Around the House Stuff
I spent most of my youth in South Jersey, but remember living in Vermont as a kid. I was too young to have chores, but I remember my dad and I picking up wood for our fire place in our old Volkswagon bus and also taking our trash to the dump. We lived about 15 minutes into the hills outside Brattleboro Vermont and did not have all of the municaplities services like trash pick up, water or city sewer. We were left to fend for ourselves and that’s exactly how everyone that lived out there wanted it.
We composted everything that we could, raised bees for honey, bartered my dads services for food/produce trade out from farmers and my mom baked all of our breads and did all of the cooking for the family. I don’t every remember going out to dinner as a kid. Why would we, we had everything we needed at the house (thanks mom/dad).
Our move to New Jersey brought to light the evolution of society and we had city sewer, city water and the trash trucks picked up our trash at the curb in front of our house (45 feet from where we stored the trash cans). I became a city kid pretty quick and took most of it for granted. North Carolina and California brought more of the same conveniences. Well, you’ve heard the story before, Summer and I left California because of all the people and the ridiculously high cost of living and real estate.
So here we are, de-evolved from California conveniences living in Rincon and having no desire to change anything at all. We are trying to grow at least enough produce for a salad or two a week, we have at least 30 fruit trees planted and our septic tank is 40 yards behind the house. Not including our construction projects, we have about 70% more house chores to do because of our lifestyle change and our days are just as busy as when we lived in San Diego, but our satisfaction with life is 10 times what it was in Carlsbad.
Why, you ask, am I writing about this today? Here’s why; yesterday I picked up my chainsaw and lawnmower from the small engine repair shop and I’m getting ready to tackle some of the lawn this morning and I need to take the trash to the municipal pick up spot witch is about 1,500 feet from where we store our cans during the week. If I were a kid, I would hate dragging those trash cans all the way up the driveway and switching them out with our empty cans, but I’m not a kid…so they are getting thrown into the back of the truck for a speedy drop off.
When was the last time you used a chainsaw, machete or had to fill up your pickup with trash to get it to the dump? I do it weekly, and I’m loving it.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:23 am
That was a nice reflection on life in general. Sometimes I think about how every moment and experience that came before led us to the point that we are right now- and will lead us into the unknown in the future. But we create it all, and things we might once have ignored or despised become the joys of our daily life -or vice versa. You didn’t know you wrote a post on the philosophy of life, did you?
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March 4th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Stefan – I too believe that the smallest things in life is what really count and is what we will remember at the end of our road. I am deeply moved that you see and appreciate the every day, simple stuff, keep up the positive vibes, it might be contacious.
We just got back from Rincon and had a great time. Looking forward to our next trip.
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March 4th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Although my childhood was spent in a city, we always managed to have a vegetable
garden and raspberry patch. My parents were always concerned with the environment and were probably the first subscribers to “Mother Earth News”. All my life they loved living close to the earth. All vacations were “camping” and even in their later years they never felt like they were “away” unless they slept in sleeping bags. In their retirement years they moved to a small plot of land in upstate New York and heated only with wood, composted, canned all their vegetables and lived a simple but more physically rigorous life. I lost both of them just a few years ago, but I think they would have had a blast planning my gardens and trees on Bummer Hill.
Thanks.. for keeping it real.
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March 4th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
We feel the same way – just unfortunate that health insurance is a must (which means someone has to work) and cars aren’t solar yet. It’d be great to really live off the land (we are trying). Our next step is to get off the grid. Puerto Rico has a tax credit of 75% for solar conversion. Once I work out how to have continuous fruit and veggies, then it’ll be special chickens (eggs only – I can’t kill things), and who knows what after that? I think it can be done here. Really. But yes, it is work, but it’s work you get direct benefits and pride from doing. I can’t believe all the hand’s-on work you are doing to build your house. It feels different when you do it yourself, doesn’t it! Exciting! katrina
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March 5th, 2009 at 5:36 am
At first I thought you were joking about your childhood jeje… I can’t believe you lived that way, but it is awesome to have those memories. Sometimes we pay others to make everything for us, so that we can have extra time for other things, but anyway time is too short and we don’t know why. I would like to do things too but it’s not easy baby!!! lol
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March 5th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Dude,
I’m with ya. My existence on kauai is not so different. In the picture you posted of your truck w/ cans in the back I see red flowers on the ground. Do you have african tulip trees there? If so…. put that new chainsaw of yours to work. Death to rubber trees, African Tulip Trees and Albesia trees. I love every other tree.
Hope to catch up with you soon. Also, I have like 20 years of Mother Earth News on file I can skype to you. what is your Skype ID.
love ya,
EP
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March 6th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Hello, it’s always a joy to read you guys. Had to play catch-up though. Oh and congrats on the new baby. Tot ziens!
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March 10th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart is a nice little book you’ll enjoy reading. Is about a couple that goes to live to las Alpujarras in Spain. I have the spanish version if you are interested.
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March 10th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
I love your website and this post by Stefan makes me love it even more. Congratulations on the baby! Girls are so much fun.
…and yeah I know how hospitals in PR are. While vacationing in PR my mother got sick and the experience is a lasting one.
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