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what's new
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Dear
Readers,
This
month has been quite busy for us. Along with all the work
that
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needs to be done in the garden, our urban homestead
is now open to visitors.
Our
ultimate goal is to make this urban homestead a model resource
center and training ground.
There
are so many new projects that we need to accomplish and it is very
hard to decide which one to take on first.
Also, this year is the driest (approx 4" of rain) in recorded history for
our area and the plants are already suffering--and it's only
May! We still have the whole summer to go through. We
haven't had a deep, penetrating rain since-- well, can't remember,
it's been so long. The plants are stunted in their spring
growth, and you can water all you want, but it doesn't compare at
all to a good rain.
We
went hiking in the local mountains and the streams are barely a
trickle and the hillsides are dry and brown.
The
normal weather pattern is all messed up... it's going to be
a long, hot and dangerous summer.
You can read
more about what's happening this month at Urban Diary.
 Postscript:
A freak storm blew in down from Alaska, bringing with it
cooler temps and precipitation (about 1/8"). After raining
all morning it seems like the plants are
greener and taller. The air smells sweet and fresh, a tremendous blessing!
(very unusual to have rain this time of
year.)
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Interested
in doing things yourself instead of relying on outside sources
for basic necessities? We are personally not as self-sufficient as
we would like to be, but we believe that many are on same the
path, some further along than others.
We hope this newsletter will
be a source of inspiration and information to those who want to
break-free from the modern environment we are subject to.
See
you along the path...
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DOLLAR $EN$E
Have closets full of
clothes? Want a new wardrobe? Consign it!
CON$IGNMENT
$HOPPING
PAY$ OFF
In these times of recycling and trying to conserve the Earth's
resources, it only makes sense to "trade" clothing with other
people instead of buying new clothing. Almost everyone has
clothes they don't wear, for whatever reason, that other people
would be thrilled to wear.
Continue article »
Continue:
next column»
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living free con't
ODOR OR NOT?
Antiperspirants
vs. deodorants? It's been reported that attempts to
limit perspiration can result in accumulation of toxins. The use
of antiperspirants has been thought to be associated with breast
cancer. It is believed that high concentrations of toxins result in cell
mutations which cause cancer. Shaving allows a better application
of antiperspirant to the skin and increases the absorption of
chemicals. Here are some websites with info on how to make
your own safe natural deodorant.
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GROWING
NATIVE
We
planted a Three Sisters bed last year as an experiment and it
grew really well and
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we are going to be planting one again this year.
The Three Sisters all work together. Critters will find it harder
to invade your garden by interplanting your corn, beans and
squash. The corn stalk serves as a pole for the beans, the beans
help to add the nitrogen to the soil that the corn needs, while the
squash provides a ground cover of shade that helps the soil retain
moisture.
TOO MANY
TOMATOES!!!
Summer
time brings warm weather and loads of veggies! It's time to
think about preserving and preparing your garden's bountiful harvests of beans,
corn, tomatoes, and oh yes, don't forget zucchini ;-)
Continue:
next column»
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personal column
Jules Dervaes is working
on getting the urban homestead model up and running and
will not be writing his personal column this month. Instead, here is
PART ONE of an article he wrote in 1999, now titled "Into The Abyss."
We
have a problem. Have you ever in your travels found yourself lost?
Collectively, our world--with man in the driver's seat--has similarly been
lost, only we are making great time and seeing wonderful, new sights all
along the way. Why would we ever stop? We would not even question our
direction because our pride would not let us show any weakness. Wouldn't a
crash en route get our attention? Surely a horrific tragedy would serve to
motivate us to check our position for the possibility of any danger
confronting us. Today, we have been given a rare chance to search within
ourselves for the hard answers as to why we stand on the edge of an abyss.
Consider, then, the following.
As the
human race has marched onward, scaling extreme, dizzying heights, mankind
has spiraled downward to greater depths of degeneracy. After six
millennia our Human Quotient has fallen to its current nadir.
Now life is reduced to just
ticks of the clock, marking days of futility. The world's been
narrowed down to 'I' and the amassed, trivial objects revolving around me,
its parochial star. People's relationships are abridged to interfaces,
with virtually programmed behavior being of minimal substance. All the
while, of humanity's living together in peace, the chance remains absolutely
zero.
Our
greater, modern society is a gross, consuming aberration, existing on earth
only with the aid of, and through the support of machinery. Helplessly
hooked up to this artificial life-support, we live at its 'mercy' and are
subject to its 'whims' without appeal and with no hope of pardon.
This ruling, alien menace controls a people now feeble and submissive, who
are showered with goods and entertained religiously to induce contentment in
this paradoxical bondage.
We
got here by traveling the road to 'the good life.' Making this journey
meant ridding our days of each and every pain because suffering was deemed
bad. Thus the old ways, being strenuous, were gleefully discarded along the
way for laborsaving improvements. And manic science was bent on creating
the tools to finally pull off our great escape from all drudgery, AKA
work. No prior creation was kept sacred on this phony providential mission
to develop the earth, through reconstruction projects, as the site of our
very own paradise now. We trashed what was here because we believed we
could do better. And more: we boldly trespassed into inviolate space,
challenging the prime, closed order.
Rivaling
original perfection was a diabolic scheme born of supreme arrogance,
destined to backfire.
To be
continued...
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May 2002 
spin
of the month
STOP
GLOBAL WARMING!