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.

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 [...]

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: [...]

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 [...]

611 street view

Yep, it’s possible, and 611 EcoVillage is the proof: you can live sustainably, and artfully, and even happily, all in the middle of a city.
Of course, it helps if you’ve got founder/builder Dan Antonioli’s temperament: love for life and a passion for creative construction. And it helps even more that he’s done it [...]

Culture of waste? Not at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, where teachers and artists gather to give cast-off treasures a new life.