Tag Archives: challenge

Donate: Help Build a Food Forest at an Orphanage in the Philippines

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Some of us may recall the nonsense that I was spouting a few weeks ago about starting a foundation to hire volunteer coordinators in impoverished locations to coordinate international volunteers and complete projects for charitable organizations. I got a great response. So the idea continued to bounce around in my head; Skype meetings, taxes, bylaws, mission statements and the like.

Meanwhile, I'm still volunteering at an orphanage down the street from my house here in the Philippines.

I was hoping to hire a local person there within the next year or so to help build a food forest on their grounds. Their job would be to incease food production on the land, teach sustainable agriculture techniques to the children, and host & orient international volunteers that want to help with the project. In my mind the hiring process would begin next year sometime after all the money had been raised.

The universe, however, moves in mysterious ways. Allow me to introduce you to Jun Jun:

Jun Jun is 23 years old and has recently been rescued from a forced labor camp in Pampanga. He has been living at the orphanage with his “coworkers” while they try to figure out their next step. They showed up the same day that I officially started my volunteer work.

He is currently hundreds of miles from home with no money and no idea of his next step. That is, until now.

Jun Jun was studying environmental management on scholarship for three years before he got swept up in what is turning out to be a messy human trafficking case. Messy messy human trafficking. In his studies he focused on growing organic food & vermiculture and has experience raising tilapia & livestock. He wants to continue his education in this field. He has a passion for helping people, and right now he is particularly interested in helping the children at this orphanage. How nice.

—-

I researched permaculture facilities in the Philippines, and while there is a very little on the topic there is one organization in Nueva Ecijia, a mere 86 kilometers from the orphanage. Allow me to introduce the CabioKid Foundation:

This 5.5 hectacre farm has been pioneering & spreading permaculture ideas in Central Luzon Philippines for the past five years. They take on local and international volunteers/students for work studies & trainings, and hope to spread knowledge and sustainable livelihood practices to the people of the Phillippines.

I have been in contact with CabioKid about working with the orphanage. I have also spoken with the orphanage about my ideas, and they are excited about the possibility of gaining a new employee and learning more about these techniques. The head of the orphanage, the main groundskeeper, three houseparents, Jun Jun & I will be taking a field trip to the facility on Monday.

It has all been coming together so quickly! I was not planning on having to get everything done so fast. I thought that I would have at least another 6-9 months months to organize a fundraising platform and raise money for this idea. However, there is no time for that. I leave next week. So, please excuse my rush.

I have secured the funds to send Jun Jun to the training at Cabio Kid, and to hire him at the orphanage for about a month or so. However, we are going to need a lot more money to hire him for the remainder of the year and to buy supplies to get the project rolling. I will be working on a cleaner fundraising campaign in the next few weeks, but for now, if you are interested in helping please do!

You can donate via PayPal here:

If you don't have a PayPal, you can donate via gofundme.com here.

 

 

Go Fund Me does take a cut of the donations (5%), so if you have a PayPal account that is currently more beneficial. I am working on getting nice photos & videos from the orphanage, and will be promoting this link more in the coming weeks. I am but one woman. So please be paitent.

We hope to raise $2500 US dollars. This would pay for Jun Jun's training, hire him for an entire YEAR, buy starting supplies (re: green house, basic tools & chickens), and take care of the fees associated with moving money around the world.

All of this for $2500. Seriously.

For now, I'm still volunteering at the orphanage: cooking dinners, teaching english, feeding kids with cerebal palsy, reading stories to special ed classes & playing basketball. I'm trying not to let this project distract me from the final days that I get to spend with the children.

I will, however, still be working with the administration at Amor Village and CabioKid to get Jun Jun set up in his new job. I also have to teach Jun Jun how to use a computer and set up an e-mail address, so that he can send us updates from the orphanage. He has never used a computer or had a single peso to his name or even celebrated his birthday for that matter.

His birthday is June 15.

This is the exact day that the permaculture classes start at Cabio Kid.

Happy Birthday Jun Jun.

 

I Missed My Flight: Perhaps It’s Time to Level Up

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I’m still in Taiwan, I was supposed to get on a plane the other day and fly back to the Philippines. I however, was late, and didn’t have a ticket out of the Philippines which is required to even get on a plane to the islands. With only minutes left to spare, I was going to buy a ticket back to Taipei, Taiwan. The date suggested by the far too kind man at the counter? April 15th. The exact day that applications for the scholarship are due. I couldn’t leave on that day.

I flipped a coin.

Tails Taipei. Heads Philippines. I made the ticket counter man wait for me to dig a Philippino Peso out of my bag. I flipped it; it landed on tails, and I walked away from the counter. Just like that.

I tried to change my mind, but by that time there was a crowd of people waiting at the ticket counter.

Oh well.

I think it will be better this way. As I walked away from the bus station, I randomly ended up in Peace Park. Relief washed over me. Deciding my future on a the flip of a Peso seemed a bit irrational, and while I was trying to assure myself that this the way it was meant to be; I still wasn’t sure.

But then there was Peace Park. I decided to release all doubt, dive into Taipei and figure what I’m meant to do next.

So yes, I’ve been thinking a lot lately…

…and unfortunately, it’s a lot about money–both my own, and money for others. I’ve been seeing and working with lots of people, mostly in the Philippines that would kill for the resources that many of us have access to. I’ve talked to a lot of people, rich or not, that want to help, they want to give me money, take me out to eat, house me, help me or help those that I’m helping. That’s all fine and good, I appreciate it, but I’m thinking…bigger.

How can make this project more sustainable and so much more…ya know, better?

I’ve come up with something, and I’ve been applying my OCD bleeding heart to making that happen.

The idea came when I visited the orphanage in Anao Tarlac. They were asking me for money, obviously, but they wanted me to help pay to send one of the kids to college. To be clear, I still have not paid for my own college, and am in no position to send orphans to college. I did, however, see lots of potential in their program.

For example, they have a giant property, and are doing vermiculture composting on the lands. They have a meager garden that isn’t really producing much food, and empty cupboards in the kitchen. Naturally, my experience at the Oregon Food Bank & The Humboldt Garden Collective led me the idea of food forests.

Why couldn’t we give this orphanage a food forest?

Well, there are quite a few reasons we can’t give the orphanage a food forest; the main one being: food forests take a lot of time. I, personally, am not planning on staying in Anao, Tarlac, Philippines for the rest of my life. There are, however, many people that are, and some of them even know how to grow things. Perhaps, we could raise money to hire someone to build a food forest for this orphanage? What a novel idea.

On the other hand, I am already working on a scholarship program that would require money & fundraising efforts for the students in a town just a few kilometers down the road. I didn’t see why I couldn’t combine the two projects, and raise money for the orphanage as well. Which led me to my next thought…

I Need to Make a Foundation

But not just a regular foundation, oh no, of course not. Here’s the idea, more or less, in a nutshell:

The goal would be to hire local people in poor countries to complete projects for communities & charities in their area. These local hires would work toward a goal or maintain a program. Additionally, they would be asked to host & coordinate international volunteers that are interested in spending some time volunteering abroad.

The positive impact would be three-fold:

  • We would make a job for a local individual in a poor community
  • A local charity or organization would reap the benefits of that individual’s work
  • We would increase the amount of opportunities for intercultural exchanges by creating more volunteer opportunities abroad.

That’s not a perfect mission statement or anything, but maybe you can begin to see what I’m thinking about. I want to hire volunteer coordinators of sorts to implement volunteer programs all over the world. No big deal.

Voluntourista: A Foundation

I am not usually one to reveal what I’m working on until it is nearly perfect and ready to go, this time, however, I am going to need lots of help and input and there is no way that I can do it on my own. I’m a bit crazy, obsessed even, but I can’t stop thinking about this idea; researching, writing, organizing, charting, plotting…

I am going to work on these first two projects in the Philippines to set an example for what I’m thinking.

  • Umingan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines: Hire two students to go to a good school and start volunteer projects of their own in their own community
  • Anao, Tarlac, Philippines: Hire a Farmer/Permaculturist to make a food forest on the grounds of an orphanage for abandoned, abused & handicap children.

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”

― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

 

 

 

 

How to Save the World aka. Where Should I Volunteer?

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In previous job and now with my current pursuits, I am often asked questions that I doubt many other people gets asked at all. Some beat around the bush and others get straight to the point. Essentially, in more or less words people seem to ask me, “How can I save the world?” I can see all their good intentions oozing out from behind their questions. It’s so sweet it’s sickening.

Chuck P quote

It seems common to express exasperation at the sheer volume of critical problems that we are collectively facing. Be they political, cultural, personal or environmental, each individual issue could potentially take a entire lifetime of work to make even a minutely visible dent. Wait, is that too discouraging? Well, it shouldn’t be, it just means that you do not need to save the entire world and no one expects you to. Now that’s a relief, isn’t it?

Both societal & personal growth are slow processes, and while a few brave souls can (and do) punctuate human history; they don’t change the entire world and no one expected them to. If you’re anything like me, you think that most things in this world are pretty messed up in one way or another. If you’d like to argue with me on that point, well, I just don’t recommend that. Yes, there are tons of people and organization doing amazing work, but they need to do that amazing work to counter the failed priorities of our current cultural norms.

Anyway, not here to preach, sorry about that. Since, I am regularly confronted with people looking to help, I’ve devised a way to help people decide what they should do as a volunteer, and in turn, how they can play a role in fixing the problems of the world.

The first step to helping another person become a better more productive & involved individual (i.e volunteer coordinate) is to listen, and since I am encouraging you to become your own volunteer coordinator, I am also encouraging you to have a short little conversation with yourself. I talk to myself all the time, and I can’t see you through the computer screen, so don’t worry about it…

Answer these questions! I’ll wait.

1. What do you for money?
2. What do you wish you were doing for money?
3. What are good at?
4. What do you wish you were good at?
5. What is the number one biggest issue that you’d like to address with your time?

Question 1: What do you for money?

The human race has had long experience and a fine tradition in surviving adversity. But we now face a task for which we have little experience, the task of surviving prosperity. ~Alan Gregg

Do you have a job that you love and fulfills your inner do-gooder, or maybe a job that takes most of your free time & makes you tons of money? Then good for you, you are most likely a a philanthropist! Most people in the world do not have the luxury of getting money for doing something that they love. If you are one of these rare people, than perhaps you can use your resources to make a very real impact on the world.

If this applies to you, but it isn’t exactly the answer you were looking for, than my guess is that your answer to this question is the not same as your answer to the next question…

Question 2: What do you wish you were doing for money?

My meaningless office job: they pay me for my body and mind, but my heart gets no paycheck and my soul pays the taxes. ~Carrie Latet

Maybe you’ve always wanted to be a zoologist or an astronaut or something with equally excitement and prestige. Perhaps you’re going to school or working towards your goal in another way. Perfect! This means that you already have a passion in mind and you should probably use your do-gooder volunteer free time to further your resume. How? well, that all depends on what you wish you were doing for money.

Perhaps your should volunteer at the zoo or at space camp? or maybe you have one of those awesome yet generic skills that nearly any non-profit could use, like web-design, photography, event planning or translation skills. If this is the case, I would suggest referring to your answer to Question 5, and getting to know an organization that works in your area of concern. Once you get a better idea of what the organization needs you can offer up your special skill, and see if you can use it to advance their mission. This brings us nicely to the next question.

Question 3: What are you good at?

The twentieth century seems afflicted by a gigantic… power failure. Powerlessness and the sense of powerlessness may be the environmental disease of the age. ~Russell Baker, New York Times, 1 May 1969

Maybe you’re one of those people that has answered the first three questions in the same way. “Duh Amy, I’m a carny. I love being a carny and I’m damn good at it to boot. What should I do to advance the world.”

“Well, my dear, you’re a carny, that loves being a carny AND you’re good at it to boot? hmm. I’d suggest organizing your carny friends to do an annual circus fundraiser for an organization. Or perhaps mentor an up and coming carny? or look into ways to make your carnival greener or something like that.”

If you’re one of those people that wants to make the biggest impact, and you know that you a particular skill that is useful, perhaps you need to find a way to use that skill to better humanity. I understand. Maybe you don’t currently make money doing it or don’t even particularly enjoy it, but you know that your inability to smell will make you a great orphan diaper changer or hands on trash sorter. Hey, to each their own! However, no matter the skill you’d like to contribute, make sure you get to know an organization before insisting that you are the best person to reorganize all their closets or rewrite all their speeches.

Question 4: What do you wish you were good at?

Most people are awaiting Virtual Reality; I’m awaiting virtuous reality. ~Eli Khamarov

Another way to choose the best volunteer for you is to decide what you would like to learn and pursue that avenue. People might just tell you to go to school and learn said skill, but that isn’t always possible. School takes time, money and commitment that you may not have, but volunteering can give you the room to learn and use a new skill while being community oriented. Perhaps you want to learn how to build a house, then volunteer with Habitat for Humanity or at deconstruction/recycled building service. Or maybe you want to learn Spanish so you set up free languages exchanges in a tiny fishing village.

 

The Humboldt Garden Collective is a great example of a volunteer project forcused on learning more and exchanging information on a particular topic. The participants come together because they have a common interest and then teach and show each other their skills to increase garden productivity for their entire community. The benefits are two-fold, if not three or four…

Question 5: What is the number one biggest issue that you’d like to address with your time?

The world is so dreadfully managed, one hardly knows to whom to complain. ~Ronald Firbank

And finally, we arrive at perhaps the most important question of the bunch. What is your passion? Where do you want to help? If none of the previous questions gave you any ideas about what to do, this is where you will need to spend the most time. Don’t be afraid of not knowing where to dedicate yourself, take time coming up with your answer, you will be a much better volunteer and be more effective overall if you are sure of your goals and know where you want to apply some positive pressure.

Often, when confronted with this question, people will respond with a story from their childhood or elsewhere that illustrates the importance of X, Y and Z. Perhaps growing up you saw an animal at a zoo that was losing its habitat or you read something somewhere about the end of oil, or maybe a friend lost their whole livelihood in a natural disaster, or you had a teacher or mentor that changed your life forever or something of the sort. Listen to that story, tell it to others, analyze what part could be made better or replicated with the help of some honest folks. Find organizations working in that area, organize your own project, do a fundraiser, you get the idea.

Dedicating your spare time to a single focused goal will ensure that you understand the problem, allow you to think outside the box and bring solutions that may not have been thought of before. Don’t rush it, learn from people already working towards your same goal, listen to advice and start by helping in the way that those in the field thinks would be best. Remember that you are most likely not the first one that wants to cure cancer or bring about world peace, and you’re not going to do it alone. What a relief, eh?

Now I wish that I had devised some sort of point system like the quizzes in all those “magazines for women” that clearly pointed you to where you should volunteer. Two points here, three points there, another five to top it off, “Oh look! I’m supposed help baby sea turtles in Guatemala! Que bueno! And I should date a Taurus, how convenient!”

Wouldn’t that just be grand? Unfortunately, there is no such test and even if there was, it wouldn’t work. One needs to consider where you live or where you’re spending the majority of your time, whether there is even an organization to join up with, or if you have the resources and the time to start something yourself. Think about your answers to the questions, I’m guessing you can figure out where to apply yourself.

This time, more than any, I’m interested in feedback. Think I’m missing anything? Volunteer to help me figure this one out, that’d be helpful.


 

 

 

Amy Adventures On: Driving through Mexico with the Belgians & the Blue Bird

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There are some words that are the same in both French and Spanish. Differentes langues y culturas pero la même chose en la cœur. They both sound foreign yet familiar to me.

I find myself in a abandoned, mas o menos, house in Pescador, Veracruz, Mexico with nine men that don’t speak my language, mas o menos. We’ve got a Belgian post rock band, two film directors, an actor, some painters, a Mexican hip hop crew, a French circus performer and me. All their talents makes volunteering and writing seem almost passe. They mock my recycling obsession and call me a hippy. I criticize their compulsive consumption habits and call them conquering Europeans. That doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re wonderful, but it may illustrate a bit of the dynamic we’ve created here.

We met because we all wanted to go to the Rainbow Gathering in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. Why they ever wanted to go there I have no idea. They hated it before they even knew it. I’d never been to a Rainbow Gathering either, but I had a bit more of an idea what it was about, vegan hippies in the woods, forming ohm circles, meditating with the family, asking for connections, etc. etc. I come from Portland, Oregon, so the new age metaphysical commune idea is not new to me. I knew what it was and wanted to go there for a little peace & rejuvenation, but really, we all know that I probably wasn’t going to make it. I had a lot of plans before the end of December and traversing 3000 miles of land in time didn’t quite seem plausible. That is, until I met the Belgians.

There is a windstorm happening right now that is rattling the whole house. Lacking internet, or really any connection to the outside world beside our choppy Spanish, we don’t know if this is a regular occurrence or a hurricane. There’s no basement and I’m doubting that we have any sort of contigency plan in case of the seemingly inevitable. There is something very large knocking on the the foundations of the house, it is shaking the cinderblock construction. I can feel it in my spine. No one seems worried though, or maybe they were worried about it and discussed it in their respective languages and I just didn’t catch it. If I concentrate I can understand a little more than half of what they’re saying. If I don’t concentrate, it just sounds like vocalized emotion.

Since I first got on the bus most discussions, directions & decisions have been made in French. At first, I couldn’t understand at all. I took a lot of naps during this time. I had imagined, as their ad on Craigslist had implied, that we would be driving day and night to reach our destination. These guys, however, are a bit more, shall we say, French than that. We’ll need to stop for a bit of café, time to pull out the kitchen for a bite to eat, casual long lunches, after dinner smokes and the like. We move very slow. In the two days that I thought I would be spending with them, we had covered no more than 200 miles of Mexico, and thats when the left suspension on the the Blue Bird broke.

I was scared shitless, scrambling to understand the mess of French that was flying around my head, I thought, quite seriously, that this was the end of the road. Somewhere between Nogales & Hermosilla in northwestern Mexico, we pulled into a dark mechanic shop behind a gas station. There were abandoned buses and semis scattered around the yard and three not so happy mechanics, I was sure we were going to get scammed, robbed & murdered, in that order. When we realized that we would be sleeping there that night, I came to accept that this wasn’t going to be the trip that I bargained for. I began plotting my escape from the Belgians and the Blue Bird.

They are killing pigs all over town today. Tomorrow is the start of a new year, from our rooftop I can see all the houses choosing their animal to slaughter, a few goats, a lamb or two, a rooster, but the worst is the pigs. The moment they realize they are going to die, they begin squealing and crying and fighting. It seems to be quite an event, several men with beers, ropes in hand circling and lassoing the screaming beasts. There are tables of elders scattered about town, chatting and sorting through the remains of the dearly departed. I can see it all from the rooftop of our house. Each morning plays out like an artsy short film chronicling the mundane of another culture hoping to expose the humanity in us all.

None of the Belgians seemed all that concerned to be sleeping at a Mexican gas station on the side of the highway. We cooked dinner on a propane stove in the parking lot, and settled into watch Y Tu Mama Tambien on the floor of the bus together. It was then that I realized that everything was going to be just fine. The next morning the mechanicos brought in an ex-pat from Alabama with a special air pressure thingy to help undo the rusty suspension. We made eggs & tortillas next to the highway, and were on the road again by noon.

I stopped getting scared after that, mas or menos. I was completely calm when the windshield wipers broke in a rainstorm and we found ourselves stranded outside a lonely Tecate stand with a couple of drunk mafiosos. I managed to take a nap when the bus wouldn’t start on the side of the highway in the rumored, “most dangerous state in Mexico.” I suppose I did slightly freak out when we encountered a blockade on the highway in the middle of the night outside of Mexico City, but when we overheated traversing the mountains of Chiapas, I seized the opportunity to use the water provided on the side of the road to take a quick bath, and when the tire blew out on the way to the house we would rent, I just set my tent up in the field next to the bus and waited for morning. It was old hat by that point.

New Year’s Eve turned out to be quite an event in Pescador. The neighbors invited me to a bizarre ceremony involving singing, candies and everyone kissing a tiny plastic baby Jesus resting on a styrofoam plate. I sang and kissed and candied with the rest of ‘em, but they could tell that I was confused beyond repair. By ten o’clock the whole town was in party mode–tequila, fireworks, dancing, the whole nine. At midnight, instead of kissing someone, everyone goes around and hugs everyone else in sight, much like the whole “Peace be with you” thing the Catholics do, but with much more excitement and emotion. Feliz Años. Feliz Años. Feliz Años. We made friends with the village that night.

I’ve made friends with the Belgians by this point as well. We had spent Christmas together in Palenque, MX outside yet another mechanico after we blew out some sort of electrical thing trying to get the bus unstuck from the mud at the Rainbow Gathering. In case you were wondering, it takes approximately three days, fifteen people & one Jeep Grand Cherokee to get a Canadian handicap bus out of one foot of mud. I was definitely quite calm during this particular bus issue. I found it funny that they would need to stay with the hippies longer than any of them wanted to; I would go swimming in river and sunning under the palm trees while they feverishly plotted their next attempt to get the Blue Bird out of jungle.

I have really grown quite fond of all of them. We share nearly everything–food, drinks, clothes, pesos– and now we are all settling in together in this village that I will call “Pescador” so as to ensure that I am not the one to ruin its purity. We rented the tallest house in the place and were moved in within moments of arriving. They’ve converted the first floor into a painting studio where canvases constructed from driftwood line the walls. The second floor is the kitchen area where most of the writing, drawing and hanging out is done. The third floor is the music studio housing the piano, drums and various stringed instruments. The balconies have become the bedrooms so that we can all sleep outside, and the bus is now an editing room, which leaves me to the roof overlooking the sea, interrupted only by the circus performer who regularly uses the space to do a very acrobatic version of yoga.

I like it a lot here.

I’m looking forward to the next few weeks, and hopefully now that I’m settled I’ll have more time to update regularly. That is if can find internet that is less than an hour away…

 

Poll: Where Should I Go Next?

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The weather is getting cooler. Something about my Iowan roots tricked me into thinking that it never got cold in California. How can a place be so cold have so many palm trees? Com’n California. I think there is something that Hollywood is not telling us here.

So yeah, it’s November now, the rains are creeping in, not quite as bitter as the Portland variety, but definitely noticeable. You see, I wasn’t really planning on being in winter during my travels. I don’t have a coat, and I have worn my only pair of shoes into the ground. My prized Teva sandals are not going to do much for me in this climate.

Therefore, it is becoming all too apparent that my time in Arcata with the Humboldt Garden Collective is coming to a close. I have approxiamately 1.5 weeks here before I need to travel on. Initially, I had promised that I would ride my bike to the Redwoods and find a volunteer project. I have done just that. It didn’t turn out exactly how I had planned… it turned out better!

So now, as I stand at yet another crossroads in my life, I am contemplating the various places that this project could take me. I’m not exactly spinning the globe and randomly stabbing my finger at the part of the world that I plan to surprise. I’d like to think that its a bit more thought out than that. Well, sorta…

Alas, the month of December will find me venturing towards one of the following five place in the world:

Mexico – I want to go climbing in Potrero Chico with my friends from the Yosemite adventure. I have bought climbing shoes, a harness & some chalk. I’m ready to climb. The purposed route would take me to Joshua Tree National Park to test out some routes and plop me in Northeastern Mexico to hunt for a volunteer project. This destination has particular appeal because I get to scratch my climbing itch and I would get there slow & overland…just the way I like it.

The Phillipines – I’m Filipina. Well, my father is from the Philipines. Anao Tarlac. Rural Phillipines. On the big island. Grandma & Grandpa moved into their new house there this past year, and I have been wanting to go back to spend some time with them. But that’s not all! My mother will be leaving ye ol’ US of A for the very first time in her entire life to visit the homeland of her husband and the heritage of her children. I can’t miss it! They will be there in February. I will be there. The question, however, is whether I leave now or later. I could go earlier and get there before they arrive or I could stay for longer after they leave. As for my volunteer project? I would like to work with the schools in the area, because my grandparents were school teachers there and education is super important to them. Not to mention that this was the area that produced my father Yup.

Columbia – When I was fifteen years old, I worked at a gas station in Dubuque, Iowa. While there, I wrote on the back of cigarette cartons 52 Things To Do Before I’m 30. Considering I just had my 27th birthday, it may be time to look into some of those “things”. One of the more daunting tasks off the list is Number 12: Visit the 6 livable continents. At this juncture I have yet to set foot on South America, Africa or Australia. The nearest place to knock out one of those contintents is Columbia. Flying there would be easy, but I could make it an adventure and take a boat there or something a bit more exotic, which brings me to my next location…

Panama – I’m fascinated with the Darien Gap–that strip of roadless land between Latin & South America– and crossing it has been one of those challenges that I would love to tackle. I know that you can’t go on foot, but there has to be other ways to make the trek. I wouldn’t mind checking it out and reporting back to the rest of ya’ll. Panama to Columbia. FEATS OF STRENGTH! Let’s give it a go. I’m sure I’ll stumble on a project somewhere along the way…

Taiwan – And finally, my dearest friend Paul, from the same era & passion as Ashley, has been living in Taiwan teaching English for the past two years. He has gotten to travel all over the area and has invited me to come stay with him for a bit. I have been dying to see him and would love to take a look at the whole teaching English abroad thing. I’m sure there’s need for a good volunteer somewhere on that island as well. If I flew over there soon, I would be in the area in time to catch my mother’s first visit to another country. Oh the possibilities!

As you can probably imagine, this decision has been weighing quite heavily on my conscious, and I’m having a tough time deciding what would be best. Thus far on my journey I have learned not to make too many plans. I am learning to live with “the now” and the uncertainty that comes with this lifestyle. This has not been easy considering my previous life & career relied so heavily on scheduling absolutely everything.

However, I am coming to a point where this uncertainity and a lack of plans is no longer going to cut it. I need to determine my next destination, and somewhat quickly.

This is where you come in, my dears. Last February, like a crazy person, I let people reading this here blog decide where I would go. You chose: Bike to the Redwoods. That is why I am here now. So I guess ya’ll didn’t do so bad.

So let’s try this again…

Where Should I Go Next?

pollcode.com free polls

 

 

 

 

 

Amy Adventures On: Rock Climbs, Road Trips & Snow Storms

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Prequel: Ashy & Amy’s Great Adventure: Arcata, San Francisco & Yosemite

 

All living, of the eating and sleeping variety at least, was done out of Camp 4 in the Yosemite Valley.

Camp 4 is hot bed, if you will, for international climbers. These hills ain’t no joke. Hundreds were gathered from far & wide to have a shot at the challenges of the mammoth rocks that surround them. Dozens more were gathered in line at the check-in station at 6:30 in the morning hoping to get a site at the infamous Camp 4.

Ashy & Amy, however, were not quite prepared for that kind of adventure. They didn’t have a single rope or harness between them. And they definitely didn’t have a reservation at the coveted Camp 4. They did, however, have a carload of fresh farm stand vegetables and a bottle of peach champagne, they were sure to make friends.

Luckily, they didn’t have to go too far. Amy’s laugh can be heard from a distance, and they were soon reunited with Petr & Jake whom Amy had met during her stay in Arcata. Petr, a Czech with a travel addiction and Jake, an American with a work addiction made for a perfect pair. They were ideal guides for the environment.

They had all the gear…

… and were able to take them on some good climbs. They led,

…and Ashy & Amy followed. That was it. Amy, in particular, was hooked. The climbing bug, as they call it. She got it. It wasn’t lettting go.

But the duo didn’t just drop everything and join the international climbing circuit. They had to do some more exploring…

….and marveling, before their stay in the Yosemite Valley was through.

Amy, as we recall, was conflicted. She could continue on the super fun road trip extravanganza with Ashy girl extraordinaire…

…or do the responsible thing and head back to Arcata for a big garden workshop party that we’ve been planning for all month.

 

Well, dear reader, Amy chose the later and hopped in a rugged Toyota truck with two handsome young men and headed back north to the Garden Collective.

OK, the handsome young men were Petr & Jake, and they were planning on going on a tiny adventure before they made it back to Arcata. First there was the Tuolumne Meadows in Northern part of Yosemite National Park.

But there was a snow storm coming and they were planning on closing the road out of the park. So the newly formed adventure trio decided to head North through Nevada, which inevitably ended up in the casinos…

…mostly to eat giant cheap burgers. After these boys’ two week stay in Yosemite Valley, this was quite a treat. Petr is a particular fan of the American fare. He was always complaining about how he didn’t have enough bread or potatoe in his diet.

By now the snow storm that was bent on blanketing the mountains with that first snowfall was right behind them. Jake and Petr, best friends for life, were set on conquering the oncoming storm with only their wits and their tents. Amy on the otherhand, was hoping for a hotel in Reno. The boys, bent on adventure, insisted they trek on. They settled on a charming little campsite next to a stream in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Amy, still having her wits about her, decided to sleep in the cab of the truck, while the boys chose the bed of the truck & a bevy sack on the ground outside, by the time they awoke they were covered in 6 inches of snow. Amy, however, was safe inside…

Our adventure duo perked up with excitement. It was time to use the rugged truck to make fresh tracks on the snow.

However, as soon the trio made its ways down the mountain and out of the snow, they realized, the food box was still at the campsite. The morning rush had missed just one thing…

They had to go back, but not before Jake gets some coffee & Petr rescue rangers someone from the snow. It took them many hours to make it to Redding, California where a friend awaited with hot showers, laundry facilities and a fireplace to play Mancala next to.

They mountain biked & visited waterfalls before they made their way back to Arcata, California…

Just in time for Amy to prepare for the big garden party and have a visioning/planning session for a new garden space in McKinnleyville. So that is where we leave off, dear reader, Arcata, California for another fun filled session of gardening & volunteering. Until we meet again…

Volunteer Project: RAGBRAI & Mono Rides

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It’s completely normal to imagine what the future is going to look like. We’ll often plan for it; prepare for it. Maybe its a vacation next season, or an idea of what we want to be “when we grow up.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way.

Eric Chavez died of pancreatic cancer on April 3rd, 2012 at the age of 42. Before he was diagnosed he was planning a cross country bicycle trip from San Francisco to New York.

The cancer took him in 18 months.

18 months. That’s all, and he was a lucky one. Pancreatic cancer often claims lives in 6 months or less.

6 months or less.

What were you going to do 6 months from now? I know I have plans…

Mono fixin' my back tire

I met Mono in Brookings, Oregon. You may recall that I broke my wheel and a stranger from San Francisco helped me fix it. Well, that stranger was Mono. He was biking North and I was biking South along the Pacific Coast Trail.

Mono is, as he puts it, “riding for a greater cause.” You see, he was friends with Eric Chavez. They were like brothers, and Mono ended up taking care of him in his final days.

They were planning to go on this cross country trip together before the cancer hit. But since Eric lost the battle before they could leave, Mono decided to do the ride alone. His plan was to donate his miles to raise money & awareness for pancreatic cancer. As we speak he has raised $3,228 of his $5000 goal.

Wow! How did work that out?

Well, there was a lot of hard work and planning involved, but ultimately it was just a few simple steps.

  1. He saved up enough money to feed & house himself along the way.
  2. He researched and chose a foundation to donate the money. (Lustgarten Foundation)
  3. He obtained some large donations from close friends & family. (Jessie Fowler Realty & The Ehikians)
  4. He got sponsorships from local businesses for some of his gear and additional monetary donations.
  5. He had volunteers of sorts design and build him a web-site. (MonoRides.com)

Simple enough, right? Well, maybe. Depending on how much support one has from their family and friends this is an entirely reasonable project to undertake for a summer. It is estimated that it took him a few months of planning and preparation and it will take him another 3 months to cross the country, which isn’t easy, but also isn’t impossible.

So how did you help, Amy? I’m assuming you volunteered with him, right?

Of course! I don’t have a bunch of money or anything, but I do know a thing or two about outreach and such. So, I decided that Mono needed to join my family on our annual vacation and ride his bike with thousands of other cyclists riding across Iowa during RAGBRAI this past week. He really liked the idea.

I flew in from San Francisco to meet up with the beginning of the ride, and made a little poster to advertise our reunion for a greater cause.

Then we rigged up a donation bucket out of an old coffee can that he could strap to the back of his bike. It was really effective in starting up conversations and getting donations along the way.

And finally, we wore matching jerseys (when they were clean), and talked to anyone that was willing to listen about Eric, pancreatic cancer and how to donate to the cause.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. Mono was able to talk to hundreds of people who were touched & effected by the disease. Many people stuffed dollar bills in his ex-Folgers can, and we were able to collect $187.74 in the four days that he carted it around. If we weren’t going so fast as we rode, we probably would have been able to collect more.

The final night of RAGBRAI I strapped the donation bucket to his backpack as we hit the town. This was one of the best moves we could have made. Apparently, drunk cyclists at bars feel almost obligated to donate to a guy that has ridden his bike more this summer than they have in the past few years. Quite a few large bills slipped into the bucket that evening.

Not bad guys, so what now?

Well, Mono still needs to ride another 811 miles to New York City where he will meet with some media folks and turn in his final donations. He is still carrying the donation bucket and has been collecting more donations as he rides. Anything he collects in the next few weeks will be doubled once he gets to New York.

I, on the other hand, need to return to San Francisco to retrieve my touring bike, and settle in with my next volunteer effort. I’m not quite sure how I will get back yet, but I’m sure I’ll make it.

Lesson Learned? Life is too short not to…

So Ya Wanna…

… Donate to Mono Rides?

… Become Mono’s friend?

… Ride RAGBRAI next year?

 

 

 

Biking the Pacific Coast Trail: Crescent City, CA to Arcata, CA

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Harris Beach State Park to Crescent City, CA (27.3 miles)

Some in the bike touring world may think its cheating to stop at both the last city in Oregon and the first city in California, but I am of the slow travel variety, and I felt like this little city was worth exploring as well.

The ride was a lesiurely. There weren’t even any hills. The only difference was that I was now in Calfornia not Oregon and following signs that said “Pacific Coast Trail” instead of “Oregon Coast Trail.”

Crescent City was a whole lot of town. The beach was pleasant and even had a little bike path, which I generally appreciate. There’s a lighthouse and a long dock for walking and such.

I got the cheapest hotel room I could find, and charged up and wrote for two nights. I wish I could recommend this place, and I do, since they gave me the second night at quite a deal, but in reality, it smelled of bleach and there were all kinds of characters up at all hours of the night. It’s cool. I locked my doors and left the TV on when I left.

There is camping around Crescent City, Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park, but it is about 5 miles off route, and I wasn’t up for the challenge before night fall. I met an European cyclist duo at the next camp down that said it wasn’t worth the hills or the dangerous roads that it took to get them there. I’m sure it was a wonderful place to be, but I decided to stop at a park just South of Crescent City instead.

Crescent City to Mill Creek Campground (8.8 miles)

Basically, I just biked up a giant hill and then rolled deep (2.2 miles) into the Redwoods valley. The entire way down the hill into the campsite, I was cursing that I was going to have to climb that the next day.

California Parks are a bit different than Oregon parks. They have bear boxes at every site, the showers cost money, and there are a lot more rules and protections concerning the environment. Nothing too major, just asking people to be more conscious of their prescense in this very rare and protected nature. Definitely a bit more rusitc. No cell phone service or soap in the bathroom, this was some real camping. I enjoyed the simplicity.

I stayed an extra night.

Mill Creek Campground to Elk Prarie Creek (27 miles)

After climbing out of that mini canyon, I had to conquer and yet another hill before arriving at the next campsite, but the hills weren’t the only battle. I had eaten almost all my food stash and there was only one town to get food along the way. Kalamath.

I was able to get breakfast at an overpriced under-tasty cafe at the Trees of Mystery, but I found the whole place a bit disheartening and weird. (see right) Then, I made the mistake of skipping one gas station/food store, and wasn’t able to collect any more fuel for the day.

This landed me in Elk Prarie Creek with only oatmeal and unripe avocadoes for both dinner and breakfast. Awesome Amy, just awesome.

Therefore, I couldn’t stay for long.

It was, however, a pretty amazing park. There was a large open hiker/biker camp that was filled with cyclists from around the world. This park is one of the stops suggested by almost every Biking The Pacific Coast type book so there were lots of people there to hang out with.

They had an area that warned you of Wild Elk. At first I didn’t really believe there would be wild elk there, but lo and behold, there were wild elk, lots of them. The males hung out right by the campsite…

…and the ladies just down the road.

Elk Prarie Creek State Park to Arcata, CA (44.6 miles)

While California has been pretty good so far about having wide enough shoulders and space for cyclists, this particular chunk had a lot of construction, and difficult turns. The morning fog of the Redwoods and a the large trucks were a dangerous combination.

I was getting the hunger and losing steam by the time I approached Orick. All the closed up food joints and an excess of Redwoods souvenir shops upon entering town was extremely discouraging. I was worried that Orick would prolong my food drought when I stumbled on Palms Restaurant. I was able to eat three plates of breakfast deliciousness and even get internet for a couple hours. Allelujiah!

Orick was followed by many rolling hills and more construction. I rounded at least three beautiful lagoons and quite a bit of breathtaking scenery beforestopping again. There were a lot of places I wished I could have stopped and stayed at for a while, but sometimes you just need to keep pressing on. I had set up a couchsurfing host in Arcata, CA for the night and was able to meet him in the square for dinner.

Arcata has everything a cycle tourist could ask for: fresh food, laundromats, bike shops, outdoor stores, and an active social calendar. The people are friendly and the view is nice.

Since I arrived I’ve gone hiking in the Redwoods, visited sand dunes and the beach, gone to the farmers market, a Soul Night, a Pirate Radio show, a fundraiser for an at home birth, a rooftop party, a lobster feast and concerts galore. I even showed up in time for the annual Oyster Fest. Who knew?

As you can probably tell, I’ve been enjoying myself in Arcata (though I’m currently not there). I’m happy to report that I am alive & well fed and will be returning to finish up this project on community food security (suprise, suprise) by weeks end. I plan to be biking my way to San Francisco come first week of July.

Other places I biked…

… Portland, OR to Pacific City, OR (106 miles)

… Pacific City, OR to Coos Bay, OR (142 miles)

… Coos Bay, OR to Harris Beach State Park (109 miles)

 

 

 

Redwoods Inspiration aka. Why I’m Still in Arcata, CA

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One cannot help but feel small standing next to a Redwood. These “living fossils,” these trees older than Christ, have a tendency make one contemplate their place in the universe.

“You see those notches in that tree?” he points to a stump the size of my old bedroom. “That’s how the loggers used to climb up them to cut them down. That one was probably cut in the 1850s.”

My heart sank. Such a giant majestic living thing, destroyed by people that knew little to nothing about the planet and their effect on it. Who can blame them really? Apparently, the information contained in one New York Times is more information than someone 100 years ago would get in their entire lifetime. How could they possibly grasp the irreversible damage they were doing? There was no such thing as sustainable forestry at the time, as far as they knew they were the people who were meant to have and cut down those trees. I mean, they “discovered” them, right?

One hundred years later, however, we can see what they have done (and what we’re still doing). The smaller new growth trees cannot hope to replace those anciet wonders for several hundred more years. Today, less than 5% of the Redwoods & Sequoias that once blanketed the Northern Hemisphere are still alive. We cannot get them back. We can only hope to witness the infancy of the trees that are hoping to reclaim the space of their ancestors.

The Evolution of My Personal Environmentalism

I used to think that I cared about people more than the environment or animals or anything. I figured that the earth could take a back seat to the needs of humanity. Certainly people were the most important thing on the planet!

Currently, however, I am an environmentalist through and through, and, ironically, the Redwoods were what made me this way. Learning about these giant trees when I was a kid made me think more about the environment as a whole, and what it meant to destroy/change a piece of natural land into something for human use.

My ideas concerning the environment have quite a bit evolved from my early 90s “cutting trees is bad” mantra. After I moved to Portland, I learned about urban planning and how we can design our cities, roads and systems to both benefit people and preserve the planet. I relished in a well-planned urban environment that was just moments from pristine farmlands and protected nature scapes.

After college, I traveled to Latin America which forced me to think more about trash, waste and what we do with things once we used them (most countries don’t have trash service, so once a piece of trash exists it just hangs out in the community for the the forseeable forever.) This got me thinking more about closed-loop systems, eco-building and extreme recycling.

Then I returned to Portland and I got a job at Oregon Food Bank, where the focus on feeding hungry people and increasing community food security was all I thought about. I was organizing people, writing compelling pieces, and reading everything I could get my hands on about the topic. My brain gears were spinning in hyperdrive. How do we use the land available to us to satisfy the most basic of human needs? The connection between people and the environment converged on our dinner plate. It seemed so simple: local sustainable food systems can cure any number of ailments.

Fast forward to present day, here I am, smack dab in the middle of the land of the giant trees, looking to “volunteer in the Redwoods” as I had been planning for several months, and contemplating once again my role in this wild world and how I can be most helpful.

You see, initially, I was thinking that I would work with the State Parks, and help in whatever way they had in mind. However, a combination of little to no cell service, a deadly lack of food along the route (food desert) and couchsurfing.org landed me in Arcata, California.

I’ve found that people in this area seem to a have a certain reverance for nature & food unlike any other place I have ever visited. I guess when you live in the shadows of ancient nature, you can’t help but become an environmentalist. Around here, it seems to normal to challenge the traditional premise that the planet was made just for us. Perhaps we are meant to play a different role…

Anyhow, within hours of my arrival, I was at a psychedelic concert in a driveway on a penninsula drinking a Natural Ice chatting with a bunch of dudes dressed almost entirely black.

What? Why you looking at me like that? Sometimes, you just gotta say “yes” to life.

OK, so you’re in a driveway on a peninsula listening to some Humboldt Drug Music. Great, Amy, just great.

It's true, now shh, let's listen in...

“Dude, we just need to cut off the 101, and make some EMPs out of old microwaves and were set.”

Consensus is immediately achieved. I’m obviously the confused one in the group, “What are you talking about? How would I get here without the 101?”

They scoff at me and continue their conversation.

“Man, you gotta let us take that chunk of land by your house and turn it into a garden. No ones using it.” The speaker is a little drunk and a little excited, interrupting a conversation and punching his target in the arm with his Natural Ice.

“Huh? What? That corner space? Yeah, I think it is zoned as another site for a house, but no one’s gonna want that spot. We could totally grow some food on it.”

“But what about the drones?”

“That’s what the EMPs are for, we’ll have to do a workshop on how to build your own. I think I saw something on YouTube or something”

By now, I can tell that they are being facetious, but I think understand, “Are you guys talking about cutting yourselves off from the rest of the world?”

“Well yeah, if shit hits the fan we’re gonna be OK. We’re growing our own food.”

Oh great, you found some crazy hippies in Northern California. How special.

OK. First of all, they’re punks, not hippies, and second, you must admit they’re onto something.

Now, I have been privvy to many a conversation about how to maintain in then event of the apocalypse, zombie or otherwise. I’ve contemplated my weapon of choice (super long spear) and discussed where I would meet my friends (Sauvie’s Island). These people, however, are actually DOING SOMETHING about it, like, in the real world, in their actual lives, DOING SOMETHING for the benefit of themselves and their community with or without a catastrophic disaster.

Enter Stage Left the Humboldt Garden Collective.

He’s carrying the largest messenger bag I’ve ever seen. Sticking out is a bike rack and a cardboard tube protecting a roll of posters advertising the Humboldt Garden Collective. He’s wearing a sweatshirt/jean jacket hybrid and black jeans that he has obviously not changed in a very long time. I think I can see the dirt from his last garden project making its home on both his knees. It seems to suit him.

This is the founder of The Humboldt Garden Collective, a community based garden program that promotes the growing of food in lawns and community spaces for the benefit of anyone willing to participate. It’s grassroots. It’s simple. It’s effecient. It’s effective, and it’s actually happening. Yes, it’s actually happening, without an umbrella organization, without any funding and without anything but the will and the way. The entire thing is based on volunteer power, and a can do attitude. This was a DIY volunteer project that cannot be ignored.

I had to know more.

…so I got to know more.

I’ve spent the last week researching, exploring and even volunteering with the local food projects of Humboldt County. The area is ripe for this sort of thing, and I am convinced that communities like this will be the guiding light for the rest of us when we finally realize our food is lacking in flavor, destroying our planet, and giving us cancer.

Therefore, my volunteer project for the Redwoods is actually much more meta than I ever imagined. I hope, by the time I am done, to complete a step by step guide to creating your own local gardening collective that bolsters your community’s food security, feeds those in need, and addresses some of the the environmental & social issues that weigh down our current food system. NBD.

So once, I’m done, someone somewhere is gonna need to actually do it, because, well, that would make my entire year. Scene.