Big Bear Lake, CA
August 31st, 2009
Durango, CO
August 13th, 2009
Moab, Utah
August 2nd, 2009 
Tomorrow I start my last week as a Garden Apprentice. And, because I ended up getting sick my last weekend here, I’ve had some time to reflect.
My time here hasn’t been long and it definitely hasn’t been easy. But it’s been amazing. Sometimes I have a hard time believing how much I’ve learned and done in such a short amount of time.
In less than two months I learned how to:
*Identify vegetables, cover crops, flowers, and companion plants by name and site from seed to fruit
*Tell when it’s time to harvest veggies
*Diagnose plant problems (like blossom end rot) and what to do about them
*Identify harmful pests versus beneficial insects and what to do to eliminate the former and encourage the latter
*Know when it’s time to turn the compost (along with the “recipe” for good compost and how to maintain it)
*Dry herbs and flowers for medicinal purposes as well as for cooking
*Make cherry wine
*Bake bread
*Make a variety of jams and pies
*Sun dry and dehydrate fruit and blanch and freeze vegetables
*Make healing salves
*Sell produce at a farmers market, along with the inner workings of running a market and a CSA
And that was all on top of:
*Visiting four national parks plus a national monument
*Rafting with 20 children under the age of 12 down the Colorado River
*Planning a Local Farm+Garden Bike Tour
*Teaching weekly English Classes at the Multicultural Center
And that was just the beginning. I can’t even begin to articulate everything that I learned through my hands on Apprenticeship – so much of it came through osmosis, by doing. After two months of working long, hot hours in the garden and being with the plants and animals, there is a ton in my vocabulary and knowledge base that didn’t exist in May – so much that I can’t even remember what I didn’t know when I first came into this job. I’ve made great friends, explored a new area of the country, and learned so much about myself.
I’m grateful to be able to take all of that with me – first to yoga teacher training, then to New Zealand and finally back home to Kansas City, where the possibilities of what I might do with my newfound knowledge and passion are endless.
Arches and Canyonlands
July 13th, 2009
La Sal National Forest
July 6th, 2009
Las Vegas, Zion NP, and Bryce Canyon
June 28th, 2009
Salina, Utah - just a tad bit different than Salina, Kansas…
June 14th, 2009
Since I got back from South America two months ago, I’ve spent quite a bit of time in my car.
After spending a week or so in Austin, catching up with friends and doing a little contract work for the LAF, I drove up to KC. After saying hello to my parents and dropping off my stuff, I headed west on I-70 to Colorado.
Thankfully, Lauren lives in Manhattan, so stopping to meet her for lunch in Aggieville is a nice way to break up the long, monotonous drive from KC to Denver. You know it’s pretty boring when you look forward to passing through towns such as Salina and Hayes.
I picked up Graham at the Denver airport, and the two of us got to spend an amazing little vacation visiting friends in Colorado. We stayed with the Birdsongs in Boulder, ate on Pearl Street with Michael, Patricia and Bill, went hiking with Dave, ate amazing Nepalese food with Jen, Brad and Marni, stayed up late drinking New Belgium beer and playing shuffle board with Dana and Aaron, went for a nice dinner with Allie and Lawrence and met up with Lauren and Paul for drinks and dinner on the way home. All in all it was a great trip.
We then spent the month of May hanging out in Kansas City. Since we are planning to move there full time, but Graham had yet to spend more than a few days there, we though it would be nice to get a feeling for what it would be like to live there. We absolutely loved it. We got to spend time with my family and friends. We had Memorial Day picnics with Laura and Shawn, met Ashley and Mike for dinner, joined Traci and Joel’s Friday night dinner club each week, went to Royals games with Kim and Todd, listened to the symphony with Jami and Nathan, played beer pong with Justin and Anne and so much more. It was a perfect month and it confirmed that we can’t wait to move back in January.
From KC, Graham flew back to Austin and I made the two day drive out to Moab, stopping in Denver to see Angela on my way. After a week and a half in Moab (more about that later), I drove up to Boise, Idaho to meet Graham and help out with his aunt Laura’s Idaho Salsa Congress. It was an amazing, but too short weekend, and before I knew it, I was driving back to Moab. Oddly enough, while driving on I-70, I passed through Salina, Utah - gorgeous, mountainous and colorful - and chuckled to myself as I realized how far I had come since driving through Salina, KS just a month and a half before…
Peru pics
June 7th, 2009
It’s been a while now, and I had every intention of writing a summary of my time in Bolivia and Peru. Somehow I never managed to get around to it, and only now have I uploaded pictures to flickr. Check them out!
In short, my time in Bolivia and Peru was wonderful. The weather was incredible, the people were amazing. I so much appreciated the culture, and the scenery was breathtaking. My photos don’t do it justice…
The highlights of my trip were staying with a host family on an island in Lake Titicaca and hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
Sadly, my camera broke when I reached the peak of Dead Woman’s Pass (on the second of four days) - the highest part of the Inca Trail hike, so I didn’t actually get to take any pictures of Machu Picchu. My pictures are also a little bit out of order - the few I took from the Inca Trail come first, then Ollantaytambo, Lake Titicaca (including Taquile Island and one of the floating islands), Puno and finally Ollantaytambo (technically in Bolivia).
Enjoy!
Rio de Janeiro
February 28th, 2009
We arrived in Rio on Thursday night and took the Real airport bus to our hostel in Ipanema. It was late, so we went straight to sleep (despite our unbelievably hot room).
On Friday morning I went for a run on Ipanema beach. It felt great to be in a city where people rise early to exercise and where it was safe to wear my ipod during my jog
That day we took a tour that included stops at Pedra Bonita (a beautiful view of the city and the spot where people hang glide), the Cristo Redentor Statue, Santa Tereza and Lapa. My favorite, by far, were the steps at Lapa, designed by a Chilean artist who had traveled to over 50 countries before visiting Brazil. He fell in love with the country and decided to stay, and he chose to use an existing stairwell in one of the favellas for his tile work. His intention was to use tiles of colors from the Brazilian flag, but as the project went on, people started sending him tiles from all over the world. It is now a living, changing mosaic, and the artist is present on the steps or in his studio and more than willing to chat about his work.
That night we met up with Lucas (he was in Rio from BH for Carnaval) and his friends. I ate acai and finally tried one of the Japanese sushi cones (mine with mushrooms, not fish, of course). Sadly, I couldnt drink because I gave up beer for Lent.
On Saturday I went for another great run, drank an avocado smoothie and then took the bus to the Botanical Gardens. They were amazing beautiful. I enjoyed the cooler weather and shade of the trees and got to see a medicinal garden, a greenhouse of orchids, a hummingbird garden and the tree after which Brazil was named, among other things. That afternoon I met Valerie and Lucas at the beach, and then spent the rest of the evening getting ready for my flight out of Brazil…
Senhor do Bonfim
February 27th, 2009
In Salvador, just outside the main part of the city, there lies a church called Senhor do Bonfim. It is impossible to visit Salvador without at least learning about/hearing of this church, as t-shirts, skirts, bags and ribbons all bear its name. The ribbons are of particular interest, as tradition indicates that upon visiting the church, one prays to Senhor do Bonfim (or, for the non-religious, makes a wish) and leaves one ribbon tied to the fence of the church, while tying the other - in three knots - onto his or her wrist to wear until it breaks. It reminded me of - and at times during this trip I mistook the ribbons for - the LIVESTRONG wristbands.
For my last morning in Salvador, I went to visit the church. I expected to experience something touristy and memorable, and instead I experienced so much more. Upon arriving at the church, the site of the fence covered in colorful ribbons was beautiful. But what really hit me was a room in the back, just to the right of the altar. All four walls of that room - and even the ceiling - were covered with offerings to Senhor do Bonfim. There were fake legs, arms and hands displaying ribbons, hanging from the ceiling. There were notes, cards and drawings - most in Portuguese - pleaing for help or offering thanksgiving on the walls. And there were pictures - hundreds of them - of people seeking help. There were photos of people who had been in accidents, of newborn babies on respirators, of breasts and heads and other close ups of body parts that I couldnt help but assume were cancerous. And there were hundreds of snapshots of people young and old from all walks of life.
I suddenly became overwhelmed and was brought to tears. I realized that this church, this saint, this sacred spot gave hope to the hopeless. I was overwhelmed by th amazing power of God and his church.
On this trip I have been reading a lot about religion and philosophy, ideas defending and contradicting Christianity, Buddhism, Native religions and others. And at that moment, standing in the Bonfim church, I realized that it doesn`t matter in what one believes, but that belief in itself is a powerful thing.
I left the room, went back to the altar, and wrote in the prayer petition book a prayer of praise and gratitude to Bonfim for the hope that the church provides. And I wrote a prayer in memory of my Grandfather, for whom I have been wearing my LIVESTRONG wristband, the same one since he was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2004 (the summer that they came out). At that moment I realized that it was finally time for me to let go of the wristband.
As I exited the church, I pulled one ribbon - a white one - out of my bag. I took off my LIVESTRONG wristband, tied the ribbon to it and then tied the ribbon to the fence. My offering - the memory of my Grandfather, the two years of my life I devoted to the LAF as an employee - joined the offerings of so many others. I cried at the letting go of my wristband, but found comfort in the greater meaning of it all.
I boarded the bus back to the hostel and the young Brazilian man on the bus next to me saw that I was struggling to tie the second ribbon on my own wrist. He helped, and now instead of a LIVESTRONG band, I wear a yellow ribbon, having made not a wish but a prayer…
