Saturday, September 12, 2009
Location: Morro Bay, CA

I met yesterday with Celebrate Your Waste founder Richard Smith. The site is really worth checking out since it chronicles Richards Process of building this beautiful oasis that essentially rests on a pile of sand in Atascadero, California.

I arrived in the morning to this city lot that is beginning to look like a jungle oasis. Richard and I sat on the patio off to one side of the house and went through the usual getting to know you process. I asked him at one point if he wanted to go inside, and he replied, "we are inside", meaning that this is a space built into the landscape and the landscape is built into the place. There is very little delineation between inside and outside since the entire space flows, inwards and outwards. Human conceptions immediately begin to break down in this place built almost entirely out of recycled materials.. also known as junk. Yet it's extraordinarily beautiful.

So there we are sitting on the patio which is also a giant solar collection space come early afternoon. It's morning so the sun isn't on us yet, and it's still cool and comfortable, but in just a few more hours we'd be able to cook food in the solar oven here using purely sunshine.

It's hard to describe this place... it's so organic and natural in its construction and vision. You can tell that it's a space that has involved lots of assessment and contemplation as the junk was salvaged for reuse. One thing Richard and I talk about in our on-camera dialog is the idea of a storied landscape, since I feel that that's what he's built here is a place that bursts with story, personality, educational knowledge and wisdom.

In this world of consumption spinning out of control, here is a man who is tired of sitting in on political meetings, pushing through red tape, and talking about solutions. Richard says repeatedly throughout our session, "I just would rather do it. I want dirt under my fingernails"

This is a contrast to a lot of the interviews I've done where brilliant minds are talking about the things that need to be done from their comfortable homes with SUV's in the drive. Often my opinion emerges as, the time for talking has past, the time for doing is upon us, although what that means for this feature filmmaker I do not know... the balance of filming and disseminating information, or moving into post while actually doing something that involves dirt under my fingernails.

Richard is one of those interviews that makes me feel that we need to start growing food and self reliance and we need to do it yesterday. The sense of urgency he instills in me in deep and profound. Everything he speaks to is rooted in current information about where our world is headed.. but he also is sure to note that regardless of the future of humanity and civilization this is what he wants to do. This is the path of heart.

I know I'm all over the map with this blog, but another thing worth mentioning is the grey water system and filtration process. Richard explains to me that the whole system is a closed loop. The water circulates and is reused over and over again as needed. It begins in the large pool at the top of the property which is filled with fish and then is gravity fed down into the house where it's used for washing dishes, laundry, bathing, before if goes back into another pond where fish and other organisms clean it. It's actually amazing, at one point Richard did the dishes as I sat by the pond watching the fish eat all the table scraps coming down the pipeline. There are also various beds of mushroom compost as part of the filtration process that I'm not quite clear on. Then all the water ends in a big pool at the bottom of the property where it's pumped back to the upper pond using a low voltage pump that will eventually be hooked up to solar power.

Originally when he arrived here this was a mound of sand. He brought in mushroom compost and dug large swales in the land that he then filled to catch moisture. These beds are the basis of what he refers to as 'a new skin' on the land. Upon these mushroom compost filled swales he's planted Bamboo, for use as a building material, and a large variety of food sources. Throughout the landscape there are fruit trees, nut trees, and edibles of every kind. You can't step anywhere without encountering something to nourish your body, be it mint, tomatoes, squash, or even grasses of wheat and rye that he is increasingly exploring these days.

I'm really grateful for the time spent with Richard and look forward to perhaps going back to help him dig and plant in the future. While I was there I also met some of the surrounding community who are eager to get their hands dirty. Together we ate fresh baked zucchini bread while they talking with Richard about some land they were looking into for their own non-profit food-forested, intentional community space. It's exciting to see people young and old delving into what needs to be done to move forward into a world where our food and nourishment isn't controlled by 3% of the population and a mix of big corporations and government.

peace,
d

Pics
Richard's Office & Chicken Yard
Outdoor Kitchen & Fresh Food
Grey Water Filtration Pond
Humanure & Compost Bins
Richard & Kerry Relax with some Archery