Bear with me as I set up this blog. There is still much work to be done away from the computer in preparing most of my spring foraging equipment (a later blog post) and attempting to rush my late spring vegetables and herbs in my home garden.

Speaking of which, I just recently moved into a different house with a few new people and we are planning a great deal of “eco-alterations” to the suburban property. The expanded gardens, herb spiral, mini green house, compost, solar heating and hot tub, as well as the flora filter for our collective gray water system will all be covered here as the projects come along throughout the year.

For now I am working on creating a small sketch/note book to take with me this spring on all my hikes and foraging trips. This is necessary because I do not own a camera nor do I possess the capital required to purchase one in such a short time. If anyone has any tips on self binding books that would be very helpful but for now it is pure trial and error; way more on the error side. For the obvious reason that this will be a book for the dirty world, the world of hikes, swims, virgin trails, etc, it will need to be more durable than the average Barnes & Noble bestseller. It makes my laugh when I can set up a home solar system or a permaculture design of any scale yet I am unable to simply bind a small book. Sometimes in this quest for a self-managed existence the smallest of tasks ends up giving you the most trouble!

However, yet another immediate project is preventing me from accomplishing my foraging notebook today and that is the war on Iraq. That’s right, the war. How? Well, tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of the war and we need to protest, which means we need costumes and ironically hilarious signs. For as much as I desire to escape the confines of this society I cannot help but feel compelled to do whatever I can, or say whatever I must, to fight social injustice when it is thrust upon our generation by the archaic institutions of the past, principally, the state.

So this is a busy week; home improvement, trying to stop the war, making a book… damnable spring, how I love thy weather and loathe thy tasks!

I have decided to renounce everything I worked so hard to achieve. The car, the phone, the house in suburbia, the career, everything. For what? Peace of mind. The way we live, yes myself currently included, is unnatural. Everyday millions of plastics, trees, and other “resources” are drained from this Earth by our consumer-driven lifestyle. We create daily systems for our lives based on our jobs and our friends, not to mention the places we live. Everyday blends into the next in a never-ending cycle of consumption and competitive entertainment. And now to repeat your query, for what? Simple, for retirement. The notion that your life is yours to live after you have done your part for a society driven by those who care little for your existence is sickening to me.

For however long it will take, from this point on I have decided to reclaim my life. No more luxury at the cost of others and no more work at the cost of my life. My life will now be my work. I will work to educate myself for life outside the mob. Everyday efforts will be made to learn new skills, walk new paths and share my journey through a life that is less than ordinary. Sustainability, foraging, camping, backpacking, homesteading, permaculture, energy management; all will be discussed as I endeavor to escape to the life I want to live, not the life I was breed to live.