little house in the ghetto

Changes

2011-05-27T14:03:00.007-05:00

So, my dear Molly has moved out. She's taken a 6-month internship at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina. She's blogging about it at On the Wing. Sounds delightful--I can understand why she doesn't ever want to come back to the Midwest. :/

So now it's gonna be just me and my part-time kid at the Little House. When my daughter's not around, I'll be living by myself, with no roommate, family, or "domestic partner" (not a very romantic term), for the first time EVER. I'm tempted to change it to Little Hermitage in the Ghetto!

HERMIT is a name now given to men who live alone in remote places, because they do not like to be around other people. Sometimes they become hermits because they do not like to work. Hermits seldom are neat. They usually have long hair and beards.

There have been also, from very early times, men who left their towns to give their time to God in solitude. Elijah and John the Baptist are examples.

The solitary worshiper, or hermit, is a feature of many religions. In the East, especially in India, devout men go off into the wilderness, where they sit and think or pray for days at a time. Usually they are thin and gaunt, for they eat little.

World Book Encyclopedia, 1965

Sounds kinda like me--except for the thin and gaunt part! Thought, famous hermits have been known to survive on graveyard weeds (Otman Baba) and nettle soup (Milarepa), and there's enough dandelion greens, garlic mustard, and lamb's quarters to feed me for a while.

Anyway, recent activities at the Little House include getting the mushroom logs situated in places where the mycelia will be comfortable. Reishi logs go into large clay flowerpots, upright, nestled into wet sand. Saralin suggested keeping a paper bag over the exposed top of the log. Hmm, I should probably check the moisture level in the sand sometime.

I've been harvesting lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) to dry for tea; and plenty of lamb's quarters (Chenopodium album) to eat as greens in eggs, salad, stir fry, and to dry for later use. Also, between bouts of Spring thunderstorms, uprooting asters to keep them from spreading even more. I'm seriously considering sheet-mulching huge portions of the yard, just to keep the asters down, and then I can at least sow desirable no-mow groundcovers in the sheet mulch.

I planted seed potatoes that Molly had prepped before she left, and mulched 'em with mower clippings and weeds from around the tater beds. I LOVE the free, nutrient-rich, mulch-at-hand!

Saralin, Julian, and their acquaintance Drew (whom I've not met yet) have dropped off small piles of firewood, starting to fill up the woodshed again before I've even cleaned it out from last year's wood. I'm ever so pleased to have free firewood delivered for free!!!

My temp job, which was JUST RIGHT for me, has dried up after a year and a half. I still work as a simulated patient at SIU School of Medicine, but that's not gonna be nearly enough to pay the mortgage. :( So I'm trying to decide between cube work and cloud work.

Also, thanks to Ran Prieur, I've been reading a lot of posts from Steve Pavlina. At minimum, it's encouraging and inspiring material for me to soak up in this time of transition. At best, maybe I'll actually discover my true life purpose, cultivate burning desire, develop the courage to live consciously, and become an early riser.

Spring Update

2011-04-02T14:37:00.004-05:00

My, how time flies on the Internet while stuff happens in real life. We have been welcoming Spring, with warm sunny weather pulling plants from the soil toward the sky. Some of our crew facilitated inoculating mushroom logs, so later on we'll have Shiitake and Reishi mushrooms fresh from the garden. (Special thanks to Saralin and Julian!) Molly and I trellised the raspberry patch, so it'll be easier to harvest and (we hope) less mosquitoey this summer. We have the usual spring bulbs coming up--crocus and daffodil blooming, with tulips and peonies leafing out. Oh yeah, and garlic and onions galore in the garden.

The elm tree and cherry bushes are in flower, and I swear I saw red buds on one of the little redbud trees. Dandelions are starting to show their bright smiley faces already.

Molting robins (with odd white spots on their backs) have been prowling the garden for bugs (they are birds of prey, technically). Our "garden tiger" Snapper has had a sore paw for a couple weeks, but he's healing up good, and he's back outside deterring squirrels and rabbits.

This morning K and I saw a bee and a butterfly, both on the cherry blossoms. If I understand correctly, a bee will keep going back to the same kind of flower it finds first, so hopefully it'll pollinate the cherries and we'll have some fruit later on. The butterfly may be a Question Mark, Polygonia interrogationis, whose adults overwinter and thus are often the first butterflies seen in Spring. Also, they like elm trees, which we have.

The average date for last frost in our area is April 15 (easy enough to remember), so there's still a chance some of our plant friends will get frosted. If we get a chill, perhaps the "heat island effect" of the city will help. It's been a relatively dry Spring so far, with March bringing us only 1.60 inches of rain, compared to the "normal" 3.15. (Per wunderground.com.) I scattered red clover seeds in various places--it's a TERRIFIC medicinal, not to mention nitrogen-fixer, bee-attractor, and beautiful. After a good rain, perhaps some of them will sprout. Weeks ago, I dug some experimental rainwater-channeling trenches (not really formal enough for me to call them swales), and I've been waiting a long time to see what actually happens when it rains. Still waiting. This may be a year to find out which of our yard/garden/feastfield friends are "drought tolerant."

Either way, thanks and praises to the One and Only, the Source and Sink, the Overarching Underlying, the Uncontainable Container, for such a beautiful season.

By Way of Introduction

2010-12-07T11:54:00.001-06:00

Hello there.

I’m not entirely certain who I am addressing, but whoever you are, I would like to henceforth issue my warmest greetings.

My name is Molly, y soy la compañera nueva de Don. I have been living in the little house for a couple of months now. Perhaps I shall regale you with the delightful tale of how all of this came about… but, some other time, for it is long and complicated and not entirely delightful. But here we are, and life is indeed quite blissful in this present moment.

For a brief introduction: I am a “twenty-something” and a student at the University of Illinois at Springfield, studying experimental psychology. I am interested in homesteading (obviously), brewing moonshine fruit wine, growing, wild crafting, herbal medicine, studying psychology and philosophy (particularly the phenomenological and anarchist varieties), reading and learning, and pretty much anything that gets slapped with the “radical” label.

I reviewed some of the Little House blog to see what it is all about before I start posting. The history of the Little House, as well as that of the Zomban community, is quite fascinating. The recent posts seem to have taken on a rather philosophical tone, but as I went back, I found many different focuses, including a variety of homesteading activities as well as the importance of community.

As for my focus, at this time I am deeply interested in gardening, and I will likely be posting a great deal about my various adventures therein. Given the fact that it is currently just the beginning of winter and, though I’d like to deny it, I saw snow flurries this very morning, I find it quite the misfortunate timing. To turn a problem into a solution, however, I am focusing on reading (I’m engrossed in a copy of Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, which is acting as an excellent guide), planning, building, and experimenting with winter gardens and methods to get an early start come spring.

Speaking of winter gardens, I already have a charming little garden growing in our large, lovely, south-facing window. In a long thin planter, members of the mint family – lemon balm, mint, and tulsi (holy basil) – are growing quite vigorously. Along side, my basil plant has exceeded 18 inches in height and my little rosemary plant is flourishing. I’m sure though, that they will all be exceedingly happy after the solstice, as the days begin to lengthen and they get more sun.

I have plans to continue to expand on this garden, hopefully in the coming week. Mi compañero, after reading a chapter of Square Foot Gardening, noticed that our milk crates are 13x13 inches – perfect for the square foot method – and we began to formulate the idea of growing vegetables in milk crates. I’m planning to line the crate with cardboard, filling it with potting soil, and plant some carrots. Left near the woodstove, the soil would get warm enough for the seeds to sprout. Then, being in a portable milk crate, they can be relocated to the sunny window to flourish into food. If all goes well, we might build something more elaborate… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

We’ll see what happens.

peace,

Molly

The Circle Turns

2010-12-01T15:28:00.004-06:00

Wow, it's been a while. Things have changed, things have stayed the same.

Sharqi and the sprout (she's more of a sapling now, actually) have moved to Urbana, which sounds WAY cooler than Springfield. I am back in the little house, feeding logs to the woodstove, snuggling with Snapper the Mouser, and scheming ... it's easier to imagine a complete sustainable utopia, than it is to see what steps to take here and now to get there!

I have invited my companyera, who's been spending a lot of time at the little house, to blog here. So y'all may be hearing from us, from time to time. Though we don't have Internet at the house, so we do it at the public library, where I am right now. And now I gotta catch the bus home, probably chainsaw some firewood, and get ready for my folks to visit.

I Love Swimming

2010-05-20T09:33:00.002-05:00

by Kaleigh

Swimming is fun.
Running is fun, too.
Sports are fun,
And almost everything is fun.
I love kickball.
I love scootering.
A lot of things are fun.
Best friends are funner.
I love swimming,
Because it's fun.
And so is writing.

my mindbody enjoys

2010-05-17T21:33:00.001-05:00

Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others…
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.

Walt Whitman

smell this

2010-05-03T17:09:00.003-05:00

Onions and garlic (bulbs and tops) sauteeing with the first two shiitake mushrooms (from my front yard log), with cleavers and new lambs quarters (edible weeds), seasoned with oregano and rosemary (from the garden)....topped with three eggs (straight from a friend's chickens' oviducts), scrambled, and fresh homemade chevre (goat cheese).

And, of course, being a midwesterner, I had to put ketchup on it!

carey

birds bords burds byrds

2010-04-29T09:10:00.000-05:00

Birds, birds,
They come in herds.
Birds, birds,
Shaking the trees.
Maybe the trees have bees!
Be careful,
Birds who are shaking the trees.
You too,
Wind,
Be careful too.

poem by Kaleigh

festival of life in the cracks

2010-03-13T20:57:00.000-06:00

Life in the cracks can be looked at in many ways. Weeds growing up through the cracks in the pavement are a fractal assertion of all life revealing itself through the cracks of civilization. My neighborhood is indicative of that. This year’s Festival of Life in the Cracks (March 10) coincided with a meteorologically beautiful day, one of the first of spring’s blessings of warmth and sunshine. On a typical working day, most “normal” neighborhoods are empty, their residents off working to pay for all the stuff in their fine homes. My neighborhood, on the other hand, is full of life. People are in the streets, walking and biking, wholly ignoring the hierarchy of vehicular traffic. My neighbors are out and about, getting stuff done and hanging out. I had the pleasure of washing and wringing my clothes outside in the bright sunlight and warm breezes, and hanging all on the clothesline to get that fresh earthy smell that cannot be extracted from a bottle. After my work was done, friends dropped by, hearty beers in hand, and we sat on the porch, talking, relaxing, spending time reinforcing the ties that bind our community together.

The blighted areas of Springfield, Illinois, are a microcosm of the ruins of cities like Detroit. The neglect and abandonment of our neighborhoods by those to whom we pay taxes is evident. And these feelings are reciprocated. What is the point of being a citizen in a city that doesn’t claim you? We are well aware that we have only each other to rely on. A tornado ripping through our city four years ago with its subsequent FEMA encounters made that obvious. If it were not for the good will of my friends and neighbors, who knows where I’d be; still waiting for FEMA assistance, maybe?

And yet, there is life everywhere. Nature is reclaiming the pavement, the falling down houses, and empty abandoned lots. The people who remain here are here for the long haul. Poor people are well aware of the economy of the community, even if most of my neighbors do not know what that term means; it flows freely from their hearts. When you have not money to purchase the assistance and care you need, you use the time you have to assist and care for others, and they reciprocate. It’s security that life in civilization cannot buy, especially now that we are in the horribly depressed phase of our bipolar economy.

A neighborhood filled with people on a traditional work day begs the question: how do these people get by? How do they pay their bills? It is increasingly challenging as the economy tanks, with middle class people lining up to take jobs that were formerly the sole purview of the poor—minimum wage service jobs. Many people here survive on government handouts, be it in the form of social security, disability, or welfare. Many people work nontraditional jobs (like metal recycling or giving plasma), have start-up companies in the black market (many people currently in prison were merely trying to make a buck and support their families), or live exceedingly frugally.

Last year, I made less than $2000 from my job, but I want for nothing. Most people here live in a similar fashion. We get by the best we can with what we have. Many live by the mantra of the depression-era grandparents who raised me: use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without. We are scavengers, opportunists, and we share the bounty. We are producers, not consumers. We create abundance by our ability to share what we have. It’s an odd thing, coming from the money economy, where scarcity is the model. There is only so much pie to share, and each person for themselves! The competition is fierce, and if you can’t compete, too bad, you die. In contrast, the economy of community is based on abundance. There is pie for everyone, and more pie can always be had because we had the forethought to plant orchards. The more we share, the more we each have and are willing to give.

We don’t each need a lawnmower; one will suffice for many families. Actually, we don’t need lawnmowers at all if we plant gardens to nourish ourselves and the entire community of life. Bioconcrete in the form of the American lawn is a delusion of idiocy; it makes no sense. One of the blessings of creating a new paradigm in the crumbling ruins of the old is the ability to throw out things that make no sense and replace them with things that do. Observation and feedback are excellent tools in paradigm building. Need generates its own power, and this is where our hope lies: we are what we want to become. There is nothing more adventurous and rewarding than real life.

The challenge is creating systems of living for ourselves, cultures and rituals that provide for our needs. It is quite difficult, being raised without an understanding of what a viable human culture could be like—being raised in a culture of not understanding. Our reality is constructed by our beliefs, reinforced by our rituals. Many people now believe that working, consuming, and dying is the way to go, and they reinforce this belief by their daily patterns of working and shopping. Somehow they’ve become slaves of a system that makes no sense, and is indeed, killing off the basis of life itself.

Waking up from this entrancement and becoming aware that options exist has given me opportunity and motivation in my own life. As hobo poet Vachel Lindsay remarked, “I am further from slavery than most men.” This has been an unexpected gift from downshifting (dropping out) from mainstream consumer culture and exploring what can variously be called simple living, “green”, diy, urban homesteading, welfare and poverty, community, or even paradise. As Greek philosopher Heraclitus noted, we must expect the unexpected, or we’ll never find it.

The wealth we hold may not be obvious. Indeed, it takes an eye for beauty to see the wealth that abounds in my neighborhood. Our wealth lies not in consensus reality dollars, but in our collective security and abundance. We have each other, and we will always have each other. As governments fall short on cash and their enforcers (police, zoning, etc.) disappear, our freedom increases. We use this freedom to create realities that make sense in light of the world we inhabit. We invite homeless people to squat the houses that are falling down from neglect. We scatter seeds of plants that nourish ourselves and the community of life in vacant lots and alley ways. We rediscover handy skills in the dumpster of history. We raise animals and build structures that do not fit into zoning’s view of safety, but that do fit into a paradigm of making sense. We raise our children with the knowledge that another life is possible, and provide them the tools they need to make a living in the economy of community.

“Disintegration and renewal are happening side by side—calamity and fertility, rot and splendor, grievous losses and surges of invigorating novelty. Yes, the death of the old order is proceeding apace, but it's overlapped by the birth pangs of an as-yet-unimaginable new civilization.” —Rob Brezsny

There is life in the cracks, for which we are ever thankful. These pioneering plants and people are the seeds of a new paradigm, of what comes next. Life explodes into fecundity and abundance, emerging from the cracks with a fierceness beyond compare. It is a birthright our culture seems to have forgotten, but through the magic we create in our daily activities, we illuminate our culture’s collective blind spot. We discover the strength of ourselves in the love and care we share with each other. Who knew life could be such an adventure? Who knew life could be so sweet?

do what you will

2010-03-06T10:39:00.001-06:00

“Reach within you, and fight with tools.” —the Flobots.

Belief is a tool, perhaps the most effective one in our soul battle, in the landscape of consciousness, where paradigm shifts occur. How do we make this consciousness real without losing ourselves? How do we enact a story we’ve never been told? How do we reclaim our birthrights of mental and physical health, freedom from bureaucratic oppression, a membership in the reciprocal divine trust, and countless others we’ve forgotten? How do we begin to envision this story, knowing that our wildest dreams of freedom are mere seeds of this next beautiful paradigm?

I get the feeling the word paradise and the visions of the garden of Eden are concepts we can’t yet fully take in, even if we think we’re ready for it. But still. Belief is a tool, and quite an effective one at that. We say “abracadabrazomba”, flap our butterfly wings, and find ourselves taking the form of chaos magicians, with change springing up in our footsteps, akin to the fruitful oases springing up in the wake of the Green Man, Khadir. We endow ourselves with magic spells, super powers—whatever it takes to make us powerful, full of energy and spirit. We radiate the golden cords, illuminating the way in front of us, the untrodden path.

Somehow, we make it together. We figure it out—all of us. If there is a human story a few thousand years from now, this will be a part of it. There are no slaves in the landscape of consciousness. War is confusion, trickster friends and allies; we must remember our heritage. Hermes, divine thief, is poised to steal this current absurd reality of civilization. For a chaos magician, presto change-o reality is easy. Our consciousness manifests as reality. They make believe they are still in charge. We make believe we are in charge—of our own selves, to be sure!

The ties that bind us to the old ways are slipping away. We have only to create new ways of living, to participate in a new kind of economy. We create rituals and myths around things that are actually important, not merely advertised as sacred. The relationship between city and citizen is practically nonexistent, but the relationships in our communities are born of love and are getting stronger with each day. These things are real. If you’ve ever lived through a natural disaster or (gods forbid!) encountered FEMa, you have learned that our government cannot take care of us and does not look out for our welfare. You remember that we have only each other. We are our strength, courage, and love. If you’ve never lived through a natural disaster, there’s no reason to wait. Community, yep. All that.

Nature practices fecundity. It is organized to create abundance; we are nourished by it, in vivid contrast to the stark neglect we experience from those to whom we pay taxes. Pavement and poison are effed up, tentacles of the destruction empire machine. We extend our own tentacles, aiming for the blind spots of civilization, filling them up with love, beauty life—manifesting the reality of this as-of-yet unveiled paradise.

The landscape of consciousness, this divine boundary between worlds, is where trickster warriors play. It is where “do what thou wilt” becomes the whole of the law. I shall meet you there. Who knows what we may create with our many allies, with our minds fully engaged in the task before us? Adventure to those who seek it!

the gospel of beauty and the art of appreciation

2010-02-25T18:28:00.001-06:00

Springfield’s hobo poet Vachel Lindsay worshiped in the church of the open sky and lived the gospel of beauty. As I remember my outdoor self who greatly enjoys her time in the divine church of the open sky, I usually find myself (weather permitting) with my hands deep in the dirt on the Sabbath. Often was I extended an invitation to join dressed up passersby on the way to their houses of worship. I cannot imagine a church inside four walls to ever be as inviting as communing directly with what I consider the divine, the higher power, life itself. I can’t really describe my religious beliefs, because I don’t believe in absolutes. I don’t hold much in the way of opinion for others to believe or disbelieve. But I do have feelings for what my perception of the divine invokes within me. My hands soak up the earth while my third eye soaks up sunshine. I nurture as I am being nurtured. In what possible way could I more directly commune with the divine than what I experience in the church of the open sky?

Francis Bacon said: “There it is. I don't believe in anything, but I'm always glad to wake up in the morning. It doesn't depress me. I'm never depressed. My basic nervous system is filled with this optimism. It's mad, I know, because it's optimism about nothing. I think of life as meaningless and yet it excites me. I always think something marvelous is about to happen.”

That is one way of living the gospel of beauty; doubtless there are many others. Again, it is hard to describe the gospel of beauty, because it seems to contain just about everything–all members of the set of reality—the milky way, little babies’ eyes, a butterfly’s proboscis, tears, cracked teacups, crooked teeth, wrinkled skin, sexy curves of fat people, duct-taped shoes, a bum who talks to your kid about Santie Claus, teenagers that cry in public, weeds that sprout up in potholes and in vacant parking lots—all manners of seemingly beautiful and ugly that can be appreciated for the uniqueness they provide to enrich our lives in the presence of never-ending awe of the immensity of what is (the wabi-sabi manifesto!).

There is an art of appreciation that comes along with the ability to recognize beauty when your eye rests upon it. If I see weeds reclaiming a parking lot, I don’t tut-tut the downfall of civilization, our bankrupt economy, and the lack of eternal infinite progress. Instead, I welcome the beauty weeds provide, knowing they are helping break down the pavement, to create soil full of nutrients, and return the vibrancy of life to that deserted place. If I am dumped by my boyfriend, I relinquish my longing, and remember that I am a strong person, complete in and of myself while at the same time feel firmly supported by those in my community of friends. Going through hard times is what gives us our strength, and at some point, we may find we are a fountain overflowing. Many times, our struggles become a turning point in our lives when we realize the blessings in disguise.

The shaman Bear Heart said, “Whatever we do in life starts with us. To be replenished, we need to keep emptying our selves to receive more. In that way, we become vessels, holding up one hand to receive the blessings and then opening up the other hand so that we become channels, letting those blessings flow into the lives of others.”

It does not seem to matter if a situation can be labeled good or bad; the art of appreciation is an attitude taken to cope, adapt, and thrive in the realm of chaos, which orders our everyday lives. One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read about is a Jewish woman who found herself in a pit, holding her grandson as soldiers took aim. She looked the baby in the eyes and cooed and smiled. I don’t know if this story is true or not, but I cannot imagine a more beautiful moment in the existence of humanity as her gesture of love.

Growing up in America, the art of appreciation is generally not part of our shared culture, with many exceptions, of course. I grew up in often-violent poverty in an atmosphere of ignorance, alcoholism, and fundamentalism. I think the deprivation of normalcy (whatever that is!) has enabled me to wholly appreciate the good in my life now. I live a life full of blessings. Whatever I need seems to find me without worry on my part. And I appreciate it all, especially the people and the interactions we have. I find my outlook on life mirroring Francis Bacon’s: life is sweet, and I savor each mouthful. Whatever happens, things will be all right. No matter what happens in my life, I will find the truth of beauty in the reflection of each particle of this holographic universe. The gods will always smile on me, and I will see the fruits of each blessing. I will continue to reside in paradise.

The shaman Bear Heart said: “The power of love—if that love is sincere and true—is the only force that can melt the human heart. Love repairs and heals; it comes from forgiveness being channeled into the lives of other people, making them feel their worth and stimulating their potential. Love is expandable. It can encompass this whole universe. It can heal.”

francis bacon said it all

2010-02-25T16:27:00.001-06:00

There it is. I don't believe in anything, but I'm always glad to wake up in the morning. It doesn't depress me. I'm never depressed. My basic nervous system is filled with this optimism. It's mad, I know, because it's optimism about nothing. I think of life as meaningless and yet it excites me. I always think something marvelous is about to happen.

how much water under how many bridges?

2010-02-23T19:40:00.001-06:00

It's been a long time, and to catch up would take an even longer time. So, I'm just going to plunge into what's going on in the present. I just wanted to point out a site I've been writing for, for a wee while. It's called these new old traditions. I recently wrote about my wabi sabi life. Here's the first part:

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese term that does not translate well to English, but using a thousand words, perhaps we shall begin to understand. Wabi originally referred to the loneliness of living in nature, but now reflects a meaning more of rustic simplicity, freshness, or quietness. Wabi also refers to the quirks and imperfections that arise during the creation process. Sabi refers to the beauty which comes into being as something ages. According to wikipedia, “if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.” Also, wabi-sabi “nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”

You can read more about wabi sabi in operation in Springfield especially.

I've recently been infused with divine RRRRAAWWWWRRRR!!!!! I think it is because spring is nearly here, or possibly, I'm just crazy. I got my seed order done today, and finally, FINALLY, found a 3-prong adapter so my grow lights can be powered by coal. Cabbage and broccoli sprouts, here we go. I'm re-learning how to prune as well.

Life is pretty sweet in Springfield, having many friends who moved into the neighborhood, all with an eye for community, beauty, gardening, all that good stuff.

sharqi

breakdown breakthrough 2010 tarot forecast passionately infused with a kiss of pronoia

2009-12-24T07:32:00.001-06:00

“At the heart of the pronoiac way of life is an apparent conundrum: you can have anything you want if you’ll just ask it in an unselfish way. The trick to making this work is to locate where your deepest ambition coincides with the greatest gift you have to give. Figure out exactly how the universe, by providing you with abundance, can improve the lot of everyone whose life you touch. Seek the fulfillment of your fondest desires in such a way that you become a fount of blessings.” –Rob Brezsny, author of Pronoia

I feel like a banker in the economy of the community–taking inner wealth, making it visible, and sharing it with others. There is so much! There is so much to be thankful for! There are so many blessings! No matter how terrifying our unknown future presents itself, we must not forget that the holy spirit (the homo plasmate, for all you PKD fans), has not abandoned us. It is inside us. Jesus, son of man that he was, said the kingdom of god is to be found not in heaven, but within us. We have it in ourselves to realize the garden of eden beneath our feet, to spit out the original sin. We thought we were getting a taste of the knowledge of good and evil, but that is for the gods alone. So, have we learned our lesson yet? We can sneak into the garden, through the back door, where angels with fiery swords do not deter us. The symbols, signs, and stories–they’ve all been given to us. Making any sense of them is the hard part.

We are in fact living through the apocalypse right now. It’s a slow crash. You wouldn’t even notice if you weren’t paying attention, as usually these happenings are invisible. The ice cap melting–well, now, that’s a bit more in our faces, eh? Even with the silly repetitive blather about global warming, our blind spot is becoming obvious. The media-glorified spectacle of our culture may be able to distract some, but ever increasing numbers of us are waking up out of the trance of the cave of treasures, becoming cognizant of the bars of the black iron prison, wondering where are the keys to our gilded cages. There’s good news and bad news: there are no keys, and it is up to us to forge our own.

The apocalypse (from Greek, to uncover) is as much about rebirth as it is about collapse. It’s damn hard to convince the nightly news of that, though. They enjoy telling us about murders, bombings, punishments; fear sells way more crap than telling us about people in blighted areas tilling under our yards, sharing seeds and produce, and forging community in abundance. For certainly, the primary way we experience apocalypse is through the intimacy of our daily lives. Ideas like abundance, chaos, beauty, community, love, passion, care–these are real things that exist, as long as we believe in them and enact the stories behind them in the background of our daily lives. These are the things that matter, and they don’t cost money. You do not have to enslave yourself to get them, nor shop at Wal-Mart.

It’s exciting, isn’t it? We realize we have in ourselves the power to shape the humanity of the future. We realize we don’t need to trust someone else to take care of it for us. It doesn’t need to wait until the next president takes office, or even until tomorrow. As Thom Yorke says, “No more talk about the good old days. It’s time for something great.” It’s exciting to see the paradigm shift taking place before our eyes, in the fabric of our daily lives, and to look around at all the other robots, waking up out of their trances, realizing our minds, bodies, and souls are drawn into the process of figuring out the answers for ourselves. It’s not that we follow one answer or another, it’s that we think!

During this time, we will instinctively be drawn towards that which encourages blossoming and abundance, and away from that which is of no help. Our ideas and inspirations come from our direct personal experiences. We are becoming what we are becoming. This dangerous and unknown future is being lit from within in our process of healing and renewal. We hear the call within ourselves that wakes us. We arise and begin a future of doing something different than age-old destructive civilization. As brief love affairs become distant memories, so too do the memories of full-time employment, health care benefits, and retirement packages. Into our lives waltz joys of deep human relationships, care for each other, and sharing wealth and scarcity, the joy and the sorrow. It is raw. It undeniably can hurt. But the joy of life shared in community is unmatched.

“If you’re really listening, if you’re awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break; its purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold ever-more wonders.” –Andrew Harvey

We have indeed passed through an arid stretch of our journey, but now, through the process of rebirth, we find ourselves in more fruitful surroundings. Times of desperation and inner tension, when recognized, can be some of the most fertile beginnings of our lives. We trust that the destruction of stagnant ideas and ways of life can only set us free, allowing us to assume the innocense of a child, and wander through the garden unhindered. If we allow ourselves to walk in the hands of the gods, we will.

“The moment you come to trust chaos, you see god clearly. Chaos is divine order, versus human order. Change is divine order, versus human order. When the chaos becomes safety to you, then you know you’re seeing god clearly.” –Caroline Myss

Retreating from fear or pain denies a central part of ourselves. Abundance comes from giving without question. We trust in our perception that the more deeply we are engaged in feeling the spectrum of human emotion, the more comprehensive our insights will be. We can trust in our intuitive nature, our inner voice, and our ability to heal ourselves. We trust in our responsibility to ourselves, the responsibility we have to our community, and the responsibility of our community to us. Introspection allows us to find our way to the fertile oases within, the source of which becomes a fount of our strength, courage, and creativity. The more we accept ourselves and share with others, the clearer our individual and collective vision will be. To transform, we relax and give ourselves up to the dance. To walk in the hands of the gods, we give up our worries and embrace the entirety of human existence, to remember the garden beneath our feet. Anamnesis, the loss of forgetting, is our recollected blessing.

Contained within our daily lives is everything we need to remake, rebirth, recreate, realize–REALize–our future as humanity. It’s a challenge, no doubt, but surely one that our giant brains, vivid imaginations, and unending creativity are up for. It’s the greatest challenge of our lives, of the life of humanity as far as we know: turning on a dime, throwing our useless baggage into the gears of the system of destruction and death, and walking away into creation–giving birth to ourselves.

The origins of any kind of wealth lie in human consciousness. When we bring these hidden treasures into the world, they manifest in our daily lives. The blessings overflow into our physical, spiritual, and emotional modes of being. We share the blessings, making them ever so valuable and abundant. Giving ourselves up to live this life we all know is possible takes courage–a tremendous amount. We discover this courage deep within ourselves, deep into where we radiate a satisfied sense of self-sufficiency. We draw up our courage and feel it spilling forth as we look around and see the strength in our numbers. Our fears have nothing to do with reality. Wake up and see what is really happening! Wake up! We are already free!

Shine the spotlight directly into our blind spot. We become the black swans, the outliers, the butterflies of chaos, the unexpected events that change reality as currently perceived. Let the power of your inspiration liberate you from the bonds of your conditioning. Let the apparently impossible manifest itself in marvelous ways in our daily lives. In the course of human existence, we trust in our own energy and move with it. We give birth to ourselves, as do stars, which reflect every fractalized cell in our bodies. We have boundless potential. We face insurmountable opportunities.

We have attracted to ourselves everyone who is a part of our lives. We have created and participated in every situation in our lives. Indeed, we create our own reality. The wealth we hold in our hands is ours to do with as we choose. It is our freedom and our responsibility. What a blessing to find ourselves endlessly wealthy in the things that matter.

[poem]

I mirror the universe–
a constant state of flux
to maintain some sort of
chaotic balanced order
so complex it cannot be perceived
and then, I explode, collapse
grow and expand
turn inward and get to know myself
an endless spiral of growth and decay
being reborn again and again

[end]

There is infinite abundance born from the dust of a decaying star, the love and strength and beauty flowing through us remind us of this. Everything unfolds at the proper time when we relax and trust in life. There is no fear or danger when we let go. Having given birth to our own souls, it becomes ever easier to support others doing so. We crawl out of our collective exoskeleton that no longer fits, and we follow our hearts as they push forth in search of beauty. The untrodden path beckons us to behold a new life waiting to be lived.

“Learning is finding out what you already know. Action is showing you know. Teaching is letting others know that they know it as well as you.”

–end–

Many thanks to Robert Brezsny for his book Pronoia and to Gerd Ziegler for his book Tarot, Mirror of the Soul. These two books have had a tremendous impact in my continuous breakdown breakthrough of the last six months. Also many thanks go to my community, for reminding me of my strength and courage when I forget.

pronoia: the universe is conspiring to shower you with blessings

2009-12-18T19:39:00.003-06:00

I am reading this fantastic book, Pronoia, by Robert Brezsny. An updated version came out, and I highly recommend taking a look if you can get your hands on a copy. I LOVE this statement:

"At the heart of the pronoiac way of life is an apparent conundrum: you can have anything you want if you'll just ask it in an unselfish way. The trick to making this work is to locate where your deepest ambition coincides with the greatest gift you have to give. Figure out exactly how the universe, by providing you with abundance, can improve the lot of everyone whose life you touch. Seek the fulfillment of your fondest desires in such a way that you become a fount of blessings."

I think this is how one walks in the hands of the gods. I really feel this is an accurate description of how I live my life on a daily basis. I'm so blessed! So blessed! I have everything I could need, and I am satisfied. What more can I ask for, than to share my abundance with those in my life? A fount of blessings. I'm glad have courage.

carey

well, pyramid workers, what shall we do?

2009-12-15T21:21:00.002-06:00

planting seeds of paradise
weeds, herbs, sustenance
relationships, community
wealthy in time and company
abundant in just enough
remembering ourselves as indigenous
belonging to this place
part of all that is sacred
alive, sentient
spitting out the fruit of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil
and returning to the tree of life
to sustain us

this is today
where it all begins.

the sky is falling

2009-12-14T22:16:00.003-06:00

I know this may come as a big surprise to you, but an ice cap is melting. Global warming yay or nay, but...an ice cap is melting. Instead of global warming, let's call it climate change. No matter what the data and the politicians and the news media say, we have eyes that can see, don't we?

Nowadays, anytime you open a newspaper, you can read a story of the slow ecological crash. Today's story is an update about the Arctic being ice free. A mere 8 months ago, scientists expected to have to start worrying about the ice cap melting in 2030. But today, we're down to an estimate of 2014, and what do you bet that'll be reconsidered when the latest models come in.
Gotta love this graphic of sea ice predictions. The red line is actual observed sea ice, which makes the models laughable. This kind of thing should make clear the limitations of science and the knowledge of humanity. As big as our brains are, they are overwhelmed by the complexity of the order of the natural world (being...chaos!). We don't seem to grasp the volumes of what we do not know.

Ever hear of the Arctic Dipole? That was yesterday's news. Interesting stuff. I wonder what tomorrow's sky is falling/slow crash keeps on news is going to be.

In my life as a learning person, I've sought out a lot of generalized basic skills, from foraging to sewing, raising food to making bread--anything that interested me, usually focusing on low-tech, low-cost methods of making a living instead of making a dying. It's crazy reading books from the 70's. I feel like many of these authors were my contemporaries. We're interested in the same issues and lifestyles. I'm just amazed that I never even heard about any of this stuff until the last few years. It seems like keeping our habitat a viable living space would be one of our foremost concerns as a thinking and doing culture.

Honestly, though, I think a good many citizens are brainwashed. Whatever and however, many people go through life, distracting themselves by whatever means possible. It's almost like they're robots, because they don't have the capability of saying no. It doesn't even occur to them. It seems like consumer culture has become the global religion, with its god Mammon firmly in place on top of the money-backed hierarchy. Mammon's temples have quick checkout lines for your convenience! There's something about the abstraction of money, something one trades her life for, and the abstraction of stuff, supposedly valued and of value, and these damn screens that keep us occupied, for our every last moment.

Of course, not growing up in a culture of understanding, of having to figure out a way that we can live in a manner that suits us without destroying the foundation of our planet's vital processes, is challenging to say the least. It's a lot of hit and miss, following interests and intuitions, observing feedback and putting plan b in the loop of chaos and seeing what happens.

Fortunately, I feel at some point I stumbled into a positive feedback loop with community at the core. I honestly feel like I walk in the hands of the gods every day. Whatever I need comes to me, in random blessings from others. I do spend a lot of my time and energy in returning these blessings to those I can, but giving and receiving are flip sides of the same coin. It's awesome either way. It is how to have power with instead of power over those in our communities, whether you're talking about a close-knit group of friends you potluck with, or you're talking about the flora and fauna of your habitat.

I feel so very blessed. I don't know how I came to rest at this place, but I am here. I tell you, it looks and feels awfully similar to the garden of eden in my mind's eye. I feel this is a key to the problems we as a global community have right now. There's absolutely no government that can get us out of this, no movement that can stop it, no hope in some wonderful new technology to be our pop-up savior. We have effed up, royally. We can take responsibility for it, talk and think about it, and do SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different outcome is silly.

Part of this is each of us taking responsibility for our own selves, our actions that either consciously support the living processes of our planet or consciously support the Mammon pavement machine. I mean, we are consciously acting, right? I think a lot of people realize that things are messed up, even if they don't have a clue what to do about it. No president seems capable of righting wrongs, only doing complete evil.

We the people have our power back again. We have the power to ask ourselves questions that matter, and to talk to each other about what's for real. What do we value, and how do we support that? How do we live without destroying the ecosystem? How do we share knowledge and skills in a world that demands payment for either? We can create myths and legends that contain meaning, and name every living thing that surrounds us and teach it to our children--on and on, with different questions and answers for each of us. There's so much we can do that does not support empire. There's so much we can do that supports life. We have a choice. We just have to enact it.

Yeah, so what, the sky is falling. It won't be the first time. We pick up the pieces and move on. We cope, we adapt, we create, we change, we pass along what we've learned. This is human culture. We love a challenge.

meat, woodstove cooking, and presentmas

2009-12-10T10:21:00.003-06:00

Yum. My neighbor brought over a deer leg for me. As squeamish as I can be with bodily secretions, I seem to have no problem butchering meat. A deer leg has a surprising amount of meat on it. Thanks go to Patrick for butchering tips. In the woodstove picture, in front is the deer chili I made, with the heirloom garden tomatoes I canned this summer, and fresh onions and chard from the garden, and some garlic harvested earlier this year. I made it as spicy hot as I can stand it, and it is delicious. In the pot on the back of the woodstove is simmering deer bones and trimmings, making some of the most delicious fatty deer broth imaginable. Five quarts of venison chili and seven quarts of slow- and long-cooked venison broth set me up for an enjoyable winter.

Here's a picture of a spider, making a home in the rosemary plant I brought in from outside. I am hopeful it will keep the spider mite population down this winter. I only noticed the web because I was spraying water on my plants to pamper them.

It's been brrrr cold and super windy. The woodstove is keeping up, somewhat, but it's been chilly in the house, especially in the mornings when we first get up. My bedroom is about 45 in the mornings, and the house has been around 55. It doesn't take too long to warm up, but today the sunny living room is where we're at. We're taking the day off gymnastics and music class, not interested in waiting in the cold for the bus. Kaleigh's finishing up reading some library books, and we've been wrapping Christmas presents and making Christmas plans--or Presentmas, as Kaleigh likes to call it, being most UNinterested in God and Christ.

I personally am looking forward to being toasty warm sharing a jacuzzi suite tomorrow! Merry Christmas!!

ernest hemingway sings the blues

2009-12-08T21:11:00.001-06:00

The age demanded that we sing

And cut away our tongue.

The age demanded that we flow
And hammered in the bung.

The age demanded that we dance
And jammed us into iron pants.

And in the end the age was handed
The sort of shit that it demanded.

i am breathing oxygen because i am on fire

2009-12-07T22:22:00.003-06:00

and sometimes you might feel
as though you've been taken captive
by lunatics and that's cuz you have.

upon realization of said quandary,
fasten your seat belts,
and take off, blast off.

in inner and outer space
you may find yourself in a
better position to think,

removed from the
dust-attracting qualities
of every day life.

it just might happen.

living without money

2009-11-27T17:53:00.002-06:00

My thanks to my friend Ran for passing on this great story of a woman who lives without money.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article6928744.ece

carey

dropping out and dropping in

2009-11-25T11:50:00.002-06:00

Per Lesa's request, I'll type up some more on dropping out and dropping in. Ten years ago, I was a professional employee, complete with suit, health insurance, regular shopping trips, car, salary, and ever-increasing debt. I did NOT enjoy the middle-class life in the least, but felt trapped. I mean, I couldn't just quit my hated job, could I? How on earth, in the free-est country in the world, did I manage to enslave myself?!

I was blessed to have Michael Fogler's book Unjobbing: The Adult Liberation Handbook cross my path. After reading it, I realized that with all the expenses I had from work, and all the time commitments as well, I was making chump change--and this was the "best" job I ever had! Fortunately, our at-the-time foster daughter arrived, and although I had planned on working from home, that did not work out. I quit my job and became a stay at home mom. Between diapers, spitting up, and learning to walk, somehow I found my way to paradise.

We consolidated our debt and focused on paying it off. We bought a small inexpensive house, and made extra principle payments to pay it off quicker. We kept track of where every last cent we spent went, and were appalled. We changed our behavior accordingly, shopping at 2nd hand stores and asking around for anything we needed. We grew some of our own food, and dumpster dived. The car died and was not replaced, except by bikes and a bus map. We stopped paying for entertainment, got rid of the tv, and made good friends instead.

It turns out, friends, aka community, is where it's at for me. I stopped focusing on the money economy, where scarcity rules, and started focusing on the abundance in my life, mainly human relationships. It turns out community can provide anything and everything I need, and it does, without bureaucracy, paperwork, and undignified subordination.

Sure, I still have a part-time job that pays the bills, but my bills are miniscule compared to most. I rarely shop, and if I do, it's usually for 2nd hand items, having replaced most of my "disposable" consumer goods with the real deal (hankies, cloth napkins, etc.). The waste stream in America offers plenty to choose from, as does the friend network (friendcycle). I don't know if I have amazing karma or what, but whatever I need seems to find me. I live in the hands of the gods, as do the lilies of the field, and I am cared for, without a doubt.

So when I blow my nose into what used to be my t-shirt, I don't feel any sort of hardship, just relief that I didn't have to take a bus to the store and trade my life's energy for what used to be a tree, that I'm just going to throw away anyway. When I grow my own food, I don't worry about the labor it takes to plant and harvest, I think about the good medicine entering my body, keeping me healthy. When I hang out with my friends, listening to the deafening roar of crickets punctuated by our laughter, the thought of what movie is opening this weekend doesn't even cross my mind. When I get to spend each day with my child, watching her grow and learn, I feel so blessed. There's no money in the world I would trade for these experiences.

There's dropping out of the money economy, and then there's dropping into the community economy. I've been told by people they admire me, or respect me, for my "sacrifice", but really I do it for selfish reasons. Living in a community, living in the hands of the gods--it just feels right, and it makes me happy. It's a life worth living, full of meaning. I am wealthy beyond compare. I turn my eye to look for beauty instead of despair, and amazingly, beauty is everywhere I look. I have no doubt I live in the garden, in paradise.

carey

dropping out

2009-11-15T17:13:00.001-06:00

The more I drop out of the money economy, the more I drop into community, the more awesome life gets. It doesn't matter if you take it fast or slow, follow your heart or your brain, how much you work, or whether you stay put or travel around for mental and physical stimulation. If it doesn't feel good, don't do it. Ask yourself, if you weren't a slave or living up to someone else's expectations, what would you be doing with your life right now?

When you get to that point of doing exactly what you want for most of your hours, you may find yourself in some sort of paradise. It's not to say that life is sparkling and happy face all the time, but it's real and immediate, rich with experience, and if you can figure it out, rich with human relationships. I live in the hands of the gods in the world of community, and they treat me well. Yeah, I live in utter poverty in the world of money, but I tell ya, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

carey

poetry

2009-11-11T07:43:00.001-06:00

the great escape

listen, he said, you ever seen a bunch of crabs in a bucket?
no, I told him.
well, what happens is that now and then one crab
will climb up on top of the others
and begin to climb toward the top of the bucket,
then, just as he's about to escape
another crab grabs him and pulls him back down.
really? I asked.
really, he said, and this job is just like that, none
of the others want anybody to get out of
here. that's just the way it is in the postal service!
I believe you, I said.

just then the supervisor walked up and said,
you fellows were talking.
there is no talking allowed on this job.

I had been there for eleven and one-half years.

I got up off my stool and climbed right up the supervisor
and then I reached up and pulled myself right out of there.

it was so easy it was unbelievable.
but none of the others followed me.

and after that, whenever I had crab legs
I thought about that place.
I must have thought about that place maybe 5 or 6 times

before I switched to lobster.

---------

I've been reading a lot of poetry by Charles Bukowski. Reading his work is like a sucker punch to the heart. It's great proletariat poetry--sad, dark, bitter, raw, stark, and often pleasurable. I'm glad I finally have had the bukowski experience.

carey

what's new

2009-10-31T09:20:00.002-05:00

Per Lesa's request, I'm posting!

Of course, there have been a lot of changes going on. Don and roommate Joe are getting settled into their house a few blocks away. Don is working a temp job, doing data entry, and going on a Halloween date tonight (hope he doesn't mind me updating him for this blog!).

Kaleigh is getting settled into the fall routine of classes: art, swimming, gymnastics, and music, plus an unschooling/knitting playdate, plus any other extracurriculars pop up. In other words, we spend a lot of time socializing--too much for my homebody self, but not enough for superextrovert Kaleigh. Anytime at home, Kaleigh's been reading furiously. She's had a few days of laying on the couch in utter exhaustion, where she's plowed through 5 or 6 novels.

My mind has felt unfocused, and I have to remind myself to not be too hard on myself about it. It's okay to sit around and do nothing, but it's a lot easier for me to do that in a clean house with everything on my to do list crossed off. Type A!! Most recently, I cleaned everything out of my bedroom and painted it. Since I got the furniture put back into place, my insomnia has disappeared. I'm sure it's all symbolic and placebo, but I'm very thankful to be sleeping every night once again.

I've been dating a guy from Normal of all places. I have enjoyed hanging out and getting to know him. We seem to have a pair of fairly compatible personalities. So, we're taking it slowly and enjoying all the niceness and newness of our relationship, and hanging out online a lot, which seems necessary with the hour plus distance separating us. However it works, yes?

I'm not looking forward to the holidaze coming. I just don't care anymore, and I seem unable to acquire any sort of enthusiasm. Oh well! I've done a lot in past years, so it all averages out.

Knitting has become my regular past time, what with Kaleigh's activities taking me out of the house, and needing to rely on a portable hobby. I've been knitting fingerless gloves, and I seem to be able to do a pair a week. I got an order for a pair for Christmas, which is awesome. I keep feeling like once I get "enough" to stock a place, I'll take them in and see if I can peddle them, but honestly, they'll probably all go to Christmas presents, and that's okay too.

The last month has also been big in preserving garden flow. I finished canning the tomatoes and green tomatoes. There's not much in the garden now except onions and chard. I've collected raspberry, strawberry, and peach tree leaves, as well as mint and the herbs I have, parsley, oregano, basil, and sage. My kitchen looked like a jungle for a bit, there. I'm slooowwwwllllyyyy getting caught up. I still need to jar up mass quantities of kraut, for instance. Last weekend, we enjoyed some passion fruits we found in an alley. They were sooo good. We saved the seeds, and the cutting I got earlier this year is still showing signs of life.

So, there's the update on life at the little house! Lots going on, but nothing that seems extremely important, as usual!

carey

new beginnings

2009-10-03T11:06:00.002-05:00

Ahh, it is quiet at the little house, with the wee one at her dad's for the last two days. I had time to clean and move furniture. Quiet time is so nice. Actually, I should say alone time, because I've been listening to a lot of loud music: Tom Waits, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rev. Peyton and His Big Damn Band, Radiohead. My mind is slowly decluttering as is my house. The state of my home has always seemed to me to be a reflection of my mental state.

I have some bread rising in the oven. It's the first time I've made bread in a long time, driven by having to eat white wonder bread, the only stuff in the house. Yuck. I forgot the luxuriousness of making bread: the smell of honey and yeast perking, the feel of coarse flour in my hands, the baby butt feel of the bread when it's done being kneaded. I'm excited that in a couple of hours, I'll be eating toast fresh from the oven, with tasty butter and homemade jam.

It makes me feel self-conscious to say this, but I've signed up for online dating. The main reason is that some of my good friends met each other online, and I am hopeful to meet someone as awesome as they are. The other reason is that I am not fond of bars, and in the evening when people usually hang out, I am here with my kid asleep. I've met some cool people so far (and some not so cool people). And it's often really hilarious. I can't believe how much I've laughed. Thanks go to my friend Mark of the Beast for being my online dating guide and giving pertinent guy advice.

And so, life as a single parent begins. I am really enjoying myself so far.

carey

Good Bye Little House

2009-09-28T11:25:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been an interesting summer for Donald. Two days ago, Joe and I moved out, in between rain showers, into a rental house where we still can't use the shower or kitchen; the workers are still finishing it up. But we crammed our stuff into the two bedrooms and carved out spaces to sleep on the floor. The Little House is much more spacious now, with two guys' stuff outta the way! I'll still be around from time to time, kicking it on Sundaze and unschooling Kaleigh.

But before I sign out, I gotta point y'all to this page on The Illiterate Minority. It's basically patriotic protesters with misspelled signs, but the pics are PRICELESS. I needed that laugh!

:D

happy satan tomato and a new bike

2009-09-16T12:21:00.004-05:00

Seriously. It even has the little goat horns and everything.

I didn't end up going to see the Rev. Peyton, which was really disappointing. I was supposed to go to the show with my roommate Joe, but he decided that he wanted to keep his options open after the show, and I didn't feel like walking or biking home at 3 a.m. by myself. Next time, I will make sure to go with someone I can count on, someone who does not get blackout drunk and need to keep their options open.

Saturday, Kaleigh and I went to Super Saturday at the Illinois State Museum and learned about archaeology. It was cool, and I got to meet the new educational intern. She's really nice, and I am looking forward to talking with her more in the future. They were making and playing with old timey kids' toys in the discovery room. Kaleigh made a button spinner, using a piece of wood instead of a button. I don't know what they are actually called, but that is what we called them when I was a kid. I remembered too we used to make hankie babies, and if I'd had a hankie on me, I would've showed the kids how to do it.

Sunday was an awesome fun day in Zomba. Mike and Don and Kaleigh went down to Don's future rental house to do some mudding on the walls. This is what Joe had told the landlord he could do in exchange for the security deposit, but Joe was nowhere to be found. Luckily, Mike knows how to mud drywall, and he's a nice enough guy to give up many hours of his free time to help out. Kaleigh learned how to mud drywall as well, as she mudded over the screw holes, and also cleaned up the tools. Patrick, Abby, and I stayed here and made PIZZA!!! It was wonderfully yummy, complete with currant tomatoes and other veggies from the garden, as well as local cheese. Even our vegan wheat-free friends ate it! There's something to be said about sacred food shared in community with good friends. The recently-bottled raspberry wine was also delish.

Ahhh, a new bike! Well, it's an old old bike--even my mother would have been too young to ride this bike when it came out. But it fits me. It's a 24" girls' cruiser, a Hiawatha. With the seat up and the handlebars tilted up, it fits rather well. The coaster brakes will take some getting used to, but I like it. A lot. Thanks go to Bill, who bought it, and brought it over to see if the size would fit me, and who was nice enough to sell it to me, even though he wanted to chop it and make it into a trike. And also thanks to Bill who raised the seat and adjusted the handlebars. Woo! I can't wait to ride it!!! I haven't ridden a bike in 4 or 5 days now, and it's starting to get to me. I need to ride my bike!

Tonight we're going to Sarahlin and Julian's house two blocks down from here that they picked up cheap at tax auction. They refer to it as The Sanctuary. Mike is helping them get the house ready to put the electric back on. It'll be a lot easier to repair and clean when there is electricity and water. I'm going down with loppers, clippers, and a hand scythe to see if I can make the yard somewhat presentable to give the house a claimed look. I feel like I've been receiving so much help lately, it will be nice to be on the giving end again. Ahhh, community--giving and receiving being the flip sides of the same coin.

I wrote a bit the other night, and at some point, I'll post it here. I'm still working on making my thoughts clearer. I hope to get a Folktales book together and (self) published this winter. It's just nice to write again. I've had it bottled up for some time now.

carey

tomatoes, spiders, and bikes

2009-09-11T16:43:00.002-05:00

Tis the season of spiders. Anywhere you walk outdoors, you are likely to walk through a web or strand, or even smack into a spider. I took this picture this morning in a tomato cage of a beautiful yellow garden spider. They are huge, but are quite harmless. This one had a couple of small bugs wrapped up for lunch.

We've had a few 80 degree days, and the tomatoes are booming. I picked four bowls of them this morning, and there's many more that need a couple more days to ripen up. The tomatoes have some yucky fungus. So far, it hasn't affected fruit development, but the plants are looking sad. The stems are not very strong either, so I've picked up several fruits off the ground. Oh well. Next year I know: yellow fungus gets trimmed immediately.

And bikes. I biked out to Rochester on the Lost Bridge trail a few days ago. It's about 13 miles round trip from my house. I am surprised I managed the whole 13 miles pretty much in one go. The last mile home was hard and slow, but I did it. I'm hoping to find some more low-key bike rides, like the critical mass bike ride. I can't afford to pay money or wear fancy clothes. And biking to the far west side to begin a bike ride is too much for me. The Springfield bike club has two weekly rides that go on the Lost Bridge trail, so I hope to go on one of those before winter hits.

I went to the bike shop today, and there was a really sweet used bike. It had a 15" frame, and it fit me well. I couldn't get my feet flat on the ground while in the seat, but pretty close. It has the handle bars kind of raised up, so I wouldn't be hunched over in my seat, killing my shoulders. It's a hybrid bike, meaning it has not thin racing tires or fat mountain bike tires, but ones (new) suitable for city riding. The price? $250. Oh well. Maybe at tax return time I can think about that, but otherwise, I'm going to have faith the universe will provide.

I'm thinking about putting Kaleigh's tag-along on my current bike and trying it out with her. It's not the safest thing in the world, but I hate riding the bus when I could be saving money and getting exercise at the same time. We'll see how it goes.

I'm looking forward to the Rev. Peyton tonight. Hopefully I won't get too trashed I won't be able to bike home.

carey

good music

2009-09-05T17:55:00.003-05:00

Since I don't know how to pirate music, I listen to youtube.

Here's the nimble Curtis Eller, playing Sugar In My Coffin

and the Talking Heads, Don't Worry About the Government

the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Cornbread and Butter Beans

John Hartford does a kick ass Long Hot Summer Day, which I especially enjoy since I spent my first seven years looking at the Illinois River from my upstairs windows. Sarah Watkins does a great rocked out live version.

the Reverend Peyton and his Big Damn Band are playing in Springfield next Friday, and I am going to see them. I am looking forward to it.

carey

biking again

2009-09-04T18:09:00.003-05:00

Today I biked to Wal-Mart. Really. I had never been to the south side Wal-Mart, but today I broke my tradition of not patronizing any business newly built, and biked out there. The only vision care provider in Springfield that accepts the medical card is, you guessed it, Wal-Mart. I don't link up the words Wal-Mart and quality very often, but the eye doctor seemed competent and all that (and had the same name as my dad).

Since Wal-Marts are usually built in sprawl, they can be a challenge to get to on bike. Fortunately, the frontage road goes right to it, and that road is not too scary. Courage!!! It took me about 25 minutes to bike there, and I didn't nearly die playing in traffic. I like to bike in the driving lane, as generally the road is smoother and I can go faster on the street than on the sidewalk. I've learned, though, if I hug the side of the road, cars pass me ridiculously close. But if I get waaaay out there in the middle of the lane, they tend to pass me more like a car, staying well beyond my perceived safety zone.

I rode to the bike shop on MacArthur to check out their used bike selection. I am looking for a bike that fits me a little better. They had a couple of nice old bikes, but nothing that fits me any better than what I currently have. Partly, I am just so short. I can't touch the ground on my current bike. I'd like to be able to tag-along with Kaleigh, but I don't feel safe enough when I can't touch the ground. The other issue with my bike is that the handlebars require this aching shoulder kind of position. I can sit straight up on my bike as long as I'm not too worried about being able to reach my brakes. I'm biking enough that it makes a difference to my body, and I want to be comfortable.

I've looked into bike auctions. The city only auctions off the bikes that aren't functional, and the rest they donate to Catholic Charities (although no one at CC knows how to apply for a bike, and they swear they don't get donated bikes). The county auctions off recovered bikes, but they haven't had a bike auction for two years, and don't know when the next one will be. I will keep my eyes open and hope the universe provides something for me.

Did I mention how much I enjoy riding my bike? I think I rode about 11 miles today, which is the most I've ever ridden in one day. I am hoping in the next week or two to bike out toward Rochester on the trail. I'm told it's really pleasant out there, and seeing a river and trees and hearing quiet sounds like a nice change.

carey

biking

2009-09-01T20:52:00.002-05:00

I think nothing beats riding a bike. It's not only great exercise, it's so much fun. I like to bike and sing (horribly off key, but whatever), bike and talk, bike and observe, and just plain old bike. I had a wonderful time biking and getting to know people at the last Critical Mass bike ride in Springfield. I had a great time biking south and west and back east tonight; it was my first biking at night experience, and it kicked ass. I think I biked about 9 miles altogether. I love riding a bike. I hope winter doesn't come for a while.

carey

sabbath

2009-08-31T07:30:00.002-05:00

The picture after another big day of work; it's sure coming along! John and his crew came out for another morning of sawing and splitting. Kaleigh and I picked up 6-7 buckets of kindling, plus filled one of the ash cans with kindling. Joe helped me stack wood, and made braces for the wood to stack against. Mike came over, and with Joe, threw wood from the far pile to the near pile. Thanks to Dan again for the log splitter and to Don for doing the dishes.

It was nice, having a lunch of brats, getting to know John and his crew. Some of them live around here, and all of John's properties are in the general southeast side neighborhood. He's an honest guy, a good guy, a landlord worth having. He offered a house to Joe and Don, and as soon as it's ready (another week?), they'll be moving to Renfro Street, just south of Ash. I am very excited to have him as the landlord to the house behind me, and I may never need worry about the resident pit bulls again.

We had a Sunday get-together with the old crew. I had no time to cook, but friends and the Ods provided. Abby brought borscht, a winter soup that really hit the spot in the chilly yesterday, and also some gluten-free brownies made with rice flour and chia seeds. Patrick brought over some cheese he found on the sidewalk (in a bag with a butter knife), and he made up this delicious plate of sliced cheese and tomatoes, with basil leaves, with vinegar and truffle oil drizzled on top. The honey goat cheese was particularly marvelous. We dumpstered some scones on the way back from listening to bluegrass at the park (which also hit the spot), and also dumpstered some pallets to stack the wood on (we ran out).

In the evening, since the backyard is relatively cleaned out, we had a fire. New energy flows throughout the place. The fire was a great idea with the chilly evening, looking at the few stars and the almost-full moon, drinking wine, and sharing the whole experience with friends. There is abundance, there is community, and it's all present here, in the little house in the ghetto.

carey

community in action

2009-08-29T18:54:00.002-05:00

This is the before and after. Most of the wood piled in our back yard is now cut, split, and stacked in the woodshed, which became so full that we had to start an auxiliary pile in the lee of the house, that we'll cover with a tarp. There's still more wood scattered here and there, and we'll tackle that tomorrow, but we got a lot done.

The actions resulting in these beautiful pictures are courtesy of John, the landlord of the house behind us, and his crew of four men who like their chainsaws and work damn hard; Dan, who loaned us the woodsplitter, and then stuck around to help, and his son Denison, who thinks work is fun; my good friends Joe, Mike, and Abby; and myself.

I feel pretty good about winter coming now, knowing I and my daughter will be warm. I appreciate all the help that everyone gave.

carey

no way health care

2009-08-28T12:04:00.002-05:00

I am quite fortunate to be in good health. However, I have some pesky spots in my molars that appear to my layperson's eye to be cavities. They're my first cavities, but four of them at once. My last dental checkup was three or four years ago, when I was pronounced "dentally boring" by Dr. Said.

I have a medical card, which sounds terrific in theory, as it pays for any doctor and dental visits as well as prescriptions. But in reality, for me it's not worth the paper it's printed on. I got a letter a few weeks ago, advising me that I was overdue for a checkup. I can't remember the last checkup I had. I also do not have a regular doctor, since I never go to the doctor, as I am rarely sick. The last time I attempted to see a doctor, I called the clinic, but it's a 2-week wait to get in, no matter how sick you are.

I think it's a good idea to have an established doctor, as well as to get a checkup, so I called to find a permanent doc. Turns out the only docs taking medical card patients are at the clinic. It's not a problem to wait a couple of weeks for a checkup, but in times of illness, like the last killer sinus infection I had (several years back), two weeks is way too long to wait to see a doctor. (Fortunately for me then, I had a friend with a couple of left over high powered antibiotics that cured me). I guess I will keep relying on health instead of health care. The ER takes the medical card, which I guess is why I hear about so many people with medical cards "wasting the time" of the ER when they should/could be going to a regular doctor (if only they can get an appointment!).

Today I went in search of a dentist. Five of the dentists who take the medical card are at the clinic, but the clinic is not accepting adult dental patients, only kids. The sixth dentist also is only accepting children. I called back to find out names of more dentists, but they are all out of town (the next three closest are in Taylorville, Virginia, and East Alton), and I have no vehicle to get there.

So, any ideas for diy dental care? Someone suggested superglue. I will research it at some point, and if I find out any useful suggestions, I'll let yall know. Right now I am feeling no pain from the cavities, but I know it's only a matter of time. The longer I wait, the bigger they will get, the more damage they will do, and the more it will cost if ever a dentist in Springfield decides to accept medical card patients.

carey

being poor

2009-08-27T15:42:00.004-05:00

I found a slip of paper reminding me to find this great essay, Being Poor by John Scalzi. I found myself smiling though, at the ridiculousness of it all and the memories it invoked of my own childhood. I might add a few of my own:

Being poor is not being able to go to school for a week because you lost your shoe, and you only have one pair.

Being poor is putting empty food cans back on the shelf so the social worker will think there is enough food in the house.

Being poor is sitting in the dark, sharing one can of corn among five people.

Being poor is your parent's alcohol and drug addiction.

Being poor is not feeling your fingers most of the day in winter, after a morning tractor ride through snow drifts up to the hard road to catch the school bus, with no mittens.

Being poor is an hour bus ride to school and using text books published before you were born, or xeroxed text books.

Being poor is no music, no art, no culture, only tv and the bible.

Being poor is grateful for Christmas vacation, mostly because the well always freezes up about then, and there's no bathing for two weeks, and toilet flushing is rare.

Being poor is converting to being a Jehovah's Witness, because then there's a good reason you don't have any Christmas presents.

Being poor is feeling your friend's luxuriously soft rabbit fur coat, and wondering why you get nothin for Christmas.

Being poor is never believing in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy.

Being poor is not going to the doctor because you can't afford the gas money to get there, even though the medical card pays for the visit.

Being poor is having fun playing in the dug out septic tank after a rainstorm or cooling off in the creek 1/4 mile downstream from a hog confinement farm.

Being poor is being the last person to live in a house, in every place you live.

Being poor is having a chronic sore throat because you have no heat in your bedroom and most of the house.

Being poor is 30 cousins taking turns using the same crib and wearing the same baby clothes.

And the flip side:

Being poor is an adventure.

Being poor makes you adaptable.

Being poor makes you mighty thankful for anything and everything.

Being poor gives you discipline.

Being poor forces you to rely on your community and the gift economy, and all the good feelings that come of it.

carey

gratitude

2009-08-26T08:54:00.002-05:00

"What's gonna set you free
Look inside and you'll see
When you got so much to say
It's called gratitude"
--the Beastie Boys

Last night I cried. I haven't cried in a while. My heart was bursting with so much gratitude, I couldn't keep those feelings inside anymore.

Yesterday, my good friends Mike and Abby came over. It's so good to hang out with people I care so much about and that care about me. They both listened to me venting about my current living situation and frustrations, and they shared similar happenings and views from their communal living situations. (People can be good people, but sometimes it just doesn't work out living together. Got it.)

Abby put away the massive mounds of dishes in the kitchen. Mike replaced the spurting leaking hose on the sump pump in the basement with a permanent drain so I don't have to switch out the washing machine hose with the sump hose every time it rains hard (which is nearly every time it rains), and so that water doesn't run all over the floor, further contributing to basement mold. When they left, I gave them homemade lacto-fermented sauerkraut and feralberry wine made from yard berries picked by friends.

Ahh, community. If we translated all the good gifts of time and stuff into money, did we equal out? Probably not, but that's the beautiful part of community. Giving and receiving are flip sides of the same coin. It's abundance, flowing freely, acquiring the wealth of community and investing it in renewed friendship. And knowing that I have friends that I can count on, no matter what, there is no substitute, there is nothing that money could buy that can even come close.

The house behind ours is a rental house, and it has a new owner now. I've been talking with the handyman who's fixing it up, and told him we were putting up a privacy fence, and that I really appreciated them cleaning up the overgrowth from their side of the fence so it's easier to get it all done. The owner came by yesterday with a crew of guys with chainsaws. They are not only got started on cleaning up the rest of my side of the fenceline, they also offered to chainsaw the giant pile of wood in my backyard into stove lengths.

I mean, what possesses people to be so utterly nice and selfless? Four guys with chainsaws can make quick work of the pile and the fenceline, so much more than one worn out housewife with hands that can no longer grip anything. I know they are getting a neater property and will hopefully get better tenants, but still. To me, it's a miracle, a godsend. They are going to keep me and my child warm this winter, and there is nothing I can do or say that will ever repay them personally. It's a debt I owe to the universe that I will repay each time I help someone else, and I intend to repay that debt for the rest of my life

And say what you want about rednecks, but they rock in my opinion!! Community still exists, and they get it. I don't care what someone's political beliefs are--you either get community or you don't. They get it loud and clear.

I am overflowing with gratitude.

carey

lazy men and the art of frustration

2009-08-25T11:30:00.002-05:00

I've heard that dishes can make or break a communal living situation, and I'd have to agree with this assessment. I've lived on occasion with other people, and when it goes sour, it seems that dishes or generally cleaning up after one's self are right there in the forefront.

I was last in the kitchen four days ago, when I did a heaping pile of dishes, canned 6 quarts of tomatoes, cleaned up all the canning mess and dishes, and scrubbed clean a dozen canning jars from the last moldy box in the basement. Since that time, I've been focused on working outside, putting in a full day of hard physical labor, trying to get yet another giant ignored pile transformed into what it was supposed to be. This doesn't leave a lot of time and energy to come inside and be the domestic servant that magically outputs good food and clean dishes.

Every dish in our house is dirty: every bowl, plate, glass, cup, and eating utensil. But no one washes the dishes. It is extremely frustrating. I know that not all men are lazy, but I am begging for examples to the contrary. I don't know what it is about having a vagina that makes one the most appropriate candidate for dish doing.

When discussing the lazy men phenomena with my daughter a few weeks ago, I told my daughter that I hoped she did not end up marrying a lazy man. She shook her head and said adamantly, "I'm marrying a woman!!" If I ever end up having another partner or roommate after the current pair move out, I hope they understand how community works. I hope they get the idea about giving and receiving. I hope they can clean up after themselves.

Gratitude is the highest vibration. I'm looking forward to living on my own, and believe me, I will be full of gratitude at that time. I'll miss the company, but not the upkeep lazy men seem to require.

carey

all chaos, all the time

2009-08-24T15:47:00.002-05:00

The little house is experiencing chaos at this time. Don and I (Carey) are separating and Don is moving out in the next week or two. Daughter Kaleigh and I are going to be womyn homesteaders, providing for ourselves as best we can and relying on the strength of our community to help us where and when we cannot help ourselves.

People grow apart and that's just how it is. The last 15 years of marriage have left me with good memories, but I am ready for new adventures. Don and I remain friends, and I think, in time, we will both be better off leading separate lives following our divergent passions.

I love the homestead life, blending the ideas of work and play, providing for myself/ourselves the best I can, while contributing to the abundance of my community. Today I learned to chop wood with an axe! I might have gotten a whole day's worth of wood stacked up before I pooped out, but it's a start. Already I can hit the axe in the same place more than once. And if elm wasn't the hardest wood on earth, I might have gotten two days' worth of wood stacked! I'm not stressed YET that it's almost September and that this wood is the first to get stacked for the upcoming winter. But with everybody talking about an early winter this year, I might get to panic mode shortly. At least it's happening, and I will keep making it happen.

Other projects I've been working on have been cleaning out the basement. When I started, there was a narrow path from the door to the washer. Several dozen moldy boxes later, there is room. It's amazing how much stuff we had that could have or should have been thrown away. It's gone now, but there is still mold. Little by little, I'm reclaiming the space.

The behind us neighbors moved out, and now seems like a good time to get up the privacy fence we bought earlier this year. Joe and I cleared out old fencing, grown up trees, and miles of nightshade. I'm almost ready to start digging holes for posts, at least along one side. The other side is pretty well full of wood-yet-to-be-cut.

Oh yeah, and it's tomato canning season. Six quarts so far. If we get some warm weather, I'll be processing a lot more and how.

I plan on updating this a bit more frequently in the near future. Sorry to leave y'all out of the loop, but it's been all chaos, all the time, and that's just how it goes sometimes.

carey

social networks

2009-07-09T18:03:00.003-05:00

Sunday morning, when Carey turned on the computer, it made sparking noises and flashes. She unplugged it right away. I took the power supply out and something in there is kinda charred. I didn't want to try plugging it in again. I just hope the hard drive is OK. So, we've been offline since Saturday night. It was OK. If anyone has tried to email any of us, that's why we haven't written back.

It turns out we can survive in the wilds of real life without this particular shining rectangle. But fear not, we shall be back in cyberia soon enough. I'm on a friend's laptop right now. Another friend is going to talk to his friend who might have a usable power supply for our PC. And so, real life social networks (as in, face-to-face) help facilitate our re-plugging-in-to the shining rectangle of blogging, facebook, email, myspace, other email, information, image, representation, mediation, eyestrain, wrist strain, back strain, and all that fun stuff. Don't worry, we'll be back! But--this IS an example of tribal economics--people providing services to one another, with it all going around in circles of reciprocity, no serious accounting, just giving, sharing.

AND with the new computer possibilities, I gotta figure out my permaculture talk for this Saturday morning, and maybe come up with some kinda handouts to have the printer crank out. The fun never stops. Though I do love talking about permaculture!

now listening: Sacred Dub Podcast Transmission 055

the day of loudness

2009-07-04T20:20:00.003-05:00

The rain has finally ended, and revelers all over Springfield's east side have begun shooting off their loud makers. Finally. We're used to hearing loud popping noises on a regular basis at least from the beginning of June, usually going well through the middle of July. This year, it's been only the past few days we've heard the works. Now, everyone who drove to Missouri and got their fireworks (or got them from Dupage County), is setting them off. And it's loud! And constant!

The rain was welcome, with a warm and dryish spell, and I just spent many hours this last two weeks in the yard. The rain also conveniently prevented us from biking downtown (no buses today), and attending an all-day festival with only $4. I really enjoyed this dreary rainy chill day, with hardly any traffic or noise other than the rain falling....until now.

It's not even dark yet, and the war zone atmosphere has begun. Normally I don't like a lot of noise, but I really enjoy the 4th, probably because of all the people who enjoy celebrating their 4th by shooting off illegal fireworks. I also enjoy the smell of bbq. Later we're making popcorn. Right now, Kaleigh is making a mud cake by the waning light of the misty day, and the intermittent light of fireflies.

Last night we saw a [insert mike myers' voice] laser light show in downtown Springfield with the cousins, and a serendipitous run-in with the Williamsons. A fun time was had by all.

carey

pictures

2009-07-02T13:35:00.005-05:00

All kinds of pictures, at last. The first two are of the woodshed, which also functions as a tool shed shelter. The tool shed we bought is so flimsy, it doesn't hold up to the least bit of wind. Amazingly, it's still in one piece. Now it's firmly ensconced in the woodshed, bolted down and everything. There's still plenty of room for wood and a walkway beside.

Below, hopefully in the order that I'm naming them, are pictures of flowers: blue chicory, white buckwheat, orange daylily, and pink and purple rose of Sharon.

bloom

2009-06-30T21:00:00.002-05:00

Zomba is blooming. Well, about to, anyway. The onions and tomatoes certainly are blooming. The peas are about done with the intense heat of last week. The picture at left is a pea vine, demonstrating the fractal spiral nature of nature. The tendrils are cute. The other picture here is an onion blossom.

The Springfield in bloom contest is supposed to be judged in a few weeks. I walked around the other day, realizing there was nothing at all in bloom. But now, with the heat and the mad rain, fertility is abundant. The rose of Sharon bush bloomed today, and the mullein rosette is starting to pop out in yellow. There's so much more about to pop.

I transplanted five tomato plants today, and realize I have a ton more to transplant. I am hoping to rework one of the beds to put the volunteer tomatoes in, at least the healthiest and biggest of the bunch. We've been picking raspberries for a couple of weeks now, and I made some wine, with more to make. We've been eating a lot of green beans and onions. The lettuce in zomba has finally started to grow, but it's already bitter with the heat. Still, the bitterness is kind of a nice taste, especially with peas, tamari almonds, green onions, cheese, and raspberries tossed with it. The garlic scapes are taller than me.

The real news around here is that the woodshed is being built. The frame is up, quite sturdy, thanks to our friend Joe and Don. All that's left is findin some more purlins, and hopefully scaring up some metal roofing. The shed is already moved inside and bolted into place. I'll get a picture of it sometime to show the zombans away.

Kaleigh and I are reading the Chronicles of Narnia. It's great! I enjoyed reading them when I was young, but haven't read them for a long time. We're on the 3rd book. I especially enjoyed the 2nd book, as it pretty well sums up the state of the natural world and the human-built world of our own times.

carey

This Just In

2009-06-21T19:20:00.007-05:00

Hello, folks. Kaleigh and I are back from camping with 200 Quakers. We enjoyed ourselves and it was OK, my being back in the company of cap-F Friends for the first time since like 1990 or something (except for a few weddings and funerals).

In my In Search of Simplicity workshop handouts, I listed this blog, so (I hope) a few new readers may come browsing by. Probably, everyone getting home from QuakeCon ("Illinois Yearly Meeting") will need some time to rest, reflect, and recharge, before diving back into everything we experienced and discussed in the past several days. But if/when you click by here, greetings and welcome!

Dear friends and Friends, I normally would prefer to actually write something to post here, but I gotta share this link. One of my favorite bloggers, Ran Prieur, points to this long article that I haven't actually read just yet (but I printed it out). I did scroll down and read all the powerpoint slides in the article, and I loved it so much I had to share. The title sounds intimidating: Definancialisation, Deglobalisation, Relocalisation, but just reading the powerpoints was so fun and insightful that I encourage all y'all to at least do that. It's shifting my paradigm--good thing I'm well lubricated!

peace, and may the Lord bless us and awaken us,

Don

making way for summer

2009-06-19T09:04:00.002-05:00

Summer technically begins in a few days, but summer began here yesterday. Although it was only in the low 90's (and central Illinois is a place where you can say "only in the low 90's"), with the humidity the feels like temp was over 100. Fortunately, we had some big windy storms in the early morning that brought some temporarily cool air. I blasted fans in all the windows & was able to cool the house off several degrees to a quite livable 75. By evening, it was 81 in here, and by 10 p.m., it was back to 81 outside, so I could open up the house for some hot non-fossil fueled breezes.

Today is different. It only cooled off to 78 overnight in the house. It's 9 a.m., and already 83 outside, with the feels like temperature at 90. I need to do yardwork, but can't seem to force myself to go outside. I sat on the porch for a while and braided garlic, but that was all the motivation I could muster. Tomorrow it is only going to be 88 for a high, so maybe it will be better tomorrow morning, I hope! As it is, today I am planning on stripping off most of my clothing and staying inside with fans running, drinking ice water.

Don and Kaleigh are camping at an IYM retreat, where Don is presenting a workshop on simplicity. Kaleigh is having a great time running around with the kid pack. If we called it vacation bible school, she'd probably have refused to go, but the Quakers don't seem to care if you believe in God or not. There are crafts in the morning and afternoon, and last night was a bonfire and hay rack rides. She doesn't get to do things like that very much. There won't be much sleeping going on! Don is feeling a bit overwhelmed with talking to people constantly. He's introverted and needs down time.

I have been home cleaning, organizing, getting my brain organized with the tasks I need to do. Don built some wonderful shelves in the kitchen before he left, which I organized. It freed up kitchen space like nothing else. I also moved furniture around in our living room. Since we no longer move every year or so, I am compelled to move my furniture around to give my mind a break from the static stimuli. It's been soooooo hot. It's actually not that hot at all compared to what August will bring, but adjusting to it is difficult, and it's hard for me to maintain my motivation to move.

I have spent some time putting together a map of auction properties. Springfield hires an auction service to sell off its abandoned properties. Starting price is $600, and lots range from a 6 x 30 strip to small acreage in rural Sangamon county, from floodplain to a house on a double lot. Most properties for sale are regular-sized city lots, approximately 1/10 to 1/8 acre in size. There is a lot a few houses down from us that is for sale, one we've been eyeing for a while. There was a decrepit abandoned house there when we bought this place 9 years ago, and the house has been torn down since. It would make a lovely sustainable wood lot, a place to raise corn and potatoes and beans, a fruit orchard--the possibilities are unlimited. I'm not sure we can swing the price, though, as we are trying to get several construction projects done this year. We'll see how it turns out.

I am telling all far and wide about the property tax sale. There are so many vacant lots in our part of town. The ones for sale don't even dent the vacant lot market. The soil here is extremely rich, with many feet of thick black topsoil. Despite the southeast side's reputation as a gang haven, controlled by thugs, with nightly shoot-outs and murders, it is a great place to live, as all these reputed goings-on are false. If only people would give up their negative stereotypes and discard the sensationalism brought to them by local media. I like my house and my neighbors and my neighborhood. People are friendly; it's like a small town. It is soooo quiet here, really. At night we'll sit on the porch sipping wine, with cricket music ringing in our ears, watching the lightning bugs flicker. I feel safe, no problem. Of course, I'm not racist, and I think that makes the biggest difference in my opinion of the place.

So, anyway, if you're interested in being part of the new consensus, moving beyond sustainability, come and join us.

carey

community

2009-06-15T09:57:00.002-05:00

These pictures are all of the lovely Kaleigh. First up is at the Earth Awareness Fair (did you know we live on the Earth?). It was, unfortunately, held inside the convention center, which meant concrete floor and fluorescent lighting, and not much passing by traffic. It was a step down from the park, but we still met a lot of interested and interesting people. Kaleigh had a terrific time hanging out with Lynn Young Buck in the tipi. Lynn taught her the uses of many things in the tipi, and Kaleigh even figured out the low-tech pump drill. Lynn let her dress up in a buckskin dress, and you can see how proud she was. At one point, Kaleigh hid behind a seat in the tipi and asked Lynn to pretend she didn't know where Kaleigh was. Lynn said she shrieked, "Where is my child? Has the white man stole my child?" We laughed our butts off about that one.

The second picture is Kaleigh at the top of the ladder. Don was cleaning out gutters yet again, and installing some kind of gutter guard to prevent the millions of tree seeds from clogging up the gutter. Kaleigh likes to climb ladders. You can't see it in this picture, but her prehensile toes are gripping the ladder rung.

The last picture is of Kaleigh's painted face. This was from the opening day of the library's summer reading program. She didn't wash her face for days after this, but it slowly degenerated into Kaleigh looking like she had a dirty nose.

So, spring is here and almost gone it seems. We have a nice big full garden this year. While we are not nearly close to growing everything we eat, we are getting ever closer. We've been steadily eating onions, peas, and pea pods out of the garden. The mulberries are ripe, and I've already made a carboy of wine. The raspberries are just starting to ripen. I am making feralberry wine today out of the mulberries and raspberries. The small currant bushes also have ripening fruit.

Although the area has seen a lot of rain, our house has not. Even the west side of Springfield has had considerably more rain than we have. I don't like watering for many reasons, primarily because I don't like paying money to put chlorinated water on plants. But water I have. I want my plants to grow before hot and humid summer gets here.

We've had a return of community, it seems. Friends have been stopping by and hanging out in abundance. We've made tentative plans to have a few friends camping out and helping out this summer. I like the idea of collectively working in the yard and on the house, and preparing and preserving food. It's almost a return to the "good old days" when all of our friends were unemployed. I miss it.

In other encouraging news, Springfield is having a tax auction sale in a few weeks. Vacant lots are selling starting at $600. Some lots even have houses. Our neighborhood has many vacant lots, and we're encouraging any and all to come and live and garden here. It would be wonderful to have beautiful gardens all over the place here, entertaining the ideas of community and sharing and caring.

carey

food

2009-05-27T20:18:00.002-05:00

Eating fresh locally grown and produced food is refreshing to the taste buds as well as to the feelings of community. The two are wholly intertwined.

These pictures are of today's lunch. The salad was made with mesclun greens, walnuts, and chive flowers from farmers at our local farmers market. We dressed it up with some homemade lemon balm vinegar, and the only thing not locally produced, olive oil. The quiche crust is made with butter from Wisconsin, and flour milled in Effingham. The filling is asparagus, onions, and chard again from the local farmers market, along with milk from Illinois and eggs laid by happy chickens at Bear Creek Farm & Ranch. We also had some Ropp Jersey cheese (their blue ribbon winning recipe green onion cheddar) on the side, with plain old yummy sweet local strawberries from Live Springs for dessert--so delicious that no sugar is needed. Most all this food was bought face to face, sharing good conversations with the people who harvested it. It feels good to know and financially support your farmer.

We shared this lunch with a friend, one who has been very nice and thoughtful, and it was nice to be able to share this kindness back to someone whose friendship we value. Food and community, there's just no separating the two.

And here's a goofy picture of me and Kaleigh chopping strawberries (the picture of us diligently working was too boring). We made six gallons of strawberry wine, so far. See that fan behind me? We needed it! I am still in the process of making rhubarb wine (and doing dishes). Tomorrow is hopefully the day we make low sugar strawberry jam for Kaleigh and leftover wine pulp "butter" for Don & me. The scraps are going to our worms, who will probably really enjoy the sweet ooshy rotting goodness in a few days. And we harvest the worm poop and turn it into food! No part of the strawberry is wasted. Kaleigh's had many strawberries at this point. Can you tell? I would think I've had too much coffee, but actually, we got up early so we could get strawberries at market.

Last here is the most beautiful edible pea I've ever laid eyes on. It's called the blue-podded pea, and I ordered the seeds from Baker Creek. The blossoms are these beautiful pinks and purples. The pods are a dark indigo blue. They're good dried for soups, and also the pods are edible. We ate the pods in some breakfast eggs the other day. They are by far the healthiest peas I've ever grown. I stuck some regular dollar store seed packet peas in the ground, and they are quite smaller plants and not yet producing pods.

My friend Kaya is visiting Friday, and I am really going to enjoy that day! Saturday we are tabling at the Earth Awareness Fair, handing out copies of our basic comprehensive gardening zine and hopefully parting with the rest of the bulk seeds I've been carting around with me for over a year now.

carey

rain barrels!!

2009-05-13T15:26:00.003-05:00

Oh yeah. Don got the first rain barrel hooked up last night. It's a reclaimed food grade 55-gallon plastic barrel we got for $4, with a flexible downspout to go from gutter to rain barrel. This was given to us. We paid for miscellaneous parts which include a spigot at the bottom, and I'm not sure what else. Even the concrete blocks were given to us by a friend and our neighbors. Friends are fabulous!

The rain barrel got a good test run last night and today. Water started whizzing out the small hole near the top Don cut for an overflow earlier. With more storms on the way, we attached the hose and ran it out to the garden, and slowly the water drained from the barrel. Now we're waiting for more rain. And it looks like the weather will not disappoint. It's in the mid-70s, with almost 100% humidity, if I remember this close feeling correctly. Oooh! And we're sandwiched between tornado watch areas. Fun! We haven't had enough quality time huddling in the basement this spring.

The other picture is a yard remodeling project we've been working on. After giving away hundreds of daylilies, we now have a 10 by 12 patch of ground clear, except for a plum tree that we planted there last year. I planted a wee redbud tree there, along with a few widely spaced daylilies. You can see parts of our old sweet gum tree, which Don sliced into rings to be used as planters. I planted a TON of seeds here, mostly perennials and self-seeding annuals. I am hopeful they will sprout in this heat, humidity, and rain. We entered the Springfield in Bloom contest, and this is where I am hoping to put the sign, at least if the flowers can out-compete the weeds.

--carey

spring on the homestead

2009-05-03T20:17:00.003-05:00

Here are some more pictures of life going on, as usual, here in Zomba. We had nice weather for a few days, followed by lots of wind, then a couple inches of rain, then a few days of cold (you know, spring!). We managed to get a few tomatoes and peppers planted despite the ceaseless wind, and they seem to have survived the beating rain. It is warming up outside, so maybe they will start growing again.

Coming up in the garden now are peas, onions, garlic, asparagus (too young to eat, but growing), and potatoes. I planted a ton of garlic this spring, experimenting with it. We had a fall crop of garlic last fall, with the weather being so mild so long. I don't know what will happen, but it'll be interesting. In addition, we have lots of fruit happening, raspberries, red currants, and strawberries. The cherry, pear, and apple trees bloomed this year, and I hope we get fruit on them. The mulberries are just starting to pop out wee plops of green.

The ground was too wet to work today, but I did manage to dig up a few more bucketsful of daylilies; I've given them away to more than a dozen people through freecycle. I'm going to divide them up and space them out, but I have way too many.

Don and I whacked weeds and grass today. With the rain, it's been hard to get much done, plus everything is growing so fast. I used the hand scythe, and I really like it. I managed to only nick myself once. It's more fun than a lawnmower, although it takes a lot longer to be "done". But I get to find what's hidden in the grass, like lilies of the valley and healthy strawberry plants. Kaleigh and Merry used the reel mower on the inside of the yard, and Don used it on the outside. Don also used the wedge trimmer, which is used with the same stroke as a golf club. The yard is looking a lot more kept up. I like the wild and free look myself, and I'd surely let the weeds and grass grow up because I think it looks nicer, as well as is a lot healthier if a diverse and functioning ecosystem is your goal, rather than...what's the goal in maintaining a lawn? But, here we are in town. It's still pretty wild, as what we have growing is not "grass", nor does whacking it manually with various implements result in a smooth 1.5" carpet of sod. The hand scythe is fun because I'm not only mowing the grass and pulling weeds, but also I am making mulch.

The seed swap was yesterday. I got some nice plants. We had a lot of people, although a smaller crowd than last year. There was a rush at noon, then the rush left with most of the plants. It was unfortunate that the cool vibe of mass sharing did not go on for more than 30 minutes. Actually, there was a lot of sharing after that, but more of time and connection than plants. We had several kids coming through to get their mom's birthday presents or plants for their gardens. They were excited. There were a few young moms who seemed interested in growing food, but didn't know where to start. Well, it was very nice talking to people.

Kaleigh has been interested in a lot of summer camps. Her grandparents are graciously paying her way. I know she will have a lot of fun, and I will enjoy the quiet while she's gone, and hopefully get some work done.

We haven't had the woodstove going, and the weather was damp, followed by hella windy, followed by rain and cold--not so good for the drying clothes on the solar-powered clothesline. Our basement got water in it with the mass rain, and I had to wash the clothes that were sorted down there that got wet. It was a super windy day, so I put extra clothespins on all the clothes. Nothing blew away, and the clothes were dry in two hours. Yesterday and today I did laundry and hung it on the line, and got it all done. Ah, I love the clothesline. The clothes smell so good, and it's nice to know when I am out working in the yard, there my clothes are, drying themselves.

Hmm, seems like mother's day is coming up. I think I am visiting with my mother.

carey

springing

2009-04-18T19:05:00.004-05:00

A few days of rain, followed by warm temperatures, and it's officially spring in zomba. Misty leaves outline trees, and all kinds of good eating is coming up in the yard. The spring bulbs bring bright color, as do the pear and redbud trees, and all the pretty weeds: creeping charlie, violets, ground ivy, dead nettle. It's the amazing pushing up feeling surround us, once again.

We were able to get some shiitake mushroom logs. One is ours. This fall we might have some shiitakes.

Kaleigh found another mutant dandelion. I thought it was a freak occurrence when we found them last year, but I guess not. Here's another. And no, we're not downwind of a nuclear power plant.

We've been working on the garden like crazy in this warm not-too-wet weather. The onions and peas are coming up. The starts inside are doing well. We're attempting to get our mailed edible landscaping in the ground as fast as possible. I finally got the three blueberries and seven elderberries in the ground, and now our chestnuts, hazelnuts, and K's pink seedless grapevine are here. No rest for crazy gardeners.

It's earth day week. For some reason, I've never gotten too excited about it. I don't think I've even attended anything earth-day related. I'll probably stay home, listen to birds, and play in the dirt. Again.

I've been thinking a lot about ideas that work. This seems like a good thing to keep in mind. The ideas are out there, and if our culture unbusies itself for a minute to think, I imagine we could come up with broadscale workable solutions with immediate applications. Yep. This idea has intrigued me, along with the idea that sustainability is the least we can do. I know it's trendy and all that, but really, breaking even? It's an honorable goal for addicts, er, adherents to American culture, but I have a kid to think about, and I want a lot more for her than breaking even. I like the idea of leaving a legacy of good soil with active microbial life, forest gardens, community, and basically, systems that function with minimal inputs, but that are easily tweaked by those who are living with them. This seems like a good idea too.

Interesting stuff:
5 Things You Think Will Make You Happy (but won't)
This book: Edens Lost and Found It's full of ideas that work, in all kinds of scales with all kinds of practical value.
Another idea that works: The Amazing Benefits of Grass-Fed Meat. Even if you're a vegetarian, it's relevant, as an idea that works much better than what our market determines as having value.
Crazy Somali pirate story--very interesting!
Growing Power is a Milwaukee-based organization, and they have these great From the Ground Up! Workshops. Although too expensive and too far away, I hope to find out if they have any literature I can peruse here, especially about community organizing. This seems like an excellent project.

I recently reread the city of Springfield's paid study of the east side (warning, pdf). It's an area north of where I live, and the study is from 2001. It's amusing to read of the study's stern warnings for the need of aggressive action, since I highly doubt Springfield's city government had any intentions of doing squat. They also made a note of how the designated area had no parks or playgrounds outside of public schools (which are always posted no trespassing (and so ignored)); installation of parks and green spaces was a recommendation as well.

I'm sure there's no money for east-side parks, especially because all the new suburban parks paid for by Springfield taxpayers are using up any available money. The newest one, Southwind Park, is touted as being accessible for everyone, with the awful irony that it is so way out of town (built in what was a cornfield), and yes, you guessed it, there is no public transportation there. It is accessible only to those with vehicles as it is far away from all but one subdivision neighborhood. No one likes a complainer though, and life isn't fair.

I've gotten the basic comprehensive gardening zine done, and hope to get the printer working long enough to make some copies of it.

Until then, breathe deeply, and enjoy ourselves.

carey

our next bohemia

2009-04-16T19:14:00.004-05:00

This is from the new Fifth Estate (Spring 2009). This one was my favorite from "Seven Subversive Instasonnets" by Peter Lamborn Wilson. It rings true for me.

Phalanstery (for Chapman, Kansas)

L. Frank Baum was a Swedenborgian
what's the matter with Kansas
why can't we have a Swedenborgian Militia
something to fend off FEMA & the
National Guard next time a tornado
flattens grain elevators like Tarot trump cards
in what we like to call Prairie Restoration
with a vengeance. This could be our
next bohemia--a landscape too
boring for redevelopment--antithesis
of all highway tourist hells or
utopian traces of commodity. OZ
is Blake for infants. Perhaps
disaster will be our new revolution.

This is a Test

2009-03-28T19:58:00.004-05:00

A couple issues ago, Mother Earth News printed a letter to the editor about garlic tea being the cure for a cold. Crush a few cloves, let 'em sit 10 minutes, pour near-boiling water over, add lemon. Add honey (ideally, when the water's cool enough to stick your finger in, so it won't destroy enzymes in the honey). We've tried it a few times, and the beginning-colds we've had never got much worse. It seems to work!!

I recently read Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets, and found out some of the fungi growing on our dead logs are Turkey Tails (trametes versicolor). After poking around online, to make really really sure I wasn't about to eat something poisonous, I decided to try them. Because I have a cold, and turkey tails happen to be great immune stimulators. Not to mention anti-cancer, and more. Mycelium Running cites scientific research to that effect, this isn't just superstitious folklore about medicinal mushrooms. (The same goes for reishi/ling chi, and other long-used edible/medicinal fungal allies.)

These particular turkey tails have long been dried up on the stumps where they grew, but I figure, since mushrooms are typically stored dried anyway, well, there they are. I picked a few, washed them off a little, and simmered them for a long time, about an hour. Since these are notoriously tough fungi, not exactly "edible" in the "side dish" sense, I poured the tea through a strainer into my mug. It tasted like a mushroom broth or tea would taste--not bad!!

The next day, my cold was a bit worse, following a normal course it seems. But I wasn't puking or turning green or anything I'd blame on misidentified fungi. (Yay!) So, time to up the dosage a little, and now I've tried taking the turkey tail water and pouring it over the crushed garlic cloves. It's not bad!! I add a little bit of salt for taste. Two mugs later, it's evening now, and I really really hope my cold is better tomorrow. We'll see.

I have a long day of work Monday, at the School of Medicine, and it would be SO nice if I'm not dragged down by cold and/or OTC meds.

wild white indigo

2009-03-26T09:47:00.003-05:00

I have seeds for wild white indigo, and I wanted to share what I discovered. Also known as Baptisia alba macrophylla, this plant is used as a dye, although it is not as "striking" as the old world indigo plant. However, this is a perennial nitrogen fixer, and a native prairie plant. It's also beautiful, as evidenced by the picture.

More info here:

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/ww_indigox.htm

work and play inside and out

2009-03-23T20:51:00.004-05:00

How this page gets formatted is beyond me, so I hope you can match the pictures up with the text. Don and Kaleigh assisted Mike, who defied 1908 construction practices to install much-needed shelving in K's room. She started moving over her stuff today. At last, enough room to organize somewhat.

There is a refrigerator impersonating a hedgehog. Really, it's dumpstered shag carpet. (Of course! you say...) Bill brought it over, and has been waiting patiently for this blog report on our efforts. It's on! It seems to work for insulating. We'll put it to the test in July, when it is way too hot for the poorly made modern fridge to function.

Another picture you may see on this page is our south side yard. This is 3 years post-tornado, with the last of the wood gone. Here it is pictured with paths and beds figured out, and spring planting begun. It most likely looks like a big mess to the uninitiated. This is our beginning; we like it, and we are excited. So far we've planted onions, potatoes, and peas. I'm hopeful the anticipated rain chirks them right out of the ground.

It got into the 70s today, and the cherry trees popped out all kinds of blossoms. I didn't see much in the way of pollinators. It was pretty, though. I've noticed a few other trees around town popping out blooms. Another blooming tree on this page is the American elm. They are not exactly pretty blossoms, but they are delicate and intriguing in their own way.

And lastly, there are some pictures of crocuses. I need color and beauty in spring. It is what gets me through winter without lethargy and depression.

carey

Big Steps

2009-03-22T21:18:00.003-05:00

Long time no blog, eh? I don't remember the last time I actually sat down and typed something, rather than quoting and linking for a quickie post.

In addition to the Urban Renewal Think Tank, my favorite new internet forums are Midwest Permaculture's very own Ning. They're inviting graduates of their permaculture courses to join, and members of the public can sign up, post, and discuss on the public parts of the network. So, come on by, read, participate. Both sites are just way cool, and very positive in tone and outlook. We all want to know WHAT WORKS. And we just love the folks who run Midwest Permaculture.

Last weekend, we got some significant progress made in the ol' garden of zomba, and I blogged about it on my new ning profile, but it's hard to find the blog through all the profile and recent comments and whatnot. So I'm reposting here, where people are more likely to see it.

From Monday, March 16:

Big Steps

The past few weeks Carey and I have been working on a pathway design for our garden, to be more interesting and functional than the typical rows of 4-foot-wide beds. I went through a long series of doodles, starting with a mandala design, trying out other patterns (e.g. branching spirals), taking breaks, indulging inspiration, and referring to the Designer's Manual and Edible Forest Gardens. Eventually I arrived at what now seems obvious, what EFG calls "rootlike" path design. This would be a dendritic pattern where one can easily head toward any part of the garden from the main entrance. The main throughway path is a bit wider than the branches; we'll see how it plays out in practice, if I need more or less room to get down there and pluck edible weeds.

On the ground, we took old cardboard that we had been saving for sheet mulch or worm food, and laid it out on soon-to-be paths, to get a better idea of the spacing of everything, and a feel for how it feels to walk these paths. It feels good. More recently, I went out with a tape measure to make sure beds are double-reach (4 feet), and gave the design a few last little tweaks.

Yesterday, it was a spectacular early spring day, and we got out there and did a lot. We built up a bed from a compost pile that turned out to be on a main path. We had a lot of bark on the ground and in piles, from the downed trees of a few years ago; this I spread onto the cardboard paths to replace the bricks that were holding them in place. The bark is no fun for bare feet, but it's a resource at hand so we're using it. We moved some surprise lilies that also turned out to be in the way of a path. I harvested some bricks from a defunct firepit, moving them to line a bed of day lilies by the street so folks won't walk on them so much (like I was doing the other day).

Friends came over and dug up roots from a future bed, played with our daughter, contributed to the new compost pile, played music, chatted, shared bread and wine, the usual good times--our Sunday "unchurch" routine.

Someday I'd like to post a few scans of garden design doodles, and pics of the progress, but now I have errands to run and dishes to do. I look forward to getting on my bike today, even though certain sets of muscles are still sore from yesterday. It's already beautiful out--why am I sitting here staring at the screen?!

Today, then, was another Sunday, with visiting, food, good times, and more projects getting done. I'll leave it to Carey to fill y'all in about that.

It rained today--was supposed to be "partly cloudy" but we got a nice long gentle rain. I'm SO happy for all the little plants, which will just be popping out even more insanely now. Happy happy happy. The million little seedlings under the elm smell like garlic mustard--I guess we didn't overeat it last year, after all. I think we'll enjoy trying to keep up with it this spring, it'll need serious thinning!

eleanor roosevelt's dress

2009-03-20T19:20:00.004-05:00

Spring is happening in zomba. The trees have lost their red hazy mist and are now infused with a yellow red hazy mist. A bit of warmth and moisture, and leaves will be popping out. Our cherry trees are almost there. Dandelions are getting to edible size at last. Crocuses are spilling gold and purple among the greening grass and the slowly decomposing fallen leaves.

There's a patch of creeping charlie that grew last year in with the garlic mustard. I can smell the garlic mustard, but I can't find it as the two plants look fairly similar at this stage. We apparently overate the garlic mustard last year! Do we let the remains of this invasive exotic go to seed, continuing our free food, vestiges of the garden of eden? Shall we consider eating garlic mustard a more proficient means of extermination than round-up?

The south lawn garden gets in more recognizable order each nice working day. Today, I cut potatoes for seed, and after a couple of days of scabbing over, we'll plant those (have more still sitting around sprouting). I've wanted to try growing potatoes under layers of straw, and since we have a couple of straw bales, I will. I've gotten several tomato cages in place, with peas planted around them, and onions planted around that. So far, I've planted about 80 onions, and I have two more bags of sets (Humphreys!) to plant. Even if I get them all planted, that's barely enough to cover our yearly onion needs. When you really start to think about feeding yourself, it gets intimidating.

I transplanted the last tray of sprouts, some cabbage, broccoli, and rhubarb, but the vast majority is heirloom peppers and tomatoes. These are now sunning themselves and putting on additional leaves in our sunny south window. I planted another tray of seeds to sprout, mostly herbs, plus tomatoes and peppers I received from Baker Creek (more!!). Our perennial investment order is ready to be mailed off: three blueberries, four hazelnuts, two chestnuts, five elderberries, a pink seedless grapevine for Kaleigh, and my splurge order of a dwarf lime because I like how they look and smell (my pleasant greenhouse worker memories, plus you can never be too prepared for climate change).

I met today with members of the Springfield local food task force. It's exciting to think that my actions are hopefully going to create change, yet I know we are attempting to create change from the top down, and it's not an arena I particularly enjoy or have faith in. At the same time, it seems necessary to remove legal barriers for people to be able to provide for their basic needs. A city that encourages its citizens to provide for themselves is secure, and more easily copes and adapts to chaos.

The Zion Missionary church down the street is moving ahead with its plans to plant a garden to provide fresh, local, and nutritious organic food to patrons of their food pantry. This is exciting to see happen in my own neighborhood, and I am delighted to be a part of it.

A few days ago, Justin gave his talk on bioremediation, notes available here. It was a great talk, and I learned a lot about removing toxins from soil, and also about the hovering umbrella of greed that corporations have legally enforced. Not only is it their products and services that put the toxins in the soil in the first place, but now they've patented a lot of hyperaccumulator plants. So if you want to plant soil amending plants, you'll need to pay them for the patent to do it. It's not that the plants been genetically modified or altered in any way; they're just plants. It's ridiculous.

Corporations need to have less control over us people. They need to be responsible and accountable to someone, it would seem. And why not us? We have to pay the price for their stupidity, short-sightedness, and inevitable destruction. (I am not a Communist.)

Kaleigh's been reading like crazy lately, devouring a dozen chapter books in a week, at least. She's been rabid about bike rides. She really wanted to ride in the critical mass tonight. Sometime, maybe next month! It's a little cold out, and we adults are pretty tired out tonight.

carey

the dispossessed

2009-03-11T07:53:00.001-05:00

Speech by Shevek
The Dispossessed, by Ursula LeGuin

It is our suffering that brings us together. It is not love. Love does not obey the mind, and turns to hate when forced. The bond that binds us is beyond choice. We are brothers. We are brothers in what we share. In pain, which each of us must suffer alone, in hunger, in poverty, in hope, we know our brotherhood. We know it, because we have had to learn it. We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach out our hand. And the hand that you reach out is empty, as mine is. You have nothing. You possess nothing. You own nothing. You are free. All you have is what you are, and what you give.

....You cannot buy the Revolution. You cannot make the Revolution. You can only be the Revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.

baraka

2009-03-06T20:18:00.003-06:00

Today was exquisite. We were blessed with almost 80 degree temperatures, with gentle breezes. We were also blessed with no time commitments today. We had a lot of fun work/playing outside.

The south side lawn, our soon to be beautiful crazy garden, is in the process of transformation. Gone are giant rotten trunks of wood and piles of weeds. Rough paths are marked out in bark, and beds have begun being marked. It is exciting to see. We're thinking of flattening out our surplus of boxes and putting them down to mark paths, and putting bark on top of those. After that, it will be putting plants in the ground until it all grows into a verdant jungle.

I pruned all of our fruit trees today. I learned how to prune today, I hope. I pruned the grapevines, and removed a lot of dead or old wood from the raspberry patch. The raspberry patch has been around for 8 years now, and parts of it are starting to peter out. Hopefully a thorough going-through will rejuvenate it. Don selectively cut out some weedy mulberry trees; there are so many, they can't all possibly grow here. He also cut off one big almost-dead limb on the redbud tree. The tree is slowly dying, half of it being flung away during the tornado almost three years ago. The light will stimulate whatever next will grow there--a big chestnut tree, I hope.

Bulbs are greening out of the ground, as is the garlic. Strawberries are greening up, as is the dame's rocket, and white clover leaves have begun springing out of the ground. The fruit trees all have buds, and I even saw a tiny leaf on a cherry branch as I pruned it away. There were lots of bugs running around, as we wreaked havoc in their living space today. The mosquitoes are out.

Kaleigh played in mud, baked in the mud, through mud balls and made them into mud pancakes, and rode her bike over to turtle alley, around the yard, and down the street. She's on a reading binge currently. Even with all the beauty and warmth outside, she still read one and a half Boxcar Children books. Kaleigh helped out with whatever was going on also. We had a good, fun, getting-stuff-done day.

My back is tired, and I'm ready to dive back into Ursula LeGuin's lovely story, the Dispossessed. It's exactly what I need to read right now.

carey

February's end

2009-03-02T08:59:00.003-06:00

Last week was a productive one for the homestead. With our big out-of-the-house commitments (Laura Ingalls Wilder Celebration Day for homeschoolers, and basic and advanced gardening workshops) finished, a bit of down time and relaxation in there, we're back on thinking of what needs to be done in this place, and doing it.

This week we got up two grow lights in our kitchen, and Kaleigh and I planted two seed trays. There's the usual overabundance of tomatoes. I am not good about keeping the heirloom varieties separated, so I have started 18 plants of my own seeds I saved last year, with maybe 4-5 types of beautiful and delicious tomatoes. I also started 18 seeds from tomato seeds I saved a couple of years ago, from my friends Gus and Andy, who had 60 kinds of heirloom varieties, the tomatoes of which they sold at the farmers market. I can't wait to see what happens!

Additionally, we started broccoli, hardy kiwi, black currants, sweet peppers, cabbage, ramps, currant tomatoes (small and very sweet), rhubarb, red currants, passionflower, "wild" strawberries, and cilantro. I hope to set out the cold season plants as soon as they are big enough, and have the warm season plants beautiful and healthy when the ground warms up.

Don has crafted a plan of paths to convert our big south side lawn (our garden) into a less straight-line garden. In other words, the 4' wide beds are no more, and anything that is not path will be planted in an integrated vegetable, fruit, herb, and tree garden. It's going to be beautiful, and productive! We have some dead wood still to get off the site, and plenty of weeds (mulch!) to hack away. The soil under the rotting logs (which collected leaves over the winter) is beautiful. Don made a good start in getting the whole place cleared off.

Yesterday, we chopped up 8 heads of cabbage, 10 carrots and onions, and three bulbs of garlic, making about 3 gallons of lacto-fermenting kraut. We shall have plenty to share in the coming weeks! I really like kraut now, and heartily eat big bowls of it. I think it's kept me from getting sick much this winter.

Don has kept up with splitting and stacking wood. Kaleigh and I spent a nice warm day outside last week hanging clothes on the line, planting greens and a small amount of peas, picking up garbage, and weeding out her strawberry bed and strewing it with straw. Greening things in the yard are: garlic tops, strawberry leaves, dame's rocket (pretty flower, not edible), and dead nettle (ground cover, not edible as far as I know). I pruned the peach trees, but the pruner was so dull, I was afraid I was doing more harm than good, so I stopped (couldn't find the file to sharpen). The fruit trees have little red buds on them. Spring is here! (Yes, I know it's 20 degrees out.)

Kaleigh showed her rock collection at the Illinois State Museum's Junior Collectors' Day. She had a great time talking about rocks, and one patron went home and returned with two rocks for Kaleigh. They are unique to Monterey Bay, and are formed from the action of water within the bay. They are nice. Today, Kaleigh is at a holiday gymnastics clinic downtown, doing gymnastics, relay races, obstacle courses, and hopefully having a good time with kids. For those of you who know Kaleigh, you know this is a marked change in her independence. She is now her own fearless person! Hooray!

Don's parents graciously purchased a very nice wringer and a rapid washer to accompany our wash basins. With a little bit of hardware and some nice temperatures, our new washer will be put to the test.

We traded wine for a deer roast with some friends, and had some most delicious roast. I cooked it up with some apple cider wine, potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic. We ate it with homemade bread, sauerkraut, and pickles, with a dessert of Southern Illinois peaches I canned last fall. The meal felt appropriate--this is what we are supposed to be eating in winter in this place. And it was delicious!

I'm sure there's about 200 other things we did on the homestead this week that have not been mentioned (lots of wood heat activities, morning house-cleaning chores, dishes and cooking), but we're having a good time, even with our sore backs. We have a lot of plans for this spring, and are hopeful we'll have interested persons visiting helping us to enact our vision for this place.

carey

permaculture interns

2009-02-26T19:18:00.008-06:00

Garden of zomba is seeking interns interested in learning about forest gardening, permaculture design, and diy urban homesteading. We're looking for energetic and creative folks who can offer 6-8 hours each week (ideally, two mornings/afternoons per week) to transform this little house in the ghetto into a permaculture research and education center. Well, actually, it already is that, but we're looking to expand. We have a lot of projects in the queue, waiting for people interested in doing them. There's a lot of information and skills to be developed, in a practical setting (my daughter would call it playing). Ideally, we'd like to produce a heck of a lot of food, and use low-tech, low-cost means of achieving some level of sustainably aware living, and do it in such a way that it is accessible for anyone else with the time to do it.

What we can offer includes a share of produce from the garden, and access to tools and resources as they flow through the place. You can pick the brains of two people who are certified permaculture designers (and who heartily add that they are still very much learning), as well as access to our post-apocalyptic library (including lots of good permie books). We also have food preservation skills, mostly fermentation (sauerkraut, kombucha, wine) and canning. You can gain skills as we do, accessing the creative parts of our brains so unused in "real" work.

We have one-quarter or so acre of thick black soil, with a couple dozen fruit trees and several berry patches. We are interested in establishing perennials for food, fuel, and fiber (and beauty!). These are our short abbreviated goals for this year:

Start seeds, and have transplants ready to put in the ground in spring.

Convert south side former lawn/straight bed gardens to one of beautiful design, integrating flowers, vegetables, and herbs into one functioning low-maintenance garden.

Establishing many types of small gardens for identification as in a botanical garden; such as, insectary, pollination, Chinese medicinals, and native plants.

Designing, installing, and maintaining a system of rain barrels, swales, and graywater systems.

Planting standard fruit trees, nut trees and bushes, and berry patches.

Exploring mushroom cultivation (for eating, and for use in bioremediation).

Exploring bioremediation for recovering land bordering the street.

Exploring micro-climates, and the use of vines as more than just food.

Building a diy wood shed.

Breaking up concrete and utilizing resulting urbanite in landscape design.

Exploring the options of micro-livestock.

There is enough land (it's amazing how much land 1/4 acre is, when you think about covering every square inch of it with forest gardens) and not enough time, so if interns would like to pursue projects of their own design, we most likely would be up for providing space, and possibly assistance. We're very happy with self-motivated people, but if someone is seeking guidance and teaching, we can try to provide that as well.

If you're interested in interning at the garden of zomba for 2009, give us an email at zombans at yahoo dot com.

carey

2009-02-15T20:43:00.005-06:00

Income distribution in 1992.

I'm not sure what inflation would make this graph be in today's dollars, but notice the peak of the not-quite-bell curve plateauing from $10-12,000. Click on the source link to see the rest of the right side of the graph, but I can imagine you know where it's headed.

carey

labor

2009-02-09T20:10:00.006-06:00

I open the encyclopedia to: "In Ancient Times, labor was closely related to slavery. Victorious nations often made slaves of the prisoners they captured in war. Many thousands of persons were born into slavery." It wasn't until the Middle Ages that labor got some respect, which was around the time of money making its way back into European during the bloom of Renaissance, inviting the birth of the bourgeois who made their bucks transitioning goods from common to elite, subsistence to excess. Pour in some Puritan work ethic, some notion that the streets of America are paved with gold, ripe for the picking (work and ye shall receive money), and you get the modern-day American notion of work.

This week in the zomban calendar has had quotes and other interesting thoughts about work, so I thought I'd share. Drapetomania is a term from the days of legal slavery in our nation, and was used to describe the "disease" of slaves who were "addicted to attempting escape or escaping slavery". The cure was to cut off their toes. If it was still a disease, rather than a quaint notion, I would be considered a drapetomaniac, no doubt.

A quote from Lame Deer: "You can tell a good medicine man by his actions and his way of life. Is he lean? Does he live in a poor cabin? Does money leave him cold?" The words of Daniel Quinn: "I'm afraid it's true that most people are content with lifelong wage slavery, so long as they have a lifetime supply of drugs to deaden the pain--drugs in the form of television, booze, Valium, cocaine, and Prozac." Poet and former L.A. gang member Luis Rodriguez: "Prison is full of entrepreneurs who, in another environment, would have been thriving capitalists. They're the first ones to tell you, 'I was just trying to make money.'" Not exactly off the topic, C. Latrans: "Democracy is different from aristocracy because in democracy we get to vote for the aristocrats."

I love these old encyclopedias from the early 60's, written when America was at the height of power and glory. The entry on free enterprise system, that being American capitalism, states: "Many of us consider this economic system a basic part of our way of life. We wish to see it maintained and strengthened, partly because we have fared well under it, and partly because we feel that all our other freedoms may depend upon freedom of enterprise."

In economic theory, this means that each individual has a choice of what to buy (the seller doing his best to listen to his customers, and to give the best product for the least price), whom to work for (each employer producing the best product possible, thereby attracting the most money from consumers, and paying their workers the most money), and how to divide it up (with the warning that "This way of distributing income always produces an unequal distribution of income because no two individual share exactly equal resources. This fact can lead to serious problems if the people of the society are not willing to accept a substantial amount of inequality in the distribution of the total income.")

"One of the most important problems confronting a free enterprise society is how to make sure that each person can get ahead only by offering more for less" (though it seems like we're now in a mode of getting less quality for more money).

There is even a voice for our environment: "But it takes more than the labor of human beings to produce goods in a modern, industrialized society. It takes land, coal, oil, buildings, tools, and machinery as well. What assurance is there that these nonhuman resources will do what consumers wish them to? ...Self-interest, made effective by the device of private property, will lead to the use of even the nonhuman resources in the way that the consumer wishes them used." And then put those nonhuman resources into landfills; thanks for cleaning up after yourselves.

"The great point of strength of free enterprise, and the factor which promises well for the future of the system, is its record of accomplishment. Under this system, the American people have reached a level of economic well-being never before equaled in the history of the world. They are better fed and better clothed, and enjoy more luxuries, than people of any other country. Free people, making free decisions in economic life, and using some of the world's richest natural resources, have produced an amazing record of economic progress."

Of course, "Free enterprise is also threatened by problems from within. As the system works, it shows some obvious faults. Its tendency to fluctuate from prosperity to depression is one of the more important problems of the system. The existence of poverty in the midst of plenty is another. However, problems of this kind can be reduced. The future of free enterprise depends chiefly on whether the majority of us will be willing to accept the features that make the system work, and vigilant in maintaining the conditions necessary for it to work properly."

It was hard to maintain my composure by the last of it--lots of low whistles and head shaking at all that line of reasoning out the manifest destiny. We now have 40 years of hindsight in which to view the economic American dream. The reason we live under this system is that it put us on top. Of course, as a nation we're a lot poorer now than we were when this analysis was written. We still seem to have a lot of stuff, and our infrastructure and food supply are still intact, so we're not quite in crisis moment, although we are deeply in debt. (In addition to the 1/10,000th of a quarter that you all are paying to support my family's food and energy habits, you and I all owe over $35,000 each for the national debt. I don't think it's reasonable to believe that my family could pay off our share of $105,000. Can yours?) Total debt is over $10,000,000,000,000 (is that amount even conceivable?).

We no longer have a wealth of natural resources, having converted them into dollars long ago. We don't have much in the way of nontoxic water or food. We have crumbling infrastructure, not enough money to take advantage of the low price of oil, and a way of life that doesn't seem to work for many people anymore.

I get the feeling we have forgotten the value of money, and possibly because the value is so abstract, it is no longer meaningful. How many zeros does it take to give a one some weight? We also seem to have forgotten the value of our time. I wish the society in which I lived valued the things that I value, namely community. I wish I could go about my daily life, working in my area of interest, doing the best I could do, and earn a paycheck/way of living for it. No doubt, there are "green jobs" or whatever you would like to call them. But not a lot that I find value and meaning in, nor do I find value in being managed by bureaucrats. I am not afraid of work. I work hard. People thank me. I just don't seem to get paid for it.

I wonder about this economic system that has a high level of accomplishment, but that now seems to have fizzled out. When Communist Russia fizzled out in the early 90's, it was a victory for our country and for capitalism. But now that the U.S. is losing, who gets to claim the victory? I don't think it's fair to rely on an economic system that has its "whoopsie daisies" with bust and boom cycles. Anyone with a lick of common sense could tell you that buying debt that has no hope of being repaid is a losing proposition. It may look good on paper, but the reality is something different entirely. Why do plain old normal hard-working Americans lose their jobs and have a rough time of it, because of the stupidity of those who had the power to make a lot of short-term quick bucks and worked their magic that also, unfortunately, resulted in long-term economic depression? (I think the president used the term "catastrophe".) It's likely our nation will not recover from this event firmly in the #1 spot. Can we handle this? Our empire has fallen.

I'm not a fan of capitalism, nor money. It's a necessary evil, and I strongly question how necessary it is. I participate in the capitalist economy because it's an alternative to eating out of dumpsters and sleeping outdoors in the cold. If I had a choice, I wouldn't participate. I think participating in the economy of community is something we can all benefit from, and I highly recommend it. It's not a model of competition, like capitalism and imperial government (I trust not the government, nor the corporations that rule our country), but a model of cooperation. It's also been called the gift economy, but translating community into dollars and back unnecessarily degrades community.

Caring about people, helping out, sharing resources, nurturing children, loving elders, smiling at people, having conversations with modern-day untouchables (the homeless in our town), planting food and cooking and eating it with other people, adapting as a community to crisis or abundance, taking responsibility for what our nation's social services are failing, entertaining ourselves, educating ourselves--all these things make up a vibrant community.

Community has wealth that is more abundant the more it is shared. It is based more upon the lines of equality--we each have more of an equal shot of being a person wealthy in deeds than we do of being wealthy in dollars. In short, it is the economy in which I wish to participate. I just have to figure out how to transfer my money economy needs into the community economy world. Now there's the trick!

carey

p.s. Thanks to all our friends and friends-to-be who gave us support in the face of righteous indignation. We appreciate the kind words.

insurmountable opportunities

2009-02-08T09:08:00.003-06:00

I want to talk about the apparent crumbling of capitalism as we know it, and the opportunities it brings. It is likely that people will be hungry and cold as the world around us crumbles, and no doubt there will not be much sympathy or help if we continue to run on this idea (our operating system) that if you work hard, you get rewarded with a lot of money, and it makes your life easier. Fact is, a lot of people work hard and don't get squat. I've read that 3/4 of the world does not even participate in the money economy, but in the informal economy (which might be a bit more real even). It's not hard for me to get over the idea that capitalism is bogus, having been blessedly (ha) born a white American, but firmly at the bottom of the heap.

So all right, we who blog, who discuss ideas on these screens, dreams in hand, visions in mind, what are we going to do with this opportunity? It's not often that capitalism appears be having the big one, in the words of Fred Sanford. Not having to spend time impeding and overcoming the overwhelming tide of money and power can be a blessing. And on to being beyond the buzzwords of proactive and sustainable (maybe when there's no money to be made, they'll stop the greenwashing). Can we provide the things that cease to appear when money dissolves itself and jobs disappear? Can we share knowledge, skills, and resources to provide for ourselves and each other our shelter, food, water, and clothing? Can we step up to guide ourselves, make our own decisions for what's best for our communities and our children, take care of ourselves in times of crisis? Can we entertain ourselves, and begin to feel human once again?

We'll have time on our side--lots of it, many of us with "nothing" to do. We'll have time to think about things, talk about things, and work on projects together, and learn from resulting feedback. We'll have time to get back in touch with natural cycles of celestial and earth, feeling all of the growth of living things around us (much better than the deadening feeling of pavement). We can hold babies, play with kids and do fun things like build rocket stoves with them, convive with each other, listen to our elders. If community is there to fill the void of capitalism, it will. I can't imagine any greater resource we have than each other and the earth beneath our feet.

carey

enacting a different story

2009-02-04T12:10:00.003-06:00

Still thinking and talking a lot about the feedback we've received from airing our private lives to the general public. While I've been a bit shocked and surprised at the amount of vitriol spewed our way, the knee-jerk self-righteous judgments, and the overall astounding stupidity of some people (you make your child beg for workbooks? you evil people!) in their comments, I have to say, I am equally surprised and amazed at the supportive comments we've received.

There are people who don't necessarily like supporting people on welfare, but give us grudging respect for working hard both on our land and in volunteering in our community, and raising our child rather than sending her off to an institution. There are people who whole-heartedly support what we're doing, and a few others who have written saying "tell me more!" I didn't know this many cool people existed in Springfield, and I encourage y'all to come to a food not lawns meeting, if you can, so we can get in touch.

If interested more about our philosophy and what we're doing, I made a video last summer and put it on YouTube. It should be apparent that I am not a videographer, nor much of a public speaker. But here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFAMQRKhXfE
Watching it makes me realize how much I miss green growing plants! Those lambs quarters look delicious!

I am hopeful for a future in which the work we do is valued. What if we had as many well-paid jobs with benefits for community organizers as we do for prison guards? What if we as a community put our mental, physical, and monetary efforts behind making a world with low-tech functioning systems that create viable thriving human communities? Would we be in economic and global climate destabilization crises now? Would we force ourselves to toil at soul-deadening jobs that create yet more landfills and deserts and pavement?

Honestly, though, I'm not looking to be paid for what I do. Money is part of the world I hope to leave behind. I feel like I am walking the line between this world and the next. I have one foot in each, and can see each world clearly. Is this what straddling paradigms is like? It's exhilarating, but frustrating. Trying to explain a clear vision of What Else Can Be is difficult. It's like describing over and over the parts of an elephant, but people can't really get what I'm seeing until they see it for themselves.

Well, we'll keep sharing our time and resources with those we care about and who care about us. It starts here (among other places), and we take it out into the world. The more of us that share this vision, and spread these memes, the easier it will be for us all to function, and to share this vision with other people. If we want there to be a future, we're going to have to figure out a different way to live, and to enact a different story in which to raise and nurture our children.

carey

welfare: the state of doing well especially in respect to good fortune, happiness, well-being, or prosperity

2009-02-02T21:03:00.005-06:00

Yesterday ran a column by Dave Bakke, here is the online version. We've gotten positive responses from people we know personally. Online responses, however, are fairly hateful and negative. The ideas of living a simplified life and trying to transition into a world of community were eclipsed by the fact that we are on food stamps and receive energy assistance. I've been thinking a lot about welfare, so here we go.

Welfare began in the first Great Depression (remember how we called WW1 the Great War until ww2 came along?), because there were simply no jobs, and currency was hard to come by to trade for food. Most everyone was in need, especially after the remaining banks came to own a lot of the land. Then my historical recollection of it is a bit fuzzy, until maybe the 80's, when welfare came under scrutiny because the hard-working people of this country were being fleeced by welfare cheats who did nothing but pop out kids as fast as possible to get more and more money, in between eating donuts and watching tv. And then in the 90's, I think, there were the welfare reform laws aimed at getting people who lived off welfare back into the workforce. Welfare reform in these ideas refers to the money people get in cash assistance every month.

And now we're here, and here we are. Last winter we received about $100 a month in food assistance. We ate a lot of beans and dumpstered bread, as you can imagine. This summer our food assistance went up to a whopping $450, and we ate meat, cheese, dairy. It was a nice change. Now we are receiving $380 a month, which can provide for us quite nicely. This money helps us, obviously, and also helps the grocery store where a link card can be used to buy groceries, and also helps all the food processors and industrial ag businesses that get government subsidies to grow the stuff. Food assistance averaged out to about $3000 last year.

We also received about $500 in energy assistance. This normally pays the bulk of our two hardest months of winter using our natural gas furnace, plus a few months of electric. Our energy bills are ridiculously low in spring, summer, and fall, and only when we are stuck inside with the cold outside do we consume more energy. This winter is different, with using the wood stove. When we cut our gas in a month or two, the bulk of the unused portion will return to whence it came.

Altogether we receive, via the public dole, $3500. (For anyone interested in determining whether I commit welfare fraud, I dutifully turn in all the paperwork requested of me. They decide the amounts; I don't.) To put $3500 in perspective, it's less than the Iraq war costs for one second. One second. One second of death and destruction and moral ineptitude puts food on the table for my family and pays for a couple of the hardest months of utility demands of the winter.

If people want to talk about how their tax payer dollars are wasted, I will be up there talking with them. I pay taxes too--in the form of sales tax and property tax. Look at how much money is wasted in war. We have military bases all over the globe, sticking our imperial noses where they don't belong. Add the cost of Afghanistan to Iraq, and you get $4745 spent per second. A lot of that goes "missing" or is mismanaged, or is flat-out given to Cheney and his cronies at Halliburton. Look at industrial farms getting subsidies. We spent $35 billion in taxpayer money, and the bulk of that went to the top 10% biggest and wealthiest agri-industrial corporations.

Let's talk about how much money we waste putting people in prison for petty or consensual crimes. I hear the Sangamon County Jail is now five people to a one-person cell. Our nation can't spend the money on community centers, or allowing mothers to stay home and raise their kids, but the more prisons, the better! Look at the pavement we subsidize--yet more roads and subdivisions, even though the roads and sidewalks we already have are crumbling, and we can't seem to find the money to fix them. Look at what we pay for educating our nation's children, and the test numbers haven't increased. And I could go on. I can't stand government waste either, and it looks like big corporations are getting the bulk of the welfare. Time for them to get real jobs!

Included in Dave Bakke's column were the numbers I had written up for our family's year in review. This was the income we received and the money we spent. We made the most of the money we received, including the money we earned. Our tax refund and economic stimulus money--when wealthier people get these, they are not considered welfare, and I do not consider these payments to be welfare for me either.

We get an adoption subsidy provided for by the state, for adopting an abused child. It helps keep the roof over our heads, and we are thankful for it. It has made the decision to stay home and take care of our priority, our child, much easier. It's not easy raising a severely traumatized child. If you'd have asked me a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have thought it possible that she would ever recover. But now it seems, things are going well enough. It takes a lot of patience and determination, and most importantly, time and love, to overcome that. No matter how good a teacher or daycare worker is, they are no substitute for a loving family and caring community in overcoming adversity like that.

Back to welfare. There are 154 million Americans with jobs, and about 80 million without. Approximately 11 million are unemployed, with about a third of these folks joining this statistic in the last year. I kind of wonder how those 80 million people are managing to live. Some are, no doubt, stay-at-home parents whose spouses have jobs. A lot are likely like me--working, sure, but making ends meet however possible, even if it means standing in a crowded welfare office with many other people trying to make ends meet. After all, even with the ubiquitous fast food jobs, 11 million competitors are not good odds. Those who have other options take them. When Wal-Mart starts down-sizing, you can pack it in. There's not going to be much economic recovery after that, and talk otherwise is just talk.

Welfare is often criticized by people who work but aren't rich. Understandably so. They work their butts off, often at places they don't really enjoy. They have to work to pay the bills, and they get really pissed when someone else gets a free ride. And then if they lose their jobs, or their spouse gets sick or dies, they find themselves on welfare, and they understand what it's like. This happens more than you might think.

And now back to us. If I had known our food and energy assistance were to be so scrutinized, I would have figured some different numbers, mainly in the form of value received and value given. In the form of what we contribute to society, we volunteer with food not lawns, about 30 hours a month. Even at minimum wage, we output a couple of hundred dollars of value each month. For people who value assistance in learning about organic holistic gardening and appreciate free worms, kombucha mothers, assistance, garden design, and workshops, they might put our value at a bit higher than the minimum.

In addition, we homeschool our child, so the almost $7000 allocated on her behalf is not being used (we sure don't get it for her home education). If she were in public school, my intelligent spirited active daughter would most likely be quite a drain on an already overworked teacher in an overcrowded inner city school, or possibly, highly medicated. Of course, we'd never charge to teach our daughter, already being emphatic that knowledge is a human right that should not involve money in any way, shape or form.

And forget numbers, because really, when you get down to it, money is imaginary. I mean really. A couple of years ago, when we were surfing this bubble dream of the ever increasing pile of more money, we had no idea that it would all crash (well, some people did). I can't find the exact statistics, but $1.2 trillion poofed into the ether on just one day--Sept. 29 of last year. In October, almost $10 trillion vanished from stock markets world-wide. This money existed, until people stopped believing in it, then it disappeared. You can call it a correction, but I call it the imaginary idols of a disturbed cult whose rituals stopped working.

I feel like I've said my piece on welfare. Yes, I use one second's worth of what our country spends in the war in Iraq to make ends meet. I put some dollar figures out there that seem to outweigh what we receive. But putting the emphasis on community and not on dollars, that is the important part. We are here, on a daily basis, interacting within our neighborhood, with our friends, and our child, and also with our community at large. It is a real blessing to be able to do this. We're trying to figure out a way to live without toxifying our habitat. If our government valued this, we'd be rich, wouldn't we? We'd be making a lot more than $3500 per year, wouldn't we? (Note to self: get in line at the bailout window for sustainable urban homesteading research. Wait, is that more welfare, or is it economic recovery?)

Planting forest gardens, that's what I'm interested in putting my time toward, and I think I'm providing a better value to my community of Springfield and my community of Earth than repeating do you want fries with that? ad nauseum. Raising a kid who can think for herself, who is raised with values and taught skills to survive whatever may come, a kid who is creative and intelligent--that's my contribution to my descendants. This effort, this adventure, this is my insurance, my retirement plan. You got it. I am a willing worker for a future that makes some sort of sense. I find beauty in my yard in the ghetto, my neighborhood, my community both close and far. I'm done playing checkers with dollars forever and forever. I've found something a lot more meaningful. I'm done talking about welfare.

carey

"Go forth, tear this iron cage down,
My sons," thus the wise woman spoke,
"And set every fantasy free,
And every crushed worker unyoke."

from Vachel Lindsay's "The Woman Called 'Beauty' And Her Seven Dragons A Poem For Those Who Desire An Aesthetic Utopia."

woo! the washer we've been waiting for!

2009-02-01T11:48:00.003-06:00

I've been thinking about a non-electric washing machine since we stopped using the dryer (currently using clothesline and drying rack). I got the idea from Lehman's, which sells a ready-made manual washer for way too expensive a price for us. They also sell washtubs and a steel frame for a more affordable price--but still too expensive.

So, I was overjoyed yesterday, stumbling across this old double-basin washer at an antique mall, for $20. It even has spigots on the bottom (hard to see), that drain the water. With the addition of a plunger, or the fancy Rapid Washer that Lehman's sells, we are good to go. It is my hope that we'll be able to use the water we capture from our roof in our rain barrels to provide water for washing. Then we'll be able to drain it into a mulched basin that will replenish ground water and add to the moisture available to our garden. I'm still in need of a wringer, which may make itself available, or if all else fails, I can buy one from Lehmans.

I will be excited not to have to pay money for the electricity, nor for the chlorinated drinking water our washer currently uses. Then we'll be able to give our electric washer to someone else who can use it. Of course, during the winter, we might have to use tap water to wash clothes, although it seems plausible to divert our used shower water to wash our clothes. Otherwise, I can do it the old fashioned way of starting with the least-dirty clothes (the whites), and use the same water to wash progressively dirtier clothes before I drain it.

Little by little, the homestead is coming together. With this beautiful day, Don is out chopping wood for the stove, and K is out making mud pies. What a blessing to be alive to enjoy it.

carey

the little house

2009-01-29T20:17:00.003-06:00

The little house in the ghetto has been an intense project the last few years. We've owned the house on Springfield's integrated and economically blighted east side since 2000. We moved out in November 2003 to seek family and community in my very rural hometown. There were no jobs except the meat packing plant. We could only make it a year there, until I finally found employment in Springfield, and we moved back. We rented for a year in the interesting just west of downtown area, two blocks from good friends at the art house, manifest (your) destiny. We moved back to the little house in December of 2005, when the tenant moved out.

A few months later a tornado went directly over our house (we were in the basement). At that time, our larger neighborhood was a mature forest. You can imagine how different it looks now. We had a lot to clean up--millions of tree fractals in and through and on everything. Fortunately we had a cash infusion from the cat-man (catastrophic claims adjuster) from the insurance company. And we had time. We hauled countless trees to the curb, and thought about getting a woodstove. With the power out all week, our forced-air furnace didn't work, and a friend loaned us a kerosene heater. The cold week (six inches of snow came a week after the tornado) gave us some ideas on comfort and joy.

The lasting impression from the tornado I recall was my disbelief that our city had forgotten us. I didn't see any kind of city presence for many days--where were the cops, the firefighters, the utility guys? I saw a few reporters, but not many, and a helicopter that zoomed slowly overhead a few times. Just a few blocks northeast of us was the hard hit Cedar Street area, among the most severely damaged, in the most economically unprepared area hit. I was amazed that the officials were not going door to door checking to see if folks were all right; no officials seemed to care.

I was also amazed when I reconnected with my neighbors, meeting a lot of them for the first time. I was amazed by the assistance we received from people who just showed up to do what they could. I was amazed when I talked with prisoners helping out about the tornado, commiserating on what we had all experienced that week, and how awful it is to make mistakes in a society bent on punishment. In short, there was a lot of beauty happening. It had nothing to do with city government, and everything to do with us as a community. It is powerful to internalize feelings like that.

That summer we demolished a garage by hand, with the help of friends and pizza, hauled a literal ton of roofing material to a dumpster, and made a million trips to the home improvement store. If we had half a mind of what being in this place was like and would be like, and half a mind paying attention to permaculture and community, we would have made different choices. As it was, we did the best we could, learning about the bureaucratic nature and the focus of yesterday's paradigm of the zoning department, and negotiating all the flow of money through our bank (the mortgage holder and real owner of this house), which had its own paperwork hoops. I drove a lot. It was our last hoohaw with a vehicle. Improvements included a new roof, kitchen and bathroom patched up with tile, doors that actually shut, and double-paned super-insulated windows. We caulked and weather proofed any and all we could. The chain link fence was taken out.

That December (2006), two ice storms came through a week apart. Our tornado-devastated trees dropped parts again all over, including on the back of our house, demolishing our back porch. The service entrance for the electric was again knocked off the house, but we kept power for some reason (probably the talented and dedicated electrician from the tornado). We resolved to get a wood stove at the next opportunity. In the second ice storm, only one limb dropped, but straight down into the kitchen roof. We had really had it with natural disasters.

That spring, we decided to have three mature trees taken down. It was really hard; we like trees, a lot, and they are helpful for living without air conditioning. The huge American elm in the back yard was split down the middle. The sweet gum was broken off in the middle like a matchstick, and the American elm by our porch had no branches left on it. The tree guys came, they sawed, and left us firewood-to-be. We had a small patch of a garden in what came to be a sunny yard. We had mostly tomatoes and a few peppers, amongst a pile of weeds, most of them edible. We mowed the yard (until the lawnmower was stolen), hauled tree parts, did a lot of home repairs, canned tomatoes, took trips to the park to play, and worked, worked, worked. We also attended funerals. By spring, my husband's grandfather and two uncles had passed away. It was a lot to process.

That fall, we took a permaculture design course from Midwest Permaculture. It changed us, and we had a new focus. Until that time, we had been occupied with immediate natural disaster cleanup, and figuring out how to live without substantial employment. The tornado cleanup demanded our time. There wasn't a lot left over to work, or even worse, to look for work. We learned we could live on a lot less money coming in. We've cut our income down by quarters or halves each year for the last several years. Now we seem to live on nothing, and yet we have no debts, all our bills are paid, and we want for nothing. (More info on that in my earlier posts on frugality, and income/outgo.) Somewhere in this adventure, we decided not to maintain a vehicle, instead opting on the much more affordable idea of public transportation, occasional cabs, and indulgent friends and family.

Ah, back to permaculture. Permaculture is a design system, making long-lasting human habitats by design--observing one's place, thinking, and making changes, and again noting feedback, thinking about it, and making changes. Permaculture holds care for earth and care for people as the ideal. Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? It's designing communities for humans that aren't toxic, communities that will not only last but be even better for our grandchildren and their grandchildren. It's paying attention to our community of people, and the community of life surrounding us.

We planted 8 fruit trees in the fall of 2007, 150 flower bulbs, and garlic. There wasn't a lot of time to do much else. We measured our yard, transferred it to graph paper, and started doodling. We have many ideas; no concrete plan. This seems to be the flow that works here. The next spring (which was last spring, 2008), we got out good and early and moved a lot of the stumps that were on our south-facing yard, now our garden. My husband spent a long time sawing on green American elm. With our lawnmower gone, we managed the best we could with a reel push mower, refusing to buy another gas one.

We planted a much bigger garden last spring--tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, potatoes, green beans and dry beans, asparagus, onions from seed (failed), carrots, cilantro, greens, fennel, bee balm, nasturtiums, squash (failed volunteers), basil, dill, peas, scarlet runner beans, and sunflowers. This was in addition to the many other species of edible weeds and planted-on-purpose perennials we had already. We also planted 10-12 plum trees along the parkway, along with several grapevines, strawberries, blackberries, elderberries (failed), black raspberries, and red currants. I had spent part of the previous year transplanting free pretty flowers. It was a lot of hard work, and a learning process when I realized what an idiot I was for not planting perennials. So now I focus on food-bearing perennials and scattering seeds for self-seeding annuals; it seems to make sense.

This is a list of species that must do well in Illinois, for only a few of these were planted by us. This is a list of edible or medicinal plants that already existed, planted by me in the early years here, or by the creator: mulberry trees, lambs quarters (my favorite vegetable), dandelions, garlic mustard, lemon balm, raspberries (huge patch), mint, bush cherries, violets, shepherd's purse, burdock, redbud, turkey tail mushrooms, Jerusalem artichokes, wood sorrel, chicory, yarrow, catmint, rosemary, oregano, daylillies, plantain, wild mustard, wild lettuce, amaranth, clover, echinacea. We forage a lot in early spring in our semi-wild yard.

Last April, we helped to organize a local Food Not Lawns. It's a collection of grassroots organic gardeners, and we hold monthly educational meetings, as well as occasional social events and an annual seed and plant swap. Gardening is our common tie, but I find many of us have a lot more in common than our love of tasty local food. I've met some wonderful people, and made a lot of good friends. I've learned a whole lot, and hope I have encouraged new gardeners.

Around here, we take on projects as the ideas, helping hands, and wastestream-plucked resources make themselves available. In between projects, we cook our own food, wash our own dishes, provide our own heat, raise up our daughter (giving her a useful education, while allowing plenty of time and space for her massive physical and creative energy)--all the things that lots of time and not much money can afford. It's heavenly. I realized a few months ago that if I lived the same life until the day I die, I will die happy and feel blessed. I think I've made it.

In the next year, we hope to transform the rest of our quarter acre yard into a permaculture education center, or more informally, a relaxing place to hang out and eat good food with good friends. Here's a list of projects we have on our plate, ranging from food to home to other. Like I said, lots of ideas, no firm plan, just living life as time, help, and resources make themselves available:

Install rainwater collection--rain barrels and swales (ditches to hold and soak in water--the soil, not the storm sewer, needs the water). Swales for the outside part of the yard as well, to collect rainwater that runs off the street, and the berms planted heavily in plants that are known for their bioremediation properties, as well as fruit and nut trees and pollinator-attracting flowers.
Graywater--figure out some formal or informal but manageable way to redirect used household water (not toilet water) to the soil.
Investigate potential use of cistern under the kitchen.
Install irrigation or soaker hoses from rainbarrels to garden.

Erect trellising over south and west windows and grow fruiting (edible/medicinal) vines to shade windows in summer, and also on porch to provide much-needed shade and cooling for late afternoon sun.
Analyze site for windbreak protection (our extremely battered shed demands this!).
Plant at least one large nut tree on the northwest side (to shade house from late afternoon summer sun), and many hazel trees.
Plant 1-2 standard-sized heritage variety fruit trees.
Plant a large kitchen garden, getting as close to providing a year's worth of food, herbs, and medicine as possible. We'd like to do this in an attractive way, like a mandala garden. But we'll see how swales planted with fruit trees, veggies, herbs, and flowers makes itself look--most likely beautiful. We will can, dry, and ferment as much of this as possible, as well as share with people who help out.
Make a new compost pile.

We're also in the process of changing from natural gas to electric service, which has everything to do with saving money. We spend more now on the charge for the privilege to have access to natural gas than we do for our consumption. When we switch to all electric service, we will get an additional 15% reduction in our rate. We got rid of our clothes dryer and don't use our forced-air furnace. All that's left is our hot water heater (the city gives you a $200 rebate to switch), and our kitchen stove. I don't like to use electric stoves, but it's a small personal price to pay--it will probably encourage me to get more familiar with cooking on the wood stove or in the solar cooker, building a rocket stove and an outdoor oven. (So, we're now on the lookout for a usable electric water heater and kitchen stove, if you know anyone who has one!)

The porch floor needs to be scraped and painted (which is no fun!), some gutters need repaired (this can be managed along with the design for rainwater harvesting), there is wood to be cut and stacked, another kid play house to plant up, concrete to be sledgehammered, a wood shed to be built, fruit to be pruned. Then there's the personal stuff like hanging out with our child, our friends, and our families. That time shared is just as important as planting up the yard, but often neglected by a lot of people because regular employment takes up so much of people's time.

We're going to hold some more food not lawns meetings--coming up, a talk on "advanced" gardening, meaning different methods of gardening plus an intro to permaculture design. We're going to hold some foraging walks this spring, have an urban homesteading workshop, see and talk about some good movies, and I'm in contact with speakers now to talk about graywater and water conservation, heirloom varieties in the kitchen garden, and bioremediation (using plants and fungi to detoxify soil), among other things. And there's the seed and plant swap in May, plenty of produce to talk over, and plenty of friends to share this experience with.

Everyone has their own answers. It is important to ask the unuttered questions of our rapidly disappearing consumer lifestyle. What are we doing in this world? Does this make any sense to anyone? If it doesn't make sense to you either, think about exchanging the corporate rituals in your life for those that make sense. Think about what's really valuable; for me, it was the experience of deep human relationships. I can't imagine anything more valuable than that.

Permaculture and community. Designing sustainable human communities that function for people and planet. These are some keys, some new answers for new questions that are rapidly becoming clearer. This can give us some kind of working model for crises yet to come, some kind of coping methods for a society that no longer functions as it was sold to us. We're envisioning a future that makes some sort of sense to us; we're enacting a story that allows us not only health and sanity, but allows us to thrive as the humans with big brains, adaptive abilities, and creative imaginations we've been thinking ourselves to be.

carey

frugality

2009-01-27T19:54:00.002-06:00

From Latin frugalis, virtuous, frugal, from root word fruit, value; akin to Latin frui to enjoy. Dating from 1598, if you are frugal, you are characterized by or reflecting economy in the use of resources.

Some brainstormed ideas for living in the economy of resources rather than money are:

Find out your true wage by taking your net wages, and subtracting the hidden costs of working: car (gas, maintenance, insurance, taxes), eating out, new clothing, drive-through coffee, day care, etc. You might be surprised. When I was making $13 an hour, I was really making $5 an hour. It put a $15 cd in new perspective.

Keep track of your expenses for a period of time, say a month to three to six months. Keep track of every last penny--including and especially all of your impulse purchases. You might be surprised what lunch out on Fridays really costs you, or (again) drive-through coffee.

Going car-free, getting by on a bike, your feet, or public transportation. This helps being job-free, plus gives you some good exercise.

Pay off debt, and don't get into new debt. Get rid of credit cards, and don't use your emergency one.

Acquire needed or desired items through the waste stream. This includes dumpsters, resale/reuse shops, freecycle, curbs, the gift economy and the friend economy. It is amazing what is out there, for free, when you radiate good karma and keep your eyes open.

Limit shopping, reduce the number of times each month you shop. Try for once a month, once a week--but cut down. It is amazing what you can forget about buying, and once you get in the habit of NOT shopping, you might enjoy it.

Want what you have. First it might help to declutter and give away most of the stuff you don't have feelings for. Keep what you actively want.

Appreciate what you have. Even if you're a poor American, you're rich compared to everyone else on Earth. There's no rhyme or reason to it. If you feel good with a roof over your head, wool yarn in your fingers, and jars of canned tomatoes on the shelves, then you're lucky. You've made it. It doesn't matter how much money you make or have, but how much you appreciate what you have. If you appreciate everything, you are wealthy in spirit.

Slow life down to a manageable speed. Don't be in a hurry. There's no reason. The journey is the destination. Enjoy it.

As they used to say, Use it up, Wear it out, Make do, or Do without. Ain't that the truth. It's fairly easy to do also. And it saves a lot of money.

Consider living in a smaller house, in a less posh area of town. The smaller the abode and the less attractive the environs, the less money it costs. We have a quite livable 750 square feet, 2-bedroom house, on a quarter acre lot, and we pay $202 per month, including taxes and insurance. We're paying extra, and we'll have it paid off in ten years or less. And guess what! Places that look scary to people who watch the news aren't really scary! It's hype! My neighborhood is as nice as any other. I even have nice neighbors.

Replace disposable goods with durable goods. We've forgotten that disposable isn't really disposable. In fact, it goes to a landfill and stays there a good long time, oozing toxins. That's not good. I don't think our convenience is worth all that, do you? There are things like rags, cloth napkins, hankies, cloth diapers, cloth menstrual pads, and even cloth tp. Most of these things can be made at home, some quite easily (making use of worn out clothing comes to mind).

Reduce your garbage. Don't buy things with packaging. Recycle everything you can. Compost everything you can (kitchen scraps, cardboard, paper, leaves, yard waste). And well before recycling something is not to buy it in the first place, repair it, and give it away. We produce one bag of trash a week, which I guess is good, but I don't know where I'd put the 52 bags of garbage we use each year if I had to be responsible for myself. Since it's mostly plastic food wrappers, I suppose I'd stop visiting the grocery store.

Entertain yourself. There are more interesting things to do than tv, also. Books are cool, talking with other people is really nice, drawing, writing, painting, knitting, cooking, gardening, helping out other people, playing with kids and listening to old people. There's lots to do to entertain yourself, and for free.

Kick the impulse habit. For a month, make yourself a list before you go somewhere, and buy ONLY what is on the list. Make yourself. This includes eating out. Make yourself. Make it a habit.

Feed yourself. Enjoy growing food cooking food, and eating food--and enjoy doing all these things with friends. There's a lot about food to enjoy. Yep, it's as basic as it gets, and it's amazing the pleasures, simple as they are, our culture has forgotten.

Limit exposure to advertising. Anything that makes you want to buy it, stop looking at it. Avoid tv, magazines full of ads, billboards (does anyone even look at those things?), sides of buses. If you need to buy it to be fulfilled, generally you won't be fulfilled even after buying it. Find other things to spend your time and money on than false hope.

Money is what you trade your time for, your life. What you spend your money on should be as valuable as your life, and don't sell yourself short. There's no point in abstracting the value of your life. If the life you're living isn't worth your life, you have options. Getting in touch with yourself, your life, your children, your spouse, your loved ones, your friends, your neighbors, your community, your food--these can all bring emancipating feelings.

And yes, it is worth it. Living a frugal life, a life of value that you are enjoying is worth it. It's not about giving up, but what you are getting by switching over your value system. Instead of valuing money, value time--value the quality of your time, your life.

going green out of my mind

2009-01-25T09:46:00.004-06:00

I became an environmentalist in the early 90's, in college. I helped start a college recycling program, which failed miserably, because drunk people can't or don't want to sort their bottles and cans. I attended a few environmental conferences, and a few of the more radical speakers made an impression on me. I worked for a while after college, reading and watching and talking all the while, but not doing much. After I started staying home with K, I got involved in a loose anarchist collective that staffed a radical open space and starting doing things. It was fun and I met a lot of awesome people, many of whom are still friends today. We left the space because our existence there was challenged by power-hungry peace activists. Then I dropped out of that scene too. There had to be some sort of way to do what I felt was needed, without dealing with all the bs, without continually pushing the boulder up the hill.

I know what I'm against, but what am I for? This question haunted me for a while, because I hadn't thought about it enough to be able to answer it. Eventually, I figured out I am for my family and community, which includes the entire community of life on this planet. I am for people having time to spend with each other and time to grow and cook and eat healthy food. I am for learning, learning to think for myself, and for retrieving useful skills from the dumpster of history. I am for figuring out something different to do, something besides building deserts and landfills.

Despite being a long-time environmentalist, I have grave reservations with the whole going green movement. Obviously, it's been co-opted, especially when it is focused on marketing products to gullible people with an excess of money. How is buying a ridiculously expensive downcycled plastic purse going to overcome planet-wide desertification? Going green is a movement celebrated by people who are unwilling or unable to think for themselves, it seems. Our local paper had a advertisement about the going green team. Well, it sounds interesting, but it wasn't really. It's about carpooling to work a couple of times a week, using green dishwasher methods, turning down your thermostat, etc, (which are fairly meaningless to someone without a car, dishwasher, or central heat). All these things that use slightly less energy, but come on! Is this going to turn the tide of desertification? of mass extinction (including us, I presume)?

Hybrid cars, again, sound like a solution, but roads still consume massive amounts of energy to build and maintain. Cars and roads have produced sprawl, which continues to eat up some of our nation's best soil. I watched the movie Broken Limbs yesterday and saw apple orchards in Washington state bulldozed to make way for yet more Wal-Marts. Is this the product of a sane civilization? Even solar panels are energy-intensive to build. One solar power critic said the panels take so much energy to make that you'll never see a return on the energy investment put into producing them. Well, if not solar, then what? What can take the place of oil and coal in our collective appetite to consume everything? If we had started solar and wind energy back in the 70's, when these ideas came to light, we'd have enough feedback now to see if what we were doing had a positive effect in our world. But alas, we squandered those 40 years building parking lots and McMansions and even wider roads. And we're experiencing the feedback of those actions now. Was it worth it? Did it make a change for the better?

We can look at places like Easter Island, where some weird quirk in their culture caused them to cut down every last tree on their island, causing erosion and species extinction on such a massive scale as to decimate their population. We can look back in hindsight and see what obvious stupidity it was. And yet, here we are, corporate bulldozers in hand, burning off forests to raise cattle for McDonalds and build yet more dead concrete big boxes.

I sure don't have the answers. I'm only starting to get to feeling like I have some answers for myself. But I do have some observations. Keep in mind this is just one housewife's opinion, the ideas of an urban homesteader who's been reading and thinking, and can type quickly.

I don't see any way to replace pieces of this system that it will hold together. The system of unlimited consumption is bound to fail, given a finite planet. This is obvious. So, what? Where do we start from here? Yes, there are the quick and painless things--easy things--like recycling, turning down your thermostat, and conserving water and electricity. This seems like things that should be done as a matter of common sense. Not wasting resources is a no-brainer. But our whole system is set up to consume as much as possible, so then what? How do you go about your life not using a system that has been set up to make it as easy on you (and yet as poisonous to our habitat) as possible?

I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I don't have a lot of faith that any president is going to lead us into the promised land. The problems we face are too massive for that--the problems are more massive than the U.S., more massive than the civilized world. I think what it will take is each of us thinking, reflecting, questioning our thoughts and actions, and doing something different. If we continue doing the same old thing, we cannot expect a different result. If there is to be a human culture in a thousand or ten thousand years, it will be because we began enacting a different story.

We attended the Slow Food Film Festival yesterday, put on by Slow Food Springfield. It made the point that food is a good place to start. What kind of agriculture do you support by your buying and eating habits? Mass industrial agriculture that erodes soil and pollutes air and ground water, enriching the biggest of the big corporate suit-wearing farmers? Mass industrial factory farms that torture and medicate animals until the day they die, again, polluting air and ground water? Do you support mass industrial organic farms that again, erode soil, pollute, and enrich the biggest of the big organic corporate suit-wearing farmers?

Or rather, do you support local growers, those with their hands in the soil, those who build healthy soil and contribute to healthy communities, those who care for animals in a way that enriches their habitat instead of destroying it? Do you support yourself, as you walk out your front door and gather healthy living food for your nourishment? Here's a starting point, and to me it is a quick way to make a vital difference in one's own security and one's own community.

For every high-tech solution you could buy if you were only wealthy enough, there are low-tech solutions available to all, and are generally much more effective. Why buy expensive out of season organic food produced on an industrial scale and shipped halfway around the country or world, when you can grow your own food and preserve it for the off-season? Instead of installing solar panels, make an effort to reduce your consumption of electricity. Is it that hard to turn off your lights and computer when you leave the house? Instead of buying an electric car, walk or bike or take public transportation to where you need to go. Instead of spending your life working a job you hate, learn to live at home and do for yourself what you used to purchase. Instead of buying eco-friendly gadgets, tap into the waste stream. Now there's abundance!

There are meaningful things you can do that do not even show up on any "going green" challenges. Learn to see beauty in all that you do and experience. I personally have seen more beauty in Springfield's ghetto than I ever have in the spiritually-impoverished west side. There is beauty everywhere, waiting to be noticed. It is a bit of the divine on earth.

Seek out community. Meet and establish relationships with willing neighbors, with those who ride the bus with you, with those whom you have a lot in common. There is a lot to be said for the gift economy, but this is actually a lousy translation of the money economy. It's not about giving and receiving gifts as translated from dollars, but about giving and receiving help and care--the accounts are never balanced. It is relationships that endure to the end of time, lasting throughout generations.

Read, think, analyze, learn, share. Do something different. Change yourself, be open to feedback, see what works. Develop deep and lasting relationships with people and the world around you. These are things that make a difference. And notice, they are things that cannot be purchased; they are not trends that can be marketed. What can be co-opted is bound to fail. Going green is hooey. There is something more, waiting for each of us to discover, walking our own paths, thinking our own thoughts. I can feel beauty everywhere, but most of all, I feel it inside of me.

carey

income and outgo

2009-01-22T18:44:00.002-06:00

The beginning of the year is a good time for looking back at the old one, of course. If you're squeamish about money, read no further. I'm going to lay it on the line. But if you're interested in a drop-out lifestyle, read on.

Income
$4140 Work-Don and Carey-SIU School of Med.
$1600 Plasma-Don
$4600 Adoption subsidy
$2200 Tax return
$ 900 Economic stimulus
$3000 Food stamps
$ 500 Energy assistance

Total: $16,940

Thankfully, we did not have to work at jobs very much last year. Don't think we sat at home eating ho-hos in front of the tv, though. We worked our butts off! It's much more satisfying to work at home for one's self, family, and community, rather than grinding the gears of civilization.

Even more important than where our income is coming from is where it is going. When we were both employed full-time in our suit jobs, we read this wonderful book called Unjobbing. We cut up our credit cards and began to pay them off. We kept careful track of our expenses (highly recommended!!), and found out how much money we were wasting on crap. It took a lot of diligent effort with a ledger book to find out that we could work less if we spent less. So we did.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, because I gave away the ledger book long ago, but it will give you some idea of what we urban homesteaders spent our money on.

$3600 Mortgage payments on house, which includes an extra principle payment each month.

$1385 Utilities: natural gas, electricity, water, sewer and sanitary (includes $500 energy assistance). We try very hard to conserve what we can. We haven't used our natural gas furnace since last March, and used our gas dryer only once last year (and gave it away a few months ago). We have an insulated hot water heater & we don't bathe daily.

$2400 Wood stove. This includes about $1000 for the small cast-iron Jotul 603CB, plus $1400 in materials and labor. This is a big investment for us, but one that will pay off rather quickly.

$630 Phone/internet.

$75 Garbage.

$76 Magazine subscriptions, including ones for the kid.

$285 Sewing/knitting/crafting.

$775 Dollar store and the like. I assume this is mostly stuff like toilet paper, laundry soap when we still used it, bathroom supplies and miscellaneous crap.

$50 Clothes

$200 Homeschooling supplies. This is what we personally spent. Kaleigh's grandparents pay for her classes and the performances she goes to see. For ease of calculations, I did not count what they contributed as income, nor what it was spent on for outgo. This money was spent on fun homeschooling gadgets, and workbooks K begged for (I am not kidding).

$1000 Home improvement. We bought some durable kitchen items, plus a splurge ice cream maker. We had woodstove implements, good tools, a shed, an emergency sump pump, and so forth. We live in a shack, and it takes some upkeep.

$345 Garden. This includes seeds, trees, berry plants, etc.

$3800 Food. This includes the $3000 in food assistance that cannot be spent at the farmers market. The $800 of our own cash here is mostly farmers market produce, and other local hard to find items: raw milk and cheese, honey, maple sirup. This money includes a few times of eating out.

$50 Gas. We don't own a car, but we appreciate friends and family who drive us around when we desperately need it.

$400 Bus cards and the occasional cab rides. We mostly use the bus for getting around town, plus one cab ride a month to get groceries.

$100 Bike repair. Don's bike was almost toast, but it came back to life, thanks to the wonderful folks at R & M.

$200 Vet/cat care. This was one vet visit, plus flea repellent.

$45 Soap/salve from locally made Greenthoughts Garden.

$80 Stamps and postage.

$125 Books, some new, but mostly from the library's used book sale--a great resource!

$250 State fair, county fair, field trips.

Total identifiable expenses: $15,871. Obviously, the numbers don't match up exactly. I'm not sure where the extra thousand plus went, hopefuly not frittered away! But still, you get the idea of where our priorities are--mostly our home, our food, our garden, and necessary payments to Leviathan for utilities (hopefully someday, we will be off grid & those payments won't be so necessary).

And as a side note, our house payment went down again, this time to $202 (including taxes and insurance). This means our extra principle payment will increase to $98 each month, more than tripling the meager principle payment that is included in our 30-year loan. We hope to have our house paid off in ten more years, about the time K is grown. We still owe a little over $19,000 on it. Kaleigh heard that and thought it was a lot of money. It is, and it isn't. Better for us to own a house that your grandchildren can live in than to buy a car that will break down in a few years and we can't afford to fuel anyway.

We told her that someday she will inherit this house, and will NOT have to pay for it. It's security that I am willing to invest in, on her behalf, not only this house, but the 1/4 acre of beautiful lush soil and increasing bounty of our food forest in the making.

That's our 2008 accounting.

carey

catching up

2009-01-07T11:26:00.002-06:00

I have been meaning to post here for some time. Toward the end of December, I was working on a gardening plan for the yard, which included a list of things we have planted since returning to the old homestead in December of 2005. It was fairly surprising and impressive, considering the devastation of tornado and ice storms that have taken up a lot of our time. Of course, without the cleansing ability of natural disasters, we'd be complaining about the lack of sunlight and all that. There's no great loss without some small gain, as Ma Ingalls liked to say. Someday, I will get that retrospective listed here.

This winter, I've been working on a gardening workshop that I will present in a couple of weeks. I've been reading a lot of gardening books, and learning myself. I'm a former master gardener, but really I am a chaos gardener at heart. Whatever it says in the gardening books, I take with a grain of salt, because reality is usually different. I enjoy paying attention; as our permaculture instructors drilled into us: observe, observe, observe. Pay attention to the feedback you receive (there's no mistakes, just feedback). Experiment and observe. To me, this couple of lines of advice is the best gardening advice I've ever received.

Anyway, I've been reading a lot of gardening information, trying to get into my brain enough info that I can repeat it without confusing myself. I'm done with researching for now, and am writing up my notes into some kind of presentable format. This whole project has taken a lot of time and work, but I will forever have this work already done, and will forever have this presentation ready to give. It's a gift that I hope will spread throughout my community. So, basic gardening workshop, Saturday, January 17 at 9:30 at Springfield's public library in the Carnegie meeting room. It'll be fun!

An advanced gardening workshop will be presented in February. The main reason that I am doing these workshops is first and foremost, that many people do not have the skills and knowledge to garden. The secondary reason is that our local extension is not interested in organic gardening, and considers it more of a weird phenomenon than a realistic endeavor. This attitude is regrettable, but rather than trying to change extension's attitude, I am attempting to disseminate the information myself.

Another project I'm working on is a celebration of the author Laura Ingalls Wilder. We're putting on a big day of events in February. I think it will be a lot of fun for the homeschool pioneer geeks around here. I know I will enjoy myself! Another project that is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. I ran across this quote from the older and wiser Laura, which I loved:

"I believe we would be happier to have a personal revolution in our individual lives and go back to simpler living and more direct thinking. It is the simple things of life that make living worth while, the sweet fundamental things such as love and duty, work and rest and living close to nature. There are no hothouse blossoms that can compare in beauty and fragrance with my bouquet of wild flowers."

We will soon be saying adios to Mike and Abby, who are going to Guatemala for a couple of months. There are a lot of projects to be involved in down there, and they all sound exciting. I know they will have a lot of fun, and I am excited at the information they'll be bringing back. Don is taking their family to the airport, and they are generously giving us the use of their van for a month. It is quite a blessing to have a tax return and a vehicle at the same time. Last year, this did not work out for us, and it was quite a strain, especially since we were looking to invest in a wood stove. This year, we have a list of things we want to invest in, and the means to haul them home. Yippee!

We're also planning on some field trips to out of town places like the children's museums in Bloomington and Decatur, and possibly a trip up to Funk's Grove for maple sirup and to enjoy their nature center. We'll make a few trips out to Chandlerville, both to enjoy the cousins and to assist the home folks. My parents have had a lot of things to deal with at their home, and we're hoping to be helpful now that we have the means to get there. It will also be nice to see the old place, and for Kaleigh to get reacquainted with it. When my step-dad passes away (and he's 72, and is living with congestive heart failure), the house will be razed and that will be the end of my last childhood home that still stands. I want to soak up the memories while I can.

While we're still emphatically NOT interested in owning a vehicle, it is helpful and useful to have access to one. We're hopeful that a car co-op may appear, and may be more fruitful than the last attempt at having one.

We may make one other road trip, to south central Missouri. Kaleigh and I may go to Baker Creek Heirloom Seed farm, to their festival held on the first Sunday of the month. It'll be cold, especially if we sleep in the van, but it'll be fun, no doubt. Baker Creek is very near to Mansfield, Missouri, which is where Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her Little House books. Of course, it is a great combo road trip. I hope the weather and gas prices allow the trip to happen. We'll see. Don will be staying home to keep the fire going, so the pipes don't freeze.

I've went through my collection of seeds, and seed catalogs that we've received. I've already filled out the order to Baker Creek, and am just waiting until January 15 so I can file the tax return. As soon as we get the refund, I'll send off my order. I have a lot of seeds, and I'm excited that we may have an intern to help us in the garden this year. I hope to find a couple of heritage apple trees as well.

Of course, we are enjoying the wood stove this year. It has kept us toasty warm for most of the winter. The only exception was the day or two it was zero degrees, with a wind chill of minus 22. The wind was causing our useless vents to pour cold air into the house. We got those covered up, made soup and baked bread, put on a couple more layers, and we were warm again. Don has kept busy hauling wood, cutting wood on good days, and keeping the woodstove operational. He still thinks of it as play more than work. It's all in the perspective.

With our oven working again, we've been making homemade wheat bread. I've also been cooking lots of soups. Soup full of vegetables, beans, and/or chicken broth, plus homemade bread makes for a delightful meal. The 30 odd quarts of tomatoes I canned last summer have made our meals very delicious and nutritious. There's nothing like summer tomatoes on a winter tongue. The raspberry and strawberry wines are good also.

Kaleigh and I have been knitting, and she has been crocheting. She finished her first project, a Christmas headband. I am working socks and a hat to match her Christmas present scarf. We have enjoyed getting out and hanging out with our knitting friends. We've been reading the Little House series again. It's been a couple of years since I have read it, and it is totally enjoyable once more. We're up to Little Town on the Prairie now. Kaleigh has read the Boxcar Children series, pretty much every book they have at the library. She decided to start over and read them in order, and she's about 25 books into it. She's been reading a book or two a day most days.

Right now, Kaleigh and Don are collaging and painting our flat fridge magnets, formerly printed with advertising and other useless information. Kaleigh is highly enjoying herself. I am realizing I need to get into the kitchen and get some lunch together. More for another time, but just wanted to let y'all know we are still alive and thinking here in Zomba.

carey

stuff white people like

2008-12-18T17:19:00.001-06:00

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/

Funny, hits the spot, like kombucha on a hot day. It's like The Onion for white culture.
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/full-list-of-stuff-white-people-like/

carey

The Data Store

2008-12-17T13:12:00.002-06:00

[a story written long ago, but one that is frightening me how accurate it is becoming]

Civilization began with division of labor, with specialized labor, with surplus. Soon, someone had to manage that surplus efficiently and fairly, and thus begat government and bureaucracy. Someone had to defend that surplus, and the military was born. Someone had to sell this idea to the unbelieving public, and marketing came along. And that brings us to today.
The Data Store was the brainchild of Felecious Mumps. He devised a software/hardware gadget called The Key that used infinitely detailed codes to identify anyone and anything, anywhere this gadget the size of a grain of salt (often made into fashionable jewelry!) was placed. He made life very convenient for everyone, as no one really had time for details between a job, classes, and soccer practice. Gone were keys, checks or credit cards, identification cards, passports—anything that needed a password or number was made obsolete.
And then Felecious Mumps began to compile the data. Privacy advocates were appalled, but they were in the minority. With life so convenient, who cares about a bit of privacy? Marketing became much more efficient, and people were very pleased with that. No longer were they bombarded with messages about products and services they didn’t need. With the Data Store’s information, every consumer was assured that every ad they saw was something they needed.
In fact, it was practically impossible not to use The Key. Each person, product, and activity is assigned a number. One certainly had the “right” not to use The Key, but no transactions could be made without it. In the cities, tales arose of the country people (the Centrillic) not using The Key, but these tales were rarely believed. Who had the time to go back to paying for things, or worse yet, bartering? It was ridic to think these tales were real. Of course, the non-urban legends could not be verified because the InterSTAN Hiway did not go into the country.
And so it went, life becoming more and more efficient, creating more and more time for people to consume the need for more time to enjoy these things. Felecious Mumps sat in his castle, built upon the mountain, built upon what used to be the Sangamon Islands before the rising seas covered the tallest trees. Felecious played computer chess and ate tiramisu, and life could not be better, or worse, until the end of the system of things we now call civilization.
Although Felecious scoffed at his critics’ predictions of the end of the world as we know it and developed sound marketing strategies to defeat their concerns of overconsumption, he did listen to them and plan accordingly. It did not take a smart man to realize that resources were finite, although wealth was not. And Felecious Mumps was a very smart man.
The crash came at the end of June, a few days before Felecious’ birthday. He hadn’t told anyone about the upcoming shortage, and it wasn’t hard to keep it a secret since The Data Store’s recent takeover of UniCorp, its biggest competitor and fiercest ally. For weeks, he had been shifting around employees, even building new factories, so that all of the resources would run out simultaneously.
There was panic, of course, but Felecious appeared on television and radio to calm the masses. He had known, he told them, but they shouldn’t have worried. He had written a New Key that worked in conjunction with the Old Key but far exceeded the efficiency and usefulness of the Old Key. Since everyone’s buying habits, income, and personal data was programmed into the Data Store, the information would keep speeding along, just as if everyone were still working and consuming.
The people were relieved to hear that Felecious had thought of them and kept them in His plans. The New Key kept everyone notified of what was happening in their lives—promotions and raises, births, deaths, marriages, etc. And so it went on peacefully, for a week or so.
The people looked into their refrigerators and saw nothing there. “What will we eat? What will we drink?” they asked Felecious. “Do not worry, my children,” He said. “According to my records, your refrigerator was replenished at 10 a.m. today.”
And people held on for a few more days, until they realized that, suddenly, they were obsolete.
And Felecious Mumps sat in the tower of his castle built on the mountain, built upon what was known as the Sangamon Islands before the glaciers melted and covered even the tallest trees, playing computer chess and eating tiramisu, knowing that he was and would forever be the richest bastard that ever lived.

mr. bush, here's some hair of the dog that bit ya

2008-12-16T20:15:00.003-06:00

An Iraqi threw his shoes at the president in Baghdad, saying something along the lines of "This is a farewell kiss, you dog," for the first shoe, and "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq" for the second. The president wasn't harmed; saved by his quick Texan reflexes, he ducked. The man was tackled, some say beaten, and now will be prosecuted.

It was an insult, instead of a grenade, or else Cheney would be our president for a few weeks. (For cultural significance to shoe throwing, see here.) For many, this man is a hero, a folk hero, a David that stood up to the biggest Goliath imaginable. Thousands of people are taking to the streets demanding freedom for this man. I wonder if there government will listen to them as much as ours listens to us. Some news footage, woo.

I think last night it really hit me what it would mean to be an Iraqi. Not that I hadn't thought about it before, but reading what this guy has said about hating America and hating Iran, and not wanting the rich Iraqi culture and way of life to be swallowed up by either threat, it became clear. This is the fertile crescent, the garden of eden. America's first invasion of Iraq was when I was 17, more than half my life ago. I can't imagine living that long being occupied by armed street thugs (our military), living your daily life, trying to make some sort of sense of it all and provide for your children a life worth living. The shoe throwing for some reason put that all into clear perspective for me.

Muntadar al-Zaidi, I can only imagine how good it must have felt to chuck a shoe at W. I can only imagine how many Americans would love to have been in your shoes that day. Please know that a lot of us in the United States feel our country has been taken over by greed, by corporations, by the wealthy and powerful. We feel we have no say in our government, nor what atrocities it commits. This country has been entrenched in the same Leviathan that has gobbled your country. I hope someday we will again find ourselves living in the garden of eden, but until then, I wish you peace.

carey

untitled

2008-12-15T09:44:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago, I posted about our kitty dying. We've moved to an acceptance of his untimely death, although we still miss his warm softness.

A few days before Thanksgiving, my cousin died, being shot in the head, supposedly by his wife. An investigation continues, and no one has been charged in his murder. He was a few years younger than me, and had two children, one of which he was raising by himself. We weren't close; we hadn't seen each other in 15 or 20 years.

Yesterday, my aunt died. She had had a stroke, most of her body was paralyzed, and she passed away. She was my mom's older sister. I was not particularly close to her, as she was the aunt who most vehemently thought I was stuck up since I attended college. I am the only person to have graduated from college in my family, ever. She, married at 15 with children soon to follow, thought life experience was what mattered. I think learning through life experience and books are both important, but she never asked me my opinion on that.

My last memory of my aunt was in my grampa's hospital room where he lay dying, with her telling me off that I didn't know nothing despite my education, and that I was going to end up like him someday, not knowing what was going on, dying from Old Timer's Disease. He didn't have Alzheimers; he lay dying from neglect, from lack of concern from several of his children and his country doctor who kept him on meds that his "big city" doc put him on, despite the quite obvious signs that his medications were greatly interfering with his ability to live. I really hated her then, and hadn't talked to her since. And now she's dead.

It's strange when distant relatives die. It's not that we're distantly related, but that there was distance between us. And it still affects me in some way. My cousin, we spent a summer together taking swimming lessons, with our aunt who was only a few years older than me. Since I never did anything remotely fun in my childhood like take swimming lessons, it was a special treat to do so. I hadn't had much of a chance to hang out with my cousin and my aunt either, since I hadn't met my dad til I was seven. (Blood tests later proved he was not my dad, and my cousin was no longer my cousin, but once you're related, you're related.)

My aunt lived a few blocks down from my grandparents, with whom I lived, when I was a young child. I often walked to her house by myself, believe it or not, when I was 5-6 years old. This was an ancient time ago, apparently, when children grew up in a society they could trust for the most part. My aunt at this time was in her late twenties, had a houseful of kids older than me, and her husband was making a relatively good living. She was kind. I enjoyed playing with my older cousins, and especially liked it when they would get down their jewelry box for me. They'd open the lid and I'd get to see the tiny ballerina going round and round, and listen to the music. We never had much for Christmas, but I remember around that time, my aunt made for me a dozen polyester barbie doll outfits, trimmed with rick rack. I enjoyed putting them on my barbies, clasping the hook and eye closures. She apparently felt something for me then, perhaps pity, or maybe love.

But as an adult, I don't know what happened. I tried to keep my nose clean, getting good grades, not partying or even swearing, rarely dating. But she would tell people she saw me on a street corner late at night, trying to pick up guys. When I went to college was the last straw for her, I guess. I found myself at college not because I had a desire to go, but through bizarre circumstances, it seemed better than my alternatives at that moment. I don't know if it was envy on behalf of herself, or maybe that of her children who also did not go to college. She was never nice to me again, and I didn't care.

This year marks the 10th year since I lost my grampa, and the 25th since I lost my gramma. They both raised me, and it's been a long time without them.

carey

eco bling

2008-12-06T19:26:00.002-06:00

Ever hear of eco bling? I've never seen something that more makes me want to retch. But, it's so funny, I can't stop laughing. Here's a definition:

"eco-bling is something very special in the world. eco-bling is when something is both ecologically sustainable and brilliant, corporate and clever at the same time. eco-bling may not save the planet, but it will certainly get some attention."

Yes, green is the new pink, making cooling the earth, hot.

The proposed Anara Tower in Dubai, where shortly ago was the it place, but now reeling from cheap and unwanted gas, has also been tagged as eco bling. Scroll halfway down this page until you get to the view of the Palm Island from the Tower (it's not the Tower of Babel, we swear!). If you don't know about the man-made and very exclusive Palm Island in Dubai, it's worth looking up. There's even some nice pictures on google earth.

A no doubt very expensive eco bling car. Doesn't it make you want to run out and buy it?

Even Wal-Mart is getting into the action: http://www.takepart.com/2008/07/17/wal-mart-launches-eco-bling-project/

I really don't see how buying crap is going to improve our environment, build soil, clean our air and water, or free our minds and souls and those of our descendants from the black iron prison/cave of treasures we find ourselves in. It seems like the same old crap in new packaging. It's like buying a solar panel to collect dust or a new hybrid suv to commute to your world-damaging job from the burbs.

Surely, we can use our vivid imaginations and large brains to create something more useful than this shiny repackaged crap. Surely we can take another step, and create a new paradigm, enter this frontier of living in a way that doesn't destroy the earth. Well, you know as well as I do that when we talk about saving the earth, we are really talking about saving ourselves, saving humanity--not saving it, but not killing it off, and letting the humanity of the future have some chance of living a decent life. In fact, we could create new systems of living that are low-tech, cooperative instead of competitive, and that will outlive us, with full invitation from our offspring to improve them and make them more relevant. Sounds better than eco bling in this ghetto.

carey

my fancy speech

2008-12-05T09:59:00.003-06:00

This here is a 10-minute speech I wrote about citizen action, specifically about food not lawns, to give at the local Meet Your Producers (farmers) event in Springfield. My hope was to incite a riot of internal passion and subsequent changed behavior in favor of living in a new paradigm. However, the event was a lot less formal than I anticipated, and I scrapped the speech in favor of dialogue. But if I ever get a chance to speak in front of a ladies' club, like dear Vachel Lindsay, here is what I will say:

Citizen Action

Food not lawns is a network of gardeners who encourage folks to plant up their yards in food instead of grass. We encourage sustainable organic practices, and the joy that comes from planting food and eating it. We are very much into sharing our collective knowledge and skills with our community. We hold monthly educational meetings on a variety of topics, from worm composting and the honeybee die-off to the basics of gardening and permaculture design. This past spring, our members hosted several garden tours, and a free seed and plant swap. We’ve attempted to answer a multitude of gardening questions, and give encouragement to those who have sought it. We place ourselves within the whole of the context of community.

Some statistics on lawns: Americans spend approximately $30 billion every year to maintain over 23 million acres of lawn. That’s an average of over a third of an acre and $500 per lawn. The same size plot of land could still have a small lawn for recreation, plus produce all of the vegetables needed to feed a family of six. The lawns in the United States consume around 270 billion gallons of water per week—enough to water 81 million acres of organic vegetables, all summer long.

Lawns use ten times as many chemicals per acre as industrial farmland, including about 150-300 million pounds of pesticides annually. Pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides run off into our groundwater and evaporate into our air, causing widespread pollution and global climate change, and greatly increase our risk of disease. Of the 36 most commonly used lawn pesticides, 13 can cause cancer, 14 can cause birth defects, 11 can interfere with reproduction, and 21 can damage your nervous system. Lawns use more equipment, labor, fuel, and agricultural toxins than industrial farming, making lawns the largest agricultural sector in the United States. But it’s not just the residential lawns that are wasted on grass. There are around 700,000 athletic grounds and 14,500 golf courses in the United States, many of which used to be fertile, productive farmland that was lost to developers when the local markets bottomed out.

Citizen action, to me, is a key in changing our future. If you pay any attention to news stories, you know what kind of dire straits our nation and planet are in. And yet, for all our lawmakers have done and have attempted to do, we are still deeply in the hole we have dug with our past actions. I think real change will take each and every one of us thinking deeply about what we are doing every day in our lives. What kind of world are we building each day with the choices we make? What kind of future are we building? Are we designing functioning low-tech systems that will outlive us? Or are we building deserts and landfills for our children to inherit? You may think we’re attempting to save the world, but really, we’re attempting to save humanity. Without a livable functioning planet, there can be no human culture.

When I became a parent was when the state of our world really hit me. I decided that there was no more passing the buck, no more putting off until tomorrow what I could accomplish myself today. I do not want my child and her children to inherit an uninhabitable world. I want her to grow up in a vast lush forest, feeling deeply connected with a living world. I want her to be able to drink the water and breathe the air. I want her to know vitally what living in a strong intensely caring community means. I am not willing to wait for someone else to create this future.

What can we do as citizens? Anything we can think of! We are humans; we have big brains, vivid imaginations, and an amazing ability to adapt. Creativity is our most valuable and versatile design tool. We can see solutions, not problems. What kind of life would you live if you had no constraints of time and money? Think about this. What does a life well lived look like? Envisioning a sustainable future is the first step in enacting this story. Spend time thinking. Think about where your food and material needs come from, and what kind of damage to our planet must happen to enable it to arrive on store shelves. Think about if this is the story you would like to enact.

The farmers and producers in this room have a lot to contribute to enacting a sustainable future for all. Here you see men and women who do what they can to provide nourishment and sustenance on a local level. They are most likely not wealthy. Being a farmer today does not usually bring a lot of riches unless you are getting taxpayer provided subsidies for dumping chemicals on what used to be the most fertile lands in the world, and building deserts. The producers in this room go beyond the desire to make a living for themselves. Often times, they are agents of change. The first time I ever tasted a naturally raised chicken from Bear Creek Farm and Ranch, I knew I could never go back to eating Tyson’s chemically and industrially raised chickens. I don’t desire to eat torture and habitat destruction, even if the monetary price is less. The social costs far outweigh the economic cost. There isn’t any point in eating imported tomatoes out of season, nor tasteless vapid strawberries.

And now we’re back to Food Not Lawns. You may have heard of the 100-mile diet, the attempt to eat regionally, to eat food raised within 100 miles of your home. I challenge you to supplement this with the 100-foot diet. Make a change, starting at your doorstep. Plant food you and your children and your grandchildren enjoy eating within walking distance of your front door, and taste the difference. Taste what food grown with your own two hands in nutrient-rich soil is like. In a life full of health instead of health care, your food is your medicine.

If circumstances do not allow you to walk out your front door and plant, get creative. Use that big brain and active imagination! Put potted plants on your balcony or in a sunny window. Get involved with community gardens or garden swapping. Plant an edible landscaping, so persnickety neighbors will not be offended–and share your harvest with them! Have a brown thumb? Experience and observation will soon turn it green. Attend our free gardening workshops in January and February to learn all about gardening, from building nutrient-rich soil, saving seeds, all the way to designing with permaculture to create sustainable human habitats. We’re going to cover it. Need seeds or plants? Come to our seed and plant swap to get a start. Need advice or help? Ask us. We have an online group with experienced gardeners, and our meetings are always attended by knowledgeable folks.

More than simply raising your own food, you may find yourself in the midst of a community you never knew could exist. The economy of community is abundance, sharing and helping, as opposed to the money economy of scarcity, which encourages competition and ever widens the gap between us and them. You want unlimited growth? You can have it: relationships and experiences, self-awareness, community and connection, spirit, love, purpose, meaning and vision. Value cooperation instead of competition.

A crisis is an opportunity for change. If there is a happy ending to the story of humanity, it will be because we envisioned and enacted a new story, with the rest of the community of life, on the pages of the living world. We are pioneers, not on a mythical far-away frontier, but in our hearts, our minds, our communities, our future. We can build up a new world. Once occupied minds are activating. People are waking up. We can step to the heartbeats of our granddaughters and grandsons, and rise together to meet this challenge, this opportunity, to build up a new world, a world worth inhabiting.

It is time to show up in our own lives and speak our truth. It’s time to talk about this with everyone we see. It is time to act with great intention. Citizens, find your work, and do it. We need it all. It may seem an immense challenge, but if our alternative is extinction, what do we have to lose? Whatever path you choose, choose. Do not sit idly by.

When you plant a seed, you are planting hope. After the seed sprouts, grows, and you eat the fruit of your labors, you are a changed person. Change yourself, talk to others, encourage the people in your community to walk away from war and building deserts and landfills. The proverbial garden is beneath our feet, under the pavement, pulsing with life, waiting for sunlight, moisture, and a caring heart and tender hand. We are citizens in action. We are the change we want to see. I invite you to join us.

---
carey

rest in peace, cozy kitty

2008-11-20T09:51:00.007-06:00

Cozy the kitty fell off the roof last night, and broke his back. It was only a brief time until he passed away. He was three years old. He is missed by all in this house, especially by Kaleigh, because he was, above all, her kitty. He will forever be remembered as the softest cat ever, especially with his thick winter fur. We remember his penchant for curling up in box-like structures and for tuna fish, his amazing mouse-catching abilities, his love of catnip, his desire for fresh food pellets every day, how he loved to snuggle with Kaleigh in the mornings and when she was ill, and how extremely cozy and cuddly he was at all times really. We will plant some catnip in his memory.

busy

2008-11-13T16:24:00.005-06:00

Today we were recognized by the Lt. Governor of Illinois as a Sustainable School. If you'd like to see our Funschool at Home in an official list, it's here. We are funschool at home. It is nice to be recognized, and also nice to be called by the staff of a public official with some integrity and interest in issues that I think really matter, and have said staffer say, "We're excited about what you're doing!"

A lot has been going on. We've been incredibly busy. It's never a regret, since being busy usually means we are getting a lot done or having a lot of fun, and the last couple of weeks have been full of both. But it's also nice to take a break from busyness, to spend the day in our jammers, lounging around (still waiting for that, maybe tomorrow?). Here's what we've been up to.

Community gardens have been on our minds. Food not lawns Springfield is pursuing several different ideas regarding community gardens. I attended a meeting today at the Dept. of Agriculture on behalf of fnl. They are planning on turning part of the infield of the racetrack at the grandstand into community gardens (at the State Fairgrounds, north end of Springfield). They will have roughly 500-600 roughly 10' by 12' plots available. Wow! That is an incredible opportunity for the citizens of Springfield. I am hopeful with not only this option, but the other options food not lawns is pursuing. Next week's fnl meeting features our friends Mike and Abby, and will be about their adventures forest gardening.

Next weekend, we are going to do a food not lawns table at the local Meet Your Producers event on the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Last year they had about 400 people. I think I will need to print out a few more brochures...

Knitting has also been on my mind and hands. Kaleigh has learned to knit and started on a scarf. Somehow knitting socks has clicked in my brain. I knitted a pair for Kaleigh in about ten days' time. She's been wearing them nonstop since (got to wash them sometime!). I started knitting some for my step-dad for Christmas now. I love knitting socks!

I finally got the last of the garden squared away. The tomato tally is 32 quarts of red tomatoes canned, and 24 quarts of green tomato pickles. We have a crock of fermenting green tomato dill pickles. The last drying herbs and seeds are packed away for the winter. Whew. I am glad to be done for a while.

Kaleigh has been to play dates galore in the last couple of weeks, including her organized classes which provide social time. We've also started playing racquetball in our downtime between art class and open swim at the Y. Yesterday we went to the children's museum with four other kids & had a screaming time, literally. It was all good, just all good and loud! The pictures at left are Kaleigh next to the Children's museum's tarantula (she got to pet it), and Kaleigh, Payton, & Kallie playing in the post office.

This Saturday, Don is taking Kaleigh to the circus. We scored some free tickets. Also, they will be attending Collector's Day at the Illinois State Museum. It will hopefully not be too blustery!

I think that's all the news that fits.

carey

voting with consciousness

2008-11-03T18:03:00.003-06:00

Well, here we are, on the eve of another presidential election. I'm so happy, mostly because the spectacle noise will die down appreciatively after tomorrow, provided that each sides' dirty tricks don't mar the appearance of a "true winner".

Whether you vote or not, no matter who you vote for, I implore anyone who reads this blog to not give away your personal power to make change. Change within, talk with others. Memes spread, lives change. If we can envision what we would like our world to be, we can make it so. It takes each of us, voting every day for things that matter. Yes, it's good to think about the polar ice caps melting & know that our continued outlandish patterns of consumption are making the difference. If we keep on down the same path, we know where we will end up. It ain't pretty, especially for those who come after us, born into toxicity, and dying in it, living lives in steel and concrete cages, never knowing they were alive in the first place.

It's good to take the red pill and be aware of the bad shit, but also good not to dwell in it. Sometimes it seems like a bad dream, but people are waking up. We've got big brains, and we can think. We use our imaginations. We learn and adapt. We're humans. It's our specialty. And now it's time to switch off the part of our brain that occupies itself with flashing screens and imaginary rituals that promote death. If we kill our habitat, surely that means we are killing ourselves. And that's pretty dumb if you stop and think about it.

It's time to switch on the part our brain that lives in another paradigm. We can do better than this win/lose world, can't we, way way better than empire? Win/win sounds much better. In the economy of money, the have nots suffer while the haves kill themselves with indulgence. In the economy of community, we give time and help to each other. The more we spend, the more we receive. Community is an unlimited growth economy. Ask yourself, what matters? Think about this constantly until you find an answer. I have thought of a few things: food and shelter, human relationships, contentment.

We live in a world that is totally constructed by our minds. Is Wal-Mart real? If we didn't believe it was real, would it go away (Phillip K. Dick's reality test)? Yes! Money, government, social class--all these things disappear when we stop believing in them. They are constructs, consensus reality. They do not exist outside of us believing in them. Think of your paper money. Is it real? It's paper, which is not backed by hard currency like gold or silver. It's backed by the economy of the United States. If the economy tanks, the dollar tanks. It's only worth what worth we give it, which isn't much here recently.

If we live in an imaginary world, it's fairly easy to dismiss the importance of the death-wish culture in my life when it no longer felt relevant. I get the feeling this is how paradigms change. It's been 200 plus years since a bunch of rich guys signed a piece of paper declaring that we were all free and equal. We're still dealing with institutionalized racism and classism. If government were going to make a positive change, don't you think we'd be seeing it by now? It's been 50 years since the civil rights era. Sure, on paper, we're equal. But we can look around at our segregated town and prison cells and see with our own eyes it's not.

I don't have much, well, any faith left that my government will do something meaningful. I mean, hell, faceless men are still being tortured in Cuba on my behalf. I think I can make more and positive change in my community by being active every day, by fomenting change, growing and eating the food on my doorstep, talking with people, acknowledging the marginalized (minorities, homeless, soil, trees) as equals in a world of community, being open and honest about what I do. I vote for that, and I vote for it every day.

I hear all about what I'm supposed to do tomorrow, but quite honestly, I think it's what I do the other 1,460 days that make a difference.

carey

keeping the harvest

2008-10-26T20:50:00.004-05:00

With freezing temperatures eminent, I spent a couple hours in the garden yesterday, harvesting what I could. That included a pile of dry beans, carrots, fennel, parsley, bee balm, a laundry basket and canner full of tomatoes (!), mostly green, and enough lemon balm to make a big carboy of wine, plus 2 quarts of tea. I cooked up the ripe tomatoes and with what I had cut up previously & added 6 quarts of tomatoes to the pantry. The remainder of the bag of apples Dave & Dorothy (Don's parents) gave us made 4 and a half quarts of delicious apple sauce/butter, and the cores are fermenting into apple cider vinegar. We shelled scarlet runner beans yesterday to save for seed. My friends Patrick and Abby helped me cut green tomatoes, and now 5 gallons are soaking overnight to be made into pickles tomorrow. Green tomato pickles are one of my favorite childhood foods. Still a lot to do, including find/acquire some more canning jars.

Patrick brought over some leftover mushroom soup and other culinary goodies. It was a delighted crowd of eaters. Merry brought her neighbor's homemade salsa and some chips, plus a jar of hot and spicy pickled beets. Otherwise we have been eating on some white bean and scarce vegetables chicken broth soup, with rosemary. It's pretty good. It's starting to be good soup weather! It's been great cooking on the woodstove again.

Here is Kaleigh in her first two Halloween outfit choices. Dressed as a pioneer (left), she attended the Where the Wild Things Are event at the Illinois State Museum today. She & Don saw a cool owl show, went on a scavenger hunt, and had a pretty good, although stimulating, time. The outfit on right is Kaleigh as a queen, and she attended the (crowded) farmers market costume contest. Although she was one queen of many at the farmers market, she was the only pioneer at the museum. Hooray for homemade outfits and original ideas. Kaleigh and I went to the free festival downtown yesterday also. It was a bit stimulating as well, with lots of sugared up kids, and a lot of time spent waiting in line. We got to go on two hay rides, which was very strange (daylight, lots of traffic, pavement in every direction). No one fell off that I have heard.

When I was a kid we used to have harvest parties, when there was a full moon in October. We'd have a big bonfire, and roast marshmallows and hot dogs. There was a lot of potluck food also. When the moon rose, we'd go on a hay ride, with my grampa on the tractor. It was great fun. These would often take place after a day of cutting wood up in the hills, taking down a few dead trees and cutting them up to provide my grandparents with a winter's worth of fuel.

And now a pile of dishes are awaiting me in the kitchen, to clean up for further culinary adventures tomorrow. In the cold and breezy day of tomorrow promise, Kaleigh starts her first culture club class, and will go to another free and open swim after homeschooling swimming class ends. And then a warm kitchen!

carey

so much beauty it can make you cry

2008-10-24T19:12:00.004-05:00

Reading the headlines can sure make you depressed. The economic system of the planet is tanking, global climate change is coming on faster & stronger than scientists' models predicted, education is making children hate learning (the trademark of being human!), and so on. So when I hear about beautiful things, I get excited.

In Pasadena, California, the Dervaes family is making a living on their 1/5 acre city lot, producing 6000 pounds of food last year. They encourage the 100 foot diet. They live an inspired life, and their contentment shows. They live simply, but intently. And it's not impossible for any of us to live this way.

If you're interested in learning more about the Dervaes family, there's a lot on youtube. Additionally, check out the blog at http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/ Their web presence is at http://www.pathtofreedom.com/ I am hopeful to be able to get through interlibrary loan a movie about them. The trailer is at http://www.homegrown-film.com/trailer.html

Anais Dervaes says she feels like she was born in the wrong time, that she identifies with Laura Ingalls Wilder. Me as well. I don't like electrically powered kitchen noise, convenience foods, or microwaves. They're unnecessary to worthwhile living. The thrill I get opening up a pantry with shelves bursting with canned garden produce is probably the same feeling someone else would get browsing for a new car. I can't help but be different.

I've been reading a book by William Coperthwaite called A Handmade Life. It's a beautiful book. I enjoy that he talks about all the beauty you can see and feel, and that beauty should be something of abundance in our lives, not scarcity. I like his idea that "we must learn to see beauty in our neighbors living well". You can be sure by "well" he doesn't mean in McMansions with giant lawns, but well in a sense that they are cared for by us and by each other, and have enough. Even though we live in a ghetto, I am constantly amazed by the beauty I see. It's mostly the human interaction that reaches me, people caring about each other in a way that I never saw when I worked a job for a living. These people are so rich, so wealthy in human interaction and love and beauty. I feel privileged to live in such a place.

carey

stacking functions

2008-10-22T17:30:00.003-05:00

One of the permaculture design ideas is called stacking functions, and this is an example. This woodstove not only heats our house, it functions as a cookstove and a dryer. It also warms up the wine so that we can brew into the chilly months. The woodstove has been getting a winter preview the last week. We've been soooo toasty.

Our friend Dan brought over a hydraulic wood splitter, and we were able to split a cord or two of wood, including almost all the large stumps that were lining our driveway. We are now down to the huge stackpile in our back yard, what used to be the giant elm, and that is all that is left to be split. The same day, our friend Steve brought over his drill & he and Don drilled holes and set the faucets for a couple of rain barrels. Don is considering overflow methods, and then this project will be a functioning part of our homestead.

I have canned 25 quarts of tomatoes for this winter. I have another four quarts in the refrigerator, waiting until the day comes when I make applesauce & get the canner out. The tomato plants are still producing big beautiful tasty tomatoes, but the colder weather has slowed them down. Frost is imminent, of course, and we shall see how it goes. I am hoping to make a big batch of green tomato pickles when the time comes. We also have quite a few carrots out in the garden to dig up. The big pan on the woodstove in the picture above is chicken stock soup. I made stock a few days ago, and it's been overflowing the refrigerator. Today I cut up most of the vegetables in the house & made a hefty pile of soup. I am going to fill up the freezer & we'll eat the rest.

Our friend Mike brought over a pile of dumpstered bread from his step-dad (who only likes white bread). We've had a pile of cheese to go with it. We also plowed through the pile of eggs from our friend Shannon & our friends Matt & Debbie from the farmers market. We've been chowing, on good food. We've been drinking wine also: raspberry, plum, peach. There's only a couple of farmers markets left.

I went to a knitting group last night and had a good time. There are several experienced knitters, and I am hopeful to make another pair of wearable socks, and learn how to sew a pattern. Today I went to a meeting today with the pastor of a church down the street. He is interested in starting a garden to supplement their food pantry. What a great idea! I am hopeful this will be a fruitful venture, and I like that it is only a block from my house.

Community, that's our wealth. It's wealth that expands with each interaction. It doesn't get scarce, only more plentiful. Even if the U.S. economy tanks, community can get stronger and more abundant. I count my blessings. They are many.

carey

mo money

2008-10-08T21:40:00.002-05:00

Couldn't help but chuckle at this headline:

US debt clock runs out of digits

That was when it went woosh! over ten trillion, but no worries, they are adding two more zeroes. It'll soon be able to record a quadrillion dollars in debt. I have no idea what that means. I was barely comprehending billion when trillion started being bandying about. And now, for the first time in my life, I see quadrillion mentioned as an actual "for real" item. (Well, except that money is all pretend & it's one of the big con games they don't want you to find out about.) I wonder how many years before they'll have to add more digits. And how many more after that we're pushing around wheelbarrows of worthless paper to buy bread.

Where is all this money coming from that we are supposedly giving to the banks? The U.S. no longer relies on the gold standard, but the value of our money is backed by the U.S. economy. Does that mean our money is worth less, or even worthless? Certainly, the more they invent to grease the wheels of commerce, the less any of it has in make-believe value. I'm not sure why the stability of our neighborhoods and communities should be based on the ability of banks to loan money.

And in Cook County, Illinois, the sheriff is not enforcing any more evictions. Now there's someone who's going to get a lot of votes come election time!

carey

and these are the superpowers of our lives

2008-10-02T21:29:00.003-05:00

I didn't see this reported in the american online news I follow, which is cnn. But this is some of what the bbc had to say about what we're not quite aware of, yet:

US superpower status is shaken

By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

Will Uncle Sam still bestride the world in future?

The financial crisis is likely to diminish the status of the United States as the world's only superpower.

On the practical level, the US is already stretched militarily, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is now stretched financially.

On the philosophical level, it will be harder for it to argue in favour of its free market ideas, if its own markets have collapsed.

Pivotal moment?

Some see this as a pivotal moment.

The political philosopher John Gray, who recently retired as a professor at the London School of Economics, wrote in the London paper The Observer: "Here is a historic geopolitical shift, in which the balance of power in the world is being altered irrevocably. The era of American global leadership, reaching back to the Second World War, is over... The American free-market creed has self-destructed while countries that retained overall control of markets have been vindicated. In a change as far-reaching in its implications as the fall of the Soviet Union, an entire model of government and the economy has collapsed. How symbolic that Chinese astronauts take a spacewalk while the US Treasury Secretary is on his knees."

---

I read elsewhere that rumors are circulating about a week-long bank holiday, and read the encouragement to have food on hand & necessary paper money around. I happened to buy a stash of bus cards the other day, and my pantry is full. I can survive pretty well without money for weeks at a time, so I'm not worried. My bank is also somewhat small and local, and I have practically no money invested in it!

carey

collapsing investors

2008-09-29T17:41:00.003-05:00

I was surprised indeed that the U.S. House did not pass the bailout. I read today that after that happened, $1.2 trillion evaporated from the stock market. Personally, I can't make sense of it. The stock marketers don't get $700 billion of worthlessly inflating greenbacks, and $1.2 trillion disappears?

The House may eventually pass the bailout, but they'll pay for it come election time. What a juicy time for this crisis to happen. Apparently, American taxpayers are announcing their objections to raking us and our descendants over the coals. I feel like such a Republican being against the bailout!

I read that the bailout would enable banks to loan money again, for things like mortgages, business loans, student loans, etc. I honestly don't see the benefit in this. It seems like slowing down the pace of rapid-fire loans would be a good idea. I don't know who in this economy survives on credit, but it isn't me.

yeah, what this guy says

2008-09-27T16:51:00.001-05:00

This is my home. It is where I come from and come back to. It is the place I sit to understand.

This place has been here since long before us and will be here long after us.

Because it's not that we're destroying the world.

We're only destroying our ability to live on it.

This place will be here forever.

But where will be the eyes to love it?

--by some minor superhero called no impact man

tomato crazy

2008-09-27T14:34:00.005-05:00

This first lovely picture is seeds, separated by variety, fermenting for a few days before sitting out to dry, label & pack up for next year's planting. We have a lot of heirloom varieties, and I didn't write down the names of anything. Sometime I will have to figure out the real names of pink and red yellow sunset tomatoes. Maybe. Otherwise I'll just have mixed heirloom varieties. The next picture is the four quarts of tomatoes I canned last week, all made from our garden tomatoes, all mixed heirloom varieties.

And lastly, there is a picture of our ripe and ripening tomatoes. I find green tomatoes on the ground and bring them in to ripen. The winds from the remains of hurricane Ike blew over the cages, and we've been ripening dozens in the house since then. The bowl of tomatoes in the front of the picture is what I harvested in one pass through the garden. I haven't harvested in a couple of days, but this is kind of ridiculous! I'm going to be processing soon enough!

let me count the ways I enjoy not owning a car

2008-09-26T21:27:00.002-05:00

"No gas. What will we do? We won't be able to do anything. We can't go to work. We can't do anything," one driver said.

Still laughing over that one. Police are monitoring gas stations that have gas in the southeastern U.S. I see that gas is only $3.59 a gallon here. That's cheap.

"It's been a nightmare for everybody," one driver said.

also:

A petroleum executive suggested that the football game between the University of Georgia and University of Alabama should be canceled this weekend because fans could drain all the gas in the Athens area, WSB-TV in Atlanta reported. "That gas needs to be used for people to go to work, and for people to take care of their families," Tex Pitfield, president and CEO of Saraguay Petroleum in Atlanta, told WGAU radio in Athens. But representatives of Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said he would not consider "a ridiculous idea like this," WSB said.

---

It seems like if they (whoever is running this country, whoever they are!) rationed gas, this would solve a lot of the fuel shortage problems, especially since the press stresses how most of the gas shortage is caused by consumer stupidity--hoarding. Why aren't they rationing? That would be a big psychological defeat in the American dreamworld where We Still Rule. Next we'd be closing down stock markets or banks to get a handle on the panic. We surely can't do that! Printing more money is a much less psychologically painful option.

Another quote from someone and something that happened a long time ago:

"Mr. Chairman, we have in this Country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks, hereinafter called the Fed. The Fed has cheated the Government of these United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to pay the Nation's debt. The depredations and iniquities of the Fed has cost enough money to pay the National debt several times over.

"This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of these United States, has bankrupted itself, and has practically bankrupted our Government. It has done this through the defects of the law under which it operates, through the maladministration of that law by the Fed and through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it."

If you're way interested, the whole shebang is at http://home.hiwaay.net/~becraft/mcfadden.html But yikes!

I'm glad I'm not hung up on this future that has been written for us, that I can use my imagination and creativity, that I can rely on my neighbors and community, that I can survive in trying times, that I can provide for a lot of my needs directly. I have a clear vision of my future, and there is no doubt in my mind that I am living it already.

carey

germ warfare

2008-09-24T16:06:00.003-05:00

I was born in a hospital, not the cleanest place. I played in the dirt a lot as a kid, and lived on a truck route, near the train tracks, near the river. I got hit by a car. Later, I lived in the middle of a farm field, one where pesticides and fertilizers were sprayed on the fields, sometimes by planes. Our water came from a well in the middle of all this, the low point where the toxic soup drained. I used to wade in a creek 1/2 mile downstream from a mega hog confinement operation, and lived a mile upwind of another. I ate fish full of mercury from local streams. I ate a ton of chickens and eggs, never inspected by men in white suits. I went to a concrete block school by bus an hour each way. Town water had nitrates so high they turned off the drinking fountains at school. The biggest risks of death were cancer and suicide.

Later, I ate a lot of processed foods, lots of spam and gravy, lots of koolaid and extruded foods like cheese curls. I drank a lot of soda. I ate very little, starving my body, and only feeding it tiny amounts of non-nutritious foods like chips, soda, and candy. I grew up in a dysfunctional family, with physical and mental violence being normal. Guilt was abundant. I worked a lot of hours while maintaining good grades. I've washed my hands in gasoline. I worked in a paper factory, Wal-Mart and in fast food. I was a substitute teacher. I've spent many years in front of a lead screen with an aching back, and talked on a cordless phone countless hours.

I never brushed my teeth at all nor bathed more than once a week until I was a teenager. I never washed my hands after going to the bathroom until I was in my twenties. I've only had a flu shot once. I avoid doctors, but even if I didn't, I have useless state-provided health care, good only at the ER. I ride a bike in Springfield's traffic, without a helmet. I lived on a major commuter street for a year. I jaywalk.

I don't always wash my produce before I eat it. I eat out of dumpsters and off the floor. I'd rather eat weeds than have a full-time job. I eat expired food, dairy that's gone "bad" and fermented cabbage. I drink alcohol on a daily basis. I don't take prozac, nor talk to a counselor. I don't use antibacterial soap. My child is not fully immunized.

I know this world is toxic, and you've got to take precautions. But for today, I feel strong.

an alternative to toxic debt...your future

2008-09-24T15:37:00.006-05:00

I would like to share a post on my friend Abby's blog. It is the most succinct explanation of the housing/bank/stupidity crisis, as well as a more accurate picture of the possible future than I have read in the virtual papers.

I second all of what Abby says. I think we have lost sight of the paradigm of the god of money, and it seems we are well on our way on the path of community. When money means nothing, and people mean everything, we find ourselves living in a different paradigm. It's bound to happen. Feedback makes changes, as surely as three of the top 5 financial players have ceased to exist, there will be a future that does not revolve around money. It has to be. America will never be as wealthy as it was 60 years ago. Good-paying jobs will not be available for every American to access.

And it will not matter. We will have ourselves to rely on to create a meaningful future, in places and with people worth caring about. It is one option available to all, without regards to race, gender, age, caste status, or capabilities. I have no faith that a system of representational leadership will end institutional racism, sexism, etc. A woman now earns around 75% of what a man does, and in my state you are 57 times more likely to go to prison for drugs if you are black. It's been generations since the civil rights era, and this method, the feedback tells me, isn't viable.

We can think a lot. We can explore our passions, get to be creative generalists again. We can share knowledge, assistance, and good will. We can bridge the gap between the paradise we lost (eden) and the carrot-on-a-stick paradise (heaven) not attainable. We can raise children who function as part of society, not cogs to be managed from birth to death by schools, jails, workplaces, and nursing homes--bureaucracy for all! We can be part of an integrated community, neighbors who belong to a place for as long as the elms.

Yeah, what Abby says! America, are you tired of getting screwed? Finally?!?! Is it so blatant and in your face that you can't deny the corrupt corporate government that was not elected by the majority? There are vast numbers of nonvoters who are in reality voting for something else. Who cares what happens the next (s)election day, when it's really what you do the other 1,460 days of a presidential term that makes a real difference.

The socialists and anarchists had a lot to say after the depression, and a lot of people were listening--they had nothing else to do. And then came massive government intervention with pumped in money, mass production, and a war to focus on. What will happen after this depression? There is no money to be pumped in (and if it is pumped in, it will go only to corporations). There is no war we can win. And mass production fled long ago. Will people be talking about things that matter, instead of nascar chariot races or the dumb things the president does? Will people be more attuned to think about the writings of people like Abby?

A lot of people are searching for something else, because they know this exponential growth economy has hit a dead end. Well, I'll be in the ghetto, forgetting about politics and major league baseball, and remembering how to save seeds, share plants and food, kicking it with my unemployed neighbors, laughing and carrying on especially with the kids, eating raspberries and holding babies, hugging friends in need, listening. We'll be living life every day, bringing joy to ourselves, using creativity as a key to the locks of the next paradigm. Won't you join us?

carey

"With as much love as I have, and as much heart as I can give, I am yours, each of yours, through and through. Let's stop trying to put up with this crazy world and start envisioning our own lives becoming fulfilled and abundant. I promise that we can do this, we can truly build our lives differently, and it doesn't take change from the top down. Change You, and the world changes. "--Abby

socializing the banks

2008-09-20T20:56:00.002-05:00

In doing the math, say dividing the $700 billion we're forking over to "fix" the economy, by the estimated ten million households (U.S. Census bureau's 2010 estimate), it equals out to about $70,000 per household. Well, damn, my house only cost $25,000. I imagine there are lots of small livable houses for that price or less, especially in dilapidated urban and rural areas. It seems giving money to American people rather than corporations would make a lot more fiscal sense and provide a lot more security to our citizenry, to have every American owning their own home. Wouldn't we be rather impervious to most any financial collapse, if we weren't in danger of losing our homes? The government could even set up an economic renewal program repopulating urban and rural ghettos, focusing on remaking them as walkable functioning neighborhoods within cities, and promoting reclaimed lots & fields for small scale local agricultural and livestock (chickens, goats, bees, etc.) entrepreneurships.

Surely some of our elected leaders have more vision and scope of creativity than just rewarding greedy bankers with wads of someone else's money (our lives even, which is what we trade the money for, and those of our grandchildren, observing the raising of the absolute maximum debt cap!) when the pyramid scheme flounders. It seems the same old isn't going to do much lasting adjustments, but will continue to reward those who invest in short-term get rich, long-term bankruptcy kinds of options. A public works administration focused on rebuilding our country's infrastructure and vital necessary non-industries (farming!) could employ thousands of Americans, effectively jumpstarting the economy rather immediately. Why is giving money to guys in suits considered good for our country, but to give money to our citizens disgusting and pathetic welfare?

Loved this book by Curtis White, The Spirit of Disobedience: Resisting the Charms of Fake Politics, Mindless Consumption, and the Culture of Total Work. (The author lives an hour from me, but we'll never meet in person, because neither of us drive. Ha!)

community

2008-09-20T10:07:00.003-05:00

Families--I used to be part of a giant, close-knit family. I have seven aunts and uncles, more than 30 cousins, and I've lost track of second and third cousins. And that is just on my mother's side. We used to be a close-knit family, getting together often, all of us, but not anymore. My grandparents have been dead a long time, and there was a lot of strife in my family after my grampa died a decade ago. However, I remember what it was like, and I thought I'd share.

This first picture is at one of our family get-togethers. We're at a park, under a big shelter, and believe me, we took up all the tables. On the left is me, and to the right are my cousins Carolyn & Davy. We are toasting marshmallows, if you can't tell, over a grill. In the background between us is my cousin Beverly holding my baby brother Cory. Standing and sitting are the aunties and unks. The guys would shoot the breeze, talking about work and cars. They'd pitch horseshoes. The women would talk about their gardens and their kids. These family get-togethers were often held around my birthday, so we'd get the added bonus of cake. Everybody brought food, all homemade. My tribe of cousins and I would play til it got dark. Nowadays, some of my cousins are grandparents, and some are still in middle school. Some have died under mysterious circumstances, and many are alcoholics.

This picture is of me (at left) with my gramma (hair in pincurls), and my cousins Jody and Linda. When I was a little kid, we'd always go on these fantastic vacations. My grandparents had a pick-up shell camper, and one aunt & unk had a pop-up tow-behind camper. We'd drive out west, down south, out east, camp & eat, and see all the beautifulness of what used to be. My grampa would often get preaching gigs, which would also get us some hygiene, some hot food, free parking, and access to a kitchen to prepare next week's food on the road.

One year we went to North Carolina, to visit the remnants of Cherokee tribes (my grampa was half Cherokee). But mostly it was out west, going from national park to national park. One year it was a huge family event, and this is where this picture was from. It was still my grandparents & one aunt & unk, but we had a mob of cousins going as well. Some rode on motorcycles and dirt bikes, others piled into vehicles. We caravanned, slept out, and had a generally good time. In this picture, you can bet we were all wearing homemade clothes (and most likely hand-me-downs), and don't we look styling, especially my cousin's huge sunglasses!

And finally, this is a picture of my brother and me, with our dog Snapper (names so because he liked to nip your hands as you walked). This is right after we moved out to a big old Victorian house that had been abandoned for decades. It was a trip. The house itself was quite beautiful, in all its falling-down glory. I lived there with my grandparents mostly til I was ten, and sometimes after I stayed with my grampa for lengths of time. We had two giant woodstoves that kept three rooms warm, and the rest of the house was closed up in the winter. We slept in cold bedrooms, all together. There was, of course, no air conditioning, and living in a valley full of corn, you can imagine how hot it was in the summer.

Once my grampa saw a panther, and we had to stay inside for a week. It was never spotted again, although coyotes, foxes, and snakes continued to be a good deterrent for me to go exploring on my own very often. We had a chicken coop, and always had plenty of eggs & fried chicken for Sunday dinner. The house was torn down after my step-grandmother insisted on moving to town. My grampa had an auction (he was a pack-rat), and moved out. I like to think if I had not chosen to go to college, this house would still exist somewhere besides my head.

Until I was 17, I lived in the "modern" house next door, about 100 yards away. This modern house had no bathroom, and only a hand pump in the kitchen when we moved in. It took a while to convince animals that they were not welcome there any longer. My parents still live there, although the place will be torn down when my step-dad passes away.

I grew up poor, but I never felt in need. I didn't realize the depth of the poverty until I spent a semester in college and came back to visit. Although I had a brief affair with middle-class life, it felt extremely uncomfortable, and I am now happily deeply poor again. I can feel a lot more riches in community than I do in material possessions. Although I do not have my big family of cousins, I have a big family of good friends. I still feel the same comfort and security in my community. I feel blessed, and I am.

same thing

2008-09-15T20:42:00.004-05:00

The economy has been interesting to read about lately. I remember a few months ago when a barrel of oil cost $140 plus, back when stock marketers were glistening with success. And now a barrel of oil cost under $100. For some reason, gas is back up to $4.19 per gallon.

Banks are failing, coming down with a loud bang, dust and debris. I read that the FDIC has $50 billion to insure $1 trillion worth of assets. That doesn't seem so good a plan. I hope they're insured! Oh, I guess they are insured by us. I sure don't have $1 trillion to insure anyone who has money in the bank. Maybe our government will borrow it from our grandchildren, hoping that our economy will be doing a bit better in a few generations, you know, after all these service industry jobs we've been creating begin to...oh wait. This is a plan that is going nowhere.

The national debt right now is almost $9.7 trillion dollars. We owe about $1 trillion of that to China and Japan. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $1.93 billion each day since about a year ago. Your personal share is almost $38,000; yes, that's every man, woman, and child in our country, hocked to the gills by our government and freely selected bureaucrats. You too can learn many sordid facts about the state of our government and economy at the U.S. National Debt Clock site, http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ including this nifty quote: "The budget should be balanced; the treasury should be refilled; public debt should be reduced; and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled." -Cicero. 106-43 B.C.

It amazes me that we can live quite easily in "deep poverty", and yet the men in suits can't figure out how to do it. It's easy to borrow ahead when you are not concerned about paying it back. But if our nation isn't concerned about paying it back, not any more concerned than banks loaning outrageous sums to low-wage workers living paycheck to paycheck, well, I can see why major banks are failing and the U.S. economy seems to be tanking as well. Maybe in a few months there will be another glistening day on wall street, when someone figures out how to make some money, and we will forget this ever happened. But I think we'll see a lot more crumbling financial infrastructure.

FEMA is at it again in Texas. I have read some nasty things about people who are staying at stuffed shelters--nothing to eat, nothing to drink, not being able to even go outside. I do not understand how Cuba has an excellent disaster preparedness program, but the U.S. obviously does not. As our climate begins to destabilize, I imagine a lot more of us will be going through natural disasters, and we'll get to experience this frustration intimately. I imagine FEMA will continue to be ignored like they were after Katrina, where anarchists and other do-gooders snuck into New Orleans with risk of arrest, to help folks & bring some relief. It's communities of people who help, much more effectively than government bureaucrats.

I personally was amazed at the lack of government assistance and attention after the tornado we experienced. I went to the FEMA office, where I was shuffled around from person to person, and spent a lot of the time waiting, even though I was the only non-staff of a dozen people in the building. I filled out an application, but nothing happened. It was a waste of time, and a lesson I only need to learn once. Our community, on the other hand, was awesome!

I am really enjoying listening to the flobots.

carey

the ark

2008-09-14T12:10:00.001-05:00

The remains of hurricane Ike has about finished passing over us. We have gotten over three inches of rain since 8 o'clock last night (it is now noon). Our basement has taken on some water. I took a cab to a hardware store to buy a sump pump. Happy birthday, Don! Don unfortunately slipped on the basement steps, but said his glutes absorbed most of the impact. His shoulder is stiff & sore, but he is all right otherwise. The sump pump is working.

There was a ferocious wind this morning that toppled the tomatoes in the garden. The Jerusalem artichokes are nearly horizontal between the rain and the wind. A few small dead limbs are down. Our yard is a pond, at least in the kid area. Places just north of us are getting this rain atop 3-5" in the last couple of days. Flood warnings are everywhere, as every creek and river is above flood stage. There's been too much rain to accurately predict a crest, says the weather service.

I attended a canning party yesterday. It was a lot of fun, and I feel way more comfortable trying out my pressure canner now. My friend Cecily and I are going to gather piles of seconds from the farmers market & can this week. Kaleigh and I are going over there today also. Kaleigh is going to play with Patrick, age 20 months, as she is really taken with him. Cecily & I are going to make rhubarb wine.

This week Don is working two days & has trainings on two days. We also have a food not lawns Springfield meeting on Thursday, and I'm facilitating the girls' book club on Friday. We're reading Daniel's Duck by Clyde Robert Bulla, and our craft will be sewing. It's going to be fun! Hopefully it won't be raining.

carey

becoming a target

2008-09-08T21:04:00.000-05:00

A friend of ours stopped by the other day to talk about homeschooling. Her 5-year-old daughter who just started kindergarten has been "targeted". She wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but it was a bad kind of targeted. At work today, two older women were discussing how schools were just in sad terrible shape, and no amount of funding that you poor (oops, pour) into something that doesn't work will make it better.

A study released here http://www.springfield.il.us/Education/StudentAchievementReport.pdf says that our schools are failing Springfield's African American youth. Whether teachers motivations and expectations are so low, whether parents (often single parents or grandparents) are working as they are mandated & don't have enough time to spend with their kids, or whether these kids just don't buy into the so-called promised future of a nice job & are not motivated enough by the reward of good grades, I don't know. I don't know why it's so bad, but it is.

I have heard that talented and successful African Americans have to leave Springfield to find any future in a good job, law enforcement, or society in general. These would be people who buy into the system, and who also happen to be African American. They leave, because they have no access to a life like that here.

I ride the bus all the time with black folks going to work. One or two work for the state. Most have uniforms with logos and name tags, and hats. Minimum wage is the future for a lot of people who do not do well in school, and actually, also for a lot who do okay in school. Why do schools fail kids? Why does our society fail kids? John Holt wrote a book about it: why children fail.

What goes in on school doesn't seem to have much to do with what goes on in real life. It seems like a substitute for real life, a lot like working is. (I am not an actor, but I play one at work. It's another layer of substitution!) It's a lot of busy work, shutting up & taking any humiliation, and not having the ability to say no. It's good training, in other words, for the future to come for many: work, jail. I can see why kids are not valuing this experience enough to consider it valid, and real. They have lost faith in the institution, and it is fading away before our very eyes.

Who stops learning when they get out of school? Well, a lot of kids, who hated being forced to do something they were disinterested in (sound like work?). If you wanted an uneducated populace, I don't know what you could do to encourage it more but build more bland apathy-inducing concrete bunkers.

What would a real education look like? I like to think I am living it. I am not talking about educating only children, but all of us who love learning. Those of us who didn't get all that curiosity and passion for life squished out of them in school, or found it again after they got away from it. Kids, adults, old folks, everybody, living together, learning & taking care of each other, an education worth having. Sounds an awful lot like a community.

I wonder why we learn things in school, like Revolutionary War dates, algebraic equations, the periodic table, names of all the bones, diagramming sentences, etc. Does anyone remember that stuff anymore? Chances are you only do if you were really interested in the subject when it came around in school, or maybe even read about it on your own. (I know I am not the only geek who enjoys reading the encyclopedia.)

There are things I think are even more important than the multiplication tables, like being able to build a decent shelter, acquire and cook our own food, learning to live with people without drama, how to live a daily life without destroying just a bit more of our habitat & making a few more species extinct. These things are important too, and school doesn't seem to be a place where important stuff like this is being taught.

creating places worth caring about

2008-09-06T20:24:00.001-05:00

We hosted a garden tour, wine tasting, and potluck today. It was a lot of fun, and good times hanging out with friends & meeting new people. Our place is a real work in progress, but I don't mind! You have to start somewhere. I like the idea of our place being a permaculture education resource. We got offers of help constructing our rain barrels and also log-splitting, both of which are really appreciated! Another pair of hands could do wonders with this place. K had a great time playing with kids and now has a pet cicada, which might still be alive.

Sharing wine & food, it's so fun, so rewarding, just sitting back and kicking it with just folks. It makes me feel human. We get to know each other a little better, revisit old times, and strengthen the bonds of community. It doesn't get any better than that.

Earlier, while making hummus-for-a-crowd*, I was listening to QNA, our local quasi-community radio. I was hoping to hear the bluegrass show (which is delightful), but today there was a guest dj who was playing car music, in appreciation to the massive car show constipating most of downtown Springfield. It was quite interesting, as I am reading James Howard Kunstler's book Road to Nowhere, about the hand-in-hand growth of the automobile and the suburbs. Whew.

sharqi

*hummus for a crowd
6 cups garbanzo beans (hydrated/cooked)
3/4 c. tahini/natural peanut butter
3/4 c. lemon juice
3/4 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. salt
9 cloves garlic (really)

Blend in food processor, or mash heartily by hand. Add water (up to 3/4 c.) to make as smooth as you want it. Top with diced fresh garden tomatoes.

fractals

2008-09-05T20:30:00.000-05:00

We have experienced our hurricane of relief, three inches of rain, and coincidentally, very cool temperatures. It was barely over 65 degrees today, and we slept with the windows shut last night.

I like this video of Hurricane Ike:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/weather/2008/09/04/vos.ts.ike.space.cnn
And also this picture here. Ahhhh, fractals. It could be water swirling down the drain, the galaxy in motion, the seeds in a sunflower, or a hurricane. One of the most beautiful patterns of nature I think I've ever seen.

even on a bus i feel free

2008-09-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

It's evening, cool. The hurricane that was has not counter-clockwised and north-easted itself enough yet to enliven our tomatoes, our stomachs & our souls. We are still parched, although much cooler.

We are getting the house & yard in some kind of order for the garden tour, wine tasting & potluck (yee-haw!!) coming up this Saturday. Some kind of order is extremely vague, as this homestead always was and always will be a work in progress. But it's tidied enough for people to walk through (er, except the wee back yard), and clean enough to use the bathroom. We have wine bottled, and I'm thinking I may repeat the yum potato salad that we served when Hakim's parents visited. I have been craving that, and it's soooo much better than mayonnaise, and why? Because the sauce is goat and veg broth, silly! I am looking forward to seeing friends & meeting people.

I have new revisions of how big an "average" wolf spider is. Jesus. We found a dead bat in our yard, which is both yeah! and oh! We're glad bats are around to eat the plague of mosquitoes, but sad that one died. Our cats are exceptionally good hunters, and they leave us gifts, as well as supplement their dollar store food diet. We've seen a million big fat crickets; a million more spiders of allllll shapes, sizes, and colors; praying mantids; and butterflies. The diversity of life increases each year, repopulating the disaster zone through succession.

Don't know if I mentioned, but we transitioned rather quickly back to graywater in our kitchen. The pipes do not drain, never have well & never will, I imagine. Hauling graywater is definitely easier than the alternative!

I had a very nice chat with our food stamps caseworker, who fixed her mistake that stalled out our food assistance credits. I have never, never had that experience before (being, a good one). I was very thankful I could resolve that over the phone, instead of having to spend many hours in a standing-room-only welfare office waiting room, to be herded like a doomed cow through a squeeze chute of cubicles, and then yelled at for needing a pen to sign the inevitable snafu paperwork. Whew. She dissed school and everything!

K and I went to the library today & read a lot of awesome stories by Amada Irma Perez, who has written a few books of her childhood life. It was written in English & Spanish, although I can only read the English part. They were terrific stories, and I kept wishing for more. Amada has a real gift for storytelling. K also brought home six, 6!, boxcar children books. It'll be rainy tomorrow, and a great time for reading (after gymnastics class, woo!).

I am really enjoying Rosalind Creasy's edible landscaping book. It has plans and plants & more. I also got today a solar food drying book from the library. This is something I really want to try out. I just gotta build myself a solar dryer....

Still utterly disinterested in politics, and am glad there are only two months left of this ridiculous nonsense spectacle of the wealthy and easily distracted. Professional wrestlers and vice presidents want you to believe them, saith the flobots. But I turned off the tv, and starting playing in the dirt with my friends. That's a lot more enriching, both outwardly & inwardly.

carey

goat in a box

2008-08-30T20:36:00.001-05:00

Had the solar cooker out today, attempting to finish cooking a goat roast with fresh local veggies. It was too cloudy yesterday, but today, it worked. We got a thermometer for the oven, and it only reached 200 degrees, which isn't really hot enough for what meat should be cooked at. However, by late afternoon, the goat was darkened and juicy, with the meat literally falling off the bones. The potatoes were cooked, firm and not crunchy. (A good local goat source is my friend Shannon.) I also made some apple crisp from some apple seconds from the farmers market. As my friend Cecily says, "I get my seconds first!" And thanks to Cecily who brought us some good sweet small cookies from the Greek booth from Ethnic Festival.

I attempted to plant carrots today, but my neighbor loaned me their gas mower, and I took advantage of the opportunity. It took me less than an hour to mow, a chore that used to seem like it took forever back when I was a regular pusher of combustible engines around the lawn. I found out when I used a reel mower, it really does take forever! Our neighbors are pretty nice. Tomorrow I'm hoping to make fruit butter from our wine making binge pulp, and can it. Some more cleaning inside & out is in order for the garden tour next weekend, straightening, making walkable paths!

The huge amounts of spiders make outside cleaning tiresome. I was trying to stack flower pots on the great freecycled shelves I got, but the spiders, especially the big and fast wolf spider, got to me. I've also cleaned out and somewhat ordered my sewing corner. I have a lot of material. My friends Abby and Mike will be in town this winter for three months, and I am looking forward to having them around for an extended amount of time. I especially look forward to all the sewing.

Hakim spent some time in the basement, trying to disconnect the gas tubing to the dryer. We freecycled the dryer to someone who needs it, and they are supposed to be picking it up this weekend. We had no gas cap, so Hakim & K biked it to the nearest hardware store on the tag-along bike. Unfortunately, they brought home the wrong size, but they also biked down to the grocery store to spend the last of the month food stamps on some last of the month luxuries. That hasn't happened in a long time! Yesterday, they bussed over to the local health food store for some delicious local cheese, and good dark chocolate. They have been busy.

K is learning how to write cursive. I have picked up a couple of cursive writing books, but she is so not interested. But I am writing in cursive almost exclusively now. She can read most of it, and is learning to write it just because it's Fun. And that's why we're fUnschool at home. She's read about one Boxcar Children series book a day for the last 3-4 days.

little house in the ghetto

Changes

Spring Update

By Way of Introduction

The Circle Turns

I Love Swimming

my mindbody enjoys

smell this

birds bords burds byrds

festival of life in the cracks

do what you will

﻿the gospel of beauty and the art of appreciation

francis bacon said it all

how much water under how many bridges?

﻿breakdown breakthrough 2010 tarot forecast passionately infused with a kiss of pronoia

pronoia: the universe is conspiring to shower you with blessings

well, pyramid workers, what shall we do?

the sky is falling

meat, woodstove cooking, and presentmas

ernest hemingway sings the blues

i am breathing oxygen because i am on fire

living without money

dropping out and dropping in

dropping out

poetry

what's new

new beginnings

Good Bye Little House

happy satan tomato and a new bike

tomatoes, spiders, and bikes

good music

biking again

biking

sabbath

community in action

no way health care

being poor

gratitude

lazy men and the art of frustration

all chaos, all the time

social networks

the day of loudness

pictures

bloom

This Just In

making way for summer

community

food

rain barrels!!

spring on the homestead

springing

our next bohemia

This is a Test

wild white indigo

work and play inside and out

Big Steps

eleanor roosevelt's dress

the dispossessed

baraka

February's end

permaculture interns

labor

insurmountable opportunities

enacting a different story

welfare: the state of doing well especially in respect to good fortune, happiness, well-being, or prosperity

woo! the washer we've been waiting for!

the little house

frugality

going green out of my mind

income and outgo

catching up

stuff white people like

The Data Store

mr. bush, here's some hair of the dog that bit ya

untitled

eco bling

my fancy speech

rest in peace, cozy kitty

busy

voting with consciousness

the gospel of beauty and the art of appreciation

breakdown breakthrough 2010 tarot forecast passionately infused with a kiss of pronoia