Mental Advancements

In this era of rapid technology advancements combined with the process of food manufacturing I’ve found, that for myself, a greater sense of mindfulness to what I digest is necessary. There’s been this internal storm brewing within and I just haven’t been able to quite put my finger on it or let alone verbalize it beyond some sort of non-sensical mutterings. This past year I’ve really been spent investigating, reading and educating myself on ways that I as a renter can begin a homestead even on property that I don’t own and that will be easily transportable when I transition into my own land down the road. Through the course of my investigation I’ve come to realize that processing and canning fresh produces is easy and can be fun especially if done in a party-like atmosphere. Now in the darkness of winter I will know exactly where at least some of my vegetables and fruits come from and most importantly what’s in them. Over the course of the summer I’ve also been on a few crabbing expeditions and have spent a weekend cracking and vacuuming packing dungeness meat for the winter. As much time I’ve spent on various rivers around me this summer, which hasn’t been as much as I’d like, I’ve been rather unsuccessful stocking my freezer with salmon. I haven’t given up as the season isn’t over yet and there are still a few trips planned before the season expires.

 

The greater since of providing for my family food that is nutritional has more weight in value that anything else I could do to provide for them. My head is filled with ideas and during these long pending grey damp Northwest winter I plan to delve into gardening and how best to grow my own produce next year and supplement with our local farmer’s market or to participate in a local farms CSA. Composting is also in my near future as not only will it help my garden grow and be more fertile, I also hope that it will reduce the amount of waste my household produces and in doing so reduce some expenditures from my pocketbook.

 

Right now, these are the thoughts that fill my mind constantly, what are ways I can reduce my impact while saving or further stretching my hard earned dollars that also add to my family’s well being in it’s fullest sense without completely loosing a grip on technology. The fulcrum of living is a delicate balance and requires mindfulness in each step of the process.

A simplier life in a complicated world

There’s been a storm brewing in my mind for at least the past year if not a bit longer. As I find myself looking at the all the various messes going on both within our nations borders and beyond internationally, I see a growing need for independence. Out of that independence grows community. I talk with some people who are near and dear to my heart and they were taught, the only person you can trust is yourself. That statement is partially true, but it seems so narrow minded to me. I think we can trust others and find a great since of community. As I look around me at vast consumption (from energy – to the acquisition of stuff), endangered animals, watersheds and just about everything. I find that I struggle on a daily basis with technology (and I’m a geek) and finding ways to resort back to a simpler life in a complicated world.

The biggest catalyst for me is food and its consumption on our nation.

Food is the one thing that we should all watch carefully, as the dust finally settles it will remain king. We all must eat and those who control it will have much unnecessary power. Therefore, the internal shift for me is trying to find ways to put food on my table. Locally. I really think that I’m becoming more and more of a localvore as I can with my food. I’ve starting an herb garden with tomatoes so that we can preserve the yummy red sauce my Italian wife makes from fresh sourced san marzano tomatoes in our backyard. Hopefully, we get a large enough harvest to last us all winter long next year. I have a feeling this summer is going to be a busy one as I work diligently to stock up our pantry. I fish, because its fun to be out in nature battling the elements of nature — man vs. nature kind of thing, but also to be able to put the freshest, non-hormone farmed crap, into my families belly. Plus, sharing food is really the greatest gift of all, there’s magic that surrounds a dining room table full of laughter and great conversation.

Right now, as I struggle with trying to figure out how to live in this technology advancing society without becoming a luddite. I choose to focus my activities on independence. I grow food, I fish for food, I can/preserve harvests, I make candles for power outages, I brew my own beer—all these activities are local. Another reason we are going to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) from a farm that is less than 20 miles from our home. I don’t know where this will take me, maybe it’s just a realization or more specifically a shift in a personal paradigm, but moving forward on this blog will be posts relating to these challenges and it’s triumphs.

Love Is…

Love is a chameleon that takes on many forms, from laughing at each other to the pain of loving and caring about someone else more than yourself. Love is not always easy, although its roots run passionately deep. Building a lifetime of memories and sharing in all of life’s tribulations is something so special, it’s really the greatest gift and the biggest lessons. Love is waking up on the wrong side of the bed and yet you wouldn’t have it any other way because the one person who rocks your world is next to you.  Love is arguing over directions someplace, only to find out that it doesn’t really matter as long as you are together and a gps helps too. Love is the understanding that as much of who you are as individuals – the real binder of a relationship is how you grow together while also remaining individual. Love is an exploration with your soul mate for your entire existence both physically and emotionally so relish in the every moment.

Repeated.

a misty morning,
an erie calmness,
slipping into the hands of God,
the rawness of nature grabs a hold,
drifting…
casting…
drifting…
repeated.

the mind is focused,
the soul set free,
a spiritual element of man,
silence shattered,
the siwash set,
the tail flutters,
tension…
a battle royale…
tension…
landed.

respecting the journey,
honoring thy life,
giving thanks,
bonked for the table,
drifting…
casting….
drifting…
repeated.

Dreams & Change

The sun is hiding behind a wall of clouds that’s about to envelop us in a deep blanket of snow. As I sit here, with my cans on my ears and listen to Blind Melon’s Change my thoughts begin to float into a sea of moods. Not moodiness nor sour emotions, but more of excitement and gratefulness. I am so grateful that I’ve been blessed in my life, yet it’s not without its trials. Those trials are a place to draw strength from even though, at times, it seems that I’ve had my ass kicked and handed to me on a platter. Somehow I always seem to rite myself like an inflatable plastic punching bag. In the words of Shannon Hoon, “keep on dreaming boy, cause when you stop dreamin’ it’s time to die.” There have been times that I’ve felt as though I’ve been defeated, but that just isn’t the case. My craft and art may have hit a plateau over the past few years, but I’ve continued to learn and draw inspiration from those around me. It’s just that I still have yet to fully blossom. This walk is slow, patience is so important which is built upon strength and determination and of course dreams

Change by Blind Melon
I don’t feel the suns comin’ out today its staying in, its gonna find another way.
As I sit here in this misery, I don’t think I’ll ever see the sun from here.
And oh as I fade away, they’ll all look at me and say, and they’ll say, Hey look at him!
I’ll never live that way.
But that’s okay they’re just afraid to change.
When you feel your life ain’t worth living you’ve got to stand up and take a look around you then a look way up to the sky.
And when your deepest thoughts are broken,
keep on dreaming boy, cause when you stop dreamin’ it’s time to die.

And as we all play parts of tomorrow, some ways will work and other ways we’ll play.
But I know we all can’t stay here forever, so I want to write my words on the face of today.
and then they’ll paint it And oh as I fade away, they’ll all look at me and they’ll say,
Hey look at him and where he is these days.
When life is hard, you have to change.

Slackerdom!

It’s a blustery 60ºF rainy day, the sun is napping behind the clouds and the caffeine just isn’t fueling my brain enough. Music is aiding my neurons though the motions of the day-to-day, yet I am so not here today. I often try to think of ways to provide means and yet somehow excuse myself from the rat race. There are so many ideas that float around in my skull and many of these ideas I believe are attainable, but it requires me to go against the norm and some set of societal rules. I must be quite frank and state that it’s not some get rich quick scheme, in fact it’s more of the opposite actually. I’ve realized that the jobs with a minimum amount of responsibility also pay near the minimum as well. Therefore, if I can reduce my expenditures to be able to live within the confines of a low paying job, I will have no major work responsibilities and can then look forward to allocating all of my time to things I am passionate about outside of a job. Part time work will equal more free time to pursue a more mindful way of living. Now, I can imagine that this slacker mentality will ruffle a few feathers, but I want to further educate on this particular concept. In order to be successful, this will only work if I work harder to provide myself and my family the important basic things we need. Instead of buying them, I want to grow, make, recycle or produce it for myself. Purchase the minimum and cultivate the rest through the use of my own hands. I also understand that this is work as well, but this is rewarding work that I will use, not just something to push someone else’s agenda or to further the domination of some corporation. It’s creating a micro community that begins with my own family and then grows to include others who want to share. The dim reality of this ideological way of life is so far into the pending realm. In order for this conceptual way of life, there are so loose ends to be tied up before this venture could even begin. There are so many financial monkeys on my back, that this couldn’t even start anytime soon, and I’m doubtful that the hole I’ve dug it could even happen in the next decade and half. I’m at least going to work on the side as time progresses. That is just the unfortunate reality for me right now.

Journey to Health

Embarking on a transformative process can be difficult, luckily I’m able to navigate and find strength through this time with my partner in crime….my wife. It does happen to coincide with the season of resolutions. Yet, this isn’t really a resolution, if one must know mine is to give up fast food for good. Adios! Taco Bell. Anyway, my plan is to be diligent for the next three months to change my physical appearance. I’d like to see if I can even surprise myself. My hair is shaggy, my gut is….well shit….. I referred to it as a gut. Enough said. I’m going to see if I can tone up, maybe add some muscles and finally fill out. Over the course of the last two years, I’ve done probably one of the hardest things in my life and that was to kick cigarettes. This should be easy in comparison. My metabolism is not what it once was, and I feel like I’m eating healthier. Less pre-packaged crapola, way more fruits and veggies too. I hardly eat red meat much anymore. I guess now my food focus will shift towards portions and an increase in protein to hopefully satiate my body’s hunger with less food. I’ve got a workout plan designed by a cousin that I’m going to stick to, the iPod is loaded. I’m ready!

A Conceptual Market

There’s been an idea floating around in my head for the last week or so and I definitely want to try and put it out there. I believe it’s got some legs of its own, and I also think it’d be fun for those who participate as well as it would tie in the shift I see thats happening today. Right now, with so many of us, living miles apart and in different corners of the nation, I present this as a concept. It will probably require input from the community, which will allow for others to feel a sense of ownership and the ideas will help to flush my original concept. So with out further adieu….

A potluck style dinner or afternoon to celebrate all things homemade and/or recycled. With the primary emphasis on food (not recycled food though). The focus is not a ‘gift exchange’ but rather a marketplace to trade goods with an aim of pantry stocking and/or basic needs. I envision bringing back a concept of community with friends, a reduction in waste and a common goal of working towards a more green approach to life and our food. This potluck style meal, could happen only twice a year to start (fall & spring), and then grow to a quarterly event.

Here’s a list of items that could be exchanged: canned foods, homemade beer/wine/mead, fish, veggies & herbs from gardens, etc. I also think soaps and candles and other sundries along those lines. Lastly, we all have clothes that either don’t fit or we don’t wear anymore, so a clothing exchange could also happen during this event as well for those that want to participate in that. In some ways it would be like our own farmer’s market, but on a much more local scale and a way to share between friends. We wouldn’t set up tables or tents, so I haven’t really thought about how the market should work, but this is just to see if any friends are interested. We can also work out the details of distance later as well. As we all know that distance for some is closing in a few short months too.

We could rotate the potluck each time so everyone who chooses to participate can get an opportunity to host.

So of the names I’ve come up with have been: Pantry Raid, Pantry Harvest, Marketplace Madness or?????

A Growing Sense

As I mature and traverse through my life, the dawning of realizations and connections increase. The web of living becomes greater and the increase in awareness is even greater. Not just repercussions of actions, or the cause & effects of any decisions made by me, but the culmination of actions by societies. There are so many “case in point” examples I could site here, but if we each individually dwell on it, from an economical, environmental, political and educational the thread runs deep. Our food sources, our natural resources, the high cost of war, and a planet in turmoil. Yes, there are things we can and should be doing, but this isn’t about that right now. This involves a shift in not just awareness but in the integrity of everyone from all walks of life. It is for this, I believe, that as individuals we can and probably should shift a bit backwards in how we live. If we know that our food source is garbage, then maybe we should plant individual gardens, or join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), or maybe learn to hunt or fish if we choose to eat meat. I also believe that as individuals we have special and unique skill sets that are different from the next. Therefore, the barter system, must be brought back. It is through sharing, trade and exchange that we all can survive. I’m also the first to admit, that my inner geek, loves technology and the advancements it has had on our global culture, but it’ too is a double edge sword that comes with a price. The medical advancements help us to live longer and more productive lives, yet it also creates more of a strain on the economy. Not that I think, it’s good or bad, liberal or conservative ideology, it is what it is and we must all acknowledge that. Of course that’s just one example of a technological impact. I really keep coming back to the concept of a modern day homesteader. This is festering ideology from within myself that continues to grow strong the more and more that I think about it. I also believe that I’m not alone. Friends and family are already working to a similar goal and I draw from their inspiration and strength. It doesn’t have to be a live of the land, whilst off the grid, in a small home in the middle of rural Americana. The modern day, means modern amenities yet a mindfulness about their usage. It means growing some food, but understanding that you’ll have to supplement. How one supplements could be from a CSA or a local farmer’s market. Maybe it does mean becoming a vegetarian, or eating just fish. Learning to can jars, for pickles, jam or my wife’s killer tomato sauce and stocking a pantry for the winter. This could also mean composting and the recycling of all food waste instead of sending it out to a landfill. The list could go on and on and the more that I research the greater the excitement becomes. I really don’t know what it this all means, but the increase of awareness and the connections that I’m making from my own ideologies are those that I intend to teach my children while I continue to develop.

FaceCrack!

As many of you already know, I recently begun the art of Face Crack. It took me many moons to finally get over my initial issue with it. First things first was security, not that I do much stupid shit anymore, but still I know that employers will often attempt to look at that stuff prior to hiring people. They don’t need to know too much information about my personal life. Secondly, I’ve got a real issue with a bunch of their legal mumbo-jumbo, so I will never be posting any of my photography that I either intend to sell or use professionally. Based on their legal disclosures, by agreeing to their terms and conditions you are granting them complete FREE usage rights. You still get to retain copyright, but you allow Facebook and all their subsidiaries the right to use your images however they want. That’s not cool. Therefore I will only be posting snapshots. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I must say, I’m pretty stoked that I finally joined up. I see why so many people for so many years busted my chops to get on it. Thanks Everyone!