Sustainability and Sunflowers

This week at NOLS Rocky Mountain the construction and implementation of a rainwater catchment system and two garden beds has begun. Our experimental garden will sprout multicolored sunflowers as well as provide nutritious organic leaf lettuce, sprouts and cabbage for The Noble kitchen. The rainwater catchment system will provide NOLS with an alternate water supply, a reduction in energy costs and most importantly an efficient way to water and nourish our new leafy friends.

The new arrangement to harvest H20 was possible thanks to the NOLS RM Facilities Manager, Latane Frank. His uncanny ability to create new purposes for old materials allowed us to reuse wood, barrels, downspouts, and gutters making it truly sustainable and FREE! His wife Emily was generous enough to offer a hand with the actual planting process; she was also very charitable providing the new gardens with over 85% of its plants.

Check back soon to see our produce in full bloom and the final installation of the rainwater collection barrels.

Connecting with the mountains and the sea . . .

During their in-town preparations, NOLS Scandinavia students and staff take time to ruminate on their new surroundings.

  

View from the dining area.

Photo by: Howie Nordström

NOLS Grad Tapped for Leadership Role

Four-time NOLS grad, Ann Mills, recently accepted a position in the Obama Administration as USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment, where she will be responsible for overseeing the Natural Resources Conservation Service. In this position, Ann will oversee the agency’s land stewardship programs for privately held farm, ranch, and forestlands in the U.S. and she’ll work closely with USDA offices focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation policies. Talk about taking your NOLS leadership skills to the highest level possible!

Ann is a long-time outdoor enthusiast—participating in her first NOLS course in the Uinta Wilderness when she was only 17. She went on to participate on a Yellowstone Park Expedition, an Alaska Sea Kayaking course, and a Mountain Biking course in Moab; not to mention her numerous personal trips.

Congratulations, Ann!

(photo courtesy of Brad Christensen)

Feeding animals grass: A new innovative concept or 'reinventing the wheel'??

So... grass-fed beef, kind of reinventing the wheel, eh? True, yes this is true, but maybe taking a few steps back could be beneficial in this day and age.  The concept is simple; keep animals on grass/hay and out of feedlots, for the duration of their lives. There is then no need to ship in feed or ship animals to feed, henceforth using fewer resources in their developmental process. Ample benefits accrue from the grass fed process, some for the environment, farmers, animals, and humans.

I would love to delve into all those specifics but due to the vastness of the topic I will direct those with interest to the website http://www.eatwild.com, is a phenomenal resource.  Not only does it state facts on the benefits of grass fed but it also is a resource to find local purveyors.

It was through that website that I found Cameron Ranch ( http://www.cameronranch.com), outside of Riverton.  One of the other interns, Mitch, and I, went out to visit Pete Cameron and check out his operation last week.  Pete has been in the ranching business for 30 years.  Throughout those years he has raised cattle, sheep, horses, dogs and cats — and shared his life with ranch guests.  If nothing else, it is really nice to put a face behind the food in which you eat.

Through computers, mass shipping, etc., many of us have never associated a human being with the food we eat.  Due to operations like Pete’s you can go out to place in which the cattle are raised, meet the producer, stay in his bunkhouse, chat poetry (or whatever), and then go home the next day with beef that sells for around $3-4/lb (you can’t find it much cheaper at the grocery store).

Scandinavia Combo Courses are off!

NOLS Scandinavia combo courses (SCA) 1 & 2 left yesterday for their first section- hiking and sea kayaking respectively.  The courses will be gone for two weeks, only to return to the NOLS Scandinavia base for a quick switch and head out for another two weeks!

SCA #2 group shot: ready to depart!

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SCA #2 gearing up for their paddling expedition along the Norwegian coastline.

 

SCA #1 group shot: heading to the Norwegian & Swedish mountains. 

SCA #1 onward to the "fjord head"!

NOLS in our Community

Both Tim Wilson and Missy White, former and current NOLS employees, are working to provide the Lander community with fresh and local produce/food products, through their CSA’s.   When one goes to the grocery store, as we all do, to get their weekly means of sustenance, how many of us think about the distance the food has traveled and what kind of carbon footprint it has left?   To buy local is to support those small time producers in one’s community and to put money back into the place in which you reside.
    Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is gaining popularity as a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer.  Farmers offer ‘shares’ to the public.  The 'share' consists of a weekly box of produce or other raw farm products.  Interested consumers purchase these shares and then are provided, by the farmer, with their box, each week of the growing season.
    Tim’s CSA, Fat Flamingo Farm, offers 15+ shares a season.  They grow anything from potatoes to melons.  Along with the produce the farm also raises cows, sheep, chickens, and a few turkeys. (Pictured to the right is Fat Flamingo's usage of some old, broken NOLS tent poles.) Missy sticks with just the produce. The amount she can produce, in the limited space of her in town backyard, is absolutely amazing.  Her spatial utilization is key.  She not only uses her two beds but also has begun to try a hanging tomato plant growing method under a trellis system on her patio.