Saturday, June 4: Day One

First post of my WWOOFing experience. This calls for a crazy celebration... let's score us some kale!

Yesterday, my dad drove me up from the LA area to Broadmoor, right by San Francisco. We arrived at the home of my host, Beth Brenneman. After sending my dad off again, Beth loosed me and my tech-savvy young mind on the computer. I spent my first evening researching the planting and care of olive, mulberry, and a few other kinds of trees, all of which I will be helping to grow.

The ranch itself is about four hours north of here, in Garberville. My hosts are moving up there permanently, so the house is in a serious packing frenzy. Until we get everything cleared, I'm still in civilization, milking my last hours of modern technology.

This morning Beth made blueberry pancakes (organic, of course). Then I was assigned to my most favorite of tasks: a craft project. I pieced, embroidered, and edged a quilt for the showing of the house. But I'm not out standing in the field yet... 

BOOM! First farming pun of the month.

Despite the domesticity of the day, I've already been exposed to a lot of pertinent information. My hosts keep bringing up Derrick Jensen, the author of Endgame. When I do get to the ranch, I am hoping that this book will make my internet withdrawal a little easier. 

I've also got my hands on three documentaries: Gasland, END:CIV, and 9/11: Let's Get Empirical.

My hosts are pretty serious about their environmental anarchy.

But honestly, they're some of the best-informed people I've ever met. They just returned from a conference on methane converters, which are used to turn human/animal waste into methane gas (and you can heat your house with that). I also learned how to make an "eco-brick". This is a half-gallon milk jug, filled with any other waste plastic you happen to have around. When placed within the walls of a structure, eco-bricks provide an insulation factor (R-value) of 20.  Since the average house has an R-value of 12, this is a pretty sweet deal.

Today's "Look Up Later" List:

Brasscheck TV (website)

Dandelion Salad (movie)

Matt Simmons (author)

Dmitry Orlov (author)

Tomorrow: probably more cleaning. 

But the day after... send me some good coyote-repellent energy.