The End is the Beginning…

Dear readers, today is a very special day for us. It was exactly a year ago today when we left to embark on this crazy grease journey. So happy anniversary to us! Our beloved Kali (the Grease Beast) took us on quite a journey across the states meeting many interesting people and visiting many familiar faces and beautiful places on the way. We want to take this time to send our love and gratitude to all of the people and places that helped us along the way.

MOVING OUT, ON and IN

As soon as word came thru that Hickory (the home owner) would be returning to Lettuce Bee, we made our arrangements for an earlier than expected move. As the housemates began to move their things out, we diligently cleaned, scrubbed, stocked up the wood stack, and put good vibes into the farmhouse so he could have a most welcoming return.

“REAL WORLD” VT Style

Eight people, picked to live in a house, off the grid in the Northeast Kingdom of VT. They did not have their lives taped and put on MTV, but they could have, just maybe they should have…

What a time we have had during our first few months living in Vermont. We have seen the rise and fall, the coming and going, the arising and passing of many things. As is the way of life, the changes came and came, but these particular changes felt pretty unique and… interesting. After the late summer’s work exchange experience at “Lettuce Bee” farm, we watched the family prepare to leave in the fall for quite the adventure on their newly refurbished grease powered school bus. We began paying rent for the cabin as we watched the house become filled to the attic with 6 new housemates, most meeting one another for the very first time. And so begins the next chapter of our life in Walden, VT.

Brave Visitors!

What a delight to have our good friends Dr. Steve Miller and Kristin come to visit us in the snowy woods for the weekend of February 14th. It felt like a mini vacation to have them hanging at the farm. We played games, went for snowy hikes, made a fire outside, rhymed, ate, and celebrated the Chinese New Year with craft making supplies that Kristin had brought up (leave it to a grade school teacher to add some construction paper fun to the day).

Lunch, Filmmaking, Re-Bop Records, and the Supreme Court

Our friend David has made his way up to VT to work on several projects, one being a documentary film about a local Vermonter Diana Winn. The more we learn about her story, the more we want to hear. Diana is a musician/songwriter who started the Re-Bop record label, where she brings together talented songwriters, musicians and child and adult vocalists to create songs for the “award winning” recordings. Another claim to fame is that she has been a part of a Supreme Court case, “Wyeth v. Levine,” that could have a major impact on the lives of millions of Americans.

Ten Dayz in the “City”

House sitting has been a service we have been providing often lately. From our care taking in Philadelphia to some serious pet sitting in rural Vermont, we fortunately had the opportunity to cat/house sit in Montpelier- the capital city. Not only was it fortunate for us to be staying in town at the home of some very cool older folks, we also coincidentally lost use of our vehicle just days before the gig. This city (town) is easily traveled without wheels, so we could live and function efficiently by walking everywhere we needed to go. Our dear friend, Iza, kindly drove us to our temporary dwelling, and when we arrived we saw we were just blocks from Hunger Mountain Co-op, so it was a bit like our lives back in Philly when we were just minutes from the Market.

She’s Frozen!

So continues our adventures with the mighty Goddess Kali, aka “The Beast…” We were expecting some troubles having a diesel vehicle in the cold, cold Northeast Vermont winter, but having such a mild winter so far she’s been taking the cold very well. After our Christmas visit to Philadelphia we returned to VT, and after a very warm January (temps in the 40’s) February brought the sub zero temps back. After a couple nights of -15 degrees we attempted to start her up on a cold morning to go visit our friend David as he did some filming at a local elementary school.

CALLING ALL BLOGGERS & WRITERS…

We are looking for some friends, writers, and other contributors to help add some content and more depth to our blog. We are hoping YOU can help us, whether you are inspired to write a regular piece or just from time to time. We are looking for entries about the following topics (separate or combined):

Traveling – stories from your travels and road trips, living in a new place, great photographs, etc…

Vegetarianism / Veganism – restaurant reviews, recipes etc…

Sustainable Living – farming, cooperatives, green building, permaculture, local economy etc…

Veggie Oil Conversion – stories, travels with WVO, experiences and any other technical stuff.

Please contact us and we can set you up with any info you need to get started.

Let’s get together and live all right…

Our great friend Chris Kleinberg was interviewed by the Philadelphia Metro newspaper this week about his communal home in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. I thought it would be appropriate to share this article with you because, not only did Chris tour the country in a veggie powered bus (like us) with his band MewithoutYou, but he and his wonderful wife live in this great communal home (again just like us). Their story and lives have been quite an inspiration to us. Read the article on the Metro’s website.

Moonlight in Vermont

Sam Cooke’s Moonlight in Vermont – mp3