One year ago, I visited the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, a shop in Oakland, California that supplies teachers and artists alike with craft supplies. The store takes in community donations and provides bin after bin of glorious junk. It’s also highly photographable. Some of these photos have been among my most popular of all time. Can you guess which?

Related posts:

1. One Man’s Trash: Recycled Art Supplies
2. CONTEST: Name That Site!
3. ANNOUNCING: Love And Trash

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Post tags: alternative, art, California, community, east bay, featured posts, junk art, Oakland, photography, recycling, reuse, starving artists, sustainable, teacher supply

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Enjoy the show, and I’ll see you next week.

Related posts:

1. Siskiyou National Forest & the Salmon River
2. Friday Photos: Kittery Point, Maine
3. Friday Photos #1: Asheville Botanical Gardens

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: California, ecotourism, ecotravel, environment, featured posts, Humboldt, nature, outdoors, photography, Siskiyou, travel, water

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This is what I found in Oakland dumpsters this morning. Well, this and a croissant which I burned already in the toaster oven.

Today’s grocery run took about an hour and cost me $0, plus I got a workout biking across town. I came home with 3 loaves of artisan bread (sour, sweet, rye) and half a loaf of sliced sourdough; a head of organic lettuce; a bunch of organic sweet baby broccoli; 3 peppers; a half cantaloupe (still shrinkwrapped); a bunch of fresh sage and parsley; and a container of mango-papaya salsa.

This is the second time I’ve gone dumpstering since I got to Oakland. The first time took much longer, as Lex & I had to bike all over town to find the good spots. That time we supplemented our booty with some ground beef from the store. When we got home, the whole house pitched in and we had some kickass burger kabobs (like hamburgers, but on a stick and roasted in the firepit. Inspired by a Christmas ornament, but that’s another story for another day).

A few of my temporary housemates have worked in food service, which helps when you’re trying to figure out if something could be contaminated. And yes, that’s extremely important. I won’t get into the details of dumpster-diving etiquette, but if you’re interested, you can find a lot of information here and here.

What I can say is that it’s really not that hard, OR as messy as you might think. It’s fairly easy to find good, unspoiled food—and once you find good dumpsters, you can usually visit them over and over.

If you’ve got the right kind of friends, you’ll soon find that there are hidden treasures and well-kept secrets that provide steady streams of free food. I’ve heard of a few places where store employees have a deal with local freegans, and vast amounts of fresh-enough, still-sealed goods change hands in midnight parking lots.

Dumpstering is a good way to survive in the city without having to shop constantly, which is good for my wallet and just a useful skill to have. I’m still buying meat and dairy from the store, and taking my vitamins; if I were planning to stay in Oakland longer, however, I might try to make a real go of the urban-freegan thing.

As it stands, though, I’m headed North in a couple of days. Time to get back to the woods! See you there…

PS – Punks, freaks, and bums aren’t the only ones dumpster diving. Check out this article on Burt’s Bees’ $25,000 trash-unpackin.

Related posts:

1. Dumpster Diving in West Oakland
2. West Oakland Freegan Update!
3. The 5 Principles of Living Green on the Cheap (as demonstrated by Nicole and Kevin)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adventure, alternative, buy nothing, California, featured posts, freegan, garbage, reuse, starving artists

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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 building Reign of Grace
Photo courtesy of Dandelion Farm

We have just broken ground for our first little cob cabin in Enchanted Encampment…hurrah! So we are planning our first work/party on the 18-21 of Sept (Fri AM to Monday PM).

We ask $25 ($35/ couple) for first time volunteers only for this period to help with food/expenses.

This is also a good time to get to know us and us you to see if a longer stay would work for all sides. Please have other options for after the party…we may be full even before it starts.

USF students at a 2008 work party

Loren and Candace Stolley

If you have not cobbed before (mud and straw building) this will be a great opportunity to experience this building technique that anyone can do, so naturally! We hope if you are musical you will come prepared to entertain the mud fun. The ponds will be refreshing and a good way to get that mud off. Overnight camping will be available. Bring a sun hat, your sleeping bags and pads and a good flashlight!There MAY be indoor space, but you must reserve early with your $25. to be sure of that.

Please email and let us know if you can make it so we have an idea how many to cook for.

We will possibly host more work/parties later to finish the building. If you can’t make this one and wish a later date let us know!

HOPE we get to share the work and fun with you and show you all the progress that your help here has led to!

Warmly,
Candace and Loren

Queen of Heaven Gate at Dandelion Farm

Dandelion Farm is full of incredible metal and natural art. See more photos or visit Dandelion online—or email Candace and Loren to reserve your spot on the work party!

Related posts:

1. The Future of Dandelion
2. Dandelion Sustainability Farm
3. Art of Dandelion: Bindu Jewelry

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Post tags: agritourism, biotecture, building, California, cob, community, construction, education, farm, green building, natural, organic, sustainable, training, volunteer, voluntourism, WWOOF

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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: if you see Abundant Life at any farmer’s markets this summer, try the melons). He and I drove to Grand Junction, where I caught the California Zephyr headed west.

The train ride was lovely, except that dusk fell just as we entered Gore Canyon. The tracks wound alongside the green water of the Colorado, past rafts pulled up onto shore for the night. Families in outdoor wear waved at the train as we cruised along the red-lined canyon walls. I saw a few rock formations fading into the dark, and then the sun was gone.

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Read the rest of Fast Forward! (325 words)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adventure, amtrak, California, garbage, gorge, outsider art, photography, rideshare, river, spring, starving artists, tourism, train, transportation, travel, volunteer, wild west

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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 who stop to pick up female hitchhikers is a convicted felon. Or maybe even less!

As for me, I’ve been known to make a couple highfalutin’ speeches about the culture of fear and how you have to take life by the horns, yada yada. But when the chips are down, I am NOT going to stand by the side of the road with blonde pigtails and pepper spray, thumb-out and hopin’ for the best.

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Read the rest of Try This at Home: Rideshare! (266 words)

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Post tags: adventure, California, craigslist, energy-efficient, freegan, rideshare, transportation, travel

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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 first, because now you can follow his lead. So let’s see what he’s done, shall we?

611 is a sort of eco-tastic rooming house created from two neighboring buildings in Oakland’s “ghost town” (the area between freeways and BART, Temescal and West Oakland). From the outside, it looks like any other place, but as soon as you pass through the gate you can see differences.

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Read the rest of Green Living in Oakland: 611 EcoVillage (800 words)

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Post tags: art, California, design, ecovillage, energy-efficient, green building, Oakland, solar, sustainable, voc

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yeahhh arms & legs $5.00 good price

steel tins

It’s a lovely, one-of-a-kind place: a hybrid of thrift store, recycle bin, and craft depot that puts big-box stores like Michael’s to shame. Art supplies sold by artists, and at prices artists can afford? Genius. Not to mention that by putting recycled materials to good use, the Depot keeps massive amounts of junk out of landfills.

Fueled entirely by donations, this place has been providing art and school supplies to starving artists and under-funded classrooms for over 30 years.

The shop itself, a creatively cluttered storefront on Telegraph Ave, is never the same from one day to the next. Linda, the Depot’s director, points out a few items from the current displays: a mountain of stainless-steel containers that were donated because the lids are too tight for kids to easily open; a stack of tote bags, still in the plastic, left over from a medical conference; rows of pressboard folders arranged by color. The Depot is selective about the donations it accepts, picking things that are in fine shape and can be resold— but you just never know what someone will donate next.

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Read the rest of One Man’s Trash: Recycled Art Supplies (331 words)

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Post tags: art, California, education, featured posts, garbage, Oakland, photography, recycling, reuse, starving artists, teaching

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Upon my return, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Oakland kids have started dumpster diving in earnest! The freezer is full of ground turkey; there’s produce and fresh bread; and nobody’s trying to subsist on cornmeal and coffee. Plus, a new connection for food: a store where you can pick up the goods before they even make it to the dumpster. I can’t post the details here since it’s a well-guarded secret, but I can say that the grub is plentiful, and clean. Jen’s offered to take me to the new spot, maybe tomorrow night…

I am officially declaring this dumpster-diving thing a success. Surprisingly bountiful. I feel kinda proud that I worked up the courage to try it, and that it’s benefited my friends too.

And now I’m going to go eat some free turkey.

Related posts:

1. Dumpster Diving in West Oakland
2. One Year Ago: Dumpster Diving in West Oakland
3. The 5 Principles of Living Green on the Cheap (as demonstrated by Nicole and Kevin)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: buy nothing, California, dumpster diving, free sources, freegan, Oakland, starving artists

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click to enlarge

The land out here is not entirely welcoming. As it should be: this area is nearly pristine, not a place you want to share. Those who live here suit themselves in spines, and rub elbows rarely.

Jon has been here for ten years, and has seen some things; he left word that we weren’t to go exploring the Salmon River willy-nilly. Some places are for us, some are private, and some are sacred. A few decades ago, a White man could die after sunbathing in the wrong spot; now, you might escape with a tongue-lashing, but it’s still not advisable to go tramping around in somebody else’s woods.

And so it is that I haven’t done much exploring here. But today was my last day in town, and rain was lowering, and I decided to take my chances in the Siskiyou Forest.

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Read the rest of Siskiyou National Forest & the Salmon River (650 words)

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Post tags: California, nature, outdoors, photography, salmon river, Siskiyou, touristry, video, water

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