A New Journey

Every blog has to start somewhere.

After more than 500 blog posts on 10 different blogs, some that thrived, some that sputtered, and a couple that barely made it out of the gate, I'm starting over.

We're starting over.

Everything felt fragmented, and bits of the old would haunt me as I embraced the new.  I couldn't always remember where my posts were or decide where a post belonged.  I struggled for my voice and for focus.  I debated whether or not writing about our lives for a viewing public made any sense.  I was delighted when I received comments.  I was worried when I didn't.

For a person who espouses the simple life, blogging wasn't simple anymore.

I felt stifled by various causes I had joined, or by philosophies I held.  I had so many labels pasted on me that I felt more like the back of a '74 Pinto than a human being.

So here we are.  I'll probably do the writing, but I'll be writing about us.  What we're doing and learning.  How that happens, and why we choose to do it the way we do.  The lessons we learn as we live, love, laugh, and learn.

Independence Days ~ Week 2

I sewed today.

This is significant.  I used the machine I bought, with stash fabric, and made a giftable item.  By myself, combining a couple of online tutorials.  It's a lunch sack with a nice wide gusset, made from a clearance dish towel I paid 60 cents for.  I even made the handle versus needing to buy webbing.

I've never made a tote bag before; it turned out really well.  I'm already eyeing my stash and thinking of more bags to make.  I have some gorgeous vintage printed linen dish towels that would make wonderful lined grocery totes (or maybe they are too pretty for that).  The IKEA fabric I bought last month can be turned into large beach totes.  My niece is so getting a Hello Kitty tote for her birthday.

The lunch tote is for my mother-in-law; a Mother's Day gift.  I'd love for the gift to be entirely homemade, but I don't happen to have Thermos making skills.  So I plan to purchase a stainless steel food jart to place in the bag, and hopefully a glass or stainless steel food container for items that don't need to be kept hot or cold.  I'll hem a couple of napkins from a matching dish towel, and see if we can't scout out some small vintage salt and pepper shakers.  Basically, I'm attempting to create a safe alternative to the vinyl lunchbox cooler and plastic containers she currently uses.

More important than the fact that I made a bag, or that I used what I have, is that I taught myself how to do something.  I barely sew; every time I make an attempt my skills improve, and I gain confidence.  The way I cut my dish towel I couldn't make the long handles the tutorial instructed me to make, so I made short handles.  That's when I realized it should be a lunch tote.  Thinking lunch tote meant the bag would need a gusset, something the original tutorial didn't call for.  I found a second tutorial, and figured out the gusset.  Putting the bag together, I started to see how a lined bag would work (even though I didn't line this bag).

This post isn't entirely worthless without a photo, but I will try to get one taken and posted once the sun comes back.

The 100 Mile Vacation

We have always loved to travel.  We're lucky to live in a state with so many wonders to see ~ we have deserts, beaches, mountains, and more, all within 100 miles.

In fact, we're thinking of our travel time now in terms of the 100 mile vacation.  Our options within a 100 mile radius are staggering.  Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead, miles of beaches, Joshua Tree National Park, San Diego . . . we live in the middle of it all.

This weekend we're heading up to Big Bear for our first deliberately chosen 100 mile vacation (or weekend getaway). Oh, we've vacationed within the given radius too many times to count, but this year we're specifically thinking of lower-impact travel.  We're only thinking of one trip outside of our radius (and it's within 150 miles), and our plan is to take the train and go car free when we are there.

We're staying at a timeshare condo; we happen to be owners with the opportunity to choose a resort in Big Bear, but a lot of timeshares do rent out to non-owners.  Why a timeshare?  Well, the biggest reason is that we can cook all of our own meals, and because we're traveling locally we can take our CSA produce and grassfed beef with us.  Also, with a timeshare, the unit isn't cleaned daily, saving cleaning products and electricity (no need to vacuum daily; we have a carpet sweeper in our unit).  They don't change out the towels or bedding until after we leave.

What are we going to do?  Well, hike for one thing.  We are firm believers in getting out in nature, both to preserve our sanity (and our humanity) and to keep our children connected to the earth.  We also plan to visit the little Moonridge Animal Park.  I'm not a huge zoo fan, but I appreciate that there are places that care for injured animals and those who may have been illegally taken when young (and thus be imprinted on humans).  It's another chance to connect, this time with the animals we share the mountains with.

We'll connect with each other as well; making music, playing games, and doing crafts.  My goal is a TV free weekend (not all that hard for us, but we usually do watch DVDs on vacation).  I suggested that we leave the laptop at home as well, and Papa was all for it.  We have some planning and dreaming to do, but I'm guessing that we can manage it with a pencil and notebook.

We've never considered Big Bear more than a day trip, but we're not thinking the way we used to.  In the past we've been known to drive up and stay as few as four hours.  Now we realize that we should make the most of it if we're going to use the gasoline to get up there.

A Biking Day

Thursdays we rarely need the car; instead, we do our errands by foot or bicycle.

At lunch Papa grabbed the DVD we had rented yesterday, and dropped it off at the video store on his way back to work.  He rides his bike to and from work unless it's raining.  He usually walks when it rains because he doesn't get as wet.

This evening we biked to the farmer's market.  We locked up the bikes and trailer and walked the market in search of local, organically grown produce.  Tonight's purchases were bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and eggs.  We stopped in the second hand store and found a pair of shoes for T-Guy; J-Baby bought himself a vintage toy.

Then we went to Trader Joes.  We don't need to go weekly, but we're going out of town this weekend and wanted to stock up on safe lunch and snack foods.  The fact that we were using the cargo trailer helped us remember to leave the impulse items at the store.

This month we are working really hard to walk or bike all errands that can be done without a car.  When we do need to drive we will try to do as much as possible on that route.

Independent Days #3 ~ What the Heck Do We Have?

I suppose that this is a huge question, and that I could spend weeks inventorying the household and not finish.

But this is about small steps and doing something everyday, so today I inventoried the freezer.  Not the big freezer ~ I'll get to that next week ~ but the freezer that is part of my refrigerator.  This is what I found:

2 packages grassfed ground beef (around 1# each)

2 trays Rosie Organic Chicken split breasts

2 packages lamb shanks (around 2# each)

enough chicken bones and pieces to make 2 batches of stock

dog bones (purchased from the local grocer)

6 qt. chicken stock (in 1 qt glass jars)

Numi organic tea (very little)

1 loaf brown rice bread

1 pkg brown rice tortillas

1# organic butter

1 bag cheese rinds (rinds peeled off wheels of cheese and used to flavor soups)

1 bag gluten free flour blend (blended by me, from a book)

1 bag raw sunflower seeds (purchased for sprouting)

1 bag organic strawberries (purchased for my niece at my sister's request, but not eaten)

xanthan gum

The freezer also houses the ice cream maker bowl and an assortment of blue ice used in the insulated bag.

It's a good exercise.  I would have forgotten about the strawberries as we don't buy them this way.  Nothing else was a surprise, but I'm still glad to have it written down and visually available.

Little Updates

The indoor drying rack works well as long as the temperature in the house isn't lower than 68 degrees.  It works really well when it is 78 degrees in the house.  It isn't as easy to hang wash on it as an outdoor line is, but I'm managing (wash and hang one load a day).  In fact, it works well enough that we may not invest much in an outdoor line this year.  I may just go tree to tree when I have something large to dry.

Eating seasonally have gotten easier.  We're not 100%, and we're not going to be, but right now I think our only non-local produce is bananas, with the occasional brown onion thrown in.  Not only do we have the CSA now, but there is a new organic fruit stand in town.  We're also loving the local gouda we can buy, even though it isn't organic.

I've eliminated two medications from my daily line up. I don't generally suggest that people ditch all of their medications, but I do think we have to be prepared for not being able to get medications.  I'm currently tapering off a third medication.

Car "lite" is going well.  We cut our driving 33% in March.  Transportation is now at 20 - 25% of average.

We finally got our water usage down to about 40% of the national average, and we're working on a plan to transition from ornamental landscaping to edible/medicinal landscaping, as well as plants that attract beneficial insects and pollinators, and low water plants.

I cut using the electric warming pad every night, and use a hot water bottle instead.  I pour my used water onto plants the next day.

Independent Days #2 ~ Getting Interdependent

It can be hard to find people that want to be weird with you.

I'm lucky; I have several friends who get me and who are interested in developing community.

So today I offered to take a friend and her son to our play group gathering.  And when I mentioned that we'd be out of town this weekend she offered to pick up our CSA box.  I thought about it later, and thought Yes, this is it!  Not only doing what we can individually to lower our carbon footprints, but working together.  Thinking of ourselves as a community.  This same friend offered us basil starts for our garden, and offers to pick up chicken for us when she goes to Whole Foods.  Collectively, we are trying to reduce fuel usage and carbon output.

Another friend sweetly offered me an item she was given when she made a purchase this week.  It was something she wasn't interested in, but knew my family might be.  A couple of weeks ago at the thrift store I picked up a few things for her daughter.

We're taking steps.  We're getting together with people to share food and sing.  We talk about storing food and we share new recipes.  We split large co-op orders.