Author: anoffgridlife

 

Ok, so this is old news.  But, as usual, life and time is swift.  It runs away with me and, I might guess, all of us.  Yes, a super moon and eclipse happened about a month ago but . . .  then . . . there was the polar vortex and -40 for several nights, . . . creosote scare, . . . and getting locked in my cabin due to a broken doorknob at -24.  Yes, . . . I was on the right side of the door but . . . my cat was not.

Let’s go back to the super moon and eclipse.  How to put the experience in words?  Not easy.  First, there was a fog in the valley in the morning, which was very beautiful.  Well, the fog came back at night . . . and the super moon, which was already bright as daylight, enveloped the fog.  Incredible!

About 9:30 p.m. the eclipse started, and the intense brightness in the valley slowly dissipated . . . and by 10:30 was about pitch black.  I was taken by surprise by the severe contrast.  I really didn’t know what to expect.  I thought perhaps it would look cloudy like a solar eclipse.  It was striking . . . first, it was incredibly bright . . . and then, pitch black, dark.

There was also the blood moon aspect.  Because the moon was high in the sky, the moon did have a reddish color but it was faint.  I had a bird’s eye view with no obstruction from trees, etc., being in the valley.

Then, the temperature dropped significantly.  I have been watching the weather rather religiously because subzero temps were around the corner again.  I did not see any notice in the forecast for subzero temps for the night of the eclipse but . . . the temperature plummeted to -24.  I looked on the Internet to see if the eclipse had anything to do with it but did not find anything.

A close friend reminded me as the eclipse began to start so I didn’t miss it, and I am glad she did.  It was so magical and a bit eerie, at the same time.  Very memorable.

What Nature does!

Living in a rural area has its pluses and minuses. I like the elbow room and being close to Nature. My social life is minutes away. But, this Friday night, it got a bit dicey.

My doorknob has had a bit of play in it for awhile now. The kind that made me think it is going to break. How that would pan out . . . I didn’t know.  I actually thought about carrying my phone with me . . . because of the possibilities that circulated in my brain.  I never take it with me while doing chores.  But . . . I did not replace it, and just thought I would deal with it when it broke.

Well, Friday night . . . it broke and locked me inside my cabin with my cat outside at -12 already.  At least I was on the right side of the door.  Living off grid, I cook on my porch on a camping stove.  Because it is steps from the door, I am out there in my slippers and maybe my winter vest, besides my double layers . . . in the winter . . .  although . . . I have set out my little Waka Waka solar lights in the morning in my robe.  OMG!

In an emergency, if I had to walk in -24 weather because I had no cellphone or car keys, well, . . . you can guess what could happen.  I am about a mile from town.

So . . . I am freaking out.  I call several friends but it is Friday night, and no one is home.  I break down and call 911.  Given, I am safe inside but still freaking out because my cat is outside, and the forecast is calling for -24.  While waiting for 911 rescue, I try to take the doorknob off.  No luck.  The other half of the knob falls onto the porch.  I open the window on the porch and try to go to retrieve my cat.  Nothing to land on.

911 arrives, and he crawls through the window and saves the day!  I duct tape the hole and door jam because freezing cold air is seeping in.  I really don’t think it has set in how close I came to a real catastrophe.

Fortunately, I am here to tell you the tale.

Why does this billboard speak to me on my way to IL to visit my mom and friends?  Perhaps, because it is one of those things we need to do to keep connected, especially to our families.  Yes, families are not friends.  We have to live with them and accept them, or not.  Secondly, it is not selling anything.  That in and of itself is a wonderful thing.

So, I love this billboard.  And, my mom is still here at 87.  I call her every Sunday and visit every other month.  We didn’t always have a great relationship but now when I say goodbye, I wonder when it will be the last time.

I will open it up to you and what this billboard says to you.  Any thoughts out there?  Or, do you have a favorite billboard that speaks to you?

This may not seem like it fits in with my off grid life but in so many ways, it does.  Years ago, I gave up the Catholic religion I was raised on and tried some different ones but never found something that fit.  Until now.

A friend of mine is involved in a medicine circle and has invited me to some of the ceremonies.  So finally, I went to the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice ceremonies.  I find them very connected to the land.  Living off grid is all about reconnecting to the land.

For the winter solstice, we needed to bring a stick as long as our forearm and the diameter of our thumb.  After a potluck dinner, we wrapped a different color yarn or ribbon for each of the events of the past year, whether good or bad.  We did this in silence.

This past year has been filled with projects, new activities, and friends.  The hardest part of the year was dealing with the fluctuations in temperature in my cabin when it got below zero as I would head out to substitute teach.

I searched for the color that matched the project or event and slowly reminisced about it.  After we were finished, we were to go outside, alone, and release it to the Universe.

It seemed a bit awkward but I went outside.  The sky was a milky, gray and the night air crisp.  I looked up at the sky through bare branches and gave my past year’s events to the Universe.  I thought about how lucky I am to have a wonderful life and thought about people living in pain and misery in war torn countries or just in poverty in horrific conditions.  I vowed to do something more to help others in the coming year.

I was surprised how moving it felt to release my past year.  I had wanted to hold onto it.  These were events I was proud of.  They embodied everything in my new life off grid.  After coming inside, all was dark, except for the few embers in the wood stove where we tossed our colorful sticks and watched as they burned.

The rest of the evening was, again, spent in silence with our thoughts, gazing into the fire until the last ember was out.  We each made a dream seed packet from a patch of felt and tied it up with some yarn.  These were seeds of the year’s new journey and events.

I was not meant to hold onto the building of my shed, new vegetable garden, or any other projects of the past year, for they would all be replaced with new things to learn, share, and experience.  There was soap to make from the ashes from my wood stove, soil improvement for a better garden, fermenting cabbage, building a rocket stove to cook on, and most of all, what I could do to help stop climate change.

I am sure to be at the next winter solstice ceremony.

That’s a tall order.  How do we do that?  Most people may think we just need some solar panels and wind turbines, and it will be business as usual to correct climate change.  It is a little more complicated than that.  A friend mentioned that it took 1,000 acres of solar panels or wind turbines, I don’t remember which, to power 70,000 homes.  Those are only homes with smaller energy needs and not big box stores, manufacturing plants, restaurants, schools, and hospitals.  Where will we grow food?

George Monbiot in his book, “Out of the Wreckage,” says we need a new story.  As I am a slow reader, I haven’t gotten to what that new story is.  It sounds hopeful though.  But, let’s look at our current story, and this is how I see it.  Marketing big wigs have convinced us to live alone and feel we are entitled to the good life no matter how much it isolates us or puts us in debt.  “Have It Your Way” from, I believe, Burger King.  “Be All You Can Be” was from the Army.  Should we trust marketing to tell us how to live to buy their stuff?

So there is usually a good and bad guy in the story.  Can we can look at the billionaire corporate guys as the bad guys that got us into this climate change mess?  Perhaps.  It seems logical.  And while there are technological improvements in our lives, much of it has left us very vulnerable.  We can’t live without all these conveniences, first of all.  And second, it has pulled us away from our true nature, and that is our relationship with Nature, where all of survival comes from.

So while we watch this Green New Deal die at the hands of Nancy Pelosi, let’s realize it is really in our own hands to get climate change under control . . . by powering down.  We don’t have to wait until they pass anything.  We can do it now.

I coincidentally met a new friend from Milwaukee, who belonged to Transition Milwaukee and recently moved to my area.  It is a Transition Town group.  Transition Towns were conceived in the UK shortly after the documentary, “How Cuba Survived Peak Oil” came out.  Don’t quote me on the timing, though.  I have the Transition Town handbook, which is one of the many books I am going to read when I am sequestered in my little cabin during the winter with nothing to do.  That never seems to happen.

Transition Towns are communities that come together and grow their own food and build passive solar homes, etc., preparing for the end of oil, etc.  They are very worthwhile to look into.  Their Transition Milwaukee had a week long powering down event.  Some people shut their electricity off, took solar showers, didn’t use their car, ate only local food, among many other ideas that they thought of to consume less fossil fuels . . . to power down.

Some other ideas to power down:

• Give up beef and dairy
• Eat seasonally
• Turn your heat down if it is winter
• Turn your a/c off if it is summer
• Line dry your clothes
• Go to the library to use the computer
• Use a bus or train instead of your car or walk
• No processed foods
• Other _____________________________

This is only for one week and not forever, so don’t freak out.  You never know, you may survive and start a new habit.  Do it with friends so you can feel together going through this powering down event.

We can do this until the country gets the Green New Deal passed.  Whenever that is.

Make the soup, fetch the water, cook breakfast, do the dishes, bring in the wood, take out the water . . . is there time for a walk before it gets dark . . . STOP . . . SIT . . . BE STILL.

I try each night to sit and be still but it is not often that I get a chance during the day, in the middle of all the chores and errands.

So, during this stream of doing . . . I pause . . . and sit awhile.  My back relaxes against the cushions, and there is stillness.  My cat makes a beeline for my lap . . . and we relax together.  Feeling each breath . . . my body giving way to relaxing . . . to stillness.

The view out my window of the woods, ridges, and prairie with fresh, fallen snow lacing the branches against a milky, gray sky is beautiful.  No sounds.  No cars.  Serene.

Sometimes we need some stillness.

Good question, right?  And, time is of the essence because scientists are saying we have only 12 years to turn climate change around.  What are we willing to do to save the planet?  What about changing our diet?  Pretty simple, eh?

Many people won’t be happy about it because they love their burgers and pizza.  George Monbiot’s article in The Guardian, June 8, 2018, says the “Best Way to Save the Planet? Drop Meat & Dairy,” and he tells it like it is.  No matter what we give up, it won’t make as much of an impact as giving up beef and dairy, and that includes grass fed beef, as well.

It is just a matter of land.  There is only so much of it.  It takes a lot of land to feed or graze cows, and we are cutting down rain forests like nobody’s business to do it.  It is just not sustainable.  There are 7.6 billion people on the planet and counting so we need to look at our resources carefully.  If we only had 200 million people on the planet, eat all the beef and dairy you want.

There is also a documentary specifically about this called “Cowspiracy.”  I highly recommend checking it out.

People can ease into this.  You don’t have to do this overnight.  It is also better for your health, and think of all the animals you will be saving.  Years ago, the common belief was that a person couldn’t live without consuming meat.  Not true.

Need Some Inspiration?

Look up Greta Thunberg.  She is a 15 year old student in Sweden who has become a climate change activist and hero.  She was able to give her speech at the climate summit in Poland recently.  It is one of the most moving speeches ever.  She is a vegan, as well as her family, and they got to the climate summit in Poland by electric car.

There was a great interview on Democracy Now with Greta and how she started out as a climate activist.  Her mom gave up an international career as an opera singer because the family doesn’t fly anymore because of climate change.  She continues to sing, only where she can use an electric car or trains.   Here is the link below of Greta’s speech.  It may help you give up those burgers and pizzas.  If we all want a future on the planet that’s livable, we need to change our lifestyles, especially in the US.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cve4bLDrlM

Here is the link to that article in The Guardian:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/08/save-planet-meat-dairy-livestock-food-free-range-steak

Cowspiracy link:  http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/

If you have not been watching the climate summit in Poland, then you don’t know about Greta Thunberg.  She is a 15 year old student in Sweden and was able to give a speech at the climate summit in Poland recently.  It is one of the most inspirational speeches ever.  The sound is not so good on this video so you may have to turn it up.  Here it is.

It is so serene.  Snow . . . lightly icing everything . . . what could be more beautiful.

 

Just when I think we will never turn climate change around . . . there is a glimmer of hope.  And . . . actually . . . I would call this more of a glimmer.  This is what we need NOW!  The Extinction Rebellion has been disrupting business as usual in the UK by blocking streets and protests to get their leaders to do something about climate change.  We need to do this in the US.  The attached link is an article in Common Dreams on November 24 detailing the growing movement.  Please read it.  Thank you!

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/24/climate-emergency-disrupt-criminal-business-usual-extinction-rebellion-takes-streets