It's spring again today! Flowers spray the air with their sent and the sun dances in the sky. 1.5 weeks of classes left, then finals. I'm learning about fruit trees in one of my classes right now. It's a pretty reductionist class, but I still like hearing about fruit.

My new favorite flour is coconut flour! It is naturally a bit sweet and delicious, and makes great cookies. Would make a nice grain-less cake, too. Use some good quality coconut oil to stick it all together..mmmm.... I added cinnamon, too.

It's a rainy, chilly day. I'm going to have to take a hot bath :)

reading reading

I'm looking for new books to investigate through Amazon. The reviews that are 4 or 3 stars are usually the best--they will honestly point out flaws without being married to ideology, like many (not all!) of the 1 or 5 star reviews. I'm going through the Paleo books--like raw vegan but with meat instead of so much fruit and veggies, and some of them do cook. So interesting how similar they are; now I can clearly see why people distrust all ideologies. People just take what fits and ignore what doesn't. (note: many of them tried a strict vegan or raw vegan diet. So there are more similarities than not).

Partly it's fascinating to me because it's so different from what I like--instinctively, I think it's better to avoid eating animals, but the Paleo meals sounds so disgusting to me! I really never liked animal fat, and it wasn't because my parents discouraged it at all (they didn't). It's so interesting that some people have completely different preferences from me. It's a little easier to stomach reading about than the typical SAD food eater, because at least the Paleo people are minorly concerned about animal welfare. Anyway, I do like raw vegan food (just not the restrictiveness) and I am not going "Paleo" at all, but I like to read about experiences totally different from my own. (FYI--my favorite kind of meat, right before going vegetarian, was dry, white chicken. It seemed more like paper than an animal. This is not what the Paleo eater recommend eating. They are 180 from me).

Who can be so strict forever? I like hanging out with vegan-friendly people (vegan-friendly enough to share a vegan meal with me, but do whatever they feel is right for them), and leaving it at that. Whatever else they do, as long as they are nice enough and trying their best, is fine. I want to keep mellowing out as I age ;)

The sun sets late now--closer and closer to 8 pm.

My lab partner just told me she is leaving this school at the end of the semester. She went straight from undergrad to grad school, and will have only finished her first year. I really like her, she's down to earth and came from an environmental science background. She doesn't get along well with her adviser and finds school very stressful. It was funny how easily I could tell she'd made the right decision--her energy just seemed so much brighter, and lighter. She won't have a degree, but at least she doesn't have debt from this, either, so she'll be fine.

Then, a couple of MS-PhDs told me they are considering stopping after their MS. I can't blame them! It's so funny. I am very at peace with where I am, but I have just eight months left. Exciting!

I also learned about a new, more sustainable fertilization method-- human urine (a *sterile* product). It's a rich source of N and P in it, which are often limiting. This is often done in Asia, but the stigma here leads us to being more wasteful. We take the nutrients out of the soil, and flush them down the drain, where the concentrated nutrients make trouble elsewhere. Some are investigating a method of precipitating the essential part of urine into a solid form. This might help with the stigma, and make it easier (lighter than liquid) to transport. Very cool, once we examine and question our assumptions! Humanure is cool too, but more issues with pathogens. Humanure also helps close the loop!

It's a beautiful sunny day, and sunset's not until 7:30 pm. It's so exciting. Four weeks of class are left~~~change in the air!

Keep walking

Though there's no place to get to.

Don't try to see through the distances.

That's not for human beings.

Move within

but don't move

The way that fear makes you move.

Rumi

good times....

More often than being honked at by drivers in Ithaca, I am given a helpful tip--like once, something fell out of my bag, and today, I had a string dangling down by my wheel. People are so much nicer in a small town!

There have been some days in the 70s and 80s lately. Today was warm but gray, lovely enough.

There is going to be an event with community gardeners from NYC speaking here, that I am a part of. Exciting stuff!

vegas, part 3--casino

It's gotten up to 89 today, and the farmer's market starts tomorrow! It was freezing yesterday, but I am so excited by this sun!

OK--Vegas. I did stop by some casinos. I didn't gamble, just observed. At the Luxor, there was a girl dancing. I suppose she was technically an adult, but she looked younger than my 21-yr old sister! That was pretty sad. They are real humans up there, but it feels like people forget that. There were also flashing lights, lots of sounds (music and whirring noises from machines). I guess that's it--if you've seen one, you've seen em all.

I did manage to sneak into a spa for $10--the price for guests. I was supposed to pay $30, but they thought I was a guest because my friend was. Free fruit, water, juice, sauna, hot tub, steam room, bathroom and slippers--it was amazing! The massage was $75 for 25 minutes, so I declined--I would have done it for 60 minutes at that price, though.

All in all, a great experience. Camping better than casinos, though :)

vegas, part 2--field trips and death valley

We had two days of horticultural field trips, one after another, starting bright and early. The first day, we toured some overpriced suites ($40,000/day--amazing!) and learned about the crazy practices at 5-star hotels at the Bellagio. They have many plants that can't live in Vegas, so everyday they throw them out and replace them. Amazing. We also went to a completely unsustainable golf course, one that costs $500 for a game. It looked like summer in MN: dark green turf, lakes, ducks. Not desert.

Then we went to a less-ridiculous golf course--the areas where you would hit the ball were turf, but the rest (more than half) was desert landscaping, to save on water costs. It was a much cheaper golf course.

The next day, we learned about vegetables and grapes (for wine). They can compost and build raised beds for veggies, but they must irrigate the plants directly. Otherwise nothing will grow. There are more and less efficient ways of doing this. I got to try fresh asparagus out of the ground, yum!

Last we went to a vineyard. I did a wine tasting (my first ever, despite being by the Finger Lakes!) and then since we were only an hour away from Death Valley, my camping buddies and I decided to head out there!

Death Valley was amazing--amazing landscape, salt, land formations. Highly recommended. You can go hiking, but we had limited time.

TBC....