Plastiki

Plastiki, a 60 ft sailboat comprised partially of 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles, recently set sail from San Francisco to Austrailia.


photo by Luca Babini.

The (rather attractive) crew is led by David de Rothschild - the organizer of the whole shabang, Jo Royle - skipper, David Thomson - co-skipper, and you can read about the rest of crew here.







The plastic bottles made up for about 68% of the boat's buoyancy, the sail is hand-made from recycled PET cloth, and the secondary bonding is a glue made of cashew nuts and sugar cane - which sounds delicious.

The goal of the project is to "educate, entertain and raise awareness of environmental and social issues whilst driving innovative real world solutions."

I'm for it. And I also hope they have a really great time.

Today on the Farm

Well, for starters, I forgot my camera. My B. I'll get it back in a couple of days.

And then I planted onions. One day they will grow into something beautiful like this, and when in a pan with olive oil and garlic will make your kitchen smell like you are a Grade A Professional Chef:


Photo by Claudette.

Also seeded parsley, and dill. Next up, Michael got the woodstove going in my tent and Kathryn staked it back down so that I won't wake up in Oz. Or Albemarle.

The tent heated up super quickly, and I will be just about 5 kinds of cozy.

Less Kickball, More Kale

High schoolers in Princeton, NJ can now garden for gym credit: read more from the NYT.


Photo by Jeremy Flesher.

From the article:

“I think it’s strangely enjoyable,” said Tim Vasseur, a Princeton sophomore, shovel in hand. “It’s definitely not easy to do or anything like that.”

And a reminder that it's not all just rainbows, and simplicity:

As for any extra vegetables, most will be donated to local soup kitchens and other charitable organizations. They can’t be used in school lunches, Mr. Wilkinson said, because of existing contracts the school has with food service companies.

right. Time to tweek some PHS contracts for '10-'11.

First Day

Started at Appalachia Star today, and am really excited to be getting my tent all set-up:






Seeded some fennel. Weeded some strawberries. Ogled at the cows behind my tent.

Ear Candy: Blind Pilot

I got to see this plaid-wearing, biking-across-America group of lovelies this Fall in Charlottesville, and loved their casual, quietly confident stage presence.



Definitely recommend giving them a listen.

They also did a great version of Gillian Welch's Look at Miss Ohio towards the end of their set. Here's Gillian:



- and here's hoping you'll get to see Blind Pilot's version live.

Have a sunny weekend!

Hope Spring is springing near you.

photo by marj kibby

Dream Travel: Destination Marathon in Greece

I've been thinking recently that training for a marathon is a really good impetus for travel. You work hard at something, and your reward of going somewhere awesome is structured into your plans.

So this has me thinking about running the original 26.2 from the battlefields of Marathon to Athens that Pheidippides ran (meanwhile, he arrived with bleeding feet and then died, so hopefully that wouldn't happen).

And! This October is the 2,500th anniversary of Pheidippies' run. More info here.

As for where to stay, how about the St. George Lycabettus Hotel with a view of the Acropolis:







Looks like a great place for sore-leg ice baths, no?

... and in truth - I will not be able to train for a marathon between now and October. But I did just get a new pair of running shoes, and I hear 2,501 is lucky Greek number. Count it.