It was hard to leave Portland--so many more Peak Moment possibilities! But we headed south on Saturday, happily eating fresh berries from the People's Food Coop.

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Northwest Permaculture Gathering
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We briefly visited with long-time friends in Brownsville and then landed in Eugene for the Northwest Permaculture Institute's weekend conference at the Dharmalaya center. The large back yard was full of people! We were warmly greeted by friends we'd met the month before when we taped Peak Moment shows with some of them: Doug Black, Jan Spencer, Krishna Singh Khalsa, Ravi Logan, Jason Schreiner, Guy Prouty, Sue Supriano, and Tom Schneider.

The grounds outside were nicely laid out with hay bales for seating, a community bulletin board, literature tables and folks were lined up for a vegan dinner prepared in the outside kitchen. Behind and around the sanctuary building, the grounds are being planted using permaculture design principles, including a bioswale to capture rainwater and fruit trees.

Dharmalaya Center, Eugene OR - view of the back through the gardens

We set up our equipment in the sanctuary to videotape the evening presentations of a number of interesting projects in the area that emphasize LOCAL -- a food packer of local organic produce, a sustainable-business directory, a permaculture educational center, and more.

I spoke about our Peak Moment television programs, our travels and tapings this summer. When I named our vision of taking Peak Moment On the Road throughout the country, taping and producing programs so that we can hand the finished program to our guests before we head to the next community. I got some uplifting supportive responses in the room -- hurrah!

We camped our Vanagon for the night near the home of our hostess Sue Supriano, and were up early in the morning to participate in the first session, a Media Track that Sue had organized. A longtime SF Bay Area activist and media maven, Sue has recently moved to Eugene from Berkeley. For over twenty-five years she's been an independent media producer of audio interviews on a wide range of topics in environmental, political, peace, Peak Oil. You can catch her programs on www.suesupriano.com, including one she did with me later that day.

During the media track, we also heard from independent producer Amy Pinkus Merwin, host of a Eugene radio program and visionary/ supporter of media projects in the central Oregon region. We showed our Peak Moment Highlights video, and Sue showed a video about a low-power FM station installed and running during one rainy week in Nashville.

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Looking for the Peak Moment Mobile
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We spent Sunday night parked in Tom and Victoria Schneider's driveway in Eugene. Tom sells RVs for a large nearby RV sales outlet. Last June he spent several hours showing and educating us on the different types and sizes of motorhomes.

We had a warm and nourishing breakfast with Tom and Victoria, including local grass-fed beef, local eggs, and vegies from their garden. We share with them the experience of being nourished by traditional foods including high-quality fats like dairy and coconut oil. Robyn's slender body-type and metabolism especially needs high-energy foods: on the road she has turned to Tahini, almond and dairy butters, meat, eggs, avocado, and Kettle potato chips. Well, we know that last item isn't the best nutritionally, but it worked in a pinch.

We spent most of Monday looking through the new and used motorhomes. Bit by bit we are clarifying what we want: a diesel pusher that is 38 ft. long on the inside, and 25 ft. short on the outside. Hard to find! :-)) Add to that a compactly-sized bathroom, a slide-out with sofa-bed for an on-board studio, highly-efficient space-saving storage. After we put the photovoltaics on the roof, we add electric vehicle capacity. Well, we've found that we don't fit the standard profile they're designing for! Any mechanical geniuses out there that want to help create a prototype biofuel flexfuel electric motorhome?

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BioFuels -- Fill 'er up along I-5
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Speaking of biofuels! On our way out of Eugene Monday afternoon, we stopped to tape a Peak Moment conversation at a new SeQuential Biofuels retail station and retail store that's being built. Ian Hill is one of the founding partners of SeQuential, going back to his student days making biodiesel in the garage. He and partners put together a business plan and began to develop a market for biofuels. Right in time for energy decline!

Their retail outlet will carry both biodiesel and ethanol in different grades. SeQuential's vision is a string of biofuel stations along the I-5 freeway from Canada to southern California. In answer to my question, Ian replied that biofuels cannot totally replace gasoline and diesel, which we consume in such enormous quantities -- but they can assist in a transition towards renewables.

SeQuential Biofuels in Eugene - soon open along with Big Oil

SeQuential is walking their conscious-about-energy talk. During the conversation, solar installers behind us mounted photovoltaic panels on huge racks that'll be the roofs over the pumps. A living roof will be planted on the retail store roof. Inside they'll sell some locally produced food and baked goods. Their refinery in Salem converts used vegetable oils. As the sun dropped in the west, we wished Ian well and packed the Vanagon to head south for our next day's conversation.

Next: White Oak Farm CSA and Education Center in Williams, Oregon.