What I’m reading now
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond… just got past the Greenland Norse chapter…. I definitly would not have liked being a Viking
Taking Charge of Your Fertility, by Toni Weschler, MPH… natural birth control?
An old issue of Adbusters…. great magazine always reminding me of my consumption struggle and that I am not alone or noble yet
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Depletion and Abundance
After spending the last three months living a somewhat sustainable lifestyle: off-the grid, camping, eating mostly organic and local foods, using a composting toilet and solar pumped water for showering in an incredibly beautiful tropical place, that required I fly there via a fuel guzzling jet, I have come to a point where I feel at once with my world depletion and abundance. It also happens to be the name of the current book I am reading by Sharon Astyk.
I say I feel a sense of depletion and abundance because now that I have been back on the mainland for about two days (after a brief rendevouz to Vieques and Puerto Rico, more guzzling) I am disturbed by the world I thought I once knew and the one I know now, the way most Americans behave in relation to the place that supports their life is nothing more than destructive, however, today I feel equipped to act differently and this brings me a sort of abundance that I never felt before.
It took me a long time to make many of the connections that I do today. Happiness is linked to our connection with nature, self-subsistence and regard for the future. I’m not sure you can achieve it any other way. Who knew that littering was related to pollution but has more to do with human consumption? That environmentalism doesn’t just mean we need to save our trees and dying species, it means we need to save each other, the humans, because otherwise none of our actions will matter in a world that no longer supports human life (and have no doubt that the planet will maintain any life it chooses to just fine without us). Who knew that making sustainable choices like growing our own food, reducing our energy consumption and consuming less stuff in general will make us happier than we can ever imagine?
Today what I am faced with is communicating my findings and my experiences to my peers and friends, family and community. I think this will be challenging because it took someone like me a long time to get it, and I’m still working on getting it. My partner Jonathan and I are about to make our next move- still unsure where- but surely in a direction that supports more learning and offers more education to those around us. Our first initiative is to get more and more people growing their own food, even if they only have the smallest plot of land, or even fire escape to do this on. Over the next few weeks we hope to finish, publish and print the small hand book on this subject that we wrote and designed in St. Croix. It called the mini Food Forest. Keep visiting to learn more.
Please read this book. It is excellent for families or individuals that want to know what steps that can take to lead a more self-subsistent lifestyle that places emphasis on doing so in a mentally comfortable state.
r2r days 33-45 Bush skills, Project presentations, the course begins
During the final week of Ridge to Reef we explored survival and stone-aged skills during BUSH SKILLS. We also completed our final projects and presented these to the group and farm staff. Now the program is over, or everything else has begun.
I really enjoyed bush skills learning what many might think of as Boy Scout activities such fire making by hand drill and bow drill, basket and cordage making, creating natural pigments for dyes, instrument and tool making, flint napping, tracking, learning how to identify edible wild plants and more. It’s quite liberating to have these skills. There is nothing better than having the confidence that you can survive in your natural world without synthetic means. If you want to learn more about these skills and see some beautiful illustrations please purchase Earth Knack by one of my favorite instructors that week, Robin Blankenship.
After Bush Skills we presented our projects to each other. Jon and I finished up our hand book for a mini food forest and explained we planted a small urban/suburban demonstration garden at the farm- so visitors can take a piece of the beautiful farm home with them and learn to grow their own food.
Now the course is over and we are working on our next steps. Off to Vieques and then Puerto Rico next week. More on that soon.
R2R DAYS 26-32 ART OF MENTORING
This past week we had the amazing opportunity to take an Art of Mentoring course with Jon Young of the Regenerative Design Institute. As a group we created our own thriving culture on the farm which explored nature connection and the need to spend time getting to know our natural world in order to enrich our lives. We covered so much important information and it will be difficult for me to cover here all at once. I would like to stress that I think this course should be mandatory for all educators and well, for everyone. I have learned so much that is meaningful to me and I know you would feel that same, because everything we learned is stuff we already know in our hearts- we’ve seen our family, especially our elders practice these notes that I will share below.
Grandmothers are natural mentors
Western thought is not culture if culture is defined as connecting to nature, people and self
“If nature connection is lost, people don’t take care of it.” Jon Young
Read Last Child in the Woods and The Tracker and Dumbing US Down
Is our culture stuck in adolescence? RIGHTS OF PASSAGE
EROSION OF CURIOSITY
“our greatest frailty is that we repeat past experiences”
You must tend to the body in order for the mind to work
Get to know where you have come from before you go forward
Greeting customs matter, meet people where they are at
The VISIONARY in all of us will arise in nature connection.
Mentoring is invisible when it’s done right
Kids NEED to tell their stories, someone needs to listen. Elders need to tell stories too. Talk to your self when need and keep listening and asking questions.
Find a sip spot: a place in the woods, in a natural setting, whatever you have access to that leaves you alone among something wild. Sit there everyday if you can and observe and ask questions. get connected and see how this simple act will transform you.
Organic Cropping Week Photos
Amaris tests some soil.
Our group overlooks the bean crop we planted on the first day of the course to seek out possible pests.
Turning a six week old compost pile made from kitchen scraps, plant matter, fish guts, animal manure, wood chips and straw.
Making compost tea.
r2r days 17 and 18
Solar panel install on electric car with Don Young.
Our first garden, more stages… raised beds consisting of top soil and compost, mulch… living trellis consisting of moringa and quick stick.
r2r day 16
This morning I put my higher education to work by assisting a friend on the farm with writing the application for a $25,000 grant. I am not a huge fan of grant writing, or development work, but I felt a bit empowered today when I was able to effectively understand the grant langauge and turn out a kick-ass attempt at c0-writing it and turning it in on time.
Frequently I bemoan my education and the severe debt it has incurred. I often forget that there was perhaps some value to my two years in graduate school so when the opportunity presents its self to use the skills I gained I get a glimmer of hope. I suppose it was worth it… today at least.
Otherwise, my stance is what some might call bitter: Higher education is a waste of your money, perhaps a waste of your time. These days no one is guaranteed a job and there are many ways to get experience and make connections outside of campus. Furthermore these days I am interested in skills that don’t take rocket science courses to master, like farming.
On that note today we installed a solar power system on to an electric vehicle to give it twice the amount of power needed to go further on its journey. Okay, so this may be technical work that requires some classes. But it can happen outside of a degree program and its a trade skill that many are turning to in a time when renewable energy is needed.
r2r days 14 and 15
This week we have moved into Renewable Energy with Don Young. VISFI is 100% off the grid (aside from its vehicles) securing it’s electricity from a solar power system that Don installed and water needs from a large water catchment system. They also have composting toilets and solar water heaters for an occasional warm shower.
With Don we discussed why renewable energy is a concern and a need for our society, our planet and what are the “alternative systems” that can be made use of to secure an end to our fossil fuel reliance. As many of us know, but perhaps don’t remember, we have hit peak oil, meaning that more than half of the worlds oil has been used and that much of what is left is becoming increasingly difficult to access. Prices do and will continue to go up, oil will become more and more difficult to come by, but as of now we still rely on it.
Over the past two day we have explored the basics of how off-grid solar power system are constructed, how to size how to size and design systems in different situations. We’ve looked at voltage, ampage, power and energy and how they relate to one another.
In the US we consumer about 3,400 GW a year, that’s a lot of energy man. Just look at your electric bill to compare your personal usage (then try to decrease it). The number one way to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels is not to increase our renewable energy capacity, but to reduce our overall energy consumption. Conservation is the answer, technology can only do so much.
And remember the more you slow down, the less energy you consume.
r2r day 13
Friday is Day 13 to us and what some say a full moon.
Today we got the chance to help Shannon with her project by building the foundation of her new wood burning sauna as part of the farm’s future wellness center.
Cutting the posts and floor joists.
Raising the post into the three foot hole we dug.
Making sure we are level.
