Preparation & Play

By Jami Scholl | September 7, 2011 | 3:44 pm | Comments (0) |

Hermes. (Photo by Walden.)

I could type onto the screen the negatives about the Golden Triangle, but I will not. (The Golden Triangle:Peak Oil, Climate Instability, Faltering Economy.) Other people are doing a pretty good job of it and I don’t want to add to the depressive state which all of the bad news can lead. And it is not just in the headlines, it is the life we are experiencing right now. What I have decided to do is look for solutions, and this is what I have realized… the news is the outcome, not the problem.

The problem is that we have given our power away.

Think not? Think again. I’ll give you a bit of time, because it may take a little while since we are living IN our life rather than looking AT our life.

Go ahead, think about it. How have you given your power to survive hardship to others?

A little frightening to think how precarious is our existence. Humbling in fact. And scary. So now we know what our demons are – self-inflicted though they may be, it is time to take our power back. By knowing what we have given away, we can now prepare to take it back. It is time to learn the skills of our ancestors of just a few generations ago, and to deal with the emotions which come along with such a HUGE realization.

First let’s get down to business to know what is most important: Food, Water, Shelter, Love. As you all know, food is a dear topic to my heart. Water is close behind as food cannot grow without water, and I am partial to being clean and without thirst!

Water collection. Look to the side of my website… there on the right hand column is a formula in order to calculate how much water you can collect. You will need to find out how much rain falls in your geographic area, which can be found through an online search or from your local county extension agent.

When thinking water collection, think that you need a large tank and a roof that is NOT asphalt shingles. You will not stay healthy drinking petroleum remnants. Metal works well, wood can grow mold (a no-no) and rubber looks promising. Now available is a pourable rubber mix. I am currently researching this product, yesterday finding out that it is not available at box stores.

So now you have a calculation of how much water you can collect from your roof. Next is thinking about when this water will be released from the sky. During one or two seasons or evenly amongst four seasons? Considering that climate change is really an instability, perhaps we do not really know when we will be blessed with this resource in the future, which translates into you need one heck of a big tank for your main water source. The minimum we need will be a gallon per day person for drinking and cleaning. Have pets? You’ll need more. Want to water your garden? You’ll need still more. I think the best food storage plan will be one that can carry your household for 1 year + seeds to grow fresh food. The minimum I would suggest is 3 months, which will not completely get you through a winter – think how in the Little House books spring was called “the starving time.”

Food. Is imperative. Yep. This is why I have and continue to create products. The newest one I am working on is a weekly eMail subscription service to let you know what needs to be done that week, whether it is planting, harvesting, preserving or another related topic. As I compile information into an excel spreadsheet, I have realized that there will likely be 2 options, one for just gardeners or vegetables and another for Homesteaders which will include an expansion into topics such as fruit trees, wild edibles, grains, etc. The articles that will accompany this version will assume a certain level of expertise, as newbies may get overwhelmed with all of the information.

Shelter. I have a little non-energy efficient house build in 1899. No kidding. In January I purchased an acre outside of town that where I was going to build a little modern efficient home, but that is put on hold, although I continue to develop the property. In the spring I planted fruit and nut trees, shrubs and brambles. Currently there is a load of lumber, unloaded at 8pm last night, awaiting the weekend to begin building a pole construction chicken coop with two paddocks to be located just  to the east (and on the downhill slope) of one of the orchards.

Another difficult decision in regard to shelter and the massive amounts of restrictions in my county has to do with building a studio for my work. One of the topics of discussion at Lift Off! with Charlie Gilkey and Pam  Slim is that of a proper work space. I will quote Charlie here… “Every woman needs a room of her own.” I LOVE that! And it would be beneficial to move my office out of the living room. The best solution? Building a studio which is capable of being moved and added onto with a small lean-to greenhouse and a side shed to house bikes or wood storage. Now that my oldest son is home schooling again, he and I will tackle building as an educational project. (I still find it amazing that my 7^th grader has never fully memorized multiplication tables.)

And this leads to the warm and fuzzy component – LOVE. Yes, it is a need as we are social creatures, some of us moreso than others, falling into either the extrovert or introvert category. I am more an introvert, as is my oldest son. We gain our peace and strength from time alone. Introverts derive their well-being from interactions with others. I love being with my friends and family, but have learned that if I am in an office all day my interactions need to have meaning and not be constant, otherwise I become exhausted and prone to illness and overwhelm. Most of the population are extroverts, so this sometimes can be a difference where judgements are made. By the way, doing so is not a good way to culminate LOVE. <smile>

And Failure that is inevitable. After saving myself from the feeling of near complete failure to produce food this year (thanks to the deer eating every tomato, green beans and nearly anything else) as well as a skunk’s murderous tendencies manifest in the consumption of 27 meat birds (cornish rock cross to be exact.) I became angry with that damn skunk when I found him in the portable chicken coop a second night. He was eating the meat source for my children and the birds I planned on selling to my friends, besides causing pain. The second night I caught the critter in the act I took apart the chick feeders and waterer’s, throwing them piece. by. piece. at the skunk. HARD.

Soon I returned to my senses and stepped back with the doors of the portable chicken coop open, allowing the skunk to depart. How did it get in? It dug a space in the soil to crawl beneath the thick heavy wood of the coop. The moments following this incident I decided it was time to get a dog again. A farm cannot run well without a dog, and what is better than a farm dog? Therefore last weekend the kids and I adopted a border collie/Australian shepherd puppy from the local shelter. We named him Hermes after the Greek messenger god.

In recognition that we all have other things in our lives to attend to, I will address how to deal with emotional adjustment in a future blog post. But I promise it will be fun. Really. And to be honest, one of the best ways to learn is through PLAY. Through this serious research what I learned is that I need to let go of the planning and to be, to play, to live in the moment. The brain is plastic, which is good to know since many of us have forgotten how to play. My kids will be quick to answer that it is true, I need to play more. Adopting a puppy has definitely reinforced a few skills, the need for structure and boundaries and the need to play!

Until next time!

jami

Comments (0) | | Categories: Community Food Security,Food Traditions,Gardens,Homesteading,the golden triangle,water,Wild Edibles | Tags: Charlie Gilkey, Climate Change, Empowerment, Food Preservation, Food Security, Gardens, Golden Triangle, homeschooling, Lift Off!, Pam Slim, power, water, water collection, Wild Edibles