Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.

—John Muir

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.
—John Burroughs

Photograph from the Library of Congress, one of my favorite resources.

Lotte

When the sun rises

I go to work
When the sun goes down, I take my rest
I dig the well from which I drink
I farm the soil that yields my food
I share creation, kings can do no more

Dannal in motion

Dannal Aramburu, archeologist, studies the guts of a pre-Incan terrace. This image was doctored a little in FCP Motion (can you tell? should I add more?).

Interactive Gardeners

Gardeners Index to look for answers to your gardening questions... A repository for all the info you could ever want about las plantas. It seems to be just starting up (the earliest comments are from mid April). Check out all the groups (my favorites are container gardening and compost... there are groups by zone, by plant...). It's no Twitter or Facebook but I could see it coming in handy if you had a specific Q.

Edible City

Foodie movie preview screening on the 9th (I'm going!)... I just found out about this group via Marion Nestle's blog. Really cool work and a whole team of people working on it. Worth checking out. www.ediblecitymovie.com.

Volunteer Day with Makani

I've been given the thumbs up by the boss to plan a volunteer day across the base at the Alameda Point Collective Farm on Wednesday, April 22; a day outside digging in the dirt and putting things together in the name of agriculture, neighbors and the youth. Friends and family welcome, too. I'm planning to be over there most of the day but you're welcome to just spend the afternoon or an hour... If you think you can come help out email me (goldengreenbird at gmail).

Possible projects for the day as suggested by Evan, the guy who runs the farm:

1) Working on our aquaponics system (fish + veggie symbiosis) and chicken tractors (mobile coops)... these are ongoing projects which will not necessarily be finished, so much as chipped away at.

2) planting native perennials in our pollinator attracting areas

3) hand seeding winter squash in our vegetable beds

I'm putting a keg on ice for post-work beers and general jovial good times.

APC: http://www.apcollaborative.org/growingyouth.htm