Hunt Utilities Group

What a treat!  I had the pleasure of taking a tour of Hunt Utilities Group in Pine river, MN.  It is such an incredible organization that is leading the way in "resilient living".  Most people are currently focused on "sustainable living" but Hunt Utilities Group is taking it a step further and has coined the term "resilient living".  The idea is to live sustainably and comfortably; using natural and sustainable building materials and practices.  There are a lot of Americans that want to do there part and live sustainably but do not want to sacrifice a beautiful luxury home.  Hunt Utilities Group is facing this problem head on and making it easier for us consumers to participate in sustainability.  The campus is, for lack of better words, soooo cool; I couldn't believe how many things they are working on. Hunt Utilities Group is doing amazing things with building materials and have already built a couple of highly efficient buildings.  The main building on campus was made of stacked straw bales and then covered in cob.  Cob is a mixture of dirt that is mostly clay, straw, and some sand; mix these into the right consistency and voila, you have an ancient and very strong building material.  The main building is about 4500 square feet and it only cost $750 to heat for a whole year, that's like $60 bucks a month even in the freezing cold winter months. They also have a very large garden and a couple of hoop houses; I had a chance to walk through and see all the things they are growing. They are using a lot of sustainable farming practices.  They are effectively growing food as well as learning by experimenting with new sustainable farming ideas.
Hunt Utilities Group is the for-profit organization but the campus also houses two not-for-profits.  Happy Dancing Turtle is helping to teach sustainable lifestyles while building community, they focus on food and water security, energy conservation, and environmental stewardship.  If you are in the central Minnesota are and want to get involved check out there website, here is a link, Happy Dancing Turtle.  RREAL, is the other non-profit, which is focused on providing sustainable energy (specifically solar power) to the masses.
I wish I had taken pictures but there are lots on their website which I have put a link to in the "links" tab.  When I left there, I felt refreshed. It is  so cool to see a company putting so much energy into sustainability.  I met so many interesting people with big ideas for the future. If you are ever in the area, stop in and check it all out.

When we got back from Pine River, Lissa had prepared a small birthday dinner for me.  It was so sweet of John and Lissa to think of me.  My birthday is not until the 29th but I will be out of town for it.  Lissa made an incredible hors d'oeuvre, seriously a stroke of genius.  It was slices of bacon slathered with a cheddar jalapeno cheese and then wrapped in kale leaves.  The bacon was obviously delicious, the kale was fresh out of the garden and had great flavor, the cheddar jalapeno cheese gave a little zip to it and then of course I put hot sauce on it (specifically the hot sauce I made with Grant last week). It was so good, and we spent the next 15 minutes thinking of ways to mass produce and sell these delicious little treats. For the main course we had barbequed chicken and  coleslaw with grated carrots and radishes from the garden.  For dessert, a raspberry cheesecake; Lissa makes the best cheesecake ever.

John and Lissa also got me presents, which was incredibly generous considering all they do for me already.  They had a t-shirt made that said, "I'm so excited!! I am literally a dirt magnet intern" This really sums up my first few months at King Gardens, I honestly can't tell you how many times in a day I say the words "I'm so excited", the truth is there are so many new things to do and learn that I am constantly in a state of excitement.  As far as being a dirt magnet...it is true, if we start at 7:00am, by 7:04 I am filthy dirty.  I can get dirty just walking to the gardens, some people might think it's weird but I think it takes a lot of skill to get as dirty as I do.  Lissa also picked out a gorgeous pair of earrings for me, you can sort of see one in my right ear.  Needless to say, I love them and I will be wearing them a lot.  I also got some lavender roll on perfume, which smells so good I could bathe in it.  I had such a good birthday dinner and really appreciate John and Lissa for making it special for me.