Doug and Maya Powell have been together and healing through sound since 2020. In 2022 they bought property and for the last three years have been practicing permaculture and polyculture. “I used to make wooden kayaks but haven’t been because we’ve been too busy farming,” Doug said.
The Powells had an epiphany during Covid that they needed to be growing their own food. Maya, a Southern Missouri farm girl, wanted an enough land to grow a garden. “We found this property and moved out here. We hit the ground running,” Doug said.
Doug and Maya live in a 600 sq. ft. cabin that sat where O’Reilly’s is now. They moved it and built onto it, adding a bedroom and a bathroom. Keels Creek runs through their property, they have a well and have installed solar, have just finished the greenhouse and will soon build a hoop house.
The Powells grow blueberries, strawberries, goji, an assortment of raspberries, vegetables and herbs. They have planted a food forest of fruit trees and are experimenting with grafting. Their method of preservation is freeze drying.
“You can freeze dry everything but butter and honey-heavy oils,” Doug said. “Berries are fabulous freeze-dried, they become like candy. Plus, you can rehydrate them. Berries maintain 97 percent of their nutritional value, maintain their color and last for 25 years.”
Maya brews kombucha and makes syrups and jams from the fruit. They occasionally go extended periods of time drinking solely the juice of raw produce from their garden.
“Just the first year we counted 75 people we gave food away to,” Maya said. “After 75, we didn’t count anymore. Isn’t that what we used to do in the old days? If I had abundance, I shared it. If you had abundance, you shared it. Why can’t we do it this way?
“I wish we could get away from the whole money thing. Money changes the whole perspective. I just need to keep it pure and know it all works out. Maybe it comes our way in a dozen eggs and a gallon of milk. Maybe it comes by community participation in our garden.
“Nothing teaches abundance like plants. The more you give them away, the more they grow. The garden teaches abundance and that there’s no end to it. There is no lack.
“When consciousness shifts, problems go away because we will make different choices. I have to believe that there’s a miracle aspect, that there’s a divine aspect. We have to keep opening our minds and looking for the solutions. We have to stand up and live life how we are supposed to and let love win.”
“Consciousness is going to fix it, not voting the next person into the White House. It’s all broken. We can’t fix the planet by living in fear and anger. We have to keep lifting it up. That’s why we do this,” Doug said.
Doug was drafted to Vietnam. He was a Catholic and American Catholic bishops supported the war in the beginning. “I’m not going to a church that supports war, period. That was the end of me and church. I filed as a conscientious objector. I was going to go to Canada. I didn’t even want to wear a uniform of a military that kills people. I really feel strongly about this. I can’t kill people. I struggle with killing flies.”
When Doug moved to Eureka Springs in 1979, he bought land with Jacqui Froelich. “There was a lot of crazy stuff,” he said. “I left my pickup parked on Main with the key in it and a sign saying if you need this truck take it. It had this big old cedar camper on it. It came and went for years. People were taking it when they needed transportation.
“I left for two years and went to sea. I landed in Key West and ran into a woman in Key West from Eureka Springs. She needed another driver for her trip back. So, we drove here, and my camper truck was in her driveway! Somebody was living in it. It had no clutch nor brakes, so I called Larry Evans.
“There was only one thing missing from the camper, but there were more things in there. People left stuff along the way. Pottery, a stove. There was so much music on cassettes in there, a toolbox and two bikes hanging off the side.”
Five-and-a-half years ago, Doug started doing sound healing. “When I was grieving, I bought my first RAV [tongue drum]. It healed me. I played the crap out of that thing. That’s where all this joy comes from, my grief.”
Doug’s sound healing incorporates instruments from eight countries: Ancient Tibetan bowls from India, a Shofar from Israel and a monokotra, which is three different instruments in one: a monochord, a koto, and tanpura.
“The building we do the sound in was here, but we built it out,” he said. “It was just a big open barn. We insulated it, put this floor in and added windows and doors.”
“This is kind of our new church,” Maya added. Maya does Kirtans, the chanting of mantras accompanied by the harmonium, which is an organ from India. “People are coming to Eureka Springs looking for the healing. About 15 years ago I came looking for it. I know it’s here. People are looking for something to feel a part of. A place where they belong.”
They have a sound journey at their property every Tuesday at 7 p.m. Doug Powell, Eureka Springs Kirtan and Eden’s Light can all be found on Facebook.