Voluntary simplicity

On Saturday, the New York Times ran an article, Chasing Utopia, Family Imagines No Possessions, that warmed the cockles of my heart.

It covered several families who are downshifting to a life less harried and one focusing more on self-sufficiency rather than consumerism. In essence, the families, whether they intentionally are or not, are following the basic tenants of the Voluntary Simplicity movement.

One family you may already know about. It is Matt and Sara Janssen - she writes the eco blog, Walk Slowly, Live Wildly, which I read from time to time. They have completely sold most of their worldly possessions and are travelling the country in a used veggie oil fueled motor home, teaching others how to convert their diesel vehicles into a spent fast-food grease machine. The Live Lightly Tour is quite an exciting adventure and one which I've been following closely.

Another family has sold all their possessions as well and is planning on moving from Austin, Texas to a rural area of Vermont. They are currently looking into purchasing a log cabin and hope to set up a homestead, grow their own food and homeschool their kids. In other words, the classic "back to the land" scenario.

Finally, an Annapolis, MD family moved out of their apartment with an "everything must go" party and, along with their 3-year-old son, set sail on a 44-by-24-foot catamaran. Are you listening Burbanmom? (And in case you argue that you have more than one child, I know a family who lives on a sailboat that has one kindergartner and twin 4-year-olds.)

For those of you who participated in my post last week about living out your wildest dream, you may be interested in reading this article.

Of course, this is just begging for a poll. I'm throwing in one other example, the Dervaes family in Pasadena who practice the ultimate in urban homesteading, making phenomenal use of their suburban lot to grow a tremendous amount of fruits and vegetables (6,000 pounds annually), raise bees, goats, chickens and whatnot. If you've been living under a rock and haven't heard of them yet, I urge you to check out their website.



Photo courtesy of the New York Times

Ants in my plants

Last year I reported that I had bumbles in my hole, but this year's infestation seems to be along the lines of smaller, less cutesy critters.

Yesterday I planted a bunch of herbs (more on that in a later post) and was about to plant some vegetable seedlings into one of my raised beds, the one that hosts all those strawberries except for the back row, when low and behold as I was amending the soil I noticed an enormous ant infestation. Greenpa, do you know something I don't?

I do have a bit of an aphid infestation on my oregano, which I'm working on, à la a mixture of soap, water and oil. Hopefully, clearing up the aphid population will help get rid of the ants and, thus, no more ant on aphid anal action. I'm not that desperate for entertainment. Anyway, I sprayed some "natural" mint oil stuff on the little buggers today in hopes that it will make them go away.

Does anyone have any other recommendation for getting rid of ants in vegetable gardens that is safe for growing food crops? The ants are those little tiny brownish ones. I don't mind a few ants here and there, but these suckers are swarming.

Endangered Species Day

Today, May 16, is Endangered Species Day, a resolution introduced by Maine Senator Susan Collins and California Senator Dianne Feinstein to help increase awareness about threats to endangered wildlife, fish and plants, and actions we can all take to help them.

In honor of this special day, I would like to point your attention to the plight of the endangered sea turtles, ancient air-breathing reptiles that date back more than 100 million years to the time of the Dinosaurs.

Throughout the world, and in particular, the Gulf of Mexico region, sea turtle populations have been severely destroyed by years of careless fishing and hunting practices, exploitation of eggs, rapid land development, pollution, and destruction of sea turtle nesting habitats.

This post's content was provided by the Association for the Protection of the Environment and the Marine Turtle in Southern Baja (ASUPMATOMA), a non-profit organization based in Cabo San Lucas dedicated to the protection of endangered sea turtles and environment of Baja California Sur, Mexico.

The first person to guess where the tattoo of this sea turtle is on my body gets a big Friday Prize (consisting of nothing but a pat on the back). And, no, this isn't the tattoo I got during last year's Low Impact Week.

Backyard Booty: Fruits

This new series, Backyard Booty, will not be a montage of pictures of my ass. Sorry. Instead, it will be a description of what fabulous edibles I am growing on my urban homestead.

This edition is all about the fruits. I, of course, will be updating this as I add new fruits to the mix. I have grandiose plans, but not a whole lot of time lately. Couple that with some severely wacky weather. For instance, we've had winter temperatures up through May and this weekend it's supposed to be 90. WTF?

Anyway, I haven't really added anything yet this year to the fruits but I do hope to eventually dig out some more rose bushes to add in dwarf apple trees. What I really want to plant are grapes, both table and wine, I just need to scrape up some space for it.

Here's what's growing this year so far:

4 x 1 Cherry Tree. What this means is that 4 types of cherries have been grafted onto one tree. This is great for urban yards where you don't have a whole lot of space to make sure you have enough cherry trees for cross-pollination at the correct time o' year. I bought this last year at Rain Tree Nursery.

Dwarf Negronne Fig. I also bought this one last year. It's minuscule, but it is supposed to get about six feet tall if I let it. It's currently less than 2 feet, but it's trying real hard to produce fruit. These trees are great - they produce fruit twice a year. I just need to be patient or buy a more mature one to supplement my figgy needs.

Blueberries. I have Bluecrop and Olympia varieties. I have space for more, but I just haven't had a chance to go out an get some more. But I'd like to add two more bushes for maximum blueberry action.

Tristar strawberries. Oh, how I've been patiently waiting for you strawbs. I planted these last year and this year am suppose to get some sort of strawberry bounty. I have about 16 plants, which sounds like a lot but it isn't. The Tristar grow well for this region, and produce all summer long. So far, we have flowers going to town, so I'm hoping it has survived all the late snow. Go, strawberries, go!

Neighborhood booty. Not that these are growing in my yard, but I have some neighborhood bounty that I'm hoping to take advantage of this year. One neighbor at the end of the block has a plum tree that hangs quite a bit onto the public sidewalk. Last year I availed the tree of all the fruit that was created a public nuisance/hazard by dropping fruit onto the sidewalk and attracting bees and yellow jackets. Not sure if this is legal, but no one said anything! My next door neighbor has an apple tree. I'm fairly sure they aren't eating any of the fruit off of it because, well, I'm watching them. Mwwoohahaha!

Down the road there is a ginormous fig tree that is on the public parking strip. I daydream about camouflaging myself and making a midnight foray to steal fruit from this very mature fig tree. Maybe this year I'll have the huevos to collect some.

Farther afield. A friend from work has an orchard in Central WA. I'm hoping to save him again this year from an overwhelming amount of organic peaches, apples and whatever else I can get my hands on.

What kind of fruit do you have growing this year?

Is McCain green or brown?

I really don't like to bring up politics and I generally don't. But, I keep seeing news headlines about John McCain's stance on the environment and global warming and how he's trying to reach out to the green crowd.

Yesterday, McCain was in the Seattle area and even went on a little promo hike. Ehrr.. I mean a "short nature walk". This brings a whole new meaning to the term campaign stumping. Anyway, I guess I really can't criticize since I don't see Hillary out there wobbling around on her cankles.

McCain's talk, to a group of about 100 green businesses, centered around the idea that promoting "green" business practices would be good for the economy because it will encourage ingenuity and new products.

McCain stated, "I just firmly and steadfastly reject the notion that this is going to be something that's harmful to our economy." He also stated that the wind-turbine company in Portland, OR that he visited is employing thousands of people and is "contributing to probably as clean a technology as you'll ever find."

He, apparently, spent some time haranguing the CEO of REI regarding what ideas she had towards greening up businesses, even going so far as to asking her, "What do you want me to do?" Maybe she should have suggested some more suitable hiking boots? Might I suggest some McKeen's?

So, has John McCain suddenly gone green or is he just full of shit?

Beyond your wildest imagination

Greenpa and I had a great email exchange yesterday. One of the things I was mentioning was about how my version of reality has drastically changed since we found out my husband has an aggressive cancer that, realistically, won't go away.

All those concepts of security have been more or less erased. The idea that you work hard, get good jobs, save money, put money away for retirement and college funds really is a facade of normalcy. What you've worked for to live the "American Dream" or even the New American Dream can be eliminated overnight. Parents, spouses and children can easily be taken away from you by accident, illness or disease.

Growing up in America in the late 20th Century, most of us have lived a fairly insulated life. Sure, there was a little threat of nuclear war and a couple of middling wars. The biggest fear was after 9/11 but that, for many, has faded into the past and just now people are starting to grapple with the nebulous concept of global warming. We weren't exactly discussing all this, but just the general idea that all security is an illusion.

Anyway, living in this new reality has forced me to consider a variety of different futures. What should we do if Mr. Crunchy miraculously goes into remission? What should we do if Mr. Crunchy goes into at least a short-term remission? What should we do if Mr. Crunchy doesn't go into remission? What should I do if Mr. Crunchy is no longer here?

Of course, a lot of it depends on our level of monetary comfort and security, but does it have to? At the very least, we'll have to keep medical insurance but what options do we have out there? I don't want him to spend the rest of his time working 50 hours a week just so we can live in the house we have and "be able to buy" this or that. I, frankly, don't care about that crap anymore.

I'm toying with a ton of different ideas and I'm the first to admit that a lot of it can be attributed to escapism. It's a release from dealing with the day-to-day difficulty of cancer.

So, my question for you all is this: If you could shake off the chains of societal expectations and the ideas of monetary wealth and do whatever the hell you wanted to, what would it be? Would you choose an alternative lifestyle?

Don't limit yourself - would you be willing to cash in the equity on your home to live extremely frugally in a yurt out on some land? And don't limit yourself to the U.S. I think this, as a mental exercise, is good practice for helping you get used to dealing with change. This is part of the reason why I sprung the Extreme Eco Challenge on you. What do you actually, really need to live happily?

Y tu madre tambien

Although no one has accused me today of having balls, like Sharon, it could certainly be applicable.

My Mother's Day was quite uneventful. Since I have given my husband strict instructions not to get me anything, there wasn't a whole lot of wiggle room there.

I made dinner for everyone. Well, it was more breakfast than anything - corn waffles with lavender whipped cream. My husband spent most of the day at the clinic going back and forth for labs, a clinic and a platelet transfusion. His second this weekend. At least it wasn't the marathon blood transfusion like on Friday (10:00 am to 8:00 pm). He is in an incredible amount of pain which doesn't exactly make it much better.

So, I can't say this has been the best Mother's Day, but at least I have my kids around me. My Mom, on the other hand, is being entertained by my brother, knowing that this weekend was going to be crazy for us.

Anyway, while all of you readers may not exactly be mothers (especially you guys out there), we all have mothers. Or, at least someone gave birth to you.

So, what's your favorite memory of your Mom?

Lightening the load

I'm finally getting around to selling a bunch of items we no longer use or need. They are mostly kid related. I managed to sell two Britax car seats in the last 24 hours and I've listed a Medela pump as well as a crib to sell.

I'll also be giving away a booster chair and will probably list some Cooshie boosters soon. I have a list of other things I'll try to sell soon when I get a chance.

In the meantime, it's been fun "earning" money for things that have just been sitting in storage in the basement.

A flotilla of foam

A while back I reported about the whole idea of Moonvertising, where advertisers project corporate logos onto the moon. Fortunately, it was just an advertising joke - a scheme to get people interested in a third-rate, tasteless beer.

Well, lo and behold, someone else has stepped up to the plate to ensure corporate advertising infiltrates our airspace. Now, I realize that we already get slightly bombarded by blimps and plane contrails exposing the virtues of such fine products as Goodyear and its ilk, but this just grinds my crackers.

Picture the Manhattan skyline filled with Nike swooshes. Or the golden arches of McDonald's gently drifting over Los Angeles.

A special-effects entrepreneur from Alabama has come up with a way to fill the sky with foamy clouds as big as 4 feet across and shaped like corporate logos - Flogos, as he calls them.

Picture me writing my Congressperson complaining about the intrusiveness of Flogos in my appreciation of the heavens. Now, while they are touted as "green and 100% environmentally safe" it doesn't diminish the environmentally unfriendly aspect of "clouding" (ha!) the sky with stupid logos and other dumb crap I'd rather not see.

It's bad enough that we have to bear witness to the myriad of billboards out there, but now when I'm lying in the grass with my kids enjoying the sky, there will be no creative "what do you see in the clouds". Instead, we'll be bombarded by visions of Mickey Mouse, Apple, Nike, McDonald's and other corporate schtick.

Am I the only one annoyed at this? What's next? I giant set of floaty tits to scare the kids?

Movie Night: Surfwise

Surfwise follows the odyssey of legendary surfer Dr. Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz.

Doc, a Stanford trained successful doctor, turned his back on his profession to follow his dreams, taking his wife Juliette and their nine children - all of whom were "homeschooled" on the beaches of Southern California, Hawaii and Mexico - along for the ride. They surfed every day of their lives and adhered to a strict diet of only organic and/or raw foods with no sugar or fat.

This documentary, which opens in select theaters on May 9th, is reminiscent of the Christopher Mcandless story of Into the Wild - a man staying true to his dreams in spite of the pressure of society to conform.

Doc Paskowitz certainly paints a very intriguing picture of the alternative life he chose for himself and his family. By turns he seems both Messianic and maniacal. He ruled his roost with an iron hand and set the tone for what was and wasn't acceptable. Doc is quite a character: extremely engaging, smart and funny to watch. The film is peppered with a spirit of "I can't believe he just said that" voyeurism. Watching the octogenarian exercise naked gives you the solid sense that his lifelong exercise regimen has really paid off.

The interviews with the children (all now quite grown) are also contradictory in their ruminations of the glory days of living free while at the same time somewhat bitter for it. All of them seem to appreciate their unorthodox upbringing but are also resentful for having not been given the tools to operate in modern society. I would argue that the children were not exactly homeschooled, but rather no schooled. As they try to make their way in the world, they find that a lack of education (even informal) is to their detriment.

More troubling is that each of them has found a moderate amount of success either in the music or surfing world, but were ill-equipped to handle the impending fame and dubious about the monetary rewards that came with it. Having learned all their lives that money doesn't matter makes it difficult to accept it later.

Their story is extremely inspiring, but cautionary at the same time (do you sense a pattern here?). Watching this movie will make you want to sell all your worldly possessions and buy an RV, convert it to run on waste vegetable oil and travel the country, living from whim to whim. Just make sure you actually educate your kids in the process.

If you get the opportunity to watch this well-made documentary, I urge you to do so. It is time well spent. I can honestly say this is one of those movies that moved me in many different ways and has truly influenced the way I view my future and the lifestyle choices we will be making.

Religious asceticism and consumerism

I don't discuss religion very much on this blog, mostly because I don't prescribe to any particular one, but I am always curious about other's belief systems regardless of what they are. Having ruminated on the most varied of religions while studying Anthropology, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the people that practice pretty much any ideology and am open minded to most.

In many of the world's religions there is a strong vein of anti-materialism. Jesus counseled his followers that did have money to give it to the poor and hungry: Jesus said, "If you will be perfect, go and sell that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me."

Buddha tried to find enlightenment through near total deprivation of worldly goods, the Prophet Muhammad lived an austere life, and more recently, individuals such as Gandhi have advised that people "live simply so that others may simply live."

Of course, everyone's idea of wealth and excess are different and one man's Hummer can be contrived as another's Geo Metro. How do we determine what is sufficient and what is excess?

Not unlike the message we read in Affluenza, Father Timothy V. Vaverek has written the following:

The consumerist lust for a better life is inherently destabilizing of our personal and economic lives. Since we are not satisfied with the good we possess and since our self-worth is connected to never settling for less, we must always be earning and acquiring more. Hence we work longer hours, fill our days with more self-actualizing activities, and increase spending so that we can have the better life now. In this way we become slaves to dissatisfaction, time, and money--harsh task masters who allow no rest.

So, how can someone who follows a belief system that promotes some level of asceticism also accept materialism? Is this contradiction justifiable? For example, is it possible to follow the teachings of Jesus and accept personal, monetary wealth at the same time?

I'm interested to get your input on how your religious beliefs affect your opinions on consumerism. Do your religious views (or lack of them) directly drive your desire to limit consumeristic desires in your life?

Reporting in for duty, sir!

Okay, all you Extreme Eco Throwdown participants, how's it going? Have you been able to get started and, if so, are you able to stick to what you set out for yourself?

I have to admit, I haven't been able to do much of anything and probably won't for another week. Usually the no paper products thing wouldn't be a problem but we have to follow strict food safety guidelines which involves far too many paper towels while my husband's immune system is bottoming out and recovering for the stem cell harvesting.

I won't even get into the plastics involved in twice daily injections, care of a Hickman catheter and bags of saline in the 24-hour hydration pack. Oh well!

The local food only is a little easier, since the farmers markets are starting up, but I haven't been able to get out to them yet. Any success on your end?

Happy 6th Birthday, Henry!

Today's a short post since I spent most of the evening getting ready for Henry's birthday party last night. It's not the best week to have to organize everything for a party, but it's not Henry's fault we're in the middle of stem cell transplant fun.

I've written in the past about extravagant birthdays and spoiling kids. I really wanted to make Henry's cake from scratch as well as the ice cream, but with the doctor's appointments every day, including the weekend, it's a little hard to squeeze in. So, I skimped on that and ordered a sheet cake.

Henry is big into Indiana Jones, archeology and Egyptology, so the theme is along those lines. His cake will have a pyramid and snakes on it and I created all the clues and maps for an archeology treasure hunt and dig. With a mummy, Egyptian theme. I can't say I studied this period too much whilst getting my Anthropology degree, so it was fun recreating some of the hieroglyphs and other symbols.

The tomb they will "dig" up includes treasures both edible and otherwise for the hearty adventurers. I just hope they don't dig up the yard too much.

Henry has three school friends coming over so it won't get too out of hand. He invited six but half couldn't make it so it's ending up to be a nice little group of four. And with six-year-olds, that's just right.

What do you do for your kid's birthdays? Do you do it at home, making your own activities and cake? Or, do you hire someone to entertain or hire out the event? How much do your parties usually cost?

Green Book Week - winners list!

Thanks to everyone who entered the green book giveaway contests.

I'm glad that so many of you are interested in reading these great books! I encourage the winners to pass along the books to interested friends or family, their local library or hold their own giveaway on their blogs.

So, without further ado... congratulations to the following book winners:

Affluenza - Winner: The Things You Didn't Do

In Defense of Food - Winner: BerryBird

Simple Prosperity - Winner: Going Green Mama

Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style - Winner: Sweetpeas

I'll have one more book review and giveaway this month for Hey, Mr. Green, published March 2008 from Sierra Club Books. Stay tuned!

Winners - please email me at crunchychickenblog@gmail.com with your mailing info.

Green Book Week - Green Chic review and giveaway

It's Friday. It's time for a fun green book giveaway. The book, Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style, by Christie Matheson was just published in March 2008 and was featured in Glamour Magazine's April issue.

According to the press release:

Green Chic is a perfect resource for women who want to start making a difference in their environment, but think that it may ruin their chic lifestyle. In fact, this book shows that going green is inherently stylish. Written from the perspective of someone who does not recycle, who doesn't wear hemp clothing and who loves to take long showers, it's informative and entertaining style will relate to anyone who wants to live more environmentally friendly.

Unlike other books on the subject, it's not about buying your way to being green—or just appearing green—it's about shifting your mindset, changing your attitude, and developing a personal style that is green. And being truly green is, surprisingly, inherently chic. With Green Chic, consumers can discover exciting, efficient, and effective ways to be environmentally conscious, and take the stylish path toward saving the planet.

Based on that description, I fully expected the book to focus on fashion and home decor. In fact, I was rather excited to read a different take on environmentalism, kind of an Organic Style meets Natural Home and Garden, but more fashion and more green.

Unfortunately, I didn't find it to be any more chic or stylish than the seemingly dozens of other green books that have been published in the last year. It's mostly about how to incorporate green living into your daily life, not unlike The Green Book.

However, if you are just starting out greening up your life, it makes for a decent reference guide or if you have someone you gently want to convert, it is a suitable read. My one gripe with the book is her treatment of reusable menstrual products.

If you are interested in entering the book giveaway, add your name to the comments for a chance to win this book. The contest ends today, Friday, May 2nd, at 6:00 pm PST. I'll announce the winner on Saturday. Time's up!