seek.

Here I am in Sonora. The crickets are chirping, the brewing beer is dripping, and one step outside will reveal the stars and galaxy.

Trust me though, cob construction is labor-intensive and hard work. Today Misha pointed out that he vowed at one point to never mix cob on a tarp again – as we were mixing the load on a bright blue tarp. For those unfamiliar with cob construction, it is a natural building method that utilizes clay (to bind), sand (as mass), and straw (tensile strength). Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been filling in conduit gaps of cob inside the house in which I am residing. There is something wonderful about digging into mud with your hands, and yet creating something useful. I plan to build a little structure in Cincinnati when I get back; natural building techniques are being utilized on the west coast and southwest mostly. Strawbale construction seems to be present in the ‘corn belt,’ but I want to see how successful a natural method can be in Ohio climate. More to come on that. (Above is an image of a mud box I made my first year in college. It was pretty successful in that it stayed together, but let's just say I have room for improvement.)

The other day I mentioned to Misha that there was a swarm of bees near their beehouse (word?). By swarm I meant the kind of group that would attack Winnie-the-Pooh when he tries to get honey, a simple gathering of bees that are going kind of crazy together. “What?! We need to find them!” Was the answer I received. A swarm is a real term applied to a family of bees and it means something when they are altogether outside of their home. Something like they’re leaving. We immediately looks around for the swarm to see if they were hanging out in a tree, probably a fruit tree I’m told. What we didn’t find : the bee swarm. What we did find : some delicious, ripe mulberries. Yum!

I’ve been learning a lot being here in Sonora. Included in this recently acquired knowledge is the fact that we, as humans, need to eat meat. A dentist, Dr. Weston Price, in the 1920s and 30s set off traveling around the world to find people with perfect teeth and overall health. He used 14 people groups to study the food they ate and found similarities amongst them. I’ve recently been reading a book based on his research entitled Nourishing Traditions. I haven’t finished it, but basically I’m supposed to eat a lot of good butter out of all the oils out there, and the nutrients found in meat and carefully prepared whole food is unlike anything processed. Vegetarianism isn’t for nothing though. It has been good to cleanse and learn over the last 2.5 years about nutrition and the importance of eating responsibly. So here is the rankings in how one should eat from my novice knowledge:

1. Eat local, responsibly grown animals and organic food.

If you cannot do this because you live in an urban area or can’t find good sources,

2. Vegetarianism is a good option.

This is because it is healthy to a certain degree, especially compared to

3. Eating corn-fed beef, sad chickens, abused pork, irresponsibly harvested fish. And such.

It really shouldn’t be asking too much to know where our food comes from. The difference between animals and animal products from a well-treated and grown animal versus one raised unnaturally/inhumanely has vast effects on one’s own health as well as the environment. For example, I have learned that even if an animal is killed in a painful or terrorizing way, traces of this can be found in its body (carcass), as it releases hormones at this point that we don’t really want to be eating.

Hopefully more on this to come as well, but in the meantime it may be helpful to click here.

Now’s the time to reflect on Seattle. The questions I asked myself on my blog last August 25^th deserve to be answered.

• How important is coffee really to Seattleites – It is really really important. My saying this may come from four Starbucks being within one block downtown, the endless number of independent coffee shops, having a roommate who journeyed to ten different coffeehouses to get a free cup, or maybe the endless Starbucks and Via we had available at the slightest sign of a ‘special event’ kind of day. It should also be noted, though, that tea also has a presence in the city, as there are multiple teahouses, one of which was near me and offered tea classes.
• What is the spiritual climate – I recall telling someone I had just met at the time in Cincinnati last year that I was moving to Seattle. “That’s the least churched city in the nation,” he said. I attended a wonderful church, Bethany Community Church, during my year, so maybe I did not recognize the lack of Christianity. But the churches are charged, growing, and striving to make a difference. There seemed to be a lack of outreach, at least within this church community, to surrounding people and neighborhoods, most of the impact that was broadcasted to the congregation was about the water well program we had in Uganda. As far as non-church spirituality, yoga, the outdoors, general wealth and well-being, and nutrition seemed to offer people a reason to be happy and cheerful. And, spiritual? I don’t know. . .
• What am I doing with my life and where will I go from here – I do not know what I’m doing with my life, but I am going to grad school, which will take care of two years of it.
• Learning to live with new people, and all of us being in the similar financial situations - will this help us be creative and chill in spending quality time together – Oh my gosh, I spent practically all of my waking hours with my lovely americorps team. Throw in a long day, late night, and we were sure to have at least one addition to our household. I recall one of our first nights in the house (lovingly referred to as the ‘Commune’) when no one had friends or a clue what to do and we sat around talking and playing cards. The year definitely progressed past that point, as friends were made, responsibilities and plans to be had, and everyone was going in different directions. If that happened in the evening, though, one could always rest assure to see their fellow house-mates the next day at work. And the next, and the next. . .
• What kind of people are the recipients of Habitat housing out here – The houses we built were out in the suburbs so there wasn’t as much cultural diversity as the affiliate within Seattle. Out of the six houses we worked on, three families had a mother and father, three families were single mothers; two had one child, two had two, two had three. Two families were originally from other countries, at least one was local for most of her life. Statistics aside, it was really nice towards the end of our time at the site when we had special events like the house dedications and we really got to know a few of the homeowners. To be invited to a home you helped build from the formwork up, and drink a beer, listen to music, and say hi to homeowners in the neighborhood as they come and go is an inspiring, wonderful feeling. The recipients of Habitat housing were a community.

There you have it. Insight into one year of americorps with Habitat for Humanity. What a year.

This bracelet is a reminder to me of my experience with Habitat. We were having a party after work in one of the homeowner's homes. The daughter of another homeowner commented on my stretchy shape bracelet, which she liked, so we decided to make a trade.

I dislike the thought that some animal has been made miserable to feed me. If I am going to eat meat, I want it to be from an animal that has lived a pleasant, uncrowded life outdoors, on bountiful pasture, with good water nearby and trees for shade. - Wendell Berry.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him. . .

Psalm 37.7a