My friend Cate Fitt, an artist and fellow blogger, shared a video that really blew my mind. It inspired this piece. Thanks Cate! Ink it, don't think it I love of old school printing presses. I love the quality and the raw nature of the medium. I also love that it's done by hand. As a writer and graphic designer, I've long harbored the fantasy that when the world hits the … [Read more...]
Yes, you can bake bread
My husband and I are on one heck of a family resilience bender. When we first got married almost three years ago, we focused on insulating our place from attic to basement, shaving 20% off of our heating and cooling expenses. This really adds up. But in the past six months our efforts have turned more to homemaker re-skilling. We've added a rain barrel and composter. He's … [Read more...]
Is our future our past?
If there's one thing most post peak oil commentators have given too little consideration to it's how goods will be moved and how farms will function in our scary and fast approaching future. Sure there's the fraternity that talk about bicycles and walking and they're on the right track, particularly if you're lucky or wise enough to reside in a city or village. However a … [Read more...]
Transitional garden
When seed catalogs start arriving in the mail, gardeners know it's time to get busy. That's because unordered seeds never grew anything, as all gardeners discover one sad spring or other. Somehow the order never got written up, phoned in, or placed online. The March deadline came and went – and there you were, mid-April, furious with yourself as you scrutinized the limited … [Read more...]
Low-tech for your resilience toolbox
In a world where iPhones, iPods and iPads are everywhere and where dinner often means popping frozen mac and cheese into the microwave, pre-industrial ways of living may seem hopelessly quaint. But if you're concerned about peak oil, old tech can offer ways to increase personal and family resilience, if you're open to considering it. Can't you use less energy to do … [Read more...]