One of many 2016 highlights: Elise graduating from Lewis & Clark, and us all traveling to Swaziland to celebrate! Below is a gallery of images; click on any image for more info and a slideshow.

View Jan 1 2016 up Canyon Mountain from our land in southern Oregon, site of Alder Creek Community Forest (ACCF; see www.aldercreek.org).

Biochar production in January in memory of Jim Long, former ACCF board member and longtime supporter (and biochar enthusiast).

Launching spring semester 2016, Lewis & Clark environmental studies (ENVS) students in one of my upper-division courses draw connections between "Big Words" (common/vague abstractions).

ENVS seniors advertising March event they organized with first-year enviro dorm residents, part of a semester-long blogging collaboration (ds.lclark.edu/eallc/).

One of Joy's many visits to Oregon, this time to visit our family friend Sue Shaffer in Canyonville...

Family getaway home slowly taking shape spring 2016. Drop by in ten years and it will be ready for you!

Grandchild Kahdo and grandpa (JDP brother) Bob in Eugene. We all got to see Kahdo grow another year. Another grandchild (of sister Mary) due soon!

Environmental theory class field trip, April: first stop, current and former Douglas County Commissioners!

Students also visited Doerner Fir, world's tallest, in Oregon Coast Range just outside Douglas County.

Joy and some of her cousins in Swaziland posing for a selfie. We all traveled to southern Africa in May to celebrate Elise's graduation.

Bongie, Joy, and Elise climbing a little hill above Joy and Bongani's place near Nhlangano in southern Swaziland...

Before we left southern Africa we flew to Cape Town and visited Babylonstoren, a fancy garden providing inspiration for their own Canyonville fancy garden ideas...stay tuned...

Lewis & Clark students presented their work on sustainability at our annual environmental studies national conference in D.C.. June 2016.

Unitarian congregation chamber choir giving their final performance of the year in June (alas, I had to watch given my May absence).

Running across that famous bridge and back during June Breakthrough Institute conference in Sausalito.

Lots of biking this summer in prep for big Cycle Oregon week in September! This was their July weekend ride near Corvallis.

...and entering actual land cover data in the field, applying tree ID and digital skills to help construct a map of ACCF vegetation/habitat.

Ah, how time flies...here with a few classmate friends prior to South Umpqua High School reunion in July.

August ACCF instructor seminar, part of our professional development service to Douglas County teachers.

Sister Mary and I hiked to Cliff Lake to celebrate her birthday in August. Cliff Lake is a favorite...Joy, Elise, and I have been there boatloads of times.

In fall 2016 I took a sabbatical to work on several scholarly projects, including this new EcoTypes initiative (ds.lclark.edu/ecotypes/).

I also used fall sabbatical to launch weekly Jim Sings (You a Song) podcasts! See facebook.com/jimsings/.

Cycle Oregon's weeklong fall tour to the southwest Oregon coast, down the coast, then back...hundreds of miles on the road, and thousands of feet climbing...nothing for a true cyclist, but definitely a challenge for me.

More ACCF fall learning adventures in October, almost all of them organized by our school coordinators Jessica and Rich. It's great to have this learning happen on our land!

Fall camp with a few students from our Lewis & Clark Kojosho karate class. Here my buddies Mike and John are working with white belts...who know how far they may go?

Joy and Elise working with U of O landscape architecture student Zak on their proposed garden ideas in Canyonville; Zak will be doing a design as part of his senior project.

Local students have adopted the Alder Creek riparian trees to learn more about them. We had a lot of rain and runoff this fall!

My friend Lauren and I headed off to the coast in December for a biking adventure…but the weather had other plans.