Before we could get to Texas, a few literary stops were necessary. We were driving through Monkey Wrench Gang country and stomping grounds of Hayduke and Edward Abbey. Stopping at Lee's Ferry we marveled at the stark and unforgiving landscape. The struggle for scraping out life in such remote places is quite palpable. It is easy to see how Edward Abbey could create it as the birthplace of such eco-terrorism. Every action here has long reaching consequences which are often permanent. The Barracuda couldn't understand why on Earth we cared about such a place. He was busy navigating us quickly to camp.

He did quite well with the map and we are hoping to have a significant focus on trail and topographical mapping this year as another added skill for our backpacking. My father can read the trees, Lee is pretty darn amazing at it, and I'm rather hopeless. If The Barracuda can fall somewhere in there, I'll be very happy!

The Gila National Forest of New Mexico was calling. Inside it resides the Aldo Leopold Wilderness, the first designated wilderness area in the United States and an homage to one of the great environmentalists of our time. If we were going to be driving through New Mexico the need to stop was imperative. As we were driving, we couldn't quite understand what exactly it was that Leopold saw in the area.

There was a lot of this.

Though the skies were incredible and there was a definite beauty in the bleak landscape, this wasn't really screaming "Sand County Almanac" (which was written in Wisconson but inspired here). This was the area that inspired the works of Leopold? The area which enticed him to work for Wilderness protection and be a founding member of The Wilderness Society? The area which caused him to write his famous work "Land Ethics", which still stands as a poignant and founding document of the environmental movement?

We ventured on, partially wondering if we weren't enlightened enough to realize the great wonders which seemed to be invisible.

Then completely out of no where, there were trees ahead. A large, gorgeous clump of trees, sloping hills, and meandering lush grasslands, all framed by the incredible setting sun. I'm sorry we doubted you, Mr. Leopold. If there was ever a place to designate the miraculous quality of nature, you found it.


The skies were clear as we began our hike in to camp just north of the sacred spring and the beginning of the watershed. Then came a rain drop. Just one. We are from the Pacific NW. We eat, sleep, and breath rain. No big deal. After all, it slightly smelled of rain, but there were no clouds. After just under a mile in the skies opened up and dumped more rain than I have ever seen directly on us. It POURED. Our clothes began sticking to us like second skin. Unrelenting torrents of rain turned the trail into a river causing us to have to walk along the banked sides. Thunder clapped overhead loud enough to make both Jules and I jump and terrify The Barracuda. Stoic as ever, he held it together and soldiered on. This seemed bad enough, but it still hadn't begun hailing. Once the BB sized hails began to pelt us, The Barracuda broke down into tears sniffling, "The...hail...hurts...." There was nothing to do but continue. Jules took his pack and we covered him in my larger coat to hopefully deflect the stinging ice bits. As quickly as it came, it went. In under 45 minutes we had wet clothes hanging to dry and the tent was up.

Oh yeah...this is flash flood country. That didn't mean much until now.

In the morning out hike back out was very uneventful. Nature was indoctrinating our son into a respect for the land and direct knowledge of who the boss is when you backpack. It is an important lesson to learn that you are not the one in control. Even when it sucks, even when you hurt or are wet, even when you don't want to, you carry your weight and keep on walking.















The Barracuda was unscathed by the exceptionally exciting storm and decided to take on the roll of ninja backpacker! Jules and I had never quite realized how much a balaclava resembled ninja gear, but leave it to the five year old boy to find the likeness. At this point, our son can now hike through anything and we are quite happy he still wants to. More than ever, he has developed a conscience about the life of the woods. You can try to control it, but in the end, she's going to remind you just who you are messing with.


“Obligations have no meaning without conscience, and the problem we face is the extension of the social conscience from people to the land. No important change in ethics was ever accomplished without an internal change in our mental emphasis, loyalties, affections, and convictions.”
~Aldo Leopold; "Land Ethics"

By the time we were on our way to Zion we smelled terrible. "I think a member of the Donner party died in our car," was one memorable way of putting it. It had been five days without a shower or clean clothes and now going through the Mojave Desert the temperature was 125. Hopefully other parents out there have looked upon their sleeping children, and even though they are exquisite, thought, "Man, that kid is gross!"

About the same time it became very apparent that MapQuest isn't a very good judge of distance when crossing multiple states, nor is a road atlas given to you by your insurance company a good guide. Jules was rightly frustrated when we pulled into Zion late, had to pay 38 dollars for a rather terrible campground, and still didn't understand why on earth I was dragging him to this location in the middle of nowhere. (We became even when I completely lost it in Kansas)

When he woke up early the next morning, this was the view from camp.

He quickly apologized for his mini-meltdown and we hopped a bus into the canyon. Like some National Parks where the ecosystems are highly fragile, you cannot drive very far into Zion. You must take a shuttle bus which has frequent stops and return trips so that the flow of traffic and people can be controlled. Another added benefit to this is that if you want to camp within the park, a back country permit must be purchased and you have to hike everything (including water) in by yourself.


Zion National Park is one of my favorite places on the planet. The colors are incredible. Being a natural sandstone canyon which was forged over years of water and then baked by the sun, the walls are a vibrant orange. The orange makes the sky and the trees look almost fake. Secondly, the size is mammoth and you cannot help but leave with a new understanding of how forceful nature can be.

As a sense of scale, those tiny white lines at the bottom are the shuttle buses.

What is even better, the canyons are open access most of the year and there are few guard rails. You get to hike amongst the rock at your own risk and truly experience how small you are within the power of nature. Jules had never quite hiked like this as a dad before and found himself quite paranoid. With a 400-600 foot drop it was reasonably justified, but The Barracuda did just fine.

Cliff-side trail up to Hidden Canyon

Even at 112 degrees, the canyon was incredible. We hiked most of the morning. Up the cliffs and through the winding crevices worn away by eons of water, this was the best lesson in erosion I could ever have imagined. If Sequoia was a cathedral showing the grace and beauty of nature; Zion is a picture of nature's ability to both build and destroy as the true architect of the Earth.

Hiking back trails within Hidden Canyon
This time it was Jules feeling humbled. We decided to come back and purchase a back country permit as The Barracuda gets better at rock climbing and can handle the technical merit of many of the hikes (probably around 9). We figure spending at least 10 days will allow us to see a bit more of this awe inspiring natural wonder which is so different than our normal hiking.


On the way back to the car we stopped to submerge ourselves in the Virgin River which winds its way through all of Zion and is what cut the canyon in the first place. Other tourists seemed to think the dirty hippies playing and soaking in the water were a bit odd, but at least we didn't stink quite as badly when we returned to the car. After all, we were on the way to crossing Texas and that is quite a while to be trapped together smelling like wildebeests!

Leaving Lassen we soon realized that "Putting the Nation Back To Work" translated into many difficulties for National Park visitors. The entire park was tipped upside down with construction. (We began to plan for this since it happened in every park we visited.) We left using a different route than planned and that put us going a completely different direction. After a couple hours on the road, damage control was in order for us to get back on track.

Damage control took the form of Reno, Nevada. What better way to eat, than at an abundant all-you-can-eat buffet. What better way to vacation, than with teaching your child to gamble at Circus-Circus. The Barracuda ate three plates of fruit and won two small stuffed toys in the MidWay. One was given to his baby cousin in Georgia and the other now sleeps with him and is named "Kitty." As far as he is concerned one hour in Reno was a high-light of our trip. Viewing glaciers and constellations from the Rocky Mountains? Pffft. Swimming in the Ozarks? Naaah. Rail-less Hiking in Zion Canyon? Ehhh.

Back on the road, we cut back across California and camped along side the road in Sequoia since both Jules and I completely hit the wall with driving at almost 11:00pm. In the morning, all was well.

This was breakfast.
Mid-drive, The Barracuda announced he wanted to climb to the top of this mountain; so we pulled over. He was serious in his claims and we figured why not have breakfast at the top. His desire to learn and begin rock climbing is sincere and Jules has the knowledge to teach him. This year his school is allowing funding for us to use rock climbing as PE and will pay for not only gear but gym time. Over the course of the road trip, we tried to climb as much as possible.

Jules illustrating a layback and The Barracuda's attempt

From the top we ate, did the sun salutation to welcome the morning, and watched the day warm the valley below. It was well worth driving all night long.

To not repeat previous stupidity, when we stopped at the Ranger Station, Jules took Dae into the visitor center to read all about past indscretions of logging and dendrochronology (Tree Ring Science) while I asked about Junior Ranger patches. The Barracuda had to fill out a rather cool little packet, go for at least one hike, and then pick up trash throughout the park. It was great. This was much more what Crater Lake and all the other parks we would visit had in mind with the Junior Ranger Program. At swearing in, he was reminded to "Promise to not let the past be forgotten through better choices in the future."


As we began to drive through the park, the magnitude of the "trees" we had been talking about soon started to sink in to our son. His eyes were about the size of quarters for most all of the hike. Even living very close to and having hiked through Old-Growth, he had never seen anything like this. Humble was a word The Barracuda now understood.

These were definitely the kings of the forest. When the tree-rings were counted and the dendrochronology assessed, the average age of many of the cross cut sections were close to 3,300 years old.

Lunch
The idea of this trip was to give The Barracuda a survey course in what amazing natural monuments exist in our nation. When we sat down to think about what that should include, Sequoia was essential. These trees stood as the largest living organisms on the planet for decades (recently usurped by the Honey Mushroom) and can create awe in the most hardened of souls. As Jules stated while hiking, this is as close to a cathedral and religious experience as our family can get.

As we left Sequioa, Jules was fairly sure that little would compare to Sequoia or Yosemite, but he had yet to see Zion.

We went to Lassen because The Barracuda has been so excited to learn about volcanoes. Lassen National Volcanic Park has at least one of each of the four types of volcanoes - shield, strato or composite, cinder cone, and lava dome. What a better way to learn about something he already loves than to hike all around and actually see them.

Well, you might notice from the complete lack of photographs in this posting that we did not wind up seeing much of anything.

The Junior Ranger program was bolstered so much and our experiences had been so good, that we completely forgot how to be effective parents and told The Barracuda how he could earn another one at the "volcano park." Only, we didn't check first. Highly excited, child was very eager.

When we actually got to Lassen it was late, so we awoke early and then learned the only way to acquire a ranger patch was to go to a ranger program. Very normal. Only this program was almost 2 hours long and required our son to be instructed (lectured) to all about volcanoes.
It was brutal. There was much parental anger as we sat rather than actually seeing any volcanoes at all. Cool places were missed as picture cards were shown and read to our child who is thoroughly capable of reading himself. He was talked down to in a "baby voice" and not even allowed to write his own name on his ranger booklet. I was seething and had to excuse myself a couple of times or run the risk of becoming my father. A slew of choice words and names were spoken to Jules, who excused himself in under 15 minutes since he is the father and has no qualms with losing it. Needless to say, we will be going back to this National Park because it looks incredible.

Ranger patch in hand, the child was giddy.

The only good thing which came out of our ventures in Lassen was a very clear picture of why we wish to homeschool our child. Rather than sit in some classroom and be spoken to like a child, we would much rather experience the world. This was equally agreed upon by both Jules and I. With convictions firmly in hand, we left Lassen on a trip down to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon.

From Long Beach there was a quick stop in Portland, Oregon and then a straight shot down to Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is one of those places that looks like a postcard everywhere you look. An extinct volcano (a caldera if you're getting snooty) whose crater has filled with snow and glacial melt, Crater Lake is not only a beautiful place, but a great choice for any child who is as fascinated by volcanoes as ours is. (Volcanoes were added to the homeschool curriculum list this year due to his extended excitement.)

After the Ranger showed him a brief, interactive presentation about the formation of the volcano, how it erupted, and its eventual collapsing in on itself (which makes it a caldera), The Barracuda was completely sold. Apparently, "caldera" means bowl in Spanish - The Barracuda was over the moon! Spanish, and Volcanoes, and Ranger Patches and Hiking! Not only that, his questions were answered without him being talked down to or treated like a kid (always a great bonus). Junior Ranger patch in hand, we set off to hike down to the water.


Hiking the Cleetwood Trail down to the water was only 2 miles round trip and only a 700 feet elevation gain, but it stretched our legs and burned off the jittery car energy. Moreover, it relieved our stress. Being able to get out, move around, exert ourselves a little and then relax to wonderful views allow moments together that were once clogged with work. So much of our lives this last year have been about working that it seems we had forgotten until now just how good it felt to relax together as a family. Hiking became a staple of our trip so much so that we have decided to do at least one hike every Friday afternoon to keep the tradition going. It is our hope that The Barracuda will not only be able to identify local flora and fauna because of our ventures, but also gain a sense of joy for the walking meditation of hiking.

Shoes came off, rocks were grabbed, and much throwing/skipping into the water ensued. This is something I will never understand because I do not contain a Y chromosome. However, after speaking with a number of males from various walks of life, I am aware of it to be a major male life development. So, I lay in the sun and point out the erosion lines along the crater, enjoy my feet going numb in the snow melt, and generally bask in our family enjoyment.


Had the mosquitoes not been the worst in years (literally swarms) and Jules' allergies weren't freaking out for unknown reasons, we might have camped a day and just enjoyed the magic of this special National Park. As it was, however, camping wouldn't have been a very positive experience so we drove on to Lassen National Volcanic Monument.

July began in Long Beach, Washington for the annual 4th of July festival. Every year our family beach house is occupied with close friends and family in fluctuating numbers. We walked out to the boardwalk and filled in with the crowd to watch the exceptionally loud booms and bursts over our heads. They were beautiful and quite impressive, but even The Barracuda asked to go home before the show was over. As far as our family was concerned, fireworks weren't the best part.

Junior Rangers, Lewis and Clark, and comic books won out. Fort Clatsop is quite close to Long Beach and we ventured across the Oregon border to visit the Fort Clatsop and hike the short 6.8 mile Fort to Sea Trail which was often traveled by the explores. Cape Disappointment was also hiked, along with visiting an amazing interpretive center.













Jules is a history buff. He finds the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and general stoic nature of early explorers and wars to be wonderful life lessons. I spent years as a Pacific Northwest elementary schooler learning all the ins and outs of Lewis and Clark. Now, in homeschooling The Barracuda we can incorporate both of those skills into teaching him not only about some of the greatest explorers and grandest hikers since our nation's inception, but also to stress the resourceful ingenuity they had to rely on to stay alive. By incorporating hiking into the process, The Barracuda (as well as Jules and I) are having to experience the knowledge and really walk the walk. The Barracuda took the 6.8 miles in stride while my father (a previous Forest Service Hot-Shot) and I got to explain all kinds of native vegetation (my environmental studies course work is coming in handier every day!) Homeschooling curriculum for the year began to take some shape.


It was Fort Clatsop where we learned about the Junior Ranger program. Now, I don't know how many of you out there were forced into family trips involving National Parks or Historical Monuments, but I was one of those tortured ever-so-lucky youth. We got a little passport thing that could be stamped as we traveled. Well, these days stamps cannot compete with the times. These days kids complete activity books and get really neat embroidered patches. After completing a series of tasks from picking up trash and visiting various other areas of the park to word searches and essay questions, they are sworn in as official Junior Rangers. The kids have to promise to not only protect their National Parks, but to inform other friends and family about the things they have learned to keep our heritage alive (how cool is that!). The Barracuda found this most incredible. After all, we were making him learn all sorts of stuff just for the heck of learning; now patches were involved!


The rest of our vacation became geared around staying in National Parks and completing Junior Rangers patches as a great incentive to keep The Barracuda interested in pushing through 600 mile days. His Osprey pack has become quite covered and National Parks have become even more desirable vacation spots. All National Parks and Historic Sites are involved in the Federal Junior Ranger Program so go ask if you have kids between the ages of 6 and 12. It is honestly pretty cool.


On the way back to the beach house a comic book shop became another must see stop. Jules previously owned a comic book collection that was quite extensive, as well as expensive. Nine-hundred square feet doesn't really allow room for such things, but the zest for super heroes is still there. Now that The Barracuda is desiring to read for more than just information, comic books are a wonderful transition as well as rite of passage. I didn't know it then, but trips like these would set the tone for a whole new chapter of our life as a family.

















Comic books in hand, The Barracuda promptly passed out. We headed home to do laundry and pack up our car. Crater Lake and Lassen National Volcanic Monument were in our sights.

We are back, the trip was great and highly insightful. There is nothing quite like leaving your life for a month to be able to stand back and really look at it.

For quite a while the focus of this blog, and also our lives, has been on the infrastructure needed to support a carbon free, slower paced lifestyle. Rather intensely, we have pursued a myriad of things necessary to changing the cultural paradigm we knew so well. We love it and it has worked wonderfully. The carbon footprint of our lives has greatly diminished and the purpose of our existence has improved significantly. From killing our TV to now killing our dryer, the changes seem to finally be slowing down a bit as we fine tune the process of actually creating a life rather than just moving through it. Finally, it seems, there is some breathing room to look back, enjoy all that has come to pass, and to really see one another as the family we have become.

With that in mind, there will hopefully be a bit more narrative involved in days which follow. The groundwork of practicality seems to have been well laid and now I go about being more of a mom, partner, and person rather than a slightly psychotic hippie.

Our family made a resolution at the beginning of the year to begin Rioting. Riot for Austerity is a challenged posed to developed nations where people voluntarily decide to live on only 10 percent of the average United States consumption. The idea being, that 10 percent rations are the necessary changes to mitigate global warming. Read more about our attempts here.

Well, June has finished up and we are half way though our year of Rioting. Our family is attempting to make the permanent lifestyle changes to last significantly longer than a year, but are really monitoring this year to find progress. And progress has been made!

We are at 10-12% in four of the seven categories.

Electricity: We switched our electric bill over to 100% renewable energy as provided by our carrier. We are not given a breakdown of exactly how many kWh comes from which form of energy, but most of it is hydro and wind power. Due to the extreme demand for renewable energy being asked for by our electric company, they are embarking on the largest solar energy project in our region and considering closing the only coal power plant left in our state. At 409 kilowatt hours of wind/hydro power we are using 11% of the U.S. National Average for electricity.

Heating Fuel: This year we are cutting 5 cords of downed and dead wood for our household heating. This is up one cord from last year, but will make our lives more comfortable. We are also most likely going to permanently disconnect the Natural Gas this year rather than pay $3.85 service bills every month. Even with the added cord we are using 10% of the U.S. National Average for heating.

Garbage: We took our garbage service down to only once a month pick up almost a year ago when the switch off of processed foods was complete. There just wasn't a need for frequent pick-ups with so much less packaging. Now we are considering canceling altogether in favor of transporting our own recycling and yard debris to the municipal center and only taking trash as needed. Currently, we have 50 lbs of garbage a month divided between 3 people; totaling 16.6 lbs per person per month and putting us at 12% the U.S. National Average for Garbage.

Food: This one was a bit trickier to figure out just where everything fell into categories. We consider local to be within 100 miles in each direction. Our grains, milk, chicken, cheese, cream, and most fruits and veggies come from "local" sources. As such, we considered these local. Our spices, sugar (though refined locally), beef, beans and rice aren't locally grown and thus went into the appropriate categories. We are looking into expanding our personal spice growing and accessing local beef, but those are still a bit far off. Currently, we are working with 70% local, 25% dry and bulk, 5% wet.

Areas We're Still Working On:

Transportation: With Jules now out of school and me working from home, our transportation plummets. At least 300 miles a week are removed, however with a road trip we easily gain them back and then some. Daily driving is down quite a bit and we are attempting to curb this issue slowly but surely.

Water: The water bill is calculated quarterly, so we won't be getting it again for a bit.

Consumer Goods: I have given up on calculating our exact expenses with consumer goods. I know it is higher than 10% monetarily, but our main goal is not purchasing new. Our lives are close to not needing the consumer grid for much other than lumber and hardware, undies and socks or the occasional clothing item for Jules to wear to work, and toilet paper. We still have our vices: books, coffee, and sushi but everything else is second hand and most comes from either garage sales or the Goodwill Outlet where the next stop is the landfill.

So, what does our family do without television? We revamp a 7 dollar bike carrier purchased from a garage sale and take The Barracuda for rides.


The true intent of the bike box is to haul around books we want to resell to the used book store, future garage sale finds, or groceries. Previously, we have been limited to hauling whatever we could carry in a messenger bag and it was quite restrictive. However, The Barracuda finds this quite a nice way to travel and we might just put a couple of bike hooks on the back so that his bike can be carried along with him. If we then want to start taking longer bike tours than his little legs can handle, he and his bike can ride in the box.

Storables calls these hanging dry racks and they know a bit more about it than I do. I'd call it a multi-hanger, but whatever. I use it for all those pesky socks and undies that tend to take up lots of room (and clothespins) on our umbrella clothes line.



Now, 19 clothes pins all fit around the lid of a 5 gallon bucket outfitted with a coat hanger. This way the lid twirls and can dry the socks, undies, hanker chiefs and all the small stuff doesn't take up room for t-shirts and other clothes which need significantly more room.


The fancy "Hanging Dry Rack" at Storables comes with half the clothespins, is metal (rust?) and costs 15.95. Ours has 19 clothes pins, is made of plastic and costs 5.95 maximum. Plastic, in this circumstance, was slightly important because it will not wear out and need replacing with all the rain and summer's extreme sun. We can also easily drill through the plastic to hang the clothes pins.

Materials Needed
Power drill with 1/16th drill bit and a
fine-toothed wood saw
Wire cutters
A pair of pliers

1 package of clothespins (bamboo are the best) $2.50 for 50 pins
1 5 gallon bucket lid $ .99 (@ Home Depot)
1 metal clothes hanger (from the closet, but available at the Dollar Store or dry cleaners)
19 little ring fobs (see below) $1.52 from the lock and key store


Jules is assembling all the parts for these hangers and comes out with "We need to find ring fobs." I had no idea what he was talking about (nothing new when assembling things). Am I the only one who has never heard this term? We do crossword puzzles together and he always knows the weirdest stuff. A ring fob is basically the O that your keys are all hooked to. I always called it a key ring...little did I know. If you buy the ring fobs at Home Depot, Bi-Mart, or Kroger you are going to pay a TON! We found ours at the local lock and key. They were only 8 cents a piece, and are the rinky-dink, little ones you get when a key is made. They had multiple sizes and we chose the smallest (about 1 inch in diameter).

Construction


Using the 1/16th bit, drill a hole though half of the pinching end of the clothes pin.






Thread one ring fob through the hole. Using a fine-toothed, wood saw, cut off about 1 centimeter of the other lever of the clothes pin. You cut the end off so that when you pinch the pin open, it isn't limited by the ring fob.




Repeat. A lot. This is annoying and tedious. A butter knife can save your fingernails and enlisting help can make everyone frustrated and lessen the personal burden of ridiculous frustration.





Using the 1/16 bit, drill holes 2 inches a part all along the lip of the 5 gallon bucket. Cutting a spacer out of index card works really well, or you could just wrap a tape measure around and mark every two inches with a Sharpie. Switch to the 1/4 bit and drill a hole through the center of the lid.















Cut the wire coat hanger 4 inches on each side of the hook. Use the pliers to straighten the sides and bend the hook of the coat hanger fairly straight.





Thread the straightened hook through the center hole of the lid. Once through, bend the hook back into a hook. Turn the lid over and flatten the ends against the plastic.





Thread the ring fobs through the holes drilled around the lip of the lid and you've got yourself a hanging dry rack!

In honor of Melynda at Your Wild Child, here is our summer bucket list:

1. Show the Barracuda how to find a few constellations and spend some time stargazing
2. Road trip across the country
3. See the Sequoias and watch the Barracuda's amazement at just how big nature is and how small we are
4. Cut 5 cords of wood
5. Kill the dryer permanently
6. Spend more time with my guitar
7. Get the book proposal outlined and started
8. Read My Side Of the Mountain while we camp out
9. Figure out next years curriculum
   

What do you want to accomplish before summer is over?

When I first wanted to figure out a way to lower our grocery bill I hit the Internet with grand expectations. Lots of articles were found but all they said was "buy a canner and start canning" or "buy items in bulk" or "learn to cook." I was left wondering what to can, how much to buy in bulk, what should I learn to cook first. As much as the articles meant well, they didn't honestly do much other than give me general ideas. With that in mind, I thought I'd let you all in on the ways we have found worked well. This is just us, but it has also worked well for two friends of ours who were drowning in a tough economy and rising food prices.

The largest way we have found to lower our grocery bill is through setting back quantities of many items so they no longer need to be purchased. We began this with meat when I first bought our pressure canner and a week later all natural chicken went on sale for 99 cents a pound. One hundred dollars of my tax return became canned chicken and chicken stock. This set the ball in motion for our pattern of stocking up. Even when things aren't on sale, small measures go a long way.

First to think about is what to put back? We go with things which ---

1. Do not require many storage requirements. The don't need the electricity of a freezer or fridge, they don't take a ton of space, they are dry or can be packaged so they won't leak.

2. We will never stop needing or regularly using it. Even if the power goes out, even if we decide to move, even if we get snowed in, even if we make a radical lifestyle change, even if zombies attack or one of us becomes abducted by aliens we will still be wanting or needing the product.

3. It costs a lot of money every month for what you get. This seems to fall right in line with the fact that you are always using it regardless of other circumstances. They see you coming and those business guys aren't dumb. Meat is up on the list, cleaners are high on the list, toiletries, most canned goods, fruits, spices, etc. By making these items yourself and packaging them up, you can cut out the middle man and the price drops dramatically.

The example which seems to work the best is laundry soap (and we just happened to be packaging it the other day).

1) When you make the detergent, it only has three main parts (soap, Borax, and washing soda) and all of them are dry with no shelf life.

2) You use it every week rain, shine, tidal wave, zombie attack, alien abduction, what have you and even if you decided to become Amish tomorrow you would still need it. Let's face it, even the Amish wear clean clothes and you don't want blood stains when those Zombies are coming.

3)Laundry soap costs upwards of 10 dollars for the relatively small amount of soap you get. It is quite a racket they've got going. When you make it yourself it costs pennies for what you get.

Next, you need to have an idea of how much you use on average.

When I make one batch of laundry soap, it lasts us for 2 months of normal use. I monitored our usage for about six months to make sure I had a pretty good idea and then just called it good. With something which is used more frequently, like say meat, you can calculate how much is used in a week rather than month long increments.


Now, break out the calculator! Don't worry it isn't crazy math.

Take the amount you use X how many increments happen in one year

If 1 batch of laundry soap lasts our family for two months, how much do we need for 1 year?

1 batch X 6 increments = 6 batches a year

To use tuna as an example: If you eat 3 cans of tuna a week, how many will you need for 1 year?

3 cans X 52 increments = 156 cans per year

We use a year as the length of time to stock up because it means we never have to think about putting it on the grocery list. If you have a years worth of tuna fish, you're sitting pretty good. If you want to become a survivalist and just keep on stacking up cans, more power to you! We feel a years is probably pretty decent.

Start by buying small.
Now that you know how many you will need, buy a few each time you go to the store. Don't burn yourself out. If you drop the money not only is it a really large monetary hit, but it also means packaging time that most families don't have. This is supposed to be a stress reliever not magnifier. We figure on spending only $10-$15 extra on the stockpiled item each month. Ten bucks is usually doable even on a tight budget.

It is important to remember this is extra added on to what you would normally consume. So, we buy 7 Naptha bars and one box of Borax and 1 box of Washing soda each month. That is about 12-15 dollars and gives us 2 years of laundry soap. In one month, we no longer have to buy any laundry soap for two years. If you are paying 10 bucks a month for soap, you just saved $230 by spending only $10 and making it yourself.

Since you no longer have to spend the $10 on laundry soap each month, you can roll it over into back stocking another purchase -- dish soap -- and keep the ball rolling. It initially took us about 6 months to really see a difference, but the savings become exponential.

Our list went something like this: Laundry Soap, Dishwasher soap, hand soap, bananas, peaches, pears, spaghetti sauce, soup, stock and tuna fish.

These 10 items have cut at least 50 or 60 dollars (though mostlikely more) from our food bill each month. Stop buying them over and over in favor of canning them or packaging them yourselves (other than tuna). These items are all canned or packaged dry so that I can add the water later and rehyderate.

Living in 900 square feet, space is at a premium. When this first began we wondered where on earth we would put everything. However, if you begin buying in bulk and creating things from scratch the cupboards begin to thin out at an amazing rate. I had no idea just how much space packaging takes, but it is a TON! Large quantities of backstock (like bulk rice or chicken stock) live in our root cellar in 5 gallon buckets or on the canning shelves we built. The garage is also a great place to store back stocked items.

The list is getting a bit crazy as articles are now flying out at quite a rapid pace. I'm only going to post the ones from DoItYourself.com for the time being since the list is getting large. There are a few AOL articles which are pending publication, but they never tell me how long that takes. One has been purchased, but sitting for over a month! When I finally find out, I'll put them up.

DoItYourself.com
How to Set Up a Rainwater Collection System Part 1 and Part 2
How to use Wire Cutters
Solar versus Wind Power Benefits
Getting the Most Out of Your Small Wind Turbine
All About the Hydraulic Pump
How To Refill A Chalk Line
Home Sustainability - Phantom Loads
Green Gardening - Saving Seeds
Why Native Landscaping is Extremely Beneficial
Green Gardening - Beginning an Organic Garden
Organic Lawn Care - When to Fertilize
Five Common Causes of Salt Water Pool Filter Damage
3 Tips for Repairing a Broken Staple Gun
3 Tips for Maximizing the Life of Energy Efficient Light Bulbs
5 Ice Axe Safety Tips
Pros and Cons of Argon Gas Windows
How Does a Heated Car Seat Work?
6 Advantages of Using Treated Lumber
Why Use an Auxiliary Adapter?
Troubleshooting an Electric Mirror

I will say one thing, my typing as certainly gotten a bit faster!

Garage Sale season is here! Jules gets slightly excited when he sees the first real sign of the year declaring a yard or estate sale. He has an ever-so-tiny obsession with perusing other peoples unwanted stuff. I cannot blame him considering it has completely obliterated our need to shop anywhere else. Most every Saturday and Sunday there is a detour from wherever we are going to head for a yard sale. And, why not? Most of our household items, clothes, tools, gear and other awesome stuff have come directly from local Estate sales. One better, they are cheap and going to be throw away.

One of the unforseen things which has happened in our quest for self sufficiency is our pulling off the consumer grid. Before this, I wouldn't have really known anything about the consumer grid. Even now, that is just the name I have given it; whether there is another name I do not know. By consumer grid, I mean shopping at The Store. Not one specific store, but just shopping at any store in general. We do not feel that shopping is inherently bad, more that the way the United States approaches shopping (evaluation of GDP as all things important) is insidious, malicious, and down right evil.

The GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, is how the United States measures the economy and thus, our status as a nation. The idea was adopted in 1991. (Before that status and progress were measured by various other factors like unemployment, the price of a dollar globally, inflation, etc.) In definition Gross Domestic Product looks like this:

The total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year, equal to total consumer, investment, and government spending, plus the value of exports, minus the value of imports.

Basically, the GDP covers all money changing hands in our nation. In a perfect world, you would record you garage sale earnings on your taxes (because we all do that) and eBay earnings (every one of us declares those as well) and any of the under-the-table work (that none of us ever participate in) because money is changing hands. The more times a dollar changes hands, the higher the GDP. So if my dollar goes through 3 people when I buy a pair of shoes (a cut to the big box store, then a cut to the distributor, and finally to the company) it is much better than if it goes directly to the company itself. Specialization, middle men, big box stores, and a loss of all traceability from source is what results. This is an admittedly, massively oversimplified explanation.

In the United States, growth in GDP is all that matters. More money needs to keep changing hands. This concept disturbs both Jules and I enormously. If the entire status of our nation and our progress is hinged on how much more people are spending, then why would anyone conserve anything? (Economists will even admit the fastest way to grow GDP is during crisis - HOW CREEPY IS THAT!)

We finally asked ourselves, "Why not just find the source?" Amazingly, it wasn't that hard.

The best part has been watching our sense of urgency, our stress level, and our concept of need changing. You cannot urgently go pick something up from a garage sale. You cannot rush by the farm on the way home from work and then speed home with an insta-dinner. Rhubarb just isn't going to be around in August and Strawberries aren't going to appear in January. Often, going to the source is not one stop shopping. There is patience and waiting involved, and in that time you realize there isn't much you really need like you thought. Community life and living are deliberate acts of slowing down, paring down, and evaluating.

To some not knowing where you "stuff" comes from isn't an issue, but to others they may have never considered it before. A year ago, we sure hadn't thought about our stuff or what it did to our lives. Amazingly, it was everything we were trying to fill the house with that was creating the void in the first place.

In the summer our family does many things, but the major one is that we read. And we read. And we read. We read to each other. We read separately. Sometimes the whole family will be in the living room silently reading their own books. We go to bookstores and buy books to read. We listen to authors talk about books we have read. We read in the park, outside in the front yard, or down at the beach. We read at home, in Georgia, and on the airplane in between. There are books in every room of our house and we frequently take large bundles to sell back to the used bookstore for credit. It was never planned this way; it just sorta happened.

The Barracuda taught himself to read at three. It is very scary to have your child just start reading things out of nowhere without any formal instruction into even letters. "Zoo" was his first read word. Soon after we started writing out, coloring, and placing three sight words a week the Barracuda's walls at his request. Then he wanted 5 a week. Then he wanted 10 a week. Then the list wasn't needed anymore he was just reading everything. Jules developed a game where they would use a long, Lego pointer to pick out words off the walls and make silly sentences. They would play long into bedtime. Shortly after, I started reading classic children's novels to The Barracuda and he got his first library card. We haven't ever looked back.

The experience of being able to discuss a book with your child and make connections to life is one that I can't imagine living without and one I would encourage most parents to attempt. When I looked for a classic children's lit book list of high interest read-aloud books there weren't many to find anywhere. There were lots of kid's classic lit lists which were short books and there were lots for kids who could read by themselves, but not many family read alouds. So here is our family's read aloud list. These are whole family, high interest, read aloud books which parents don't avoid like the plague. (If you are at the point of never wanting to read another book with talking animals, this might be the list for you!)

Beginning Books
Winnie the Pooh series by A.A. Milne
The narrator cuts in a few times in these books which can be a bit confusing as a read aloud. We skipped the narrations easily and made the book much more readible. The stories are incredible and worth it.

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
Voices are great for this one.

Stuart Little by E.B. White
Short chapters make this an ideal before-bed book.

The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
This is the quintessential girl book. I haven't even bothered reading it to my son, he would careless. But even as a tomboy, I LOVED this book. I would still read it over and over as an adult if I owned a copy.

Continuing Reads
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Some older English words, but my son still LOVED it

All of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Don't stop after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. They get SO much better! These are action packed, about kids doing cool stuff, and FULL of moral values to discuss. There are significant religious undertones (which are not subtle for an adult) but they completely flew over my head as a kid and my son is clueless about them.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'dell
A chick book to balance out a few of the boy reads. Boys might get into it, but don't feel bad stopping if their eyes begin to gloss over. For girls this strong heroine will balance out the Disney Princesses.

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Admittedly a bit of a "boy" book, but many girls will love the concept too and the author is a girl. This is now a trilogy, but we have only read the first one.

Hatchet by Gary Larson
Another slightly "boy" book, but I thought it was amazing when I read it the first time and my son finds it just as riveting.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
This was the book that sold Jules on reading. He was about 7 and later decided to become an English teacher due to a love of reading. Younger kids you might need to help along with the plot subtleties a bit, but the action and moral questions are worth it.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Great moral questions in this classic adventure tale. A very good one to discuss with kids some hard questions about right and wrong, appropriate choices, and explain why they thing certain choices were right or wrong.

The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Don't worry, I promise the dog doesn't die. I was waiting the entire book for the dog to die, ripping both my and the child's guts out and leaving us sobbing. You totally fall in love with this dog.

Rascal by Sterling North
A unique story of a boy and his dog, only the dog is a raccoon.

Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
My favorite quote in all of literature is from the Velveteen Rabbit. Be prepared parents, this book is so well written, poignant, and beautiful you may want to pre-read a section with a box of tissues. Kids won't be effected as much of the beauty comes from experience. They will see a wonderful story about toys.

Be sure to drop a comment on any which might have been missed or ones we should look into. I love the classical questions and timeless stories. When compiling this list, Jules and I got into differing ideas and questions like "What happened with Buck and the Indians at the end of Call of the Wild?" (we both had differing ideas, he was right) or "What did The Man In The Yellow Hat in Curious George do for a living?" (we were both wrong). They had to be Googled. Those are the types of things I want my son to get out of books. I want him to know the timeless classics so he can have bizarre conversations and friendly debates with others as he gets older. I want him to be able to relate to literature in hopes of finding some answers for himself to tough life questions.

Another set of articles if any of you all out there are curious about things like Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Toe Kick Heaters. I must say, the best thing about this job is being able to learn all kinds of stuff I didn't even know that I didn't know.

DoItYourself.Com
What is a Solar Attic?
How to Prevent a Clogged Garbage Disposal
How to Remove a Tail Light
What is a NiCad Battery?
Kitchen Cabinet Finishes: Paint vs. Stain
Advantages of A Toe Kick Heater
Trouble Shooting Toe Kick Heater Problems
Hydrogen Fuel Storage: Charles' Law and Boyle's Law
How Does A Hydrogen Fuel Cell Work
5 Household Applications for A Hydrogen Fuel Cell
5 Best Uses for SuperGlue


Examiner.com
I have recently been asked to become the Natural Family Living Examiner for our area. My job is to highlight local events, businesses, people, and news of interest to Natural Family Living and blog about it during the week. Even if you are not local to the area, I'm attempting to make the information as universal as possible to all Natural Families. If anyone else is interested in this sort of blogging/reporting/highlighting of local life (in any topic and most locations) drop me a comment and I can follow up with you. It is something I am really enjoying and most anyone with an interest in writing and community would love.

U-Pick Strawberries (includes a no pectin jam recipe)
Hello All (introduction of myself and how our family started natural living)
Local Book Events (3 Newly Released Books)
Barefoot Home (Awesome book about Natural Living Architecture)
Limbo Bulk Herbs (includes Horehound cough syrup recipe)
Fittest Cities in the U.S.


The Homemaking Cottage
This is a subscription website. That is why I haven't mentioned it before. The woman and the organization are good ones, so if you want to check it out go ahead. Again, I don't get anything if you sign up or if you click or anything. I think it is 10 bucks a month.