Tag Archives | featured

We Are Home

“Where do you live?” Simple question, right? Living on the road, we hear that question all the time but it’s complicated. In the beginning of our Big Adventure, we didn’t really know how to answer. We’d say: “We used to own a home just outside of LA.” Or:  “We live in an RV as we travel […]

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A New York State of Mind

I know I left off writing about our time in Vermont but I just don’t know where to start telling the story of our time at Root ‘n Roost Farm in White Sulphur Springs, NY. Slaughtering chickens? Chasing piglets? Building fences? Cheech and Chong? Yo-Yo Ma? Hands down, the best part of our stay were […]

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TMI: Our First Days in Ecuador

We landed in the port metropolis of Guayaquil on a bright, sunny Tuesday morning. We’d heard many, many warnings against driving in Ecuador: the local drivers were insane; the roads were in terrible shape; accurate highway maps did not exist; and, pedestrians – human and four-footed alike – had a habit of walking the center […]

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Gettin’ Cozy With Thermal Mass

Greenhouses help to extend the growing season on farms across the United States and around the world. However, moderating the interior climate is key as plants have a hard time withstanding extreme temperature shifts. This means many farmers spend significant amounts of resources on energy to heat and cool. At Millsap Farms, greenhouses are critical and Curtis and […]

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Earthship Amazing

Never seen an Earthship? Prepare yourself to be amazed. Michael Reynolds began designing “radically sustainable” homes in a community just outside of Taos in 1971. Since then, his innovative, self-sufficient whimsically designed Earthships have cropped up around the world. Not only does the Earthship model find five ways to re-use captured rainwater, it utilizes both the sun […]

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Hide or Go Seek

Upon returning from our year-long cross-country expedition to learn firsthand about living more sustainably, the most commonly asked question has been, “Did you get what you wanted out of the trip?” My answer is yes, absolutely. We sheared sheep and herded goats and cows and hogs and chickens. I learned to drive a tractor, till […]

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GoodFooting in Vermont

After Maine, we went to Herkimer’s Hill Farm in Cabot, Vermont. Mark Christensen & Jen Boucher and their son, Blue, live in a spacious 2-story log cabin towards the rear of the family farm there. As we drove down the long driveway, we were first greeted by Jen’s mother, Judy, their two dogs and a […]

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Where Does Our Food Come From: Part II

IN THE BEGINNING The Bible claims that Cain killed Abel because he was jealous of God’s favor with his brother’s blood sacrifice. Cain, a farmer, made an offering of grain, while Abel, a shepherd, sacrificed a lamb. Why God preferred one gift over the other is uncertain, but, if we consider this story to be […]

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Farm Management 101

We spent the last two weeks of September at Millsap Farms, an idyllic patchwork of fields and greenhouses about 20 minutes north of downtown Springfield, MO. Curtis and Sarah Millsap run the farm with help from their nine children plus various interns, CSA members, WWOOFers and farmhands. (Yes, I said nine, all of whom are girls […]

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