personal column

  From

Jules Dervaes

 I wanted acreage.  Millions more like me desired the same. I dreamed of an idyllic country home where I could get away from it all.  Yeah, and everyone else with the same hope would be joining in the migration to grab what land there was available.  I needed space in which to satisfy my latent Bonanza longing. But, I'd probably croak on the spot for lack of the needed skills and, more importantly, for the dearth of experience needed to deal with all kinds of new, rural situations. Problems, that is.

But, I didn't want to wait; I couldn't wait.  Waiting was dangerous.  The doomsday clock for the world's food supply would only keep on ticking as I watched, sitting  on the sidelines.  And, there was the palpable fear that, no matter how minor, any postponement would be the start of the strict, systematic  cadence of caution.  ("Now, let's be reasonable."... "There's no need to do anything drastic."... "Why do you have to be different?"... "Don't be such an alarmist!")

And, just like that, such a hopeful moment, pregnant with so many wild, hot and uninhibited possibilities, would vanish.  My old 'friend' practicality would have once more prevailed as it had done many times before on these forbidding occasions, in order to keep me in line. Oh, but don't you know, one can come to the end of one's rope.  So, after having goose stepped for so long in this maddening cultural parade, I chose this instant, this cause, to exchange my marching boots for some gardening ones.

Rather than waste precious time thinking about where we would like to be--sitting on 5, 10, 20 or more acres in the country--we would make a go of it with what we had.  But, there were always nagging doubts at every turn.  We needed more vegetables.  "There is no room here!"  We needed more fruit.  "There is no room here for trees!"  We needed animals.  "Surely, there isn't room here for them, too!"  The doubts would keep playing their dirge; the question was:  Would I dance to their tune? 

Being small was going to be one big challenge.  Was it 'un-American'?  Our appetites tend toward supersizing.  It certainly would feel peculiar to be satisfied with less.  I can get enviously green over large green spaces.  So, how could I  happily accept this pathetic, downsized acreage? It would come down to this:  Could we make--by hook or by crook--one city lot in the hand worth five such lots "in the bush"?   And, down the gauntlet was thrown!

Thinking small has made all the difference in the world. Everything is so tight, which makes for one heck of a busy, stressful situation but one that is, nonetheless, truly rewarding--physically, emotionally and spiritually. A very special bonus is being able to derive a small income from our 1/5th acre city lot.  So, today, by working all the angles and leaving no stone unturned, I am beginning to  feel just now a small but real sense of independence.

Why can't we all become independent as our farmer-forefathers were before us?  The freedom they tasted came from making a living the old-fashioned way; they had to earn it from the soil. The sweat of their daily physical toil brought forth the pure sweetness of another day of standing on your own. It was all in the knock-down, drag-out struggle to get a life.

  Independent is as independent does.  So, hit the path!   

DiY Corner

In this issue...

Lessons Learned From The Darkside - Homemade Wood Cleaner- 13 Wonderful Ways To Use Epsom Salts - Homemade Sugar Scrub - Salad Days Are Here Again - Lavender Recipes -  Inherit The Earth - Compost Tea Time - Creative Wall Treatments - 2nd Life For Old Blue Jeans

  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  the same 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, artificial environment and culture that we are captive of. 

 See you along the path...

Words of Wisdom

And Finally...

HEY KIDS!  F R E E SEEDS!!! We have a whole bunch of wonderful seed packets {donations from Seeds of Change & Renee's Garden} left over from our booth at the Simple Living Festival, so we are offering  3 FREE SEED PACKETS for kids who write in and tell us why they like to garden.  If you have or know of any kids that would like to take advantage of this offer, then please pass the word!  Entry submissions may be posted on our site!

ramblings...

Sun 6/25

"Wacky" is the single word that I can think of

that best describes the weird weather we've had this month... The yearly 'June Gloom' weather pattern that typically grays So. Cal's sunny skies was unusually thick this year... So gray and gloomy it was that it drizzled on and off for three days straight, and not even to mention the days -- more like weeks that went by where we never saw the sun.  Besides all this making us wonder if we've been somehow transported to England, the vegetable garden did indeed suffer from the lack of warm sunshine.

  The summer crops stopped growing all of a sudden; the tomatoes dropped many blossoms and the corn ears are pathetically small this year.  Poor things didn't have a clue what was going on!  We had to be constantly on guard against one of our worst enemies--mildew!

  But there is, of course, a bright side to all this dismal news. The sun has finally decided to break though all the gloom and once again grace us with glorious sunshine!

   Onto the animal kingdom-- the once cute ducklings are now fully feathered and grown!  Time certainly has flown by.  It hardly seems like 8 weeks since they waddled into our lives.  

   Each duck has her own personality and quirks.  One enjoys kissing us!  Well, actually, more like giving us a peck on the lips!  Watching them waddle around the yard is a sight to behold... If you've never seen a duck walk before, I can best describe it as if they are walking with diapers... it's sooo funny!  And oh yeah, can't forget that they love to show off their cute backsides by constantly shaking their tails.  Such a wiggle would put to shame all those top models on the cat walk, strutting their "stuff."

   Onto another subject...

   PTF participated in the 1st annual Simple Living Festival that was held in Long Beach, CA.  Since it was  our first time on the "other side" of the booth, we were a bit nervous.  Fortunately, we received positive feedback with our display and hands-on activity that we had for the children...

    Perhaps we'll start going to more local festivals in the area and get involved in an "out-reach" program... There are so many possibilities!  

    To beginnings...

Editor of PTF

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