mind body planet

Cornell madness

So this week has been a lot of fun and I wish you all could have been here with me in the wonderful Ithaca, New York, but unfortunately we can’t all be in paradise or it would be quite crowded. I finished off my final day today with a very interesting trip on to the campus where my friend Mckenzie will be getting her masters degree. This was an invitational so different departments were set up around campus handing out promotional items and pamphlets about their programs. The Cornell campus is amazing. It is probably the most beautiful college campus I have ever seen. The whole campus is built around a lake and the gorges that have rivers carving through them. The main path is a big loop around the whole thing and it is mostly shaded and surrounded by rivers and beautiful plants that are native as well as planted. There is one section of campus just devoted to gardens and each one has a theme. Each one displays plants of the various seasons. Of course the spring garden did not look so well since it is quite hot right now, but the rest looked really beautiful. May favorite was the one called the plantation which was devoted strictly to those plants one would find on a Caribbean or South American plantation style farm. That was the first time I had ever seen a banana tree or a coffee bush, and when I saw them I was sort of struck by the influence these sort of invisible plants have had on my own life. As we walked around the campus we came upon her building where she will have her office and take most of her classes. Right behind the building is a huge construction site and I was a little curious so I asked about it.

The building that is going up on the campus is what is called a Leed certified building. Basically this building was designed to fit the criterion of the LEED certification of energy efficiency. The United States Green Building Council has laid out a strict set of guidelines that are meant to constraint the building design to make it as clean and efficient as possible. The certification goes on a scale from just certification all the way up to a platinum status for the best designs. The rating goes on credits given for things like Sustainable sites, Water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design. All of these things are weighed together to see what kind of impact this building has during its construction as well as what kind of impact it will have as it stands. I think that this is amazing for Cornell and I hope to see more buildings doing this in the future. For now though this is the first one that I have seen.

I just wanted to leave that trip for you all with a nice pleasant note for the future of Ithaca. It will just keep getting better up there are hopefully here as well.

Cooperative Market

So today since I am down to just one or two more days here at the community house, I am going to talk a little bit about Ithaca and what sorts of ways this little college town is making same amazing strides in the fight against ecological degradation. The people of this little community from the college to the surrounding areas, are all quite obviously devoted to creating and maintaining something quite special in their town. With the farmer’s market I talked about yesterday I saw what I can imagine to be the goal of any market and any community around the world. We are all trying to make this world a better place and make it so that the beauty around us is protected. It seems that the people of Ithaca, surrounded by their famous gorges and waterfalls, are constantly reminded about the power and beauty of nature. Thus this sense of natural awareness demands of them a certain level of respect and responsibility to take care of what is around them.

One such idea is all over the area of Ithaca , and that is the cooperative community or business. A cooperative organization, or co-Op, is basically an organization that is maintained and owned by those who work within the established place. One great example of this is the grocery store that I went in to today. This store was owned by ever single person that worked there. That means that all forty or fifty people that you could see stocking shelves or cutting meat, was an owner of this business. That means money coming in to the store goes right back in to the community and not to a company headquarters or something like that. It also means that they are much more responsive to the needs and desires of their customers. Inside this store there were bulk herbs and spices, and bulk grains all along the walls. Most of the coffees , and many of the products, were fair-trade and Organic. Then there were a huge number of locally produced goods. Anything from yogurt to toilet paper made by local people could be bought and sold there. This freedom to choose what goes on is something that you do not find with a large company who sells all over the country or the world.

Another aspect of the same idea is something here called the eco-village. The eco-village is a place outside of town which is owned and operated by it’s inhabitants. They are also a zero waste community and they do much to help with eco-actions around the community at large.

My time is up for the day folks and so I will leave you with lingering visions of this utopia I have painted for you up here in Ithaca.

Ithaca Farmer’s Market(2)

Yesterday I was talking to you all about the farmer’s market, or trying to at least, here in Ithaca, New York. The main farmer’s market here is held every Saturday in the morning until around two or three when everyone starts to really thin out and go home with their produce and things. I got a chance to go to the market here for the first time yesterday and I must tell you that it made our markets here look kind of funny and like small children trying to do something greater than their means. Though our own local markets are doing well on their own, I can only hope that with the current developments in the minds of people around this country, that the organization and sense of community at home will grow.

After our chores in the morning, which today included picking the melons that were ripe and the beans that were so crispy, we had piled in to the vehicles. Off down the road in our veggie cars, we drove through downtown Ithaca and on to the market. When we pulled n to the parking lot there were almost no spaces left anywhere. When we finally got two they were not in sight of each other. The first thing that I noticed about this market was that it had it’s own building. This was not like back home where it is a converted parking lot or a street that has been closed for a few hours. No this was a huge wooden structure with a big farmer’s market sign on the front. It looked like it could have been a nice sized strip mall if it were all closed up and made of concrete or something.

The farmer’s market was just amazing on the inside. There were booths for everything. It would be like if you were to gather up all of the various vendors from around our town’s markets and put them in one place, then add another twenty or thirty unique booths. I got lunch at this organic Cambodian booth and I bought enough local Organic produce to fill up my big cooler on wheels. The thing that blew me away the most though above all else about this market was that it as a whole was devoted and committed to being a no waste market. At each entrance there were two cans for waste. One bin was for compost and one bin was for recyclables and there was a sign over each one showing what should go inside of them. Then there was a small can just for coffee cup lids which are a unique type of recyclable plastic. I mean this was like a conservationist’s dream. I certainly recommend that all of you out there take time and check this market out.

Ithaca Farmer’s Market

Good evening all. I am back at the computer tonight after a long and wonderful day here in Ithaca. If you didn’t read form yesterday, I got here two nights ago to an intentional community that my friends are a part of. I’m staying here until the 23^rd so I may have lots of different things to tell you about. Expect plenty of inspired entries since I am surrounded by a very amazing community of people. Today our itinerary was basically just one item. I wanted more than anything to see the famous Ithaca farmer’s market.

This morning there were some chores to get done before we could do anything else. I was more than happy to help out with some tasks since I want to eventually live in a community like this and because I am staying here for free. My task for the morning was to collect up the eggs that had been laid in the hours before we got up. So around seven I went out in to the yard between the garden and the woods where there is some flat grass and I collected about thirty eggs. These chickens are grass fed and totally free range so their eggs are significantly larger and of better quality than normal eggs that you would find in any supermarket. There were no duck eggs but we had plenty of eggs for my friend Jamie to make her amazing eggs Ranchero. She made them with onions, green peppers, and garlic from the garden as well as salsa that another housemate made this morning.

After breakfast we all pilled in to the car which is another topic which I might need to discuss at length. My friends Jamie and McKenzie who used to live here in town before they graduated, bought a new car about a year ago. The car they found on Craigslist and it was like a dream come true. It was a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta that had been converted to run on vegetable oil. Every week they used to pick up oil from shops around town and then just filter it at night in their back yard. Then they simply pour the oil in their car and go. They go through a tank of gas about once every month or so when they have been driving a lot. This summer though they have only put in one tank of gas and just a lot of vegetable oil. The van that the others took is also powered by vegetable oil and they actually converted it here themselves at the house when they all moved here. The process I hear is not hard if you have a mechanic on hand and so I think that this is where we should be moving if we want to really becoming independent of oil consumption.

I just realized I have made a bit of a mistake and took too much time going off on my little veggie oil tangent and I have run out of time for the day. I will continue this story tomorrow and maybe I will have some new things to talk about as well and keep me from the topic even longer.

Ithica

This week I have gone on vacation. For the first time since I came to college I am going to take a little bit of time off. I am coming up here to visit some of my friends and we’re staying at their new home which is an intentional community right outside of the city. I got in last night from the drive and didn’t get to do much more than come inside and hit the bed because it was pretty late. This morning though it was a different picture. I was greeted at breakfast by the owner and all of the members of the community which I believe number at ten. The grounds only comprise two small houses, but they’re located n six acres of land. Of course our breakfast was totally Organic and vegetarian. The ingredients were all from the garden or were made right here on the grounds of the community.

After breakfast we got to go out and really get the full tour of the grounds and I can’t tell you how amazing it really was. This time of year with the weather being as it is, this area is just perfect. We walked around in their two acre garden and I saw all of the things that they had growing. I saw the new scarecrow that they had put up just yesterday and the melons that are ready to be harvested. After the garden we moved on to the woods. As we walked to the end of the woods we passed lots of free-range chickens and ducks that they use for eggs, which is the only meat product that is eaten on the grounds. About fifty yards in to the woods is a little eco tree house that was built from a couple of fallen trees and recycled waste from the main house. Then we went back to the house because they wanted to take me on a little hike.

After we got ready we walked down to the eco house again and then on a trail beyond that. For about an hour we walked through steep climbs and rocky falls through some amazing woods. Every once in a while a creek would sort of spill out a little bit between some rocks. Then all at once we came out on to this huge running creek. Then we followed the trail to its end at a lagoon at the base of a waterfall. We spent the rest of the day diving from the top and sunbathing on the hot rocks. It was simply an amazing day.

Now we’re back at the house and we are sort of winding down for the day. Tomorrow we’re going to go out and look at the town and let the rest of the housemates fill in for the loss. we’re going to try to go to the huge farmer’s market that they have here and I will be sure to tell you all how it goes.