Uprooted, an eco/travel blog

Last December I was WWOOFing at Dandelion Farm in Northern California. The owners of Dandelion are artists and builders, and my adventures there had more to do with creativity than with farming…

Reign of Grace cob bathhouse at Dandelion Sustainability Farm

My longtime readers will remember Dandelion Farm (Lower Lake, California), where I had my first WWOOFing experience way back in December. The other day I received this message from them, and thought I’d pass it along for anyone in California who’s interested in natural building.
Candace Stolley writes:

volunteers [...]

Way back in May, I told you a little about the gorgeous gardens at Zephyros Farm, gave you a bit of the background behind Daphne Yannakakis’ gardening skills, and showed you some photos by Karina Salinas Heredia, a farm intern from Ecuador.
For new readers: Zephyros is an organic, family-run farm in Paonia, Colorado, where I [...]

Catherine Gockley, owner of Fire Mountain Farm and Apiary, didn’t start out as a farmer. She didn’t even start out wanting to be a farmer. But once she sets her mind to things, they get done: having decided to become a grower later in life, she spent ten years learning and working to reach her [...]

Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers also feed the soul. – The Koran

It was planting season when I visited Zephyros Farm and Garden: snow melting off the mountains, grass high and green, and everything beginning to sprout. We spent most days preparing beds for tiny plants that would soon grow tall and fragrant. As [...]

It started out innocently enough: it was a sunny Friday afternoon, and everybody at Zephyros was ready for a break from work. On Fridays, most of Paonia heads to Revolution Brewing. Daphne and all the interns (except Siwar, who was too young and therefore tasked with cooking dinner) hopped in the Subaru to go have [...]

photo by Karina Salinas Heredia

When I was in third grade or so, my class visited a local farm. I didn’t learn a lot that day, not exactly: mostly what I recall is the smell of hay&manure, and the big scary turkeys clucking at me through a fence. Still, it brought the idea of a farm [...]

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m spoiled, having grown up in California. There, springtime means flowers, sunshine, cute little rainclouds, maybe some fog. Here, it’s… well it’s exciting.
My first night at Zephyros Farm, I set up my tent as usual, and went to bed early like a good farmworker. It was quiet and breezy as [...]