Author: Sarah Spotten

  • eBird: reigniting a new love for an old hobby

    eBird: reigniting a new love for an old hobby

    It was my grandmother and aunt who instilled in me a love of birds and birdwatching at a young age. My grandma had a bird feeder at her window, and from there I began to “get to know the neighbors,” as I now call it: Scrub-jay, Brown Towhee, Plain Titmouse. As I learned their names,…

  • Baseline, altered and chaotic states in permaculture

    The point of observing and documenting our baseline, altered, and chaotic states in the natural, social and individual realms is to both be able to plan for them and know when and how to intervene, if possible. How a design interacts with the rest of the world is just as important as how the design…

  • Permaculture at the yoga farm

    Permaculture at the yoga farm

    It was one of the most amazing weeks of my life: the week I spent at an ashram learning permaculture, practicing yoga, and living fully in the moment. It was the formative event of my 20s that put me on the permaculturist’s path. I’m not sure how I first encountered the life- and perspective-changing subject…