June 30, 2008 by Ben.

Sign up to do something for World Peace Day here:

And check out the awesome short video of how it all started and why it’s important here.

Peace,

Ben

Posted in Issues, Ben | 1 Comment »

June 28, 2008 by Ben.

SAVE THESE DATES! YERT will be celebrating the end of its travels with two rockin’ events. The first is in San Francisco on July 11 at the Temple Nightclub. The second is in Pittsburgh on August 9 at the Rachel Carson Homestead. RSVP on Facebook (SF)(P’burgh) or eVite (SF)(P’burgh) and bring your friends!

Dear YERTians,

We traveled to New Mexico, Land of Enchantment, to get enchanted - and enchanted we got! Sustainability is a catchword that gets bandied about quite a bit these days, but nothing is actually more "sustainable" than the Native American peoples who thrived on this continent for literally thousands of years.

Indigenous cultures all over the world have, in the deepest sense, embraced real sustainability as a way of life for eons, and we found ourselves inspired and awed by the simple yet profound wisdom of living rightly with the land. In the 1970’s, many of the best lessons on how to live effectively and ethically within nature were collected and re-codified from the world’s most "permanent cultures" by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren into an ecologically enlightened holistic agricultural system called, appropriately enough, permaculture.

We were lucky enough to spend some quality time with Scott Pittman, founder of the Permaculture Institute near Santa Fe, who was trained by and then taught along side Dr. Mollison himself for years - we even got to sit in on one of his very cool permaculture classes. In Albuquerque, we met with Clayton Brascoupé, whose group, the Traditional Native American Farmers Association, melds permaculture design courses with Native American agricultural traditions and is working hard to reverse the decline in farming as well as preserve the biodiversity of indigenous seed varieties. We also had the pleasure of visiting with the iconic Larry Littlebird, who shared with us his incredible vision for HAMAATSA - an indigenous continuum learning center on recently returned ancient lands that will serve as a model for simple, sustainable living for all people. Finally, noted musician, master craftsman, and Native American "Renaissance man," Robert Mirabal, waxed poetic for us in Taos and shared with us some of his invaluable seeds of knowledge. He also kindly provided us with the incredible music in our New Mexico video, for which we are deeply grateful.

Thoroughly enchanted by the people of New Mexico, we now know the wisdom of the past has much to teach us in the future.

Permaculturally Yours,

Ben, Julie, and Mark (your YERT team)

team@yert.com

P.S. Breadcrumbs…yummy! Here are some links for more in-depth information about the topics in this video…

• For all things permaculture, check out The Permaculture Institute’s incredible website at www.permaculture.org. Here’s a quick definition of permaculture from the website: "Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. It teaches us how build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities and much more." If this sounds good to you, take a course. They’re offered throughout the country and you can find one near you at Permaculture.net. Happy planting!
• Clayton and The Traditional Native American Farmers Association (TNAFA) are working hard to get indigenous farmers back on the land. There are numerous social benefits to a strong agricultural ethic in almost all communities on the planet, and America is no exception. The group focuses on family oriented farming and provides training, seeds, and support toward that endeavor. To learn more visit http://nativeharvest.com/tnafa.
• HAMAATSA is an incredible project that just might help save the world. Their mission? "To provide servant leadership models for living simply and sustainably on the land; to integrate healing systems from traditional cultures; and to restore indigenous life-ways and land stewardship principles through experiential land-based learning." You can find out all about it at www.hamaatsa.org.
• Robert Mirabal is a one-man wonder. His flutes are renowned, as is his musicianship. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You can check out mirabal.com and starroadrecords.com for Robert’s music and the complete scoop on his many hats.

Posted in Video, Ben | 1 Comment »

June 27, 2008 by Ben.

OK, I was about to post a different blog but I just couldn’t keep my big mouth shut about THIS. It’s an article by The Independent about the strong possibility (greater than even odds) of an ICE-FREE North Pole this summer. I’ll say that again for effect - AN ICE-FREE NORTH POLE THIS SUMMER PEOPLE!!! Hellooooooo??? This is MAMMOTH! HUGE! PICK A SUPERLATIVE - IT FITS!

When we started the YERT road trip last July, we were hearing predictions of a summertime ice-free North Pole on the order of 2070-2050. Then in the late summer of last year we started hearing talk of 2030. By last autumn, credible scientists were talking about 2013 or 2012. Now we’re hearing that there’s good money betting that the North Pole will be ice-free by the end of summer…THIS summer. Nice. Good times. What the HECK are we doing?!?

NOW I’m speechless.

Posted in Issues, Ben | 7 Comments »

June 21, 2008 by Erika.

In this year on the road, YERT has come across many individuals planting seeds of green right from their living rooms, kitchens, and basements.

Plastic zipper bags really are convenient— great for helping parents pack kids’ lunches, freezing leftovers, hauling food to/from a tailgate party—but they’re also incredibly wasteful when used only once.  Bag-E-Wash helps maintain the convenient lifestyle we have grown accustomed to while also becoming more environmentally responsible.  Just a few pieces of nylon snap together to hold, wash, and dry plastic zipper bags in the dishwasher.  She recommends using the freezer bag variety because it is durable— lasting up to 50 washes— and,

Tony Kvale has a similar story.  His board game, Head1Liners, looks like any other game on the shelf, but is made of recycled materials paper, soy-based ink, and recycled glass.  He works from his St. Paul home with help from his 3-yr-old daughter, Greta, who receives free room and board for helping her daddy sort colored game pieces in their basement.  

While Tony’s wife, Brenda, made sidewalk chalk drawings outside with Greta, Ben, Mark and Tony played a round of Head1Liners, which is simple and easy to pick up.  One player chooses a picture from a box and then all of the players must each make up a headline for the image.  All the players vote (but not for their own!) and move according to the number of votes they received.

Wanna try? Kudos to whoever comes up with the best headline for this shot of Ben. (It’s a sneak peak of what is coming up in a future blog entry.)

Posted in Erika, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

June 20, 2008 by Julie.

This morning I received an email from Arkansas farmer Norwood Creech, whom YERT corresponded with while seeking out rural farmers in the South. She wrote with great concern about “old time” farmers burning off crop stubble (rather than turning it under as compost).

There no evidence that charring fields improves soil fertility - in fact, most research shows that soil degrades much faster with charring - not to mention that burning entire fields very obviously pollutes the air and adds to the CO2 load in the atmosphere. Below is Norwood’s letter to me that I promised I would post for everyone to think about… along with her plea for ideas about how to sway people away who are clinging to this wasteful, damaging, antiquated practice. Please feel free to pass it on:

Julie,
The farmers are burning off their wheat, again. This process is not “more better” than rolling the stubble into the ground. Burning is the ways of the old timers. However, it also seems to be the ways of the misguided and uneducated. The first 2 photos are from our roof top here in Lepanto, AR. We are seeing 8 of these [burns] plus some, every evening now for the past 5 days. And that is just in the evening… about when the wind dies down and the smoke started from late fires settles. I am talking acres and acres of these wheat fires, burning rapidly and some even make their own clouds!

As for the picture of the burn with the flag.. The farm to the right of this one burned their wheat off last year and burned up a pick up truck in the process. Fortunately this year, it looks as though they have learned from their mistake. However, this farm to its left was intentionally burned. Fire department even had to called. It almost reached a trailer home. Farmers should not play with matches! I live in the country but it sells like a dirty city. Black ash clings to the edges of the house. None of this can be good for anyone. Not to mention global warming. In the fall, after the rice crop gets cut, some burn that too. Note that rice puts a silica in the air that can shred your lungs…. None of this burning makes sense to me, How can I get this addressed and perhaps stopped? Norwood

Here are some links for further reading:

Costs of Stubble Burning

Up in Smoke - Lost Opportunities when Stubble is Burned

Managing Natural Resources - Stubble Management

P.S. Ben is telling me that this is my hundredth blog for YERT. (He likes numbers.)

Posted in Issues, Julie | 1 Comment »

June 19, 2008 by Mark.

SAVE THESE DATES! YERT will be celebrating the end of its travels with two rockin’ events. The first is in San Francisco on July 11 at the Temple Nightclub. The second is in Pittsburgh on August 9 at the Rachel Carson Homestead. RSVP on Facebook (SF)(P’burgh) or eVite (SF)(P’burgh) and bring your friends!

Dear YERTians,

YERT took a power trip in Arizona—to explore perhaps the cleanest and most plentiful power source available in that desert state.

Our first stop? APS (Arizona Public Service) is a utility company that has opened up the closest thing we’ve found to a solar power playground. Dan Lonetti and Steven Gottfried showed us all around the “APS STAR Center,” where we saw the latest and greatest solar panels being tested in the heat of the Arizona sun. The day didn’t end before Steven (and Flat Stanley) blew our minds with a tour of the Saguaro Solar Trough Power Plant, which uses advanced solar hot-dog-cooking-style technology to heat mineral oil that ultimately powers a turbine—creating electricity!

Our next stop took us on over to Jack Ehrhardt, Planning Director for the Walapi Tribal Nation, who showed us all around the solar powered airport that they’ve established at the lip of Grand Canyon West. We can’t wait to show more of Jack to you. You’ll see why…

Sun of a Gun!

Mark, Ben, and Julie (and Erika)

team@yert.com

P.S. Breadcrumbs! For more information about the topics in this video, check out these links…

• Saguaro Solar Trough Power Plant – From the APS website: “This facility is the first solar trough to combine an organic Rankine cycle turbine engine with a parabolic trough solar field. The plant generates 1 MW of power.” This facility can eventually be coupled with a thermal storage tank that saves the superheated mineral oil underground during the day and recalls it in the evening when the sun has set but demand is still high. Read their brochure about the plant, too.
• Wikipedia includes this generic note about solar trough technology… “The overall efficiency from collector to grid, i.e. (Electrical Output Power)/(Total Impinging Solar Power) is about 15%, similar to PV(Photovoltaic Cells) and less than Stirling dish concentrators.” And more info from the Department of Energy here.
• Scottsdale Green Building Program – Anthony Floyd knows his stuff when it comes to building solar power (and other green features) into a building. He is Scottsdale’s Green Building Program Manager and shares a few words about the city’s green building process here, and a presentation he authored that is overflowing with stats and information here.

Posted in Video, Mark | 1 Comment »

June 16, 2008 by Erika.

The Twin Cities did a great job of keeping us busy as three little bees—so much in fact, that we decided to pay a visit to our black-and-yellow striped friends with beekeeper hobbyist Stevie Ray.

Colony collapse and declining bee populations is a serious and scary situation we’re facing. So serious, and so scary that even Haagan Daaz is airing depressing commercials to help save the honeybees.  It’s estimated that the honeybee population in the US has declined by 25% over the past few years alone; some sources say the decline in the wild honeybee population has been as much as 90% since the 1970’s. 

I’ve never been fond of bees, but even so, I recognize how critical they are for our survival.  The vast majority of crops in the US is non-native, and relies on the cross-pollination of bees in order to produce food for us and the livestock we raise.  As it stands already, some farmers pay large-scale beekeepers to drop palettes of bees into the middle of their land to ensure that the crops like broccoli, onions, apples, and avocados get the pollination they need.  Without this, the crops prosper and eventually die off.

Colony collapse- a recent phenomenon where bees mysteriously abandon their hives- poses very serious concerns for the survival of honeybees. The exact reasons for decline colony collapse are unknown, but are often attributed to insecticide use, urbanization, GMO crops, mites, and pollution— which limits bees’ ability to find flowers.

Bees truly are fascinating. After goofing around in beekeeper outfits for a couple hours, it was easy to see why beekeeping makes such a great hobby.  It takes a minimal investment of time and money, the extra honey makes a great gift for friends, and farmers love you.  Oh, and the fact that the majority of the US food supply may come to depend on the hives of local beekeepers is also pretty enticing.  You can’t say that about stamp collecting.

Did you know?

• Honeybee colonies are 95% female.

• The queen bee is the only female capable of reproducing.  She mates only once, storing the sperm in her body.  As her female worker bees pet and preen her, she secretes a toxin that keeps them sterile.

• Bees are totally capable of staging a coup.  To overthrow their queen, the other bees will pick a particular larva to be their new queen.  By secretly feeding this larva royal jelly, the worker bees (or is it the males?) actually change the DNA of the larva from a small, sterile female worker bee into a larger, elongated and fertile queen bee.  As soon as she is born, the original queen is assassinated.

• By ingesting small doses of allergens over time, eating local honey can help build a resistance to allergies in your area.
  

Posted in Erika, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

June 10, 2008 by Mark.

After nearly a year of continuous YERTy travel and 49 states to his name, Ben boarded a train yesterday morning in Montana near Glacier National Park to begin the journey home to Kentucky. That’s right, he’s answering the call of his “Dad Duty” and joining Julie to nest at home and prepare for the birth of their first child.

Ben brought an enthusiasm for YERT and all things environmental that never seemed to die, even when it seemed like everybody around him was about to do just that. He always managed to find one more person, one more interview, or make one more call to make the most of whatever time we had in a particular state. Also, as the consummate b-roll hound, there was never a shot that he didn’t get excited about and he would always go the extra mile to get it just right.

And then, of course, there was Ben the comedian. He’d make the YERT team laugh, and he brought that sense of humor to the “stage” and the editing suite as he painstakingly made sure that we had enough laughs to keep folks on board.

There were some tense moments if we didn’t agree about one thing or another, but we always knew that we were all acting in the best interest of the project and we’d ultimately sort things out.

Here’s a big blog high-five and gigantic thanks to Ben for devoting his blood, sweat, tears, and scent to YERT now, then, and well on down the road as we begin the monumental task of finishing the remaining short videos and then embark upon… the YERT Film. (Erika and Mark will be driving up to Alaska for about the next 5 days. Stay tuned, but don’t hold your breath as we hunt for Internet access in the Canadian wilderness.)

Posted in Events, Travelog, Ben, Mark | 7 Comments »

June 6, 2008 by Ben.

At the beginning of the YERT trip, I declared that at some point on this adventure we should find a way to do some WWOOFing. WWOOF used to stand for Willing Workers On Organic Farms and recently has been revised to stand for World Wide Opportunities On Organic Farms (which technically should be WWOOOF, but we’ll cut the organization some slack). It’s all over the world and it’s really a truly awesome concept and right up YERT’s alley. The idea (at least in the US version) is that you pay 20 bucks to join WWOOF-USA and in exchange for that, WWOOF-USA gives you a WWOOFing handbook that connects you to all sorts of organic farms in every state in the country who are looking for help in exchange for room and board. The farmers get very much needed help and, as a WWOOFer, you get free food, lodging, and some really cool organic farming experiences. In typical YERT form, we’d waited until the 11th hour to explore our WWOOFing options. With Wyoming and Montana our only viable remaining WWOOFing states (and Montana filling up too quickly with other stuff) our options were dwindling quickly and we hadn’t even “joined” WWOOF-USA yet. I put in a desperate call and email to one of the directors of the organization and she was kind enough to fast-track the process and give us access to the online directory of WWOOFing farms. We looked over the list and there were literally dozens of WWOOFing locations in Montana and…exactly 1 in Wyoming. What?!?! Only 1 in the whole state!?!? Fingers crossed I gave them a call to see if they could break WWOOFing etiquette and take us on one day’s notice for only a few days of WWOOFing (most places want you to stay for at least a week or two). To our delight they were thrilled to hear from us and would welcome us with open arms…in about 24 hours. This was exciting stuff - I’d wanted to WWOOF for the past 10 years or so. I had even joined the New Zealand WWOOFing organization with Julie several years ago in the hopes of WWOOFing out there, but we never got around to going. So finally getting to have a WWOOF experience (and in the midst of making an environmental documentary, no less) is fulfilling on a whole slew of levels.

Thursday, May 29th
Around 9:30pm Thursday night, driving from Rapid City, SD, we arrived at our WWOOFing hosts - Mona and Steve Mitzel - outside of Leiter, WY. We’ve spent nights in some pretty darn remote places on this trip, but this is very nearly the middle of nowhere. The entire town of Leiter, WY consists of one small building that houses a post office, bar/cafe, and small motel - and they live on the “outskirts” of Leiter. Trying to make time, we hadn’t eaten dinner, and our sweet hosts were quick to offer us elk steak that Steve hunted and salad while we sat around the kitchen table chewing the fat and getting to know each other. After our late meal, they took us out to our trailer about 1/2 mile down their “driveway” where we’d be spending the next several nights and got us set up. The next morning we’d be working by 8am so we hit the sack pretty quick.

Friday, May 30th
Shockingly, I got up even earlier than necessary - by well over two hours! To be sure, I am generally NOT a morning person, but I should remember that being in the country and in clear view of daylight always puts my body on a pretty wonderful circadian rhythm. In this case my bedroom window was facing due east and my head was facing the window, so I was gently but inevitably awakened by the sun each morning. It’s my absolute favorite way to wake up - getting bathed in early morning light with the sounds of the stirring morning countryside slowly seeping into your subconscious until they pull you out of your sleep. As I caught sight of the predawn glory outside my window at around 5am, I was compelled to leap out of bed, grab the camera from Mark and Erika’s room, and take full advantage of the opportunity to film a really wonderful sunrise out our back door which opens, stairless, about 3 feet above the ground. By 6:30 I was back in bed asleep ’til just before 8.

By 8:10 we were at Mona and Steve’s house ready for our first day of WWOOFing. Donning our work gloves in the Mitzel’s muck room, we headed down the hill for a “barn raising” or, more accurately, a “canteloupe tunnel” raising. Mona is trying to expand her growing season for a few key fruits, so we were going to be helping her and Steve erect a greenhouse of sorts - or at least the ends of the greenhouse. There was a skeletal steel frame in place so we’d be attaching the front face today. The directions told us not to attempt to do this in the wind and, sure enough, the wind was picking up a little by 8:30am, but we decide to sally forth anyway. It should be noted that attaching the front of the greenhouse involved stretching a giant white tarp over a 12 foot tall steel semicircular frame, clamping it down, and tech-screwing it into place while, and this is the most important part, riding 12 feet up in the shovel of their front loader to do all of this. Sweet! Any excuse to ride around in the shovel of a big orange front loader!

Because none of us had actually assembled one of these before, we spent the first hour or so prepping and debating which side of the “tarp” was the front. We ended up putting the exposed zipper side out to face the elements. This, of course, turned out to be backwards (we think), but we didn’t fully realize this until it was well attached and far too late to reverse our decision. Luckily, there was another end to attach to the greenhouse, so we would get another shot on Saturday. Erika and I hopped in the shovel of the loader to attach the top while Mark supported the bottom of the front face and coordinated efforts to line it up. After an exhilarating morning of riding the shovel, negotiating the pesky wind, and attaching clips, we broke for a lunch of egg salad sandwiches. Mark and I spent the afternoon attaching numerous other supports to the greenhouse while Erika ran interference for Mona’s two precious granddaughters (5 yr.-old Annie and 3 yr.-old Jillian) as Mona did some work on one of her planting beds and the active greenhouse. Then we all broke for dinner (pesto pasta and sauteed veggies) and an even earlier bed-time. We had decided to try to beat the wind on Saturday morning, to keep the other face of the greenhouse a little more slack-free, but this would mean starting at 6am. We’d also gotten wind that we would be performing a cattle drive on Saturday - the anticipation was killing me.

Saturday, May 31st
Saturday saw us at Mona and Steve’s house by 6:10am ready to tackle the back end of the greenhouse. The wind was cooperating with us so we got started quickly - attaching this side with the protected zipper to the outside. Mark and I went up in the shovel this time and the back side went up reasonably smoothly without the wind. We spent the rest of the morning finishing up attaching the side supports and Steve set about tech-screwing in a U-track along the ends of the roof frame - an insanely tough task given that the tech screws were woefully incapable of penetrating the steel pipe - this was definitely the most arduous part of the assembly.

Early in this tech-screw process, Steve needed someone to lift him up in the shovel of the front loader. A chance to DRIVE the front loader?!?!? Sure! Next thing I knew Steve was explaining the workings of his front loader to me and I was trying not to tear down the entire greenhouse maneuvering him around 12 feet in the air. It was awesome - and Steve’s still alive! Later in the morning, Mark and Erika worked on helping Mona build a pipe from the river to her current greenhouse while I helped Steve finish attaching the U-track to the greenhouse frame with those blasted tech-screws!

After sucking down some delicious quesadillas at lunch, we got down to the real business of the day - the cattle drive. Normally, we could just drive the cattle across the small river in Steve and Mona’s back yard, but they’ve had such a wet spring in NE Wyoming this year that the river isn’t crossable, which means a four or five mile cattle drive around the “back way.” Steve and Mona brought over two horses to help with the drive and to give us a chance to do it “old school.” With help from Steve’s neighbors we mounted our respective steeds (Steve and I on the horses - Alice and Shawnee, respectively; Mark and Erika on the four-wheeler; and Mona and the granddaughters on another 4×4 called the Mule). Cattle driving on a horse was a totally new life experience for me - and utterly thrilling. Mark and Erika, Mona and the grandkids, and a couple of the neighbors buzzed about on the 4-wheelers keeping an eye on things while Steve, his neighbor Jeremy, and I trotted and cantered around trying to keep the cows together and moving in the right direction. Pleasantly surprised by my modest horse skills, I felt like a cowboy (albeit, a totally clueless one) for about 4 hours as we spent the better part of the rest of the day shuffling the cows (about 100 or so) over hill and dale and several miles down the dirt road to some fresh pasture that Steve has started leasing for the first time this year.

There were a few unforeseen variables that made the cattle drive even more interesting. Half way through, two calves somehow got separated from the herd on the wrong side of some barbed wire and Jeremy, one of the neighbors, had to pull some smart maneuvering to get the calves back to the herd. Shortly after that, we were visited by a thunderstorm that soaked us pretty good and added the wonderful variable of lightning into the mix. Finally, we had to pay careful attention to the bulls in other pastures that were making every attempt to “get with” Steve’s cows as they passed by. This required some serious diligence - nothing like trying to foil foreign bulls from mating with cows in heat to keep you on your toes. Jeremy and I (and eventually Steve) slowly rode the horses back to the ranch which took another hour and a half. A bit saddle sore with knees that were barely functioning after being on a horse for the better part of 5 hours, I stabled Shawnee and headed to dinner, ready for some delicious homemade soup. After dinner it was off to bed before another early morning - this time helping Mona in the large garden across the river.

Sunday, June 1st
So far in our WWOOFing experience, the one thing we hadn’t done was some actual organic gardening, but that was about to change. Mona is in the process of becoming organically certified and has been using organic growing methods for several years. Today we would be doing some planting with her.

We started Sunday off at about 7am helping Steve attach the rototiller to his frontloader tractor and then heading into Mona’s greenhouse to soak plant seedlings in a diluted organic fish solution. I still don’t know what exactly fish solution is, but, as expected, it smells totally nasty and fishy. We did this while doing our best to keep the granddaughters happily occupied with a little kitten they’d been literally loving to death the past few days - seriously, if that cat makes it to Christmas, I’ll be amazed.

After loading up Mona’s pickup with seedlings, we took the 5 mile “long way” over to her large garden just beyond the pasture where we’d left the cows the day before - which is only about 200 yards from her house as the crow flies. Mark and I rode over in the Mule 4-wheeler and stopped to shoot some B-roll on the way enjoying a gorgeous view of the Big Horn mountains in the distance and revisiting the cows on the way. The last cow fence was nearly impossible to put back - Mark and I had to both pull together with all our strength for several minutes before we got it back in place. We totally felt like wussie city boys.

In the garden, Steve rototilled the alfalfa field into a great seedbed, while we spent several hours planting seedlings with Mona and little Annie and Jillian. We planted onions, kale, cabbage, and two kinds of lettuce. Erika showed up on the other four-wheeler after the first hour and joined in the fun. It’s awesome digging in the dirt - really one of my very favorite things.

Around 2pm we headed back to the ranch house. On the way back, Mark and I stopped in the cow pasture on the hill overlooking everything to film a short WWOOFing intro and shot some B-roll of antelope. Lunch was leftover soup and then Mark rested his sore back and slept, while Erika did some homework and I caught up on email, did a little trip planning, and finally got to check in with Julie by phone. In the evening, I headed outside with Steve to ride Shawnee again and create a little more horseback B-roll. Shawnee was MUCH more skittish and freaky this time (not sure why), so we cut the ride short. We stabled the horses and then headed out with Mona and Steve to check out a blue heron rookery that they have on their property. We all 4-wheeled our way out to this huge tree further down their river where close to a dozen blue herons were nesting in a tree. It was a pretty unbelievable site. What’s more, the river/marsh itself was also teeming with life - frogs, fish, all jumping and making noise to their heart’s content right around sunset. After we headed back to the house, I interviewed Steve about life in Wyoming - WWOOFing, coal, ranching, environmental concerns. Then, after about an hour, I headed back with Mark to the trailer and, there, we were all greeted by a spectacular thunder and lighting storm. This kept me up until 1am filming. Really a treat. It was a nice way to cap off our WWOOFing experience.

Monday, June 2nd
We slept in - all the way until 8:30 when Erika busted out some blueberry pancakes in the trailer for breakfast. Then we packed up, headed over to the house for a few final interview questions with Steve, and said goodbye to our fine WWOOFing hosts. I have to admit, in retrospect, our WWOOFing experience was all we could have hoped for and more. Great people, great experiences, and a great concept. And, if you ever want to WWOOF in Wyoming - this is THE place…literally. Can’t wait to do it again sometime soon!

Posted in Events, Travelog, Issues, Ben | 2 Comments »

June 3, 2008 by Julie.

…and finding it! What a super pickle to be in - having to choose between several really positive options - especially when it comes to health care! My only lament is that we can’t use all of the caregivers we found…

So…where were we…Since I was dropped off by the boys in Kentucky at the beginning of May, I have nesting and researching like mad for the best place to give birth - the best birthing options, the best prenatal care, and the best pediatrician for our new baby (who is coming in just a few weeks now)!

Some may recall, we originally planned to give birth at The Farm - a licensed midwifery Birthing Center in Summertown, TN, with midwives who basically wrote the books on midwifery in this country. However, at some point around my 6th month, I began having 2nd thoughts - partly financial, partly emotional - and Ben and I started talking about finding a midwife to have a homebirth in KY, as well as a doula (Greek - a labor coach).

From personal referrals and information on a local website called Birthcare Network, I found and interviewed several midwives and doulas, as well as people who had either homebirthed or given birth naturally in hospital (just keeping my options open). I continued reading as many books and birth stories as I could get my hands on, and watched an eye-opening documentary called The Business of Being Born (feature length - you can watch it free here) two days in a row, trying to get a handle on my own hopes and fears and expectations about birth while husband, Ben, was still off on his tour of environmental duty through YERT’s last remaining states…

As I mentioned before, while it is not illegal in KY to give birth at home, it is illegal for a midwife to be hired to do so without a license (Licenses for midwives haven’t been offered in KY since 1976.) …And doctors are discouraged from supporting homebirths also for legal reasons. What it came down to is that birthing at home in KY means taking pretty serious risks that neither Ben nor I felt willing to take. Ben said to me, finally, “You’re not going to get hero points for giving birth at home.” And my deepest feeling is that if we ended up somehow being in the rare 1% of cases where something does go wrong, and anything bad happens to our baby because of it, I don’t see how I could ever forgive myself. I needed the backup to feel safe.

So, there it was. As I discovered that my comfort level was not going to include homebirth, I at first felt rather disappointed in myself and what I considered to be my lack of courage and faith. But then friends and family kept rallying behind me and I started looking into Clark Memorial Hospital’s Birthing Center. Just across the river from Louisville (in Jeffersonville, Indiana - a 15 minute drive), Clark seems to offer the natural birth we are looking for, with the medical back-up we want in case of emergency. Mom and I toured the facilities last week, and I must say that I was encouraged. Though the labor bed seemed a bit skinny to me, I was happy to learn that it’s specially designed to break down so that laboring moms never have to be in a horizontal position (the worst position for giving birth as it defies the Law of Gravity - the most important law in facilitating birthing!!). I was mesmerized by the giant labor tub in the Natural Birthing Room…

The last thing I found - which maybe should have been the first - was a natural birthing class, to get us ready for the big push…. We fortunately found Bethany Collins, who was able to offer us private Bradley classes (I have been going by myself, Ben will join me next week) that we will kind of cram into 8 concentrated sessions instead of the usual 12. Bethany also happens to be a doula very familiar with the nurses and midwives at Clark, having assisted many births there and delivered there herself, so I am thrilled to have her with us, and feel like we are in really great hands.

We are now down to the last few weeks, and I am just making my decisions and phone calls, so that everything is as ready as it can be. Today I went to meet the doctor who is going to be our family doc as well as baby’s pediatrician, and couldn’t be more pleased. I didn’t even know that family practice doctors - who literally take care of the whole family, from newborn to aged- still existed! I liked him immediately, and am really looking forward to feeling actually CARED FOR by a trusted physician. I’m sure I will write more about him as we get to know him better.

So, there it is!
I am about 35 weeks pregnant, seeing how long I can ride the crest of 190 pounds (zoiks???), walking a couple of miles every day (during which I experience Braxton Hicks contractions pretty much constantly), eating mostly healthy (though not always getting in my greens or my 85 recommended g of protein), enjoying baby squirming around in belly, still able to sleep for the most part (though that is getting interesting), and almost finished organizing the upstairs where Ben and i and baby will be making our home in Mom’s house for the next year or so.

Where is YERT? I hear they are on their last day in Wyoming, headed tomorrow to Montana and Big Sky Country. I am wishing them well, and trying not to feel too sorry for myself for being without my babydaddy and for missing those gorgeous states I’ve never been to…
On the days where I feel like I am doing this all alone, I just have to think of my wonderful, supportive family and beautiful friends here who are absolutely terrific, and to remember that Ben is doing all he can to help preserve what’s beautiful for our little one.

Yes, I feel a little lonely, waiting to share this amazing time with the man who made it happen…
but he will be home with us in a week, and it is all going to be so worth it!!! Wahoo!!!

Posted in Issues, Julie | 2 Comments »