Posts
March 25, 2009 Hi, Things are going very well. Multiple really, really nice light but substantial rains this past week. Volunteers have died down from 15+ to 4, which feels like nothing in comparison. Things will remain relatively light on this front for another month or two and then pick up again come May/June. I’m […]
Read MoreFebruary 1-March 9, 2009 Summary: So much to cover, and it all happened in one month!? 10th anniversary of the Eco-city. Tree planting. Myriads of volunteers. Rains. Ridiculously fast growing weeds. Land visits and field trips. I’m going to stick to the field work, since Peter has covered a lot of the Bahia happenings in his Dispatches. […]
Read MoreBahia de Caraquez, Ecuador The high-pitched enthusiasm of Carnaval is building and an interviewer/photographer team from Taiwan’s Spirit magazine has arrived to report on Eco-Bahia, requesting a tour by me through Bosque en Medio de las Ruinas “wild park.” We were graced with a rainless day to climb down the steps at the farthest entrance accompanied by Patricio Tamariz (who […]
Read MoreBahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Planet Drum’s plans to build a Bioregional Sustainability Institute (BSI) on property that was acquired for that purpose three years ago just took a great step toward. Jaeson Schultz, our land partner in the original purchase of sixty hectares of undeveloped land, is here for a few months and joined Clay and […]
Read MoreMark HebardVolunteer and HenchpersonFebruary 18, 2009 [Mark has been aiding and abetting Planet Drum’s activities from San Francisco for the past six years. He traveled with Peter Berg to Bahia this February.] The last two days in Ecuador have been strenuous and inspiring. Yesterday Peter and I traveled with all the volunteers by ferry across […]
Read MoreBahia de Caraquez, Ecuador It is a particularly hard winter of blizzards this year in the Northern Hemisphere and a hot summer marked by forest fires in the Southern, but in Ecuador where sharply defined seasons elsewhere are equatorially ambiguous it is the time of rain at night and, if there is no blanket of […]
Read MoreDecember 29, 2008-January 16, 2009 Summary: House repairs continued. Stakes for tree markers are cut and painted. A new site at Bosque Encantado is created. Completed house repairs include (but are not limited to): hiring a contractor to repaint the front of the house, refinishing the Planet Drum sign, repairing the sign’s metal hanger that was […]
Read MoreNanao Sakaki, internationally renowned as a contemporary Taoist sage/poet, departed to become another part of the wide Universe on the Winter Solstice December 23, 2008. His work will gain in both fame and usefulness as it ages. It has the combination of innocence and lightning-like insight of other masters in his tradition. Here are two […]
Read MoreDecember 8-26, 2008 Summary: Despite imminent signs of the rainy season (increased humidity, blazingly intense sun, warm nights, etc) it hasn’t arrived yet, so we took advantage of the time to further prepare ourselves for planting by clearing more trails and digging more holes. I stepped up volunteer recruitment with a new volunteer announcement that I […]
Read MoreNovember 24-December 5, 2008 Summary: Dryness forces us to water some of the most exposed sites. We did major repair work on the roof of the greenhouse. Many, many, many holes for plants were dug. And we commenced planting season with a group of university students! On Monday, Jaime and I went to the greenhouse to […]
Read More