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.

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 Ivanafka Pava 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.

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.

Winter WVO- O No, O Yes!

It’s been a mild winter so far here in VT- last week (mid January) we had temperatures in the upper 30’s. However, right before we left to visit Philly for Christmas, we had been having subzero temps. The Beast was feeling it especially on the cold mornings at 6 am when we had to start her up to get Amy into Montpelier for her babysitting gigs. For the most part, “Kali” cooperated, but not without putting up a fight, she was angry and hating it. Since the house on the property is solar powered, we are unable to plug the truck’s block heater in overnight; in fact we can’t even plug it into the house at all because it drains the house batteries too quick. So our solution was to wake up 2 hours before we had to leave and plug it directly into the generator and run it until go time. This seemed to get her warmed up, and we were able to get Amy to Montpelier. We didn’t bother trying to run her on the vegetable oil, our ride to the city was a bit too short, and we didn’t want to take chances. So we had to buy some diesel (VT has treated winterized diesel) and some diesel additive to aid the cold starts.

Much Brotherly Love

Back to our wonderful homeland. It was Wintertime 2009 not so long ago. We left Walden and traveled through Montpelier (so Amy could get one more day of babysitting in) and headed southbound with a full car and a full tank of veggie oil. The plan was to make it back in time for Robert’s annual Grinch Party, and we did just that (sans a sleepy Amy). This is also where I begin my unintended journey to gain an upwards of 10 lbs…

EXTRA, EXTRA! Sagittarians and Saris!

December not only brought us a lot snow here in the North East Kingdom, but it also brought us two fabulous events that we were fortunate to attend. Our great new friend Chris (Yogi Mukti) invited us to his annual Sagittarius party in Montpelier, and we were happy to accept because “we like to party” and, hey, I (Jon) am part Sag myself! The email invite stated that it would be a tropical themed party and to dress for warm temps which sounded entertainingly ironic for this time of year in VT. So, after picking up Brooke from work, we ventured to the outskirts of Montpelier. When we arrived, as promised, there were subtropical temperatures in Mukti’s home along with people decked out in bathing suits and tropical wears.

Thanks and SNOW!

Though we missed being with family for Thanksgiving, we were lucky enough this year to share delicious meals with some new friends. Our afternoon began with a visit to “community supper” in our neighboring town of Hardwick. We have volunteered at community suppers two times now, and we try to make it out for the meal whenever possible. Local farms and businesses donate much of the food, and many of the smiling faces helping to cook and clean up are people from a wonderful community called Heartbeet Farm. The meal was fantastic. We were thankful for the abundance of many tasty meatless dishes and happy to feel at home in such a positive environment filled with love and goodwill.

FEVER, FEVER, FUN!

The temperatures are cooling, and we have tried to imagine what it will be like when these great outdoors become less friendly and less like an addition to our cabin. See, we have no bathroom or plumbing (our running water has frozen) and we are used to going “#1” amongst the trees and “#2” up the path in the outhouse or at the house. So far, we have still been able to find comfort in the chilled air, but we are anticipating the changes.