capstone spring 2026

For my waste eco challenge, I tried to pay attention to how much trash I make in a normal week. I noticed a lot of my waste comes from food stuff, like takeout bags, plastic cups, wrappers, and random packaging. This week I tried to use my water bottle more, use reusable bags, and eat more food from home instead of getting fast food. It was...

Water- The best water I have ever tasted comes straight up from my well. My family drinks more water now than ever! We do use a lot of water on our animals, especially the ducks. I do not collect rainwater, but I know I need to. It is on the list to get started this summer before the wet weather hits again.

I emit the most carbon by driving. That is the worst thing about living where I do. My son goes to school in Hood River and my wife teaches yoga there. It is only about 11 miles from my house, but 3 miles of that is winding dirt road and some pretty good incline. We have cyclists up here, but a lot of them will not ride daily because of the...

For my nature adventure assignment, I chose to take a technology break while walking around Mt. Tabor. Since I'm going to use this walk as my action this week, I wanted to reflect on it a bit differently here. I went on my walk around Tabor during one of the most stressful weeks of this term, with multiple term projects due, graduation...

We buy a majority of our produce at the Hood River Farmer's Market. Most of the vendors are local (within 20 miles of HR) and a couple are a little further away. Not all of them are certified organic, but I believe all are pesticide-free and are working toward their certification. All of the produce we buy is amazing, and we go through a lot of...

I'm usually pretty good about taking a couple walks down the road to the family barn everyday. One trip down and back is a mile and most of the time I take more than one. I've been very busy this last term though, being my last term before graduating. I fell out of the habit and could defiantly feel the difference. Being outside is one of the...

I took a picture similar to this last year and I ended up getting it tattooed on my hand. This is happening right now. The moon headed to set behind Mt Hood is not something we see often, but it is spectacular when it does. The tattoo has a lot of meaning to me and my family, but I will spare y'all the details. The pic of my hand isn't the best...

I have been throwing my old chicken bedding out into the chicken run for about a year now. The birds love it. They roll around in it and scratch in it, and it just becomes part of the soil. This past weekend I was going to do the chicken bedding and I decided to take a shovel to the soil to see how it looked underneath a few layers of old...

My solar setup is pretty rad. (Sorry for the technical terminology there.) I can check the status of my batteries, generation, use, and so on. I wanted to share with y'all what the impact of living off grid looks like. This particular system was installed less than 2 years ago. I do need to let everyone know that I am a stickler for turning...

I want to circle back to the food post. We do primarily focus on sustainability for ourselves, for our future, but I saw this live action going on the other day and it really got me to thinking about the sustainability of the life we don't see, or we think is creepy. This was a real struggle. That snake wanted that lizard as a meal. Period. It...