The Best TED Presentation Ever
The next time someone says they don’t understand you; that that they think you’re weird, or that you want to take this “voluntary simplicity” thing too far – send them this… Best. TED. Ever.
View ArticleWriters: Can You Write Two Books at The Same Time?
I’ll be taking an extended leave of absence from work so I can focus on some of my own projects, especially homesteading and writing. I’ll be updating this blog more with all of the projects we’ve been...
View ArticleTen Days in Meditation – Was It Worth It?
I just got back from a meditation course last week and thought it might be good to share my experience here. Although everyone’s experience is going to be different it might help you decide if this is...
View ArticleFarm for Sale 38 Acres (New Price!) with Solid Farmhouse
Anyone who has been reading this blog for awhile knows that we’ve been having trouble finding our preferred balance between the “Simple Life” and the realities of being parents and technology...
View ArticleAutomatic Chicken Feeder Contest
Mark Hamilton from The Walden Effect blog (my favorite homesteading blog in the world) asked if we would help him run a little contest to see if we can get in some great ideas for automatic chicken...
View ArticleHow I Learned to Love the Vegetables I Didn’t Like – by Anna Hess
The following post was written by Anna Hess or The Walden Effect blog. Anna just had her first book published and we will be reviewing it soon.
View ArticleAnother Meditation Retreat Blog Post
I recently got back from a 7 day silent meditation retreat at the Bhavana Society – www.bhavanasociety.org. Everett told me he didn’t think retreat was the right word and I agree. It’s a retreat from...
View ArticleTo Good Days…
This morning I woke up without an alarm, cooked oatmeal on the wood stove while heating up the cabin, meditated, ate, and did a couple hours of paid work on the computer. I ran some errands, had lunch,...
View ArticleFinding Time to Write Again
The good thing about removing distractions is you eventually run out of excuses not to do the things you say you want to do. For me, that includes reading and writing. You’ll have to excuse the...
View ArticleCabin Life Update
I’ve been living in this cabin for a month now and thought I’d share a few things about my experience so far. First of all, I love it. I do plan on buying a small house on 15 acres soon. And though I...
View ArticleBook Review: The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency
This review is long overdue. In the interest of full disclosure, Anna is a friend of mine and I (sadly, since I am only just now getting to post something well after it was available in stores) was...
View ArticleThe Last Three Months in Pictures
The last three months have been wonderful, but full of things that trumped posting on Living a Simple Life. Having recently become close friends with a photographer, I thought the best way to play...
View ArticleWhat It Takes to Light This Place Off The Grid
My preference in lighting this one room cabin is to use oil lanterns because I enjoy the warm glow of natural light over the cold, blue beam of LEDs. However, the problem with oil lamps is that they do...
View ArticleOil Lantern Safety Idea
With a two-year old running around you can’t leave oil lanterns sitting out on tables to be knocked over. I’m sure there are dozens of ways to do this, but I settled on using materials I already had on...
View ArticleReconstructing a Deconstructed Life One Brick at a Time – Learning a Craft
Yesterday was my first day learning how to make borosilicate glass art (i.e. learning to “blow glass”). I have been looking for a visually creative outlet that produced something tangible. Things like...
View ArticleMaking a Book Case with Old Apple Crates
I’ve been working hard on getting the garden going on virgin ground (again), customizing a calf shelter to make a chicken coop, setting up the new house, turning a pig-pen in the front yard into an...
View ArticleAnother New Garden (and hopefully the last for many years)
It seems like I am always starting a new garden on a new property. Hopefully this time will be the last for many years unless I start another new garden on this property. The good news is I’ve gotten...
View ArticleFinally Here, and Finally Now
I’ve said for years that the ideal situation for me would be to own a good piece of land next to hand-picked neighbors / friends, as opposed to living in an intentional community. Today I signed the...
View ArticleeBook Review – Coming Home: Letters from a Tiny House
I read Coming Home: Letters from a Tiny House by Hari Berzins in two sittings. The first was about a month ago, and the second was tonight. It was an enjoyable read, but I think the book would have...
View ArticleA Newbie’s Philosophical Glass Blowing Notes
My latest hobby has proved very fulfilling so far. I find myself drawing parallels between glass blowing and other things throughout the day. As I roll a piece of gum around in my mouth and mold it...
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