 |
Back to
|
February 2006
12th- The Nourishing Place, Biloxi
25th-More destruction in New Orleans
2nd-Middle Earth
(katie) When we were in Demopolis a friend sent me a link to a Permaculture website, which I checked out. On this site I found out about a Permaculture place (Middle Earth Healing and Learning Center) that was right near mobile! I contacted, Lisa and Craig, the creators of Middle Earth, and they wanted to meet us.
 |
Lisa and Craig of Middle Earth |
On Tuesday Eve. Craig came and picked us up at the marina in his Hybrid electric Toyota Prius, and took us out to their place (about an hour away). On the way out to their place Craig told us about his 30-year career in Merchant Marine, where he Captained ocean liners all over the world. They were so wonderful to us, opening up their home, and feeding us wonderful food. In the morning we got a tour of the property. Lisa and Craig have been on the property for over 6 years. I was impressed with all they have accomplished, with only the two of them. Granted they have had help here, but never-the-less a lot of work has been done at Middle Earth. The rainwater catchment system
 |
Humanure Toilet |
is quite extensive (catching 80-90,000 gallons of water a year), as well as the gardens, Photovoltaic solar systems, and ponds. Some other aspects worth mentioning are the chickens, the cultivation of shitake mushrooms, a labyrinth, and the Humanure system. Lisa and Craig are both healers, working with the bodies energies to recover harmony. Of course, their other focus is Permaculture.
 |
Rain water Cartchment system |
They do courses and workshops on both subjects. The next big course they have coming up, is a Permaculture Design course, which should be pretty great. It’s a two week course (May 6th-20) that will be taught by Craig, and Julia and Charles Yelton, Australian Permaculture designers/teachers from Humustacia Permaculture Gardens in Rockport, Maine. Julia and Charles have taught Permaculture courses internationally in Ireland, India, Australia, and the U.S. For more information contact Lisa and Craig at MidEarthHealing@bellsouth.net.
While we were at Middle Earth, there were also some other visitors who came to see the place. Joe and Liz Schriner and their three children (Sara, Joseph, and Jonathan), are from Clevland, Ohio, and had heard about Middle Earth, from someone they had met a few days before in Mobile. The Schriner’s are a very fascinating family. Joe is running for President of the United States. For 8 months out of the year (for the past 8 years) they campaign by traveling, with their three children, all over the country, talking to people about their ideas. One year they did their campaign on Bicycles, traveling 2000 miles with two children (the third had not been born yet) and a 150 pound trailer in toe. To find out more about Joe, his campaign, and their travels, check out www.voteforjoe.com.
On our way back to the boat, with Craig and Lisa, we talked about Sustainability, what it looks like, and how it can be used in the world. Too many Ideas to sum it up right here and now, but look for the book in the future.
All in all, Wednesday was a day filled with great converstions and inspiration for the future. We were happy to return to see the boat still safe and sound. We did a bit of shopping, and came home to make a meal packed with fresh Veggies. A T-storm was brewing to the south, so we made sure everything was secure, and snuggled to have a good nights sleep.
6-7th-Devastation in Biloxi
 |
A neighborhood in Biloxi |
(Eric) After sailing from Mobile to Pascagoula, and then from Pascagoula to Biloxi, we have seen the signs of the hurricane damage. In Pascagoula the harbor is damaged but some of it is still functioning. Along the beach the houses are all destroyed, either bulldozed to the ground or unlivable.
We get in to Biloxi in the night, and anchor out until daylight so that we can find our way easier. In the morning we can see the marina at Point Cadet, one of the only marinas left (although just barely). The marina owner gives us free dockage for a week since we are helping out with the hurricane relief efforts, which is really helpful for us. After tying up the boat and stowing everything securely we go for a walk around and the damage is staggering.
 |
 |
What is left of the marina just down the way from the marina we stayed in |
A Casino Barge that washed up just next to the Highway |
There are HUGE casino barges way up on land, and all the houses are destroyed. The casinos, huge buildings, are condemned and will be blown up in order to build new ones. The destruction leaves us in shock, and this is 5 months after the hurricane. It is hard to believe how destroyed this community is, and it only gets worse as you go west. In the evening we get picked up by some of the people from Hands On USA, a volunteer group that has been working down here since september. We go back to their base and have dinner with about 50 other volunteers, and get introduced to their organization. When they are at their peak they have around 200 volunteers, but right now it is between school breaks so there are less people. After the meeting they take us back to the boat and we fall right asleep.
In the morning they come and pick us up and take us to the worksite. We start working in a house owned by a man named Peter, 62 and retired. When the hurricane struck he and his wife tried to leave, but the roads were blocked with traffic, so they turned around and came back. The water started coming up the street, and then started coming in the house. He went outside to get their tall ladder and had to wade through water 4ft deep. They got up into the attic as the power went out, and the water kept coming up. They couldn't see anything so he stuck his foot down to feel where the water was. It kept coming up towards the ceiling, and they didn't have any tools to break through the ceiling, so they thought that it might be the end. Luckily they had high ceilings, and the water stopped rising before getting into the attic. Some of his friends weren't so lucky, and he said he knew about 8 people who got trapped in their attic and died. "I never want to go through anything like that again" he said.
 |
Britt with an arm load of debris from the house we were working on |
We started tearing out the tongue and groove walls in order to try and stop the mold that is growing rampant all over the houses here. After the water receded, the wet wood started growing black mold, and the houses are not safe to live in. We used crow bars and hammers to take it all down to the studs, and then hauled all the debris to the street for the city to pick up. We also worked on a few other houses, tearing out the walls and wiping it down to prepare for the mold crew. They come in and grind down all the wood that is exposed, then vacuum up the dust, wipe it down with a disinfectant chemical, and then spray it with a mold inhibiting latex paint. After that it is ready to be rebuilt (although the mold could still come back).
It is hard work, and after a full day we are ready for a hot shower, dinner, and bed. We will be here for a few days, seeing how they operate and helping out. There are different projects that they work on, but the main one is gutting houses and de-molding them so that people can rebuild. Alot of people are interested in our project, and we have already given away a lot of seeds here. People are also really interested in the water filter that we have, and it has been fun talking with new people.
11th-Hands On USA, Biloxi
(Katie) My goodness, so much has happened since the last log. Our days are just so full that all we want to do when we get done working is relax and get some rest! In the last log Eric talked about Hands On USA (www.handsonusa.org), a group down here doing Katrina relif work. We have been working with his group for the last 5 days. They are doing some amazing work. It is hard to understand the scale of devastation in Biloxi and to be in the midst of it all and realize this is only one area out of many that was destroyed by Katrina. You have to do what Hands On does and just say to yourself “one house at a time” or else it gets to overwhelming to think about. And the other side of that is asking the question should these places even be rebuilt? East Biloxi is where most of the damage was. Since it is basically on a sand spit, there is water on both sides, which makes it incredibly vulnerable. Compared to Camille in 1969, Katrina was worse by ten fold. Camille had really strong winds, but Katrina brought flooding Biloxi has never seen the likes of. The Ocean swelled 35 feet above normal sea levels. The tidal surge is what caused the majority of the damage and this could very likely happen again. I really have to wonder if this is a safe place for human settlement.
The casinos don’t seem to mind. They were one of the first businesses rebuilt and back up and running. It used to be in Biloxi that gambling had to happen on the water, hence all the barge casinos, very shortly after Katrina the law was changed to having casino’s within 800ft of the water. I guess there is a positive and a negative. The casino’s rebuild immediately, provide jobs and bring in revenue for the city. On the other hand, the casinos encourage and perpetuate an addictive and greedy society. The other thing the casinos are doing is buying up the properties of those people who know longer wish to return or can’t afford to rebuild. They are doing this to build resorts and more casinos.
I don’t know what the solution is, it is just good to question. And while I am on the subject of casinos, I must tell you about my last couple of days volunteering for Hands On. I’ll spare you the politics and simply say Hands On volunteers were allowed to go in the Palace casino barge that was
 |
Inside the Palace Casino Barge |
destroyed by Katrina and recover as much as they could in the time frame given (three weeks). I got to volunteer with the barge crew and as a result I became a pirate!!! We recovered many things that would have otherwise just been destroyed when taking down the barge. Some of our pirate booty included, tables, chairs, an array of stainless steal kitchen implements and counters, wooden desks, trim, file cabinets, stacks of paper, a copier, boxes and boxes of unused toilet paper, kitchen goods and lots of other things. These items are to be distributed to different non-profit organization around the area. I happened to be at the barge on the last day of salvaging and there was still so much that could have been recovered that we didn’t get to. But the longer it sat there the more it cost the casino and so on Monday the demolition begins. One of the funniest things about being in the barge was the fact the it was listing at about 15° angle, which means that when we were walking we were had to walk at quite a lean.
It has been nice to connect with Hands On and jump right into volunteer work. It gives us a chance to see how we can fit into the recovery process. We have already been able to give a few people seeds and advice about their gardens and that feels good. It will be great to actually create those gardens with people and get to growing things.
12th- The Nourishing Place, Biloxi
(Britt) Sunday morning began shortly after sunrise with Katie, Eric, and I in a borrowed “Hands On USA” van with three other “Hands On” volunteers. We drove west from Biloxi to Gulfport, along the Mississippi Sound coast, passing destroyed house after house. The sights of the exposed insides of water-damaged homes, smashed windows and doors, and spray-painted exterior walls signifying whether what is left of the structure will be salvaged or totally demolished is slowly changing from surprised shock into surreal reality. After a week’s work demolishing interiors of houses, doing mold remediation, salvaging goods from a displaced barge for redistribution at a local soup kitchen, and planting trees with local school children, we were en-route to a Sunday non-denominational service at The Nourishing Place.
When we arrived, breakfast was in full swing, friendly smiles and people to go along with them greeted our crew at every turn. The table was full with just about every breakfast food one could think of and we each found interesting folks to talk with about their lives and a bit about our project. The topic of the sermon was love and what it means to be of service through love…appropriate with Valentine’s Day just a couple of days away. One member stood and played her guitar and sang at the front of the chapel as we all beamed smiles at her. After the service, we passed out packets of seeds to people who had had gardens or wanted to start them in their yards. It’s always fulfilling to see people’s eyes light up at the possibility of growing beautiful flowers, herbs, and vegetables in the wake of their water ravaged yards.
 |
Dr. Gail Cotton |
Like so many of our connections so far, a Hands On volunteer gave us the name of Dr. Gail Cotton, the co-founder of the NGO, “The Educational Support Organization.” Through this organization, “The Nourishing Place,” and the community learning and education center, “Harmony House” have blossomed into opportunity centers for the youth and adults of their Biloxi, MS community. Both Gail and her project partner, Rev. Dr. Jane Stanley have been working for eleven years at the local neighborhood level with community outreach and civic service in mind.
The Nourishing House is a community outreach and worship center helping members of the community by funding after-school programs for local children, providing meals throughout the week, gathering and disbursing food and clothing throughout the year for people in need, and various other programs that help nourish the minds, bodies, and spirits of people in their community. The Harmony House is a learning center for the Nourishing Place, which offers a hands-on educational space for people to learn practical skills. The grounds of the Harmony House once enjoyed an extensive Rodale books library and beautiful herb gardens and trails for people in the community to enjoy. Much to Gail's dismay, these were all destroyed in the hurricanes and now she is eager to get this library and the gardens back in working order to better serve her community. Gail is an incredibly busy woman whose endless list of skills and unparalleled passions outlive the number of hours in a day. She is one of those people that inspires us to help in any way we can.
Following the service and just before a free demonstrative healing fair was about to start at the chapel, Gail took us to Harmony House. She had herb gardens, extensive walking trails, and a camping area for people to stay prior to the hurricane and is hoping to redevelop this area. At this stage, their greatest need is to rebuild the center, which had to be completely gutted and treated for mold. Next, she’d like to get the grounds back in shape, which requires soil remediation and then they’ll begin to plan for repopulating the gardens and natural areas. Eric set about researching fungi and plants used in soil remediation, I sent a request to Rodale Books for a donation of gardening books to reconstitute their destroyed library, and Katie is interested in returning to help create a permaculture site plan and apply Eric’s remediation research. They are in need of any gardening supplies, books on gardening (herbs, vegetables, soil conditions, permaculture principles). Their website is www.thenourishingplace.org and they can be contacted through the site or you can get in touch with us and we will pass on the message.
What an inspiring couple of women! Their devotion to creating harmonious places and learning environments for people in their community is incredible and we’d love to see the Harmony House back up and running.
16th-Arriving in New Orleans
(Katie)What a trip to be in the city of New Orleans! I remember in August when I was watching (on the news) Katrina coming across the Gulf and what unfolded in her wake and now I am here. This was the main thought going through my head as we sailed into the industrial harbors on the outskirts of the city. Luckily the wind was in our favor the whole way to New Orleans from Biloxi. Apart from motoring into the Marina (in New Orleans) we sailed the whole way, 3 ½ days. It was a good feeling.
Its always slightly stressful coming into an industrial harbor with big barges and such things, its doubly stressful when, your not exactly sure where your going, there is a barge to port, three Coast Guard tender Boats (with machine guns mounted on the bow) coming towards you (really fast), the channel is relatively narrow, and the wind is pushing you to the bank to starboard. Our destination was the marina on lake Pontchatrain, after going up the wrong cannel and ending up in front of a lock that (if we had gone through it) would take us to the very busy, large, and scary Mississippi River, we made it to the right canal. We had to go through one very narrow lift bridge, with one of the Coast Guard boats on our heels. The lift bridge that we came to was our last obstacle to getting into the lake. Unfortunately, as we found out after hailing the Coast Guard boat that was also waiting for the bridge, the bridge was being fixed and it would be an hour or longer. Like the Coast Guard boat, we docked at a boat yard just before the bridge. While we were waiting, Eric and the Coast Guard guys chatted it up. These Particular Coast Guard men were part of the anti-terrorist unit and their main job was to board boats and check them out. I guess they didn’t suspect us of terrorisms because we weren’t boarded! The three guys told Eric stories about going though the neighborhoods after Katrina when everything was flooded and rescuing people who were flooded in. They also told some of their own story. When they evacuated, they were told that Katrina was going to be a category 1, so they only brought a few things with them, like a change of cloths. 12 hours after evacuation, Katrina was a category 5 and they knew they would probably loose everything and they did.
We got the call from the bridge that it was fixed, got back in the cannel, went through the lift bridge and out into Lake Pontchartrain. At this point we were really close to the marina. I was not prepared for the sight of the marina. It was and still is a shocking and unbelievable sight. From a distance we could see the
masts of the boats that’s how we recognized where to go. But once we got closer and closer you could see that something was amiss. Not all the masts were sticking up straight, many were tilted at disturbing angles. Then once we actually entered the marina we understood. This 1000 slip marina did not require the boats to evacuate, the result was the ruin of nearly every boat that stayed and a lot did.
The boats are strewn along the perimeter of the marina, in the parking lots, on top the docks and there are quite a few 100s of feet away in the park next to the marina. There are also countless boats sunk in the water some are completely submerged, others are half in the water, and some, all you can see is the mast sticking out of the water. We had to be very careful not to run into anything in the water. I talked to one guy whose boat was spared and he said that 90% of the boats had already been cleared. I can’t even imagine it being much worse, but it must have been.
After getting the boat secure Steve, Britt’s cousin (who lives in N.O.), came to take us back to his house on the west side of the river. On the drive to his house we saw some of the destruction. It is everywhere!! Block after block of ruined houses, with little signs of life or progress towards rebuilding. Once we got over the Mississippi river to the west side you could see a more “normal city.” There were still signs of destruction but there were actually store opens and working streetlights.
Steve’s house faces the Mississippi River levee, luckily the river didn’t spill out the top of the levee or else his house would have suffered much more damage. Although, Katrina did take its toll on his home and there are still many things to fix. He treated us right on our first night here. He fed us all the raw oysters and boiled shrimp we could eat. He is a harmonica player and will be performing with his band, The Hurricane Refugees, tomorrow. So we will get see some live music in the French Quarter. I didn’t realize Mardi Gras was a two week long event. Apparently, there are parades everyday and festivities downtown. Maybe we will see some tomorrow!
18th-Common Ground
(Britt) Now that we’re settled into the unsettling marina (there are only 2 other boats with inhabitants in the entire 1,000 slip Southern Yacht Club marina on Lake Pontchartrain), we have been able to get to work with a group called Common Ground Relief (CG). CG was formed by former Black Panther member, Malik Rahim, to provide short-term relief to hurricane victims in the Gulf region and long-term support to New Orleans communities in the form of mutual aid and support. Since its inception, over 300 volunteers have worked with CG distributing food to over 40,000 people, doing home service repair, creating and running a women’s shelter which offers support and solidarity, setting up a free medical clinic that provides vaccinations, examinations, and basic medical care (this clinic is now in danger of losing its sponsorship due to differing political stances), and community advocacy to stop the untimely bulldozing of houses (before the proposed date and before people have been able to return to their homes and assess the damages), as well as providing legal council.
A friend of ours from Bellingham, Carolina Reyes, has been working with Common Ground for several months now as Distribution Coordinator and EM (Efficient Microbes) Researcher, among other things. Carolina is incredibly busy (her cell phone rings every 5 minutes), so she gave us her car and pointed us in the direction of the Meg Perry Community Garden and Bioremediation Project in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. We’ve been involved in the garden nearly everyday since.
 |
 |
Peg Perry community garden |
Raised beds inside the garden |
This beautiful, large garden full of planted raised beds, a variety of citrus trees, a large greenhouse, and tool shed has been in use for 15 years as a community garden. It was one of the few spaces spared from the damagingly toxic floodwaters. The floods affected most of the homes in this neighborhood. Of the people who have remained here, most of them now live in FEMA trailers in their front yards. Almost across the board, New Orleans has dangerously high levels of petrochemicals (there was one oil spill from Murphy Oil in the 9th Ward of St. Bernard’s Parish) and heavy metal toxins such as lead from the paint on flooded houses, uranium, zinc, and cadmium in the soil.
In addition to growing vegetables for the CG volunteers and donating to the neighborhood folks who are interested, this garden is also the research headquarters for bioremediation. Basically, they are growing sunflowers, mustards, and oyster mushrooms known for their ability to bioaccumulate toxins in soils. There are sunflowers in most of the raised beds, along with mustards, parsley, cilantro, chard, beets, beans, lettuces and other salad greens, and spinach. In the beds, we’ve planted corn, flowers, celery, onions, beets, parsley… In the green house, we’ve started all sorts of vegetables, herbs, and flowers, many of which are planted in used water bottles with planting tips, information on toxic soils, and contact details for further information. These seedlings in the bottles are then given to people at distribution centers so they can take them home and begin to remediate their soils.
They have also been spraying EM as a natural means of growing beneficial microbes in the soil. They are a combination of photosynthetic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, which eat compounds like carbon and then secrete beneficial enzymes and antibiotics, thus helping plants grow and soils to repair. CG has even been using EM to spray on houses to eat away the toxic mold. The Common Ground garden crew led by Emily has restored the garden with raised beds, compost piles, a composting toilet, and green house. Since we have been here, Eric has worked to make the composting toilet functional and created a humanure compost pile, compiled a planting and crop rotation schedule, and has answered countless questions about all things having to do with growing. Katie has been a powerhouse, preparing beds, planting seeds, weeding, working the compost piles, helping to make a pea trellis, and coordinating garden volunteers. Together, Katie and Eric are coordinating the goings-ons of the garden and making sure the plants are watered and well cared for. I’ve been splitting time between helping out wherever I can in the garden, weeding, planting corn, seeds, watering, etc. and sending out requests for materials to constitute the community garden education center, which is in the process of being formed.
Like the education center, “Harmony House” that we visited in Gulfport, MS, this garden is in need of books on gardening for the Southeastern U.S., composting, container gardening, harmful and beneficial insects, soil conditions, and general gardening practices. This community would greatly appreciate any donations of the educational or monetary sort. They are well plied with seeds, we donated $100 worth of tools, but they can always use more materials. Their website is www.commongroundrelief.org
Nuf talkin’, time to get my hands back in the dirt!
21st-Community Meeting
(Britt)Wanting to gain a better perspective into what is happening in post-hurricane New Orleans, I was reading the New Orleans Times-Picayune. I saw an article on an upcoming council meeting in the St. Bernard Parish that was open to the public. The St. Bernard’s Parish Citizen’s Recovery Committee had called this meeting to present to the community their plans for rebuilding this parish. This committee is made up of prominent members of the community who have volunteered their time to try to come up with acceptable and viable rebuilding plans. Eric and I contacted a few other volunteers who might be interested in attending, and headed down to the makeshift meeting tent behind the Government building which, like most other buildings is in the process of being repaired.
There were about 60-70 people standing and approximately 100 seats, mostly inhabited by a predominantly white, middle to older age group of constituents. St. Bernard’s Parish has traditionally been home to a mostly black population. Most people gathered here today to hear suggestions for how the areas hardest hit will be re-zoned (industrial, green space…AKA golf course, or residential).
The committee addressed such issues as infrastructure and transportation, coastal protection and storm surge precautions (including restoring wetlands, creating coastal barriers, raising the levees, and remove gates between the bayou and MS River for fresh water diversion which would help nourish the natural barrier marshes), housing redevelopment and quality of life, economic development, public health and health care, environment and public safety, and lastly, they addressed the issue of financial outreach and fiscal stability.
Some of the more interesting ideas were to plant cypress trees in up to four of the submerged barges and move them into position to protect canals and levees from surges. There are proposals to “build” more barrier islands in order to create a series of obstacles, which would prevent surges from hitting canals, lakes, and levees. Plans to widen and improve the evacuation routes, move the railway tracks away from the roads, and expand the St. Bernard Port at are also on the docket for consideration. Much of the presentation was geared toward making this parish appeal to the elderly population as they are the most prominent financial contributors. The committee also elaborated on an existing relocation and repair plan that would help people move back to this parish. Basically, people can receive up to $150,000 to repair their homes based on the pre-Katrina value, minus any flood insurance received, and minus a 30% penalty for those living within the flood zone who did not have flood insurance. If people do not want to move back to St. Bernard’s Parish, the government will offer to buy the homes at pre-Katrina price values as long as the family moves to another area in Louissiana.
 |
 |
Car still on a House in St. Bernards Parish |
Scumline on houses in the lake shore area |
I was hoping the discussion would be open to the public for comment, but they ended up going over time, and the public response session was postponed until the end of the week. Most people made groaning sounds of disapproval or laughter when FEMA was mentioned. Not many people clapped at any of the suggestions, nor did they seem surprised or dismayed. It seemed to me that most people were still trying to comprehend the enormity of the hurricanes’ impact and were most interested in learning how these plans were going to affect their families and property on a personal level. Many of the suggestions for citywide beautification and income generation seemed a long way off. People still need their roofs to be put back on, their homes to be gutted and rebuilt, the streetlights, water, and electricity to come back on, and their neighbors and local businesses to return.
25th-More destruction in New Orleans
(Katie) New Orleans is a crazy place. It is hard to really imagine what it is like down here. 80% of the city was flooded during Katrina and I think everything had wind damage. Since the Hurricane (6 months ago), only about 15-20% of the damage has been fixed. Entire neighborhoods are still abandoned. Like in the Lakeshore neighborhood, where the boat is, there are hardly any residents. You drive down the street and on some stretches there is no power, empty houses all around. It is like driving through a ghost town.
 |
 |
Destruction in the |
Lower 9th ward |
Today we went through more areas of the lower ninth ward, one of the hardest hit areas, and it’s utterly destroyed. There are only a few houses eft standing near where the levee broke. One of which was gutted by Common Ground and (with the owners permission) used as a volunteer and distribution center. They have no power either.
I have to wonder if the lower 9th will ever be inhabited again, but people want to come back. They and their families have lived in that area for hundreds of years. Many of those houses have been passed on from generation to generation. On the other had the land is sinking. All of New Orleans is sinking. And the wetlands in the bayou that historically absorb the initial impact of the hurricanes coming through this area are disappearing. So what do you do? It’s a big question, these people love their city and rightly so. I have been to very few places that have as much character as New Orleans!!