Few things and few times give as much joy as being able to open up the Natural world for youth – better yet with tea and mountains. In this case, the mountains are a wee bit of a distance away.
Immersion is tangible…no theories or words. They are for much later.
Proud to be hosting the energy bundle that is The Change Academy from across Japan and Honolulu to here on the Big Island and our little patch. Firing up the pizza oven, digging Turmeric and living close in tents, it’s all about outdoors and collaborations…and some serious tea breaks.
I get some moments of joy introducing the land and ‘home’ for the group on Big Island
Students who didn’t know each-other before the flight over now, are depending on one another, altering perspectives, and immersing in soils they never knew before now.
Some local instruction on planting rare or endangered plants on Big Island.
The Natural World needs new stewards and inspired youth and they need to come from everywhere, every blood type and continent. It is theirs’ to usher along safely and care for. It is done with a visceral immersion rather than theories. Theories can come later as can the conversations that sometimes complicate all immersions.
Our little family before the hands go into the soil
It is also a great way to prepare for my own upcoming autumn months to be spent in Himalayas, and the tea regions. It lifts the spirits immeasurably to see the slow forward bond develop and to see that it makes sense to the youth; this harmony with all that flies, grows, and resides out of enclosed walls. So many too, of the informal laws of the mountains, run parallel to the land here and the human relationship with it.
Night life
A bit of permaculture thrown in, some random conversations of how to live life, more tea…and of course the epic meals are interwoven here on Big Island.
Homes within the green with the Pacific providing the backdrop.
Our group of students range from Honolulu to some of the earthquake/Fuskishima ravaged lands in Japan. A pair of incredibly tuned in Okinawan students round out this bunch of bright sparks.
The dirt, caring for it, and what it can provide without a single drop of chemical.
Forward we go
About JeffFuchs
Bio
Having lived for most of the past decade in Asia, Fuchs’ work has centered on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories with an obsessive interest in tea. His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in award-winning publications Kyoto Journal, TRVL, and Outpost Magazine, as well as The Spanish Expedition Society, The Earth, Silkroad Foundation, The China Post Newspaper, The Toronto Star, The South China Morning Post and Traveler amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America and Asia and he serves as the Asian Editor at Large for Canada’s award-winning Outpost magazine.
Fuchs is the Wild China Explorer of the Year for 2011 for sustainable exploration of the Himalayan Trade Routes. He recently completed a month long expedition a previously undocumented ancient nomadic salt route at 4,000 metres becoming the first westerner to travel the Tsa’lam ‘salt road’ through Qinghai.
Fuchs has written on indigenous perspectives for UNESCO, and has having consulted for National Geographic. Fuchs is a member of the fabled Explorers Club, which supports sustainable exploration and research.
Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures. He has spoken to the prestigious Spanish Geographic Society in Madrid on culture and trade through the Himalayas and his sold out talk at the Museum of Nature in Canada focused on the enduring importance of oral narratives and the Himalayan trade routes.
His recently released book ‘The Ancient Tea Horse Road’ (Penguin-Viking Publishers) details his 8-month groundbreaking journey traveling and chronicling one of the world’s great trade routes, The Tea Horse Road. Fuchs is the first westerner to have completed the entire route stretching almost six thousand kilometers through the Himalayas a dozen cultures.
He makes his home in ‘Shangrila’, northwestern Yunnan upon the eastern extension of the Himalayan range where tea and mountains abound; and where he leads expeditions the award winning ‘Tea Horse Road Journey’ with Wild China along portions of the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
To keep fueled up for life Fuchs co-founded JalamTeas which keeps him deep in the green while high in the hills.
