Haven't been able to blog for 2 days. My work is draining me. My life has become a long trip between Beirut and Baalbeck. This road is so dangerous I'm glad every time I walk out of the car. Haven't been to my village in weeks, almost months, and haven't seen my kids properly for days.

The preparations for my coming trips are taking all my time: first to Terra Madre in Turin where I will launch my new book with Sami Abdel Rahman, photography by Tanya Traboulsi. The book is called: From `Akkar to `Amel, Lebanon's Slow Food Trail. In Terra Madre I will also chair a workshop on water and agriculture. Then to Berlin to talk about food security and conflicts, then to Egypt to talk about Environmental change and the fate of vulnerable communities: the Bedouins of Jordan and Lebanon.

Oh, and I'm also speaking in Beirut on Thursday for the launch of the new OXFAM report on the food crisis and the poor. I have to go work on my talk.

And that's only half of it.