Happy Free Spirit Saturday!
We are super excited to introduce this lovable addition to the O + W Free Spirit family. Meet, Zack Turner, a 23 year old Libra living in the Rocky Mountains. He has this great positive energy that feels like your soul is being hugged. He lights the world up with his personality, warmth and kindness. The way he loves life is such an inspiration. One day is working at outdoor store the next day he might be working on a farm. Whatever he is doing, he makes the best of it. I encourage you to read the little pieces of his life that he has shared with us! Highlights include: Zack’s job as a bud-tender, his trip to India and the longest he went without a shower.
Life Motto: If there’s one thing I know, it’s that I will never know enough.
Current dwelling: Of
course, as a “free spirit” you caught me in-between dwellings :p for two weeks
I will be living in a spiritual retreat center referred to as the “foam dome”
It’s a large private dwelling that has been molded into a cave like atmosphere
where zero corners exist to prevent stagnant and negative energy from getting
trapped in the house. It’s one of the coolest properties I have ever visited
because of the awesome energy and wild architecture. There is a traditionally
and ceremonially resurrected tipi and sweat lodge on property, as well as a
yurt and two beautiful fire pits nestled on the blue river in Silverthorne
Colorado. The gentleman who built this vision and the house is named Boot who I
think just celebrated his 90th birthday and still lives in the foam
dome. The rest of the inhabitants are other fellow travelers and transient
beings.
After my two weeks in the dome, my best friend
and love, is moving to Colorado and bringing a 1972 airstream with him. We
accepted positions as campground hosts and we’re setting up our airstream for 5
months in the desert surrounded by sagebrush, the Rocky Mountains, and the
Green Mountain Reservoir. We purchased the airstream nearly gutted so we look
forward to customizing and renovating the space.
Current occupation: I am currently
a bud-tender at High Country Healing, which is just a fancy way of saying that
I sell marijuana products legally. But the realms of my responsibilities extend
way beyond just selling cannabis flowers and edibles to recreational and
medical users. As a bud-tender I have to act mostly as an educator, relaying
information to patients to assist them in finding the right bud for their
condition. We have patients that come in for issues like insomnia, pain,
epilepsy, eating disorders, etc., and each strain has specific cannabinoids
that might be good for one thing, and not so good for another. It’s a lot of
learning and researching each strain to best help each individual that has
chosen an organic alternative to pharmaceuticals.
Opal + Wonder: What
does being a free spirit mean to you?
Zach Turner: Doing what you want to do, chasing your curiosities, and finding
adventure in everything.
O+W: I have so much fun looking at your photos from your adventures. I'd love to hear about some of your favorite places.
ZT: I’ve got a really soft spot in my heart and a never-ending
urge to keep returning to India, so that’s definitely top-of-the-list material.
It’s a powerful place to grow in any direction you please, whether it be
growing more spiritual, more healthy, more conscious, or more sustainable, or
pretty much any other aspect of yourself that you can grow on. Some of my most
special moments were spent in days of silence at a meditation retreat, working
in a raw food restaurant where a large portion of the food used I helped grow,
and spending time in several different guru’s ashrams. I’ve done a lot of
traveling, but India has definitely assisted me in becoming a better person on
so many levels so I give it a lot of credit. Other countries I’ve visited
include, Thailand, Costa Rica, Amsterdam, Peru, Mexico, France, Italy, Spain,
Singapore, and Turks & Caicos. My passport says I have been to Germany, but
I haven’t.
O+W: Did you have any “aha” moments during any of your many travel experiences?
ZT: I have a journal full of “aha” moments! But a large theme of my travels has been centered around environmental and personal sustainability. In the states sustainability is often a hard concept to grasp because we are surrounded by unsustainable practices…everywhere. Traveling around India I was spending most of my time in extremely rural areas. These cultures don’t have any other option but to be super sustainable and live with the earth. A lot of my "aha" moments were just realizing the beauty of the planet, other cultures, and how small we are in the grand scheme of things
O+W: First concert you went to –
ZT: I think one of my first concerts was weird al. I was in fourth or fifth grade I think? Weird indeed!
O+W: Let’s talk festivals. What is your favorite festival you've been to?
ZT: My #1 festival to date is called Gratifly. It’s a transformational
festival, which balanced the music, art, spirituality, and community like the
yin and yang. Most festivals I have encountered are centered around over
indulgence, partying your face off, and mindlessness, where as gratifly was
truly emanating compassion, transformation, and unity. It’s in South Carolina
in a community called Avon right on a river you can relax in. There's a fairy
forest to wander around in, a waterfall to sit in, and a dome that looks like a
jelly fish!
O+W: Name
3 things you believe in.
ZT: Vibrations, Alternative healing, Universal magnetism
O+W: Someone
just gave you $15,000. What are you going to do with it?
ZT: Burning Man then move back to India.
O+W: Fill
in the blank. The world would be a much happier place if ________.
ZT: If people would show some damn compassion
O+W: What
is your favorite article of clothing?
ZT: Does a satchel count as an article of clothing? I’m all about
satchels. If satchels aren’t included, I’m all about this jacket that’s made
out of dashiki material with a wizard hood on it. satchels and wizard hoods,
cant get enough of them.
O+W: Favorite
room in your house and why-
ZT: I’m always drawn to the kitchen. There’s food and it seems to
always be the community hang out in whatever house I am living in at the time. Also
I really enjoy the whole process of cooking, so it’s gotta be the kitchen!
O+W: What
is the longest you’ve went without a shower ?
ZT: It was either 3 or 4 weeks while on a sea kayaking trip around the
San Juan Islands in Washington State. All of us were pretty ripe after that
trip, but it’s crazy experiencing the effects of natural hygiene and watching
as our body return to it’s natural state without all of the artificial products
that we use to clean ourselves
O+W: If
you could have one super hero power what would it be?
ZT: I would totally want the power to be like a super healer or
something shaman like where I could wave my hands and do a dance and people
would be fixed
O+W: What
are your summer plans?
ZT: I guess
just hanging around the green mountain reservoir and working at the dispensary.
I’ll probably make my way to a few festivals but other than that I don’t have
any major plans.
