To Belong
Being a volunteer is hard. When you show up to an organization that’s running perfectly fine without you and say “Hi! I’m here! What can I do?” Often times, even under the best leadership, the answers are vague. Or not…
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How to Tell Mom ‘Sorry’ on Mother’s Day
As we arrive at this year’s Mother’s Day, I’m inclined to ask myself “How will I manage to apologize?” My mother’s birthday is May 8, always only a few days apart from where Mother’s Day falls during the year. Both…
Composting presentation
Amritapuri’s ecovillage offers “Get Growing” classes and workshops which are oriented around teaching visitors (mostly westerners) the fundamentals of organic and sustainable farming. Recently I was asked to give a talk on composting to the would-be farmers and gardeners of “Get Growing”. For…
From Cape Town to Anywhere
I’m back on American soil! After an amazing three months in South Africa, I have made my way back up the African continent, over most of Europe, and straight across the Atlantic ocean to the other side of the world.…
Photoblog: The Tafts in Guatemala
Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a very special time in Guatemala. For us it was even more special because my parents came to visit. Above you can see them at Monte Cristo’s “Lover’s Point” overlooking the beautiful valleys that stretch…
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There’s some videos going around the Internet about Guatemala, and I want to share them with you. It’s a pretty serious topic, but it’s a conversation that unfortunately needs to be had. Take one minute to watch. Look Alike- Lost- One…
New projects
New projects have been in the works lately around the ecovillage and it’s been quite exciting. First, I’ve been spending a lot of time working on creating a food forest. The idea behind a food forest is that multiple…
Queen Bee
When Hilary and I came to Monte Cristo we were given the challenge of finding some business opportunities that would help with their goal of becoming self-sustainable. Our first road led us to producing honey, a business we researched all…
Reflection at Halfway
We’ve been here for seven months now, a month past the halfway point of our Lumos journey. People have been asking me, “How does it feel? Like you’ve been here forever or like time is flying by?” I’m not quite…
A canine companion comes to the rescue
It’s impossible to travel for a long time in a foreign country without ending up in a few difficult–or sometimes even downright dangerous–situations. Every seasoned traveler knows this is basically a law of travel. I was recently reminded of this…