Now I’ve gone and done it, (a Texas phrase), this is such a rare thing to happen to me, I am sick. There I said it. About 4 days ago I could feel my throat getting sore, this does happen from time to time, but usually it lasts 3 days and is very mild. Not so this time, I  have been coughing so much that it feels like someone is punching me in the chest. I haven’t had a fever though, just this miserable cough. Now is as good a time as any to try out some herbal remedies.
>>Keep reading “Off-grid medicine - horehound”

Ahhh, if only I had a camera that would/could capture the beautiful colors I am seeing right now. I am usually sleeping at this time, I am not a morning person, really never have been, I am very much a night owl. I awoke sometime during the night and couldn’t go back to sleep. I didn’t do a marathon session on the computer yesterday or last night because of the rain we have been having, it has really put a damper on the solar panels, so not much power=not much computer time. Oh well, it’s OK, I have found other ways to entertain myself.
>>Keep reading “Bittersweet sunrise”

In the process of becoming more and more independent, we grow much of our own foods. But there is still one thing that is still expensive and is becoming more expensive to purchase. Tobacco. The government is taxing tobacco to death (no pun intended). With the high cost of buying cigarettes, it has occurred to me that we can be growing our own tobacco. I have decided that now is the time to give it a try. I took the plunge and ordered a set of 4 different types of tobacco seeds from eBay. If smoking or the use of tobacco offends you in any way, then you probably should not read this.

>>Keep reading “DIY tobacco / video”

Come on darkness, my old friend Our society has become scared of the dark. So we salute Cassandra and Danny Campbell’s of Valley Glen. For them, Earth Hour comes once a week — and it lasts all night. Thursday is the family’s No Lights Night, meaning candles and oil lamps only.

“I wanted to introduce my kids to what life is like without electricity,” says Cassandra Campbell, an audio books narrator. “All kinds of things can happen when you turn off all the media.”

Darkness, she says, can be fun.
>>Keep reading “Earth night, once a week”

Judd PalinThe clean-up crews are slowly moving in to deal with the smoking craters and ecological detritus of the Bush years. The latest teams actress Ashley Judd with the Sierra Club

After her successful work in drawing attention to Sarah Palin’s aerial wolf hunting policies in Alaska, Judd, from Kentucky, and Sierra want the Obama Administration to step in and protect the mountains, streams and people of Appalachia from mountaintop removal.

Judd, 40, joined about 500 people at the state Capitol in Frankfort for legislation that would end the blasting away of mountaintops to unearth coal.
>>Keep reading “Save our Mountaintops”

Want nothing - Be happy I didn’t start my off-grid life because I felt guilty about hurting the planet, I started it because I felt I was connected to a system that wasn’t nourishing me, and disconnected from an eco-system that was a real source of nourishment – physical, mental and spiritual.

In October 2005 I had a terrible headache. It turned out I had suffered a near-fatal brain haemorrhage. I was rushed to surgery, where they drilled a hole in my skull and attached a metal clip to the wall of an artery  which had burst in my brain.
>>Keep reading “Secrets of happiness”

Educators A building and educational project in Saskatchewan is bringing together Grade 10 students, community leaders and environmental building experts to create a unique off-grid-ready home.  Grade 10 students at Charlebois Community School in Cumberland House, the oldest permanent settlement in western Canada,  teamed with professional engineers, alternative energy and building specialists, and local trades to build an environment-friendly house.

Dubbed the Pisim Project (Pisim is Cree for sun), the house is based on the same footprint as homes of a century ago, while using local materials and modern technology to produce an efficient, low-cost home capable of existing off-grid for up to five days.
>>Keep reading “Pisim in the wind”

Constantine: spending wisely Sitting in his London office, Mark Constantine appears to enjoy the publicity generated by his decision to fund anti-aviation pressure group Plane Stupid.  Earlier this month they staged a sit-on on the runway at Stansted Airport which grounded hundreds of flights.

Together with his wife, Constantine is the majority owner of Lush, a chain of 600 cosmetics shops in 44 countries with an annual turnover of GBP144 million.
>>Keep reading “Maverick millionaire”

Watch out — there’s panic about NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the coming months, mental health experts expect a rise in theft, depression, drug use, anxiety and even violence as consumers confront a harsh new reality and must live within diminished means.

But there will also be benefits from the new austerity - not least an end to “careless consumerism.”

For some however, there will be a painful period of readjustment:
>>Keep reading “Why “survival panic” is good”