YELLOW BELT

This past Friday morning, Josh joined 3 other white belts to complete his yellow belt examination in TaeKwondo. After a 20 minute warm-up + 25 minutes of demonstrating basic skills + each performing their required 3 forms + sparring with a partner to demonstrate their combat skills - it was off with the white on and on with the yellow. Here's a few clips capturing some of the highlights.



Warming up with the splits. Nicely done, Josh



Showing us how the 3 required forms are done on his way to yellow belt.



Josh demonstrating his fighting skills.




The belt ceremony. Off with the white. on with the yellow.



Group pic - with Josh's instructor, Michael (left of Josh - 4th degree black belt) and visiting Master Instructor (two left of Josh - 6th degree black belt).

Congratulations Josh! We're all very proud of you.

HIGH WINDS IN PANAMA

The primary reason we left Canada for Panama was to join the leadership team of the Dead Wheat International Foundation (DWIF). In a nutshell, we develop "contextually appropriate (sustainable) solutions" to address water, food and clean air security for vulnerable communities within the rain forest belt, with a particular focus in Latin America. Our primary food security technology is aquaponics - a merger of hydroponics (soil free food production) and aquaculture (fish) that recycles water and needs no outside inputs. We recently celebrated completion of the construction of our 100' by 30' experimental farm in El Frances.

But - high winds are a seasonal reality here in Panama that transition us from the rainy to dry season. In fact, you might remember a blog entry (with video) from last year detailing how gusts of wind flung our trampoline into our neighbors property. Well, this season we've had particularly strong winds, even at lower altitudes where our project is located.

This past week, wind gusts systematically destroyed the structure of our aquaponic project in El Frances. For a video report on the story, click here.

Paul