what ive been doing with my time

yes, i do not have a job right now so i have alot of time. as i mentioned in my last post i am trying to get some volunteer programs going on around here and i am thinking about organizing a potluck. i am trying to figure out a good place to hold the potlucks. the other day i went to the senior center and applied for a volunteer position. Michlle and i both filled out a cory form and diane, the lady in charge will be getting back to us. michelle really hit it of with this man named joe. also michelle and i walked around putting letters in people mailboxes offering a voluntary service of snow removal, cooking, and anything else we might be able to help with. the other day i went to town hall and asked if there were any volunteer organizations in town i could help out with. the lady looked at me like i was absolutely crazy. in this town there really is no voluntary organizations. i left her my info and she said she would get back to me. if i dont her back from here by tuesday or wednesday ill go back. if things dont get going in a month or 2 i am leaving this town and going somewhere more progressive. i don;t much like the suburbs.

lately ive been really into health. i am interested in learning more about food and cooking. ive been growing sprouts since i got back. mostly mung beans and i also started on some chickpeas. i think i will soon order some more seeds and beans in bulk.there is a free sprouting workshop on the 22nd! almost everyday i have a green smoothie. in the smoothie i put kale, banana, apple, cinnamon and sometime carrot. today my smoothie was beet,carrot, zucchini, kale and banana. it sounds not so tasty but it was delicious and purple. i also made some breads. my favorite was the whole wheat and sunflower seed loaf. i also made flourless black bean brownies but they ended up in the composting bucket after they fell upside down on the floor. i was going to eat them but i was reminded that the dogs walk in that area a lot, and the dogs are always stepping in poop.

ive been trying to prepare food for my parents and my uncle more often. i've been doing a pretty good jobi think. t im reading more up on food combining and digestion.


i see michelle almost everyday. we really have a lot of fun. im lucky that she is around. i showed her and my sister how to ferment cabbage. then michelle and i made sourdough starter that should be ready tomarrow. yesturday we went to her grandmas , ate ice cream and watched guess whos coming to dinner. one of my favorite things about michelle is that she helps me be in the present moment

also im trying to organize a eastern massachusetts permaculture group. i started a facebook group under the name " eastern massachusetts permaculture" one person interested in the group recomended a hike, which i think would be a great bonding experience for us eastern massers

i think i will be getting my car back on the road sometime soon which will be nice.

im back and rather motivated

ive been back in the states for almost 2 weeks. europe was amazing and i miss it very much. it was very strange coming back. i remember going for a walk around these suburbs the morning after being home and noticing all the ridiculously huge houses with the big fancy cars in their driveways and the huge lawns of chemically fertilized grass. i have been feeling anxious back here. for the past few months i have been around people who share the same interests as i do and now im back here, in america, the land of excess and selfishness. but its not all bad, its a great country and all. i met alot of americans and people from england who have moved to europe to escape their country, and for a while that was my plan. but like my brother said if everyone ran away everything would fall apart and no positive change could be made.i could be pretty much anywhere i want to be right now but im chosing to stay in this town to try to get things going.( and michell is here too) there is no sense of community here. we need to work together as a community. i have had some thoughts on what i can do about this. i am interested in renting out a space in town and having weekly potlucks or something like that. it would be a good opportunity to bring people together. also i am interested in starting a group of maybe 10 or 20 people who pair up in groups of 2 and visit with people and maybe cook them some good healthy food.

another post

today was the nicest day in sintra so far. the weather was great. warm and sunny. today i continued sheet mulching, planted a couple keyweeeeeee trees, transplanted a few things, made room for the herb spiral we are going to create tomarrow, and i did all this withought throwing up any fish.

the plan was for me to go south on monday, but howard and julia asked me to stay an extra day so we can build an herb spiral and do a few other things. i am very happy to be working for them. i like it here.

i kind of stopped washing my face and for the first time since i was 12 i havnt been braking out with pimples. but whenever i do wash my face or shower i brake out like crazy. i showered 2 days ago and now i have these big juicy pimples. i think it is because there are bacteria on the skin, good and bad, and when you wash you get rid of most of them but the bad ones are stronger and what not. the oil on the skin is probolly a natural protectant.

i remember when i was a little kid i would never ever brush my teeth. my parents would tell me to go to thebathroom and brush my teeth and i would go in and close the door and they would think i was brushing. but for a long time i didnt brush. i was going completely brushless!!!! and my teeth were great. and then i started to brush, and after not to long i got my first cavity. hmmmm.

let me explain why i ate fish today

for the past couple months i have been in the mood for fish. I havent ate any fish, chicken, cow or anything for over 2 years. lately i have been doing alot of gardening and in the process i accidentally kill worms and these big weird looking bugs. i think about that alot when gardening. then i started thinking about how every time i take step on the dirt im killing all kinds of organisms. in some sense i feel like i am absolutely no better then a fish, or a worm, or any kind of microorganism. therefore i decided i would eat fish tonight and see how it made my body feel. Before i started eating the fish i said thanks and all that. I wasnt just stuffing my face ya know. Respect. I didn't feel like i was doing something wrong. I ate slowly and gratefully.
The restaurant we went to was a favorite of howard and juilias. they said it was some of the best fish around. they told me how the restauant was family owned and the fish were caught in the ocean and not farm raised, and the quility was as good as it can get. When we got to the restaurant the waiter was really nice, he shook our hands and took good care of us. for desert i had some sweet cake that was made with alot of eggs and sugar. delicous. then we drank complimentay "fire water" which was some kind of liquor. vey very strong
ill try to get some pics of the event soon

long day

its after midnight, usually i am asleep by now. michelle is keeping me awake.
today i dug 2 big holes. and i planted bananas. the idea is for the grey water to fill them instead of going to a treatment plant. we are planting lots of plants around them to absorb water. good plants to put there are sedges, rushes, reeds and such. tomarrow i will propogate some canish. canish is popogated by root division. you dig the roots and there wil be a few nodules. just put them in there.
i also did alot of sheet mulching today. its kinda a pain in the but cause i have to walk down the road to a neighbors and take there horse manure, fill up a gabage barell then carry it over. back and forth back and forth. but its for a good cause. my butt is sore though.
i need to sleep

howard and julias

i really like working for howard and julia. they are great great great!!! howard is a teacher of contact improvasasion and julia is very pregnant. today i dug a rain garden in their yard. tomarrow i will plant it out with cuttings that we took from a neighbor of theirs who has a 30 year old food forest. the lady must have been 80 yearls old and she was digging out a mature banana tree to give to us. gheeesh. inspiring. her back is well hunched and looks painfull but she still works hard. i tried to take the shovel but she didnt like the way i worked it.
tomarrow or sometime soon i will dig another big hole and plant out a banana circle. we are planting a banana circle to take care of the blackwater. hopefully the banana and the other plants we plant with them do a good job of sucking up all that not so good stuff.

allison is getting married

allison and girard are getting married!!!! very very exciting. she will be my first friend to get married. girard proposed to her on chritmas eve in a gazeeeeeeeeeebo. the wedding is the may after this one. what will i wear, i do not know. do i need to get a haircut? maybe ill jsut wash my hair and that will be enough. maybe ill find a toaster or dishwasher in the dumpster to give them