Rae Lakes Revisited

This time last year, instead of sitting here in Oakland listening to car alarms and subwoofers, I was savoring the high country of Kings Canyon National Park. My friend and co-adventurer Tom and I set off for a week long loop trip through the Rae Lakes Basin, a 40 mile trip with a 7,000 foot elevation game. The backpacking odyssey took us up one river valley, over a 12,000 foot pass (the highest altitude I've ever reached), then down into the Rae Lakes Basin: a string of beautiful mountain lakes surrounded by craggy peaks and full of mosquitoes. We enjoyed our time at the lakes immensely, but were relieved to find a bug-free campsite on our last night by the Kings River. An experience as this is best seen through the pictures, which of course can't really do justice to the magnificence of the mountain wilderness I had the good fortune to pass through. The photos are arranged in chronological order, so the viewer can get a sense of the progress of the journey. One part of the trip is missing, however: our stop at Tacos Al Rico in Fresno, where Tom and I washed down six tacos each with enormous tubs of horchata. Being in the back country for five nights makes one appreciate the amenities of the civilized world. This will be the first of many posts looking back at my trip through the American West last summer. Enjoy!

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From the cab of a John Deere 8410

Ready for another day of field work Spending long days in the cab of a John Deere 8410 belted tractor gives me a lot of alone time. When I'm not staring at the sheaths of earth left tossed up by the powerful steel disks in tow behind the tractor, I watch the rice trucks on Highway 99, which runs next to the field, or I observe the chickens, cranes and the crows as they feast on insects unearthed by cultivation. And I wonder how of all things I ended up driving a tractor on a farm in South Sutter County. It is because I spent these recent days alone on the tractor--and because Fall is the season for remembering and for contemplation of life and death-- that I have resurrected up this blog yet again. Sutter County Mornings I could go back years, trying to figure out how I ended up where I am, but a good starting point would be the Summer of 2009, when I began my fourth year as the Nutrition Education Site Coordinator, aka 'Garden Teacher' at Park Elementary...

Support the Lagartillo School Garden Initiative

As I spend a quiet Saturday reading, writing and cooking beans, my mind drifts back to the month I spent in Nicaragua. I've lost track of how much time it's been since I returned from Central America, but I know I've been back for well over a month. At work, people are counting down the weeks before our spring break--four more to go. I am thinking ahead of projects to do in the school garden where I work once spring arrives, which here in the Bay Area will be soon. I am also thinking of another school garden project--the one in Lagartillo, the community in Nicaragua where I spent a month studying Spanish this past winter vacation. When I was in Lagartillo, some of the community elders spoke of starting a garden project at the school. A nonprofit organization that supports initiatives for women and children in Nicaragua, Project Sonrisas (http://www.projectsonrisas.org/) is working with the community in Lagartillo to help make the project a reality. To quote the Pro...

Return from a Rugged Land

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When the Almond Tree Blooms

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