21.12.11

OUR NEW ROADMAP PAGE!

Check it out, we have a new page!
It's a listing of all the places we've been and people we've done projects with; complete with links when applicable ;)

ROAD MAP PAGE: Click Here!

Feel free to stalk us!

13.12.11

Magnificent Methane Digester... burp...



Robert Byrnes sniffs out more combustable solutions for our eco-riffic world! Check out how chickin poo and the poo of other barnyard friends can create a cooking gas or heating source.

Check out his exciting website! www.Nebraskascrewpress.com

19.11.11

News Alert: The Grey Plume


Breaking News! Clayton Chapman of Omaha's The Grey Plume lets us know what makes his restaurant the MOST SUSTAINABLE RESTAURANT in the country!

Visit them in person or at
greyplume.com!

12.11.11

Super Heros of the Land Institute



Wes Jackson, Carrie Carpenter, and Stan Cox tell us about The Land Institute's work to create grain perennials to be used in farms across the world. Their revolutionary work aims to cut down on the environmental destruction that current farming practices are creating.

7.11.11

Perennials VS Annuals: The Battle to End ALL Wars!!!



Famed Wes Jackson and his team tell us the benefits of Perennials VS Annuals. This video is full of yummy facts that are sure to blow your mind.

For more information check 'em out at The Land Institute!

Also stay tuned for our next music video entitled "Sorry Wes Jackson" (I'm am an Annual)  

10.10.11

Natural Awakenings: Great to Meet the AMAZING Publishers ;)

Loved meeting these kats on the streets of North Chicago! Couldn't have asked for better people to see our live projector action :)
Check out their publication, full of sustainable ideas and health tips!
NATURAL AWAKENINGS

8.10.11

Locational Update!

We are currently in Chicago-land, getting excited to teach at Whitney Young Magnet School on Tuesday! Yeeehaw, look out 5 science classes and one Eco-Club meeting, EcoJaunt is on its way ;)

Next stop: Detroit.

3.10.11

Douglas RIP : Meet The Rally Wagon



A video tribute to The Douglas and an introduction to his successor The Rally Wagon.
Check out all the work in fast-forward!
Enjoy!

The Story below:

Oh Woe as it is, it came to pass that in September, year of our lord 2011, the mighty member of EcoJaunt, The Douglas, has died! In a parking lot it gave it's last limping start and took us to safety at our host's house in Omaha, NE.

What does one do when their house dies? When their vehicle for information, navigation and habitation goes kaput? .... CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT THE FULL STORY!

2.10.11

Celia's Teat Tips AND For Cheezy


Celia's Teat Tips:
Celia shows us how to milk a goat in preparation for cheese.


For Cheezy:
Celia shows us the steps to turn your goat milk into goat cheese! Yum!

16.8.11

Homestead Organics: Let us introduce you.



An intro to this stellar farm in Hamilton, MT.


Check 'em out!



BIRD IS THE WORD!



Laura makes our Kale Krunch!




Quick Tip #1 Salad Washing Deluxe: Prepping Salad mix for the Farmers Market.




Quick Tip #2 Greenhouse Modification with Chicken Wire!





Letter of the law: Laura and Henry talk to us about Montana Law and new laws encroaching on small farmers way of life. 

13.8.11

The farmers of tomorrow need your help today!

Hello Jaunt viewers. Today we met an awesome farmer named Lynn Gillespie. Her main crop is future farmers. She is raising money to plant additional crops to increase the farm's diversity to teach her students. Click below to be taken to her kickstarter video and learn more about her farm.
This is a very important project - please help her out!

Stay tuned for our epic-awesome videos coming out of The Living Farm!
Paonia, Colorado-

The farmers of tomorrow need your help today! 

3.8.11

Big Daddy BioChar with Jim Karnofski



Be sure to check out our previous BioChar videos for more information.
Contact Jim with comments or questions (he's friendly) Karnask@hotmail.com

29.7.11

Soaking up the Solar Shine in our new Solar Cells!!!


Big shout out to Goal Zero for sponsoring EcoJaunt with a 50% off discount through there "Awesome Persons Discount"! We are now cooking with sunshine Kiddds! We are boasting a durable 27watt pannel up on our roof-side. We charge full time as we roll to a 350watt battery allowing full mobile power for our editing pleasure. YeeHaaa! Just gives you that warm buzzing feeling all over. (p.s. avoid sticking the wires to your tongue)   

22.7.11

Sustainable Living Meets Health...actually they've been friends all along.

Greetings from the Great Salt Lake! Wanted to let y'all know that I (Swix Morgan) have been writing a fun (and somewhat informative) blog for the physical therapy clinic that I worked at in Portland. It ties together sustainable ideas and health, often including stretches or exercises for sustainable activities! If you're keen to check it out, follow this link:


(don't worry I'll bring humility back in the next sentence)

or you can go to Therapeutic Associates' web page for downtown Portland clinic and click on the Where In the States Is Morgan icon.

Thus far, I've written three blogs:

#1 Sustaining Your Body and Your Garden

#2 Get On The Bus Gus!

#3 Commute By Bike: Tips to Get You Rolling

I'm currently sitting at Coffee Noir in SLC working on numero quatro... as a tease, the topic is food!

Hope you're enjoying the summer and making smart choices! ...and watching fun, enjoyable, education videos on this really cool website I've heard about... OK, really the humility is on its way :)

8.7.11

Hello All!

We are in Roslyn, Washington near Cle Elum hunkering down in coffee shops to catch up on our editing! Awesome community in Roslyn, outdoor open mics and friendly eco-heads all about.

Stay tuned for a small slew of new videos!
Thanks for watching...

Larkin Stentz of Green Angel Garden shows us how to "make your bed"- preparing your bed for a new crop of lettuce.

Larkin of Green Angel Gardens shows us how to lower your electric bill to pre-heat your water using the sun!

22.6.11

Takilma Mocking Bird

In the southern south of the almost California portion of Oregon, there is a community named Takilma (it's just outside of Cave Junction if that helps your geographic sense). All you need do is say that you're heading to "Takilma" to any resident of a nearby area and you have instantly gained yourself a hippy recognition title. This we learned before ever stepping foot into the curve of the highway that is designated for this small community.

Driving into Takilma on a dark and dreary evening, Travis and I saw our new favorite sign. Scrawled in poorly handwritten spray paint on the side of a long abandoned trailer along the road were the words "Welcome to Downtown Takilma."

Perfecto.

Takilma is an itty bitty teeny tiny community nestled in the evergreen hills of southern Oregon comprised mostly of small, cooperative farms and organizations. There are no restaurants, hardware stores, or Seven-Elevens. Most of the children attend the Dome School, which is run by locals and also hosts community meetings and functions. What was our business in Takilma one might ask?

We were headed to Frog Farms to meet Debbie Lukas, founder, manager, director, marketing chair, and sole employee of Siskiyou Mountain Herbs. Deb and her husband Steve grow and propagate medicinal herbs, plants, food, and one dog; all organically of course! She provides herbal medicinal consultations, sells a menagerie of different herbal concoctions, and teaches classes to those who travel from near and far to learn her skills...or at least attempt to take home even a minute fraction of the plethora of knowledge inside Deb's brain.

While at Frog Farms, we joined Deb's current students in learning to create a pedicularis tincture, to chew up a comfrey poultice, and to identify all sorts of plants native to this region (which is apparently a mecca for botanical variety).

I must say, the comfrey poultice I used on a nice deep cut in my palm felt freaking fantastic. The comfrey leaf has a mucilaginous inside and root due to polysaccharides in the plant (as do many plants that are soothing to boo-boos) and feels quite cooling to the skin. It also contains allantoin, which is a hormone-like substance that increases cell division, ie. it helps with proliferation of the epithelial layer of the skin! But wait, there's more! Comfrey also contains a fair amount of tannins, which have an astringent property, helping wounds to constrict. That's right, comfrey literally makes your wounds shrink...and without that crazy ray gun Rick Moranis used in 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.'

Who knew, that leaf that I've been adding sparingly to my salads could also improve the healing time for my ouchies! Hoorah!

We also concocted (after a safari in search of oak galls...also with tannins) a poultice compress for Travis' newly acquired poison oak dots. I will cut to the chase, it helped ;)

Watch for our late in coming but soon to be out there videos from Siskiyou Mountain Herbs! Thanks Deb and Steve, you guys rock my world!

7.5.11

Soil Block Building 101


Learn how to use (and make) Soil Block Builders for your plant starts.
They are better for your plants and better for your planet. Plus they will save you money!
From the folks at Aprovecho Sustainability Education Center

17.4.11

Paul Stamets Mushroom Scientist


Paul Speaks about respect for our fragile earth and the power of the mushroom.He has proven that fungi can detoxify soil, water and the human body.

For more on Paul, please check out Fungi.com

Sustainable Minds Software for Builders and Architects



Joel Kucer discusses a software that designers can use to understand the impact that their creation has on the environment and offers options for greener methods of construction.

SustainableMinds.com

10.4.11

SCRAP: A Creative ReUse Center


SCRAP takes in "scraps", odds and ends or other objects of artistic potential that would otherwise be discarded in landfills. They sort and present them to the public for sale as arts and crafts supplies. SCRAP also offers workshops and makes generous contributions to artistic endeavors. Artists, school teachers and organizations find SCRAP amazing! They are currently spreading their model countrywide. Keep an eye out for a SCRAP near you, or better yet, contact them and find out how to get involved!

Check em out SCRAPaction.org

21.3.11

BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THAT ATTENDED THE FUNDRAISER!!!

The night was a blast and total success. Just remember, sustainability is sexy!
Spread the word !

20.3.11

16.3.11

COMPOST HAPPENS -- INTERVIEW WITH OREGON TILTH


Tilth workers explain what compost is and why it is important for our soil. They also address the important components of a healthy, working compost system and how to create on for your own garden. Thanks Tilth!

STRAWBALE HOUSES -- DICK KNOWS INTERVIEW

Dick is a man of many talents and ambitions. He now lives high on the mountaintops in Northern California. His home is snowed in six months out of the year. He sustains himself on with Hydroelectricity in his Strawbale house. He discusses many of the preparations he uses to greenly survive the winter.

Meet the house that Dick built. Beautiful and very efficient. Dick talks about the finer points of Strawbale housing, and the codes of construction.

HOW TO / INTERVIEW -- DICK KNOWS HYDROELECTRIC


Dick shows us his Hydroelectric system. Impressively it is more than ample to power everything he needs even when there is five feet of snow outside.

HOW TO / INTERVIEW -- DICK KNOWS MUSHROOMS


Dick shows us some yummy food found in the ground.

HOW TO BUILD -- HUMAN COMPOSTING TOLIET "HUMANURE"


Mountain Village gives us a fun look at the proper ways to deal with human waste to make "Humanure". This shows dirty work can be fun.

HOW TO BUILD -- ADOBE EARTH DOME


Mountain Village helps to construct an Adobe Earth Dome: a cheap and earth friendly structure. 

HOW TO MAKE -- BEER BREAD EASY!!


Mountain Village and Swix shows us a quick and easy bread recipe. Yumm!

MOUNTAIN VILLAGE VOLUNTEERS INTERVIEW


We interview Wwoofers of Mountain Village about what MV means to them.

ANN O'QUINN OF MOUNTAIN VILLAGE INTERVIEW


An interview with the loving Boss of Mountain Village - Ann O'Quinn.

HOW TO MAKE -- HERB SPRIAL


The way an herb spiral works. Try it at home!

VAL TALKS ABOUT VAN LIFE

ECOJAUNT EXPLAINED IN SONG AND DANCE

23.2.11

Thank You's Abound!!!!

It’s raining in Portland, a shocking February truth, I know! Travis and I sit with Tacoma, our black furry mule-eared friend, surrounded by documents and computers and emails and lists and coffee, did i mention coffee?

We have come a considerable ways over the last few months: officially becoming a non-profit under fiscal sponsorship, editing and creating more videos about sustainability, getting The Douglas (our big green cross country mobile) running, and preparing like mad for our upcoming fundraiser on March 20th at Green Dragon. Holy moly, it’s like having a full time job again! And I thought I was retiring ;)

Scanning through lists and letters has reminded me, once again, of how amazing the Portland community is. The goal of this update is to send out the BIGGEST most BRILLIANT shout out to businesses and individuals alike who have donated to EcoJaunt thus far!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

We have received amazing donations for our silent auction (mark your calendars for March 20th!) from local businesses listed below. Additionally, individuals have donated to our cause using the PayPal setup. This support is so important to us! Even $5 smackaroos a month can do so much for our cause! And we know that it’s a sacrifice, that it is one less ridiculously fantastic local microbrew or movie at Laurelhurst Theater each month. But it is important! And it will count! And you can always buy a local six pack and watch our videos online for free with no commercials and personalized pauses for stretch breaks ;)

So come one, come all to Green Dragon (928 SE 9th Ave) on March 20th at 6:30pm! The first 25 people there will have a pint on the house! There will be heaps of interesting silent auction items, necessary and not to life and survival ;) We will be presenting a slideshow and video presentation about our project, and playing games and drinking amazing beverages while having wonderous and thought provoking conversation (one can hope ;). Come and play and connect!

Our excitement for this project is growing like the crocuses and daffodils that are currently showing their brightly colored petals and reminding us that spring is coming; and that things will change and grow and that there are more colors than gray and green that paint the Ptown landscape!

Cheers to sustainable choices, creating change towards a better world, and lapping up the crazy amazing everything surrounding us each day!

See y’all the Green Dragon on the 20th!

Local businesses who have donated rockstar gift certificates or items for the silent auction:

Sock Dreams
Grand Central Bakery
Local Goods
Detour Cafe
Sunnyside Holistic Group
Butterscotch
Bike N Hike
Zell’s Cafe
Meat
Spunky Monkey Coffee
Oilerie
Zeppo
Tillamock Ice Cream
Great Harvest Bread
Qui Spot Acupuncture
Crescendo Salon
NW Printed Solutions
White Phoenix Acupuncture
Bike Commuter
Hammys Pizza
Capello Zona Salon
Clinton Street Records

25.1.11

Fundraiser Time!!

Hello everyone!
As many of you know, we are gearing up for the big Jaunt set to leave the last weekend of March. WE NEED YOUR HELP!! We will travel around the US, interacting with, learning from, and documenting sustainable practices, for you to learn and enjoy. While we own the vehicle, equipment, and the energy for this project, we still need to cover basic needs: gas and food.

Please subscribe for as little as 5$ a month, or donate a lump sum. We are now paired with the non-profit, Filmmakers Collaborative. Filmmakers Collaborative is our Fiscal Sponsor and through them all donations are tax deductible! Help us now and have the government pay you back later!!

Please note all donations through PayPal as it is set up are not tax deductible, please contact us for Tax deductible donations.

It's up to us to find the funding needed. Please support us in this important venture. Spread the word!!

Thank you,
Travis and Swix

Oregon Tilth is a nonprofit research and education membership organization dedicated to biologically sound and socially equitable agriculture. Tilth offers educational events throughout the state of Oregon, and provides organic certification services to organic growers, processors, and handlers internationally.


The Mountain Village team is a WWOOFing community that travels where sustainable help is needed.
When contacted they evaluate the work and the impact on human lives and the environment. They are like the A-Team of sustainable communities.

Adobe Earth Dome Project


Human Compost





How to make Beer Bread 40min total


Interview with Ann O'Quinn of Mountain Village


Dick lives in Northern California. He spends six months of the year completely snowed in. With an eight mile snow-shoe to the nearest road, Dick has to be a smart and busy man to survive. The following videos will discuss food storage, mushroom harvesting and cultivation, personal hydroelectric power and straw-bale construction. Good Job, Dick!!!


Dick discusses food storage


Dick discusses mushroom picking


Dick discusses hydroelectricity


Dick discusses strawbale structures