when ya take it in that level of context and recognize that there’s a bigger dynamic at play. Frozen water will break rocks apart, and those rocks get broken apart besides, and then that rock eventually becomes the mineral in the soil, which eventually nourishes the plants that nourish you. And so, all of that dynamic makes it worth it all. It’s indomitable, it’s larger than me, and it’s been going on since way before any of us walked on 2 legs – so ya just have to accept it and dig it!

Wonder Bob

Any way I can! With a lot of prayer and patience. I learned I can cycle my breath, to circulate Chi in the body to create heat.  The first winter I was here, I spent it outside, with no heat, just to see if my body could do it.  And it did.

I live simply, in a 12-ft diameter yurt with no running water, a little propane heater, and a south-facing sunroom. I manage my activities, including bathing, around when the sunroom is warm.  I have to be patient and match my cycle with the rhythm of weather and temperature.

Crestone is a magical place, the capstone of consciousness and the crossroads of infinite possibility. When we put ourselves out on the edge of the wild, we can have a conversation with All That Is.  Without the congestion, light pollution and human chatter, we can commune with the stars and nature in a more efficient way. It’s almost as if we can speak to them and they hear us.  They send little acknowledgements through twinkles and shooting stars.  I ponder, Wait a minute, how can you hear me? How is this possible? This clarity in wintertime is profound.  We’re in a high vibratory space with more snow, which really is crystalline consciousness. It’s kind of a translator to the cosmos. You can feel the unified field of that crystalline consciousness that’s high on the mountain.  I can only imagine what it’s like up on the mountain. There’s no way I’m going up there!  Cuz it’s COLD! 

Just last night, I had 20 coyotes circle my yurt, inches away from the wall, and they started singing.  I was in the middle of a coyote song!  Great-horned owls hang out in my tree and hoot all night long.  Sometimes a herd of elk will circle around, making weird and strange noises throughout the night – like a cross between aliens and pigeons.  And the birds!  I see some really cool birds.

Winter is a great time to contemplate and self-reflect. I review what I’ve accomplished the year before.  I go within, reconnect with the earth, reconnect with the cosmos, and the mountain. I imagine what I can create for the next year.  It’s a whole reset experience.  It’s truly valuable time.

Lisa Bodey

Chop wood, haul water! The ritual of building a fire every day teaches me appreciation for heat, warmth, light & connection.

Growing up in Indiana, I just remember FUN – building snow forts, snowball fights, sledding, just lots of running around, ice-skating, so really being outside and playing in it. How does it compare to Crestone? We had fun! (laughing) But honestly, it’s a more active lifestyle here, there’s more like-minded people who will get out into the elements – snowboarding, skiing, sledding, and appreciating the environment and the seasons – there’s a deep respect for all the changes throughout the year.

In regards to winter preparations – it’s all about the wood! I’ve learned how to run a chainsaw and log splitter and keep gear in my truck – a hat, gloves, boots, extra clothes – because even if I don’t need it, someone is going to.

To stay warm, dress in layers! Wool, natural fibers, animal skins. Also, tsa lung is a Tibetan breathwork that teaches you about your internal elements and heat generation.

My favorite winter wildlife… the ravens, the owls, the rabbits. The elk herd comes through where I live, so I really appreciate the elk herd in the winter. It’s the only time I really get to interact with them. And the coyotes howling are always a pleasure – they’re all over out there.

Winter is a time for me to push myself beyond my current boundaries. To really dive into the shadow. Where are the areas that I need to grow, that I need to expand, where do I need to learn to contract and say no. Personal growth is where I occupy a lot of my time in the winter.

My hardest Crestone winter was living in my 1976 trailer with a broken window – the bear had come through – no real heat, leaking roof, while I was building my tiny house and working outside every day.

Winter cuddling techniques including random dogs & cats!

Matthew Gray-Stathatos

A lot of indoors. Video games. Tai Chi and meditation. Ride horses. Work on music – make little music sets. I do a lot of working – just try and keep myself busy. Occasionally I’ll build a snowman. I dunno, it’s pretty boring out here in winter, though. Not a lot to do. That’s why everyone ends up going to the bar. It’s like, Well, what’re we gonna do? I guess we’re all goin’ to the bar. Everyone’s like, Well, everyone just drinks here in this town, but there’s nothin’ to do. I just kinda keep to myself a lot – just work and go home. That’s probably the simplest way of getting through winter.

I’m a snowboarder, and Monarch Mountain had a lot of awesome snow this year. I’ve gone to a lot of campfires this winter, too, which is fun, cuz it’s all cold, but you can hang out with some friends and roast some marshmallows. Sometimes me and some of my friends would just be like Hey, let’s go up to the mountains and start a fire and kick it, ya know?

As far as preparations go, make sure you gotta a lot of warm clothes! And boots. Boots was something I learned. It was my first winter, and I was like, Oh, I’ll be fine! My shoes just got destroyed and I needed boots, man.

To keep warm, I’m very active when I’m outside to keep my blood flowin’. Other than that, a lot of quilts. We have a propane heater that goes through the house. Even though it’s really cold, I’d rather live in Crestone, at the base of a mountain, and get that nice, fresh breath of air, than be in a city in the winter, because you just breathe in that nastiness the whole time.

The mountains and stars are awesome here in wintertime! There’s just something a little more magical and sparkly about ‘em. They’re great in the summer, too, but there’s just something about winter, having the snow on the mountains and having the moon shining on in it and reflecting the snow on there and then you see all these twinkly stars. I don’t know, I feel like the stars are prettier when it’s colder out. Might just me, but..

March 2016 – What are your favorite and least favorite things about Crestone?

Ara MacDonald

My favorite things about Crestone are that everyone knows me, that I know everyone, we wave at each other, know each other’s kids, go to the same places to get our food, strive to ban together as a community when things really matter, strive to live off the grid lives that involve being self-sustainable and close to the environment, the earth. I love that there’s fresh air and so many different kinds of animals here. That people care, and care about each other as much as they can humanly possibly do, and that I feel like I have people that understand me and that know my child and that will be there for me when I really need it, and I’ll be there for them when they really need it.

My least favorite thing about Crestone is that there’s so much confusion. I think this is common to human nature though, I don’t think it’s just this town. People get confused about their opinions about things and start arguing and then they create rifts and they don’t create any kind of solutions to any problems.

Judie Rose

I think my favorite is how the community comes together when there’s trouble, and when there’s happy events. I like to see that. I see when people are in trouble, or they’re doing happy things, the community gets together.

And my worst is the fact that we don’t have enough people coming up in the ranks in age to take over the fundraising and being available. I see that, and it bothers me, because I’ve been volunteering for 23 years and we have yet to pull the younger people up with us. When people need fundraising, or are sick & dying, we step up – and that’s what I love. When I came here, there were 300 people, and it was tighter knit than it is now, because there were only 300. But as we grow more and more, I see that we’re not including younger people to take our places, for when we end up on that pyre!

Dennis Neuhaus

I like the ruralness about the community. The idea that you can either be out there or be a hermit. Total acceptance of all different points of view without any cross eyes or double-takes or anything – you can think anything you want. You can go up in smoke when you’re done, or you can go in the ground. It’s your choice without any hesitation. I like the diversity. And I like the weather changes.

I don’t know what I don’t like about it. I like everything. Even for the mosquitoes, I get Lillian’s Green Earth Farm mosquito repellent and spread it on myself, and the mosquitoes gotta live and have a purpose, too, or why are they here? I accept everything, and I love everything about Crestone, but I have that view of life, too – I like everything about life – I don’t have anything that’s my least favorite thing. There was a survey a while ago, and one of the questions was What is it you wish you could have? My answer was, There’s nothing I wish for. I have everything I need. The survey moderator said to me about a month later, You were the only one who answered like that – everyone else had a wish list! So, I’m different – sorry!

Vickie Helm

My favorite thing, well, obviously the wildlife here, and the mountains. Crestone is just unbeknownst to me the most beautiful place. Ever. But the secret of what I really like about Crestone is that it’s not painted with the zillions and gazillions of corporate advertisers, like here’s McDonald’s, here’s Taco Bell, here’s Burger King. It’s the bastion of what a community looked like before it was overtaken by corporations. And it’s like the last place you can go to where nighttime is really nighttime and daytime is really daytime. It’s really dark at night, it’s super quiet. It’s like, whatever the earth was meant to be, this town is closest to that. And I love that. That’s something completely not on the planet anymore, except for rural places like this.

The mosquitoes in high season are my least favorite thing. If anything would make me want to move out of Crestone, that mosquito season when they’re just like a cloud of mosquitoes and you can’t run anywhere, can’t do anything – it’s like a Stephen King novel! Ya know? The mosquitoes! THAT is my least favorite thing, over even the wind, the mosquito season is really uuugh.

Robin Helm

Well, what I really love about Crestone and that brought me here, initially, are the mountains. I mean, the scenic beauty here is just unbelievable. And having the ability to walk right from my front door up to the top of a 14,000 foot peak is unbelievable. It really describes everything about the environment that I absolutely love. The blue skies, the snowcaps, the outdoors, the peace of mind and the energy of the mountains, I just absolutely love it. Although, having said that, I personally