veghippy hero / December

Hillery Duran!

This month's veghippy hero is the manager of Red Willow Farm in Taos Pueblo, NM. Hillery has become a bridge for old and new, young and old, by continuing a legacy of food, farming, and education in her community. She has an inspiring story to share with us about her experiences growing up learning traditional agricultural ways. Check out our interview below!

Sunshine: So Hillery, can you tell us a little bit about the history of Red Willow Farm?

Hillery: The farm was officially added to the Red Willow Education Center (2003) in 2007. When this land was for sale, there were 2 people who had the same dream to establish a place where the community can come together and give a place for the youth to gain skills for the future. When these 2 people came together, they bought it! When the farm was built they started a co-op, the Taos Pueblo Red Willow Co-op, and they started networking with different farms and applying for grants to buy these two greenhouses which are right behind me now. Actually, one of the founders is my mom. I'm happy to continue her legacy and I think she's happy to know that I still work here too.

Sunshine: When did you start working here?

Hillery: I started here in 2006 when the building for the farm was in its beginning stages. They had different classes for high school students that taught traditional agricultural techniques used in the Pueblo. That's how I first got involved, through school.

Sunshine: And what is your position at the farm now?

Hillery: Before, I was just working here, pulling weeds, planting, farming basically! But now my title is farm manager, which involves all the number crunching and everything that comes with running a business. I'm learning a lot, like learning when to say yes and when to say no, how to negotiate with people and such. Sometimes it's a lot of pressure. Luckily I have a lot of help so it makes me feel better. Bill Brockbrader has been helping me a lot, being my right hand man, my handyman. Cause to be honest I don't personally know how to fix broken windows or how to fix...anything else that goes wrong! The site had a few issues when we started growing this winter. The pumps shut off and the plants froze. Then we had to replant everything all over again (sigh). It get's crazy sometimes!

Sunshine: Oh no! But I noticed the Farmer's Market still kept on! You're doing a great job Hillery.

Hillery: Yes, well I'm proud to say that the Red Willow Farm has a year-round market. We are one of the few farms in the Taos area that grow crops even during the winter time.

Sunshine: What's it like to run the Farmer's Market?

Hillery:  It's really neat to grow in the winter time. Inside the greenhouse its about 75degrees and then you go outside and there's a couple feet of snow on the ground! The farmer's market started in 2010. Back then we had a lot more farmers than we do today. Unfortunately, one of our struggles now is finding farmers in our community who still grow food and still believe in growing their own food. We've had such a loss of that since I started. Before, we had about 9 different vendors. They were all older members of the community and they did farming in the traditional way like using the sequias, the ditch water that we get on the Pueblo. There are a few that have passed away already. Now only about 5 of the original farmers are still here and still part of the co-op. Out of that, only 2 of them still sell their produce with us.

Sunshine: Hillery, can you give us some perspective on what makes Red Willow Farm so unique?

Hillery:  With everything we do here, we pull our traditional agricultural ways that we've known forever and mix it in with modern day technology like the heating system, the irrigation system, and the solar panels. In 2011 we got the garn and we have solar panels that powers our buildings.. It's great to be running in a sustainable way. 

The diversity of people that this farm brings is also very special. We have many people who come out and volunteer. A lot of people from town come to our market, although we're trying to get more people out here and connect with them. Many of the youth that start out with us end up coming back years later. I think it's awesome that the kids enjoyed working here so much that they come back.

Sunshine: Can you share more about how the greenhouses are heated?

Hillery: Yes. In the east greenhouse, there are 2 barrels with fans inside which sucks up the hot air during the day, and at night it releases the heat into the ground. There are also another set of pipes that run under the greenhouse which is moderated by the garn. Now, what the garn does is it circulates 3300 gallons of heated water to create radiant floor heating. In the west greenhouse, it's a little different due to the scale of the greenhouse. It is a lot bigger in there so there are larger pipes to encompass the entire space. The garn also provides the hot water to the Farmhouse as well, which is all wood-fired heat. We build a fire 2-3 times a day and the tank temperature is kept to 120-160Degrees during the winter. We get our wood from members of the community, or sometimes the ward chief's office brings wood over for us if they have to cut down any trees. It's great because when the fire gets to the high temperature, it becomes smokeless. It's called "gassification." The smoke was a concern for us because we were worried about creating harm to the environment. But it's eliminated due to that process. We also make sure to use wood that hasn't been stained like Elm or Pinon or Red Douglas Fir.

Sunshine: Hurray! Thank you! Now, education seems to be very intertwined with the farm. What kind of programming do you offer for the youth?

Hillery: Working with kids and teaching them is probably the most fun part of my job. Each year, I hire 6 Greenhouse Interns to work with me. It's a paid internship. During the school year, they come in from 3:30p - 5:30p in the afternoon. But this coming year, we got some more funding so I can hire 12 kids now! They are usually kids from the Pueblo. In the summer, they're here a lot longer from 8:00a - 12p. I take them around to neighboring farms in the community to show them who is growing what, and to give them a sense of mentorship among the elders. This way, they can know who else they can go talk to if they have any questions about farming. It also offers them an opportunity to do different kinds of farm work. We keep them pretty busy. They help us harvest for the market, and while they're weeding we teach them about the plants that are growing. A few of them help us with marketing too. Last week they came to the radio station to do some advertising. We've also done programs with Headstart, and we have an entrepreneurial program in its pilot stages right now for the older kids (age 18-30). As you can tell, we definitely keep the youth involvement strong here.

Sunshine: How did you get into farming Hillery?

Hillery: My grandparents were farmers. My family would always be involved in planting or fetching water from the sequias. I grew up with it in my life so going into college, I applied for a work-study internship through Stem which focused on agricultural work and studying the plants in the area. I didn't really know what I wanted to do at that time but then I ended up interning here at Red Willow for a year and a half. After that I just kept coming back, checking in, even though I wasn't working there anymore. When I graduated, I got a call from Ryan, the other founder of Red Willow Farm, and he asked me if I wanted to work here full time. I live like right across the street so I literally ran over to meet him and the journey started from there. Me and the manager - who actually turned out to be my cousin Angelo - redid everything. It was exhausting because doing all this stuff just between the two of us was very difficult. We implemented the internships and extra farm help after that, especially during peak season!

Sunshine: What do you enjoy most about farming?

Hillery: I enjoy the freedom I have working outside or in the greenhouses. I love being with everyone here, helping each other, teaching the kids. I love learning what we can still do with our land, and working with everyone to build a healthier and happier community!

Sunshine: Anything we can look forward to for the future of Red Willow Farm?

Hillery: Oh my gosh, I am so excited for the Spring. I've already been planting. As far as produce goes, we'll have spinach, kale, swiss chard, and hopefully my tomatoes will make it through the winter! There's gonna be a lot of new activities like beekeeping, and installing our flower garden. I'm really interested in connecting with a wellness center for people with diabetes or cancer because I believe a healthier diet can help people. I'm gonna do some research for that over the winter and see what we can get started this coming year.

Sunshine: Can you give us some inspirational words before we part? :)

Hillery: It's only up to you, yourself as a person, to take a good step towards the future and a better stronger community.

Red Willow Farm

885 Star Road

Taos Pueblo, NM

87521

If anyone is interested in volunteering at the farm - even if it's just for 30minutes - the Red Willow Farm is always welcoming new people to learn and be a part of this blossoming community!

The Red Willow Farmer's Market is open every Wednesday from 10a - 5p, rain, sleet, or snow! Please go to www.redwillowfarm.com or LIKE the Facebook page [here] for more information!

veghippy heroes / November

Kyle and Jolene !

It's been a while, but the "veghippy hero" segment is back! This month, we have two incredible individuals with a vision to create an eco-village in Guatemala. I was lucky enough to meet them at Earthship Academy before they headed south on their journey across Mexico. I became very curious about their story when I found out they were driving a mini bus named"Lewis" that runs on vegetable oil... Check out our interview below!

Sunshine: So! Kyle and Jolene, can you tell us a little bit about your trip and what you're doing here?

Jolene: Well, basically, we're trying to transition into renewable and sustainably harvested energy. So driving our veg-oil bus is part of this transition. As you know, waste veg-oil is a way we can move around the country without using fossil fuel, and that's the biggest thing - no more fossil fuels for us. I went to the tar sands last year, and did a healing walk around one "tailing lake." It was huge, it took us 7 hours just to walk around one. I saw people dying and animals dying. I was like, this is just not a sustainable way of living, this is not right. We can't be taking something from the earth and killing people and animals. So that is how it started. Kyle and I have had a dream of traveling together for a while, and then this year we got a bus gifted to us from a friend.

Kyle: We've had a property in Guatemala for a couple of years and we've always wanted to get back to the land and live sustainably, support ourselves and grow our own food, so this trip has been a while in the making. We'd been planning to drive down with veg-oil and now it's finally happening! We're making a documentary about our trip too and we're stopping to visit different sustainable communities, and Earthship Academy was a big part of that. We're documenting what we're learning about and we're gonna try to put all these ideas into practice when we get to Guatemala.

(Photo by Kyle)

Jolene: We are looking to build an educational and healing center with Earthship principles as well as permaculture principles. The idea is that people can come and learn different healing modalities and find what suits them best to do their own healing, as well as learn to connect with the Earth again and build in a way that is not harmful - but in a kind way. We want to be able to teach people that and share that wisdom. One of the really big things that I'd like to do when we get there is if the locals are interested, show and share with them how to treat their own waste water so there's less pollution. Also, how to collect rainwater in an efficient way.

Sunshine: Amazing. That's a beautiful goal you both have! Now, you said your bus has a name... can you tell us about that??

Jolene: [laughter] Yes! His name is Lewis! He came with that name, and the people that converted him kept the name, because he was a bus from Lewis county. That's how he got his name and we decided to keep it going forward. We love it.

(Photo by Jolene)

Kyle: In fact, our whole project is called "Lewis and the Fireflies." Lewis is the bus and we are the fireflies! He's an old school bus that someone else converted. They "camperized" him into an RV and put the veg-oil system in. We inherited all that and we've just been learning how it works as we go. 

Sunshine: You've been on quite a long journey already! Where did you start? Where have you gone? And eventually you're headed to Guatemala right?

Jolene: Well, it started in Vancouver, in British Columbia. And that's where we kind of created the plan and got ready to take off. We had a fundraiser, we did an indiegogo as well as fundraising event - which was a lot of work but that's another story! [And then went across the border this April. We left him in storage all summer, then we went through Bellingham, different places in Washington, down through Oregon and California. We took some time to visit friends, or people who we'd like to refer to as family - family that you create...

Kyle: By the time we hit Northern California we had to go inland to make it to New Mexico for Earthship Academy so then we drove across a bunch of places we've never been before! Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Utah, Colorada, and eventually New Mexico.

And from here...well, where are we going from here?

(Photo by Jolene)

Jolene: We are heading to Arizona down to Mexico. When we're in Mexico we're hoping to stop at some sustainable communities to learn a little bit more. We want to see what people are doing to live off the grid, and to live in a better way, a kinder and gentler way with the Earth and all beings. We want to learn from them and capture that footage to share with others. Then we are headed to Belize for the winter. I will be teaching yoga and Kyle will be teaching sea kayaking for an eco-tour company. After that we have an opportunity to go to Jamaica as volunteers at a retreat center. The owner offered to teach me what I need to know about running a successful healing and retreat center which is our dream in Guatemala.

Kyle: Now, Lewis is not an aquatic bus yet...[Sunshine's laughter] When we head to Jamaica there's a pretty big ocean crossing there so we will leave him in Belize with some friends, but when we come back we'll get back on the road and head to Guatemala! [Jolene cheers] Lewis will be the first structure that we live in while we build other things on our land and farm.

Jolene: I think we're gonna have a workshop in May to start up the tire foundation and an adobe hut...

Kyle: Just down the road from us in Guatemala, is this place where they teach green building and they do super adobe and earth bags. They are doing all kinds of crazy stuff, like building temples out of earth bags! So we're gonna get in touch with them and we're gonna partner up and run workshops together.

Sunshine: Kyle and Jolene, can you share with us how the bus runs on veg-oil?

Kyle: Sure. Well, you have to have a diesel vehicle. Then, you get a veg-oil kit to convert it. You have a separate tank for the veg-oil, so the system becomes a hybrid where it runs on both diesel and veg-oil. When we start the car, we use diesel to warm up the engine to the right temperature, then we switch over to veg. It goes through a filter and the are lines connected to the engine. The mileage is about the same as diesel (about 9mpg with Lewis) and it is cleaner burning. Of course, with veg-oil you are not using "new" fuel, you are using up "waste."

Jolene: The process is a little tricky at first. When you collect "waste" vegetable oil, you have to filter it. You can get it from people who filter it for you too, and they usually charge but it's great to support people who are doing that.

To be honest, having a veg-oil vehicle is a clean way of traveling - but it's a messy ordeal! You get grease over EVERYTHING...

Kyle: If you think about restaurants and deep fried foods, and when you get that stuff on you...well veg-oil is that concentrated grease. So you just have all these buckets full of grease around you all the time. Thankfully we haven't spilled anything in Lewis yet, but it gets pretty messy.

We pour the grease from these buckets into our filter tank through a funnel on the back of our bus every few hours when we need to refuel. It could run on all different kinds of veg-oil. Some people have supplied us with soy bean oil and canola oil. Any kind of vegetable oil is compatible as long as it gets filtered so the water content evaporates.

Sunshine: How does it feel not to have to spend money on fossil fuel?

Jolene: VERY GOOD. When we are running on veg-oil it is very freeing. It's inspiring and empowering knowing that you don't have to use fossil fuel, knowing that you can live another way. Just like with Earthships, you don't have to go in just one direction.

Kyle: Yeah it's the same thing with Earthships. It's like, you realize, "Hey, I don't need fossil fuels to heat and run my home, I can do it in other ways!" Passive solar heating for example. 

Jolene: I definitely will say that I don't think running on veg-oil is the answer because there is just not enough waste vegetable oil in the world to power all the vehicles we have. But I think it's a great way to begin the transition into a more sustainable culture.

Kyle: We're not perfect but we're exploring fuel alternatives and just having fun along the way. We're trying to approach it with an open mind, and patience, and good humour. 'Cause stuff happens along the way and we'l be like "Shit! Well...cool!" We've been learning a heeeeck of a lot. Every time something goes wrong, it's a new opportunity to learn something. 

Sunshine: Have you had some ups and downs while on the road?

Jolene: Yes. Poor wiring is one...the electrician that worked on our bus originally miswired the switch board so we've had to deal with that! And then Lewis has broken down a couple times throughout our trip too.

Kyle: It's interesting, he's got a personality! He's held together with love and duct tape and whatever but...[Sunshine's laughter] Actually, the people who converted Lewis originally, they traveled aruond the country and made a documentary about urban farming. So Lewis has experience with documentary filmmakers. He's kinda guiding the process in some ways. 

Jolene: We're starting to say this motto: "Lewis always knows." 

Kyle: Lewis seems to know when we need to slow down or stop. For some reason he'll break down - for some "weird" reason. But then we'll end up meeting someone that we wouldn't have met otherwise who gives us another "piece to the puzzle." We'll run into someone who'll say "hey come stay here" and we get another adventure or lesson for our travels. Most of the time when he's broken down for a couple of hours have been the times when we needed to meet someone. So, Lewis has wisdom in that.

Jolene: He's part of the Divine plan!!! Sometimes I forget the Divine plan, and I get really frustrated and yell "LEWIS!!!" But then an hour later I'm like, "okay, that's why he did that..." [laughter]

Sunshine: I'm really excited for you both. The things you two are doing here with this veg-oil bus is just a great example of the kind of sustainable future we can all have. Do you have any inspirational words or recommendations for our audience before we finish?

Jolene: Believe in the beauty of your dreams, cause nothing is impossible. We ARE the change! Which means that making the change in yourself will lead to the change in the world around us.

Kyle: Sometimes it takes a leap of faith but when you get to the other side, it's totally worth it. And I just want to say thank you, Sunshine. It's been so good to share lessons and building with you for the last month.

Sunshine: [cheers and glows] Yaaay.

Love you two!! Be well and be safe.

To follow Kyle and Jolene on their epic journey to Guatemala...you can check out their website [here] or "LIKE" their facebook page.

Cheers to new friends/family =)

-PEACE*~!

Earthship Academy - Week 2

Foundations of Earthship Construction

(Photo courtesy of Charmaine Jones)

Hello!! In this post, I'd like to share some know-how on Earthship construction that I've learned while here at Earthship Academy.

First off, tires form the foundation of Earthship design. Why use tires? Tires are currently one of the world's primary and problematic sources of waste. It is estimated that about 300 million tires are thrown away each year. The rate at which tires are produced in relation to their expendability has resulted in an overwhelming amount of tires in local landfills.

(Source: the Times-Tribune)

 One of the solutions the government Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has come up with is to burn the tires and cultivate the fumes for fuel. However, while the EPA claims that tire burning neutralizes the toxic chemicals such as benzene, lead, butadiene, and styrene, these claims have not been proven and continue to pose a serious risk for the environment.

Meanwhile, Earthships provide an effective means to repurpose used tires without remanufacturing or chemically decomposing the material. The availability of used tires across the world makes it a great resource for sustainable building construction. This means, Earthships can be built anywhere. One of the benefits in situations where Earthships are hailed for humanitarian and relief efforts is that they can find tires, even in remote places such as the Andaman Islands and the Philippines where it is usually very difficult to ship building materials.

(Photo courtesy of Charmaine Jones)

A conventional model Earthship uses about 1000 tires to create the foundation. When packed with dirt, tires become like durable bricks that provide structural support and thermal mass for the building. Earthships have achieved incredible success in passive solar energy design due to its tire foundation. In fact, the most current Earthship design is able to maintain a constant 72 degree temperature inside the home - naturally - without conventional heating or cooling systems because of its thermal mass.

Another reason why tires are used in Earthships is because of it durability. During a lecture with the creator of Earthships, Michael Reynolds, he explained that even after a forest fire, an Earthship in New Mexico did not burn down thanks to the tire wall foundation. "It's true that a pile of tires, once on fire, is almost impossible to extinguish. Both in the case of rammed-earth tire walls and tire bale walls, there is insufficient oxygen to maintain an ongoing fire and can easily be extinguished." Reynolds showed us a picture of the resulting fire and it displayed the interior and corner of the roof of the Earthship destroyed, but the tire base was still intact! It was a pretty astounding sight and definitely proved the efficiency of tire wall application.

(Photo courtesy of Charmaine Jones)

On this second week of Earthship Academy, I had the chance to work on a tire-brick foundation for a new project. Here is an infographic I created to show the simple process of building a tire wall that anyone can do!:

Step 1: Find used tires with similar dimensions and line the bottom with cardboard. For our build, we mainly used tires that were marked "P235/75R15." However, when the tires weren't marked, we used a measuring tape to find ones that were of similar sizes. Then we used scrap cardboard and lined the tire until the holes were completely covered.

Step 2: Place newly cardboard lined tires in rows on your planned construction site. We lined the tires on our construction site along a straight line which would form the foundation of the building. Now they were ready for the next step, "tire pounding."

Step 3: Fill and pack tires with dirt to make the "tire brick." We prepared buckets of dirt from the mesa and poured them into the tires. A sledge hammer was used to "pound" the dirt into the sides until they were solid and firm.

Step 4: Stack and Stagger tire bricks until a wall is formed! One tip before stacking the tires is to make sure the row of tires are even because sometimes there will be variations in thickness of the tire bricks after they have been pounded. When you've built up the tire wall, you can plaster over it and you can even add a aluminum can or bottle mosaic design!

The possibilities are endless when you use recycled materials...

(Picture of new Earthship Village Ecologies (EVE) building)

Talk to you soon!

-Peace*~!

Earthship Academy - Week 1

Greetings from Taos NM!

(Photo courtesy of Sorriso Lu)

So, the first week of Academy is over - and what an exciting first week it's been! On the first day, I was stunned to find out that there were going to be over 60 students from all over the world attending this year's final academy session - making it the largest group at Earthship Biotecture thus far. Upon signing in at the Academy doors, I learned that there were people from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Portugal, Nova Scotia, Ireland, Iceland and even Nigeria here to learn about the best sustainable living solution through smarter building design - Earthship Biotecture!

During orientation, they assigned us our housing, class groups, and program schedule for the next month. Since this Academy is only a 4-week session (they also offer 6-week sessions), we would only have one day off each week. From Monday through Saturday, we would have lectures, Earthship tours, and build work, alternating in the morning and afternoon with the other groups. It was going to be a month full of excitement, intensive learning experiences, and new challenges. I was filled with anticipation!

After orientation, we checked into our dorms. I was assigned to the "Castle" Earthship which was one of Michael Reynold's earliest conceptual design experiments. The Castle is 3 stories tall with an all aluminum can exterior finish. The building definitely resembled an old European "Castle" with emphasis on rustic wood and grey stone application throughout the building. The first floor had an open greenhouse at the entrance, a kitchen, and living room fitted with an adobe fireplace surrounded by stone seating.

Running straight through the of the Castle was a wooden spiral staircase that led to the upper floors. The second floor led to the bathroom and the two single bedrooms on either side. Third floor led to an open loft where me and 3 other women would share a space. I nestled into my spot right in front of large expansive windows overlooking Taos and the beautiful surrounding mountain range. I set up my bed and looked forward to seeing the sunrises here every morning.

Shanti, our Resident Assistant, greeted us after we satiated our early curiosity and excitement. She went on to tell us about the Earthship we would be living in. Shanti explained that the Castle, like all Earthships, runs on solar power. During the day our battery would be constantly replenished when we used electricity. In the evening we would be on a battery reserve until the next day. The building's solar system has been working for almost a decade and has proven incredible efficiency. As we'd find out later that week, the reserves were so effective that we were even able to survive an all night party with music and everything! ^.^

Shanti explained, although the Castle uses water from an underground well, the evolution of Earthships has brought the more recent building design to also catch and filter rainwater directly from the roof. And like all Earthships, the Castle has a grey and black water system to manage our water waste. When we shower or use the bathroom sink, the used water feeds into the planters in the greenhouse area where various plants are growing. The plants help purify the grey water and is then recirculated into the bathroom to flush the toilet. Black water from the toilet then feeds into an outdoor planter where the plants outside would safely and naturally filter our waste. I was excited by the idea that I would be living in a way that would significantly reduce my harm to the Earth and that this building would prevent contamination of the nearby water streams through practical water management systems.

During our lecture with Michael Reynolds the second day, he explained that Earthships are not just shelters, and they are not just houses. "When we think of a house, the common imagery is a box with a triangular roof on top - but that's not an Earthship." He emphasized that Earthships do not merely provide us with a barrier against the elements. "They are not just shelters either." Rather, he says that they are machines, "machines that harness the forces of nature to your benefit."

As all the students are experiencing life in the Earthships during our time here, we are just getting to know our Earthship "machines." For me, Earthships require that I become more sensitive and aware of my needs. It obliges me to reflect on how I feel in my living space and then take action to calibrate the Earthship to suit how I feel most comfortable. For example, when the Earthship is overwhelmed by the heat of the powerful New Mexican sun (which shines through the southfacing greenhouse), I have to adjust the natural "cooling" system by opening our windows and doors to allow in the east/western winds. It's as if everything about the way an Earthship functions is natural and makes me feel in harmony not only with my immediate surroundings but with the seasons and changes of the Earth.

For the first time I feel at ease to live and learn and work without fear that what I do naturally as a human being can and will create consequences for the future. Unattached to the conventional plumbing, sewage, and electric "grid" that creates adverse effects on the land and water such as toxic waste, the Earthships grant a new freedom to experience living in a different way. Already it's opened my mind to the broader possibilities in building structures which can entirely reshape the way people direct their lives.

I look forward to the rest of my time at Academy as I join a group of like-minded people who feel at home a world of new opportunities and solutions to our environmental problems.

Talk to you next week!

-Peace*~!