These days I live close to the earth. I like slow living. I'm a homesteader (in a small solar owner built house), an independent journalist and community activist.
I appreciate the diversity of human beings and the diversity of nature. I believe in community, beauty and working together to create a gentler and more sustainable society where everyone has dignity and enough, and greed does not reign.
I am by nature a grassroots organizer. I founded environmental and agricultural groups and various projects. I am proud of the great farmers market I had a hand in starting.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I vastly prefer staying with welcoming people who I can get to know to staying in a motel. I traveled a lot like this when I was in my late teens and 20s and it was wonderful. Ever since, I have always tried to find people to stay with because it creates a more meaningful experience and sometimes lasting bonds.
Also the work that I have chosen in this phase of my life does not come with a big paycheck.
(I have no references because I only used couchsurfing once before!)

Interests

I enjoy good company, gardening, nature, hiking, music, discussion, reading, and much more. I like to cook and appreciate many kinds of food, especially if its homemade and ideally organic. I am interested in health, the future of the planet, and lots of other things. I like to learn about all sorts of things. I've been involved in the organic farming world for since the 1980s. I am learning tai chi.

• beauty
• dining
• cooking
• gardening
• reading
• music
• hiking
• journalism

Music, Movies, and Books

Musically, I am eclectic in my tastes, but especially like folk, blues, old rock and roll, protest songs, traditional gospel, some bluegrass and classical. I volunteer at Caffe Lena, one of the oldest coffeehouses in America.

I like independent and foreign films and am a big fan of documentaries.

I read a lot and love investigative journalism and big-picture books as well as a good novel, including classics like Dickens. Sometimes all I have time for is a short story though, which I might find in The New Yorker.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

As a traveler -- I hitchhiked around Great Britain for almost a month on less than $30 including ferry passage from France. (This was a while ago but I still think it's pretty wild.)

Teach, Learn, Share

I can answer gardening questions and it's always fun when people pick my brain on anything else I have knowledge about.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Homegrown veggies (in season) or my own kim chi or sauerkraut, stimulating conversation and new ideas

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Denmark, England, Guatemala, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Scotland

Countries I’ve Lived In

France