At age 92, after 55 years living off the land, Charles Bello still spends long days growing his own food and managing his off-grid infrastructure, but he doesn’t see this continuous connection to the land as a sacrifice, but as a gift that allows him to experience daily wonder at the richness of the natural world.
source.image: Kirsten Dirksen
In 1968, Charles Bello and his wife Vanna Ray decided to leave urban life and buy land where they could grow their own food and build their own home. With no source of income, they began planting and selling Christmas trees to pay off their loan, as well as, building roads, bridges and solar and water systems on their bare land.
Over the following decades, Charles built and designed 3 homes for the couple and their 2 sons, including an A-frame and the architecturally-significant Parabolic Glass House, which with its 2 curved walls of windows forms a transparent home enveloped by trees.
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For 55 years, the land has provided Charles with all his income, food, water, electricity and a rich spiritual life. He works 7 days a week tending the gardens and orchards and maintaining the infrastructure and Redwood forest. He still dedicates hours to restoring the Redwood forest (it was clearcut over a century ago) even though he won’t live to see the fruits of his labor.
When he has a free hour, he spends it in solitude in nature, listening to the sound of the river or the forest. He credits this 5-senses experience (what others might call “forest bathing”) with bringing him a sense of calm to daily life, as well as an acceptance of his own death which he sees as just a part of the very-present cycle of life.
