relationships

On April 28, Anastasia King-Jaress and her husband, JC Jaress, will leave their airy, three-bedroom house in the foothills of Los Angeles and move into a 24′ motor home (nicknamed “The Schwartz” after the movie Spaceballs), on a one-year expedition to visit eco-villages and organic farms across the U.S. to learn about sustainability.With a laugh, Anastasia says, “This is either going to be the best thing that ever happened to us, or we’re going to kill each other!”

They say it all started when people became more aware of climate change issues. The couple felt that their comfortable lifestyle was contributing to the problem, so they started to make small adjustments in their day-to-day life.

But it seemed that there was so much more they could be doing besides making their own carbonated water, growing vegetables and eating organically.

This realization, along with their loss of faith in the financial system that would inevitably result in the both of them working endlessly to retire, caused them to change their approach.

Together, they will be working toward building a financially, emotionally and environmentally sustainable life.

Entrepreneur JC stumbled across the organization World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) and decided that their program was a good place for him and Anastasia to start. The pair will be WWOOF volunteers and learn about sustainable agriculture for free as long as they provide labor on the farms.

Their family and friends were so supportive of the couple’s plan that starting a blog seemed to make sense. The Good Foot Project, as they call it, will chronicle their highs and lows on the journey and hopefully shed light on how others can step out of their comfort zones and make similar lifestyle changes.

Anastasia believes that information overload and distractions take over people’s lives to the point where any kind of change seems impossible. “Many people don’t believe they have the time to cook dinner, let alone grow food or wash cloth diapers,” she says.

As a former award-winning film producer, she would often be caught up in what JC refers to as the “daily grind, rat race or the hamster wheel.”

“We’re like two kids in a candy store—we’re here with a purpose in mind, but we get so easily distracted and sometimes we just need a calming hand to hold onto to bring us back into focus,” he says.

Hopefully, that is what The Good Foot Project will give them—something substantial to work together toward.

At the end of their journey, the couple hopes to have the means to establish their own sustainable, low-impact eco-retreat and training center.

Imagining the product at the finish line is what will motivate them when times in their close quarters get tough. JC’s Buddhist values of patience, acceptance and compassion, which their relationship is built upon, will also help.

If all else fails, some of JC’s self-proclaimed “killer” margaritas may come to the rescue when the pair gets homesick.