So there are a few things that I want to talk about here. The first off being that this trip has been absolutely fantastic and I can’t imagine not having taken it now. Not only have a met a bunch of cool people (there isn’t a single person here that I don’t love to death) but I’ve also learned so many things that will help me with the development of my own farm. From using rammed earth walls to how well solar works for supplying the energy for a household to being forced to question just how much space a person needs to live (I’ve found it to be considerably lower than what my family uses). But yesterday we went over something that I find extremely important; we had Max talk to us a little about bee keeping. Now I know what you’re thinking, oh bee keeping that doesn’t sound that important. But with the hives in the United States starting to die, learning small time bee keeping helps a great deal. Now of course there are people I could have learned it from in the states. But most of those people have a huge amount of hives and never really take the time to get to know their bees well. They just leave them be till they want something for themselves and then they go in and pluck it out. Max is able to tell if his bees aren’t feeling well just by listening to the different vibrations that they use, which I think is absolutely amazing. Bees are so important, they pollinate, they produce honey and wax for human use, and they are a wonderful indicator species. If plants start going off so do the bees and chances are that you’ll notice the change in the bees first. It was so nice to learn from someone who is so connected to his hives. Secondly, today for Shamadama my group worked with Sandra and Richard helping to put in a walkway that leads to their house. I was so excited that we were doing that, and that I got a change to work on a woodblock design that Richard wanted to stamp into the wet cement. If I can I’ll get a picture to put up here to show you what it looks like. I think the design he chose is beautiful, it’s all swirled and kind of looks like a flower. He says that the dots in it that gradually get bigger and then stops; represent to him how we need to learn how to stop the growth of our societies. I mean what a wonderful design to express one of the core principals of permaculture. I was using a set of carving tools that he had bought in Bali (I really need to check and see if I can’t get them somewhere, carving is so fun and relaxing). Anyway tomorrows the market and I’m totally looking forward to that. It’s sad that our trip is going so fast, but I’m so excited to return home with all the new things I learned and share them with my friends who also want to do this. (Pictures to follow later!)