A Farm Girl Extravaganza...

Wow~what a day! This was the first annual Farm Girl Sale for myself and group of 3 others...and what a sale it was!

We worried this week as each of us scoured the weather reports which forecasted rain, rain, a thunder shower and yet more rain. The morning was misty and foggy when I got up at 5:15 to start loading the truck with all my goodies, a process in itself. I was pretty proud that I managed to haul in a full sized dresser and large rolling craft table on my own (though I did score a few black & blue marks on various body parts doing so). I sweaty, hot and hungry when I finally pulled into my sister's yard and surveyed the canopies we had set up the night before. Then it was unpack, unbox, chuck empty boxes under the table and greet my friends and sister as each in turn came out to set up their own wares.

What a lot of fun we had~and the weather? GORGEOUS! It was sunny and hot with a nice cool breeze all day. We laughed, talked, ate yummy food and swapped a few "must have" items. A perfectly lovely day~I can't wait till sale time next year, girls!

Simply Amazing...

Wow~this family is incredible. A husband, wife and 2 y.o. daughter have decided to live without electricity, modern indoor plumbing, and to avoid contributing to CO2 waste by not using transportation other than their own feet-all this in New York City, consumerism capital of the northeast! The blog is aptly called LowImpactMan.

I have to say as I was reading it last night, it got my little wheels spinning. Now, first of all, I wouldn't want to do something this drastic right at this point in my life for an entire year...but could I do it for a day? A week? I mentioned it to my husband who's first (common sense) thought was "What will we do with all the food in the fridge/freezer?" Hmmmm, good point. This started me thinking about cooking in general-how does this family eat hot foods? Or don't they? Do I have that many sandwich recipes in my repertoire? I had a quick image of me hauling a cast iron fry pan out to the backyard fire ring after work... But the family doing the one year experiment started with just a week, so there must be a way, right?

I've also been ultra-inspired by The Compact which, for those of you who haven't heard of it, is a group of people in California who began a one-year experiment to try to live with just the bare necessities: Food, hygiene products (Toilet paper, etc.), and underwear. There's a story about it here by USA Today. That's it~no new anything else. They are allowed to purchase from thrift stores or obtain used things through craigslist.org or freecycle.org. Personally, because they are able to buy used, it doesn't seem like it would be a very hard challenge...but then, you don't see ME running to sign up! It would be much more difficult to not BUY anything for a year, except the aforementioned food, hygiene items and underwear. But THAT is a little extreme for me. I wonder though....

Go check out LowImpactMan..this blog is fascinating and there are lots of great links on the blogroll...even if you aren't especially interested in simple living, this blog is very intriguing and well-written. Take a peek!

I Have a Feeling...

I have a feeling that is just perculating in the back of my mind. It's not quite fully developed just yet, but I can feel it back there, readying itself...

It has to do with our innate drive to hunt and gather. When our ancestors were alive that is how they spent almost all their time during the day, right? What if THAT is one of the reasons that we feel we need to "stock up" on sale items and buy extras "just in case"? What if it's because of this long ago instinct, handed down subconsciously from one generation to the next that we feel the need to buy, consume, focus on material things? Of course, as I write this part of me is saying "Well, it COULD have something to do with the constant bombardment of the media. It COULD have something to do with the fact that we Americans tend to measure our worth by what we own/consume/have that others don't." And yeah, I'm sure that plays into it greatly. But what if by consuming and worrying about keeping up with the Joneses, we are really trying to fill the very primitive need we have to hunt and gather?

To test my theory out, I'm conducting an unscientific (but fun!) experiment. This summer I have done a few things when the urge to shop hits me: I've started gathering....produce. I made my first ever batch of canned goods a few weeks ago (homemade garlicky pickles), I've picked/cleaned/frozen strawberries and raspberries for winter and I'm starting a list of items to buy for the holidays now, so that I can start stocking up and hopefully get all the shopping/creating done for the holidays long before they arrive. I can't explain it exactly, but I DO feel like there is some part of me inside that just sighs with pleasure every time I've completed one of these tasks. It feels good to know that I'm preparing things now that we can enjoy later. It feels so old-fashioned and pioneering to "put up" things for winter. Though I don't have enough produce from our garden to can, I do plan to frequent the local organic produce stand and farmer's market and do a lot more canning this summer.

Here's to living more simply...

Living Authentically...

Lately, I feel that I've had a real wake up call: I have to find a way to live more of my values and less of my ego.

My ego is very fragile. Sometimes it thinks that what other people think/have/do/say is of the utmost importance. My values are pretty strong and basic: I want time to make meaningful connections with family and friends. I want to take time to savour life, not live it on auto pilot. I want to make a difference in the world-make this a better journey for another being. I want to love more and worry less. I want to appreciate all I've been given and not spend much time at all wishing things were different/better/easier. I want to live simply and passionately and completely alive.

I have been bombarding myself with material in this area: Watching my "Affluenza" tape (a show about paring down and living more simply and better), finally seeing "An Inconvenient Truth", and reading voraciously any books/magazines/message boards on living better on less and leaving some resources for some of the other billions of people I share the planet with.

I think what is hardest of all, for me, is the fact that 97% of the people I know are NOT interested in simple living/questioning materialism/environmentalism, and making the world a better place. That sounds awful~I don't mean that I am better than anyone else because I am interested in those things. There are plenty of people who do WAY more than I do in one or all of the above mentioned subjects who would probably look at ME as a bad example for any of the four....

I guess what I mean really is this: I don't want to live for things anymore. I don't want my life to be about buying things/cleaning things/organizing things, working a job I don't particularly like to pay for more things, etc. I want my life to be filled up with so many simple, beautiful pleasures that I don't have to look to a store or an online shop to try to find what will make me happy. I want to make some changes, but this time slowly, deliberately and with much love and care. It's nothing I need to rush or force or hurry myself to do. I think I know deep down what is most important and what isn't and I will take the time I need to uncover those things for myself.

A Big, Busy World...

I just finished a book that changed my life. It's Material World: A Global Family Portrait. Now, I know what you are thinking (or at least what I think when I hear that something like a simple book changes someone's life). "How can a simple book change someone's life???" Read this book and see if you don't feel different for yourself.

The concept is this: 30 families from around the world place all their possessions in front of their homes, and the photographer snaps a photo. It's an interesting concept, but what is most fascinating to me is the personal information about the family and the statistics about the family and country they live in. For instance, while reading every single entry I noticed that each family of 3-10 lived in a much smaller living space than I do. MUCH smaller in some circumstances. And I truly don't think my house is all that big! As a matter of fact, I feel embarassed to admit how many hours of my life I have spent wishing my house were "different" and "improved" and how much time I've spent worrying about how I can remodel/change/make it better.

I think what the book does most for me is puts things in perspective and helps me to see really and truly, how connected we all are on this planet. It helped me to see I had things in common with women living on the other side of the world...little things that I never would have known about. It also showed me the differences: The freedoms and luxuries that I have every single day that other women don't have. It was completely eye-opening and I hope you will check it out for yourself.