Fall has arrived, the season that calls us to look to the trees. Yesterday I went on a tree walk led by local herbalist (and former arborist) Alex Klein, our area’s “tree walker.” We meandered through a small stretch of the Jamaica Pond shore over the course of two hours. It’s not really a tree… Continue reading Foliage
Author: Emily
Biking 1000 Miles Through Michigan
This June I completed my longest bike trip yet—one thousand and seven miles over thirteen days, starting near Detroit, looping around Michigan’s lower peninsula and ending in Cleveland, Ohio. The idea began way back in early spring when some new friends (also Community Rebuilds alumni) invited me to their straw-clay work party in Boyne City,… Continue reading Biking 1000 Miles Through Michigan
My Time In Moab with Community Rebuilds
I spent March and April as a volunteer/intern/work-trader at Community Rebuilds, a small nonprofit Moab, Utah, that builds energy-efficient houses to alleviate the housing crisis there. Some background: last year, as I prepared to embark, full-steam, on my journey into natural building, I came across Community Rebuilds (CR) online. They started in the early 2000s… Continue reading My Time In Moab with Community Rebuilds
Some Thoughts on Meditation
This morning I biked to Grandstaff Canyon to hike. At the soaring natural sandstone bridge that marked the end of the trail, I found myself alone for a short while, and sat on a flat rock to meditate. It makes for an idyllic picture, but the truth is that meditating under “America’s sixth longest natural… Continue reading Some Thoughts on Meditation
Stop Asking if It Scales
Point: “Big, global problems need big, global solutions. Big solutions spread fast, to lots of people: that is scalability. So scalability is a requirement for any solution that seeks to solve big problems.” Counterpoint: “Big, global solutions proposed are often ineffective, unfeasible, or counterproductive, because people and places are different. Any long-term solution is adapted… Continue reading Stop Asking if It Scales
Boston to Utah by Train and Bike
Storytime! As some of you know, I recently (mid February) quit my job in battery engineering (which I had worked since I graduated college, for 1.75 years) to do natural building related work as both a profession and passion. As I keep on saying to everybody, I’ll be sharing more about this in writing soon.… Continue reading Boston to Utah by Train and Bike
Year Two of No Flying
Emily here, reporting on my second straight calendar year of no flying (first year post). At first, I couldn’t think of much to say about the absence of an experience, the same way I have nothing to say about not riding a camel and not driving a tractor. I just haven’t done it; it’s not a… Continue reading Year Two of No Flying
Sleeping on a Dog Bed for a Year
From October 2022 to July 2023, I slept on a bed that I made myself by hand. It’s basically a giant rectangular pillow, made of a length of velvety, navy blue synthetic fabric and filled with synthetic pillow stuffing. I jokingly call it a dog bed in the title of this post because while it’s… Continue reading Sleeping on a Dog Bed for a Year
I Made Lunch
I had just gotten back from my big trip when the farm I volunteer at asked for someone to take the lead on food/catering arrangements on their annual humble harvest celebration. This was an up-to-50-person event: no small fry, and it would be the biggest audience I’d cooked for yet, if I did. So of… Continue reading I Made Lunch
Biking to a Cob Workshop
In the middle of October I spent two weeks embarking on an adventure I’d been planning for a while: this is the whole story of that adventure. Earlier in 2023, I was thinking about how important it is to have some idea of not only what I am trying to reduce (ecological disaster, suffering, injustice,… Continue reading Biking to a Cob Workshop
evoiding 