Don't know if it is the thought of moving south, our ages or what with us but we are wondering what it is all about ?? Maybe it was the increase in taxes, car insurance, trash (even) pick up etc that got hubby and I thinking of selling it all and moving to the hundred acre woods and living "off the land". Now we have homesteaded for over 20 years so we are not actually "greenhorns" when it comes to homesteading. Lots of hardwork..but you wonder. We have so much clutter that we are unloading and you realize what do you need all of this stuff for anyways. Thought if you actually went "native" and didn't have the electric, used a generator a few hours a week to plug into the computer, run the wringer washer etc. would you find life more content? I know we should be content in all things...no matter what are circumstances...and ours are far from bad...have never missed a meal yet. But sometimes you just have to wonder ??? Enjoy the hard work of a garden, canning, bringing in the wood supply for heating all winter and doing for ourselves. I guess I'm scaring myself thinking we just might take that plunge. Remember when I was a kid in suburbia Philadelphia and went to the country to visit friends that out in the woods was a hermit type of person that lived in what we thought was a shack all alone without much. Maybe he had the right idea after all. Anyone else feeling like us ???

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), May 07, 2002

Answers

I lived in Reading, Pa for years...I thought in the country. We found that we were always in a hurry to go nowhere. Now I breathe, I mean really breathe.

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), May 07, 2002.

Helena, I know just what you mean. I have been trying so hard, one step at a time, to simplify my life, really simplify, but it seems like it's an uphill battle! Other than my hubbie and daughter, most family and friends can't understand why I want to live the way I do, hence they are always "planning" outside projects for me. Their lives are nothing like mine or the way I want to live and they think I should be bored! I think though, I'm finally getting my point across, even though it's a slow process. The other day my mom came to our house when I was out in the garden. She told my sister that "Annie sure guards her free time". :) They all still think I work too hard at home, think I should be out shopping among the mobs, and going out for lunch! I can just see their faces if we ever go off the grid! But, what they don't realize, is I have goals that they can't understand. Living simply and sufficiently. I understand just how you feel.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), May 07, 2002.

My DH and I talk about that all of the time. Having teens makes it hard to live that way but the bright side is that they will be moving on in a few years and we can scale things down. I don't know why we even have TV's. We are always outside doing something or when we do come in because of rain or lack of daylight, we enjoy getting on the pc. I think that I could live without everything except my pc. There is too much knowledge and information that is there to help us live a simpler life.(is that an oxymoron?) Shopping, malls, fast food, lines for this and that...can't do it! We often laugh about winning the lottery so we can buy a thousand Acres and live like hermits. Yes, we appreciate and love what we have, but I think everyone dreams of something just a little bit better. (more privacy, not depending on utility companies, etc.) Yes Helena, you are not alone in your thoughts.

-- Cindy in IL (Ilovecajun@aol.com), May 07, 2002.

me too! We were born and raise in the city. We wanted out bad! 3 years ago we came here to nowhere north dakota. Much simpler style (not less work mind you!). But after just 3 years we are looking at downsizing more!. Although we took the house off the market and are not going to Alaska after all. We are still making changes and learning new things to simplify. We hope to go off grid in a couple years. the freezer is the only thing we are looking for the best way to keep running. Everything else we are slowly putting aside and not missing it. Now that we have a better understanding of where we are going we are culling out a lot of stuff we thought we were gonna need but don't really.We are going to get a well pump and system set up for that. We already produce most of our food and buy the rest in bulk. We can't ditch the phone till the granparents are gone though.Etc. Etc.

The point is, NO! You are NOT crazy,and NOT alone!

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), May 07, 2002.

My people as they get older experience the desert archetype in dreams. On one level this is symbolic that an individual's life forces are not as strong. On another level it represents the desire to experience life more simply and without the clutter of an individuals earlier life.

The desert represents both a backing away and a going towards life concepts. Backing away from the life that we, ourselves, are, and have created, or participated in creating, and moving towards the ultimate life giving and life taking source, the sun.

Early leaders of the Christian church, following in the steps of their communal predecessors, the Essenes, moved to the desert to experience a less interrupted contemplation of the meaning of life. They are called the 'Desert Fathers,' not because they created children but because the 'truths' they discovered were passed from generation to generation.

Oh, by the way, yes, they were considered to be crazy by most people of their times.

-- paul (wprimroselane@msn.com), May 07, 2002.

I use this formula for not "simplicity", but my "agreeable complexity". I avoid trying to justify or emmulate anything I am doing and simply ask myself "am I enjoying what I'm doing? Am I pleasing myself first and foremost? While pleasing myself, am I not burdening others in my quest and maybe helping a few? Can I go to sleep at night easily and when I wake up, can I enjoy my life, find ease in my day mixed amongst the effort ? Can I utilize all things at my disposal , including the established society, to establish my lifestyle with many diversified directions instead of "one rut" so that 9 can sustain me if one fails? Can I take a break from it when I wish and look at those caught in the traps of the rat race rut with a mix of sadness for them and amusement that I'm not there?

No matter if you go "simple" or "society rut", if your rely on only one thing, eventually your trapped. And thats when the pleasure goes away. "Self Sufficiency" cannot be a simple formula, it is a complexity. Simple is when you have one job that puts one type of currency in your hand with which you purchase all your needs.

Complexity is when you devise a means to supply your food, another means to provide your comforts and still other ways to sustain your lifestyle while avoiding the simplicity of Modern society.

I have often wondered why folks call what we have chosen to pursue "simple living"? It is much more simple to crank a car and drive to Wal Mart for a gallon of milk, than washing udders and getting it the hard way, but is it as much fun?

Enjoy it? Yes. Complex? Has to be. Cluttered? Most definately, now along with baling string and timber , the clutter includes electronics, mechanics and such though, because we have so much more technological tools to utilize in our chosen complexities that help ensure a greater ease and pleasure .

Could I live content as a hermit? No, mankind is not a worm or other lower life form. We need more than just to "eat and crap".

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 07, 2002.

If you don't like what you do or where you're at then decide to make a change I wouldn't narrow that change to one thing like homesteading or anything else.Its a 2 step process.There are hundreds of small towns where the pace is slower where many lifestyles are available.Of course a change of geography isn't going to change whats in your mind or heart.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), May 08, 2002.