Cutting back and getting organized

This past week has been productive and fulfilling for the most part. Seth and I have cut off the water heater, the AC and we're getting ready to cut off the refrigerator. I borrowed a book from a friend, Bill Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture.
I was very familiar with the ideas and concepts of permaculture but had yet to actually study it in a book. This is a good book to start with, especially if you're comfortable with the school textbook sort of layout. It's set up in that way, but also very pleasant and easy to read.

We've been thinking, researching and planning. When we get home from our trip (we are visiting my family for a week) we are really going to get to work on the garden and landscape. I am excited. I've really been looking forward to fall and winter planting and the time is upon us!

We'll see if we can cut our electric bill in half or less and maintain it there. I've been using hot water from the hose instead of installing a legitimate solar water heater. It works well but I only get about a gallon of hot water at a time and I have to make that stretch for dishes and some clothes.
I've adapted to washing up with cold water. It doesn't bother me much.

We also have a great compost bin going. Everything goes into it. I've even been digging through the trash to salvage things that I think would be better suited to compost or something other than trash. As a result, this past week we haven't produced a single full bag of trash.

In a few months I plan to make a graph of how we are using certain resources. I've got about 6 months worth of monetary expenses and about 4 months of electricity, so I need to start looking at the quantity of trash we are disposing of.
In 6 months I'd like to cut our output to about half of what it is. Spending half the money, using half the electricity and disposing of half of the waste-- all while *increasing* production of other projects. Let's see how this goes....

More information

I don't think I wrote about last weekend, but it was a really great weekend.
We went to a local State Park to go on a "Wild Edibles" hike where the ranger showed us different forest things that were edible. I had arranged for a meeting there with a Meetup group I am part of, that focuses on permaculture gardening and such. I met some interesting people with whom I'll probably keep in touch. In fact, we are meeting with one of the guys tomorrow and looking forward to it.

Maybe talking to him and having some sort of exchange will be useful for us. I feel like the more we talk about the homestead, the more it gets ingrained into our minds that that is what we are doing and that it's going to work for us.

Last weekend we also went to visit someone that I have grown to love dearly, Seth and Andrew's friend John. Ive mentioned him before, because we made a visit in Feb or March to his place. He has a little homestead set up several hours north of us.

Some people have a really good vibe about them and John is one of those people. I loved being at his place, it truly is an escape from all this other stuff that's going on. His porch is a concrete slab, maybe 1000 sq ft with a long sloping roof that starts at the second story of his house and runs all the way down into his garden where he was growing tomatoes and malabar spinach.
While we were there, a heavy rain broke out and it was amazing to be under that long roof with the rainfall resonating overhead. I love that rich, earthy smell that rises up in a good rain. We were surrounded by it, standing on the porch of his concrete fortress of a home. It felt like a place for people-- a big human cave enveloped in some warm sense of welcome.
I ate plenty of figs from his trees and admired the fruiting pecans and hickories. His ponds were stocked with fish and his gardens were bursting with tomatoes, okra, corn, and some squash.

What we create here in Louisiana doesn't have to be the big concrete cave, but I want to be able to transfer that feeling to some extent.
My little world is more like camping. The wooden porch gets soaked and soggy in any significant downpour-- there's no shelter there. I want to feel like I can sit outside and enjoy our place without being beaten by the rain or by the violent sun.

Seth and I have decided we're going to get rid of the internet. It manages to suck the creativity right out of me. I've kept it because I feel like I need to keep in touch with people, but I end up getting so overwhelmed that I just can't keep up and my mind goes numb and hours disappear.
I've mentioned this before and it still holds true, so we're just going to get rid of it and I'll access it once or twice a week from the library.

Today has been nice because for the most part I've left it alone. It's only now that I am writing because I feel encouraged and somewhat productive. I always feel a lot better when I'm actually doing things instead of obsessively searching the web for things I want to do, or might do, or would do "if only..."

So this wraps it up. Getting online only once a week will make it pretty difficult to keep up. I'll do what I can.
Take care.

Off the grid

Well it looks like we are turning the homestead into a full-time project now. I think we are going to shut off the internet again and I'll exclusively use the library and update here about once a week or so. We'll see how it goes.

Red-tailed Hawk

While hiking with Callum around the back of the property, we spotted a large bird flapping its wings in a thicket. I got a bit closer and the bird sidled over and crouched down among the branches. I could tell it was either young or injured, hoping it was young and NOT injured.

I went back a little later with my camera and got some photographs. They aren't the greatest images, but they are alright. I submitted the photos to the Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries and they are going to identify the bird for me and get back to me.



EDIT: The biologist wrote back to me and says it is a red-tailed hawk. That was what I suspected when I FIRST saw the bird, but then checked around on google and thought it looked more like a young Eagle. A good reason not to trust google too much... (especially considering that I try to use the internet as a resource for identifying edible plants!)

Anyway, the hawk must have been injured because it was in pretty rough condition.

Technology or simplicity?

An issue I see a lot in the area of homesteading, ecovillages and survivalism is the relationship between technology and simplicity.

There are some who believe, in simple terms, that the way to impact the environment the least, and/or achieve the greatest self-sufficiency, is to return to an old way of doing things and perhaps even shun technological advancements.

The opposing view is to use technology to improve our ability to live in harmony with nature and create a sustainable human civilization.

I wouldn't argue that either of these approaches are wrong. Realistically, however, we have to find the right balance. No doubt the current lifestyle of western colonial countries, specifically the U.S., cannot be sustained as it is. We cannot keep buying endless products, consuming goods imported from around the world, and driving from place to place in a frenzy. It's not economically sustainable, environmentally sustainable, socially sustainable and it's not emotionally sustainable for the individual.

They've been telling me this since kindergarten.

I believe the first step is reduction and simplicity. We all have to take the time just to reduce all the input. We have to reduce the amount of trash we bring into our homes, and thus dispose of. We have to reduce our consumption of food (I'm one to talk :P ), reduce our consumption of water, electricity, fuel, toiletries and material entertainment (TVs, computers, DVDs, CDs, hardware and gadgetry of all sorts).

We have to reduce our dependency on others, most especially for food, water and energy. This does not mean isolation, but it does mean that if the greater system is disrupted, people will be able to survive individually until the system can be restored or recreated. For long-term survival, food water and energy would be produced on-site rather than exclusively purchased and stored from outside.

I am not against technology by any means. I am against technology when it replaces knowledge or skills needed for survival. Many in the western world don't have to think about the people who have worked, struggled and even lost their lives to provide our food, fuel and consumer goods. We don't have to have a clue about the agricultural process to enjoy a pizza loaded with products from Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, etc.

People don't have to know a thing to survive these days. A lot of people don't even cook their own food, much less produce it.

Technology and science (including financial, political and social sciences) have obscured the basic processes required to sustain human life. As a result, those of us who rely on those processes are completely vulnerable even when it appears that the shelves will endlessly remain stocked.

In my opinion, advanced technology, especially complicated information systems, medical tecchnology and agricultural management, should be used with much reservation. While there are many great benefits for the individual, leaping ahead at the rate we are and in so many different areas seems to be stretching us thin as a society.

We can't maintain it; we can't even understand it.

IF the society breaks down, everyone who hasn't escaped dependency is in for rough times.

What do I do?
My solution is to cut back. As an individual, I cut back in every area that I possibly can. I'm not saying that I live a spartan lifestyle, because I don't. However, I do have an idea of how much I need to maintain my family, and that's where my focus is right now on the homesteading.

A few little steps at a time. I first look at how I can make something with the fewest outside resources.
Food was an easy start. Since college, eating out had become a HUGE problem for me. I didn't even start preparing many of my own meals until last year. I feel like I've come pretty far at this point. We keep a lot of grains on hand, some spices, and throughout the week we supplement with veggies and fruit, some eggs and some meat.

We are keeping chickens now to replace the eggs from outside, and we will probably either convert to vegetarians or suck it up and start killing our own chickens. As soon as I get my act together the veggies and fruit will be growing.
It has taken us much longer because we have few tools and few things on hand. For the chickens, we've done quite well and we have decent shelter for our flock of 13 without having spent much money at all ($10 I think?).

The garden is lacking because of human labor, because of limited tools, and partially because I have big plans and haven't yet figured out how to focus and get things done (except I have planted some fruit trees!).
I've spent a lot of time researching and looking for information on local, wild edible plants. It's surprisingly difficult to find that kind of information on my own. I suspect this is largely because of the overwhelming influence of modern agriculture which has essentially devalued other food sources and as a result the information has been lost.

I am interested in wild edible planting because it's the most natural and most efficient form of food production. A managed permaculture forest can, theoretically, provide much or all of what a human being needs for nourishment. After establishing the forest, if it is well-planned, it should require very little maintenance to continue production.

I've cut back in other places which haven't been as successful. In some ways, my reluctance to spend any money anywhere has made things much more difficult for me and probably ends up costing me more than actually investing a little bit of money in the beginning and having a long-term working solution.

This is where I believe in technology. Having a solar oven, or solar water heater, or something as simple as a well-designed clothesline would reduce our dependency on a energy but without complicating our lives too much. The upkeep required for those few items would not be unreasonable homesteading.

The organization of the homestead-- deciding where to start, where to invest initally, or whether limit ourselves to creating handmade objects from very local resources from the very beginning... it all gets overwhelming.

A modern homestead is a great puzzle. Goals, values, people and resources all complicate the process of moving forward.

Like starting a business, I imagine, and perhaps that's what we are doing here.

So here I am, a week later, still pondering.

Want to know about the homestead? Seth and I are planning on switching places so he's home and I'll be working outside. The chickens have all rotated, with the Barred Rocks being added to the original flock after 2 weeks, and the little chicks taking the place of the Rocks in the hayring.
I find Bitsy to be a joy to have around here but Seth doesn't much like her. We often have visitors-- the neighbor's dogs-- coming to poop on our driveway for some obnoxious reason.
Things are well. We're happy and inspired and I believe great things lie ahead.

Homesteading alone.

What we are doing now isn't possible. When it comes to resources, and most importantly human resources, we just don't have them. I have some leadership abilities. By that, I mean that I can boss people around, come up with ideas, and manage the work around here but I need other people involved. Seth works full time and so does his dad. For now, they are the only people around to help out. Friends and other family members have expressed interest.
I don't have anything to offer them except maybe a room in my house, a room in the old house that doesn't even belong to us, and some of whatever they can help us produce. A great deal for them, huh?

My parents have talked about coming down here, and my mom is especially excited about helping us garden.

Even if we could do this alone, with only us, I do not think I want to. I want a community. I want this to be a community effort. Ive mentioned it to some friends, but I don't really know if people are truly willing to jump into this.

Most of my friends are in college. Okay, I'm supposed to be in college this fall. Maybe that's what I should do, then in a couple years I can re-evaluate the situation and see who's up for it at that point.

I am desperately lonely. At least lonely in the sense that I feel like I am on a mission to do this all by myself. Support is really low, and it undermines my ideas. It's the confidence issue, I suppose.

It would help if the 22 acres actually belonged to us. Sometimes I entertain the idea of packing up and moving to the Appalachian Mtns. Isn't that what everyone is doing these days? Well they are beautiful and I love it there...

I am interested in eco-village style community life. Any takers? Here, there, anywhere.

A big ugly rash.

About a week ago I noticed a strange mark on my knee that I casually assumed was some sort of melanoma. It appeared out of nowhere, had a very strange shape, was black/brown and seemed to exist just on the surface of my skin but with a lump underneath. Though it didn't really look like a scab, I thought maybe that was more likely and covered it in ointment and let it be.

The next day, the lump underneath was a little bit bigger and slightly red and warm to touch. Okay, an infection? I treated it again and later that day the redness went away so I assumed it was getting better.

Here's where it gets fun. The NEXT day there are these two itchy bumps around the original bump, kind of like mosquito bites. The redness is back but it's like an irritated redness NOT an infected redness. Over the next few days the itchiness and redness has spread to about the diameter of a peach and my entire knee is red, itchy and pretty nasty looking with that little scab in the center. It is, in fact, a scab.

Today it is not much different than yesterday, except the itchiness kicks up when I rub against it. My flesh certainly isn't rotting off and I don't have red streaks of blood poisoning or anything.

I must have been bitten by something but I have no clue what it was. I've lasted a week without any other symptoms so I don't think I've contracted any serious diseases, just this local dermatitis that looks and feels really uncomfortable but not painful. Oh boy.
It must have happened on one of my hikes.

The drawbacks of spending time in nature.

Another world.

This summer has been a psychological experience. Sure, we've got chickens going and some plants here and there. More than anything I've just been adjusting to my role as a mother and a human being.
It feels like it wasn't too long ago that I even realized I was a human being. I wasn't an ignorant kid, or a sheltered kid, but my world just didn't include many of the things that it now includes.

I'm burnt out on information. I don't want anymore information. I don't want to read anything else. I don't want to think anything else. I don't want to care anymore in any way. This is what my husband tells me every day. He said some things today that made me realize he knows me better than anyone else, and he tells me I think about too many things and get caught up in too many things. Maybe I do.

My husband reads fiction. He has read classics and science fiction and philosophy. He has read the Bible and the Koran front to back. He has read all of this stuff, but he loves fiction.

Don Delillo, Philip K Dick, Thomas Pynchon, John Steinbeck. In fact it was Steinbeck who sent us here. East of Eden that sent us here.

I'm not really the person that I think I am. I'm someone else.
I love being outside but my mind needs stimulation constantly. I'm the ideal office worker. I plan and I budget and I boss people around. I just need someone there to listen to me.

But now I'm tired. I'm so tired of planning and budgeting. I'm tired of creating scenarios in my head and trying to fulfill them. I'm tired of not knowing where to start and trying to come up with the motivation to do it anyway.
Yet, I have to. I feel like I have to. I feel driven to accomplish something that requires more work and more resources than I've ever had to pull together.

I can do it.

Last week Seth and I watched a documentary called "A Family Undertaking" by POV, which airs on PBS. The documentary touched on the same ideas as explored in the New York Times Article: Home Burials Offer and Intimate Alternative. The point is that funeral homes in the US have a monopoly on the arrangements made after death, though after-death care by family members has been a traditional part of human life throughout history and offers incredible emotional benefits.

In my family the general attitude has always been "put me in a pine box and bury me in the back yard." I've never been subject to attitudes condoning spending tens of thousands of dollars on a funeral. I've never even understood why the costs would exceed 1k in any situation.

The film and the NYTimes article are inspiring in that they show that people in American really aren't afraid to care for their own loved ones in death. There is a growing return to that way of handling funerals and I'm happy to see it.

I think more people are starting to take responsibility for their own lives and their own humanity elsewhere as well. Perhaps it's just because of my personal interest, but I notice more and more people gardening, homeschooling and even expressing interest in homesteading around the country. Indeed, many of us are still in the earliest stages but at least there is the interest. What, ultimately, will be the result of all of this?
Are we finding our way out of this consumer madness? I sure hope so.

The lady chickens are doing well.
I'm taking a stab at growing some fall tomatoes. We'll see how this works out... hopefully it does some good. I am saving the rest of the seeds for next spring.

I would really like to work hard on getting a winter garden going. Nothing makes me happier than leafy greens and now is the time to plant broccoli from seed.

I'm working on looking for other sources of income so that we can get some of these things going. That's right, dirt and seeds cost MONEY! At least good dirt... all we've got here is clay and fire ants.

Butchering.

We killed a rooster yesterday. He was our only rooster.

Seth and I bought four more pullets yesterday on a whim while taking his uncle Ronnie to the feed store. We pulled into the parking lot and in a cage right in front of us were four young, beautiful Barred Rock ladies. I find these to be among the most beautiful of all chickens, even if they are fairly common, and I've wanted this breed since way back when my grandfather started his last flock about 10 years ago.

These four made our grand total 14 chickens-- 11 hens, 1 rooster and 2 unknowns. We have a small cage for the 4 chicks we have, the old hay ring cage and a larger more permanent coop that we've recently acquired.

Ronnie's hen and rooster were living in the hay ring separate from the fantastic four. We took a look at them yesterday and decided that the rooster was in such bad condition, physically and psychologically, from living for however long he did in that little cage at Ronnie's, that we were going to 'dispatch' him.

I ended up being the one to kill him. I've never done this before in my life. I've seen my uncles field dress deer and rabbits and squirrels, and I knew a chicken (an old rooster who attacked me) that was killed by my grandfather. Then there was the deer and the little bird last year, both shot by Seth, that I helped clean and cook.

This was new though. Although this rooster had a panicky temperament and was fearful and stressed, when the time came to kill him, calm passed over him and he submitted. Both Seth and I felt that we were doing the right thing for this poor old guy, and we believe that the rooster may have even felt that way.

People should not eat meat if they can't kill animals. They just shouldn't. After yesterday, I am horrified at the distance most Americans have from their food, especially their animal products. I've always been horrified, but now even moreso.

I was a vegetarian for 5 years because I absolutely detest factory farming, I detest the standard American diet, and I detest animal abuse. Last year I was horrified to hear a girl in my COLLEGE Biology class respond with horror when the teacher told her that meat came from the muscle of animals.

"Are you serious?!" She grimaced, "I'm never eating meat again!"
Good.

A friend of mine recently became a vegetarian. Curious, I asked her why, and she says "if you just think about what meat is... just think about it! It's kind of gross."
So she had never thought about it until she was 19 years old?

I'm sorry. Some people are just SO removed and clueless.
When you've actually killed an animal by your own hands with intention, the process is holy. You cannot watch something die like that without experiencing a great connection and reverence for that creature. Death comes so easy, and life is so fleeting, and this is what more Americans need to understand.

How sad it is that people pass the 'dirty work' on to someone else, but are still willing to mindlessly consume the product. Chicken doesn't arrive on this planet battered and fried.

How sad it is that to Americans today, death is something to be done and dealt with behind closed doors and never experienced as a course of daily life. This holds true with the death of our loved ones as well as the source of our food.

Death is here. We cannot deny it.

I will make another post soon on this topic. For now though, the chicken count is 13. We have 11 ladies and 2 unknowns. I'm hoping for a roo and hen pair.