© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adventure, alternative, biotecture, buy nothing, earthships, ecotourism, energy-efficient, environment, featured posts, green building, lumber, New Mexico, outdoors, sustainable, Taos, travel, video, vigas, volunteer, voluntourism

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UPDATE: Polls are closed! And the winner is…

LOVEANDTRASH.COM

We’ll be launching in just a few weeks. (Don’t know what this is about? Read below…)

Big news from Raggedy Annarchy and Jessica The Hun:
We’re launching a new blog
dedicated to
creativity, radical interdependence
and
how to be awesome for cheap.

This will be a place where YOU can show off your projects, promote your friends’ good work, and pick up new ideas. It’s dedicated to the little things we all do in our lives: to guerrilla gardeners and creative welders; to bike riders and secondhand fashionistas; to fire dancers, banjo pickers, amateur collagists and part-time poets.

Name That Site → WIN

Now through Saturday 3/6, leave a comment below with your name suggestion! We’ll pick the finalists, and run a vote next week.

If your suggestion becomes the name of this new site, you get a one-year Flickr Pro account, or a year’s subscription to one of these mags: Juxtapoz, Make, Wired, National Geographic or Popular Science. Your choice.

Need some inspiration? Here are some examples of what we’ll be publishing:

art video bikes general food pr0n zombies unicorns sewing lessons motivation ridiculous recycling poetry	photos fashion recipes (vegan and meatatarian) clowns weird welding inspiration transmogrification music lots and lots of art fabulous trash
…and whatever else YOU come up with.

Please note:
1. We get to suggest names too. If our suggestion wins, we keep the prize.
2. You can check to see whether your name idea is available: click here and search for your domain name.

OK GO.
Comment below to win!

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | 56 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: alternative, art, contest, diy, featured posts, freegan, garbage, gardening, green living, how-to, prize, prizes, recycling, reuse, starving artists, sustainable, zombies

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It was an overnight journey, 18 hours, and that little girl (Autumn) was bored to tears. Autumn’s guardian actually thought she could force a four-year-old to sit still for 18 hours, and hadn’t brought a single toy to keep Miss Hyperactive America entertained. But she was cool with letting Autumn clamber across the seat to poke slimy fingers at me.

To keep her from climbing all over me, I handed her The Navigator and a pen to color with. It kept her quiet for an hour or two, and I got some good footage.

Meanwhile, the great Southwest rolled by outside the window. This is one year ago today; enjoy.

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adventure, amtrak, featured posts, kids, New Mexico, train, video

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Today’s a sad day for this blogger: the family dog, a trusty chocolate lab, has reached the end of his life. So, in his honor, I’d like to look back at some of the beasts I’ve encountered on my journeys. Some of them are animals; some are insects; some are fish wearing hats.. some are funny, some are cute, some are dead, and one is a rubber chicken. But they’re all photogenic. Enjoy the show.

And for more funsies, here are a couple of funny animal videos I shot:

Bye bye Bially, we love ya.

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: animals, featured posts, funny animals, photography, photos, video

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Joel Salatin has been called “America’s Most Influential Farmer” (Treehugger) and “High Priest of the Pasture” (New York Times). A fascinating mix of farmer and preacher, Salatin didn’t just revolutionize contemporary farming methods—he also used his tremendous gift of gab to spread the word far and wide.

While passing through Virginia, I got to hear that gab firsthand at Polyface Farm, where Salatin works his agricultural magic.

Touring Polyface was inspiring enough, but when Salatin himself turned up as tour guide, things started getting really interesting (more on this fabulous bit of serendipity tomorrow). Salatin possesses a rare combination of intellectual agrarianism, down-home humor, vast insight into the relationship between sustainability and production… and once he starts talking, you can’t think of any reason he should stop.

Neither can he.

According to the website, Polyface, Inc. is a “family owned, multi-generational, pasture-based, beyond organic, local-market farm and informational outreach in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.” Salatin goes onto explain: what sets Polyface apart is its “ethic of collaborative interdependence”.

“Some farmers see animals as inanimate piles of protoplasmic structure to be manipulated,” he expounds. “If we treat animals like this, we disrespect humans too.

“There’s an ethic that runs from field to fork… Instead of seeing pigs as porkchops, see them as members of the team and they will then express themselves best on the plate.”

He’s got a point—and though his ideals are poetic, this isn’t just some hippie experimenting with manure. Salatin comes from a line of farmers, and his innovations are so effective that he’s become an agriculture rockstar.

Note: Rockstar or no, eloquent or no, a farmer is liable to be upstaged by his own flock.

These are the happiest, healthiest (and noisiest) farm animals I’ve ever seen. But surprisingly, they’re not roaming free across the land. Instead, they’re kept in controlled areas where they graze for a very specific amount of time before being herded on to the next spot.

unretouched, actual photo:
ungrazed on the left, grazed on the right

As it turns out, free-roaming grazers destroy their own food sources by overgrazing the good spots. Salatin points to the next farm over, where a herd of cows roam over brown hills. Several of them lurk by the fence, stealing bits of food from Salatin’s pasture. His land stays green, even in the current drought, because he lets grass grow undisturbed for weeks between grazing sessions.

“This cycle of disturbance and rest, disturbance and rest, is what I call ecological exercise: stretching and moving the ecology to a new level of expression.”

When Salatin says “expression”, he’s ultimately talking about production. His land produces 5 times as much as the regional average, measured in “cow days” or how much grass a cow can eat in a day. Most farms get about 80 cow days per acre; he gets 400.

Another benefit of Polyface’s methods: no pests, no disease, and no antibiotics. The animals here are healthy and “beyond organic”. How? By relying on the “team” ethic. Here, chickens are not just egg and breast machines: they are pest control technicians, keeping the rest of the farm healthy by eating all the nasty bugs.

Systems like this abound at Polyface. A pair of ducks flock with the turkeys: why? Because when turkeys are young, ducks will automatically protect them from predators. Birds and dogs, rabbits, cows and pigs all work together to keep this farm going, and “when animals do the work, you don’t have to replace things that rust, rot, and depreciate.” Here, the flock takes care of itself, and renews the land in the process. (More on Polyface’s innovative systems in an upcoming post)

“Twenty years ago, I never would’ve thought we’d be here… The exponential increase in fertility has been beyond my wildest expectations.”

that’s a lot of eggs.

So much so, that farmers everywhere are adopting Salatin’s methods. And according to him, every farm that converts doubles its production.

Joel Salatin was profiled extensively in Michael Pollan’s game-changing book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and has been interviewed in just about every major publication. But by far the most inspiring thing about touring Polyface Farm is Salatin himself. In this time of confusion and strife, it’s nice to hear from someone who’s got a real solution to some of our societal ills—and even better to see that he truly loves his work.

When we get back to the bottom of the hill, I ask him my prepared question: “Can humanity feed itself sustainably using these methods?”

His face lights up. “That’s my favorite question,” he replies, “because it’s so fun to answer. Yes we can. It’s gonna mean a lot of people getting out of their cubicles and back into the fields, but we can do it.”

Amen, hallelujah. Thank you, High Priest of the Pasture.

Come back soon for the semi-incredible story of how I got this personal tour, plus more details on how Polyface Farm’s systems work.

fangrl 4 lyfe!

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: agriculture, agritourism, beef, chickens, cows, ecotourism, education, environment, farm, farming, featured posts, green living, joel salatin, michael pollan, omnivore's dilemma, organic, photography, pigs, polyface, Polyface Farm, pork, sustainable, tourism, video

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Danbee Kim’s got an infectious smile, and a lot of moxie to go with it. She’s an MIT-educated neuroscientist, but that’s just the day job: in her free time she hosts couchsurfers, juggles fire, and makes videos. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I found this modern Renaissance woman through couchsurfing.org, and was intrigued by her story. In the summer of 2008 Danbee, along with fellow students Alex and David, took off on a 72-day road trip through America. The trio did it all on their own gumption: they made the plans, found some grant money, took Mom’s minivan and set out to seek their cultural heritage.

Danbee and David, in traffic at Glacier National Park

This American Summer is the product of their journey: a ten-webisode series that features interviews with people from all over the country. It’s well-made and honest in its fresh-faced enthusiasm for the Great American Road Trip.

The episodes are entertaining, though sparse: after traveling for several weeks and getting no feedback on their work, the travelers assumed nobody was watching, and stopped filming. That’s a shame, because as Danbee tells it, they had a hell of a trip.

Highlights? The Grand Canyon, bien sûr. Las Vegas, where they were treated to a fancy dinner and a local’s tour of the town. Tidepooling in Oregon. The Marfa Lights. Being strip-searched at the Canadian border (by Canadian police).

Danbee at Acadia National Park, Maine

One of the greatest things about this trip, for me, is the enthusiasm and courage of the travelers. Watching the footage, there’s a palpable excitement. In a lot of ways, these three represent the much-maligned “liberal elite”, but it only takes a few seconds for their openhearted naïveté to shine through. For all their education, they understand that there are things that can’t be learned in a university. What they really want is to discover their Americanness—what it means to be a part of this country, and how they fit in. That’s an ideal that stirs this blogger’s soul, too.

Another of their project’s bright points is that the trio couchsurfed the entire way. There’s no better way to get to know a community than by staying with a local—and there’s no better way to travel cheap than to couchsurf.

Danbee says that, in their 72 days and 7,200 miles of traveling, they only had one negative experience: a CSer in Rochester who shorted the dinner check. The very next morning, however, they had one of their best experiences. Overall, she says the best thing about couchsurfing is the experience of personal exchange: sharing beers and conversation, going out with locals. Couchsurfers are laid-back, she says, and easily impressed: make your own bed, and your host will love you.

Alex, Couchsurfing host Tanner and Danbee in Franklin, TN

All in all, This American Summer appears to have been an excellent education for Alex, David and Danbee—and an accomplished piece of work that has the potential to inspire other young travelers. In one of the most touching moments, the three talk to a Kentucky dairy farmer about her quilt collection; in another episode, they learn about Lacie Madison’s adventures as an independent country musician in Nashville. There’s plenty more to watch, so take a moment to watch the series and find out what happens when three kids from MIT get their first glimpse of rural America.

Note: ThisAmericanSummer.org is no longer a record of these three’s travels. Find them on Blip.tv instead.

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adventure, community, education, featured posts, travel, video

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Nonetheless, later that day we drove right into Heidelberg Street by mistake. I’m glad we did: it quite blew my mind.

I’ll let you read the official backstory at heidelberg.org. Enjoy the video.

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: alternative, art, building, buy nothing, community, construction, counterculture, Detroit, free sources, freegan, garbage, ghost town, Michigan, outsider art, radical, recycling, reuse, starving artists, tourism, video

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Stony Creek Sunset, originally uploaded by NnYSeb

America’s Rust Belt is a swath of cities and towns that boomed during the Industrial Era and now lie—well, rusting—as empty remainders of glory days past.

Chief among these is Detroit, Motor City. The longtime center of American automotive manufacturing was gutted when the Big Three car companies simultaneously failed.

Detroit, already plagued by corruption and crime, saw its unemployment rate skyrocket in 2009.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

What’s left behind when an economy collapses? Cheap real estate, that’s what.

Graphic courtesy of Mark J. Perry

I’d read a New York Times article about some forward-thinking artist-types who bought a house in Detroit for $1,900. $1,900! Some of us (and lots of New Yorkers) pay that much in rent every month!

In fact, the article went on, soon a nearby house went on the market for $100. The artist types notified their buddies, who moved in post haste.

I was intrigued. Really? A $100 house? Even if it was a real fixer-upper, even if you really were better off tearing it down than living in it, that’d still be a hell of a deal. Why, out in New Mexico, where you can still buy unincorporated land with no water or roads, you’d pay at least $1,000 for a house-sized plot of dust. So how can you buy an actual home for $100? That’s literally cheaper than dirt.

(...)
Read the rest of Detroit and the Myth of the $100 House (838 words)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: community, death, Detroit, economy, featured posts, fire, ghost town, Michigan, pollution, starving artists, tourism, travel, video

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Please note: NO ILLEGAL ACTS were committed during the course of this exercise. Though it did feel strangely badass.

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adventure, community, environment, featured posts, flowers, gardening, guerrilla gardening, Kentucky, Louisville, nature, outsider art, summer, video, volunteer

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The bar is small, hot, and packed with Lone-Star-sippin’ Texans. Directly inside the entrance is a pool table with a bitchin’ NASCAR lamp hanging above it, casting its light upon a custom-made chicken coop. The floor of the coop (actually just a sheet of plywood on top of the pool table) has a grid drawn on it, with a number in each square; you pay Ginny $2, and she hands you a ticket with a number on it.

(...)
Read the rest of Chicken Shit Bingo! (263 words)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: animal, Austin, chickens, Texas, tourism, travel, video, wild west

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