I've been slowing down on the posts lately, as work on the book picks up and the harvest season enters full swing. DH returns to work in a week and a half, and that will mean a bit less time still for the blog. And for most of next week I'll be out of town. All of which means that the pickins will be slim around here. I'm still trying to get that post on moving in with family together before I go, though, and who knows, maybe inspiration will strike.
In the meantime, I'm going to be shameless in several ways. The first way that I'm going to be shameless is that instead of writing new posts for y'all, when I start getting embarassed that the blog is so empty, I'm going to link to an old post that you might not have seen that I liked. We'll make it sound good - we'll call it recycling. My apologies to those who've seen it before.
The second shameless plug is for the Community Solutions Conference in Yellow Springs Ohio, at which I'll be speaking. I had an amazing time and learned a lot last year, and I'm looking forward to my trip this year (by amtrak, carpool and mule ;-). One of the best things about it was that I met the most amazing people last year. I'm hoping that I get to meet a few of the people who read this blog when I'm there this year. Here's the link to the conference: http://www.communitysolution.org/conference.html
Final shameless plug - if you check out the website, you'll see the title of my first book listed under my name. _Depletion and Abundance_ (I'm still looking for a better title - I'll take suggestions!) will be coming out next fall from New Society. Its focus is on helping families adapt to peak oil, climate change and the coming economic crisis, and it provides a blueprint for how to do things like adapt existing homes to living with little energy, feed yourself and start local economies. The second book, _A Nation of Farmers_ co-written with the amazing Aaron Newton, describes how we might get "theah from heah" (as they say where I'm from) - away from an industrial food system, to a sustainable one that could feed the world in the coming hard times. That one will come out in the Spring of 2009, also from New Society Publishing.
I admit, I'm pretty excited to actually get to put the forthcoming books up with my name as a real, grownup (sorta) author!
Anyway, here's my first bit of recycling - and I promise, new posts soon. But here's one you might not have seen recently, describing how people might adapt an existing suburban house to hard times: http://casaubonsbook.blogspot.com/2006/11/self-sufficiency-plan-for-suburban.html.
Cheers, and thanks for putting up with this!
Sharon
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6 comments:
Re: your upcoming post on "moving in with family"- how about also looking at the issues of friends moving in together- sort of combining households..... I had been thinking that this sort of thing made a lot of sense but now realize that it wouldn't be easy- having just lived through a visit from an old friend and her family(and the dogs....) who shall we say have a different lifestyle than I-theirs involves sleeping in and no physical labor- clearly wouldn't work here....
Would love to see a discussion on how to figure if an arrangement might work- just because they are a friend or relative does NOT mean you can peacefuly co-exist(the thought of living with my mother ever again sends shivers down my spine!)-and how to forge a workable arrangment.
Agreed that not all family or friends can be lived with in an agreeable manner! We're going to live over my in-laws, starting later this year, but first I had some concerns that needed to be met, like would I be able to bring most of my garden with me -- they have a farm, so we've got a couple of spots we're looking at for planting things. And there were other things that we also discussed ahead of time, before I agreed to moving.
While on the one hand we want to be able to help out around the farm, we also have our own lives to live, and need for some degree of privacy. So far, it looks like things will work out.
I could never do this with my own mother though -- she's very "helpful". Sometimes it's been okay, other times it drove us crazy. No doubt the way we do things sometimes drives her crazy -- best all around to live apart!
I've lived with other people many times, mostly during my 20s. Sometimes it works out better than others. Agreeing ahead of time on what sorts of things we'll be doing in a house (we were all renters) is key to deciding whether or not to move in. And keeping communications open is important. And hanging out socially sometimes is also important. I've lived a couple of times with people I didn't really know, and for the most part it was okay, but I'd rather live with people I know. We didn't always agree on everything, but usually we could work things out.
There are certainly benefits to sharing, like saving money on fuel, electricity etc. (all the people I've lived with weren't into leaving the lights and stereo on all the time -- starving students are generally like that though). You can also afford to live in a larger place than you might be able to on your own.
I do have to say that most of my friends weren't gardeners though, and nowadays I would definitely want help with that, especially if they hoped to eat any of what I was growing. At least during some of the harder phases of the growing season (planting, harvesting, and preserving). But if I had a housemate who was interested in this kind of life but wasn't very physically able, if he/she could do other things to contribute to the running of the household, that would be cool too.
With friends I think it helps a lot if you all have the same idea about what is going to happen -- an intentional community, if you will.
Just a few thoughts,
Heather G
helwen.livejournal.com
I want to say thanks for linking older posts. I started reading a couple of months ago and I have been meaning to go through the archives, but I haven't found the time since there are so many posts in the archives. I seem to be an all-or-nothing girl, so having it piece-mealed will be very helpful. Thank you so much for your wonderful writing.
Suggestion for your book title; you've probably already considered & rejected this, but "Feast or Famine?" (or "Famine or Feast?") kind of means the same as "Depletion and Abundance" and might be a little more eyecatching?
"thriftwizard", who can't log into Blogger/Google at all at the moment for some obscure reason!
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