Off-the-Grid, On the Map

SUPERPOST

2009-12-17T20:14:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure this post is going to be especially spectacular, but it is the post-domini, so it needs umph, I suppose.

This has been a tremendous learning experience, the entire process of this project.

From the earliest stages of planning to these last few weeks of crunch time, I have observed every step from my own perspective and and watched myself grow simultaneously in response to difficulties I faced in making decisions and planning.

Nah, this isn't going to be my last blog. It is enough of my product that I'm going to keep updating it until presentation day, hopefully more frequently than I have been able to recently.

THIS WEEK:

1. I won't have steady internet, but I will be able to get online, so I need to make sure I get my second draft finished and sent to Mr. Schade [before] Christmas.

2. Reflection/ Research: Omnivore's dilemma??

3. Refer to various rubrics throughout drafting and research process this week.

4. time now for the thoroughest reflection.

paper genesis

2009-12-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

As time goes on, I discover new parallels to the evolution of the project... In science, we're covering early life on earth, and its evolution into more complex organisms over time. These days I have really been feeling like the archetype of an Ross student who appreciates the integration of studies and subjects, but I don't know whether I'm just predisposed to noticing the correlation between my own experiences historical or scientific phenomena as a kind of microcosm/macrocosm relationship.

And I am rethinking things I had assumed were pretty valid when I first thought of them...

For example: the idea of shedding excess stuff as the month progressed, with the analogy of the hiker carrying loads of fancy equipment.

Contrary to my previous argument, I am now relating that analogy back to present day, where people born into lives full of stuff have a harder time moving towards a simpler life. The idea of a possession-free world will only phase those who must then give up their own possessions.

What we MIGHT have done is start with very, very minimal materials (stuff), and then, mimicking the process of natural selection, acquire only those things that benefit us, analyzing the benefit/detriment balance to progress to a more advanced state. HOWEVER, in kind with the process of natural selection, this would take long periods of time. Within the time frame we allotted for ourselves, perhaps the appropriate system was to understand what we really fundamentally needed before adding life-complicating technology to assist.

Anyway- fresh material is always helpful.

THIS WEEKEND--> NEXT WEEK:

1. Go through corrections.

2. Continue: add third and last segments; figure out citations and spacing for them.

3. Get outside consultant input when draft is more developed.

2009-12-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

According to the contract, I have completed the outline for the first draft of my paper, which is like this...

I. Context

II. Fieldwork

III. Analysis

IV. Conclusion

I am using my college essay as an (abridged) outline for the fieldwork portion of the paper, but only as an outline. I will need to be much more specific and episodic in my paper, drawing from my blog posts from August. Now comes the first draft, which is due this Monday, so I will need to do a substantial amount of writing this weekend.

(The third faculty member to grade my project will be Ms. Costello)

I have to focus on synthesis now...

2009-11-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

It is so bizarre to sit in my room alone, around 6 o'clock, doing my homework, with heat pumping in from the vent and my lamp lighting up my books on my desk... It gets dark and I feel tired, but I know I have work to do and expectations to meet within the system of my life, the way we all do. I just wish there were different demands.

I hate to belabor this...

The latest suggestion from my mentor is to narrow my product rubric to include simply the paper, so I can put all the effort and time I need to to make that a distinguished piece of work.

THEN, once that's finished, I will have the freedom to make a creation to complement that for the purposes of my presentation.

"From structure comes creativity," says Mr. Schade.

All the pictures I have included in this blog symbolize community... (Except for the first one, which is an AMAZING phenomenon I discovered with Hannah (shown holding a cabbage) earlier this week... That is the goat pen, untouched since august... and the shoots in there are NORMAL GRASS, not more than 2 or 3 inches high in any of the surround grass, or anywhere in the field. The grass we found in the pen (shown) is about 2 1/2 ft high. I am planning to use these (at the least) to accompany my paper in the opening.

(the last photo was taken in Santa Fe-- my whole family took on the task od moving about 800 stones for my cousin's wedding on a valley up in the New Mexican mountains.

TO DO:

1. part one of contract: due november 30 (finish readings + outline)

2. make another to do list

model-paper-pictures

2009-11-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

I have decided, though my rubric still needs tweaking, to still write a paper, but to give it context with a rolling slide show of photographs and a scale model of the area to present at the opening. Every person I have proposed this idea to has said they think it would greatly enhance their understanding of the project, especially if they had never gotten the chance to visit.

The model I will make won't be literally a miniature--I mean it won't be a simple scale model--I am planning to make it interesting with little blurbs and figures and maybe even collage to give it a stimulating appearance. It would be great if I could figure out a way to incorporate the things we learned throughout the process INTO the model (e.g., we should have planted more watermelon, or we should plant an herb spiral, or this is where we'd put a composting toilet). I could include where we would put an enclosure for the goats next time around, factoring in the natural flora, etc. I think the more location-specific and detailed it is, the more comprehensive the viewer's understanding will be.

PRODUCT RUBRIC OUTCOMES (preliminary since domain change--to discuss with Mr. Schade)

40% English: Paper

40% Visual Art: Creative Component (lower percentage?)

20% Science: Planning and Natural Capital details? (higher percentage?)

TO DO:

1. Finalize rubric!!

2. FINISH READING

3. Watch Biosphere II film

4. Begin location research and model planning (next week)

2009-11-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

Ah! So much inner conflict... Do I make an actual/ideal scale model of my farm and present it in the gallery space? With pictures? With a rolling video?

This sounds, easily, the most exciting and ambitious. BUT, as I keep finding when I begin to articulate the intricacies and minute details of what spurred me into doing this project in the first place, I find that I am almost not as clear as I'd like to be.

Of course, the moment I think of something ideal, it becomes the only option in my mind that could possibly be a true success. A paper is fine, but a model...how dynamic!! People will really remember that!! I can keep it around the school for years to come!

But I also need to consider the reality... can I really create something I will be truly proud of if I start it this late in the game? With so much else on my plate?

I think I need to tone it down a notch... and also know that in writing a paper on my experience that I have already had (which, in addition will not eclipse all my work in August, and rather illuminate it) will provide me with a deeper, stronger foundation and understanding of the work I have done--of the things I have learned. If I am to build an ideal sustainable system on the land we worked this summer, that is something I will absolutely need, and I definitely cannot neglect.

TO DO NOW:

1. finish rubric for paper

2. contact Bennett Konesni

3. get in touch with blogger permaculturist!

4. decide on most effective layout for paper?

350 PPM

2009-10-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

OK, firstly, I want to rephrase what I said in my last post about my family community being "transient." That sounds like they're not always there for me, or something, which is totally untrue. I have an exceptionally supportive family and I am very lucky. Just wanted to set that straight.

Secondly... It feels like I haven't been making a tremendous amount of headway in the past week. But, I have done everything on the to do list I published last week: organize an event for this Saturday, process folio work... not the time machine, but I guess that can wait. And I am going to have an event on Saturday, (currently 6 confirmed guests on fb, and hopefully everyone in the environmental club will show up.) Our plan is to meet at my house to make posters and signs and then walk into Bridgehampton town to stand at the monument and hold them up on route 27. We also want to do some more active stuff, like picking up litter and going on a nature walk, we'll just have to see what happens.

At this point, Mr. Schade wants me to keep up with my reading so I can keep enriching my experiences, especially in terms of writing a strong paper. I am really enjoying my readings so far, and I know there are a few other assignments to come, so I need to allot some more time to this task.

This weekend, my tent and garden will be a stop on the Hamptons garden tour as it snakes around the East End (on bikes, and ...in ...cars). Hopefully the weather will be good, but our tent blew over in a wind storm about a week ago (OUR FAULT--- and the tent is fine, just DON'T LEAVE THE WALLS OPEN DURING WINDSTORMS!!), and since the animals aren't around anymore, it's going to be relatively strange to see. At least the club will be there doing rally work, so, other things will be going on.

To do this week:

1. Finish Deep Economy, continue reading Ancient Futures

2. Make sure tomorrow's rally is the best it can be, try to extend the invitation as much as possible.

3. What seasonal produce is the best to take advantage of now? Apple butter, making preserves, squash, crabapples? (There is harvesting to do yet in the garden!)

"you never go from point a to point b... in your life... ever."

2009-10-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

So, I spent about my SP double period today organizing relevant e-mails into one folder, and then printing them for my process book. I came across a few messages I never responded to, which bothers me now...

I still can't believe the enthusiasm. The different inter-Hampton-communities I have recently come to recognize have, until now, been imperceptible and transient (I was a kind of tween loner with no conception of the ties that bind). The only clear community I really felt until I started high school, having switched schools three times by seventh grade, was within my mom's side of my family. The Seagraves and Ryans are very family-oriented, and all my cousins and their cousins come together at least once a season for serious quality time... It's very interesting to notice the same folks at the Choral Society concerts and the Sunday morning yoga classes and the Thursday night drumming and the climate change symposium and the coffee shop in town... Hmm... perhaps this is a pattern? They tend to be the happiest people, too, I'd say. It is interesting to notice these people in a 'local' context, and how they figure into the community... The restaurant owners, the CSA operators, members of the town council, artists, fishermen, electricians... They all know each other. They sit down on park benches. Communities are in some ways like nations... with permeable membranes that intersect like venn diagrams and sometimes cover incredible distances. And after all this... where is mine? Yes, my family. Yes, my school. But... not always. Therein lies the transience. That there is the poetry I guess I'm supposed to find in college.

I got an response from Mr. McKibben last week, which was easily one of the most exciting moments of my life, especially considering he had some very positive feedback!! Hopefully he'll be around when I go up to visit Middlebury around Halloween!! I don't know what I'd do if I actually met him though... probably freeze up completely and blabber incoherent nonsense.

This is me on the day Karen and I biked to school for add/drop. (Courtesy of Michele Claeys)

We ate lunch with the teachers... my goodness was that

delicious. If I could jump back in time to this moment I would. Those were very good days.

TO DO:

1. Hole punch/chronologicize printed emails

2. Build time machine

3. Go over rubric with Cschade

4. (seriously build time machine)

5. make plans for october 24!

6. keep reading! (and keep regular notes/ responses)

7. fundraiser idea for Ross garden: homemade caramel apple stand with all kinds of apples (from the milk pail?)

y-y-y-y-y

2009-10-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

So... I just now sent an e-mail to Bill McKibben, the famous author/environmentalist who wrote the book Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, which was the first book Mr. Schade assigned to me this year. I really hope I get a response, it would be totally amazing to hear from him, especially since everything I'm reading in his book strikes chords of my own internal empirical data (the truest I can fathom), and is backed up with formidable sources and texts. This guy knows what he's talking about.

Outside consultant... hmm... I'm not sure how that will work with my project at this point anyway. Perhaps, if Bill McKibben is very busy, I will call Elias's dad, or talk to Debra McCall about what I should do. I don't like choosing one person!! Isn't the point to involve everyone? To make a painting with a giant, colorful palate?

What is this!??!

PRODUCT.

OUTSIDE CONSULTANT.

It sounds so stark to me.

I have to create my rubric immediately... Today Karen, Tom and I had a lunch meeting with Mr. Schade, and we all kind of decided where exactly we're each planning to go from here.

I decided I think I want to write a paper. In lieu of the fact that senior project night is inherently anti-paper, (what with the crowds and food and abundant visual stimuli, I think I need to think beyond that one glorious night I have been looking forward to since freshman year. The fact is that a paper is a tangible, magical time capsule that will surely stand the test of time better than the vague impression of some other kind of staged presentation. Who knows who will read it!? Who knows who will!? And a paper is absolutely not always the way to go. Especially in terms of art and photography, unless you have some deeper kind of philosophical idea underlying your work (but still separate) that needs to be communicated, the aesthetics of the medium are the important presentation. For me, August is over, and yes I have photographs (Hannah's), but I also have a far deeper understanding of everything I thought I knew going into the project. Everyone told me that I was going to learn SO much!

How did they have an idea? Do they HAVE an idea?

Rubric Outcomes

30% - Process, Practical aspects

30% - Research, readings, connections

30% - Synthesis - (presentation, communication)

I suppose it will be pretty vague this time around (this is the first rubric development stage).

And theeen... oh yeah, an ARTICLE about the project was published in The East Hampton Press yesterday!! Woot. I felt uncomfortable reading it at first, but that's just because I'm the subject. Everyone who has read it has congratulated us. It was a well-written article-- and I'm happy she expounded on our World Pie episode (which really didn't feel like any kind of failing at all, and really pumped some character development into the mix).

tough chicken

2009-10-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

I had a meeting with my mentor, Mr. Schade, yesterday... And he gave me some reasons to reconsider taking on the Ross Garden as my final product.

He said I should work on the presentation 0f the things I have already done for the project (e.g. tent construction, solar panel, animals, food, month of my life...), and avoid overextending myself into a new leg of the project that could decrease the poignancy of my focus on my actual project (the part I completed in August). He also said I should try to spend the next few months adding intellectual value to my project to complement the experiential elements; I still have to read a few of the books I've been assigned, and reading those thoughtfully and thoroughly will require some good, focused senior project periods.

Next of all, a Ross Garden would be and should be a great project to kick off the Environmental Club this year. Apparently we are one of the largest clubs in terms of sign-ups (other than the Video Game Club, I'm sure...), and our first meeting is 9th period, Monday. As long as it happens, I am not really that concerned whether it is strictly my responsibility, as it would be if I wrote it into my Senior Project rubric. I think it would be really awesome to have a whole team on this project, too. Especially since then we could do a soil test together, decide what to do to raise money for the construction, make flyers and do a press release together, and all that good stuff I could theoretically do myself, but... (Didn't I learn ANYTHING about community this summer??:)

THIS WEEK:

1. Keep reading, take notes...

2. Make sure the EC has a good first meeting, make itinerary this weekend...

3. Figure out what the new product will be... (gallery space with photos and video, a paper, combination...)

4. Pick up loose ends for contacts and meetings and dates- get organized!!!

5. Establish outside consultant situation...

product: determined

2009-09-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

A little apprehensively, I decided what I really want to do for the rest of the project.

Building on the feelings of suppressed emotional drive to impact the larger community (which were egged on by the New Yorker article I talked about in the last post), I decided to take an initiative that has been rather constipated in the Environmental Committee, which was to start a small on-campus farm. Not necessarily with animals, but with a substantial garden that we could work to grow produce for the Ross Café. There has been a little garden on the south side of the Center for Well-Being for years, but it hasn't been in use for a while, so I thought that would be a pretty good spot (and you can SEE it from the café, which makes it even better).

So I sent out a few e-mails proposing the idea, and I was met with positive responses from all corners (e.g. my mentor, the Café staff, the maintenance department).

Things I have to do this week:

1. Look into zoning regulations about a greenhouse (and how I could work out funding for that/ whether that would be an Environmental Committee project or part of my senior project)

2. Get the soil in the prospective area tested. (Ask Patty about that...)

3. Meet with Liz Dobbs to learn about the initial designs for the small garden outside the Center for Well-Being (which has been defunct for some years now, and decide how to incorporate that into our design.)

4. Contact Ross parents and farmers Scott Chaskey and Paul Hamilton (who have both professed interest in my project), and see if they are interested in being involved with this leg.

5. Talk to Mr. Drossel: could student volunteers count hours spent working in the garden as community service?

6. Talk to Sam Levin (my friend who started a farm at Monument Mountain Regional High School with his group, Project Sprout) about his experience/process...

7. Continue with reading assignments, and print out e-mails for proc-folio.

CHICORY COFFEE (adapted from Euell Gibbons's Stalking the Wild Asparagus)

carefully uproot about 6 or 7 chicory plants (they break easily)

remove roots, scrub and soak them in warm water to remove dirt

roast them in a toaster oven for until crispy and browned, around 375 degrees

grind up with mortar and pestle

soak in boiling water with a french press (just like coffee grounds, but use greater water:grounds ratio, because chicory has a strong flavor)

add milk and sweeten to taste.

mmmm

tuned in, drops out

2009-09-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

"breakfast date" (an intimate moment captured by Michelle Claeys, head of school)

Right. So.

The research portion of this project is officially starting, and should continue until I have developed an idea of what my "product" is going to be.

My "product."

It's a little ironic, right? That I should be marketing my anti-consumer lifestyle?

I know what is implied... the term has a very elastic definition in the very elastic senior project dictionary of terms and implications. There is, on the other hand, a significantly less flexible schedule of due dates, which has kicked me back into gear with my process documentation... namely my actual blog... (Lots of introspection of late, not so much diary.)

By the way, I should point out that when my computer battery stopped holding charge about three weeks into August, my solar panel charger started shorting out when I plugged the laptop cord into the inverter, and I couldn't turn the laptop on for more than a few seconds before the screen would go black. At the time, I happened to be in one of the most fragile states I experienced throughout the entire project, and I couldn't believe I would have to plug the laptop into the wall socket and start grid-guzzling again before I'd thought I had to, so I resorted to taking notes in my journal and just etching every day into my memory as thoroughly as I could manage... and it was pretty interesting how meditative I became, and how aware of my surroundings I was at all times. But I always had some kind of inner blog going on... So here I am, back, and at this point I have to suck it all up and guzzle some grid... I have a deadline to make tomorrow.

(at least until I have a new battery and I can use the solar charger again!!)

But here I am.

And I just heard a replay of an NPR interview with "No Impact Man" that was recorded a few hours ago. I was actually going to call in and ask a question... I didn't really know what I wanted to say... I'd say I had some personal experience and then explain my project... and then maybe ask a really tough question about family and friends and community... But it was quarter to 10pm and I didn't really think there was any chance it was live... (it wasn't, I looked up the transcript) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9479796

His movie is coming out tomorrow night... I have seen mixed reviews about his project. It seems well founded to me, though the term "No Impact Man" is a bit of a misnomer once you hear his story (but so too is "off-the-grid" in my case, by some definitions). I did read the very critical and sometimes snide article in the New Yorker about Colin "No Impact Man" Beavan and his eco-activist contemporaries, which itself quoted some somewhat disreputable quotes from the subjects, but also had a pervasively bitter slant on the author's part... so... I don't really know. She emphasizes in the last paragraph of the article that the important changes have to be made in infrastructure, and that his book needs a sequel, in which he takes the lessons he learned as "No Impact Man" to the state government to instigate real changes.

"What’s required is perhaps a sequel. In one chapter, Beavan could take the elevator to visit other families in his apartment building. He could talk to them about how they all need to work together to install a more efficient heating system. In another, he could ride the subway to Penn Station and then get on a train to Albany. Once there, he could lobby state lawmakers for better mass transit. In a third chapter, Beavan could devote his blog to pushing for a carbon tax. Here’s a possible title for the book: “Impact Man.” ♦

(Kolbert, Elizabeth "Green Like Me" New Yorker Magazine Aug. 31 2009 http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/08/31/090831crat_atlarge_kolbert?currentPage=4)

This might the kick in the ass I have been looking for, frankly.

I have gotten nothing really other than positive feedback for this project (which, believe me, was essential in keeping me going during my moments of profound disparagement), but I have felt somewhat lost since the offset. True, I have grown tremendously, but I have a predisposition to consider what I have not yet accomplished before what I have, or criticize the latter within an inch of its life. It all feels too personal.

In the coming weeks I will try my best to post every day or two, and I have lots of photos and supplementary events to chronicle from the last weeks off-the-grid (including a video of Karen's dad and grandma (abuelita) killing, plucking, and disemboweling two of our chickens on our very last day in preparation for our feast!! (Let me tell you, THAT was an experience and a half... I'm not crying in the video, but it might sound like it. Karen and I were kind of overwhelmed. And if you never understood the magical formation of eggs, I'll explain that too, it's totally unbelievable.

cabbage murder

2009-08-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

I guess you have to live in a certain extreme to develop an allergy in a matter of weeks, but apparently, as I discovered yesterday, penicillin isn't my only one anymore.

So, for another experiment, I decided I'd been immersed in my new lifestyle for long enough to appreciate the utterly gridlocked culture of the Hamptons from a new perspective. I drove there in a car, which was unusual enough on its own (I haven't been in one since the beginning of August, whereas throughout July and every other month of my life I buckle up almost every single day), but arriving at the no-holds-barred luxury of this immense end of the summer party in Sagaponack was a trip. We parked in a field that was filled with every kind of vehicle imaginable (most of them giant gas guzzlers or fancy sports cars), and walked down a path flanked with tiki torches to a glittering light show inside the party tent, with music blasting from huge elevated speakers and guests floating around drinking cocktails from transparent plastic flutes. The food was classic barbeque, hot dogs, burgers, potato salad and cole slaw, and a salad of cherry tomatoes and mozzarella, and the bars were numerous though not overly extravagant. Plumes of smoke hovered above the crowd as the storm that had seemed so imminent passed benignly overhead, and I was totally seduced by the atmosphere. It took a little while, but eventually the smell of the grill was so enticing that I was consumed with the desire for a burger with mustard and ketchup... It was the first really processed food I'd had since my mom's whole wheat pasta a couple weeks ago, and something in the bun must have triggered it, but I had the weirdest allergic reaction (which I have never had before, by the way), where my lips and eyes swelled up and I broke out in hives on the backs of my elbows and knees... Maybe it was a combination of things... spores of cologne and chemical products and airborne substances just hit me like a brick wall and knocked me down. In the space of about 5 or 6 minutes flat, I went from having a really fun time talking to people I hadn't seen in months on the luminous dance floor to feeling hot and prickly and panicked talking to a paramedic I didn't entirely trust in one of the host's various squeaky white bathrooms.

In any case, the reaction subsided quickly, but I went home anyway and took some benadryl... I don't know if I want to take medicine throughout this month... Definitely not for any small ailment--I got a bee sting yesterday and had no thought of anti-inflammatory drugs--but this was totally unusual and strange and no one in my family felt comfortable enough letting me go to bed without some anti-histamines. Bizarre! I think it must been some kind of combination that overwhelmed my system... Next time around (because I'm getting fairly certain there will be a next time), I want to plant an herb garden or (maybe) some kind of greenhouse to grow some useful or medicinal plants and herbs. Things like aloe for sunburn and citronella for bugs, and then of course the myriads of indigenous flowers and shrubs that were used for a long time before commercial drugs existed that I have yet to explore...

It is a very frustrating process, trying to manage my life in this new way...

Figuring out what parts of my life actually need to be managed and what parts I am over thinking...

Getting my priorities straight so I have time for everything I want to do once I get what I need to do done.

Considering this lifestyle, realizing what is important to me, the reasons I adopted this lifestyle, and then incorporating the things I've loved in life the way I've lived it until now.

Taking advice to heart, and more importantly asking for it!

Reaching out to the resources I have, trusting their guidance before my stagnant deliberation.

Acting in the moment to take full advantage of my time and space and abilities... I want to enrich myself while I'm out here, and I'm almost imposing my own sanctions.

I see what I need to do- like I always do- I just don't know where to begin! I have never been great at jumping into things... That's why I'm good at starting projects, I think. I just need to gather some momentum, and not get caught up in the general pace that exists here, and that is encouraged by long, hot summer days. It would really be great if we had more people working on this with us, because when Karen goes to work, I feel responsible for everything, even when others are willing to help, because then I know I'm the only one who really has all my eggs in this basket. It would have a dramatically different and co-dependent energy and synthesis if everyone who is involved with the project at this point had truly committed themselves at the offset.

In any case... there's no time like the present!

My diet has really been making me feel pretty great, even though my metabolism is strange, and speeds up and slows way down almost day to day. For example, one morning a couple days ago, I had a few glasses of fresh milk for breakfast, and then nothing until eggs for dinner later but a cucumber around midday. Today, on the other hand, I've been eating little bites of quinoa and tomatoes every now and then, I had an egg earlier, and fresh goats milk too... It really does change day to day... But I've had pretty consistently high energy, regardless of how much food I ate on a given day. I always eat when I'm hungry, and I think I'm drinking plenty of water... Food almost comes second to everything else lately. I eat a little here and there, which I am happy doing, but so different from the traditional big summer brunches I'm used to.

I want to go on a nature walk, and get some practice gathering wild edibles! At this point I have some chickory roots to roast, probably tonight, which I can grind into a kind of coffee substitute. We'll have to see about THAT! I am a very picky coffee drinker.

Chicory Morning Lost & Found

2009-08-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

The panel is now totally functional (hooray!!), and it has a much more sophisticated wiring situation now that a real electrician has checked it out. The only problem now is that my laptop battery isn’t holding charge, so I have to keep it plugged in whenever I want to use it. I wonder if that uses more battery than if it was holding charge. It really just means I have to leave the whole thing back at the house where there’s wireless internet, otherwise I’d have to lug the panel, battery, computer and everything else back and forth to type up my blog and then post it… (I’m at the tent typing into a Word document right now.)

Anyway!

The past few days have been quite eventful- from the goats RUNNING AWAY on Monday afternoon to cooking eggs on the stove inside the house, we’ve been working through the intense August heat with as much vigor as we can muster.

Events:

FLOPSY AND MOPSY ON THE LOOSE

So, we have had a hard time keeping the does on a regular milking schedule, partly because the only person who really knows how to milk them is Karen’s grandmother, so whenever she can come we milk them, and that’s not always the same time of day. To make matters more complicated, Karen works in Southampton a few days a week, and her dad just arrived from Colombia, which is the first time she’s seen him in 2 years. So, on Sunday night Karen spent the night with her family in Hampton Bays, but came back the next day around noon with her grandmother. (Karen is really in charge of the animals, so she told us not to worry about milking them until she got home.) Monday was especially hot and relentlessly sunny, so after milking the goats in the shade of their one little tree, the Sanchez family came down to the pool (or, as I call it, the watering hole), to cool off. We left the goats to graze as we normally do, thinking if they went anywhere it would be following us down the field (as usual). Flora and Little Bit were alone for no longer than about half an hour, but were absolutely NOWHERE to be found when we got back.

Hours we spent combing the property, calling their names, calling the neighbors, calling the police department, animal control, WLNG (a local radio station), everything we could think to do, we tried. We called the goats’ previous owner upstate, and he said we should just try calling out for them and maybe they’d wander back by nightfall. Nightfall came and went, and throughout the night there was not a single bleat or cry from the woods surrounding the tent that might have alerted us. In the morning, we were frantic, but I felt almost incapable to do anything about it because the sun was so strong. I kept in touch with my mom throughout the day (she’s in Maine with my dad for a week), and she kept me from panicking. We all handle crises in different ways, and mine normally involves lots anxious consideration while my mom runs around taking control of the situation. Karen, on the other hand, gets mellow. Very mellow and quiet and calm. Her whole family does. At one point, after we’d been calling for them for a while, her grandma shrugged and said, “They’re not coming back,” as if it was just a fact of life. If I had heard her say that (and understood the Spanish), and Karen hadn’t told me that once they were safe at home, I think I might’ve given up right then and there. There was (as has been a constant theme throughout this project) everything to do and nothing to do at the same time, and endless, impossible possibilities.

At around 2 PM, I called my mom again to check in, and she told my neighbor Joanne Comfort who has a farm on Lumber Ln. had found the goats at another neighbor’s house nearby. I screamed for Karen and called Joanne’s cell phone as we headed toward the southern perimeter of our property. When we got there, Joanne told us that Flora had been having a hard time walking, and both the goats looked lean and dehydrated. Little Bit was hesitant but still willing to walk back homeward, but Flora, who was clearly dehydrated, taking shallow breaths and grinding her teeth, stood motionless with her eyes slightly open even on the shady driveway. Joanne said they might’ve been drinking from the chlorinated pool, and I was wondering if pesticides had been sprayed on any garden plants they’d eaten. Flora was so resistant to walking that Joanne had to drive her little green farm buggy over to carry her back across the field. I got in back and Joanne lifted her onto the flatbed, and I stayed there with her, holding her tight as she stepped all over me trying to back herself off the buggy. Karen walked behind with Little Bit until we were about halfway back and we thought Flora could walk the rest of the way. She did start walking, but after only a few minutes in the direct sun, she stopped short and wouldn’t budge an inch. I stood with her for a while, trying to calm her down as Karen took Little Bit closer to the tent to get some water and food she could bring back. (I hindsight, this might not have been a good idea; even though Little Bit was willing to approach the tent without Flora, being separated from her might have stressed them both out even more.) A few long, hot, desperate minutes later we got some water for them, but neither would drink. After waiting a few minutes and trying to get them to hydrate, we finally just splashed them and urged them towards the shade near the tent, and they finally started walking again.

It took a long time for either of them to start eating or drinking, and Flora didn’t leave the pen (which is filled with sun in the afternoon), until we brought them both to the shady area behind the tent. Karen made a series of calls until she got in touch with a vet who told her that Flora was probably having a digestive issue since she hadn’t been urinating or defecating since she came back, so Karen ran out with Orlando to get milk magnesium to clear her system. They had to force feed it to her with a long necked bottle, which made her cry and scream for the first time since she’s gotten here. It was such a terrible sound, but it had to be done, and she’s feeling much better today, albeit a little skittish. Karen’s grandma milked them last night, but since they hadn’t been drinking much water, there was much less milk, even though they were three milkings behind. The milk we got yesterday I didn’t want to drink last night because I was afraid they might’ve ingested something weird that would be present in the milk. But I’m drinking it now! It tastes ok- we called it “adventure milk.” Some farmers say you can taste a goat’s day in their milk, which makes sense to me, the same way you can taste a summer in wine. (Next year’s vintage, even though half the crop’s been destroyed by the weather this year, should be pretty good.)

Last night, once the goats were asleep in their pen, the day darkened strangely quickly, and the wind picked up, rippling the tent walls like sails. There was clearly a storm coming, and I couldn’t start a fire in the pit. Franco was over, and he was going to come help, but I couldn’t tell if or when it was going to rain, so I just gathered some logs, 8 eggs (that Karen had already scrambled), and a little satchel of cherry tomatoes and walked over to the house. I had to add more eggs from the carton in the fridge (local brown) to feed the whole group, which I thought was a good idea anyway because no one is living at the house for another couple weeks. I cooked the whole thing in the stove in the living room, and Franco built a little a-frame stand to support the pan over the fire. Karen and Orlando stayed at the tent, but came over a little later to eat with us.

It’s weird to spend time with people who aren’t doing the project, but still participate. Gaby, for example, weaves in and out sometimes, but spends the majority of her time out at the farm with us. I just wish I didn’t have this feeling of uncertainty about what I’m doing out here. If the point of the project, as it was for a while, is to live sustainably without estranging ourselves from friends and family, we are doing it well, because there are almost always people here, sleeping over in the tent, lighting candles with us, eating fire grilled homegrown vegetables. But there is an integral part missing from their experience, even though they get to see the contrast. As much as I love their company, we’re not keeping it the right way, I’m afraid. We won’t reach that point of utter community unless we really LIVE together. (But I’ll probably revise that thought soon enough)

There are a few major realizations I’ve made by working on this project, and some very important elements that have not been present in our life out here, or at least not effective in the sense that they are making life out here better.

1. Community

A dedicated, hardworking community with shared principles and a common vision is necessary for the integrity of a project like this.

2. Solitude

As important as friends and family are, to fully appreciate and reflect on our days out here, and to develop a sense of what we are each looking for, time alone for meditation or writing or thought is essential for spiritual health.

3. Exercise

Before I started the project, I told myself I’d be doing yoga every day. But because of busy schedules and lack of routine, (which I tend to avoid in general) I often miss my chance. Our lifestyle is inveterately active on the farm, weeding, gardening, milking, carrying water, cleaning, biking, etc., but swimming and yoga, for me, are two perfect outlets for stress that really improve my mood and attitude.

4. Nutrition

Getting all the nutrients we need hasn’t been a problem, but variety has been a little limited, at least compared to the way I eat at Ross throughout the year. Our diet has consisted primarily of eggs, raw goat milk, quinoa, and walnuts. Other than that, we basically have whatever is ripe in the garden. All our staples are high in protein and omega-3’s, so we’re in good shape, but unless we make a big salad, we’re a little low in the greens department, and we’re feeling the absence of sugar. (My mouth is raw from all the tomatoes I’ve been eating, but the cherries are everywhere in the garden and they are so sweet and delicious.)

What I need to keep telling myself is that this is shaping up to be a stumble through for what could be a remarkable success next year. The best I can do right now is experiment to see what works and what doesn’t, and just keep better track of my activities for reference.

What makes me feel good?

What makes others feel good?

What reminds me of how beautiful it is to live this way?

What is harmonious?

What can I learn from others?

What can I teach others?

How can I seek balance?

Who’s with me?

Sunny Day :)

2009-08-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

Today has been really beautiful, and I am very happy with the way it was laid out.

I think we're getting the hang of this.

When we woke up, it was really foggy everywhere, and the tent walls were still up from when we lifted them to let in the breeze yesterday... You could vaguely see my dad's spooky sculptures every now and then lurking in the grounded cloud cover. My friend Harris thought he was dreaming when he woke up.

Karen, Gaby and I milked the goats around 8 AM, which is when we decided we'd do it from now on (and then again 12 hours later at 8 PM). Goats are very routine-oriented, and get stressed about almost everything, so keeping a steady milking schedule is helpful. We're still not getting enough milk from them by ourselves, though... It takes us twice as long to milk the goats as it takes Karen's grandma, but she gets three times as much. By the time the goats are to antsy to hold still anymore, we've only gotten a few cups at MOST, and their udders are still full. We should be getting about a gallon of milk a day, but instead we're only getting several cups. It's making us crazy... We want to build some kind of milk stand that the goats can jump onto like in Karen's goat book.

After that, Gaby and I biked into Sag Harbor to go to a yoga class. This is one thing that I am thinking about critically... We didn't actively use any energy, but the money we paid for the class (albeit a student discount), will probably contribute to the grid in some fashion, which makes it a tricky transaction.

In any case, the trip to Sag Harbor was fruitful... or fishy... We met a friend of my sister's named Arthur who was fishing on the dock. Arthur goes to my school, and I've always known he was the outdoorsy type, and had a knack for (gently) catching bugs with a net when he was younger. He had had a lot of success in the past week, and at home he said he had about 8 Porgies and Snapper in the freezer, but the one fish he caught today he gave to us! It was a pretty big Porgie, bigger than either of the ones we caught when we went fishing earlier this week, and he taught us how to gut and fillet it before he stuck it in his cardboard bait box and we took it home.

The bait Arthur was using was bloodworms, which I have never seen before, and hope I never meet while swimming out in deep water. They're a local, prehistoric looking biting worm, kind of like a leech, but without the numbing chemical leeches produce when they bite your skin. Eeeeee....

When we got home, Karen had already biked to work in Southampton, so we washed the dishes (with hot water this time, I thought they might need a little heat to get rid of any stray chicken poo), and grilled up the Porgie and some eggs and quinoa. The eggs we actually cracked into half a bell pepper and then tossed on the grill. My sister did that at her birthday party, and it's amazingly delicious. We actually wrapped the fish in beet greens before we put it on the grill to prevent it from burning (that didn't work, but corn husks do). And we boiled the rest of the eggs so they keep well in our little fridge.

After that, Franco came over on his way home from the beach and helped us chop wood. Well, he did all the chopping, we just carried it to the porch. I've tried to use the chopper (which weighs a good 20 lbs itself), and it's really really difficult to even pick up.

We were completely out of wood after Gaby and I built the fire today... We shouldn't let that happen again... If Franco hadn't been able to come over we probably wouldn't have been able to light a fire tomorrow even. None of us can lift that chipper.

UPDATE...

2009-08-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well,
it's about time I updated this blog, I'm only too sorry I haven't been able to in the past few days.

I first want to note how difficult it has been to articulate my thoughts on paper without getting pulled in lots of different directions, and without suddenly getting so far ahead of myself that I feel exasperated and give up.

The past 6 days have been such an intense emotional and physical experience that I have had trouble being objective in regards to regular tasks, and also had trouble trying to ask myself philosophical questions without getting overwhelmed.

First, I want to point out that my daily schedule has changed a lot, and become much less planned or productive than it was in the days right before we started. I often find myself standing stock still on the porch of the tent, or right behind the screen, staring out at the birds in the field, wanting to do everything, doing nothing, feeling almost paralyzed.
And yet, MUCH has happened in the past week!
I feel like I've been living in my tent FOREVER. It is truly strange.

I have conducted this project in much more of an experimental way than I initially thought I would, or ever thought I would feel comfortable doing. I am pleased with my "decision" (if you can call it that, I didn't make it consciously), because "trying things on" is the best way to know what works. And I can always take things off, which is something I need to remind myself of every time I feel I have broken.

!!The goats arrive...
On Monday, Karen and Orlando drove the 7 hours up to and 7 hours back from Rome, NY, to pick up "Flora" and "Little Bit" from their little farm in the middle of nowhere. Believe it or not, even in such a remote location, the goats were in rather close quarters, and were not accustomed to fresh grass when they arrived in their new home at our farm. (About 50 planes headed towards the East Hampton Airport have been flying low over the farm every day recently, making noise totally alien to the goats. They run for cover every time, often on our porch.) Every day since their arrival, Karen's grandmother and Orlando have driven over in their red minivan twice a day to help us milk them. And WHAT an ordeal that has been. The younger but bigger goat, named ironically "Little Bit," was separated from her kid when she left the farm upstate. Karen said she only ever saw her baby was being weaned off its mother, and only ever saw her when it needed milk, but the first time Little Bit was ever milked by hand was the day Karen picked her up. She brayed all night and thrashed around when we tried to coax her into milking the next morning. The other goat, Flora (who is two years old, Little Bit is one), has been a milking goat for a long time, so is much more used to the process. However, since Little Bit is bigger than Flora, she is the dominant "leader" goat, and therefore must do everything first. Including milking. Since Flora has to wait and watch Little Bit bray and kick as we try to milk her, she gets spooked, and then needs a good deal of coaxing herself. At this point, we need at least 3 people working hard to hold down the goats and milk them. Karen's grandmother grew up on a farm in Colombia, and she's an old hand at milking goats. Her technique, though, is a little harsh. It doesn't hurt the goat, but she uses rope to tie their hind legs while someone else sits ahead of it and holds its horns. It's okay, and she gets the milk, but it's not pleasant and NOT easy. Anyway, we did it without her help this morning, and I milked Flora myself! We're trying to make some cream cheese and yogurt today, but it's raining on and off so starting a fire is tricky.

The issue right now is that my solar panel -> 12V battery -> laptop charging situation is not working. I have been tinkering with the wires and clamps for the past few days, and it doesn't seem that the connections are right or something. At the moment, I am using my mom's iBook G4 to give a brief update, until my techy friend comes over to help us figure out what's going wrong.

Until then, know that everything is going pretty well... A few bumps here and there, and lots of animals, but we're learning. And I am taking pictures, which I will post when I'm not plugged into this wall socket, slurping LIPA minutes like a vacuum.

t-?

2009-08-04T04:56:00.000-07:00

This is where, as I kind of expected they would, things got tricky.

We have already moved the project up a few days because adequate preparations were not made in time.

Most important delays:

1. GOAT?

2. operating the solar panel

3. somewhere to... um... live?

With due credit to my mom for pestering me about getting the tent set up long before I thought necessary... The fact is, today, it is not even complete.

It is VERY close, all we need to do is secure the tent bottom to the platform and tie the rain fly to the frame along the tent walls. But it is hoisted! And it looks beautiful! But it took ALL DAY yesterday, and a considerable amount of energy out of each of us (me, Karen, and Patricia), and also out of Kenny, the carpenter my mom hired to help us figure out the platform. About a week ago, Kenny first came over to help build the girders and joists for the tent platform, and then ended up coming back every day since to make amendments and bring materials we'd overlooked initially, until he became effectively the tentmaster.

Let me say, there is absolutely NO WAY we would have been able to build our tent by ourselves.

The whole process was enough to be its own senior project. And the tent company's website says "2 people necessary, 4 makes it easier." We had 8 PEOPLE working hard supporting the poles, tying the tent to the rails, paring down 2"x4"'s, hammering in stakes, etc., and we were STILL afraid the tent was going to collapse on us.

To make matters worse, we really tried to start the project yesterday, but we were hit pretty hard with the realization that we had very little substantial food available to us. (e.g., we were pretty f-ing hungry.) Especially without the goat (which would provide 1-2 GALLONS OF MILK A DAY, or a lot more than we could use), we realized that we were basically relying on (if we're lucky) 7 or 8 eggs a day, the dried provisions, whatever we can procure from our garden, and good weather to bike in to make produce from local farms available to us, or allow us to go fishing.

This last is a steep requirement, as the weather has been iffy at best throughout the whole summer. This could make biking difficult, and has already made an impact on the productivity of our garden.

I'm not saying that the circumstances I've just mentioned are enough to foil the whole project.

Not at all.

I'm saying that at this point, we really haven't thought out some important aspects of our off-the-grid lifestyle. Yesterday was kind of a test day that really put things into perspective.

Honestly, for the past week, I've been thinking, if I eat enough now, maybe I'll put on a few pounds and I won't be so hungry when we're off the grid and have very little "food security."

(This was a stupid idea, eating more has just made me hungrier.)

But it was a stupid idea for several reasons.

1. Why am I isolating this month from the rest of my life like it's a one month intensive that will be dropped on September 1st? Shouldn't I be thinking about it as an integrative experience that I can carry on into "regular" life later on? Shouldn't the people I meet have a sense that they can adopt some of our practices to make a positive change in their lifestyle? Is that not the point of the project in the first place?

2. What is the benefit of living with next to nothing for the whole month, other than learning to appreciate the value of food and shelter when there is a dearth of it? If there's anything I learned in health class, crash dieting does not work. We were essentially preparing to "crash" into sustainability, which is itself almost a contradiction in terms. If the case made is that one must live without in order to appreciate the value of the essentials, a crash course could be enlightening. But trying to create a microcosm of the shift society must make to reach sustainability will only work if we drop our already eco-conscious mentality and think practically. People will respond to community engagement, and the importance of global connectivity is non-negotiable to most people today. Indeed, addressing our serious environmental problems depends on international cooperation. This is why I'm keeping a BLOG! Believe me, I would be JUST as happy to retreat into the woods and forget the world for a month. There would be no greater freedom. (Plus, we wouldn't have had to deal with the damned solar panel and 12v battery and the mean guy at Radio Shack.) But what difference would that make? People become hermits every day! And you know what? No one ever hears from them again!

3. Naturally, things tend to evolve towards efficiency. Consider the race for an affordable car that exceeds 100 MPG. 10 million bucks and the Automotive X-Prize, anyone? Or imagine you are going on a monthlong mountain climbing trip or backpacking through Europe. Imagine also that you have taken great pains to make sure you are completely well-equipped for your venture, almost excessively so; you've got every state-of-the-art piece of equipment and gear to take you up the mountain, or an outfit for every destination on your list. Chances are, after a month or so, you will start to shed things you thought, at the outset, would be crucial. This is the same sort of way for a family who is trying to green their lifestyle. Considerations like "Maybe we don't need this TV," or "Maybe we could bike to work in the morning," come into play to affect a simpler, more efficient way of living.

As my mom said yesterday, it's better to start with more than you need, so you can reach sustainability through elimination than to start out with nothing, and worry constantly about survival. In the latter case, the only way to go is to make concession after concession until you have found a system that sustains you. Where's the joy in that!? In terms of morale, at least, every concession will impart failure, will make the entire idea of harmonious, environmentally sound, "sustainable" living seem like a pipe dream.

SO!

What do we need but a day or two to get ourselves together!

Now that the tent is done (or almost, I'm about to run out with Kenny to finish it up), we will have a home base, which we can furnish, and finally feel a sense of security that has been completely absent until now.

(So that's pretty much where we're at...

Next post will contain more thorough and episodic descriptions,

video of us erecting the tent,

some more pictures of us in the field,

plus a diagram of our solar panel/battery arrangement.)

t-2 days

2009-07-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

BEYOND PROVISIONS
To supplement our diet, because now our goat, allotted to us by a woman Karen got in touch with through the Long Island Dairy Goat Association, is now going to the state fair in September, and is no longer available to us through August. (We weren't even called with this unfortunate news, and we are in a tough situation now that the provider of such a staple in our diet will be absent.) We are now looking for alternatives (including, believe it or not, a COW), but unless something works out, we need backup. I don't expect to survive on lettuce and cucumbers for a month.

So I picked three highly nutritious foods that I ordered in bulk from Provisions (an organic foods market I used to work at), and that also could grow in this part of the world. (Black beans are an exception unless you have a greenhouse, but I thought it was conceivable, and conceded because they are such a potently nutritious legume.) If anything was to be eaten only under desperate circumstances, it would be the black beans, which would be hardest to come by around here. (More on that later... it all arrives next Monday or Tuesday.)

Black Beans

Black, or turtle, beans are small roughly ovoid legumes with glossy black shells. The scientific name for black beans is Phaselous vulgaris, an epithet shared with many other popular beanvarieties such as pinto beans, white beans, and kidney beans. Black beans are associated with Latin American cuisine in particular, although they can complement foods from many places. They are available in most grocery stores in dried and canned forms.

The history of black beans is ancient. They were first domesticated over 7,000 years ago in the region of South America now known as Peru. Since the beans grew readily in warm weather and preserved well, they quickly became an integral part of the South American diet. Other varieties of beans also entered cultivation during this period, with different people selecting for different bean traits. The ubiquitous food entered Europe when early explorers brought beans back with them in the 1500s.

Like other legumes, beans pack a serious nutritional punch. They are very high in fiber, folate, protein, antioxidants, and vitamin B, along with numerous other vitamins and minerals. When combined with whole grains such as brown rice, black beans make a complete protein, which is one of the reasons they are commonly included in a vegetarian diet. Since the beans are cheap to produce, they are an important part of a balanced diet for people of low income around the world.

(http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-black-beans.htm)

Quinoa

There are so many similarities between quinoa (keen' wah) and amaranth that it seems appropriate to describe them together. Quinoa, however, is a cool weather crop and amaranth is a warm weather one.

Quinoa and amaranth are two very old, high-protein plants that hail from South America. They were held sacred in ancient Inca and Aztec cultures. Both now hold great potential for self-sustaining gardens in the northern hemisphere. They grow as easily as their weedy relatives (pigweed or lamb's-quarters) and the quality of food they offer far surpasses that of our common grains. Traditional hand-harvesting methods can obtain bounteous harvests.

Quinoa and amaranth are treated as grains although they have broad leaves, unlike the true grains and corn, which are grasses. Their leaves are among the most nutritious of vegetable greens, but it is their fruit that is usually meant when these plants are referred to as "crops." And that fruit or grain is quite special. The protein content of these two foods has a essential amino acid balance that is near the ideal. They both come closer to meeting the genuine protein requirements of the human body than either cow's milk or soybeans. They are high in the amino acid lysine, which is lacking in most cereals such as wheat, sorghum, corn and barley.

(http://www.saltspringseeds.com/scoop/powerfood.htm)

Almonds

The almond that we think of as a nut is technically the seed of the fruit of the almond tree, a glorious medium-size tree that bears fragrant pink and white flowers. Like its cousins, the peach, cherry and apricot trees, the almond tree bears fruits with stone-like seeds (or pits) within. The seed of the almond fruit is what we refer to as the almond nut.

Almonds are off-white in color, covered by a thin brownish skin, and encased in a hard shell. Almonds are classified into two categories: sweet (Prunus amygdalu var. dulcis) and bitter (Prunus amygdalu var. amara).

Sweet almonds are the type that is eaten. They are oval in shape, usually malleable in texture and wonderfully buttery in taste. They are available in the market either still in their shell or with their shell removed. Shelled almonds are available whole, sliced or slivered in either their natural form, with their skin, or blanched, with their skin removed.

These are the three types of food I ordered in 25 lb bags.

Here are my calculations...(I used various websites to calculate the weight and calories of the three foods in terms of cups.)

quinoa:


Serving Size

Amount per serving
Calories 636	Calories from Fat 89

Hide Daily Values

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 10g		15%
	Saturated Fat 1g	5%
	Polyunsaturated Fat 4g
	Monounsaturated Fat 3g
Cholesterol 0mg		0%
Sodium 36mg		2%
Total Carbohydrates 117g		39%
	Dietary Fiber 10g
Protein 22g

Vitamin A	0%	Vitamin C	0%
Calcium	10%	Iron	87%
Thiamin	22%	Riboflavin	40%
Niacin	25%	Pantothenic Acid	18%
Vitamin B6	19%	Potassium	36%
Phosphorus	70%	Magnesium	89%
Zinc	37%	Copper	70%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Calories in Quinoa:

200 calories in 2oz of Quinoa, 637 Calories in 1 Cup of Quinoa. There are 180 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, and 3 Points in 1/4 Cup of Quinoa.

Quinoa is considered a pseudocereal or pseudograin in that it is not quite a grain and not quite a cereal. It has great flavor, potent nutrition, and is quick to make. The true 'Mother Grain' of the Andes, organically grown on small family plots at over 11,000 feet in the Andes mountains of Ecuador. A small, round, yellow grain with a pleasant crunchy texture that cooks in just 12 minutes. A gluten free whole grain, rich in dietary fiber providing 45% daily value (DV). Best amino acid profile of all cereal grains. Heart Healthy* whole grain.

A recently rediscovered ancient "grain" native to Central America,quinoa was once called "the gold of the Incas," who recognized itsvalue in increasing the stamina of their warriors. Not only is quinoahigh in protein, but the protein it supplies is complete protein,meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Not only isquinoa's amino acid profile well balanced, making it a good choice forvegans concerned about adequate protein intake, but quinoa isespecially well-endowed with the amino acid lysine, which isessential for tissue growth and repair. In addition to protein, quinoafeatures a host of other health-building nutrients. Because quinoa is a very good source of manganese as well as a good source of magnesium,iron, copper and phosphorous, this "grain" may be especially valuablefor persons with migraine headaches, diabetes and atherosclerosis.

1 lb = about 2 cups

25 lbs = about 50 cups

50 cups x 636 calories = about 31,800 calories

(31,800/3)/31 = for each of us: about 341 calories of quinoa a day

black beans:

1 lb = about 2 cups

25 lbs = about 5o cups

50 cups x 227 calories = 11,350 calories

(11,350/3)/31 = for each of us: about 122 calories of black beans a day

almonds:

1 lb = about 3 1/2 cups

25 lbs = about 87.5 cups

87.5 cups x 842 calories = about 73,645 calories

(73,645/31)/3 = for each of us: about 792 calories of almonds a day

t-3 days

2009-07-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Mom and Luis wonder about picking up the wood...

"Could 44 12' planks fit in Daddy's Honda Element? ... Well, if my car is this wide across... Daddy's would... maybe... Nah, no way."

I promised myself that I would be super conscientious about getting work done before having friends over, but making new friends makes keeping focus less easy. It's ok though, i've been doing pretty well.

Ordering the wood for the platform was complicated (for several reasons)...

1. I wanted to order wood that had been used already: discarded, reclaimed or rescued. I expected there to be some kind of surplus center in the Hamptons (what with the prodigious levels of construction out here, even during a recession), somewhere where we could find cheap material left over from the construction site. I sent out a few (unanswered) emails to people I thought would know about that, and according to Orlando, there really isn't one to speak of out here, it's more catch as catch can if you want some discarded lumber or something.

2. I discovered (after ordering about 46 pieces of reclaimed pine from a lumberyard in Brooklyn, which cost me $640.00 plus the cost of the Budget truck we rented), that Karen and Orlando had worked out an alternative floor plan for the tent, using materials they could buy at home depot that would cost under $150. (You can imagine my delight at this revelation.) The miscommunications began at the very outset since we had started out using the wrong blueprint, which didn't include an extended deck, so Orlando had a different picture of our tent in his mind. Together, they mapped out a floor plan that called for a fraction of the wood the blueprint demanded. (They did not tell me about this new plan.) We were going to have to buy materials for the whole platform anyway, and we had discussed using large, wide plywood instead of planks. But when I called the tent company, the guy I spoke to said we couldn't use plywood that big for the deck, because it would collect pools of water whenever it rained, and you run a similar risk by using it on the interior. Hearing this, I decided to just take matters into my own hands, because everyone was depending on me to get supplies. So I looked on the Home Depot website, and got prices for cheap, southern pine decking, and what I found that day added up to more than the cost for the reclaimed pine at M. Fine's lumberyard, or nearly the same price (1$/foot). (Again, this was not wood for an alternative deck, this is wood like what they call for on the blueprint, and enough to cover a 16' x 24' area.)

3. Getting the order shipped would have cost an extra $250.00, so my dad and I had to drive down there in a big budget truck to pick it all up, (about a 5 hour drive).

4. Getting all the nails and screws and little pieces of metal still attached to the wood from its previous job removed would have doubled the entire order cost, so instead we had to spend all the time we had yesterday afternoon hammering away with crowbars and screwdrivers at thousands of rusty nails protruding from the edges of the boards.

So this, below, has some semblance of what the inside of our tent will look like when we're all finished. Pretty nice, right? Compared to a rickity plywood floor, we'll have a really nice hardwood deck. I mean, in the end, it's no comparison. The effort involve just increases the value and beauty. I wonder where the used pine came from originally... and also what it was used for until it was reclaimed.

t-7/6/5/4 days

2009-07-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

and the caravan rolls on...

The Newest Addition to the

CHANNING MENAGERIE

The very chickenly, but really rather well-behaved chickens have arrived! 8 of them.

They take up so much less space than I thought they would.

The black one in the upper right corner we named Elvis.

The past few days have been on and off frenzied activity and no work at all. It's funny though, I find myself thinking pragmatically all the time now, with what I eat, look at in stores, wear, how I manage my time... This project has taken over my head.

I like it though, it's like I have a job now. No lazy, now that we're so close to the wire. And people are really into the project!!

I met an awesome fisherman named Ken Morse yesterday, who owns a bait & tackle shop in Sag Harbor. I was there for a little over half an hour, but left feeling as if I had just gone to a comprehensive fishing school, outfitted with top notch gear (kind of) and knowledge about what's up with local fishing. Ken said sometimes using bait works best, but other times its really the lures that attract the fish. He gave me advice about what times to fish (late evening or early morning, avoid the sunniest parts of the day), and where we'd probably be most successful (surrounding rocky shore areas that trap smaller sea life and attract bigger fish). He gave me a meter to measure the legal, keepable length of different types of fish (sampled below).

I think the regs on the Bass mean that your allowed to catch one, and it has to be between 28" and 40", whereas those on the Bluefish state no minimum size limit. Bluefish have sharp teeth! Apparently some surfers got chewed up by a school of them a couple days ago over at Mecox Bay, I think. Ken told us about it, I can't seem to find an article about it though.

He gave me a full spectrum of lures, for different depths and kinds of fish... And he said some interesting things about people that come into the shop and order the highest end equipment, but seldom (if ever) actually go fishing. The lures he gave us were ones that he uses, and ones that have worked for him and his customers. I liked his honest approach, and another guy came into the store to buy a few lures and told us, as Ken was marking off all the best local spots on our map with a highlighter, "He won't steer you wrong!"

I want to go back to Tight Lines with Karen and Patricia before we start the project. I know we'll have to go back frequently to pick up live bait anyway, unless we can catch our own... This is another thing I have thinking about, should we use lures that are so thoroughly gridlocked, and so susceptible to getting bitten off their lines and lost in the bellies of unfortunate fish and birds? Yes, a plastic lure might catch you a fish, which could be our biggest priority next month, but I feel like it's a kind of pollutive Russian Roulette.... We'll see. I think we should try to stick with using local live bait for as long as we can.

KAREN AND ORLANDO FINALIZE THE "COUP"

I always feel like Orlando thinks I'm just a lump on a log when they're working on their structures. I end up kind of standing there, watching them work, and he speaks no English at all, so he knows me entirely through Karen's translations. I know this part of the project is really Karen's anyway... I'd just like it not to seem like I'm not doing anything. I should get some pictures in here of me doing things, because, who knows, maybe I'm a lazy bum... are you convinced?

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t-8 days

2009-07-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

THE SOLAR PANEL ARRIVES

And I still have no idea what to do with it.

I got much help with research and selection from my friend Jake Sosne's dad Alan (a.k.a. 'Solar Alan'), but best solution we could find, which is the awesome Voltaic Generator Solar Laptop Charger turned out to be a little more expensive and less versatile than I was looking for. (It is a very cool bag though: http://www.voltaicsystems.com

/bag_generator.shtml )

So, I ended up ordering a panel and a charge controller off amazon. Together they were under $150.00, so it was a pretty good deal. I still don't know exactly how to use them, though, or if the charge will be sufficient to power my laptop.

What I need to do now is take the panel out of the packaging and make sure the controller is the right voltage and everything.

Karen came over again today to continue working on the chicken coop (or as she says, with a French affect, "coo"), with Orlando, Tom, and her grandmother this time. Tom worked on hacking the post bases into points with an axe, and then Orlando beat them into the ground with a sledgehammer. From his position on the ladder, about 3 feet taller than the rest of us, Orlando wielded the sledgehammer with accuracy. But I was terrified, because a miscalculated swing would not bode well for Karen's grandmother, who was standing below him, steadying the post.

(below, Orlando and Karen's grandma fix the chicken wire to the posts.)

I pointed out the irony of using a chainsaw to build an off-the-grid structure, and Tom reminded me that everything we're using is gridlocked in some way, from the chainsaw to the

handsaw to the hammer to the nails and staples. The only difference is, the chainsaw is actively gridlocked, like my computer is now (before I have the solar panel set up). We didn't buy any gas to power it this time, but using what was left in the tank just means my dad will have to buy some more when he needs to use it again.

We are hoping that the hens will arrive ASAP, so they can have some time to get used to their new surroundings. Otherwise, the optimistic estimate of 1 egg per hen, per day, will most likely go down due to stress. Unfortunately, there have apparently been some problems with the hens, who have been pecking at their own eggs in their coop in Noyac. The person who owns them is waiting to see which hen is whacked before letting us pick them up.

PHONE CALL WITH Paul Hamilton: I've had an irregular correspondence with Paul in the past few weeks, but he is still interested in helping out! Paul is an organic farmer at EECO (East End Community Operated) Farm in East Hampton, and he used to do guided nature walks out here, so he knows how to identify forest flora (and fauna?), and has lots of experience building forts out of found materials with his two sons. Paul also subs at Ross, and replaced my English teacher for about a week this spring, when I first got a chance to tell him about the project. He lent me a few books that he thought I would find useful. One of them, Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons, was apparently a sensation in the 60's and 70's during the whole back-to-the-land movement, and works as a kind of detailed, instructional field guide to procuring wild edibles. I haven't gotten a chance to use it practically yet, but Paul said he was willing to do a kind of nature walk with us and maybe experiment with building an organic structure of some kind.

The Platform Tent Arrives. Now what?

It's here!!

The two little bundles of packing plastic that are the canvas tent and its supports have arrived via an "On Time Trucking" semi, transferred to my dad's big old front loader, placed at the tent site, and are now awaiting further instruction.

But hold up... the platform isn't even finished yet... it's kind of barely started. We have the skeleton in place, minus that for the extended porch... and I don't have the necessary wood for the decking. (Problem!!)

I did some research a few weeks ago, looking for reuse centers or building surplus stations in the metropolitan area, and I found a few that look promising. The problem is, the wood suggested in the tent blueprint are 2" x 6" planks. For a 16' x 24' platform, this means about 96 pieces of lumber, if they're all 8' long!! Sounds crazy, but do the math. This is why we were trying to see if maybe 16 8' x 4' boards would work instead. When I spoke with Dan at the Colorado Yurt Company, he said that 8' x 4' boards would work, but should not be used for the extended porch. This is because the space between 2" x 6" boards allow for water drainage, while the large boards (especially on uneven ground), would start to collect pools of water that would probably run inside the tent.

This is a picture of our tent, (or what we hope our tent will resemble eventually, minus the little chimney.)

t-9 days

2009-07-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, I had my heart set on calling the Colorado Yurt Company to get some blueprint specifications-- the one we were using didn't include the extended deck (for the covered porch).

At right is the original blueprint I got on the website for a 16'x16' platform tent, which, exhibiting my questionable judgement, I assumed would include the front extension.

Realizing that this was not the case was especially uncomfortable when I had to explain to Karen's stepdad Orlando, who had helped us lay the foundation, and speaks virtually no English, that there was a whole other part to the skeleton that we hadn't considered...

Above, Orlando scours the woodpile behind my dad's studio for any usable building material. He would occasionally bump an old discarded sculpture while removing blocks, and made me cringe repeatedly with his strictly practical focus. I was amazed he was even there helping us; Karen called me that morning with news that her stepdad had fought with her mom the previous night and was now not talking to the family. Our plans to start work that day hinged on Orlando's help and stock of old wood from sod transportation platforms, so his absence left us high and dry and my mom fuming.

Only several hours later, who showed up in a crammed minivan but Karen, her boyfriend Tom, and Orlando, dressed in work clothes and rearing to get started.

From the getgo, I was absolutely amazed by Orlando's energy and efficiency. His understanding of all the equipment in my dad's immense prefab tool repository that he laid his hands on was profound. Within the first hour of work, we had procured all the wood we'd need for the tent base, and then some. (The blueprint says to use cement blocks, but Orlando said the block we found in the woodpile, shown below, would work just as well.)

I watched with mild resentment as we loaded the pickup truck with the blocks and tools and headed out to the site. Orlando's rigid determination and momentum seemed unstoppable-- I didn't want to blow his top with a crazy request like, "So, maybe we could carry these big heavy pieces of wood out there? I mean, just to save gas? It is an off-the-grid project, anyway..." The impracticality of such a suggestion was almost ludicrous when we had all the motorized equipment we could ever want at our disposal.

Initially, my grand scheme was to develop a sustainable lifestyle from entirely organic, local resources. My vision harkened back to pre-colonial time on Long Island, pristine and vibrant with deer on the roam, pheasants and turkeys. I had a completely romantic idea of what it could be- sleeping in a thatched roof hut, wearing deer pelts and moccasins, eating corn and native vegetables and fish...

I decided though, in what turned out to be an entirely new direction, that modern technology isn't necessarily the bane of our existence. Since the Industrial Revolution, pollution and environmental degradation has skyrocketed, yes, but this doesn't mean we should have to go back in time and rewind innovation to find harmonious equilibrium. I think bicycles and solar panels are great! The danger is in their production and disposal, and those processes need improvement. For now, though, I think as long as we avoid buying anything new or using anything fossil-fueled as much as possible, the positives outweigh the negatives. To the extent that the goal of the project is to keep in touch while off-the-grid, almost everything we will be using by definition- (computer, cell phone, solar panel), and otherwise, in terms of gardening, tools, and equipment (bikes, trowels, hoes, pots, fencing, hoses, etc.), was generated on the grid.

I need to make a comprehensive list of every "gridlocked" object or substance or process we have utilized and will utilize throughout the course of the project. The point of the project is not to simply lower our carbon footprint as much as demonstrate the simplest of modern sustainable living systems.

t-10 days

2009-07-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

I'm wondering, as I listen to the gentle but steady rain outside and look at the weather forecast for the next few days, why it is, in The Little Prince, that the rose says she hates being rained on, and when she's thirsty, it's only her roots that want a drink?

And out there are my zucchini plants, flowered and rolling, getting soaked in the showers. I watered them myself recently- the past week has been almost incessantly dry and sunny, and some of the plants looked so happy when I held the watering can over them, while some shuddered and wilted.

Plants are like children! So picky, yet so resilient! It's difficult to know what to do when new seeds want a nice heavy shower, and large plants seem to relish the rain, but delicate little sprouts quaver and wilt the moment the drops fall, and then grow dramatically in a day or two. Ay! Mother's anxiety. But it's ill-founded, I know. The soil out here has proved itself rich and bountiful year after year, and after all, mother nature is the ultimate nurturer... I think it's my interference that bothers me, on sunny days, well, how much do I water the garden? Does time of day matter? The hose drags over a baby kale plant. Doomed? How hard do I pack the soil? How much water drowns a seedling? What are ideal proportions of rain and sun?

These are questions for a farmer.

My mom, the epic heirloom tomato grower, has been the garden advisor thus far. However, I have found that she, like my grandpa, has a visceral, intuitive way of doing things (like cooking, gardening, etc.), that makes following her instructions tricky while she's away. (My grandpa is famous for his bread, but uses unique measurements--a pinch of salt, a handful of flour, a bit of yeast--making it almost impossible to reproduce.) I don't mean she's not systematic; she has a very organized gardening strategy and insists on planting in tidy rows. I just shudder to think what's at stake if I should miscalculate while not under her supervision and damage our crop. I like having her there to say, "That's good!" or "That's enough!"

I read a little article in the Times the other day about garden thinning. The author was having qualms about, first of all, yanking baby sprouts from the ground, and second, learning that eating those aborted vegetable plants in a baby-greens salad can pose health risks. Apparently, juice from a radish stalk can burn your skin if the sun is out.

The packet for the summer squash seeds I planted several weeks ago with Patricia instructed that we plant two or three seeds in every hole to guarantee the successful germination of at least one little plant. Several weeks later, every single seed sprouted, and were so healthy looking that I couldn't bear to discard them. Instead, I carefully transplanted every second and third sprout into rows adjacent to the original. Fortunately, the transplanted sprouts, though not as robust as the plants that were left in their original positions, are actually doing quite well.

As of yesterday, the garden is looking vibrant, but not really productive quite yet. I think that's a good thing, because I'm assuming it bodes well for a full harvest when we need it in August. But I'm knocking on wood.