Update

Posted on March 6, 2009 by shiva

So I’m a big news reader and of course the biggest news these days is the economic crash. And like it or not this is BIG news. It’s hard to keep my eyes off it, but I’ve been focusing on reading more positive articles about it. “How to” articles and such….There are a lot of things that I and others can do to weather the storm. We’re dreaming up a large garden this year…this is one of the very best things I can think of.  Between the economy and the droughts, expect food prices to skyrocket later this year. I expect that a lof of large farms will have a hard time getting the loans they need for spring planting….Having tons of fresh organic veggies is a blessing in the best of times, but starting this year I expect it will become more essential to many of us.  We are also preparing for a road trip down to Asheville to check out Earthaven Ecovillage and the surrounding area. We are planning to move there next summer as part of our longer range goals to live in community. Will try this blog more updated!

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Ashes

Posted on February 12, 2009 by kala

The city burned.

From the destruction leapt green things.

Sprouts from seed that had waited so long

for calamity, now celebrated in the rubble.

Grasses grew up where the asphalt buckled,

cracks became luminous streams to feed new

populations. The sun overhead gleamed.

Beings pushed aside concrete and brick,

stretched out their wings and sang a new

world into being.

The city reflected in the star’s gaze

the House of Esctasy.

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Fiction

Posted on February 4, 2009 by shiva

Be sure to check out our new short fiction section. Great stuff by Kala there!

http://ecotopianliving.com/?page_id=34

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Interview with Bill Mollison

Posted on February 4, 2009 by shiva

Here is a really inspiring interview with Bill Mollison about Permaculture:

http://www.seedsofchange.com/cutting_edge/interview.asp

One of the interesting points he raises is how permaculture is designed to assist the land in producing food. Most people (myself included) are turned off by the idea of long hours of hard work in the field. I am definitely not a farmer! Yet I see the pressing need for us all to start growing our own food and not wait till we absolutely have to. Understanding the concepts of permaculture will greatly enhance whatever projects you have in mind for your land and will help you to porduce more food with less work.

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Thriving in the Age of Collapse

Posted on January 14, 2009 by shiva

A few months back I read Dmitri Orlovs book “Reinventing Collapse”. It’s definitely a worthy read. He comes from the perspective of having seen the Soviet Union collapse and draws parallels between their situation and ours. Here is a very informative series of articles about what individuals can do to prepare themselves for the coming (currently in progress) economic collapse:

Thriving in the Age of Collapse – part 1

Thriving in the Age of Collapse – part 2

Thriving in the Age of Collapse – part3

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We’re Homeowners!

Posted on January 6, 2009 by shiva

Well that took a lot less time than I expected! We originally got our yurt by getting a loan from my ‘ex’, who is also the mother of our son River.  She had come into an inheritance and was happy to help us to escape the rent-trap. Also it enabled us to move much closer to her (100 feet to be exact) making it a lot easier for us to share custody of our son with no driving.

Last week she received another large chunk of money and in an awesome gesture of generosity absolved us of our debt to her for the Yurt! So that’s it… we are now officially homeowners! Our home may be small, but it can never be taken away from us by a bank. Thank you Stephanie!!!!

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The Story of Stuff

Posted on January 4, 2009 by shiva

Great little 20 minute video about “Stuff”. It’s pretty simple and a good intro even for kids.

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Amazing Pic

Posted on January 2, 2009 by shiva

I have no idea where I got this so I can’t give it proper credit, but it’s an amazing summation of the hidden side of life in America that few would want to face up to.

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Radically Reducing Expenses

Posted on January 2, 2009 by shiva

There is  a desire in most of us to always make more money. I’ve found that one of the best ways to make more money is to simply reduce your unnecessary expenses. Here are a few ways that we’ve cut our costs to simplify our lives and have to work less:

  • We have no credit cards (just one hooked up to my bank account for convenience, but I can’t go below what is in my account so no debt)
  • We have no store credit accounts
  • We have no cell phone..I use skype for my phone which cost me $7 a month for unlimited calls.
  • We don’t subscribe to any magazines (plenty to read in the internet!)
  • We don’t subscribe to cable television (just internet)
  • We have one car that is used and that I paid cash for
  • We don’t pay rent (we own our Yurt)
  • We grow a good amount of organic produce in the summer
  • When we go on vacation we almost always opt to go camping which we love. We despise campgrounds so go to wild places where it’s free. We can camp for weeks at a time having a blast for nothing but the cost of food which we eat anyway. We do love going to festivals too though.
  • We seldom eat out (we’re raw foodist so mostly it isn’t even a temptation)

I think people living fast paced lives in the cities would think our lives quite dull, but we love it. We’re almost always having fun doing things that we love….art, reading, having dinners and get togethers or just hanging out…well we do have to work a little bit on the side..we both work pretty much part time at this point which leaves us plenty of time to explore other things that we actually have interest in. We may not go on luxury vacations or have the latest hi-tech gadgets, but what we do have is plenty of time to enjoy our lives!

Here is a good short article I just read on a couple who greatly simplified their life:

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Life Without Cars

Posted on December 23, 2008 by shiva

Just read this interesting article about life without cars.

The area around me is getting more and more developed, but most city folk would still call this the “country”. Thinking of a life without cars is always a dilemna because I love living in the country but it’s an absolute requirement to drive a car pretty much anywhere when you’re out here. Ideally I wouldn’t mind living in a small village of people in the country with a neighbouring town that would be close enough to bike to in under a half hour. Maybe drive to the city an hour away once a week. Or better yet if there was an easy and comfortable train to the city that would really be ideal. Until then I’ll keep coming up with creative and fun reasons to  stay home a lot!

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