Sexy? Root Cellaring

Ok, before I get started talking about how cool & sustainable root cellaring is...
and before i admit I haven't even read the whole book....
is it just me or is this the sexiest little sustainable book picture evah (see below)??? It makes root cellaring seem, downright HAwt!
Seriously! Sexy root cellar building man drawing, with lady drawing helper watching on as she leans on the cellar shelf... their posture! OI!
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On the serious side.
This is a neat book, that shows lots of ideas on how to store all your fruits and veggies WITHOUT electricity, aka- no fridge! Aka, post zombie apocalypse. AKA, doesnt matter if the power lines come down in a bad storm. Aka --- I dont Need YOu GrOcerY!
Alot of projects don't require any building, but more of digging and storing things in the ground. Kinda like you are squirrel.
My favorite part that i found in this book is the buried old fridge... no need to plug it in, just bury the thing (after removing a few components) and have the door open at the top like a root cellar treasure chest!!!
(They shoulda put the sexy drawing people in this pic too..... )

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Check out this book, HERE.

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XOxoxox

Book Review: Rewild Or Die

"If the true meaning of sustainability involves giving back more than what you take from the land, then nothing that takes more from the land than it returns can define itself as sustainable. Less destructive does not mean more sustainable." - Rewild Or Die


Ya'll know how I love to read, and over the last year I had mostly immersed myself in fiction books - as a direct retaliation to reading years of health, self help and spiritual books.
But then I got this book called REWILD OR DIE sent to me in the mail - which can not really be put into any one category I can think of ...

• Nature?
• Survival?
• Philosophy?
• Ranting & Cursing?
• Culture Studies?
• Agriculture Bashin'?

Urban Scout's new book about getting back to nature is not a DIY guide that tells you how to live off the land, make primitive crafts, or hunt wild game --- it is a thought provoking book telling people WHY they need to learn these skills, why big agriculture is killing the planet, why most humans are depressed with their current situation, the main focus being on the hidden ways living in a "civilized" society makes us slaves to a life we don't really want to live.
Many chapters felt like someone had took my own thoughts and written them out in essay form - except that usually deeply philosophical shit makes me confused, overwhelmed and bored. Nearly every chapter kept me engaged, especially the ones discussing the function of money vs rewilding, and schools vs rewilding (i am someone who really hates the way money and school both currently function.) Especially schools! There were some chapters I could not relate to mainly because I am a recluse who has been out of normal society for 9 years now and didn't know about all the different types of 'groups' & 'diets' & 'styles' & 'movements' like the anarcho-primitivists? who follow certain genre of thought about how society should eat/ live/ function (or should i say dysfunction?) Chapters focusing on stuff like that I understood, but felt a little lost since I rarely make 'genre' distinctions when i meet people anymore. (Not cause I am a mini Buddha but cause i see/saw people so rarely that now i get so excited to see a human i don't give two shits to judge - i go right to talking their head off!)
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I have not been in the mainstream for a while, I never really knew about all these terms, like "rewilding" (returning to a more natural state, undoing domestication). I never knew that many of the things I have chosen to do, ways I live in accordance with nature were something many people are now discussing & learning to live by! (Way cool!) Not that I thought I was alone, but never knew I had intuitively moved along with a whole movement I never saw. It's cool to find out there are others who want to be close to nature, who want to keep the environment in a supported natural state, who don't wait for an Apocalypse/End of Oil with stock piled guns...... even if they live very far away.
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What is most refreshing is this book is not written in the traditional edited book style, it's personal, it's honest, it's defensive, aggressive, and sweet all at the same time - most likely because it is a series of essays taken from his personal blog (The Adventures Of Urban Scout, a hunter gatherer wanna be), making the style more modern and less bookish.

Xoxox

Book Review: Hatchet

I think I have a 'thing' for survival books, especially if they are a true story (although fiction is fine by me too!) Possibly it is because I am living in someone's house who has a great love of survival books so when I go to find something to read it's like choosing which 'boy becomes man' adventure novel that looks the coolest.

Hatchet ---> I read this book in one evening plus one morning before getting out of bed, it was not only a easy read but the adventure was something difficult to put down. So engaging is the true story that you don't realize you are even hungry or have a life outside of reading this book... until the character is stranded after a plane crash and starts describing his hunger so thoroughly that my own stomach growled too.
One of the neatest things about Hatchet was the boy survives in ways I would not have even thought of, and for a 13 year old facing death he is pretty freaking crafty! I wondered if when I was 13 could I have survived something so incredible as to be months in the wilderness without so much as a pack of matches to start a fire? Not unless I was Snow White and coulda lured animals into my arms... even if I did watch tons of TV like the boy Brian in Hatchet did (which he uses to figure out ways to survive).
His survival and his quick learning of the forest is really impressive, most amazing is how intuitively he learns to understand the behaviors of the creatures around him (bears, wolves, moose, etc). Not to mention, his rescue rocks.
All these years later it looks as though Brian never fully meshed with normal society again (he was from New York City afterall, then was living like Tarzan all alone, I wouldn't mesh either)...
follow up books exist! See here.

Anyone have other suggestions for fun survival books? True or not. :)

XoXO00

Book Review: Southern Highlanders and Animal Farm

Constant snow = alot of reading while stuck inside.

Here is a quickie review of the books I borrowed to read:::

Southern Highlanders ->
I thought at first that this book would not interest me, mainly because I am not a historical reader... but this particular book is written like a story telling journal of the author's experience when he moved into the Appalachian Mountains around the year 1907. Being that I live in these mountains I found the descriptions of the early houses, people, and the natural habitat to be something that sucked me in without expecting it. It also amazed me when he describes which native animals were still abundant, the plants in their thickest tangle, and the trees before they were logged to hell. Another fascinating point for those into wilderness survival, the settlers of the mountains here were extremely isolated and could not rely on outside help or trade for survival so the inventive, almost barbaric, and extreme ways in which they created a code of surivial within their community is something to be in awe of.
On a side note, if you love to read about people taking the law into their own hands, moonshining and family feuds (not the game show but real murderous ones) , then 70% of the book will thrill you.

Animal Farm ->
You might guess that I am like a little kid when picking up a book, if it says "animal" in the title I pretty much will read it whether it has to do with animals or not. This book is all about animals, although with some deeper political meaning that is beyond me cause I don't know dookie about politics. I still really enjoyed the book though - the basic story is that the farm animals decide to have a revolution against the farmer who takes care of them... the animals feel they are working too hard and not getting enough food and become inspired after a sage like pig tells them to revolt. This is the kind of story that pulls itself full circle and is full of little life lessons about community, society, and the nature of... well nature (in a Darwin sort of light). This book is not happy, not uplifting, and does not end good. Whatever the detailed political meaning was that went over my head, the end is very clear. (It also might make you hate humans and pigs, so beware!)
The best part of the book is that one of the characters is a donkey... and of course, the donkey is the smartest one of all the animals. :)

Anyone ever read these too? Ya'll know I love book suggestions, so please keep them coming!

XoXo

Book Review: Clan Of The Cave Bears, Handmaid's Tale & Island Of The Blue Dolphins

With big snow storms and holidays I got into the groove of reading again this past week... in fact I plowed through all three of these awesome books - all of which had a unifying factor I happen to love in a novel. A female character who changes her life, learns skills to cope with life as is, yet also effects great change in the process... freeing herself. This is the theme which never seems to stop thrilling me and whenever I am asked what kind of book i want to read i always say "about a girl who changes her life".
Thanks to the peeps who gifted me these cool books! Here's my review::::

Clan Of The Cave Bear : It wasnt just the beloved girl changes her life plot that made this book rock, but it was the vast amount of research of flora and fauna knowlege, the primitive interptations, the cultural and DNA difference over time - which all sucked me in like lips on the straw of a chocolate milkshake. This book takes ya back in time while somehow unifying and defying time all at once. It is apparently part of a 5 part series, so the only flaw is the end leaves ya hanging bit. Even though it has dragged you through more detailed description then most human minds could ever think to plot on paper- you want more, you feel like if the book ends maybe you will too.

The Handmaids Tale : This is one creepy freaky, terrible tale which still has beauty in the sick and mundane. Maybe lots of grotesque things happened in this story, but somehow it is described in such a way that you are only moved as much as the main character is moved. It is not entirely apocoplytic, but somewhat of a disintegration of society as we know it- and for this I find that I like it's offshoots and reasoning as to why things have become a little bit like Pink Floyd's THE WALL meets Hilter meets The Stepford Wives for the people in America. OF course the main character is a woman, and oh hell does her life change and then change some more. This book is not cheery and is good for a day when you are depressed and wanna stay that way, or would enjoy thinking of all the ways things really could go wrong and how simple it would be for the government to control us like frightened sheep.

Island Of The Blue Dolphins : This book fascinated me because it is based on the true story of a women who ends up living on a island for a looooooooooog time all alone. Like Clan of the Cave Bear, this book has cool survival elements to it, where I felt like i was learning more then just the story of her life- but about how humans come to survive any situation we are in, our adaptability and our willingness to continue on in the face of bad odds. It is compelling, lonely and creative- and includes animal enemies and animal friends (which i happen to love that stuff in stories!) It's not a long book, it does not drone on, nor is it filled with plotted fluff - it's a simple read with a simple ending.

Do you know of any books with these kinds of story lines that I might also like?!? It can be about a guy who changes his life too ;) !!

XoXo