Living close to the earth

Here's something I started typing in last Thursday, and then
added to. First it was just for the yoism discussion group,
and then decided to send it to... almost everyone!

http://yoism.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/derrickjensen_discussion/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ishmael_discussion/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CarFree
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OurCultureOurCapitol
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ishmael-dc (local info)
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/carfreeecovillages


I've tried to set it up so you can skim past the parts that probably don't interest you to the parts that might. A lot of it, I moved out of the email on to articles at http://carfreeuniverse.org

Topics:

     *Carfree living scenarios* in the eastern US. (living
where there are no cars)
     *Farm work (non-mechanized & horse-power)*
     *Raw diets*
     *Primitive skills*
     *Is an ecovillage world possible?*
     *Philosophy & Derrick Jensen excerpts*
     *Research on Amish, Conservative Mennonites*


     *Carfree living scenarios*

http://carfreeuniverse.org/Members/colin/carfreePlacesNomad

Some thoughts on living where there are no cars using
primitive skills and a nomadic lifestyle in the Eastern
United States. In particular, the C&O canal (180 miles of
beautiful carfreeness), the Appalachian Trail (Maine to
Georgia, & intersects with the canal), and the intercoastal
waterway (Norfolk, VA to Florida).


    *Farm Work*

I began researching conservative Mennonite & Amish
communities. While doing so, my sister called and pointed me
to:

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/intern.html

On there, I found at least 4 horse-power farms, and many
other wonderful opportunities!

And, in fact, a whole site devoted to apprenticeships on
such farms (& horse-power logging):
http://www.ruralheritage.com/apprenticeship/

One can do farm work on organic farms of all kinds, and even
be paid !

Here is a non-Amish who uses his horses for transport to market as
well! (most non-Amish horse-power farms still use trucks for transport)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/2932697.stm


So, from a carfree perspective, a possible future, aside
from becoming a resident of the Appalachian Trail or
intracoastal waterway, is to learn organic growing, and then
situate oneself in a community with conservative Mennonites
(they are even in places like Belize), or Amish, to be
around others who use horse & buggy, and farm.

    *Primitive Skills*

I am also doing things like practicing trapping and hunting
and scavenging (roadkill for example), learning edible
plants (just got Petersen's guide), learning different kinds
of gardening (just got _how to make a forest garden_).

I've set paiute deadfall traps (
http://wmuma.com/tracker/skills/traps/paiute01.html )

around the house here for a rat that likes the compost pile,
and some chipmonks burrowing under the front step, but I
clearly need some practice because I haven't caught them
yet, and managed to wound myself. (my dad, would be poisoning the rat if I don't catch it)

On my early-morning jogs I see bunnies, and now have a mind
to see if I can ever catch one (perhaps via throwing stick).
Two mornings ago a fox barked at me! I also need to learn to
fish. Maybe three generations ago someone in my ancestry had
a reasonable garden? We've been away from the land for a
good while.

Yesterday, on my way towards the farm (
http://potomacvegetablefarms.com/ ), I found a fresh
roadkill with a nice fur, and thanks to Tom Elpel and
http://www.braintan.com/ I'll try tanning it soon. I already
have a squirrel hide from one I scavenged (in the forest in
winter), but it's brain had already been eaten by a crow, so
I did not tan it. I'm not sure what kind of animal it is but
it is black and bigger than an opossum. It's in a refrigerator
(don't tell my mom). (She just found it- now its in it's own
icebox)

Somewhat neo-primitive, and very cool is:
http://www.caneloproject.com/pages/cqc.html
http://www.loe.org/archives/010525.htm (search for "bale")

    *Raw Diets*

You may know the question of diet interests me.
here's some new inputs:

(baby of raw vegans dies from malnutriton)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/5957434.htm
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/5964380.htm

http://www.westonaprice.org/myths_truths/myths_truths_vegetarianism.html

Weston A Price also writes on the evil of Soy products!
Ken Wilber in _boomeritis_ jokes about soy causing brain
decay, but this guy is serious (doesn't mean he's right). (
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/soy_update2002.html )

(these I may have already sent you)
http://www.rawhealth.net/jesusdiet.htm
http://www.eco-action.org/dt/wildup.html
http://www.geocities.com/becnalrio/possumliving.htm
www.beyondveg.com/cat/psych/. In particular, The Psychology
of Idealistic Diets....

summary: raw fruitarian / pure vegan diets may work well for
some people (see the beyond veg link). Weston A Price,
however, suggests that even that is suspect, pointing to the
troubles of pure vegans who moved from India to England
where food preparation differs.

What I find even more interesting than the jesus diet people
are the raw paleo people. In reading about how some indians
lived, eating raw mice (I've heard about the hantavirus) and
lizards was mentioned...

here's something from the myths_truths_ link:

Parasites are easily avoided by taking normal precautions in
food preparations. Pickling or fermenting meats, as is
custom in traditional societies, always protects against
parasites. In his travels, Dr Price always found healthy,
disease-free and parasite-free peoples eating raw meat and
dairy products as part of their diets.

and here is:
http://www.rawpaleodiet.org/  RVAF means raw, vegetation and
animal foods
In one of his stories (
http://www.rawpaleodiet.org/raw-foods-babes-1.html )
he mentions eating one or two dozen raw eggs a day!

So from the jesus diet people (and apparently the Hebrews in
Homestead FL), we've got one extreme, and from Vinnie in
Frederick, MD, we've got another.

The possibility of eating raw animals interests me because
hunting and trapping in many areas is illegal ( for good
reason ), and so is camping, and in the interest of saving
time and hassle, and reducing detectability, being able to
eat all foods raw is desirable. Obviously there are risks.


What do I know for sure about diet?

* The more exercise (Including weights, flexibility, and
high-intensity aerobic) I get, the happier I am (to a
point). The more I sit around and don't move much, (typing
at a computer), the worse off I am.

* Eating locally organically grown food is a good thing.

...

Oh, and I read _This organic life_, which gives much the
same message as _the culture of make believe_ !

http://www.google.com/search?&q=this%20organic%20life

Her main message is about eating locally grown foods year
round. And she lived in Congers, NY and now, Nyack, NY, and
nearly all of her food for the year comes from her garden (or local farmers)!



    *Is an Ecovillage world possible?*

http://carfreeuniverse.org/Members/colin/evWorld
This is an excerpt from page 132 of _Ecovillage Living_ by
Hildur Jackson and Karen Svensson, presenting the case for
why ecovillages need to be made within the mega-cities as
well as out in the countryside.



   *Philosophy / Derrick Jensen excerpts*

(only if you're bored?)
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.culture.discuss.our-culture-capitol/44

-------------

   *Research into Amish / Conservative Mennonites*

   http://carfreeuniverse.org/Members/colin/AmishAndMennonites
   Many of you know the Amish do not drive cars. Recently I found the same is true of conservative Mennonites in various places, including Belize! What can be learned from these existing, successful, and growing communities of carfree people? What follows are some notes and links for consideration/discussion.

   This document/notes are also especially relevant to the yoism & Derrick Jensen projects.

Colin
http://j9k.org




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