Choose the Meandering Path

Over eight months ago I wrote about the value of meandering on the BGB blog. Now I find that word popping back into my life again. As Sam alluded to in her most recent blog post, I have been grappling with the decision to take a yearlong fellowship back home in the states. For the past month now Sam has heard far more than she ever bargained for about this position (thank you Sam!) and I have found my focus on the future pulling me away from the present. After many long conversations with my parents, Sam and a handful of very patient friends, I made the difficult decision to turn down the offer despite the opportunity it offered for learning and growing in my area of professional and personal interest. Perhaps a dumb choice from the outside and many of those that I spoke with may be surprised to hear that this is my decision. But I see now that the choice was less based on opting out of this fellowship opportunity, and more on opting for the adventure I am already a part of. I’ve decided to choose the meandering path. Let me explain.

Last summer in the wake of graduation and in my confused directionless state, I asked countless people that we met on the road with the Bus the same question: “What did you do after you graduated?” The post-graduation stories that enthralled me the most were from those daring individuals who had taken a large chunk of time to travel abroad after they finished their bachelor’s.  I heard tales of washing cars in Spain to raise enough funds to make it to the next European destination, dropping an unsatisfactory job in the Philippines to volunteer at a temple in India, trekking through mountains with nothing but the possessions in the pack on your back… Each new tale captured my imagination and sparked the small (but ever-present) internal flame that entices me to travel.

Two days ago I realized that I am on that journey too now. One day some directionless, confused, eager young beaver of a recent college grad will ask me what I did after I left Dartmouth and I will have a traveler’s story to tell. The temples of Thailand, Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo, living roofs in Thailand… these are the images that I want to look back on. I am fortunate and grateful to have a supportive family that not only allows but encourages such adventures. They gave me the push that I needed to recognize that I am here now. This big trip that I’ve been dreaming of, the tale that I want to tell- well here I am. And to cut that off after three and a half months seems to make less and less sense with each new traveler that I meet and each new project that I participate in.

As those who know me well can attest, this will be a challenge. I love being home. I love being able to watch Doctor Who with Jack and Liz. I love that I can call up my aunts in the afternoon and three hours later be enjoying a pizza night with the cousins. I love that I can wake up, skip down the stairs, and check my e-mail two seats over from my mother doing the same. I love that I can make soup with my dad or, more often than that, leisurely enjoy a delicious soup that my dad slaves away at for hours in the kitchen...

I fear what I will miss. I always have. I remember the way my heart ached when I read a letter Kerry sent to me while I was in South Africa. “Dear Kelly, This is my first letter I am writing in cursive. We are learning how in school. We miss you! Love, Kerry” My memory does not do justice to Kerry’s true eloquence but you’ve got the basic idea. Kerry writing me a letter in cursive script… when did she get so old? Flash forward two and a half years to Portland on the Big Green Bus and the girl who once had been my baby cousin Sarah is Facebook messaging me with inquiries about the boys in my life, and sharing gossip of her own. She’s doing the cheerleading team and what’s more she looks like this little woman now. And Jack! Every time I leave for a couple of months, I return and Jack has grown a foot, his legs bear a little more hair, and his voice has dropped an octave.

With everyone growing so rapidly, how can I leave? I want to be there for every minute of it. I want to be there for each meaningful moment in the lives of my loved ones- the way that they have been there for mine. Can you think of any other college graduate who has had seventeen family members travel across four states to attend the graduation ceremony?

Me neither.

It is no surprise then that nearly every time I have left home for a trip abroad it has been with tears in my eyes, sometimes only a trickle but often full out puffy-red-eyes, runny-nose bawling. If you’ve ever received a gushy text message from me while I am at the airport professing my love for you and declaring the extent to which I will miss you, rest assured I was sobbing as I sent it.

Yet there I was boarding that plane that time, and the time after that, and the time after that… And here I am now.

Why leave then? I grapple with this each time I’m planning a trip. I think my compulsion to travel- what pushes me out the door- revolves around these three guiding principles: perspective, understanding, and the joy of meandering. To meander: to follow a winding course. Remember that? What is traveling but the ultimate winding course. Especially on a trip like this. You meet a traveler who has just come from Malaysia, another headed to Indonesia, yet another who spent four months in Australia- each with advice, insight and stories to share. When you’re in a place for a few weeks time, you fully immerse yourself there experiencing all that you can because you know your time there is limited. It’s a crash course in taste, cultural exchange, conversation, language, art, ecology, music, and landscape in every place you visit. Take here in Koh Phangan for example- already Sam and I have hiked the island’s highest peak, trekked an old traditional Thai trail through the jungle, took a Thai language lesson, practiced Yoga with a British instructor, gardened in the island’s sandy soils, danced to the beats of a hippie-led drum circle as the sun set over the beach, and eaten half the island’s stock of Sriracha sauce.

But most meaningful have been the people, the conversations, the exchange of stories and lessons. We met an Oregon native who has been living primarily in the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand for the past seven years, setting up his hammock for the night wherever he decides to plop it and from the looks of him eating primarily fruit. We met a Thai native who lives halfway up the mountainside in a bamboo hut he built himself, grows whatever food he needs, and offers nature walks in the jungle to those lucky travelers who happen to pass his hut. We met a Swiss couple who have traveled from Switzerland to Thailand entirely by train and boat. To drive the “meandering” point home, about 30 minutes after writing that last sentence, I took a break from writing this blog post to head back to the Phangan Project. Who should I encounter on the tiny street in Thong Sala between the café and the project site but the very couple I had just written about! These world travelers had left Daruma Eco-Farm a week before Sam and I and have been traveling through Thailand since. Low and behold, there they were on the same street as me at the same time. It’s remarkable how two seemingly distinct meandering paths can cross again and again in this vast world.

So the moral of this very long story is that I am happy to be here, eager to learn, and ready to dive deep into each place I visit. I’m not sure where this meandering path will take me but that’s the adventure isn’t it?

I’ll end by saying that while writing this blog John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” came on, nearly bringing tears to my eyes (nearly, but not quite. I know. I cry easily). But this was followed (and balanced) by Phil Collins’ “On My Way.” I recommend that you listen to both. The latter in particular is quite the happy traveling tune.

A special thank you to my family and friends for their support and advice.

With love,

Kelly

“Tell everybody I’m on my way. New friends and new places to see. With blue skies ahead, yes, I’m on my way and there’s nowhere else that I’d rather be.” – Good ol’ Phil Collins

Sabaai Sabaai

Today I did Yoga. I never do Yoga. In fact, I typically dislike Yoga. It takes a lot of concentration and patience, two skills I am severely lacking. But I do appreciate the art, and today I found it to be particularly thought provoking. I had spent my entire afternoon on the computer. A crazy thought considering the fact that I am on one of the most beautiful islands I have ever seen with vast amounts of potential for activity. And what was I doing on the computer? Looking for internships......for next summer.

            This is so typical Sam. Always thinking about the future, about the prospect of something bigger and better. A trait I’ve recently had to step back and analyze. Why can I not simply live in the moment and enjoy the time I have right now? Because I’m “motivated,” as my Professor James Rice iterated to me over and over fall term. I’m the type of person who needs a master plan, a fully attainable and outlined goal.

            But is there such a thing? Kelly and I have discussed this particular subject many-a-time. Back in high school it was so easy for me to have a “master plan:” work your ass off to get straight A’s, participate in multiple extra-curricular activities, and get yourself into the best college possible. Which I did. Boom. Done. But it’s not that simple anymore, especially in the field of Environmental Studies. Its very different than say applying for medical school, graduating after four years, completing residency and internships and getting a job as a doctor at a private practice or hospital. Graduate school is, of course, an option, but not a must. And, currently, there is no such thing as “environmental recruiting.” So great (*flash opportunity), I get to forge my own path to success, but this an incredibly daunting task. There are so many different options and watching Kelly struggle to figure out her life post-graduation has reinforced this idea. Where do I want to be in 10 years? I can’t honestly say I have a clear vision.

             I can see myself working with an environmental activist group, running campaigns and mobilizing communities around environmental issues. But how do I get to that point? It’s hard to know.

             But everything works out as it’s supposed to. I truly believe that. Alanna, one of the other volunteers at the Phangan Project, has reinforced this idea several times stating, “whatever choice you make is the right one.” Which is a fantastic outlook, but one that is hard to accept when you are in the process of making a big life decision or trying to plan your future out. I, for one, am very indecisive. I have a difficult time making choices, and when I finally do, I question them.

            But this trip has given me reason not too. Almost everyone we’ve met at both Daruma and the Phangan Project haven’t had any sort of plan. They are traveling, living day by day and seizing opportunity when it presents itself. They don’t question whether they are doing the right thing. They just do what feels right. And I envy that. Why worry about the future when I could be enjoying today, making the most out of what is directly in front of me.

            Through the Phangan Project alone, I have the ability to design and implement a permaculture garden, visit the local recycling center, work at other surrounding organic gardens, experience biodanza, learn thai language and culture through weekly workshops, and tour a raw, vegan restaurant. All I have to do is express interest and ask. And I am learning to do that. To assert myself and take advantage of all that has been presented to me. Why waste my time worrying about the future when I have so much to learn from in the present. As we say in Thailand, sabaai sabaai, or take it easy, all is well.

- Sparx

Motorbike Mayhem

            Kelly and I rented a motorbike. Not right away. We were actually very apprehensive about it. Not because we are bad drivers (I actually fancy myself as quite a good driver), but because neither of us had ever ridden a motorbike before. In fact, the only experience I had had driving an open vehicle was an ATV I rode at summer camp in 7^th grade, and that venture did NOT end well. I rammed the thing into a fence and scraped myself up pretty badly as I hit pavement.

            We had asked around for other options. Are bicycles available for rent? What about taking a tuk-tuk or taxi? But every response was the same: rent a motorbike. It is by far the cheapest and most convenient option on the island. It costs the same as renting a bicycle without the hassle of having to pedal up steep slopes. And lets be real. The slopes we encountered on our weekend excursion were gnarly. I would have never made it up the different ascents.

            So we walked around and asked every rental place on the block for a price estimate.  We do this, ask for price estimates at every restaurant, shop, and rental place, always, despite the fact that we normally encounter the cheapest prices at our first stop. Typical. We rented our bike, an automatic white Honda, filled out the appropriate forms and received a quick lesson on how to operate it from the owner of the shop. My first test run was a disaster. I pulled the throttle way too aggressively and almost ran into a parked car. The look on the owner’s face.......but I recovered quickly and drove the bike around the block, braking successfully as I pulled back into the shop so that Kelly and I could be on our way.

            And we were off. Cruising along the side of the road as other motorbikes passed us, steadily, on the right. I must have been driving around 20 mph, but I had no way of knowing because, ironically, the speedometer on our bike wasn’t working. Also, disaster struck when it began to rain and sunscreen trickled down into my left eye as I was driving. The look on my face must have been priceless. I was crying in one eye, blinking furiously with the other, and trying to swat at myself, while keeping the bike steady, every chance I could get to rub the water and sunscreen off my face. It’s a wonder that Kelly and I arrived safely to our first destination, Paeng Waterfall.

            Blunder upon blunder, I attempted to park our motorbike and ended up pulling the throttle simultaneously with the brake, knocking over another, parked motorbike. Kelly quickly got off of our bike, twisted our ignition to off and lifted up the other, now fallen, motorbike. All was good. No one was hurt, neither bike was damaged, and there were no witnesses to my little mishap. Thank goodness.

            We hiked up to the waterfall, which was a tad underwhelming. The waterfall was more like a piddle-drip; there was hardly any water flowing, which makes sense considering Thailand is now in its dry season. Regardless, we snapped a few photos and continued hiking up the trail to an incredible viewpoint. Wild, undeveloped jungle for miles. It was beautiful.

            When we returned to the base, we got back on the motorbike (this time Kelly drove), and meandered for another hour and a half. We actually had no intention of meandering, but ended up missing a turn and driving past the beach we wanted to end up at. Again, typical. But, we did eventually make it to the correct beach after a couple of wobbling, on-the-urge-of-tipping-over turns by McGlinch. And the rest of our afternoon was wonderful as we lay by the beach, tanning our casper-white thighs.

            The second day of our weekend, we again got lost. We managed to get back to the beach we had been at the day before and intended on finding a hiking trail to another beach on the other side of the mountain. However, this trail was very unclearly marked. We literally drove up and down the same road 3 times trying to find our way to the trailhead, which we eventually found through trial-and-error. The hike was wonderful, but far more strenuous than anticipated based on the description in our Koh Phangan activity book. The path sloped up and down several times without footholds like ones you might find hiking in the states. If it had been raining, we most certainly would have witnessed many a-landslide. But it wasn’t, and Kelly and I each managed to fall only once. The trail was marked with plastic water bottles, ironic eh?, which led, appropriately, to Bottle Beach, where we jumped immediately into the ocean and wiped off all of the dirt and sweat from our journey. Initially planning on hiking back to our bike, we instead chose to take a water taxi. Very smart choice in my opinion.

            More to come, always.

-Sparx 

Our Bangkok Experience

Kelly and I have had a busy last few days. Like super busy. We took a train from Bang Phra (good-bye Daruma Eco-Farm) to Bangkok on Monday afternoon and navigated ourselves via google maps to, Shanti Lodge, our accommodation for the next few nights. We discovered, after making our reservation, that Shanti Lodge houses an all vegetarian and vegan restaurant and that it sources most of its food from an organic farm near Erawan National Park just outside of Bangkok. Perfect, no?

            We actually spent our first day outside of Bangkok in Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand. What an adventure. After getting off at the train station (it took us about 2 hours to get to Ayutthaya), Kelly and I decided to rent bicycles at a little shop across the street for 40 Baht ($1.20 – what a steal) and travel around to the different temples on the island. Little did we know that the one bridge to and from the mainland was under construction, meaning we had to take our bikes across the river on a ferry. Easy enough – if you are smart enough to figure out how to carry a bicycle up and down two flights on stairs and onto a boat. Unfortunately, Kelly and I were a bumbling mess. Especially me. Coincidentally, I learned how to correctly carry a bike 2 days later on a bike tour Kelly and I signed up for around Old Siam. Regardless, Ayutthaya was beautiful. Kelly and I toured 6 temples and saw ruins a-plenty. All spectacularly designed and far enough a part that we got our work-out for the day. I was covered entirely in sweat and dirt when we finally boarded the train back to Bangkok. I’m sure I smelled glorious.

            The next day, we traveled to downtown Bangkok so Kelly could get pages added to her passport at the US Embassy (world traveler – watch out). While we were there we trekked over to MBK mall and had lunch, a “don’t miss Bangkok experience.” Bangkok is known for its shopping malls. It has zillions. Most of which are multiple stories (6 or 7) high and filled with everything you could ever want. Very similar to Harrods in London if you have ever been there. On floor 7, Kelly and I bought the most incredible pants. Seriously. I am wearing them right now I am so in love. Tie-dye printed parachute pants. They are probably the most touristy thing I could have gotten and I have no regrets. Then we vacated the premises (mostly to avoid buying more pants) and took a bus to Khao San Road where we perused bars, bookstores and local shops for hours, bopping around with other hippie-dippie college-aged travelers looking for a good time. Appropriately, we ended our Khao San experience at Hippie-De-Bar for a couple of drinks.

            Our last day in Bangkok we visited the Grand Palace, Bangkok’s number one tourist location. And I have to say, I understand why. It was incredible. All of the palace buildings were incredibly ornate, decorated with the most intricate details. Buildings were covered with hand-painted tiles and glass pieces, arranged in very diverse mosaics. I think I took around 100 pictures, which I will get up as soon as I can. Promise.

            Then Kelly and I hurried back to Shanti, repacked our bags that were in storage, walked to the bus stop and waited. And waited. And waited some more before we finally decided to cross the street for a different bus. As luck would have it, the bus we had been waiting for passed us almost as soon as we crossed the street. A cry from Kelly, “Are you kidding me?” But alas, we made it onto a bus, almost an hour and a half later, and then realized a minute in that the bus we were on was going the wrong direction. Oops. We got off, crossed the street, again, and waited for another bus, which we got on for two minutes before we were transferred to another bus on the same route due to some “problem.” Very unclear what said problem was. At any rate, we made it to the train station in time, boarded our night train towards Surat Thani, made ourselves sunbutter and wheat bread sandwiches and settled in for the night.

            We arrived in Surat Thani the next morning, caught a bus to the pier headed for Koh Phangan, boarded a ferry and finally reached our destination for the next 3-4 weeks: Phanganchai Hotel. We are here to volunteer 20+ hours a week for The Phangan Project in a permaculture garden with the hopes of participating in some sort of community outreach as well. Because we got here on a Friday, we had the entire weekend off to explore the island. Which we did in a very Kelly-and-Sam-like fashion. Lots of little bumps and bruises (literally and figuratively), which I will share with you all tomorrow. Until then........

- Sparx 

Bangkok: Through the Lens of Kelly’s Wallet

It’s nearly 1am on February 14^th in Bangkok. Sam and I have been on our feet since 7:15 yesterday morning walking, bussing, and taking the sky train to reach various parts of this eclectic city. We departed Daruma on Monday (how we miss our friends there!) and are spending three days sight-seeing in Bangkok before we head to Koh Phangan for the next big permaculture adventure. I thought it would be interesting to write out my expenditures for today in this blog post- a day in the life through the lens of my wallet. It will give you a sense of how Sam and I spent our time, and it will be useful for my own budget-tracking purposes. I spent exponentially more money today than I normally do because Sam and I went shopping and I decided it was a day to indulge. Today was kind of like a mini-vacation, you might say. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

For my purposes here ‘B’ stands for Baht, which is the Thai currency.

30 B = ~1 USD.

15B                        Bus from Shanti Lodge to Siam Square.

20B                        Sky train from Siam Square to Wireless Road.

$82 USD                Fee to add pages to my passport at U.S. Embassy.

120B                      Iced soy latte at Starbucks (yummy indulgence).

150B                      Transaction fee for cash withdrawal from ATM. Necessary preparation for what lay ahead.

50B                        Ridiculously spicy and tasty lunch at MBK mall.

400B                      Two pairs of incredible, floral parachute pants that I’ve been waiting for all my life.

65B                        Chocolate coconut shake at vegan hippie restaurant Ethos (yummy indulgence #2).

110B                      Photo album made from recycled paper and post cards at bookstore.

290B                      Handmade journal bound by string and bearing the Ohm symbol a.k.a. the most perfect place to hold the details of my adventures through Southeast Asia.

120B                      A ‘Hippy Lady’ at Hippe De Bar. Location chosen carefully after perusing the menu of every bar on Khao San road in search of the best deal. Yes, we asked to see the size of the glasses. (yummy indulgence #3).

35B                        Pad thai and spicy tofu curry for dinner. What a steal.

140B                      Vegan chocolate cake with coconut cream and bananas. To compensate up for my inanely cheap dinner, I returned to Ethos and got this delicacy to go. With no tupperware container to my name here in Thailand, I got resourceful and stuffed the hunk of cake with its banana chunks and soupy coconut milk in the oh-so-useful plastic Walt Disney World travel mug I tote around. (yummy indulgence #4... are your surprised?)

Total for the day (excluding U.S. cash for visa pages) 

1,515B

Expenditure breakdown

Transportation: 35B

Food & Beverage: 530B

Souvenirs: 800B

Other: 150B

When I first calculated the total I was slightly horrified. My expenditures have been almost nonexistent up until this point because Sam and I hardly left Daruma during the past three weeks. A bottle of coconut sap drink now and again, perhaps some rose apples from the market, or a 100B card to top off phone minutes... Nothing more.

Then I calculated the currency conversion. 1,515 B is about 45.45 U.S. dollars. Two pairs of pants that are out-of-this-world awesome (you should see Sam’s tie-dye pair), a journal and photo album I absolutely treasure, and an incredible sampling of the many tastes Bangkok has to offer... I’ll take it for $45, thank you very much.

Like I said, today was a mini-vacation of sorts so this certainly does not reflect my normal budgeting for the trip. But if you're looking to travel cheaply and still fully experience the many wonders of a foreign place, I would definitely recommend coming to SEA for a time.

Happy Valentine’s Day! (In case you are wondering yummy indulgence #5 will be some sort of dark chocolate in celebration of Valentine's Day. I've yet to actually see any legitimate dark chocolate... but I'm determined)

Good night to some and good afternoon to most,

Kelly

The Cheeseburger Song

Thirteen years ago on a camping trip in New York, my Uncle Thomas, Aunt Marilyn, and cousins Andrew and Liz gathered round the fire and performed an unforgettable family rendition of “The Cheeseburger Song.” With choreographed dance moves and sincere emotion behind each word, they brought the joy of this Veggietales song into my life before I even knew that a television about singing vegetables existed. In the years to come my cousins and I would develop a sincere affection for these “Silly Songs with Larry,” as they are known on the TV show. To this day, rounds of The Water Buffalo song, The Bunny Song, and Madame Blueberry’s “I’m So Blue” can be heard at family gatherings.

On Friday five of us sat earth building in one of the upper rooms at Daruma: three shaping straw and mud into poop-like, sausage-shaped figures and two roping the sausages around the bamboo rungs of a shelving unit. To pass the time, we began sharing songs of our youth and I began to describe the magical melodies of Veggietales. “The Cheeseburger Song?” a disbelieving friend interjected as I listed off some favorite vegetable tunes. “What is a cheeseburger song about?” I began to explain the synopsis but decided simply singing it would be more enlightening. So I sang the tune from top to bottom as we played in the mud and wrapped those straw pieces around bamboo one by one.

The Cheeseburger Song became an instant hit. Well, most definitely an instant source of entertainment. The next day while Artur, Judith, Sam and I were prepping for lunch in the kitchen, Judith asked me to teach her the song. And so we went line by line, me singing first, then again in unison with Judith as she repeated the verse back. We didn’t get very far into the song before our meat-loving chef (who has been cooking entirely vegetarian for three weeks) burst in: “Oh, shhh! You’re making me want a cheeseburger. And the McDonald’s in Thailand are horrible.”

We paused for a little while after that, but for the next couple of days snippets of The Cheeseburger Song could be heard throughout the open-walled building.

Veggietales tunes being sung in the sunny, hazy heat of an open Thai kitchen... who would have thought? It was comforting and warming to share this bit of home and family with new friends in an entirely foreign environment (foreign to Veggietales, that’s for certain).

Okay, now everyone search “veggietales the cheeseburger song” on YouTube. You won’t regret it.

I hope you've enjoyed today's rendition of random snippets of life in Thailand with Kelly.

Talking, talking, talking...

Sam and I are always talking. I’m quite certain that after we leave the noise level at Daruma Eco-farm will drop dramatically. That said, by no means will a peaceful silence reign after our departure. Trains, roosters, wailing cats, construction drills... This cacophony of sounds will continue long after we leave.

However we both recognize that we are yappers- me especially. One of our friends here at Daruma has now dubbed me “Moaning Myrtle,” some kind of reference to my loud and “unique” (as Sam kindly describes it) voice.  This is a step up from “Stupid Cow,” which this same friend called me when I tried speaking more quietly and apparently was hardly audible. I just can’t win.

Rest assured that all of this name-calling and mockery stems from a place of love. At this point I’m quite used to being picked on (I could hardly say a word on the Bus without a heavily accented “Strong Island” being shouted back at me in mimicry of my “unique” voice). In every group living situation that I have experienced, I have been teased insistently. You might be reading this and be thinking, “That is oh so sad! Poor, dejected Kelly.” But have no fear. Sam is actually helping me to appreciate this fact. Both her and I are just so ridiculous, loud, silly, talkative, and the like that people feel comfortable around us.

The most amusing part of our talking is the distinction between our voices. While my “unique” voice carries quite far, Sam speaks at much lower volume in a monotone and tends to mumble (even worse than I do). Interjection by Sam: Kelly does NOT mumble. At mealtime, Sam will be participating in the conversation with often no one hearing her but me. So usually people hear only me talking and miss Sam’s constant stream of comments running underneath the conversation.

We are quite the duo.

On Saturday the two of us reading two different books side by side generated a fascinating and completely laughable discourse that spanned three leisurely hours. Sam was finishing up Just Food by James McWilliams and I was finally making a dent in Joel Salatin’s Folks, This Ain’t Normal. Both authors examine the current food system in the U.S. but from notably disparate angles. Sam and I, easily excitable, would frequently shout “Listen to this!” and read off a statistic or opinion that shocked us. Being so easily entertained, the distinctions and coincidental similarities between the arguments made our banter even more rapid and energetic than usual. Here are some snippets of the conversation. Perhaps you will find it educational and enlightening, If not, thanks for reading this far. I recognize that my writing tends to be a stream of thoughts that gets incredibly long. I would apologize but Sam says that her grandmother will appreciate it, so this is for you Mrs. Krogulski.

S: According to James, cows are highly inefficient. Because they have to move around supporting a large body mass, they convert food energy very inefficiently. It takes 33 calories of energy to produce just 1 calorie of conventionally raised beef. Also according to James, a vegan diet is the most sustainable one you can have in the US. So, you are basically winning at life.

K: But what kind of cow is he talking about? Joel Salatin’s practices on Polyface are so vastly different from the conventional factory farm. Quote from Joel: “The cow, or domestic herbivore, is the most efficacious soil-building, hydrology-cycling, carbon-sequestering tool at the planet’s disposal.”

S: I guess it depends on the type of cow. Sure, raising grass-fed beef requires fewer energy inputs, but most grass-fed operations don’t use Salatin’s method of moving the cattle around in different enclosures, so the land becomes degraded because the cows continually graze the same patches of soil, which decreases biodiversity and depletes the soil of nutrients. No good. Also, grass-fed operations require vast tracks of land for grazing (more than conventional farms), and the type of expansion needed for this usually requires deforestation. That’s why is also doesn’t make sense to start converting conventional farms into grass-fed operations because they simply aren’t large enough to accommodate the large number of cattle we are accustomed to.

K: It’s just interesting because your book is saying a vegan diet is the way to go and Joel says that if we are aiming for biomimicry then cows are a vital part of the system. We need grasses for soil building and biodiversity, and grasses need herbivores. No natural systems exist without animals. I agree with all of that, but I also see what your book is saying. That a plant-based diet makes sense in today’s food system and can be the more ecologically ethical choice.

S: I think that if you have to eat meat, the best option would be to limit your meat intake to maybe once a week. Or reduce the amount of meat you are eating at each meal because, at least in the US, we simply do not have the land to raise cattle sustainably while maintaining our current consumption of meat. It’s like Scott Stokoy, the farm manager of the Dartmouth Organic Farm, says, “Meat should be a condiment, not a main entrée.”

[Time passes. We read. Mumble something here and there to one another.]

K: Ha! Listen to this: “For all the soymilk and tofu lovers out there, historically normal ingestion of soybeans requires lacto-fermentation and eating volumes equivalent to condiments.” Argument against veganism from Joel. Too funny.

[More time passing...]

S: Hahahaaha. James over here references Polyface: “The foodie press has lionized these ventures [pioneer restorative companies], as have locavores. Their underlying assumption has been the beauty of these renegade operations – say Polyface Farms mentioned in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivores Dilemma – is in their unique emphasis on localism. However, what also distinguishes them is that they are making sacrifices in order to unilaterally eliminate passive subsidies.”

(About a minute goes by)

S: And another quote in support of Sir Joel. “Common examples of pioneer operations often involve meat. Although I have spent much of this book questioning the long-term sustainability of any sort of meat production, the fact remains that the polycultural production of beef, chicken, and pork represents a far more responsible use of resources than conventional methods do. These smaller producers pass some of their higher costs on to consumers willing to spend more money on meat produced in an environmentally friendly fashion.”

Okay that’s all that I wrote down and really all I can remember right now. But that afternoon was a great example of Sam and Kelly banter. It continues endlessly, often characterized by sharp spikes in volume and rapidity when we get excited about something. Or we start singing.

We depart for Bangkok in just a few hours! More adventures to come...

-Kelly

The Wonderful Diversity of Perspective

            I got a phone call at 6 am the other day from Dartmouth Professors Roebuck and Bolger for my ENVS FSP interview. *God bless them for making the extra effort to contact me from the other side of the globe. They asked me the usual questions: Where do you see yourself in 6 years? What exactly was your role on the Big Green Bus? Why do you want to go on the ENVS FSP? And, appropriately, what have you learned from your PDC so far? I should have assumed they would ask about the PDC, but didn’t. Needless to say, my answer was a bumbling, incoherent mess. Typical Sam. I wanted to kick myself after the interview because I knew I didn’t articulate how meaningful this experience has been so far. So I emailed them. Almost immediately after our phone call. I laid in bed for 10 minutes before I was up again typing away at my computer. I figured the best way to relate my experience to them was by sharing one the activities our instructors had us do last week.....

            Kyle and Neil asked us to sit around a round table and collectively address and discuss some of the most pertinent or personally upsetting environmental issues. As we attempted to answer the why and what and how of the problems, we came to realize that the issues facing us are so very very complex; they are all interconnected. Not only that, but they have been evolving for hundreds of years. Which begs the question, how do we go about solving these issues? We broke into smaller groups and attempted to discuss feasible solutions in two different categories: awareness and action. And after deliberating for almost 2 hours, we came to the conclusion that in the end, each of us had the power to directly change only ourselves, and by focusing our actions on the things we value, could indirectly influence other people. We related it to the gear metaphor: 20 different gears might be functioning to operate a machine and if one of them changes, even a little bit, the others will be affected. In relation to the environmental movement, we hoped that the other gears would not only be affected, but also opt into changing themselves. Lead by example. That is the first step. And with it comes the responsibility of being aware of all the many different sides of an issue and all the many different things that people value outside of the environment. And with that comes the responsibility of acting in accordance with the changes you want to see in other people. After all, you can't expect others to make changes if you have not, in fact, made them yourself. 

            Three hours I was enveloped in this conversation with the most traveled and passionate group of individuals from many different walks of life. And to me, this is what learning is all about. Gaining perspective from others. Openly discussing problems that do not have a direct solution. Brainstorming ideas and challenging them. Looking at the opposition. All the books in the world could not come together to collectively give me an experience like this one. And I cannot truly express how much I value this type of interaction. Because it reminds me that others may view things very differently than I do. Even others with similar values. Which proposes a challenge for generating culture shift towards a more sustainable future - there is no one approach that will encourage others to adopt a more environmentally conscious outlook. Environmental solutions require thought from many different dimensions, and I believe this begins by understanding the wonderful diversity of perspective among us.

Sustainably yours,

Sparker 

Farm Lab Begins!

After our brief respite on Sunday, we jumped right back into a full swing of activities today with the start of Farm Lab. All but three of the PDC students are staying on for this extra week of student-driven workshops. Together we brainstormed a list of ideas that we would like to implement here on the farm. It included everything from pickling, jam making, and kombucha brewing to making a solar oven and earth building. So this week is an opportunity to experiment, test, implement, try out, create, recreate, learn, teach, and workshop... Pretty awesome!

Not all of our ideas are feasible (unfortunately SCOBY is not something readily available in Bang Phra, nor is methanol for brewing biodiesel) but we sat down this morning to form the doable activities into a rough schedule for the week, and then got started. First on the list of activities: paper making!

Rachel, Sam and I bicycled to a nearby pond to harvest the fluffy cotton like seeds of cattail reeds. We waded in boots through tall grasses and lily pads, reaching up to the tops of the tall stalks and plucking off the fluffy ends that would become the fibrous material for the paper. We returned to Daruma with five full bags of fluff, which we then placed in 20 liters of water and mixed with some sodium bicarbonate. We brought it all to a boil and then stirred periodically for three hours. I tended to the fire throughout the afternoon to keep the pot at a slow boil… but that’s as far as we got. It’s 10 pm now and the pulp mixture is still waiting for the next steps: blending it up, sifting it through a net, and some other things I’m not too sure of. Neil was spearheading the operation but then got caught up with some preparations for tomorrow’s activities and the process just kind of stopped.

So, yeah, paper making not a complete success. Perhaps we can finish up tomorrow morning but if not I’m already excited for Tuesday’s lineup (green smoothies with Troy, cooking lessons with Pang, and making coconut oil!)

More soon,

Kelly

The Grand Finale

Yesterday was our final day of the PDC, which culminated in presentations of our group projects. For our projects, we were required to spend 12 hours designing a layout for a permaculture garden using the principles and techniques we learned in class. Inspired by Rachel’s trip, my group chose to design for a piece of property in the Himalayas that we proceeded to name Shiva’s Sanctuary after the Himalayan god. Among other things, our design included terrace farming, a 70 meter-long bridge, round-wood shelters built into the mountain for our goats, sheep and cow, an aquaculture system, passive solar techniques, a food forest (with over 20 different varieties of edible trees and shrubs), and a playhouse for the kiddies (also built into the mountain like the mystical cave I was always hoping to discover as a young person). Plus, the house was incredible. A one-story stone building built directly into the side of the mountain with an attached greenhouse for extra warmth, a wood-fired oven with heat transfer directly to our wood pile, and a hot tub for a little R&R after those 2-day hikes from the nearest village (my only major contribution).

            But the best part of the day was our party/talent show after the presentations. Alex and Artur brewed some mean pina coladas that we drank in merriment while everyone performed for one another. Troy told jokes (Why was the tomato blushing? Because he saw the salad dressing. Har Har), Taka did a magic trick (that actually wasn’t very tricky), Melanie, Maurice and Judith covered themselves in mud and rode around – all 3 of them – on the world’s smallest bicycle, Rachel shared a poem, Kyohei twisted himself into a human pretzel (that boy is crazy flexible) and Kelly and I taught the group some dance moves to the song, “I Like to Move It.” Appropriate, no? They were as follows:

Ping-Pong: Jolt your right arm high up into the air with your palm facing left. Then quickly bring your arm down and smack your hand back and forth like you are hitting a ping-pong ball with a paddle.

Walk the Dog: Pretty self-explanatory, but pretend that you are walking a dog, adding in a couple of body thrashes every 4 beats or so.

Q-tip: In sets of 3, swab every other ear and then throw your Q-tip away.

Pick the Apples/Pick the Shrooms: Reach up in a grab-like motion, alternating both arms as they move up and down toward the invisible trees up high. Slowly bring your arms toward the ground and perform the same motion as though you are plucking mushrooms from the pasture down below.

Wash the Laundry: Straighten both of your arms and place them in front of your pelvis. Bend over slightly and alternate pulling your arms up towards your chest and pushing them down towards your knees. Assume you have a metal grate in front of you that you are forcefully scrubbing your loincloth on.

Beat the Tympanum: Raise your left arm and left leg simultaneously, then throw them down while projecting your body forwards with a jump. You can also add in a head-bang if you so desire. Do this in sets of 4.

Milk the Cow: A real crowd pleaser. Stand with your legs shoulder width apart and sway from side to side. Then, simultaneously, put your arms in front of you like you are getting ready to drive a vehicle. Pull downwards with your left hand. Then your right. Repeat several times. Do not forget the body sway.

            I think its pretty safe to say that we won, although I believe Neil came in a close second with his pig-conversation exercise (we were all obligated to communicate with one another via snorts.) I must say that Kelly failed in this arena, as her snort is much too meek. She sounds more like a sad gerbil attempting to grasp for air than a hog. But she is determined to get better, and I have faith in her. As for tomorrow, we begin Farm-Lab, where we get to put into practice some of what we learned in the PDC. Sounds like earth and straw bale building are on agenda, which means I get to play in the mud ( :  

Until next time.......

- Sparx