March 2012
1 post
USDA site making local food easy to find! →
February 2012
1 post
WatchAlice Waters, mother of the local food movement, founder of Edible Schoolyards, and personal role model.
January 2012
1 post
Now What: life after college
Well, one could get an INTERNSHIP. The ambitious student or recent graduate INTERN then works zealously to impress an organization that often has zero intention or capacity to hire them, all for the highly sought after “experience” which will give them an “edge” on those elusive paying jobs.
One could get a JOB. Or two. Or three. The current...
December 2011
4 posts
“Abraham knew exactly what the land was for: it was to drip milk and honey into...”
– Aldo Leopold, The Sand County Almanac
November 2011
5 posts
“Countries that do not want their borders stormed by tens of millions of starving...”
– Julian Cribb The Coming Famine
“If the price of world peace is to divert just one-tenth of the global armaments...”
– Julian Cribb, The Coming Famine
“Knowledge about how to produce food sustainably is, and always should be, free...”
– Julian Cribb, The Coming Famine
'Blackstone Bicycle Works: South Side Bike... →
thegreenurbanist:
“Blackstone is a working bike shop, probably best described as a youth-focused nonprofit organization that sustains itself with bike sales and repairs. There are at least 20 kids there on any given day, doing homework, playing games or putting time in at the shop. When they’ve worked on bikes for 20 hours, they get to choose one to rebuild that they can keep. When they get to...
October 2011
2 posts
“Making sustainability a trend has minimized its relevance and stymied its...”
– Allison Arieff
A Conversation With Allison Arieff, Writer and Editor on Sustainability — The Atlantic
(via unconsumption)
September 2011
3 posts
Urban Food Deserts →
Get Involved in Your Food Chain →
August 2011
0 posts
“Much of human history has consisted of unequal conflicts between the haves and...”
– Jared Diamond Guns, Germs, and Steel
July 2011
12 posts
Back in Cab
We are back in Cabarete for the final 2 weeks of our little adventure in the Dominican Rebuplic. Plenty of time to do some more surfing, finish my book (Jake has finished 3 already!), play some volleyball and soccer on the beach, and soak in the sun. Maybe we’ll even try kite boarding if we get some windy days!
Rancho Magante
Rancho Magante sounds idyllic; 1500 forested acres on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, home to a progressive, holistic school for adults and children, an organic farm, and a healthy, yoga-practicing, “sustainable community”. It is the property of Henry and Maria Mensen, who moved to Caribbean from Canada and the U.S., and the realization of their desire to live a more sustainable life....
Big Idea about Trash
Trash is a problem in the DR. Well, trash is a problem everywhere, but it’s much more obvious here without effective waste management to bury it out of sight. Many people burn garbage to keep their environment clean, which has become a health hazard with the use of plastic/styrofoam packaging. Resorts often take the cheap way out and just find an out of the way place to dump, then end up...
Trek to Connect →
Judgment in Eden
Eden Ranch is beautiful piece of land overlooking the north coast and Puerto Plata, nestled next to several thousand acres belonging to the famous Rum-producing barons of the Dominican Republic, the Brugal family. It is home to 21 very happy horses, and 2 very unhappy people.
I have started writing this blog post many times since leaving Eden Ranch almost 2 weeks ago. It has always continued with...
Humility/Why I would recommend Tubagua
Of the four WWOOFing experiences I’ve had here in the DR, three have been run by foreigners. Of those three, only one created any sense of cohesion and cooperation in the community or between the owner and employees. That place was Tubagua. It is also the only place of the three I would return to, or recommend to anyone traveling in the DR, WWOOFing or otherwise.
The Biggest Idea I have taken...
Mi bagua es Tubagua
So good to be here! Tubagua has been a lot of fun from the minute we set our packs down and looked out to the coast, framed between Puerto Plata’s mountain, Isabella de Torres, and palm trees. This is a very beautiful place, and it’s very exciting to be the first people to WWOOF here. We’re working with Tim, the owner, to help make the property more accessible to people who will...
Community Power
Over the past two weeks, we’ve seem some incredible things in Rio Limpio. Our reason for coming was to work with CREAR, a school for organic agronomy inspired over 25 years ago by a peace-corps member, which now teaches a class of around 35 stundents at no charge to them, and is completely Dominican run. CREAR teaches sustainable farming meathods, as well as the equivalent of the last year...
Rio Limpio
unless you have your own car, the way to get to Rio Limpio is in the back of a truck. We rode up with 2 80-year-old grandmas, who hopped in back with us like it was no big deal. Two hours sitting on our packs, wedged between a sack of rice and a propane tank. The truck groaning as it heaved between gears, winding higher up into the hills, coconut palms beginning to mix bizarrely...
June 2011
13 posts
Back online! ...sort of.
The Dominican Republic has many interesting but sometimes inconvenient aspects, such as venomous nocturnal shrews and bachata music. And, as we found out upon reaching Rio Limpio, an uneven power grid. Long story short, Jake’s MacBook might need a new motherboard and I no longer have reliable internet access.
The past three weeks, however, have been full of little adventures and Big Ideas,...
Leaving Cabarete
Spending our last night in the hostel hanging out with Beau, Sarah, and Andy before they head Las Terranas for the final days of their trip. We’re heading out early tomorrow morning, taking a cab/bus/guagua (i.e. back of a pick-up truck) to Rio Limpio, a small rural town near the center of the island. We’ll spend the first day or two exploring the area, then start our work with CREAR,...
You can do it, Marla!
I made it through 26 of the 27 waterfalls without a hitch. Cold water, steep walls, narrow openings: no problem. First in line, all it took was walking up and “Un. Dos. Tres.” Then pushing off into air, and a sudden rush of cold deep water.
Until almost at the end, after a steep muddy path, leaning into the side of the hill, holding a thin rope to ease our fears of sliding down into...
May 2011
21 posts
Snow in the Carribbean
I just waved goodbye to my parents after their week here in the Dominican Republic, and what a week it was.
Traveling rarely goes as planned and this trip was no exception, but if there’s one thing I know it’s that if you’re with people you love, it doesn’t really matter where you are. Despite flight cancellations at 4am, having to fly into a city literally across the...
Surfing for NWBS
Not to be redundant, but….
IT’S SO TOOOOOTALLY AWESOME, MAN!!!!
The feeling of being carried by a wave, precariously balancing atop a massive swell of water. It’s amazing. I only felt the thrill of the small afternoon waves today, but once my sunburn goes down, we’ll be out there again for sure.
Contrary to what I imagined form the easy going surfer persona, this is...
graeber asked: Does WOOF have other farms in the Dominican aside from the original one you planned on working with?
