We've been back in Portland a little over 24 hours and are getting re-acclimatized to Oregon. Still having some jet lag due to the 16 hour time difference between here and Philippines. It was raining when we arrived but things dried out enough to see last night's lunar eclipse.

We're already resuming our Portland projects. We've got plenty to do in our permaculture garden, called Amrita for "nectar", located here in SE Portland.

We have been working with the Food Not Bombs vegan mass feeding program and accepting all their excess organic produce and food scraps in our large, and expanding, compost area. We have already filled 4 compost chambers, each probably 2 cubic yards, from their abundance. So we will be working with Vlad, one of the group's leading and most energetic members, to construct 3 more chambers. Our compensation for this, besides the satisfaction of working with such a worthy group and great, idealistic folk, is that virtually all our own organic produce needs are met. Yesterday afternoon I spent several hours processing asparagus, apples, pears, oranges, potatoes, tomatoes, purple and green kale, lettuce, leeks, and peppers. All these organic vegetables would have ended in the compost pile had I not gleaned them! When we arrived our fridge was bare. Now it is filled with many dishes.

We will be planting several more fruit trees on the property in the next few weeks. Already we have 5 apple trees. We have pear, prune, and cherry trees waiting to plant. The grapes need pruning, and we plan also to move the large rainwater collection swale to a different location in the yard. We will be adding more rain chains and have already obtained a thousand gallon scrap iron water tank from craigslist for rainwater collection that needs installation. Last fall we replaced the dysfunctional wide driveway with a much narrower strip driveway and its landscaping needs to be completed. We plan to plant strawberries in the center strip.

Our community garden plot at Clinton Community Garden needs some preparation for spring. Its kale garden has been supplying fresh greens through the Fall and Winter to the neighboring New Day Ananda Marga School.

This afternoon we are meeting with our partners Joe and Pam Leach to continue work on a thirty plus unit cohousing/ecovillage concept we would like to implement in inner NE Portland.

The idea is to take an existing apartment complex with many typically American environmentally unfriendly attributes and turn it into a showcase of green building and sustainability concepts.

For example, the existing parking area is right in the middle of the property, dominating the site in an automobile-oriented but pedestrian (and especially children) unfriendly manner. Our plan is to move this parking to the (ideally, street side) perimeter. This will drastically reduce the site's impermeable surface and get cars out of the main site. Additionally, it will allow us to channel all pedestrian traffic into one common entrance area, facilitating social interaction among the residents. The center of the site can then be reclaimed for an organic community garden and other community space. We are contemplating other uses, such as a children's playground and a greenhouse.

In cohousing fashion, we would like to expand the inside common areas to include a dining and meeting area, laundry center, and workshop space.