Urban Farm, Denver

March 18, 2014 No Comments

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Denver, Colorado

when it seemed like everything was coming apart at the seams it pulled itself back together in an unexpectedly delightful new form. The night before had been perhaps our most stressful of the trip so far, half way to Denver from the Dunes Sam got a call from his girlfriend who had been at the hospital with a fever of 104F and what later she later suspected was swine flu. She was too sick to have us stay and with 4 o’clock looming in a new city we weren’t sure what to do. Dylan had a badly hurting foot from hiking the dunes and we were all rather dejected thinking his running race was over before it began.

We pulled into the local Lone Pine public library for precious internet. It was a long shot with so little notice but we thought we’d give airbnb a go before we settled for the hostel. We found the perfect one with a veggie garden as one of the photos, then after applying we just drove in that direction, hoping for an affirmative. On the highway we got it, relief. we didn’t know how lucky we were, on admittance to their sweet little home, we were greeted with such warmth by Ali and Reuben that it brought grins to our travel weary bones. They provided Dylan with an icepack and by morning even that niggle had retreated to a safe stiffness.

That morning the light shone softly, illuminating little vignettes: a happily playing baby with hair glowing red, a cuddly Australian Shepherd X that demanded attention 24/7 and got it from us, a grey cat silhouetted against the window, a smartly dressed in shades of blue and yellow.

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We realised we were amongst kindred spirits as we chatted about social and environmental sustainability and Train Running (eyes lit up all round on that one). Reuben’s work as a social worker/urban farmer lead to his passionate involvement in using school land in Denver as urban farms for education and an outlet for disadvantaged students. Ali taught primary students via correspondence and they both had a fulltime job keeping sweet little Wendall in check.

We headed off into a gorgeous pre-spring day with directions to the trendy side of town. Drawn like magnets to hipster hangouts we had brunch at Crema where we sat opposite a red headed dude dressed in basketball gear from hed to foot in that ironic way that was all too familiar. However, what would be vaguely annoying back home was comforting as the post Earthship blues began dripping into my subconscious, only to fully reveal themselves days later on top of a mountain.

We wandered into the city, then headed back down Larimer Street to meet our airbnb family sweetly met us to unlock the sustainability centre where Reuben volunteer. While we waited we spied a cute looking outdoor gear shop, it was closed, son we stickybeaked through the window Topo Designs. A face appeared and were ushered in by a pretty, athletic girl. She gave us the low down, made in Colorado with love, we didn’t escape without setting down a pretty penny, Dylan was hiking hipsterfied and I had a limited addition Woolrich/Topo designs bag, that i hugged to me like a kid with a favourite soft toy. It’s hard to find anything not made in China right? And it will last forever right? And shiny things right…

Reuben unlocked the gates to the Sustainability Park and gave us a tour. It was like seeing CERES in its early days, exciting new enviro ideas sprouting up on a vacant lot. One section was vegetable garden plots where disadvantaged kids grew produce to sell, another area was where a lady on government assistance was trying to live off for a year, there were bees and a whole array of eco building examples. So inspiring and so much fun, I wished I could stay to make a mini project happen there.

Walking home in golden dusk I felt a surge of happiness, but then a tinge of sadness that we would have to leave these new friends behind. We left them at a microbrewery and raced the clock to the vegan grocery they recommended. We got there after closing but the owner was pretty chill and actually seemed to enjoy having a chat. He said that with his niche market he wasn’t threatened by big chains like Wholefoods or Trader Joe’s and that he was actually moving his store closer to them to benefit from their spillover as there were speciality products the big names would not bother to sell. Apparently they give loans to small local food producers and only have something like a 9 month exclusive contract as well. Hmm…in Australia we could perhaps benefit from the competition as the Woolworths/Coles duopoly is out of control.

The day ended sharing in the Ali, Reuben and Wendall’s family meal. Delicious quinoa salad and homemade soup. We felt so welcomed in this foreign land, the kindness of strangers really can turn a good experience into a great one. Have little acts of kindness transformed ordinary places into special ones?

Travel

The Great Sand Dunes

March 17, 2014 2 Comments

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The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

As we crossed into Colorado the snow began to fall as we cruised past Elk the sky began to disappear, we didn’t even realise the land was crowned with mountains, the lines on the road had vanished under white. At 3 minutes past six the Great Sand Dunes National Park entry was unmaned and the visitor’s centre closed, we decided in this empty white space we would risk some stealth camping. The spot we chose was sheltered, there was an air of comedy about the whole situation, three hikers in the snow setting up tents on a stage with an ampitheatre of wooden benches rising before us, perhaps there would be an audience of squirrels and black bears watching us slumber. Our tiny tent next to Sam’s enormous 6 maner with room for all to stand.

We cooked our meal down the path in a illuminated information booth wary of the black bear warning. Cocktails and beer from a growler kept us in a false warmth whilst Dylan cooked. I made my first snowman under Sam’s watchful American gaze, starting with a small snowball then rolling it around in powder, it grew and grew. When I was finished Sam christened my snowman unworthy, it was really snowing in earnest; I was too lazy to improve upon it.

We then fled to the truck to eat, passing Sam’s deflated tent on the way through, he would be sleeping in the car that night. The path was illuminated by little solar powered lights, glowing feebly under a layer of snow, our footfalls crunched and crackled.

We awoke to a new world, blue sky on trees we had not even known were feet in front of us. then i turned and saw the dunes, incongruous next to snow capped mountains. I felt lucky to see it at this time of year when few would have made the journey opting for a warmer season.

When we made the climb every footstep revealed a layer cake of sand and snow, wind blowing layer over layer. Scratching what appeared to be brownish sand revealed a gash of white. Hiking poles in hand we played like children writing messages and kicking powder in the air. There were less than a dozen of us on the dunes, the sun shone brilliantly and the wind only blew fearsly at the summit.

Once at the top we rolled and ran down the slope, taking it three times fast than up. We passed a whole convoy of dog’s and their owners on the way down, jackets done up snugly. Then a peanutbutter and “jelly” wrap at the picnic area before undertaking the massive drive to Denver.

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Eco building, Garden, Permaculture design, Travel

Goodbye earthships

March 16, 2014 5 Comments

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Last day in New Mexico

While Jerry and I finished off the retaining wall, at the SS3 site most of the interns didn’t bother to show up, slackers. Our work hard was paid off though in delicious gourmet pizza ordered by Judy. We sat in her living area wreathed in cigarette smoke amongst her knickknacks from the middle east and India, dog begging at the table, loom glistening in the sun, the perfect end to the adventure.

As we head off to Colorado in Sam’s truck I’ll leave you with some photos of the visitor’s centre, the most edible and well maintained garden that I saw on the site. Towering lale, capsicums and tomatoes in winter, if I get anything from this it will be the power of the greenhouse, earthship or otherwise. We’re lucky in Melbourne to be able to grow outside all year round, but with our short but stiffeling summer season dreams of eggplants and capsicums are swirling for next spring! I had a great chat with Danny in the visitor’s centre about his permaculture plans for the site and then Ron burst in all smiles that he had been put in charge of EVE where they would really get stuck into edible gardening. I was so glad to bump into these two in my last hours at earthship HQ, it felt like all the loose ends were neatly tied up and I was ready to go. I wish Ron and Danny all their best with greening the Mesa.

Eco building, Permaculture design, Travel

The twins

March 15, 2014 2 Comments

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That lived in feeling
The Greater World community, New Mexico

Heather pointed at me, I was a deer in headlights. “This girl can do bottle walls, she did this one all by herself”, she dropped me in it, I was been taken off-site. I grabbed my bottle buddy and without as much as a word to Dylan I was whisked deeper into earthship country. To be honest it was a relief to be going somewhere new, Survival 3 was getting old. Damien was another earthship builder who I hadn’t met before, half Mexican half Swedish he had arrived some 20 years earlier from California to do a build with Mike Reynold’s son and never left. As he said Taos just sucks some people in and spits others out. When we arrived on site I had a moment of mental confusion and I saw another Damien outside the truck, he didn’t mention he had a twin. Of course hijinks ensued, they liked a joke, one at someone else’s expense was their preferred M.O., it was refreshing hanging with people who really didn’t take anything too seriously. I felt at ease to ask questions about the cement, the cans and the good production. Regarding cement they said that the Simple Survivals really weren’t all that simple and the global works far better with less cement and even Phil the head builder has questioned the cement use, good to know. In regards to using the aluminium cans, in New Mexico when earthships were first created New Mexico did not recycle them at all, he agreed that perhaps now they are recycling an alternative should be considered. In regards to the food, the greenhouses and black water systems could produce quite a lot of food but you can’t force people to grow food, and with inexperienced gardeners the greenhouses can get overpopulated with bugs and disease. Interesting stuff, it made me feel relieved to see that people were not just blindly following the cult of Mike Reynolds and it was in some part a more collaborative effort, although it might be better if it was even more so. The bottles the New Mexican government just crushed and put on the roads in snowy weather.

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Judy, who lived in the global model home with a portly golden retriever called Shasta. Seeing an earthship that was actually lived in was brilliant, a pleasure few of the interns would have experienced, it looked so much cosier than the rentals. She said she was growing a lot more edibles than her neighbours and was using her outdoor black water botanical cell to grow a lot of deciduous fruit trees and even a mini lawn for the dog. She was also trying to revegeatate the surrounding landscape with tough natives.she had installed shades to control the heat as even in winter it was too much for her plants. She had had a bug infestation and recently had to rip everything put including the soil, but now was growing a mango, lemon and olive tree amongst other things. It was lovely to see someone excited about their garden.

Jerry and I got really stuck into the bottle wall, slapping down the mortar without fiddling with it as the twins advised and went through barrows and barrows of bottles. I was good naturally accused of being a convict and Jerry happily seemed to take my bossing and teasing. Then we breezed back into earthship HQ to discover certificates and group photos had been handed out and taken without us, thanks guys. We didn’t miss out on pizza though, everyone piled into cars to head to happy hour. This time the owner was hovering around and suddenly all the bad reviews began making sense, he was a right piece of work, but once he left us alone the wait staff seemed even nicer than usual to make up for his grouchy presence. Spirits ran high for our last meal as a group, we wouldn’t see the majority of them again, there was a finality about it all. Then waving the big group adieu seven of us headed to the hot springs, it was much more pleasant with a small group and a lovely relaxing was to pass the evening chatting, a slow goodbye to my sweet earthship boys.