A Promising Beginning

North Thompson River from Westsyde

March 10^th, Puebla – Kamloops, British Columbia, the patch where I was born, is a town of around 100,000 people spread across the semi-arid valleys that lie 4 hours inland from the Pacific Coast. In Canada, there are few ecosystems of its kind, and summer temperatures can easily stretch into the high thirties. Close to my parents' home is North America's most northern wine vineyard; they've had bears roam onto their yard and peak through the garage door windows; and in the distance, across the North Thompson river, the hills are bare with black-scorched pine trees dotting the dry, golden earth; a remnant scene of wildfire that swept through some years back. In early summer the hills blush with lavender and the pastel green-grey of sagebrush that powders the landscape and infuses the air with calmness and contentment.

Little Patches of Green, Uncertainty and Permaculture

Templo de Santo Domingo, Oaxaca

February 16^th, Oaxaca - For over two years Maria and I have lived from packs and roamed as nomadic adventurers. Sometimes together, sometimes on our own. California to Tofino, Sulawesi to Seoul, Jakarta to Denmark, and now, Vancouver to Puebla, Mexico. But every now and then the routine gets dull, rented beds become cold and scratchy. We've slowed down recently, and at times have ground to a halt, when the part that gets desperate yearns most strongly for a deeper sense of place and experience of home.