Donations for this should be sent to: Bob Shannon 169 North Empire Creek Malo, WA 99150 PRACTICAL IDEAS AND APPLICATIONS FOR COUNTRY LIVING (C)92 R. SHANNON If you have 50 grand and 20 acres, you can clear cut the tamarac, gravel your drive, buy 8 panels with passive tracker and have professionals set it all up including your satellite TV dish... ....On the other hand....living in the true wilderness and using creative and intuitive resources can be very enlightening. Our family moved onto 20 acres in Washington State in 1988. We have survived 4 harsh winters and many other glorious, colorful seasons. Quaking Aspen are bare in the deepest of winter, yet are the barometer of spring and the color of fall. They also point clearly to where underground water reaches near the surface. A grove of aspen with serviceberry bushes and moss is a sure place to dig 20 feet and find potable water. When we first came to this mountain retreat, we lit with kerosene and 12 volt car lights hooked to old car batteries. Our initial cabin was 300 square feet for 2 adults and 5 kids. Now that may sound like a small place but when you consider the thousands of acres of living room and den, you start following the kids down those long trails into who knows where. The results are more of a trip inside your own spirit. You can lay aside your Castenada book for a piece of personal reality. Where places like Albion Ridge, Wheeler Ranch, Hog Farm, Arroyo Hondo and the like have metamorphosed and disappeared with the 60's back to landers, their northern counterparts continued on.... although dwindling in numbers over the 2 decades, a few dozen survivors have made the turn and are now ready to show the alternatives to industrial America for the next millennium. There are still quite a number of folks, perhaps yourselves, who have never given in and tried their dream ideas. And yet still others who gave up and want to try again now that the technology is a wee bit cheaper... a wee bit only. Malo, WA. (Spring 1992) *** Today, as I went out into the cold morning to see if the late spring veggies survived our latest cold blast, I was thinking of how fortunate we are to have this place. There are so few left. So many traditional homes with 1/10 acre cost over 100 grand. We still live in the early post depression with our acreage costing 200 per month. This comes with the expense of -35 in the winter, with 4 wheel drive vehicles a necessity to climb the 2 1/2 miles and 1800 feet up a gravel county road. Some say that no electricity means no grid. We do not miss the grid. With all of the nuclear plant closures, a large amount of used solar panels have become available at reasonable cost. Many N plants used solar for external power generation. We purchased 2 used Arco M51 panels for $150 each and hooked them into our two "quasi deep cycle" batteries. I say quasi because these modified car batteries, made for RV and marine use, are not really made for long term deep cycle, nor will they handle the rugged, non maintained conditions such as gel cells. Today we have two 100 amp hour gel cell batteries. They will deep cycle 4000 times, operate at 95% efficiency in freezing weather, operate upside down, store at complete discharge for a year without harm and are reasonable in cost providing you pick them up yourself rather than have them delivered at quite a cost. Here are the real trade offs. Are you hooked into fast food, supermarkets, theaters, mass transit and traffic, cable TV, delivered bottle water, hours of meaningless socializing, college courses with no job offers.......? Here we have organized sub culture barter fairs, healing gatherings, solar workshops, food cooperatives, networking, low profile building and planning (they get smaller!), continuous music jams, allowable tipis, outhouses 'o plenty, good neighbors, good food and clean air. RADIO No we didn't leave the whole world reality behind. Yet finding something worthwhile to listen to is a trick. Small inexpensive AM/FM radios will not help, except for late night AM skip and that may be iffy depending on the quality of your receiver. When buying a radio, make sure it has inputs for external antennas. AM radio does best with a 100 foot long wire antenna hooked between two trees. Use a 14 gauge wire available at most hardware stores. FM does well with a recycled TV antenna which can d ouble as just that. We have a Sangean short wave radio (cost 150) that has the external standard RCA input for AM and FM in one. This radio runs on 6 D cell 1.5 volt batteries and is VERY efficient. We found it will run close to 500 hours and after measuring the batteries at that time I found them to be 1.2 volts...time to replace. While there are many short wave radios on the market, the Sangean is sold under the Radio Shack name and can be frequently found on sale. It has 9 memory sets, BFO for side band receptio n and STEREO FM reception!!! Of all the low cost short wave radios this one received the highest marks from trade journals and mags. When purchasing a radio, try to find one that runs on 12 VDC, unless of course you go for the Sangean which is quite efficient on regular batteries. A radio that uses 8 / 1.5 volt batteries will hook into your household 12 volt system. And for petes sake don't buy one that has too many gadgets like clocks and egg timers. You will find little use for them and they take space away from quality electronics. I have found an interesting phenomenon regarding radio and sunspot information. Solar activity is reported on 5 10 15 and 20 kHz at :46 after each hour. If sunspot activity is high, you can expect to receive an unusual array of sw and FM/TV activity. On AM we listen regularly to KGO 1200 miles to the south. 1992 is the first year of a downward cycle of sun activity yet the conditions are still quite high. Additionally when a major solar flare occurs it is reported within the hour and if you have a clear evening, the northern lights will be quite visible, especially in the summer at late night hours. Many times I've taken a wee morning (3AM) trip to the outhouse and been pleasantly surprised at the light show here at 49 degrees north. Another way to enjoy radio in the country is to modify an old or new DC car radio. It is preferable to buy one with a built in signal amplifier. They will usually have a button that designates "local/dist". In lieu of that, a small 12 VDC FM signal amplifier will hook directly into your DC house system. Both the radio and the signal amplifier draw about 1 amp, not enough to bother your storage capacity. We keep our radios going much of the time, as the local stations provide exemplary news and w eather as well as give us a good idea of the local social thinking and trends. Sub culture is not the majority here, but is well entrenched. There are a number of cattlemen/women and timber folk too. Although the boundaries are not well defined, we have found that we all can exist together with compromise. This is something that seemed to be a problem in the Albion area of Mendocino. I once asked a Mendocino philosopher and survivor of the 60's why the BTL movement all but disappeared. He told me that they co-opted themselves by asking/begging for services such as mental health, social services, food stamps etal. With those services came regulations and regulators. This was the beginning of the end. Here in Washington the services are bare but there. They appeared by themselves and are used only when necessary but the real trick is to make do without them. Leave the government out of your life and join organizations and groups of intellectuals who know how to handle agencies through diplomacy and compromise instead of confrontation and demand and you will find they are harmless to a point. LIGHTING Corporate America has discovered alternative lighting and now there are as many varieties of lights as there are disposable diapers. Light is an important factor in mood as has been discovered concerning the SAD syndrome which is seasonal adjusted depression. Full spectrum fluorescent light is the best for those who want quality and conservation of energy. Unfortunately supply and demand has made the price of lighting high for 12 volt users. The simplest means of obtaining lights is to raid an old motor home, trailer or car. Unfortunately most car lights draw quite a bit of amperage but the supply is limitless. We use a 30 watt double bulb fluorescent light in our living area and the kids each have a Copilot adjustable 5 watt halogen 12 volt in their rooms. The bulbs for the halogens must not be touched by hand as they contain a rare gas which gives them their brilliance. Touching the glass degrades it and the bulbs cost 7 dollars each. We have used 6 bulbs for 2 lamps in 4 years. Flashlights are important. When lights blow you'll need to see at night and its a great trip to the outhouse in the dark....make that TRIP!....as on wood left out in the path or rakes dangling from the cabin wall. Rechargeable flashlights are OK but expensive and it takes forever to recharge the expensive batteries. For the highly intermittent use of flashlights, use regular alkaline batteries. Kerosene is ok but it is still a fossil fuel and we have been trying to avoid those when possible. If you find you need kerosene try the Aladdin lamp. Its initial cost is high (40-50 dollars) but it puts out light in comparison to a Coleman Lamp. It also puts out quite a bit of heat so keep it far from combustible materials and it will help your wood supply in the winter. As to outdoor lighting...we have none. Last week we had to cover the garden with cardboard boxes to prevent frost problems. I had to start the "rig"(4x4) and point it towards the garden for the kids and significant other to cover. Identify-Adapt-Overcome! While small solar panels, batteries and lamps can be bought for outdoor paths etc.. they are a little too cute for Mountain Wind. We are not trying to bring the city to the country but the alternatives to the urbanites. GROUNDING AS PER CODE (FAUX) I will be the first to tell you that I know nothing about USBC building codes. That is one of the reasons I moved to where I NOW LIVE. In California many tax dollars are spent trying to correct "mistakes" made by amateur home builders. There is a school of thought that implies these codes are meant to socialize citizens thereby deleting creative folks from building original dwellings. In effect this strips the sub culture from power. If your into a conspiracy mind set then this is your fate. Planning departments use airplanes and roving inspectors to look for violators under the guise that this will help save lives. Here is Washington the laws are on the books but have never been implemented. Whether this last bastion of freedom will survive red tag America is a roll of the dice. Hopes are that a new paradigm will strip the bureaucracy instead of the public, thereby easing restrictions on codes. Don't take my word for it tho'. Another "secret" purpose of codes allows for grossly inflated prices in construction by legal and registered contractors who are led to believe that their bachelors degree is worth something. They too have been fooled by the now infamous "they". Involved in this unique American scam is an esoteric system of kickbacks and unscrupulous politics. Again with a change in the paradigm, this sort of cronyism will slowly disappear, but don't hold your breath. I have always been a liberal cockeyed optimist. It is from that perspective that I write. Always hoping for the best positive affect for my own personal philosophy. Expanding restrictions on building and electrical alternative wiring forces sub culture types to find more remote locations. Yet even Alaska is now finding itself inundated with those trying to escape the south 48 and is starting to restrict land use by means of regulations that complicate an otherwise unspoiled environment (excluding mega-oil conglomerates). Fortunately, with depleted budgets, there may be little enforcement moneys for any states to continue harassment. Personal experience has shown me that all of us, including regulated contractors, make potentially hazardous errors in construction and design. Demographically, more coded houses in Ferry county have gone under the torch, than those built by the elected poor who take their time to think out a good plan. Last winter, a neighbor living in a well constructed coded house was hit by lightning. He lost a computer, a laser printer and survived a small fire. His house was properly grounded via USBC.. All of the above does not make me feel very comfortable during lightning storms. We have more than our share here. One night this spring, during such a storm, the lightning was so bright during the midnight hour it turned on my charge controller. And it didn't go off for 10 minutes! This may or may not have any bearing on my house not being grounded and may be a common phenomenon. You have to be here to see my jumble of wires. Although it may not be as bad as I am making it seem, there are some gaps in my workmanship and they are mostly due to procrastination. 0 gauge wire is hard to work with! Rebar is tough to pound 8 to 10 feet in the ground with rocks o' plenty. If it were not for the rocks I would have had a hand dug well by now, way before a ground rod. What comes first? Water or fire? Fire extinguishers and pulling fuses by hand are my answer to non-grounding. They say if lightning is going to hit from the + to the - in the upward force, a positive charge will occur and in some as sensitive as myself, I will feel the hair on my arms stand up. As soon as I say it hasn't happened....it will, so stay tuned to future years and see what happens. At this time I have no plans for grounding this infinitesimally small system. Now send me letters to change my mind! I do have an 8 foot rebar in the ground for my generator. The surge protector into which the computer and the printer are plugged will not perform properly without the ground and our $1500 + investment in electronics is very sensitive to electricity, even static variety. Anyone who has blown a chip from improper body grounding can tell you how sensitive silicon can be. Actually I have a feeling that electricity is a lot more esoteric than we think and may not fall so much into the math and science arena as it does the mystical. When I am afraid of yellow jackets, they chase me and many times sting. I am allergic to the toxin. And when I fear the lightning, it does indeed seem much more powerful and closer than when I am asleep; kind of like the Zen koan of a tree falling in an empty forest. One of my VERY few close neighbors has an electronics repair business. All of his household is run by 1000 amps of old time phone batteries and a Heart 1000 inverter via 8 Kyocera panels. Everything in his house is grounded a thousand different ways. Cost him an arm and a leg. He tells me that my car is unsafe because it is a floating ground. He tells stories about all his friends getting hit by lightning.. dying, becoming maimed.... thrashing about on hospital beds not knowing where or who the y are. He claims Nikola Tesla had some secrets that he never told about lightning and of course I have read some of Teslas works. He did indeed have a mystic connection to lightning which interests the philosopher in me. But somehow we as a people seem to miss the point when we become too neurotic with what science tells us what is right and what is wrong. Granted, we all want a full and healthy, safe life, but we must use our intuition as well as our intellect. I am grounded in the mind/body sense so I shall try to take that good feeling and keep applying it to what I do with solar energy and its practical applications. None of this exempts or is supposed to guide another in how to properly ground their system. A few minutes/hours of work and thought may indeed save your property. As far as I know, a proper ground connected with the proper wire will help, but the data has never been collected... only the horror stories. Perhaps we shall never know, so go with your flow! Just try to keep a delicate balance between science/body/mind and spirit. It does take a bit of practice but not much because thats the way thing s are supposed to work and returning to the original mind is a familiar trip. INVERTERS A lot of inverters have hit the marketplace in the past couple of years. I have a Powerstar 200. It is made in Scotland and does exactly as it is advertised. It puts out 200 watts for a few minutes, 160 watts for a lot of minutes and 140 watts continuous. A few months back I read an article that told how to make the Powerstar run at 200 watts for great lengths. Clamp two large oversized heatsinks on both sides of the inverter. Bolt them together, careful not to put any holes in the inverter itself. Put a small 12 VDC fan blowing directly down the middle and... surprise! 200 watts continuous. Also beware of imitation. Some under the name of Powerstar are made in Hong Kong or Taiwan. They are clones and do not have proper heat sinks for internal transistors! My richo neighbor has a Heart 1000 watt inverter that cost 860 dollars more than the Powerstar 200. He is not happy! Always complaining about something or other. That model is supposed to be great according to mags, so to me this means that if something works for you then you're happy. If it doesn't, then your not. There is not a lot of mystic knowledge about inverters, just a lot of mismatch problems. Some folks complain that their lights make noise due to inverter sine waves. I've heard of inverters that will not run computers properly. Try out the inverter you like on your most sensitive equipment first. Chances are it will run everything else OK. Try it first on a tape deck, then a fluorescent light. If all looks ok then you should be in first rate shape. If you're not sure how much power you might need in the future, a company called Powerstat makes an upgradeable inverter. The only problem is that you have to send the unit back to the factory for upgrade. That could be a big problem...maybe not. Now I'm not sure why anyone would need 1000 watts. Maybe you need to run your 50 inch TV. We had some temporary neighbors who lived in a mash tent and had a projection TV! Maybe you want to run a fridge. Maybe you want to run power tools...gosh knows. So spend a bundle. But you can cut a 2x4 with a chain saw or a hand saw, just ask my kids!? You can even cut plywood with a chain saw. If you must have a fridge, you can buy a propane model... or sink a five gallon bucket in the ground next to a creek and you have an excellent cool box. Depends on what foods you're planning on. We eat many dried foods that save easily and store dry in covered buckets. We rarely eat meat but when we do we buy it fresh and cook it right away. It is more of a special treat that way. COMMUNICATIONS No telephone. Nearest line is 2 miles and 3500 dollars away. I like the idea of not being bothered. After four years of no ringing.. it adds to the quiet. There are many times though that I would like to make an easy call rather than trek down 1800 feet to the pay phone. Sometimes in the winter at -10 or so, the pay phone decides to give up. Telephone repair is about 60 miles away, unless we include the local man who washes booth windows and polishes the buttons. I've seen ads for radio telephones (not cellular) but they are half duplex, $2000 plus (for a good one) and your conversations end up getting confused in saying "over". Only two groups have radio telephones up here at 49 north. One is Mt. Izla; two Catholic Monks who live at 6000 feet, far from anything and decided to build a for real post graduate college. They not only have a phone. They have an answering machine, a Macintosh, a Laser printer, 6 fancy buildings, funny robes (black), a half dozen stu dents from all over the world and communicate regularly with the Pope?! Our family uses good old fashioned CB radio with a small 300 watt linear amplifier. Linears are illegal according to the FCC because they interfere with "All My Children" and "Murphy Brown". As a pro will tell you, linear amps are considered "dirty", which means that harmonics bleed all over television and FM, causing noise, no color, no picture and sometimes, if your not using side band, the folks can hear all you say. They tend to get real irate about missing TV, so I do not recommend linears.... I justify mine because we do not live close enough to anyone with TV. The local repeater (translator) is only 6 miles away, but is a highly refined piece of electronics that rejects my spurious emissions. Anyway, without a linear, a CB around these parts will only travel to the middle of the next mountain and stop dead. Another alternative to CB or no talk is 2 meters. This area of the ham band requires a test but no morse code. Here you can purchase relatively inexpensive handy talkies and converse with other locals who usually have telephones. Or better yet, you might be close to a ham 2 meter repeater with a phone patch! These work good. As a matter of fact, Mendocino is hooked via 2 meter repeaters all the way south to San Diego and north to Portland and beyond. The real trick of living here is to attempt finding changes and alternatives. After four years I have found alternatives to calling and socializing on phones. If it is real important, you'll make the car trip. If not then you'll adapt! TRANSPORTATION Depending on where you live, you will probably want to have a four-wheel drive. Snow country and mountains demand it. If you do not have running water, they come in real handy for hauling water. Better yet, have two 4x4's. When one breaks down it may be a while before you can get parts or until you can find a repair person. We only have one K5 Blazer and there have been many times when something has gone wrong. It is 16 miles to the NAPA store and 80 miles to the nearest Chevy dealer. At times we have been stranded for a week up here on the hill. Another rig would have definitely been handy but money is always a question. If you have a K5 for sale...write me. Better yet, drive it to my property and then you can see what living in the country is about, first hand. We have no transit system, no van bus system and even the neighbors have difficulty with cars. So depending on each other, while it may be the optimum, is not always possible. And when it snows hard in the winter, especially on weekends when the county doesn't sand the road, you will find that you may have to chain your 4x4. We have one good set of studded ice chains. This may not be necessary if you remember to buy a rig with manual transmission. Then you can put the transfer into low lock and drive d ownhill in first gear. Stopping a downhill 5800 pound rig can be real tricky in the first few wet snows! Chains are a definite! I remember when living in Fort Bragg, CA., folks used to ride horses into town. I still have a picture of a horse tied to the drive up at A&W, before it became a Pizza store. Time has a way of ruining things. Now Fort Bragg does not allow horses in town. The same is NOT true here in Washington. Here we have open range and horses are allowed just about anywhere, but remember, horses need plenty of food and have to be taken good care of in cold winters. Tacks cost a bundle. Hauling water and lots of groceries with a horse is difficult. One neighbor has a wagon that two horses pull but I have yet to see him take it to the store. Snow mobiles are fun but ineffective for work. Feet, of course, are the easiest to find. There are a few hardy souls who lug gerry packs around the county. Usually they live alone and have little to purchase. Although one neighbor lugs 50 pound dog food bags around the roads. Of course we offer him rides, which he takes. WATER We have a year 'round creek that runs through the middle of our property. It is 50 feet downhill from the house. This water is not drinkable but is great for washing clothes, doing dishes and watering the garden. Bringing water up 50 feet is not a problem. We have kids. Local stores sell 5 gallon plastic buckets. Four trips a day takes care of all our needs. Two buckets per trip. This summer I purchased a 12 volt Pony pump.. the kind used to empty bilge's on boats. With a 55 gallon plastic barrel, bought locally for 19 dollars, it takes 8 minutes for the pump to fill. We are putting in a small .8 amp solar panel by the creek to run the pump. Total head is 45 feet and by the time it would pump up 50 feet, its output would be down to 10 gallons per hour. Drinking water is hauled via 4x4 from 2 local stores which allow hill folk to draw from their wells. This has been a local practice for many years. The water is then stored in 55 gallon plastic barrels and siphoned into 5 gallon water containers. When needed it is poured into 1 gallon milk containers. Doing this for so long now.... it just comes natural. Not quite the same as turning on the faucet but it does teach conservation through practical use. Well drilling is making some people very rich. The mash tent neighbors had a windfall in bucks and had a local well drilling outfit come to make their life comfortable. They drilled 3875 dollars down and reached no water! They still had to pay. That's the way the contracts are written. A local told me that when these outfits drill, they use a large bit that seals small aquifers as it goes down looking for the gushers. I was told that after the drillers leave, you might put one stick of dynamite d own the well. It will blow out the clay seals on the small aquifers and you'll have water. This source was an old gold miner who had used dynamite extensively and I had the feeling that he knew from what he was saying. Hand dug wells are hard to dig but will produce a form of ground water that is drinkable. Usually hand dug wells are about 15 to 20 feet deep and you must be sure to shore your walls as you go. Look for places where Aspens, berries, moss and heavy brush grow together. Then study the lay of that land around and you should have a good chance of hitting water. As with all 12 VDC nouveau gear, pumps are abounding. The more expensive solar pumps are quite effective as well as quite expensive. Try the slow pump variety. It uses little amp draw and takes a while to fill your system but is environmentally effective. This type of system takes a lot of thinking and planning. So unless you are blessed with an artesian spring (which some are), plan on hauling for a while. It's been four years of hauling for me and eventually, as with all things, it comes natura lly after a time. Do not pay more than 20 bucks for a 55 gallon barrel. Some can be found for 12-15. Make sure that they were used for food stuffs, like olives or apple juice. Those are the most common. We once bought one that had contained a fluid for cleaning out kidney dialysis machines and it smelled pretty bad. Don't know what it might have done to the garden or the intestines! PURE WATER We have a friend who visits Africa yearly and owns a Katadyn water purifier. The initial cost is very high and replacement filters are also expensive. It takes a lot of pumping to get a small amount of potable water. I suppose these units are great for foreign countries, but in the US, it is still easier to haul water until something more permanent can be set up. The reason I mention water purification is that my water is not worth trying to drink, although the folks (friends) who owned this property before me drank from our creek.....and the gerry packing neighbor drinks from it all the time. Some say that he has built up an immunity to the bacteria. I don't ask much.... I have seen various 6 - 8 and multi-legged small swimming creatures in the water. I figure, if I can see that much, then what I cannot see must count in the billions. Giardia is the number one outhouse filler. It is .02 micron, which cannot be seen by the eye and gets into your digestive tract... wrecks your appetite until you either kill it with Rx drugs or cleanse it holistically. Coliform bacteria is what causes Cholera and is common to many mountain streams. This comes from feces (ca-ca)....cattle, various animals do their number in the creek. No manners these fellas. A full blown case of Cholera gone unchecked will kill. So this is why I choose not to drink the water. Of course, one could do the old Boy Scout routine. Boil the water for 15 minutes, and add some iodine tablets. But iodine, besides killing bacteria, makes water taste terrible. And if you take a water sample to the labs for identification it may not help. With open range possibility, a herd of cattle could come along after you get the sample results and contaminate the water. Best be safe. Barter Faires Barter Faires Barter Faires Some form of Barter Fair is common to most of the western states, but NE Washington has 6 per summer and that doesn't include the healing gathering and the music gatherings. Barter Fairs started in the late 60's when local sub culture types came out of the winter mountains to share and trade arts/crafts/herbs and loco weed. Since then, times and laws have changed. Yes, folks still trade and barter but the loco weed is done in the privacy of ones tipi. The last spring Barter Fair I attended had about 300 "vendors.". Each had unique items....many hand crafted things that one would expect from this culture of people. Plants, seeds, kites, instruments, cast iron, stoves, wood cookstoves, old tools, moccasins. there is no hype and no advertising. the fairs take place in the woods and last for about 4 days. In the fall you will find all sorts of veggies and such for putting up. Prices are usually bartered as the name implies. Lots of folks have littl e signs that say what they need and what they have to offer. Also look for tons of home made food cooked in small trailers and tipis. There isn't a variety you will not find from meat to health foods to macro. Drum circles play most of the dark part of the evenings. There is usually an open mike and a stage although I am surprised that most of the folks know how to play something and we see them at every corner. This is definitely not a commercial type venture and is very unique. Having been around for 2 decades we hope they stay as they are....Great for kids! Lots of things to do and very safe!!! GARDENS Once getting started on the subject of gardens, I may never stop. The first winter was so filled with cabin fever that I started getting seeds and materials for gardening in February. You'll want "open pollinated" seeds that you can save each year. My favorite is a tomato from Siberia. It will withstand 28 degree temperatures, 55 days to harvest and is the meatiest tomato around. Totally organic if you do it right! Depending on where you live, the growing season changes rapidly. On the Mendocino coast you have a real long growing period. Here in Washington State at 3500 feet we don't plant until June 1. Even after that we may expect a frost or two. I heard it even snowed here in July although I have not seen it yet. I have seen snow in May. In my latest garden I planted peas, spinach and dill early before the last frost. I DO NOT buy junk seeds. I get my seeds from an organic heritage hippie spot in Montana or the Good Seed Company in Chesaw WA., just a few miles from here. Store bought seeds are TERRIBLE! Here on our mountain we have few pests for the garden. Bald faced hornets abound but they have too much to do eating the budworms from the trees. Yellow jackets also eat a certain amount of leaves but not enough to do harm. The biggest problem is frost. I always get a few boxes from the local store to cover the plants on cold nights. and a digital battery operated indoor/outdoor thermometer sits right by the head of my bed. Of course most everything sits there , the place is so small. Water is done as I have said. We use the 12 VDC pump to fill the 55 gallon then haul it up in the rig to the garden and reverse hoses. The pressure is strong enough on this pump to make a real live spray to the plants. 360 GPH with no lift and 58 dollars from Northern Hydraulics who deliver in decent time... take plastic and COD. YES UPS does come up here except in the dead of winter. They tried that once and got stuck for half a day. Now they leave packages at the store 3 miles downhill in snow season. Certain plants like certain soils and altitudes. I'll not try to tell you what to grow. There are hundreds of books to do that. I have good luck here with squash, beans, spinach, peas, radishes (who doesn't), pumpkin, cabbage and dozens of herbs which we dry hanging from the inside ceiling for later use in medicines and cooking. Dill rye is my favorite, if I can get Jane to cook it and if she can get me to cut the smaller wood for the cookstove. COOKING We have several ways of cooking that we do in different seasons. >From late summer to late spring we usually just cook on the wood stove which heats the house. Our stove was made in the US, is not air tight, burns anything, even green and causes us to feed it every 4 hours in the dead of winter. The top is small but big enough to hold two 12 quart stock pots. Early morning we cook either dried oatmeal and serve it with honey or Malt O Meal. Either way we use the wood stove. Sometimes we skip lunch or just have some Top Ramen (I know...MSG?!). After a small lunch we bring out the herbs and beans and such. It can smell real good in here by the time the kid s get home from school!! (We have 7 kids....2 are in public school....3 are schooled at home...1 is in college and 1 is living in Fort Bragg, CA., playing reeds for the Glorianna Opera Company) This may sound a bit boring as far as different meals go but we do diversify...the thing we like to do is stay our of the semi-attached trailer as much as possible in the winter, as it is not heated. For this reason we also use paper plates in the coldest months. They double as good fire starters. The trailer triples as a place to socialize, do dishes and cook. We have a very small, 4 burner propane oven in the place. Kids share washing dishes that are used. Also in the trailer is our wood cookstove. A real super buy at 35 dollars and in excellent condition for being 50 years old. It is the absolute best way to bake pies cakes and Thanksgiving turkeys. Everything comes out cooked thoroughly! Can't say enough for these things but they are not readily available. We bought this one at a Barter Fair from the original owner! Other older models have been seen floating around lately but they cost from 300 to over 1000 dollars. I have always felt that a person can have a balance in cooking without being too elitist. Vegetarian food is nice, healthy and all other kinds of good things. When starting a veggie diet it feels like your all of a sudden healthy. Maybe you are?! But I do believe in diversity. Rabbit came to mind. In the 60's while in college I had a BBQ of rabbit and wasn't even old enough to know that I was killing something. Did know that it tasted mighty good though. Meat has a place on my table and the local veggies understand. Balance. Feel the TAO of things! Diversify. AVAILABLE LAND The laws of supply and demand are man made. Murphys Laws are a joke. If you have in mind what you want, then you should have no trouble finding that piece of property. There are legions of magazines that advertise land from brokers, tree farms, private parties and the like. There is no end to the land available. This is not to say that land will always be available. Perhaps the population will continue to explode and folks will move to the country whether they have a choice or not. Perhaps we will find a way to handle the masses in the city, But for now....land is there. Cheap land. Expensive land. Mail order land. You want it. You'll find it. All it takes its motivation and a spattering of luck. Let me tell you the short/long story of our move to Washington State. In 1967, Cleveland Ohio, we were good friends with the Shuttleworths who had just started Mother Earth News out of a small house in North Madison Ohio. They had a dream. They shared their dream and we bought into the philosophy but we were too young and naive to understand. Many others were not, or felt that they were not. Some got real lucky but the times were so very different. We tried over the period of a few years to find our dream of self sufficient living in the country. We didn't succeed for a variety of reasons, but one was NOT that there was no land for us. So we shelved our dream in a place that even we forgot. ....real estate company in Washington... property at199.50 a month. A few years later on, after moving to the Mendocino Coast in another search for "real life", we re-established the dream of finding self sufficiency. and it took another few years to fall upon it, after being deluded into thinking that the Spirit of the land movement was dead. We tried being semi-yuppies without success, after opening and closing a computer store on the Coast. We bought into a modular home in Woodland California with 1/10 acre of very sun dried ground. At 800 dollars per month mortgage and after months of finding just the right eatery and expresso houses, we gave up in bankruptcy. As quick as a shot in a child's arm we found a real estate company in Washington that was selling remote parcels of property for no money down and 199.50 a month. Being without any other catalyst to take us up the ladder we felt no remorse at leaving the city to try something new! And we have so far succeeded in doing what we set out to do. ..................... The land company that we purchased from 4 years ago still has hundreds of properties in Washington, Idaho and Montana. They are above board and legal. They are honest. What ya' see is what you get and you still have 2 years to renege or swap for a different piece of property. Its all very simple and if you write to me I will tell you the names of the folks with whom I dealt. Besides this organization, there are dozens more who divide timber land into 20-60 acre remote parcels and have similar deals. They have 800 numbers. The will deal. They send pictures and resumes of property. For the most part they are honest. I can tell you who they are. I have nothing to gain, nor do I charge. I want to see others fulfill their dreams. Do you want lumber companies to eventually clear cut the forest? Then buy a piece of your own and save it by using the lumber to heat your family and build your house. There will still be enough for 100 future generations. WILD ANIMALS Yes there are wild animals here in the great inland northwest. Actually I wish I would see more, but usually I hear them. They seem to be just afraid enough to stay out of sight. Although I have seen some pretty remarkable things that didn't pop up on Main Street Cleveland. Deer of course are plentiful. Hunters seem to know that we have deer too. They trek up here every fall for the big kill. Personally I do not like deer meat. Did have it once for our tenth anniversary back in California...BBQ'ed and enjoyed, but last time I had some around here was when a neighbor (it seems like I have a lot of neighbors) brought me a hind quarter. 'Twas in the middle of summer. He was just being friendly. Said he had more than he needed. As you have read, I have no way of storin g meat, so I figured we would cook it that night. Wrapped it in a plastic bag and put it in one of my more esoteric cabinets in the trailer/cookhouse. Promptly forgot about it and for weeks I wondered what in the heck was that terrible smell. Took it out of the cupboard with a long stick and threw it down the old outhouse. Sorry deer. One night in a deepening snowstorm, about 1 AM, I was driving out to pick up the kids from a school dance. They have dances real late here. Why do they think parents who live on tall mountains want to go out at -15 degrees at early AM hours? No phone! Carry a blanket and a dozen matches and a quart of scotch. Anyway, on the way back up the mountain I saw my first porcupine. It waddled in front of the rig and I had to drive slow to keep from hitting it. I am sure it also wondered what the heck I was doing out that night. I could barely see it with all the snow piling on my windshield. Dogs find porcupines cute until they get too close. Our dogs had two run ins with porcupines and ended up with quills all over their mouths and noses. Now that truly hurts a dog. There are these burrs on the end of the quills and they have to be cut off in a certain way. Then the quills have to be pulled with a pair of pliers. Dogs are hurting enough and they hate having you come at them with pliers. It takes a number of days to get them all out. No vet. No money for one even if there was one. Local hip types like quills from porcupines. They make some truly beautiful earrings and such with them. They get just close enough to the animal to throw a blanket over it and the porcupine leaves a ton of quills behind. These are bartered quite regularly at the Fairs. Saw a few snow shoe rabbits when I first moved up this way but they never appeared back after I bought my 22 rifle. Not sure if I would have shot one but I am always so nostalgic about my days as a youth, hunting with my dad. Plenty of rabbit tracks around though. I am not sure where they are hiding but it is some comfort knowing they haven't left because of our intrusion. Two years ago I saw a black bear mama and two cubs. Back then I still had a camcorder but by the time I got out of the rig it had run off into the woods just behind my property line. Later that summer, when my second oldest boy was showing someone our corner markers, he saw the same bear. The bear saw him at the same time. They both took off in opposite directions as fast as they could. The black bear is probably not going to attack unless it is protecting. Running may not have been the best choice. Folks tell me that running is a bad idea but this bear didn't seem to know the rules. Coyote are another story. We hear them howling all year long, but our dogs seem to keep them at bay. We have been told that coyote have a way of luring domestic dogs away from the property and then either killing and eating them or abducting them into their pack. Wild dogs running with coyote is common. There is open season on coyote year around. They can be taken with a 22 rifle and are considered pests. This is partly due to the cattlemen whose cattle range large forested areas where the coyote live. Finally we have cougar / mountain lion. I have seen tracks and I have heard them scream. One night on an outhouse trip I saw ones green eyes reflect from my flashlight. I made it back to the house in record time. Cougar are fairly small cats 80-140 pounds. They roam large territories and are terribly unpredictable. They are fast, climb trees and are not afraid of humans. Attacks on humans are rare but do happen. Our one cougar was taken by a 80 year old professional trapper/guide. In a way I was s ad but also very relieved. A young boy was maimed and killed by a cougar only 100 miles from here this spring. Birds include Canadian Geese, Bald Eagle (I've seen plenty and they are gigantic), Red tailed Hawk, Gray Jay Stellars Jay, Goldfinch, lots of owls and the whole gamut of types seen in populated areas. Their singing wakes us up at 3 AM in the summer. Due to long daylight hours, one can have a long lit day starting at 4AM. As a matter of fact I just came in from watering the garden. It is now 5 AM! I no longer have a camcorder due to my anxiety over filming bear. When we first lived here every noise the kids heard was a bear. Every wandering dog was a grizzly. It seems we really wanted to see a bear. So when the kids would come running in the house, I would grab the camcorder and run out like the newsman I was and run to location. The last on scene bear sighting was about 20 feet down one of the trails to the creek and although most of the snows had melted, the cold evening temperatures had frozen the slush into ice. I fell down the hill. Just the month before I had a similar accident and in a wonderful gesture towards electronics, I came down on my elbow thereby protecting the cam corder. I did manage to crack my elbow though. You can still feel the place where it broke. So this time, with injury fresh in mind, I came do wn on the camcorder. We buried it in plastic packaging and sent it to Mendocino for expert repair, where it now lies on the museum shelf as I am told. WEIRD STUFF (Mainly just common-place unusual) When we lived in the city we had MTV, VH1 and the whole gamut of satellite shows. As a matter of fact, while living on the Mendocino Coast we were among the first to get HBO. Sometimes I think my wife and I (me) installed this new tech so we could see those semi-x rated shows without embarrassing ourselves by going to the theater. X and R movies had a hazy line during the late 70's. All this time we still held true to the old hippie lines of TV being bad and such. I was versed in Marshall McLuen and Gerry Mander. These fellas had their act together when they spoke against the media, especially mass media and TV. As a matter of fact, later I wrote another 32 page paper concerning the coming deluge (apocalypse) of anti-Spirit and TV. It was a non-dogmatic paper with emphasis on Spirit in the 60's sense. For years I held onto the 60's philosophy. In many ways I still do. If you have a real sense of "crazy" I urge you to write us for this paper! We will send it to you at cost plus expense of traveling to the city to make copies. (Did I mention that I love Motels?) So why am I telling this story? Because although we have wonderful sun filled days, children wandering down the herb filled wilderness paths, picking and drying our medicines, utilizing and having success with naturopathy and holistic medicines..... Today we are all sitting here watching "All My Children". My kids haven't missed a show for the last 6 months. They sit with Jane and me each day at noon, for an hour! I am amazed at the complex philosophy concerning this new fad of ours... or perhaps I am just flowing with the Tao! Haven't figured it out. What makes a 4 year old ask if "Natalie" is on yet? I feel that by trying to put this example into words may help to explain our own successful lifestyle in a differing (abstract) way. We have 7 children as I have mentioned. Two are absolute brilliant kids, with great grades...college, National Honor Society...better than any parent can imagine. 5 more are only slightly behind and with great intuition. Yet we have never subscribed to a particular philosophy outside of our own special intuition and gut-feeling. Try not to be too romantic or hubrus about your own ideas. Examine personal feelings and ideas. Watch the younger ones if you have no children. If you do have children, try to interface their lives with your own and do not be tight with your regulations. I have seen how the kids of old hippies survive. They are much more eccentric than myself (though some see that impossible). We're not talking original or unique. We are talking kids who mirror what their folks do and are on a path today that I cannot feel or understand intuitively. While I accept people of all paths, I have found that the key to success is to be very flexible, always changing and accepting, always examining and making sure that a personal intuition has a big part in that role of fun and life. #2 TAKE TWO (Script writer beware....Calories ahead!) The same day (today) I issue the caveat about television, it is off. Gone from my mind! Sun beats down at an unusual 90 degrees. Seems as though someone talked about how doughnuts were made so good a few years ago. Maybe I minimize a few years due to middle age, but what ever happened to doughnuts that tasted so good before capitalist America build Mr./Dunkin and Amy Joy fast food doughnuts? And now today someone has mentioned or spoken the magic words that pulled a memory from one of the 2 adult members! "Hey! How are doughnuts made?" A little too cute for me at the time, so I just let it pass through the head. OK so we have some time and some cooking oil around. I let the "significant other" fence off questions, not really knowing herself how doughnuts were made....except for the time she saw and tasted them at Conneaut Lake Park in Ohio (1960's Cedar point for me).... So another adventure occurs while dad cooks his portable computer....3 young children (13-5) read the recipe for doughnuts. Had I expected them to come out so great, I would have offered them more than my minimal advice or does that sound mute considering? Now it appears that I am to be consoled by getting only two of these hummers (with warm chocolate glazing). Seems there is a balance in human nature. From "All My Children" to enjoying a good doughnut, Donald (13) was able to make the transition well! And through this I wish to pass on the meaning of balance. If you recognize the signs of balance, then they are signs, not symptoms. If you still see a hazy reality then you may be near. If you do not understand.......? FOR THE BORDER CHILDREN! HERBS AND WEEDS Pleasant surprise! So many of what were once called weeds are found to have medicinal properties. It has taken all four years for me to trust picking weeds and making tea. Of course Dr. Kloss, author of "Back to Eden" and many dozens of other folk, have been telling about healing properties of herbs for years. American Indians now complain about the "cultural intrusion" of "New Agers" who write books about healing with weeds...Something the Indians were doing hundreds of years ago. Our first trip to the wild was guided by a lady who had spent most of her years following Rainbow Gatherings and living off the land, much of the time in Alaska. Here she showed us how many eatable plants are growing. Since that time we have learned much more from locals and Indians. Yarrow is excellent for so many things. It has saved us many trips to the doctor by its ability to stop bleeding both external and internal. Fresh crushed leaves put directly on a wound will stop bleeding in twice the time as ordinary pressure alone. Dried, yarrow is good in infused and steeped teas. We use it along with wild strawberry and at times mullein and mountain mint. Use to slow menstrual period! Mountain Mint is not the same mint most are used to seeing in the wild. It doesn't look at all like spearmint, as does most common garden variety. Our mint grows wild along our creek and is much stronger than common variety. We use it in almost all teas we make to add a real nice flavor. Mullein is EVERYWHERE! Also called Indian toilet paper, its oil is good for ear infection. We soaked the flowering heads for about six weeks in olive oil to extract the mullein oil, then separated using eye dropper. Mullein will also dry your sinus cavities and is great for post nasal drip used in tea.. As with most of our herbs and such, it is best when used green but dries nicely inside the cabin. Red Clover grows in small patches. We have picked this and dried it but its properties are to cleanse the blood and we use a tincture of Echinacea (Purple Cone Flower) for cleansing and immunity building. Wormwood has a very strong but pleasing smell. Interesting that Chernobyl is Russian for Wormwood. It is said to repel moths but we have found that it is not too effective with our bountiful moth population. Used as a tea, it is supposed to help in many ways yet again we have not tried this one. Sourgrass is also abundant and the kids eat it like grazing cattle. They actual enjoy its flavor. I personally prefer wheat grass tabs but they are SO EXPENSIVE. I assume that sourgrass has some of the properties of wheat grass. Wheat grass has quite a local following. It takes a bunch of short sprouts and an expensive wheat grass juicer to get any benefit from this. BERRY CITY Until our move from California, we were not aware of the number of wild berries that existed. Mom always taught me not to eat something if I didn't know what it was and back in the woods of Clevelands Metropolitan Park, there were a lot of tempting berries. It took the kids and some neighbors to enlighten me as to the etability of our berries. In no particular order we have Service Berries, Salmon Berries, Wild Strawberries, Oregon Grape, Choke Cherries. The bears know where the berries grow. Wherever we find berries we usually find "scat". Along the creeks and close to shady wet areas are the best places to look. Oregon Grape is the state flower in Oregon, but grows in abundance here in Washington. Its roots after maturing for a few years are said to be a good blood cleanser. The berries which ripen in late summer are super for making jam and jelly. Salmon Berries look a lot like wild light colored raspberries and are among the sweetest, hence they seem to be the hardest to find before the animals. I have a personal distaste for Service Berries but there are so many that the kids are always picking them. ELECTRONIC FIX ITS - IN THE NOWHERE First cardinal rule is to never be so obsessed with an electronic device that you cannot do without it for a while. When I first arrived on our property, my friend from Alaska watched while I put up my small dome tent, installed my computer, extra drive, video editing deck, MIDI interface with keyboard and 4 track portable sound studio. I powered the stuff with a Yamaha 600. Now keep in mind that my friend, a lady, had just came back from 2 years in the VERY outback of Alaska where she and her 3 daughters lived with grizzly and moose. She was here to help me learn how to build a vertical log cabin and teach me about wild herbs. Although she watched in quite for a few days as I videoed everything in sight, she finally spoke concerning my equipment on the 4th week. She took one look at the tent, then at me and said "Perhaps your not ready for this yet." She was right. As I have mentioned, the outdoors, which may have been built for Nikon F1 & F2 was not very nice to my computer chips. And when they blow away....they never seem to return. Although our neighbor is a electronic repairman, his expertise is limited to televisions for which he already owns SAMS manuals. My nearest friend, who teaches electronics, lives 1100 miles to the south and by the time my "stuff" reaches the Norcoast of California, it has left its Spirits among the Indian winds. I still have trouble four years later and all the months in between. Electronic stuff is very sensitive to cold, hot, static, lightning, positive ions and Shirley Maclaine. The interesting part stems from the "say it and it is" concept of the US government. About 9 years ago, while the cold war was still brewing hot, word got out that if the enemy was to blow a nuclear weapon air burst, a few short miles above the geographical center of the US (Kansas Toto), that all of the silicon chips would self destruct due to EMF, electro-maganectic force. Since that time, source has it that all those Tesla Coil builders have been trying to destroy silicon in less obvious ways. Meanwhile chips have decided to act in unusual ways that the experts do not understand. See your local nerd for info! There is no book written that can save your gear from the wilderness. If you're rich, you can become somewhat redundant and buy 3 computers. Somehow this method seems counter-productive to the notion of making wilderness the teacher. There is the pen and pencil. While I do have 3 computers (bite that bullet) and even though I do use pen and paper quite often, I still learn much from the old Indian spirits. Last winter, when my 10 meg Kaypro died, I lost a whole years of research and programming (please back up!). While writing this ca-ca, in a moment of despiration and boredom, I pulled the Kaypro out of the back room where it has suffered numerous bangs. Most of this should have destroyed the hard drive, even if the computer wasn't functioning it may h ave been possible to save its contents. So.... I hooked it up to the inverter which usually will not run the thing. It started right up and stayed on long enough to let me copy my files to floppy and PARK the hard drive. So now I am back in business. Only the God of Silicon understands why this happened. But for a common practice I suggest patience and tolerance....pencils and paper backups instead of floppies. After all...what computer do you grab first when a forest fire is imminent. (See next chapter.) Here is another thing to think about as far as electronics are concerned. When my Kaypro went down I measured the Powerstar 200 Inverter AC output with a Fluke 77 digital meter. The Powerstar read 90 volts AC! So I stopped my neighbor, who coincidentaly worked for Fluke a few years back. He loaned me a newer Fluke meter that measures true RMS. Evidentally the older Fluke meters do not like the "fake" sine wave and will give false readings. Meanwhile I hooked up the Kaypro again and it refused to work. Who is this Murphy fella!? FIRE (Firestorm 91) In the late summer of 1991 my wife decided it was the perfect time to burn the outhouse paper. She was deep in thoughts of home made bread and soups.... not realizing that the wind was blowing warm from the south and the grass was very dry. A piece took off out of our fire barrel and started the grass on fire. I was on the other side of the house, working on the "rig", when I heard and my oldest son yelling "FIRE". The next 5 minutes seemed to take 30. When I arrived on the scene, Rob and his mom were trying to stomp out the flames which were spreading rapidly in all driections out in a perfect circle. I joined them but realized quickly that the fire was out of control. Rob, thinking fast, grabbed our full 30 gallon water barrel and threw it on the fire. That thing had to weigh over 200 hundred pounds but Robs adrenaline was really pumping. This slowed the fire enough and I took off my parka and started be ating the fire down. This seemed to work so Rob and mom grabbed blankets and did the same. After the fire went out, we spent the next hour flooding it with creek water. I don't think we calmed down for 2 days. The nearest phone is miles away and we have NO PRESSURIZED WATER!. By the time we would have reported the fire, it would have been majorly out of control. We have a genuine respect for fire now! The fall of that same year, Spokane, Eastern Washington, Northern California, Idaho and Oregon experienced one of its wildest fire seasons. Even with the long wet spring, it only added dry tall grass to the fires later that summer. Hundreds of expensive homes were lost to dozens of fires near and around Spokane alone. As I sit and write this paper, El Nino in all of Gaia's motherly glory is giving us the hottest spring on record with 3 days in June over 100 degrees. The creek is low and the garden is almost ready to harvest 2 months ahead of time. Fire is always on our minds and it should be a PRIORITY for anyone planning on living in the out back. We have no real control over fire. It can destroy homes and lives in a heart beat. And as if to drive this particular point home, we have just finished watching a brilliant lightning storm. We went outside to see what damage was done to our garden, if any. What we saw was smoke coming from the northern 10 acres of our property. Before we could start out uphill to see what had happened, we heard the voices of smoke jumpers who had landed close by. Figuring the fire under watch, we packed up 2 of the 3 computers. So now we know what decisions will come if we have a real big fire nearby. TOOLS There is no official list of tools. You buy what you need. Barter Fairs are great sources of very inexpensive tools. Many times whole families will be moving back to the city and selling out! This is the optimum situation for your purchase! Beyond a good set of mechanics tools, you should have a small set of electronics tools. Heating a coat hanger in the wood stove will do your soldering... although my neighbor swears by the old solder pen. Remember to buy the newer Fluke meters that measure true RMS. Lacking a good meter will be hard to get your solar system up and running. Many charge controllers need meters for adjusting. Batteries need remedial DC voltage checks. And your car will need the meter in -25. Buy yourself an inexpensive maul for splitting wood. Do not buy anything that cost over 20 dollars new and do not fall for the phony ads about heavy mauls with plastic handles. While they work fairly well, it takes Paul Bunyan to manage one for any length of time. A small double edged ax will do nicely for kindling. If it has a long handle you can also use the ax for planing your support beams. A draw knife is a very expensive piece of equipment but is absolutely neccesary for peeling the skin from fresh downed trees used in building. And while we're talking about using logs for building... Cut your trees in the late spring. It is at this time that they are adding a new skin and will peel easy... even without a 50 dollar draw knife. In the fall the skins are so dry, it will takes hours for each log. And when they have been cut fresh in the spring, skin them within 2 days or they will begin to dry out quickly. Carpenters tools should include a line level, a chaulk line, an az for cutting shakes, a good hand saw (or two...One for you. One for significant other), a 36 inch level, a cats claw, two good quality claw hammers....You can get by on just those few tools and buy the rest as you need them. A small car vac will "help" you control the dust. Anyone who has owned a car vac and compared them to the heavy duty models at the car wash knows that these little hummers are next to worthless, yet we own one to help when summer dust becomes absolutely unbearable. It makes a lot of noise and we feel like we are doing something. Dust is another killer of electronics. Postive ions ya know! There are the trade offs though. I am at this moment looking at cumulus clouds build up right above our property. These storms have to originate somewhere. Theres a whole bunch of negative ions in those clouds! Kitchen and cooking tools should be rugged and use energy in the best way possible. For cooking use cast iron skillets and dutch ovens. They heat well, evenly and will cook real swell on your wood stove. A small cast iron trivet for the front of the stove will make do for "simmering". A big stainless steel 16 quart will do for quick heating of soups. Think big for pots and such. In many seasons you will be able to store the food in the container for a few days, unless you're using meat dishes, w hich spoil easily. Forget all those fancy tools that use AC for peeling potatoes and thrashing about in canned tomatoes. They are not energy efficient and waste time. The closer you are to your food, the better it will taste. Use hand beaters and whisks. Use Tupperware style containers for mixing, unless your into yuppie company then use your stoneware. Tupperware will double for saving pancake, cake, bisquit mix etc... with a cover. A TRAILER? WHY?? A small (16' or less) trailer can be found for less than 500 dollars and if your clever you can come out of the deal with a whole bunch of goodies. Sometimes trailers have propane/ 12DC refridges that really cost more than the trailer, but most sellers forget this. Also in the trailer you will find all sorts of plumbing, connectors, water storage, propane ovens, electrical 12 VDC wiring and the like. 500 bucks will buy a lot more than just a trailer. Then you can use the trailer to haul all your useless things to your sight, saving it for later use by hooking it to your dwelling and putting an inexpensive roof over it. Trailers are a good buy! BANKING There are any number of ways in dealing with your capital, whether it be a bundle or a sprout. If you are leaving the state you will find that most banks are inter-related in many ways. For instance our local major bank, SeaFirst of Washington, is owned by Bank of America of California. The automatic teller cards are interchangable. Work in California for a while, have your check deposited there, come up to Washington for the summer and withdraw from local machines. Even here in the wilderness, we have two auto tellers withing 20 miles. RESOURCES There are numbers of folk who live in the country/wilderness. Consequently there are all sorts of magazines, companies, newsletters and the like which deal with alternative energy and lifestyle. Some are YUPPIE oriented. Others deal with every day down to earth living off the land. Example...I have a book from the 60's called..."Living on the Earth" which was written during the heyday of back to the land. I also have a book by Lisa Law, which is a pictorial of the 60's and 70's. Yet today there i s an increasing demand for re-issuing some of these old "low tech" books" and a great number of new books, catalogues and ideas popping up each month. I will slight the majority, surely, by giving some addresses and names of those well established...some old...some new. Lehmans Hardware A catalogue which deals in Amish hardware, kitchenware and farm goods. Nothing quite like it. 4779 Kidron Road Kidron, Ohio 44636 216-857-5757 Established 1919 Mothering Magazine A common sense guide to child rearing and development. PO Box 352 Mt. Morris, IL. 61054 Although their mag address is published in Illinois, they have been functioning well in New Mexico for many many years. For homeschooling, they are an excellent resource! Wilderness Herbs A great source for medicinal herbs grown and tinctured in Michigan. A mom and pop business! Box 518 Ishpeming, MI. 49849 Home Education Magazine Just what the name implies and has been a cornerstone in home education for many years. PO Box 1083 Tonasket, WA. 98866 Living on the Earth Maybe you can still find a copy. If not, write, there may be a re-issue. Otherwise drool and wait.... Alicia Bay Laurel (author) Vintage Books (originally published by ..bookworks of Berkeley) 1970 Random House Real Goods Trading Company Another cornerstone. This one is in alternative energy and electronics. 966 Mazzoni St. Ukiah, CA. 95482. Some think they are getting too yuppie! Tree Farms NW Also called Uniland Mortgage The folks who you may buy your land from. A reputable agent who has a WATS line and who has been in business for many, many years 1-800-426-5950 Single mountain woman seeks eager money earner 18-49. Non-smoker (almost). Energetic, free thinker with wild wolf as a pet etc.. NOT! Harbin Springs Publishing A "New Age" intentional community...clothing optional...so says/shows the brochure. Kinda intriguing but still trying to become not dependent on capital. Color brochures and books. Box 782 Middletown, CA. 95461 SASE and 1$ Bachelors Degrees by Mail!? Dr. J. Bear, an ex-Mendocino-ite is still doing his thing after all these years. He used to come to our short lived and very small computer club meetings in Fort Bragg, CA., and is well versed and has written books on computers! PO BOX 826 Benicia, CA. 94510 Flashing on the Sixties A SUPER book of photographs by one of the 60's best. I have an autographed copy with an addendum by Hugh Romney (Wavy Gravy) c 1987 Chronicle Books San Francisco, CA. Backwoods Solar Electric A home based company that deals in and builds home energy alternative units. These folks are well loved in the north west. They are young, intelligent and energetic. They invite folks to visit their home in rural Idaho. 8530 Rapid Lightning Creek Sandpoint, ID 83864 Buffalo Tipi Co. This guy comes to all of our Barter Fairs and is super well versed in tipis. He has also been advertising for years in MEN and the like. For any info or supplies, this is the guy! 3355 Upper Gold Creek Sandpoint, ID. 83864 Nomadics Tipi Makers We bought our 18 foot tipi from these Bend Oregon folks who now have enough to take out display ads in major mags, yet they remain a cooperative organization. We love their quality. 17671 Snow Creek Road Bend, OR. 97701 1-800-242-8474 Mountain Wind Family Us. Publihsers, survivors of the 60's, lots of kids. Malo, WA. Snorkel Stove Company While I'm really into our home style hot tub with fire under the cast iron, these folks have a proven stove that will sit in the water with ya, although some say it is too hard to regulate. Been around for years. 108 Elliot Ave. Dept. 075 Seattle, WA. 98119 Birkenstocks by Mail! I bought my last pair from them! 1-800-451-1459 Perma Chink Systems West The ideal seal for your log cabin. These guys were hard to find and one of the only sources, although I put tree moss in between my logs. That works too and is a lot cheaper 17455 NE 67th Ct. Redmond, WA. 98024 The New Settler Interview An old Ohioan who loved the Mendocino coast and was nice enough to send me a free copy. Maybe she will do you the same. p.o box 730 Willits, CA. 95490 707-937-5703. Ask for Beth! Wise Woman Herbal Made for pregnant women, it includes stuff for all folks and such! Susan Weed. Ash Tree Publishing P.O 64 Woodstock, NY 12498 Back to Eden Jethro Kloss PO Box 1439 Loma Linda, CA. 92354 (Slightly old and majorly dogmatic ((Adventist)) but otherwise EXCELLENT!) Use for a guide to ` to pick, tea, infuse, poultice herbs that are the best for each individual use. No other book does better! Nuts and Volts Magazine For the creative electronic part of you! Lots of classified ads! 430 Princeland Court Corona, CA. 91719 Northern Hydraulics The only place and catalogue to buy engines, tools, 12 VDC pumps and lots of stuff you thought you would never need..... but do. Ask for catalogue at 1-800-533-5545 POB 1499 Burnsville, MN. 55337 Ferry County Barter Fair Association Malo, WA. 99150 Ask for the brochure that lists all Inland NW Fairs! FOLKS THAT ENCOURAGE OUR SPIRIT! Carl Jung (father of psychology and synchronicity), Thomas Merton (materialist turned monk), Alan Watts (Zen,Tao,alcoholic), Krishanmurti (resigned Theosophy Buddha), Jack Leung (esoteric Master), Fritjof Capra (physics and mystics), Gary Snyder (poet and still living the good life in the foothills of the Sierras), Jerry Brown (the ultimate non-something), and the 7 kids! Rob Dog, Chris, Patricia, Donald, Billy, Daniel and David! (c)1992 All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a magazine, radio , newspaper or television review, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without explicit written permission from the author/publisher