Uprooted, an eco/travel blog

A look back at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse

A year ago today, I was watching the first signs of spring: spots of color breaking through the greens, grays and rusty browns of northern California.

What a year, what a year! Last January, I was riding bikes around Oakland in search of delicious leftovers. Now that I’ve learned to dumpster dive, I’ll never be scared of it again. Here’s my report, from 1/18/09.

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…

When you’re going on the road for an extended period, you can’t afford to mis-pack. I didn’t quite get it right this time, but I had fun doing it. Here’s how (and what) I packed.

bye-bye Paonia…

We’re gonna jump ahead a bit here. A lot of time has passed since I left Colorado, but most of it was vacation-time for yours truly. Here’s how it went, in glimpses and photos:
Paonia, CO » Winnemucca, NV
I found myself yet another successful rideshare, with Howard from Abundant Life Farm (word to the wise: [...]

The Navigator has a long story, I’m sure. Unfortunately I don’t know most of it, and he doesn’t talk much.
What I do know is this: I found The Navigator (then just an unnamed, fist-sized and uncomfortably realistic rubber chicken) in a corner of the floor at NIMBY. He was covered with black dirt and seemed [...]

You know, after reading all that freegan stuff, and after my super awesome experiences with dumpster diving, I was all amped up to try hitchhiking.

 That lasted about two hours, and then I remembered I’m too scared to hitchhike.
I know, they say it’s really not all that dangerous. Like, maybe only one in a hundred people [...]