2011 Predictions

Like everyone else, I'm closing out the old year and looking toward the new. I've included some predictions that some pretty knowledgeable people have made about the coming year and gas/oil prices and of course as the price of this resource continues to rise, I continue to look for ways to consume less and find alternatives to using oil/gas. One focus is on the reductions of buying food from the industrial food system, which is a notoriously high user of fossil fuels from seed to packaging and putting it on store shelves. Since the last two years have been very hard financially for my family, there have been times when I felt like my progress toward this goal has moved forward in spurts and fits as we work to find funds for building infrastructure, purchasing materials and seeds and finding alternatives we can afford. I have worked with others in the past learning bee husbandry, but each time I was within grasp of starting my own hive, something would have to be taken care of that prevented me from reaching that goal. I am happy to say, that I have just placed my order for two packages of bees and am looking forward to seeing that goal accomplished this year. I wish I had groovy pictures to show you about my bees, but Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'll have some in April.

Osiyo - Hello

Hello,

Welcome, consider this as a I am likely to get about a statement of intent. It even makes me a bit uncomfortable to try and frame it that way, but I've got to start someplace and I guess this will do. I am starting this blog to offer up my everyday experiences of learning to live a simpler life that consumes fewer of our precious resources and creating a different definition of a successful life from the consumer driven lifestyle that many of us currently follow. I am the first to say that I am no expert, I can only offer you my knowledge and experience and seek yours in return. My hope is that this creates a format like many of the blogs I follow that allows us all Gadugi (to work as a whole or community) toward a common goal) in pursuit of simpler life around producing more for myself and consuming less from large corporations with a eye toward being greener, organic, consuming fewer petroleum generated products, and learning that life with less can be more fulfilling than buying more.