Long Term / Living Off the Land


Solar and Alternative Energies

Home Resources

You do not have to be beholden to the major power companies for power and utilities....

  • Solar Living Institute
  • Off-grid living resources - solar electricity, composting, etc.
  • Renewable energy resources.
  • Pedal (bicycle) powered generator and another one and more electricity-producing bicycles... just Google it!

    Solar Cooking and Alternative Heating/Cooling

    Solar cookers let anyone cook food or sterilize drinking water - as long as they have direct sunlight for a number of hours straight, even in winter, and without risk of fire. In poor countries, solar cookers save women and children from smoke inhalation, reduce the need for cutting trees, and save lots of precious time. Since a home-made solar cooker can be made easily with cardboard boxes and aluminum foil, it is well worth finding out more about these earth-friendly devices. Just make sure you have some black-enamel pots handy!


    Water

    Portable Water Filters

    A good water filter can let you get clean water out of even muddy water (not recommended though), and helps protect against dangerous microorganisms. They are, however, expensive, and they don't always filter chemicals out of the water (look for carbon filters if you want chemical filtration). Filtered water plus a water sterilization tablet are probably a good idea, just to be safe (but you still need carbon filters if you're worried about chemicals). Although pricey, ceramic-based water filters can last 20 years with maintenance. They are great for hikers and campers.

    Reusing and Storing Water at Home

    Did you realize that instead of watering gardens with clean drinkable water, we could use household "used" water instead? And instead of sending wastes out to the streams and oceans, we could be utilizing it as fertilizer. Not only that, but we could be gathering rainwater and using it wisely throughout the year.

  • Graywater.net seems to have some resources on this topic.
  • CompostingToilet.org appears to be an advocacy site for composting toilets. These systems avoid the need to dump wastes into sewers.
  • Water conservation, storage, reuse links
  • Water Storage article

    Farming

    Seeds, Gardening

    Non-hybrid seeds are a great long-term investment. If you have access to land, you can grow your own food, and save more seeds, year after year. Carefully dried seeds can last for years if frozen.

    Tamago's Random list

  • Dave's Garden Garden Watchdog - THE ratings list of garden supply catalogs. Check this to see company ratings!
  • Seeds of Change offers a variety of non-hybrid, open-pollinated food and flower seeds. (Yes, I have ordered from them.)
  • Ark Institute's Non-hybrid Seed Family Package (Never ordered from them - Google hit)
  • Abundant Life Seeds Organic seeds. "Protecting the genetic diversity of rare and endangered seeds" (Have not ordered)
  • Select Seeds "Heirloom treasures" flowers - seems to be mostly open-pollinated. (Have ordered; highly rated)
  • Wildflowers at Wild Seed Farms - has wildflower seedling photo references (Have not ordered)
  • Raintree Nursery seems to have a wide selection of old and modern fruit and nut trees. If you have land, plant fruit trees now to start harvesting in a few years.
  • Trees of Antiquity also has heirloom fruit trees as well as modern wonders.

    Lafe's List of heirloom seed sources ("sources I have used that I am very happy with"):

  • Sandhill Preservation, in Calamus IA (Calamus is the name for bitterroot, which Lafe uses for pneumonia.)
  • Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, in MO
  • Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, IA
  • Richters Herbs, selling seeds and starts.

    Growing Tips

    Planting Hints by Lafe

    I have tried the Three Sisters method of planting, and found it best to plant a row of corn, with the beans about every 5th or 6th plant, with the melon/squash every 5 feet, or so. Beans do trellis very nicely on the corn. Painted Mountain corn, Ireland Creek Annie beans, and table Queen squash, all make it here in this cooler climate. There are many others, these are just one example. The corn has a high protein content, making it a good part of the mixture for feeding poultry.

    Navajo Soup Recipe by Lafe

    Dried corn
    Dried squash
    mutton

    soak the corn overnight, like beans
    put in the squash and mutton, season to taste, and simmer. You can find this at the fleamarket, every Sat, in Shiprock, New Mexico.

    Poultry and Livestock

    Poultry Tips by Lafe

    www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html - part of www.featheriste.com

    A very informative site on poultry, and other animals. My favorites have been Marans, Dominiques (my Dad liked them) and Delawares. All are dual purpose birds. Some Marans lay through the winter, especially the Swiss line. The best come from the Seattle area, some guy called fleawilly ([who posts on] www.eggbid.com) has them. My favorite turkeys, Narragansetts, and Bourbon Reds. Like all of the above chickens, the Bourbon Reds are great foragers, the Narrie's pretty good. A dual purpose bird does not have as much meat as a cornish hybrid (the kind you buy in the store) but oh the difference in flavor, and texture!

    Feathersite also has ideas for portable chicken coops, called tractors.

    www.henspa.com is another source. There are several variations of tractors, the Amish around here use them, raising their meat poultry in them.

    Wasna (Pemmican) Recipe by Lafe

    Wasna (wash naw) or pemmican. Jerked meat, or jerky, can be pretty tough, depending on the cut of meat. Most of the meat was dried, and pounded fine, usually mixed with a dried fruit, like chokecherries. It is then mixed with rendered buffalo kidney fat, kidney fat does not go rancid.

    I cut the meat in thin strips, about an 1/8 of an inch thick, removing all the fat as possible. I hang it to dry, using kabob skewers. I have used my mothers clothes line when I was a kid. Anyhow, you can also dry it in the oven, about 140 or so. After completely dry, I use a blender to chop it, not quite powder, but fine. I put about 1/4 cup dried fruit to every cup blendered dry meat. I blend them together for a minute. Experiment a little, you'll find a texture you like.

    I have used choke cherries, dried tart, and sweet, cherries, and blueberries. Eddy HighBear has even used raisins. Experiment a little, you'll find a mix you'll like. You can do this in very small amounts, a practice in case you ever need to dry all the contents in your freezer.

    They used to sell ground jerky in little round containers, looked like chewing tobacco, or "dip" it''s about the texture you're looking for.

    Sometimes I still pour a little buffalo fat over it, just enough to form a "loaf" Remember, years ago fat was very scarce, a little can be good for you. It can be eaten as a snack, or added to soup or stew as a thickener.

    We still use wasna in some of our ceremonies, it goes in the hole before we raise the tree at Sundance. We sample it so much we're lucky to have enough to use in the ceremony, everyone like it.


    Shelters

    This is a long-term thing, but worth thinking about. How can we build housing and shelters that will withstand natural disasters? It could save thousands (millions?) of lives in the long run!

  • An idea for earthquake-resistant shelters that use local earth
  • The IRC (charity) develops a quake-resistant structure
  • Why build a dome?

    Other Skills

    In a disaster that lasts a long time, you can bet we will need people with these skills:

  • Animal husbandry
  • Butchers
  • Weaving, spinning, cloth-making
  • Seamstresses and tailors
  • Doctors who can make do without high-tech
  • Smiths and tool-makers
  • Candle-makers
  • Soap-makers - do you know that soap is made from lye (can be made from wood ashes) and fat/oil? Lye is very dangerous to handle. History of soap making has the old ways of making soap.
  • Beekeepers
  • Farmers
  • Carpenters and masons
  • Brickmakers and bricklayers
  • Herbalists
  • Hunting and trapping skills
  • Guards, police, etc.
  • People with leadership and organizational skills
  • People with a strong connection to God

    Examples of Successful Communes

    Successful communes or independent "intentional communities" are very rare. Here are a few that have survived over the decades.

    Twin Oaks International: A non-religious commune originally based on Walden Two and founded in 1967, but now ideologically more diverse. " Twin Oaks is an intentional community in rural central Virginia, made up of around 85 adult members and 15 children. Since the community's beginning in 1967, our way of life has reflected our values of cooperation, sharing, nonviolence, equality, and ecology.... We do not have a group religion; our beliefs are diverse. We do not have a central leader.... We are self-supporting economically... We are income-sharing. Each member works 42 hours a week in the community's business and domestic areas. Each member receives housing, food, healthcare, and personal spending money from the community."

    Los Horcones, a Walden Two community founded in 1972 in Mexico: "At Los Horcones we live cooperatively, we are all learning to seek the common good, sharing goods, rights and responsibilities in a tranquil atmosphere instead of living competitively, seeking individualistic goals, appropriating objects and establishing differences that lead to aggressive behaviors."

    Koinonia Partners: The inspirational Christian farming community home of Habitat for Humanity. They had many many struggles over the years, but helped promote racial equality despite threats and violence against them. Their history tells a lot about the struggle of people trying to really live a Christian life. "We are Christians called to live together in intentional community sharing a life of prayer, work, study, service and fellowship. We seek to embody peacemaking, sustainability, and radical sharing. While honoring people of all backgrounds and faiths, we strive to demonstrate the way of Jesus as an alternative to materialism, militarism and racism."

    The Farm Community: "THE FARM is an intentional community of families and friends living on three square miles in southern middle Tennessee. We started The Farm in 1971 with the goal of establishing a strongly cohesive, outwardly-directed community.... Over the last 35 years, The Farm has become well known for many things, from natural childbirth and midwifery to healthy diet and vegetarian cuisine, creative arts and alternative technologies to its partnerships and assistance to native cultures"

    Federation of Egalitarian Communities site: Includes advice on visiting, joining, and starting your own intentional community.

    Forbes top level Utopia page includes:

  • Forbes article on Ecotopias
  • Forbes article on why many Utopias fail
  • More communes from around the world, in slideshow form


    Back to main page