Must. Escape. Now...

Hey y'all. So, as you may have guessed I've been a little on the busy side. Between research, family visiting, awesome field trips for permaculture, going climbing at RRG again with Aaron, working on group projects, building stuff with bamboo, and drinking vast amounts of coffee. And by vast amounts, I mean a cup a day :)

First off, field trips in grad school are the bomb-diggity. I'm taking a class called Permaculture: Sustainable Living. Basically, this course is one of my passions in life and I really looked forward to that class! The first field trip was to Larry's Beans. It is a small coffee bean processing plant near downtown Raleigh. I was really excited to learn about this side of coffee; when I was in Guatemala I learned all about the growing and plant pathogen side. But besides learning about the processing and distribution, I discovered how sustainable and off-the-grid a company could actually be.

Larry's Beans is a Fair-Trade organization  (http://fairtradeusa.org/). Basically, the growers get more money because the middle man/"coyotes" are eliminated. It is also a social benefit. Just go to the website and read it. Fair Trade is a really cool thing! Also, check out Larry's Beans (https://www.larrysbeans.com/) because they are awesome and have delicious coffee to drink.

So Larry's Beans is mostly run on solar power and only is "on-the-grid" because of some weird law about businesses needing to be on the power grid. LAME. The vast majority of their water comes from rain. They have an underground 8,000 gallon storage container that fills up in about 10 minutes during a thunderstorm. All of this water lasts them like 7 months! They also had a vermicompost bin! I am getting too excited to type. This place blew my mind. Everything about the building design (maximum natural light, rain water gathering, big windows and doors to minimize air/heating, and layout) flowed so well together and felt comfortable. If y'all are in Raleigh, you need to check this place out. You won't regret it I promise!!!

The other field trip was to Piedmont Biofuels. I've been to a few biofuel companies but this place was so different from the rest! They had experimental gardens surrounding the operation, had an aquaculture experiment thing, and an aquaponics system. Again, they made the buildings more sustainable with big windows for light, barely needed electricity, had their own solar panels, and cool funky building designs. I'll post some pictures.

Then Dad and Kiddo came to visit!! It was soooo good to see them again. It kind of sucked that I had class and couldn't hang out with them as much as I wanted to. Dad played around on my car (Kati), I showed them what I do in lab when there is no field work to do, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and ate a lot of food. I have never had a gourmet breakfast for that many days in a row thanks to my wonderful little brother :)  I took Dad and Kiddo climbing at TRC and they totally rocked it (get it?). I really love showing my family members my slice of paradise and my escape from the city. Plus, climbing is such a good workout and is super addicting! Try it once or twice. I dare you.

Jason is belayed certified at my gym :)

When Dad and Kiddo started the journey from the 919 to the 920, I left for Kentucky. Y'all will never guess where I was headed! Yup, I was going back to The Red to meet up with Aaron to crush some rocks. I got on a bunch of the climbs I wanted to, practiced some trad climbing - Aaron even let me place a cam or two, and found a few projects to conquer!! Aaron also finished some of his projects as well - that feeling is incredible. Climber's high?

Climbs I did:

Mercy Miss Percy - 5.9 lead
Sunshine? - 5.9+ lead
Tissue Tiger - 5.12b (more like attempted with assistance)
Face Up to That Crack - 5.8- lead (and placed two cams...well kind of)
Mr. Bungle - 5.8+ lead
Brother Stair - 5.9 lead
Environmental Impact - 5.7 trad (I cleaned)
Central Scrutinizer - 5.9 trad (I cleaned)
Pogue Ethics - 5.9+ lead
Cindarella [is a b*tch] - 5.9 lead
Boltergeist - 5.10b lead
Preemptive Strike - 5.10c toprope
International Route of Pancakes - 5.8 lead (not worth your time)
The Bee's Business - 5.7 lead
Trundling Kentucky? - 5.7 lead
Send Me on My Way - 5.9- lead (SUPER AWESOME!!)
Return of the Manimal - 5.10d toprope (ALSO SWEET TO CLIMB!)

Projects:
Cindarella - get it clean!
Boltergeist - get through the crux without falling!
Preemptive Strike - try on lead :)
Return on the Manimal - try on lead as well!
Critters on the Cliff (5.10d) - never attempted but looked cool

The arboretum had beautiful flowers!

As always, climbing was a success. It was pretty great to climb with Aaron again. But reality got kicked in the face when I got back to Raleigh and had to spend my days, afternoons, and nights in the lab. Talk about making me cranky! At least that part of lab work is done so I can finally get onto the next step and add some variety to my days. I get bored way too easily to work in a lab. Give me a field where nothing is the same two days in a row!!!

Now, the semester is officially over so I must start studying for the final exam for PP 707. I finished my other final projects for various classes. But right now, I need to sleep and not wake up for a long few hours!