To our lovely Borderlands family, Hey! We have a fun fact for you all: we drove 4,375 miles in the last eight weeks! (Soooo, how many of those miles were spent singing Lady Gaga? Some of you definitely just said, “too many”, some of you definitely just said, “not enough”.) But seriously! Wow! 4,375 miles! And we never left Arizona. And why would we?! In lands as vast as Arizona… Read More

Written By Rachel and Elsie Hello! For our last week here in Arizona, we headed to the Dharma Treasure Meditation Retreat for a peaceful, reflective end to an amazing trip. Your captains of the week, Rachel and Elsie, are here to share our experience. Namaste 11/30 After a sad goodbye to our temporary home at Hacienda Corona, we drove into Tucson for a COVID-19 test. This time, we got a… Read More

Written By, Mari, Leila, and Eli Hey guys, it’s Mari! Leila, Eli and I were the captains this week and I’m here to tell you all about what we did! For our 4 day captainship, we went back to the Hacienda Corona Bed & Breakfast to celebrate Thanksgiving with four relaxed days. 11/26: Thanksgiving Day! This morning we all woke up refreshed after sleeping in, and super excited for the… Read More

Hello! This week was student directed travel, four days of travel and experiences fully designed by all the students on the semester!  Since this week was planned by everyone together, the blog will also be written by everyone together. You will hear from each of our captains-of-the-day teams as they tell you about their day and the activities they planned. Rachel and Elsie – Saturday 11/21: Hi all! This is… Read More

Written By Lily, Freya, and Kerri Key: * → fun fact @ = look into this % = facts we learned 11/16 Monday: Prepare mentallly for a transformative week:  Arrive at Hacienda de Corona We are greeted by Jeff and 8 yo daughter Reina, who were kindly waiting to lead the way in their open-air black Jeep. At the main house, Nisa (co-owner of the 100 year old Ranch we… Read More

Written By Sophie & Petar Hey everybody, this is Sophie, one of the current team captains! This week the group traveled to the Canelo Project in Elgin, Arizona. When we arrived, everybody got a quick tour of the property and took a look at the Main House, Guest House, Poem’s House, Juanita’s House, and the Portable Straw-bale House. Each member of the group got to stay in one of these… Read More

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Much Ado About Dirt Our week as a playbook at Deep Dirt Farm & Institute Written by Rachel, Jacob, and Freya Monday, Nov. 12 Scene: The Carpe Diem van and Jeep arrive at the Deep Dirt Institute with Kate T (Owner of Deep Dirt) waving at the welcome center. After brief hellos, the group follows her to a spiral rock structure where they introduce one another and converse. Kate explains … Read More

Written By, Elsie, Petar, and Eli Hi family and friends!! I’m Elsie, one of our captains of the week along with Eli and Petar. I’m excited to let you all in on what’s been going on here in Arizona. What a week it has been!! After lots of preparation and anticipation, we finally packed up our bags Monday morning and dove into a 6-day backpacking adventure. For many of us,… Read More

Written By, Lily Hello family and friends! We finally arrived in the small border town of Patagonia, Arizona last Wednesday. Following the cold nights we spent in the Grand Canyon, the group is loving the warm weather down here. Once we settled into our accommodations at the old elementary school in town, we were anxious to start working with Borderlands Restoration Network (BRN). I’m Lily, one of the team captions… Read More

The group jumping after setting up our tents in Tucson. Super excited! Written By Kerri, Jacob, and Leila Greetings from sunny Arizona! We have been spending this first week camping at two different sites, exploring, and bonding. Our first site was based in Tucson, where we set up after arriving and had a nice dinner of pizza. We spent the first four days getting to know each other, and getting… Read More

Greetings, Friends and Family! The Borderlands group has safely arrived in Tucson, and have met with their group leaders, Kate and Adam. They have arrived at camp and are setting up tents before a first-night dinner of pizza and salad. They are in a beautiful setting; pictures to come tomorrow. Until then, be assured that the group is together and have already enjoyed an epic Arizona sunset. You’ll hear from… Read More

Hello Borderlands Crew and all who will be following and supporting us on this journey! With the excitement of our semester just around the corner, we are so excited to be writing this first blog. Although the students will be the usual voice on the majority of the blogs throughout our adventure, you will be hearing from us periodically too. So, who are we? enter Adam and Kate, the Carpe… Read More