Self Sufficiency

The Story of Stuff

2010-03-10T09:39:00.005-06:00

Visit the website at:

http://storyofstuff.org/

The New Fuel Cell or Solid State Electric Generation

2010-02-24T03:33:00.003-06:00

Although fuel cells have been around for a long time, they have had a few obstacles to overcome that have prevented wide spread adoption. First is the cost, due to the need to use the precious metals platinum, palladium, iridium, or rhodium. Second is the need for pure hydrogen to generate a good steady supply of electricity. Third and many believe the largest obstacle is the competitive market of energy production companies and the inability of a start up to bloom in such a harsh environment.

A new startup may have overcome these obstacles. They claim to have replaced the need for pure hydrogen with any hydrocarbon fuel. It can be run off natural gas, propane, gasoline, diesel, etc.. They claim that the cost factor has been overcome by replacing the precious metal with a cheaper proprietary alloy. They state that a cell to power the average sized U.S. house will cost about $3,000.00 US. It is being backed by an impressive venture capitalist.

There are a few more questions i have, such as operating temperatures and fuel consumption per kilowatt. They claim half the fuel consumption of gasoline powered fuel generation. There is also the question of carbon dioxide production, if it is using a hydrocarbon fuel the carbon has to be released somehow. Although it would obviously be less greenhouse gas producing than a standard gasoline powered generator, i assume it releases the carbon as carbon dioxide gas even though conventional combustion is not employed.

If Bloom Energy's promises are fulfilled a suitcase sized, silent, electric generator that can be fueled by a propane tank or a vehicles fuel tank may be in the future of vagabonds, vandwellers, and RVers.

Here is a 60 Minutes article, by Lesley Stahl, that includes more info, including an interview with the inventor and the venture capitalist.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

A little extra video from CBS.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Company website. At the time of the posting the company is still about 6 hrs. from going public so there is not much info at the site except a countdown clock to the time of going public. Later today i look forward to see what replaces that countdown clock.

http://www.bloomenergy.com/

There are rumors that Google my be involved in getting into the energy field using the Bloom Box connection.

http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10005456/google-just-brokering-power-or-creating-and-selling-it/

Homesteading Webloggers

Questionable Crops or GMO's On Your Plate

2010-02-23T05:08:00.006-06:00

"On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television - a documentary that Americans won’t ever see. The gigantic bio-tech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years."

This documentary is a must see for those of us in the U.S.. We are being feed a questionable diet and our children are the guinea pigs for the effects of genetically modified organisms. The doc runs about one hour and fifty minutes, it is well worth the time.

Homesteading Webloggers

Vandwelling Tea Parties or Free Tea

2010-01-21T09:10:00.005-06:00

Interesting article about Tea parties on the road.

On this particular night, a group of high school kids, a dreadlocked man and his girlfriend, four women in their early twenties, an old bearded man playing a bongo drum and a Hispanic cook who hardly spoke any English all shared opinions and inspiration. The bearded man even laid out plans for his idea of serving tofu burgers out of a van.
http://meridiancollective.org/2010/01/19/steeping-the-people/

Free Tea Party website
http://freeteaparty.org/

Free Tea Party blog
http://freeteaparty.org/FTP_Blog/Blog/Blog.html

Homesteading Webloggers

Reviewing the Venus Project

2009-12-20T00:43:00.005-06:00

After reading and listening to much of the Venus Project and The Zeitgeist Movement material I agree with many of the concepts they present. Industrial productivity has greatly increased while labor costs have dropped. Automation is moving into the service sector and has the potential to eliminate many more jobs.

The middle class has already shrunk tremendously and the gap between rich and poor broadens yearly. Ironically, the quest for increased profits is leading the commercial world to a point where there are very few consumers left that can buy their products.

I do, however, have a problem with centralized control, the system they propose may or may not be better than what we have now. The concept of a centralized computer system organizing what is best for us humans through scientific principles may sound good in theory, but in practice there is no such thing as untainted scientific principles in areas where control of populations are concerned. As long as computers are programed by people there is no such thing as an unbiased computer program.

I wouldn't be able to abide the conformity the system wishes to establish. In this society we are subjected to pressure to conform, most of us do. There are still some who follow the road less traveled. Those who shuck the 9 to 5 and the house with the white picket fence. I guess it's probably a chain link fence now. There are those who live on the open road. Those who live off the land in some remote local. The world would be diminished without these nonconformists in my opinion.

As idealistic as Jacque Fresco is, and no mater how high minded the plan appears, giving control of all the resources to a centralized control system always will end in corruption. Lord Acton, in 1887, said "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." It's every bit as true today and I'm sure will be true tomorrow.

Homesteading Webloggers

Reviewing Monetary System Post.

2009-12-11T18:17:00.006-06:00

We were reviewing some of the posts a few days ago. This is a continuation of that review.

Here is a song by Ryan Harvey to enjoy while you read this post
Click here to play the song.

Understanding our Monetary System, demonstrated how the whole financial system is a rigged game with those at the top in control of the strings. Most people see no choice but to engage in this game despite the unbalanced playing field. However one can minimize their reliance on the established overwhelming control of the monetary system by following several methods.

Most of us grew up in the age of mass media. We have been conditioned, since we were children setting in front of Saturday Morning Cartoons ( for younger ones 24 hr cartoon networks ), to respond to advertising. Large Corporations have spent billions on research and campaigns figuring out what motivates us to make that purchase. Today's commercial usually has little to do with the product, or if you need it. It's all about image and subtle psychological cues that are proven to make us feel that we need that product.

The first thing we need to do to stop being pawns in the big money game is to regain our free agency and stop making impulsive buying decisions based on psychological manipulation. Most of us are unaware what is truly motivating us when we make a purchase. This is easier said than done.

First, don't buy anything unless you have weighed and considered it thoroughly. Don't try to stop your addiction to products all at once, but try to change where and how you buy products at a reasonable rate that doesn't cause you distress. An example would be to move from high priced, carbonated, brand name, beverages to tea or water. Then to move to a brand of tea that is organically grown and produced by a small coop, or grower, or wild harvester. Check and make sure all the products you buy are responsibly produced and that you are not contributing to sweat shops, unfair trade practices, or environmental degradation.

Then set yourself up to grow and produce your own tea. Most of the people forget that all the raw resources for the products we consume come from our planet. You can often produce it yourself, or at least find the small responsible producer or cooperative who has a hard time competing with corporate giants and literally help change the balance in their favor.

Continue to educate yourself on advertising tactics and corporate trade practices. I will try to do my part to help with that by linking to good information on the internet.

Stay away from borrowed capital, especially credit card companies. I did away with my credit cards long ago. The interest and fees on those things having risen to rates that were illegal and considered loan sharking just a few decades ago. They are designed to trap you into a cycle of never-ending lifetime payments.

We have all been conditioned to believe that things and objects will bring us fulfillment and happiness. If i could just have that next new shiny thing life will be so much better. In fact if you set back, relax, and try to remember the happiest times of your life they usually have little to do with things, and more to do with sharing time with loved ones and enjoying natural surroundings.

Simplify, get rid of all those things you thought you needed. You will be surprised how much more peace of mind you have not having to worry if someone is going to break, or steal, that gold plated whatyamacallit.

My posts Peace Pilgrim and Moneyless in the 21st Century profile individuals who have made or are making fine examples of how to minimize involvement in the monetary system. Most of us, myself included, aren't prepared to go to these extremes. That may be due to a lot of fear and conditioning we have accumulated. We can however simplify our life by refining and reducing our consumptive tendencies.

Homesteading Webloggers

A Van-Dweller at Duke

2009-12-08T06:39:00.003-06:00

Photo by Ken Ilgunas

Ken Ilgunas lives in 15,000 dollar Ford Econoline Van at Duke University.

'Living on the cheap wasn't merely a way to save money and stave off debt; I wanted to live adventurously. I wanted to test my limits. I wanted to find the line between my wants and my needs. I wanted, as Thoreau put it, "to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life … to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms."'
http://www.salon.com/news/pinched/2009/12/06/living_in_a_van?source=newsletter

Very good read. You'll have to close the popup add that opens before you can enjoy his well written story.

Homesteading Webloggers

Reviewing some of the posts

2009-12-04T00:35:00.013-06:00

Just a great Phil Collins song to listen to while you read my post.

I read Jack London's "Call of the Wild when i was about 13. Great book for an adolescent boy to read if you want him to strike out with a pack on his back for the Yukon. Hence the quote i ended "Grandma, Hobos, Handouts, and Rhubarb Pie" with. As an anonymous person told me about the quote "True on too many levels". I couldn't have said it better. This is one of my favorite London quotes because it is "True on too many levels."

"It began to look as if I should be compelled to go to the very poor for my food. The very poor constitute the last sure recourse of the hungry tramp. The very poor can always be depended upon. They never turn away the hungry. Time and again, all over the United States, have I been refused food by the big house on the hill; and always have I received food from the little shack down by the creek or marsh, with its broken windows stuffed with rags and its tired-faced mother broken with labor. Oh, you charity-mongers! Go to the poor and learn, for the poor alone are the charitable. They neither give nor withhold from their excess. They have no excess They give, and they withhold never, from what they need for themselves, and very often from what they cruelly need for themselves. A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog when you are just as hungry as the dog."

Jack London 'The Road'

Nothing makes my blood boil like the "Haves" of our society kicking the "Have nots" when they are already down. There homeless population in the US is growing by numbers we haven't seen since the great depression of the 1930's. Tent Cities are springing up and growing across the country. My posts titled "Homeless Numbers Increasing, Tent Cities Abound", Criminalization of the Poverty Stricken Homeless", and "Homeless in St. Louis, Mo Lose Everything" are aimed at helping shed some light on this phenomenon.

This trend shows no signs of letting up anytime soon. Here's a quote from an article in The Gazette in Colorado Springs that indicates they don't have enough laws on the books to harass the homeless so they are going to make some more.

The scores of homeless people camping along creeks, trails, parks and other public property in Colorado Springs may have to find another place to live soon.

The Colorado Springs Police Department, which suffered a public relations nightmare earlier this year for its role in city-sponsored sweeps of homeless camps, is proposing a new law that would prohibit camping on public property.

The proposal was met with scorn and anguish from some of the many homeless people living in tents and under tarps along the snowy banks of Fountain Creek on Friday.

“Where do you want us to go? Out of town?” asked Chris, a 44-year-old man huddled underneath nothing more than two old sleeping bags. “Everybody hates the homeless.”

The proposed law makes it illegal for “any person to camp or to set up or occupy a tent, shack or other temporary shelter that could be used for camping on any public property.” The city also amended an existing law that bans camping “on any park property.”
http://www.gazette.com/articles/public-90297-camping-springs.html

For every person residing in a tent city it would be my guesstamation that there are about another 5 living in vehicles or more obscure areas trying to remain "out of sight" and "under the radar" of local authorities. Many of these people live in cars, vans, and campers. There is a growing segment of the population that have begun to refer to themselves as vandwellers.

One of my favorite characters from the counter culture spent many of the later years of his life as a vandweller. My post on "Nature Boy, eden ahbez" ,or ahbe as his friends called him, was one of my personal favorite posts. We will be looking at more vandwellers, rubber tramps, and vagabonds ( a positive term in my definition ) in general this month.

Homesteading Webloggers

Homeless In St. Louis, MO Lose Everything

2009-11-06T04:39:00.005-06:00

By Photographer Robert Cohen — Karen Wallensak of Catholic Charities appeals to park rangers and sanitation workers to allow a homeless man to recover his belongings from their truck after makeshift homeless living quarters in Interco Plaza were cleared Thursday morning. The small plaza is at the intersection of Tucker Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/st-louis-crime-beat/2009/11/05/st-louis-park-rangers-get-tough-on-homeless/

With homeless shelters overflowing and cold weather setting in, many homeless are left to face the elements in tents and makeshift shelters. In the city of St. Louis, with temperatures dropping well below freezing this time of year, a homeless persons meager possessions can be the only thing enables them to survive to see another day. Thursday, city employees from the St. Louis Parks Division not only took these possessions, but immediately destroyed them.

Shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday, the rangers arrived at Interco Plaza, next to the building housing the St. Patrick’s and the Catholic Charities outreach centers. And, quickly the rangers took tents, blankets, pillows, bags filled with belongings and, even, prescription medications and threw them into an orange garbage truck.

The rangers would not say why they were throwing away the homeless people’s possessions. St. Louis Parks Division Commissioner Daniel W. Skillman, who oversees the rangers, did not return a reporter’s call asking for comment.

Clint Smith, 38 and homeless, rode up on his bicycle begging the rangers to give him his belongings back. Instead, the rangers turned on the device in the truck that crushed everything that Smith owned. He was only able to save an umbrella.

“Oh, man,” Smith said to the rangers. “That was my medicine. That was my stuff. Oh, man. What a waste.”

Included in his belongings were heart and lung medicines.

About a dozen homeless men and women had set up camp a few months ago in the little park at Martin Luther King Drive and Tucker Boulevard after homeless shelters began turning people away.

“Several were staying here because, on any given day, we have more people seeking shelter than there are beds,” said Karen Wallensak, who works for Catholic Charities’ Housing Resource Center in the building next door.

“These people have never caused a problem,” Wallensak said.

About 10 a.m., she said she looked out of her office window and saw what the rangers were doing, then ran outside to try to stop them. She tried to make the rangers give her and her co-workers the belongings to hold on to for the homeless. The rangers refused.

“We are in the shadow of the city’s two biggest homeless providers,” Wallensak said as she grabbed a few garbage bags the rangers had left behind. “They say this is public, not private property, but when people have nowhere to go, what are they supposed to do?”
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/st-louis-crime-beat/2009/11/05/st-louis-park-rangers-get-tough-on-homeless/

The inhumanity of the treatment of people who are already down, by some who have a warm bed and a roof over their head never ceases to amaze me.

“I can’t replace what was taken,” Gates said. “It might not look like much to someone else, but these were priceless items to us. It protects us from the cold and the elements.”

The above quote is also from the St. Louis Today article referenced above.

Homesteading Webloggers

The Venus Project

2009-11-04T01:22:00.005-06:00

The Venus Project part 1

The Venus Project part 2

The Venus Project website.
http://www.thevenusproject.com/

THE ZEITGEIST MOVEMENT

The Zeitgeist Movement is the activist arm of The Venus Project , which constitutes the life long work of industrial designer and social engineer, Jacque Fresco. Jacque currently lives in Venus, Florida, working closely with his associate, Roxanne Meadows. Now, let it be understood that Mr. Fresco will be the first to tell you that his perspectives and developments are not entirely his own, but rather uniquely derived from the evolution of scientific inquiry which has persevered since the dawn of antiquity. Simply put, what The Venus Project represents and what The Zeitgeist Movement hence condones, could be summarized as: ‘The application of The Scientific Method for social concern.’
http://www.thevenusproject.com/images/stories/thezeitgeistmovement.pdf

The Zeitgeist Movement: Orientation Presentation (1hr. 37min.)

The Zeitgeist Movement website.
http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/

For brax's take on this material visit; brax peace: Reviewing The Venus Project

Homesteading Webloggers

Rocket Stoves

2009-10-17T15:07:00.006-05:00

Rocket stoves are highly efficient, easy to construct, and can be easily made from many materials. All the basic principles, and the design of the rocket stove are illustrated in the diagram above. A well built rocket stove produces very little smoke due to complete combustion of the fuel. This more complete combustion means that less fuel is needed to produce more heat.

The rocket stove was designed by Dr. Larry Winiarski of the Aprovecho Research Institute. Many rocket stoves are made from 5 gal steel cans with sections of 4 inch stove pipe used to create the combustion chamber and chimney. The remaining interior of the stove is usually filled with ash or vermiculite for insulation.

Here is a video of Dr. Winiarski making a rocket stove from 16 adobe bricks in Mexico.

Commercially produced rocket stoves are available in two versions, a one door for sticks or a two door for sticks or charcoal, from StoveTec. StoveTec is a division of Aprovecho Research Institute so these stoves conform to the designs principles laid out by the Institute. I prefer the two door stove. The increased functionality is well worth the few dollar extra in retail cost.

A video ,from StoveTec, of the two door stove in operation is included below.

The design principles incorporated into the rocket stove can be utilized in more complex cooking or heating designs. A good overview of the principles can be found in the booklet referenced below.

"This document was developed by Aprovecho Research Center under a grant from the Shell Foundation to provide technical support to household energy and health projects to ensure that their designs represent technical best practice. The principle authors of this booklet include: Dr. Mark Bryden, Dean Still, Peter Scott,
Geoff Hoffa, Damon Ogle, Rob Balis, and Ken Goyer."

http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/stovesdoc/Pcia/Design%20Principles%20for%20Wood%20Burning%20Cookstoves.pdf

A good example of someone incorporating these design principles into a mass heater inside a shelter can be found at the following link.
http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

Homesteading Webloggers

On Skid Row

2009-10-16T12:49:00.005-05:00

A good friend pointed me toward this series of video's from Good magazine.
Each video in the series runs between 5 to 9 minutes. The clips have been embedded via Link TV

On Skid Row - Introduction

On Skid Row - Kids

On Skid Row - Drugs

On Skid Row - God

On Skid Row - Afterward

Homesteading Webloggers

Preparing for Climate Change

2009-10-15T01:00:00.003-05:00

"On the 'top' is a photograph of Muir Glacier taken on August 13, 1941, by glaciologist William O. Field; on the 'bottom', a photograph taken from the same vantage on August 31, 2004, by geologist Bruce F. Molnia of the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

According to Molnia, between 1941 and 2004 the glacier retreated more than twelve kilometers (seven miles) and thinned by more than 800 meters (875 yards).

Ocean water has filled the valley, replacing the ice of Muir Glacier; the end of the glacier has retreated out of the field of view. The glacier’s absence reveals scars where glacier ice once scraped high up against the hillside. In 2004, trees and shrubs grow thickly in the foreground, where in 1941 there was only bare rock."
http://nsidc.org/data/glacier_photo/special_high_res_muir.html

Climate change can best be understood as increased energy in the earth's overall atmosphere. While this means warming in the overall planet average many places may actually experience temperature drops due to the complex nature of global weather patterns. Climate change will disrupt rainfall amounts, ocean currents, air flow patterns and more. It can be hard to predict the change on a local geographic region due to the many factors involved.

Overall, storm frequency and intensity will increase. Plant growing zones will fluctuate. Insects and diseases spread by them will migrate. Environmental constraints on invasive species will be changed. All of these phenomena have all ready taken place to some degree and will increase as climate change increases.

Preserving and stocking food is an important precaution, even when one is not facing global change it is prudent to be prepared in this area. Food self production and independence could become an important factor in ones survival. Understanding and identification of changes in local flora and fauna will become a more valuable skill. Water caching and collection are important topics to understand. Storm shelters will become more important. Flooding and mudslides require a more careful selection and knowledge of local terrain. Changing one's lifestyle to require fewer things, and to produce more of the things one needs, is beneficial not only to one's personal survival but, as more people adopt this outlook, to the survival of the planet.

Most of these precautions, although mentioned briefly here, have been or will be covered in more detail in the posts of this blog. A good way to get ahead of the curve is to educate oneself on the effects and consequences of climate change. A web search will provide a plethora of information on the subject. A good place to start to find regional, as well as global, information is from the two links provided below.

"The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change is the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences."
http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.htm

"The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The USGCRP began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606), which called for "a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change."
http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts/download-the-report

Have a good blog action day.
Official Google Blog: A green tour of the Google campus

Homesteading Webloggers

Moneyless in the 21st century

2009-10-13T16:46:00.006-05:00

"In such a soil grew Homer and Confucius and the
rest, and out of such a wilderness comes the Reformer eating
locusts and wild honey."
Walking by Henry David Thoreau

"Night falls, the stars wink, and after an hour, Suelo tramps up the cliff, mimicking a raven's call—his salutation—a guttural, high-pitched caw. He's lanky and tan; yesterday he rebuilt the entrance to his cave, hauling huge rocks to make a staircase. His hands are black with dirt, and his hair, which is going gray, looks like a bird's nest, full of dust and twigs from scrambling in the underbrush on the canyon floor. Grinning, he presents the booty from one of his weekly rituals, scavenging on the streets of Moab: a wool hat and gloves, a winter jacket, and a white nylon belt, still wrapped in plastic, along with Carhartt pants and sandals, which he's wearing. He's also scrounged cans of tuna and turkey Spam and a honeycomb candle. All in all, a nice haul from the waste product of America"

"Soon smoke billows into the night and the cave is warm. I think of how John the Baptist survived on honey and locusts in the desert. Suelo, who keeps a copy of the Bible for bedtime reading, is satisfied with a few grasshoppers fried in his skillet."

http://men.style.com/details/features/full?id=content_9817&

Suelo is a 21st century philosopher. He has lived without money since 2000. He is 48 yrs. old and usually can be found in the summer months living in a cave in Utah.
Listen to the following BBC interview with Suelo.

There is a short documentary on Suelo at one of his friends sites. Just click on the link Documentary under "Moneyless In Moab (2006)"
http://www.everythingahead.com/watch.html

You can find Suelo's web site here.
http://sites.google.com/site/livingwithoutmoney/
Be sure to read his FAQ's

Suelo's blog:
http://www.zerocurrency.blogspot.com/

Homesteading Webloggers

Understanding Our Monetary System

2009-10-10T18:41:00.009-05:00

The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America

This is a 3 hr. 35 min. documentary. I can't say I agree with all the political views presented in the video. It is, however, very educational and enlightening. This piece needs to be viewed by every citizen to help them make informed decisions.
After you watch the documentary come back here and continue below.

Did you think that was a fact rich, highly informative documentary? The information can be somewhat overwhelming. To help counter balance that info and help maintain that all important positive outlook one should watch the following short video.

Mali: Gift Economy

Check out their website at:
http://otherworldsarepossible.org/

For brax's response to this post see. brax peace: Reviewing Monetary System Post

Homesteading Webloggers

Peace Pilgrim

2009-10-09T01:15:00.003-05:00

Peace Pilgrim was an amazing woman willing to put her convictions to the test. Even those who don't agree with her philosophy have to admire her for her perseverance and fortitude. The hour long documentary and her book say more about the woman who chose a "path less taken" than I can, so without further ado.

"This hour-long documentary presents an overview of Peace Pilgrim's life and work.
We hope you enjoy an benefit from its message.

Watch Peace Pilgrim: An American Sage"

Peace Pilgrim's free booklet "Steps Toward Inner Peace"
http://www.peacepilgrim.com/steps1.htm

Peace Pilgrim's book free in pdf format.
http://www.peacepilgrim.org/book/ppbook.pdf

Peace Pilgrim's book free online in html format.
http://www.peacepilgrim.org/book/aframe.htm

To order a free paperback copy of her book.
http://www.peacepilgrim.org/htmfiles/freebook.htm

Peace Pilgrim's website
http://www.peacepilgrim.com/

Friends of Peace Pilgrim's website
http://www.peacepilgrim.com/FoPP/index.html

“Little people of the world, let us never feel helpless again. Let us remember that if enough of us ask together even very big things like world disarmament and world peace will be granted. Let's ask together!”

Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Works in Her Own Words - Pg. 124

National Parks, BLM, and other Federal Lands pt.2

2009-10-04T14:08:00.012-05:00

Map of U.S. public lands: Bureau of Land Management, Forest Servicd, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Parks Service.

National Atlas of the United States has a nice online interactive atlas that can be used, among other searches, for viewing maps of federal, or as i prefer to call it public, lands in the U. S..

"Lands owned or administered by the Federal government."

In the map key you will find that BLM land is represented in yellow. This map represents blocks of land that are 640 acres or more in size.

Viewing the map is the best means of visualizing the enormous amount of federal lands existing in the country.

BLM land exists in many of the western states. It is ok to camp or boondock on most BLM land. In theory there is a 14 day camping limit for one spot then one must move at least 25 miles to another spot. In practice, in the more secluded areas, there is no one counting.

Recreation.gov

"Recreation One-Stop is one of the E-Government initiatives in the President's Management Agenda to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and customer service of the recreation programs.

The Recreation One-Stop initiative is intended to enhance customer satisfaction with recreational experiences on public lands. It will improve access to recreation-related information generated by the Federal government, streamline the systems used to manage that information, and increase the sharing of recreation-related information among government and non-government organizations. The investment will include the procurement of a new contract to integrate the separate National Park Reservation Service and National Reservation Recreation Service with the Recreation.gov website. "

BLM

"The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was established in 1946 through the consolidation of the General Land Office (created in 1812) and the U.S. Grazing Service (formed in 1934). The functions of the BLM are also addressed in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). (For more details, please see BLM and Its Predecessors ). To see a comprehensive list of legislation that BLM operates under, click here . And, to see videos describing the early history of BLM, click on "Fractured Land Patterns."
The BLM is responsible for carrying out a variety of programs for the management and conservation, of resources on 256 million surface acres, as well as 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate, These public lands make up about 13 percent of the total land surface of the United States and more than 40 percent of all land managed by the Federal government. To see how BLM is organized, click here ."

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/About_BLM.html

The BLM maintains a great online photo library that can be searched by state, keyword, or both.
It's a great way to check out different areas.

http://www.blm.gov/photos/netpub/server.np?base&site=BLM&template=simplesearch.np&catalog=catalog

Our Public Lands

"Created by National Wildlife Federation™, this website provides information on public lands issues of both national and state significance. Although issues regarding all public lands are featured, this site focuses on the western states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico where the public lands conservation tradition runs deep. "

http://www.ourpubliclands.org/

About the Public Lands Information Center

"Public Lands Interpretive Association initiated the Public Lands Information Center project in response to demand for a single source of information about recreation and land use on all public lands in a state, regardless of managing agency. We realize that when you have a destination or an activity in mind, your concern is to find out where to go, when to go, what to do, and how much it will cost. But up until now, getting those answers often meant an endless goose chase of contacting government agencies and trying to pinpoint the correct agency, department, or office.

The Public Lands Information Center was developed to cut the red tape for you. We offer all you need to know about visitor facilities, surrounding areas, appropriate maps and guides, and the rules and regulations for each area. If you need more information than you get from the site descriptions, check our bookstore, our link pages, or email our staff. If you need to contact the managing agency for additional permits or licenses, we can put you in touch with the right person, and save you time and headaches."

http://www.publiclands.org/

There are also BLM websites for each state with BlM lands. They are all available through the main BLM site.

National Parks, BLM, and other Federal Lands pt.1

2009-10-03T19:25:00.005-05:00

This land is your land.

A Film By Ken Burns
The National Parks: Americas Best Idea

The National Parks: America's Best Idea is a six-episode series directed by Ken Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales – from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska - The National Parks: America's Best Idea is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background – rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

All six parts along with deleted scenes and untold stories are available to watch free online at:
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/watch-video/#872

Hurry, because i think they will only be available until Oct. 9.

Ansel Adams Photograph of the Grand Tetons and Snake River
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the
United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.

Ansel Adams was contracted by the Dept. of the Interior to take photographs of the National Parks in 1941. He is considered one of the greatest landscape photographers. You can find several of his photos at the National Archives:

http://www.archives.gov/research/ansel-adams/

Explore the National Parks Service online.

We will explore Federal Lands more in following posts.

Foraging or The Earth Provides pt. 4

2009-09-28T02:41:00.009-05:00

Scan of a John William Waterhouse 1890 oil painting
from freeparking on Flickr

The first three parts of Foraging presented a few easy to identify, widespread, edible plant species. In this part we will look at how one integrates foraging as a regular part of their lifestyle. One begins by simply "paying attention" to plants their differences and similarities. Once one begins this simple exercise, one will see a diverse community of competing and interdependent organisms where many, less observant individuals, see an homogeneous background.

A little education on the basics of botany goes a long way to making one's observations of the natural world more rewarding. There are many online resources that offer information on botany. A good primer on Basic Botany from, The University of Arizona: College of Agriculture & Life Sciences is available online. Many foragers and naturalists keep a journal where they make sketches of plants and collect leaves to identify later. If you like to take quizzes to with your course another very good primer on Botany Basics is available from Oregon State University Extension Service.

A little understanding of Basic Botany makes plant identification go a lot easier. The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service has pictures of over 40,000+ plants online, along with profiles. A great resource they offer are downloadable, and online identification keys. The downloadable keys are great for laptops for in the field use.

A basic understanding of taxonomy is also very helpful in plant identification for one's foraging endeavors. For example when one sees a reference angiosperms one will know that it is referring to the large diverse group of plants that produce flowers. Should the reference be to Gymnosperms, with some taxonomic education, one would know that the reference is to a group of plants that produce ovules (eggs) on scales. The scales are usually arranged in cone-like structures. The largest group of Gymnosperms are the Conifers.

Since Darwin, taxonomy has attempted to organize organisms in relation to their evolutionary history. This organization scheme is known as Biological Systematics. Plants belonging to the same family will have similar characteristics. Once one knows the characteristics of an order or family understanding the plants contained therein becomes easier.

A good tool to explore the taxonomy of the plants you identify can be found here.
http://plants.usda.gov/classification.html

A basic overview of taxonomy can be found here.
http://faculty.fmcc.suny.edu/mcdarby/majors101book/Chapter_02-A_Bit_of_History/02-Explaining-Life-Classification.htm#PLANTAE

Tree of life website has an interactive tool to explore the relationships of organisms.
http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html

Drill down through a plant evolutionary tree from a site at Berkeley.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/plants/plantaesy.html

A good site on foraging.
http://www.wildcrafting.net/

Another good foraging site.
http://www.naturessecretlarder.co.uk/

Oklahoma Wildcrafting
http://www.okwildcrafting.com/

"Just twenty plants provide the majority of food eaten, yet there are thousands of other useful plants which have not reached mainstream attention. You can find details of many of them here."
Plants for a Future
http://www.pfaf.org/index.php

"The website of the Wild Man of food, Fergus Drennan; forager extraordinaire!"
http://www.wildmanwildfood.com/

We will end this post with a video featuring Steve Brill. He has been giving "wild food and ecology tours" in New York city since April, 1982. His website is at:
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/

Foraging or The Earth Provides pt. 3

2009-09-25T18:28:00.007-05:00

Photo Public Domain wikiCommons

Plantago is a genus of about 200 species of small, inconspicuous plants commonly called plantains. They share this name with the very dissimilar plantain, a kind of banana. Most are herbaceous plants, though a few are subshrubs growing to 60 cm (23.5 in) tall. The leaves are sessile, but have a narrow part near the stem which is a pseudo-petiole. They have three or five parallel veins that diverge in the wider part of the leaf. Leaves are broad or narrow, depending on the species. The inflorescences are borne on stalks typically 5-40 cm (2.25-15.75 in) tall, and can be a short cone or a long spike, with numerous tiny wind-pollinated flowers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago

Plantains ( Plantago major) often are found in lawns and lots. It is an inconspicuous plant that is often overlooked. The leaves can be eaten raw.

Photo by Martin LaBar on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinlabar/314786264/

"In some human cultures, acorns once constituted a dietary staple, though they are now generally considered a minor food with the exception of Native American and Korean cultures. In Korean culture in particular, dotorimuk, acorn jelly, and dotori gooksoo, acorn noodles, are eaten by some on a daily basis."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn

Acorns must be dried, then soaked in water, replacing the water several times, to remove bitter taste. It can then be ground dried and used in place of conventional flour.

"I bring all the acorns home from collecting, and dry them in the oven at pilot light temperatures or very low heat. This is just to dry them and kill off bugs.

When I get around to it, I crack the shells off, and then I soak the shelled acorns in water. Generally, I soak the acorns for a few days to about two weeks, changing the water at least twice a day. When the acorns are no longer bitter, I grind them while wet through a meat grinder.

The coarse meal is then placed in cookie pans to dry in the sun or oven. When dry, I store in large jars in the cupboard. The meal is then used in place of wheat flour in recipes, or half and half in various recipes."
http://www.self-reliance.net/acorn.html

Photo from Mgmax on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgmax/2757555007/

Lambsquarter ( Chenopodium berlandieri ) is common in many areas from urban to countryside. It is also known as goosefoot, or pigweed. It is one of the more mild tasting edibles and is good eaten raw. Many people use it in place of spinach.

"Lambsquarters is a close cousin to spinach, but far, far more nutritious. It ranks right up there with Dandelion, Watercress and Nettles as one of nature’s nutritional powerhouses. It has a mild, green flavor like our domestic greens. In fact it is a relative of Swiss chard, beets and a few exotic garden greens like orach, all in the Chenopodium family."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambsquarter

Here's a short video from Shyguyx12 showing several edibles.

Species Interaction or Monkey Business

2009-09-24T23:59:00.003-05:00

This post is way off topic, but hey just consider it a symptom of my nonconformity.

Tiger By the Tail.

I will get back on theme tomorrow.

Foraging or The Earth Provides pt. 2

2009-09-23T20:17:00.010-05:00

Stinging Nettles ( Urtica dioica ) WikiCommons

One of the first plants, next to dandelions, I learned to recognize was stinging nettles ( Urtica dioica ). When I was a young boy of about 6 or 7 years old I would go with my father through the timber and across the pastures looking for morel mushrooms. On one of these early excursion I went charging through a batch of lush green foliage arms outstretched brushing through the soft, friendly appearing plants. I never got through the patch before I was screeching in agony and sobbing in pain. My father explaining that the most intense part would be over in about 15 to 20 minutes did little to sooth my anguish. He explained that those silky looking soft plants where stinging nettles and should be avoided. I have never failed to recognize them since.

When I was 12 and had acquired a book from the library on edible plants, I was shocked and amazed to see stinging nettles listed as not only an edible, but one of the more tasty and nutritious ones. They grow in most areas of the world and are as at home on an overgrown city lot, or roadside, as they are in creek bottoms and timber edges. The young leaves are the best for forage, for this reason many suggest collecting in the spring, but there are usually plenty of new leaves on the upper reaches of the plant throughout the growing season.

"Nettles' micronutrient profile blasts other greens out of the soil. They are high in calcium, iron, vitamins and "contain more chlorophyll than almost any other plant in existence," according to the editors of Organic Gardening and Farming in "Unusual Vegetables" (Rodale Press, 1978). No wonder Elliott recommends them to students and clients "if they're feeling anemic and tired. It's a very vitalizing type of herb," she says."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/16/FD270263.DTL

The above referenced quote comes from an informative article with several recipes. The article also illustrates the fact nettles are becoming an item available in several of the bay area restaurants. They are beginning to be sold in green markets.

They can be eaten raw by "tacoing" the leaf from the bottom and smashing the top of the leaf together then folding all the edges in and smashing again to ensure all stinging hairs have been destroyed. Boiling or steaming the plants, for about ten minutes, also removes it's stinging abilities. Another technique, I've heard, that is used is to hold the plant next to a hot open fire until it wilts.

Here is a video featuring Frank Cook on a plant walk discussing stinging nettles.

In part 3 of Foraging or The Earth Provides we will take a brief look at a few more common edibles Then part 4 will contain a list of resources for the reader to further pursue the topic.

Foraging or The Earth Provides pt. 1

2009-09-22T13:31:00.021-05:00

Illustration by simmons3d on Flicker.

The corporate induced reality of fast food franchises, super super marts, internationally distributed processed food products, and convenience driven consumerism has divorced humankind of the intimate embrace from our source of sustenance. Ask one person where our food comes from and they may answer "the Grocery store". Ask another with a broader view and they may say "the farm". Ask the farmer and they may say "from the garden, the fields, the tilled and seeded earth, unless it is a corporate farm then they will likely say "Monsanto". In reality it is in the natural places, the places untouched by the saw or plow, that the most enriching and diverse sources of sustenance can be found.

One does not have to find a pristine old growth forest, or an undisturbed ecosystem, to find food, despite their being optimum. The abandoned city lot, the river bank, the city park, or the overgrown fence row can provide an amazing amount of natural, nutritional, food sources. In fact there are many urban wild edibles. I'm sure that, everyday, hungry people walk unaware past untapped sources of naturally occurring nutrition in their quest for nourishment.

A plate of Wehani rice, with sauteed dandelion greens.

Let's begin with an edible plant that can be found in the majority of cities in the U. S.. Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) are considered the bane of many lawn owners. It is possible to make money from home owners in exchange for removing the dandelions.

Every part of the dandelion is edible. The roots can be boiled and stir fried like other vegetables. It can also be roasted and used as a coffee substitute.

The leaves can be boiled in salt water like spinach. Eaten raw on sandwiches or in salads for a green with stronger taste.

The flowers can be stir fried as a vegetable. They have long been used to make dandelion wine.

Here is a video with the recently deceased Frank Cook, a man very connected to nature and an immense repository of plant knowledge, of Plantsandhealers.com discussing the dandelion.

We will continue this topic in later posts.

Urban Farms or Survival in the City

2009-09-21T16:50:00.009-05:00

One of the easiest ways to reduce your cost of living is to start producing the things you consider necessities yourself. Even in urban settings there are things that can be done to reduce ones reliance on the system. From growing your own vegetables and spices, soap making, beer brewing, sewing, to making your own fuel for your transportation, many things you pay cash for can be made at home.

Here is an example, from ABC's Nightline, being set by a suburban family, the Dervaes, in Pasadena CA.

Check out the Dervaes website on urban homesteading. It has lots of tips and ideas for those on the road to self sufficiency.

Urban homesteading is not new, it was, in the early part of the twentieth century, the norm rather than the exception. As a youngster in the early 70's I sat at a table where everything on the table came from the yard that was in the city limits on less than a quarter acre of land. There was a shed with a stall for the milk cow and rabbit hutches and a chicken coup on the northwest corner of the lot. The southwest corner of the lot contained the house and a small front yard with a couple fruit trees. The eastern side of the lot was all garden with all the vegetables and spices that were familiar to a Midwestern boy, and a few that weren't.

First, through ordinances designed to "improve" community life, legislation forced removal of the milk cow, later the chickens had to go. By the 80's the city had remade the community into a place that required a greater reliance on processed foods, most times transported hundreds if not thousands of miles. Many cities have successfully propagandized it's citizenry to the point that should one get a couple chickens, or want a milk cow, there are immediately complaint calls from concerned neighbors to the proper authorities.

During the great depression many families helped feed themselves and made few extra dollars by selling eggs, milk, and fresh vegetables from these urban farms. The current economic crises doesn't offer many that option due to rigid zoning laws and their enforcement. It is, however, a good time to try to counter these ridiculous infringements on personal freedom and the rights of self sustenance. Economic hardship, combined with the growing public awareness of environmental impacts and the green movement make this a good time to reverse some of this community legislation.

There are urban farms spring up like mad all across the country some are facing these bureaucratic obstacles head on. Check out:

Bad Seed Farm in Kansas City Brings Urban Farming to the Next Level

Welch's: Harvest of Help

2009-09-16T14:54:00.004-05:00

A quick easy way to help those in need. Welch's;Harvest of Help, is donating 8 oz. of 100 percent juice for just clicking a link on their website. Their goal is to donate one million glasses of juice. You can only click once a day so remember to go back daily and help some children get a good glass of juice everyday. Spread this link around for others to click.

Welch's: Harvest of Help

Criminalization of the poverty stricken homeless

2009-09-15T05:03:00.004-05:00

http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/more_arrests_at_sacramentos_safe_ground

Homless Numbers Increasing,Tent Cities Abound

2009-09-14T01:26:00.010-05:00

Jim Wilson/The New York Times

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless there are 1.35 million children homeless during the year, and about 200 thousand homeless children on any given day. The NCH also puts the number of homeless vets at about 200 thousand and states that over 400 thousand vets will experience homelessness throughout the year. As a result of the increase in homelessness tent cities are spring up, some overnight, in cities across the country.

"While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root — or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing — in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.
In Seattle, homeless residents in the city’s 100-person encampment call it Nickelsville, an unflattering reference to the mayor, Greg Nickels. A tent city in Sacramento prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to announce a plan Wednesday to shift the entire 125-person encampment to a nearby fairground. That came after a recent visit by “The Oprah Winfrey Show” set off such a news media stampede that some fed-up homeless people complained of overexposure and said they just wanted to be left alone."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26tents.html

This blog has presented, and will continue to present, "homeless" people who choose to be so as conscious alternative lifestyle decision. The majority, of course, do not fall into this category. They have been thrown into the situation "by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune". Most forecasters predict that we are not yet at the bottom of the falling economy and it is likely to get much worse before it gets better.

Many cities try to address the problem by criminalizing homelessness. Mainly through the use of park curfew laws, loitering laws, public sleeping laws. etc. This adds increased stress on people, many who have always been law abiding citizens, and helps move them further into desperation.
Some of the causes of homelessness, according to the NCH, are the ever increasing percentage of the population that are at or below poverty levels, lowering wages, increasing unemployment, and shortage of affordable housing among others.
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/why.html

The video below shows a small slice of the problem and how many municipalities try to deal with the problem.

Additional Homeless Information:

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/

http://www.endhomelessness.org/

http://stonesoupstation.blogspot.com/

http://www.abouthomelessness.blogspot.com/

What can be done to help? Volunteer at a shelter. Volunteer at a "soup kitchen". When voting and electing officials make sure you know where they stand on homelessness issues. Educate yourself and help educate others on the increasing numbers, issues, and plight of the homeless. Go to the link below and check out more in depth ways to help.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/you.html

We will return to this topic from time to time on this blog to not only look at the problem in more detail, but look at some of the more innovative and successful solutions that have been employed.

Nature boy, eden ahbez

2009-09-12T19:39:00.002-05:00

eden or ahbe as he was known to his friends, played the piano at the Eutropheon in the early 1940s. The Eurtopheon was small health food store and raw food restaurant on Laurel Canyon Blvd. The owners of the Eutropheon were John and Vera Richter. The Richters were followers and promoters of a German philosophy, Wandervogel, who's adherants wore long hair and beards. They also ate only raw fruits and vegetables. The followers of the Richter's became known as nature boys.

Eden said that he had crossed the country from New York to California 8 times on foot. Eden married Anna Jacobsen. They had a son. The family slept out under the stars, spending many nights in Griffith Park.

Sometime in 1947 eden handed the music and lyrics for a song he had written, Nature Boy, to Nat Coles manager. Nat performed the song live and the reception prompted him to record the song. Eden had to be located to close the deal. Eden was finally located living under the first L in the Hollywood sign in the Hollywood hills.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"

eden ahbez Nature Boy

eden on racism

"Some white people Hate black people,
and some white people Love black people,
Some black people Hate white people,
and some black people Love white people.
So you see it's not an issue of black and white,
it's an issue of Lovers and Haters."`
eden ahbez
http://www.shadowboxstudio.com/edenahbez.htm

Anna, eden's wife died in 1963. Eden spent much of his later years living alone in a van. Here is a very interesting phone message he left his friend with a picture montage.

"500 Nations" Native American History

2009-09-12T01:51:00.004-05:00

The best comprehensive video history of the Native Americans I have yet come across is 500 Nations. Most Native American cultures have been a very good example of living in harmony with the environment. Native Americans, for the most part, have lived simply, not wanting more than they needed and not taking more than they needed.

500 Nations is an eight part documentary on the Native Americans of North and Central America. It documents from pre-Columbian to the end of the 19th century. Much of the information comes from text, eyewitnesses, pictorials, and computer graphics. The series was hosted by Kevin Costner, and directed by Jack Leustig. It included the voice talents of narrator Gregory Harrison, Eric Schweig, Wes Studi, Edward James Olmos, and Patrick Stewart. "500 Nations tries to crystallize the sweeping events that reshaped North America- one of the largest and most pivotal stories in human history - a story we feel is widely unknown. Often painful, sometimes shocking, but in the end it is simply about understanding." Kevin Costner

Each of the parts are about one hour and thirty five minutes each. You can watch full screen by clicking on the button with four arrows on the bottom of the video border. Enjoy the shows.

500 Nations part 1

500 Nations part 2

500 Nations part 3

500 Nations part 4

Grandma, Hoboes, Handouts, and Rhubarb Pie

2009-09-10T13:24:00.213-05:00

Photo by Hayford Peirce

Back, a little closer to the mid point of the 20th century, late 60's to be a little more precise, I had my first brush with an individual that lived a life so removed from mine, and the people i knew, that the only means to know this man, for me, was through conjecture and imagination. So conject and imagine i did.

This encounter occurred while I was visiting my Grandma, who lived in a small house less than a quarter mile from the railroad tracks and a mile or so from the train yards. I had not yet completed my first decade of life, but was getting close to that milestone. At Grandma's house that day there were six of my cousins, all of the younger than me by varying degrees. One girl, a year younger than me, and five boys, the youngest at the time being three. Theses other kids belonged to two of my dad's sisters.

To more fully develop the scene, or maybe to indulge a grandson who is now a granddad himself, let me illustrate the nature and character of Grandma. She was widowed a year before i was born, lived alone in this small house on a corner lot in the south end of St. Joseph, MO. She may have lived alone, but she seldom was, having seven daughter and 3 sons. My father, the second oldest child and the middle boy, had married and moved out while the family still lived in the Black Snake Hills south of town. Her offspring had reached the age that they could take care of each other, and the farm chores. Her husband was off driving a tractor trailer to support the family. Many, if not most, would have accepted the circumstances as a well deserved reprieve from the grind of scratching out a living in those hills. Instead Grandma, being of hill stock who took to heart sayings like, "idle hands are the devil's workshop", set out to gain employment.

She had the distinction of being the first woman to work on the line in the meat packing house, which was the backbone of the local economy in those days. There were women in the offices working as secretaries and such, but none on the meat processing lines. Grandma had accomplished this feat by showing up for work before seven in the morning ready to work every workday for nearly a month. Upon her arrival the management would send her away with rejections and phrases that, I surmise, included; man's job, no place for a woman, and other gender based reasons. Knowing Grandma, I'm sure all of these comments were countered politely with past stock butchering experiences on the farm, and an affirmation that she would be back to see if they needed help and would give her a trial.

The distance between the small farm in the Black Snake Hills and the packing house was close to ten miles. Grandma never drove or owned a car in her life. To arrive at the packing house by seven Grandma would get up before dawn, pack her lunch, and walk out of the hills down to the flats, across the tracks, through the stockyards, to the meat packing house. I don't have, and can't fully grasp, the resolve, conviction, and determination it must have taken to make that journey every morning, knowing that what awaited at the packing house was rejection, dismissal, and the walk back, up, into the hills. I'm sure it was that indomitable spirit and resolve that finally won over whoever made the decision to give a woman a chance to work on the line at the packing house.

One might assume the woman with such a deeply ingrained work ethic would have no sympathy or charitable inclinations for the able bodied man, in his late twenties or early thirties, that knocked on her back porch door asking if she might have a scrap of food or some morsel she might spare. Not Grandma, despite the work ethic she held to her entire life, and had instilled into each of her children without exception, she was one of the last people to judge or cast aspersions. She invited the stranger in for a set down meal. No doubt she would have put him at the kitchen table had it not already been filled elbow to elbow with her grandchildren.

I had spent much of the morning watching and helping Grandma make 3 big rhubarb pies. What had occupied my mind all morning was what rhubarb pie taste like. I had never eaten rhubarb pie before. I looked a lot like red celery to me. I had washed the rhubarb stalks in the kitchen sink for Grandma and all the while couldn't imagine this, vegetable looking, plant being used to make a pie. With the appearance of the road worn stranger all those curiosities had been replaced.

Grandma had shown him to the bath room and said there's a bar of soap on the sink and a hand towel on the rack if he'd like to wash up before lunch. I may have stared a little too long, but I found this stranger, that had unexpectedly appeared just before our noontime meal, exceedingly interesting. From his bundle, rapped with a rope and stowed against the wall on the screened in back porch, to his sun darkened skin. He had deep crows feet, from smiling i assumed, since he seemed to have a permanent smile as though his face was incapable of anything but a happy expression. His clothes were worn with patches and new holes waiting to be patched. I wondered where those cracked leather, thin soled, work boots had come from and where they were going. I saw far off deserts, mountains, and forests and envied those boots for the adventures they had seen.

As Grandma dished up the chicken and noodles, made from a bird she had boiled on top the stove while we had worked on the rhubarb pies, my mind spun with questions I wanted to ask the wavy haired man. I kept my mouth shut. I had been told to, "mind my business" enough times to know you didn't greet new people with questions and interrogations. Some of my younger cousins couldn't resist blurting out questions, unsure of the stranger in our midst, directed at Grandma.

From various positions around the table came, "Grandma, Who is that man?" Why is he here?" "How come he's eating lunch with us?"

Grandma said, "This is Hank. He's eating lunch for the same reason you are, cause people get hungry. Now 'mind your business' and eat your lunch."

Hank just quietly and smiled through the indirect questioning and only said, "Thank you, ma'am" as Grandma sat a plate with 2 big slices of breaded, fried, eggplant and 3 slices of bread with butter down next to his chicken and noodles. Hank finished all the food Grandma had set before him. I followed suit.

One piece of rhubarb pie was all I could handle. It had an intense tart taste. Hank ate two big pieces. Hank thanked Grandma heartily. Grandma just said "You be careful out there young man." Smiling he nodded his head. Then she handed him a paper bag. Hank said "No thank you ma'am, you've done more than enough."

Grandma said, "Nonsense, now take this."

Hank smiled and took the bag repeating "Thank you."

Hank hoisted his bundle on his back using a loop of the rope as a shoulder strap and headed out the back door the way he had come in.

I got up and walked to the front porch and watched as Hank headed west toward the tracks with a steady brisk gate.

I have always been an avid reader, at that young age I had read many books about explorers and had dream of adventures in far off places. I thought that my explorations could only be achieved by organizing a well funded major expedition, like Louis and Clark or Jacques Cousteau. My eyes had been opened that sunny spring day. I now knew that a pair of boots, a short length of rope, a bed roll and the kindness of strangers was all that was needed to venture off into the unknown.

Grandma had more than her share of strangers looking for handouts in the following years. I had overheard my dad and uncle talking that they thought the house was marked but couldn't find where or how. I have since come to realize that, although it was common practice for hobos to mark homes where a good meal could be had, one of the reason for Grandma's popularity was the fact that here house looked like a Grandma's house and that is was on a corner lot with easy access to the back door.

It didn't take long for the hungry road traveler to realize that people are more receptive at the back door. Bill collectors, politicians, and sales men knock on the front door. An unexpected knock at the front door means people begin to prepare themselves with reasons why they can't and don't want to be bothered. On the way to the door they begin to wonder what this unexpected intruder is going to try to get out of them. A knock at the back door is usually a friend or family member that is met with more open generosity. The kitchen is almost always at the back of the house.

In today's culture there are fewer people knocking on doors looking for "handouts". You are too likely to get the police called on you. Modern media has the populace expecting a thief or worse behind the face of any stranger that would dare ask for something at your door. Today the modern road dawg "flys a sign" alongside a busy intersection or they "brusk" (entertain and pass the hat), among other methods, to get money for their next meal or other traveling expenses.

"It began to look as if I should be compelled to go to the very poor for my food. The very poor constitute the last sure recourse of the hungry tramp. The very poor can always be depended upon. They never turn away the hungry. Time and again, all over the United States, have I been refused food by the big house on the hill; and always have I received food from the little shack down by the creek or marsh, with its broken windows stuffed with rags and its tired-faced mother broken with labor. Oh, you charity-mongers! Go to the poor and learn, for the poor alone are the charitable. They neither give nor withhold from their excess. They have no excess They give, and they withhold never, from what they need for themselves, and very often from what they cruelly need for themselves. A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog when you are just as hungry as the dog."

Jack London 'The Road'

Check out Jack London's 'The Road' for a good ebook on riding the rails and tramping in the early days of the twentieth century.

Slab City or The Slabs

2009-09-06T12:04:00.012-05:00

Photo by ig9d9 http://www.flickr.com/photos/franz_ellers/3289453270/

Every year when the leaves loose their grip in the northern deciduous forests, and the cold wind starts sucking the green from the meadows and grasslands of the northern latitudes, a place in the southern California desert, just across the border from Arizona, begins to receive travelers. Slab City is an abandoned military base just outside of Niland, California by the Salton Sea. The military razed the buildings but left the roads and the slabs that once supported the structures.

About November the population swells from a sparse few full-timers to a few thousand residents. The year round residents number less than and hundred and are considered hardcore, as it can and does reach 120 F in the summer, . There is no electric service at the slabs, save solar panels and generators. No water service except tanks and jugs, many of these filled at a gas station or grocery store in Niland.

The place is littered with burnt out campers and bus shells from previous residents. Many people describe it as an apocalyptic scene. Despite this first impression it makes on city dwellers whose sensibilities have been entrained to the frequency and order of manicured lawns, the inhabitants of this community have a depth of connection that likely exceeds most of those more refined neighborhoods. Much time is spent conversing around campfires under the stars.

The Range is an open air stage, with lights and sound system, a hodge podge of bus seats, car seats, old couches and benches for the audience, where the locals entertain each other. The slabs also has a church, and several clubs.

A good video on YouTube called Slab City-USA.

Blog post on Slab City : Mad Max Meets Good Sam at The Slabs.

Desert Dutch has a great page on Slab City at http://www.desertdutch.org/

A page or two from the Slab City Christian Center

A recourse on Slab City would not be complete with mentioning Salvation Mountain and one of the slabs more endearing residents Leonard Knight. Salvation Mountain is Leonard's testament and tribute to his love for Jesus and his fellow humans. There are quite a few YouTube videos on Leonard and his mountain. Here is one.

Blog introduction

2009-09-06T02:11:00.012-05:00

It is possible to live a happy healthy life without a mortgage or rent payments. Many today are, not just resorting to, but embracing alternative living arrangements that offers freedom from traditional shelter costs. Theses include but are not limited to tiny houses, cabins, RVs, Communal living arrangements, tepees, yurts, and tents.

Some of these involve a nomadic lifestyle that may not be for everyone, but certain individuals find a sense of freedom that they wouldn't give up for a million dollar mansion. We'll be looking at some of these people, their lifestyles, and their shelters.

We'll also look at lifestyles, and individuals living them, that might be categorized as homesteading or off grid living. There are people living in small cabins built without loans or mortgages and living well off the bounties of nature. Shelters made from natural materials from the surrounding terrain, caves, or scavenged materials and combinations of these methods will be included.

In today's commercial world many people forget that the earth is what supplies our needs. We will look at food. Cheaper ways of feeding ourselves a better diet. Methods of stockpiling foods. Foods that can be stored for long periods without spoilage, and the techniques used to preserve it.

The blog will discuss ways to incorporate some of these changes into your current living situation, or offer advice for those making radical changes by choice or necessity.

Lets begin by looking at an essay that offers great advice on enjoying a simpler life.

Walking
by Henry David Thoreau