Seed Bombs

Has anybody read The Urban Homesteader yet? Now, while it won’t appeal to everyone, it’s still a worthwhile read to cause us to reflect on our typical lifestyles. Why make a costly lonely commute to and from a sterile suburban bedroom community surrounded by un-edible chemically supported lawnscapes and suspicious fearful neighbors peeking out from behind high tech security systems? Why not abandon the old unsustainable American dream and begin a new one? Learn how to grow and prepare your own food even in a tiny urban home, how to forage, or how to become a pirate gardener and transform under utilized public spaces with seed bombs. Become involved with your local community, get to know our neighbors, get out of the car and walk or bike. Whether the zombocalypse occurs within our lifetimes or not, if there is ever a devaluation of the currency then there is ample reason, if not just for the fun of it, to have some old-timey skill which you can fall back on. If sod-busting isn't your idea of a fun future, then I personally (do not) RECOMMEND distilling moonshine and fixing bikes, which complement each other nicely. These are skills you will not learn from your television - so go ahead and kill it now - before Glenn Beck and his army of nincompoops eat your head ensuring that you will wander numbly through any unconventional future scenarios with your arms outstretched, eyes rolled back, moaning from hunger and confusion.

On a more serious note, the rainy season isn’t anything like what we expected. We prepared for the worst kind of downpours, but have only had one day and a night of moderate precipitation. We met a guy in Dar es Salaam named Manji that told us how he was trapped on the road in his car between two impassably swollen rivers during the rainy season for 10 days. He had no food and was stung by so many mosquitoes that he developed an acute case of malaria that he suffered from for over a year! So, I was expecting to be trapped by floods, to be unable to get dry, to get trench foot and to get our car stuck in the mud on the way to and from the forest. Instead, we pray for rain to bring sweet coolness and knock the flies and pollen down for a while.

Mdudu of the Day time- This bug was large but fairly harmless looking. However, when I showed this picture to Leonardi -who is one of the staff here at the research center- he told me in Swahili and broken English something about fire spitting from the mouth. That the bug breathed fire? I could not understand all of his exaggerated words and hand waving but perhaps we’ll call this the dragon bug.