Air's Wild Acres
Small goats and small batch cheesemaking on a small farm, all with big laughs.
Category: Travel
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It’s not my turn anymore.
Of my many faults as a human, my tendency towards nostalgia is probably one of my traits that annoys me the most. I am so easily sucked into a photo album or an old blog, and can then spend hours, or days even, thinking about whatever experience and how much I miss that particular time…
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Pandemic privilege at Rivers End Ranch.
It’s been over a year since I have posted anything on my blog. A long, weird, emotional, crazy, rewarding year, which included the following: Leaving Arizona, where I had purchased a house only 11 months prior, then proceeding to become a landlord for the first time Moving into a 300 square foot cabin that had…
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Mexican haircuts, anxiety, and growth opportunities
On my last day in Mexico over the holidays, I spent some time wandering around Mexico City and picking up a few things I love (coffee, mezcal), and grabbed in a quick haircut. I hadn’t had a haircut in about a year, and for some reason it seemed a million times easier to get it…
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New Year’s Day on the side of a Mexican mountain
When I first booked this trip to Mexico a few months ago, I was looking forward to spending some time in a place I love with some people that I love. I was also in deep need of processing some emotions about leaving this beautiful country a year and a half ago and to acknowledge…
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“Farting around” while embracing joy
The first time I came to central Mexico, I was here for 6 months to complete a portion of my dissertation research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). As often happens in such situations, I made fast friends with a few colleagues, and we spent quite a bit of time exploring the…
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Good at everything but dating: on deep connections with place.
In one of the many conversations I’ve had with my dear friend Rachael since arriving in Mexico a few days ago, we were discussing my dating life and that of several of our mutual friends still living in the city. I mentioned a random interaction I had had with a gentleman at a Christmas pub…
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Finding the Aloha Spirit in Maui
When I walked into the Makawao History Museum, I was looking for perspective on this little town in the middle of Maui. Thanks to a friend employed by Alaska Airlines, I had lucked into a buddy pass1 to anywhere Alaska flies; wanting to be happy and warm, Maui seemed like an amazing place to spend…
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¿Güera, qué vas a llevar?
There’s a word in Mexican Spanish, güera, which is frequently used to address light skinned women like myself. I literally hear it everywhere—at the market, ¿Güera, qué vas a llevar?; at the corner taco stand, ¿Qué más güerita?; when I pay my bills at the convenience store, ¿Güera, todo bien?—all of which more or less…
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#TheNextBeWhom/WhateverYouWantWhenYouGrowUp
Sometimes I love my job, but sometimes it frustrates me. Not just because science is fucking hard, but because every scientist is subject to a series of outside pressures; pressure to be the best, pressure to do it all, pressure to forget that you like doing anything other than your research… While many of these…
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The environmental effects of war and peace
I’ve been spending some time in the last few weeks reading “The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov” by Peter Pringle, which I have wanted to read for some time due to my mad science crush on Vavilov. After learning about the centers of origin of different crops in an introductory international agriculture course at Davis, I…
Air's Wild Acres 