Todd and I toured the Hobbiton film set while we were staying in Hamilton, a quiet city south of Auckland on the North Island. We drove down winding roads (on the left!) until we saw the sign for...
A Pegalic Trip for Seabirds I’m not sure how long I’ve dreamed of seeing an albatross. Probably not since I first read “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” but still a good long...
Street papers were invisible to me until I noticed homeless people in the Denver area selling the Voice. I began to investigate and found that papers written for—and also by—the homeless had sprouted...
Visiting the Daintree Rainforest was one of my goals on our trip to Australia. I briefly considered scheduling a bus tour and then decided we should spend a night or two in the rainforest. So after...
Diving for the first time since 2007 was much easier than I expected. The Refresher Course at Denver Divers I was nervous that I would have to relearn everything, so it was a nice surprise to...
For years I’ve been volunteering with environmental organizations, so it was natural for me to want to focus on environmental restoration during my trip with Todd around the Pacific. Back in...
Our six-month trip began in Sydney, and we’ll be spending about two weeks in each country until we arrive in India, where we’ll stay two months beginning in December. It’s a long...
All farmers markets are meant to build community, but R&B’s Mo’ Betta Green Marketplace does so to the best beat. Not that music is a stranger at such events, but it tends to be folk...
Two weeks from today, Todd and I will arrive in Sydney! And the Monday after that, I will do my first restoration project abroad, in a park in Sydney with a group called Conservation Volunteers. They...
Taking up 13.5 acres on the eastern outskirts of Kansas City, Urbavore is one of the largest urban farms in the United States. Bringing you a shot of the entire farm would have required hiring a...
From the moment I walked through the gate at Ekar Farm and joined the small group at the arbor, I felt comfortable. Executive Director Aaron Ney welcomed me, and after a few more volunteers of all...
I love environmental restoration the way some people love sports or their pets, and on this site I will write about restoration wherever I happen to find it. Why do I care? I believe restoration of...
I have a mammogram Friday morning. Routine preventive care, right? But I have very mixed feelings about mammograms. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2011, and the primary tumor had not...
I’ve been volunteering for Groundwork Denver for a couple of years now. Once I’d had enough of trail restoration in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and decided to help restore...
Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom, specifically the freedom slaves in Texas did not begin to enjoy until June 19, 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect...
In June 2011, my husband and I sold our house and most of our belongings and set out for the West Coast. We packed what we thought we needed in our red Prius. We planned to begin in Missoula, head...
I was inspired by this quote, especially the part I set in boldface. It’s taken from a report in Cultural Survival magazine (December 2014) about the People’s Climate March in Manhattan...
I used to view events on the plains during the nineteenth century as a simple conflict between whites and the few remaining Indians, between settlers and the people who already lived there. My visit...
Ever since I first heard of Tulips on Troost a few years ago, I’ve thought the nonprofit exemplified the kind of restoration that builds community, and I wanted to find out more about it. My reasons...
Sometimes when I drive from Denver to Kansas City, I wonder if I will be doing this drive when I’m eighty. The high, flat plains of eastern Colorado and western Kansas tend to bring out the...
I had an interesting conversation the other day with a woman who went to Pakistan in the mid-2000s to do research for a novel she was writing. Her advice to me was, “Don’t go. It’s...
During her keynote speech at the Grow Food Symposium, Oakland farmer Novella Carpenter made a joke about living next to vegans while raising “edible pets.” It was one of many laugh-out...
For years now I’ve been doing some kind of volunteer work for the environment. I began by doing office work for the Nature Conservancy in the 1990s, but that was too much like my day job. Since...
Todd and I recently went to Louisiana for a second surgery on his left ear. As always, I was amazed by the amount of trash along the highways and was determined to keep my trash off the side of the...
Denver Urban Homesteading, situated at the corner of Santa Fe and Second Avenue, is a liminal space with industrial buildings to the west and the Baker neighborhood with its old brick bungalows to...