We've just returned from California. Heidi's couzin got married, and we were there. Also, we spent some time inYosemite National Park and among the coastal redwoods. But, in relevance to this walk, we went to the Heifer educational center in Ceres, CA.

It was really a lot of fun. The more we discover about this organization the better it becomes. Heifer is involved in projects in the inner city as well as the rural areas: everything from community gardens in California, to water buffalo in South East Asia. Amazing organization.

Laura (our tour guide, Heifer volunteer and goat enthusiast) spent a little more than an hour showing us around the Ceres center. She showed us the goats, llamas, Splash (the water buffalo), rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese and the Global Village.

Heifer uses the Global Village as an educational tool to teach children about day to day life in the rest of the world. Laura was kind enough to take us to all the houses on the farm: Asian, Latin American, Appalachian, African and the Urban Slums. Kids have to sleep in the house and eat the food residents of the family would eat. Really a useful tool for kids from American cities to understand the conditions in which most people live.

But now we're back in Kansas and preparing to head off to St. Louis. We just received our shipment from MSR and Heidi spent several hours last night packaging our food. It's difficult to wait for October 1st.