Floors (and such)

The bus has a brand new bamboo floor. The transformation from cold-hard-steel-tube to warm, soft, earth-educator, home-and-transport has begun. The trick with bamboo floor (unlike interpersonal communication and foreign policy) is to not be afraid to pound it into submission with a large rubber mallet. I should also mention that despite what it says on our homepage, I am not building this bus alone. AnnaPurna and the great Stephen England are in the shop everyday building, bracketing, bracing, and babbling. They deserve your and my appreciation. I will of course be happy to forward all letters of appreciation (or antagonism) to them.

Mahalo,
Leo

Harvest Rhythm Benefit Concerts 2007

This November, there were 4 Common Vision benefit events in 7 days, culminating in the beautiful event shown in pictures here. Many Thanks to all of the musicians, volunteers and supporters who helped make these benefits the most successful yet!
Thank You.
Arjun and Guardians....Love Eternal
Shimshai...Jah Levi...Rocker T
Human and the Human Revolution
Youssoupha Sidibe...Hollow Reed
MC Smiles-A-Lot

Orchard Updates

When Fruit Tree Tour plants up a school, let's be honest, it looks like we stuck a bunch of leafless sticks in the ground. This October, I had an opportunity to see what happens just 2-1/2 years later, as I journeyed to eight Los Angeles school orchards. The growth and production was more than I thought possible in such a short time! Meeting with the principals and teachers, I offered pruning support and lessons and got to hear the stories of what the trees have been doing since we left. This video highlights "Orchard Updates" from two LA schools.

Calling Aritsts for Bus Murals!

Common Vision is preparing to give the world’s largest recycled-vegetable-oil-powered fleet a fresh paint job for what promises to be the most powerful Fruit Tree Tour yet. The Vision needs your help for concept sketches, murals, portraits, general touch-up. If you are an artist or know of any artists who may be interested in giving creative energies to help forward the murals that thousands of California’s students will see, contact Blair Phillips: (stillwater@commonvision.org). Painting will happen in Santa Rosa.

Common Vision is looking to add different elements to all three of the buses’ murals.Concept for largest mural on “Bu” and "Yet-to-be-Named Kitchen Bus" include:

• A fully realized Green City covered in fruit trees, urban gardens, solar panels, alternative transportation, passive solar design, alternative construction, and energy alternatives.

• On the buildings and billboards within the Green City mural, Common Vision will be renting out advertisement space to green businesses looking to support Fruit Tree Tour.

Painting on the new kitchen bus include:
• Mural depicting indigenous people holding their staple crops in front of their village farms. The mural will cover at least four different cultures and an urban farm setting.
• The tone will be against the setting sun giving the over all tone of the bus a red color.

Painting projects on murals of “Lioness” and “Bassi” include:
• portraits of farmers and farmer's rights revolutionaries
• a rainbow that turns into a DNA strand
• tribal designs and villages
• a caravan of elephants
• leaves turning into butterflies
• constellations and shooting stars
• Shading and color grading.
• Terraced hillsides.

Please send in sketches to Blair Phillips, Stillwater@commonvision.org. You will be contacted with in a week of your submission. Thank you for your time and creative energy!

JahSun's Video Montage 2007

New bus arrives in new shop!

After 913 miles of open road, the yet to be named bus and I arrived today at our shop in Santa Rosa and I began removing the original Greyhound bathroom... Yuck! The bus ran great the entire way from Tucscon at 70 miles per hour. It's December 12, and we've got fifty-two days until Fruit Tree Tour begins. So, as we say in the business, "Let's do 'dis"

Bon Soir,

Trees For Fruit Tree Tour 08

With Common Vision’s new bus on the way, Pre-tour Prep has officially begun! This time of year is special for the CV crew because we start witnessing miracle after miracle roll in! The time, energy and resources needed for Fruit Tree Tour to be the educational extravoganza that it turns into each year come in many different forms. One of the most exciting is …..Fruit Trees! This week CV received the first two tree donations for FTT 08.

Rolling River Nursery is as family farm as they come in Northern California. You can even read about their farm adventures on their website (RollingRiverNursery.com) as well as check out their amazing varieties of fruit trees, fruiting vines and bushes, natives, groundcovers…. the list goes on. Rolling River has generously offered at least 50 fig trees for this years tour! I look forward to visiting the homestead for the fruit tree pick up!

Our second tree donation comes from Solman Fruit Trees (Solman.com). Marcus Bakula will hook Fruit Tree Tour up again in 08 with the ever popular cherimoya tree! He lovingly propagates delicious fruit trees in Encinitas, CA and in 05 CV planted his cherimoyas in the center of our first Fruit Orchard Mandala at Normandie Elementary. This year our friends from CSU reported 4 cherimoyas from that tree! Cherimoyas also happens to be a long-standing FTT crew favorite- we play drums and dance for baskets full of them at the Santa Barbara Farmers Market each year! Marcus and friends are at it again this year bringing more ‘moyas to the youth and throwing in some Brazillian dwarf bananas and Venus grapes.

Big thanks to the first tree donors of 08. The CV crew is honored to bring the generousity of our supporters into the hands of California’s youth. We are on our way to 1,000 more fruit trees for 2008!