The Homesteader Lifestyle: Growing a Nature-Minded Consciousness

Posted by Jennifer Alia Wittman on February 16, 2009

Recently I have been studying up on shower curtain liners -- those large pieces of plastic that we buy at grocery and drug stores, usually for under $10. I’ve been learning about how they emit toxins, how they hold mold and allergins, and how they live in landfills f–o–r–e–v–e–r.

For years I have been living with old curtain liners, ones that close friends and brave house guests complain about, all because I cannot bring myself to buy new ones in fear of environmental disaster. Now I’m seriously thinking about redoing my bathroom, and am making a sincere study of non-toxic possibilities.

And my only question is, “How did I get here?”

How did I become someone who cannot make a purchase without questioning its origin, ingredients, and future life in a landfill?

Well, I’m an obvious product of my environment, and over the past few years have been heavily influenced by the thoughtful acts of my friends and neighbors, much more so than by the now environmentally-friendly media.

See, I live and work on the outskirts of a retreat center, within the beauty of nature, on the side of the mountain, and across from a meadow. And of course I work for Seven Pillars.

Most of the people in my everyday life are unlikely to regularly visit a shopping mall, a good number try to meditate regularly, and nowadays almost everyone makes this cleansing drink called Kombucha made from a “mushroom” called a “mother.”

With spring here, my neighbors have begun to discuss summer vegetable gardens, and if we should all go in on purchasing a few egg-laying chickens, and maybe two or three peacocks.

Up until recently, this beyond-commerce, earthy lifestyle had been for the most part foreign to me. For goodness sake, I have been a “live in the world--embrace all its sins” kind of person for most of adulthood. Now I am feeling increasingly called to pay attention and take responsibility.

In December I visited a friend’s almost-off-the-grid home and soon-to-come retreat center in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, to attend a small “homesteaders' convergence.” About 25 people, most in their 30’s and 40’s, and almost all living a homesteader’s lifestyle, came together for yoga, welding lessons, cheese-making, hot spring soaks, a clothing swap (resulting in a room full of men using sewing machines to alter their newly acquired clothing), discussions on alternative currencies, and evening presentations on both rural and urban homesteading projects in multiple states.

Everyone attending this gathering lives as self-sufficiently and sustainably as possible, while still maintaining connections within the mainstream world. While we shared homesteader tips, folks sat around with their laptops, with many a person updating a blog. Apparently these are the new homesteaders – environmentally aware and technologically connected.

The underlying theme of the weekend: Make and Reuse Everything – Buy Nothing.

To quote Alyce Santoro, an amazing artist and homesteader attending the event, “Green is not something you can buy.”

As a result of the homesteader’s gathering, last week I successfully experimented with making homemade toothpaste. (It’s easy and cheap - baking soda, glycerin, and mint oil, recipe thanks to Ryanne Hodson.) And for two weekends I took a basic sewing class and learned how to alter clothing myself. Now I even have a self-constructed pair of pajamas.

So, I am adapting to a new lifestyle as a result of some pretty amazing (and not at all pushy) influences. The simple acts of other people, after years of exposure, are finally rubbing off on me.

Wendy Tremayne, who co-hosted the homesteader event with her boyfriend, Mikey Sklar, is closely related to Seven Pillars, and just one person and part of one piece of a movement that includes all of us, and all of our projects and initiatives.

My experience has been that most of us connected with Seven Pillars are working on projects or trying to live lives that gradually, humbly and patiently aim for awareness, right action, and personal responsibility.

Perhaps we are all jointly cultivating an approach from the heart, and over time, through gathering, sharing ideas, and collectively partaking in silence and study, we will, together, imagine, investigate and co-create a world that embodies qualities of great beauty, tremendous depth, undeniable oneness, and all-pervading sacredness.

This is Seven Pillars’ hope.

Links - Homesteaders' Convergence

Holy Scrap Hot Springs (See Dec 19-23, 2008)
Alyce Santoro
RyanIsHungry
Wendy Tremayne
Mikey Sklar
How Long Before It's Gone?
Luke Iseman
Julian Mock
Within Reach

Resources

Huffington Post Green News
Make Magazine
Mother Earth News

Recommended Reading

The Self-Sufficient Life and How To Live It

Comments (5)

• Thanks for the thought-provoking ruminations. And example.

  So, did the homesteaders have any good alternative to plastic shower curtain liners OR a way to keep them decent/fresh without using dioxin-producing chlorine bleach to control growth?

  jos.

  — joseph on February 21, 2009

• Hi Ayaz,

  Good question. Jehanara who hosted the event recently sent the following note:

  The plastic shower liners can be washed and dried a bunch of times to expedite the off gassing. also, when keeping one going for years (as you have) a wash with vinegar in it helps keep them clean even when old.  any synthetic rayon fabric (hopefully used, found etc) can be used as a shower curtain as well.

  — Jennifer on February 22, 2009

• Also, here is a shower curtain liner recommended by a friend.

  http://www.arenaturals.com/Hemp-Shower-Curtain_p_3-21

  — Jennifer on February 22, 2009

• I always find this kind of stuff interesting, thanks for sharing.

  — Kevin on February 25, 2009

• I appreciate the problems of humanity, and the ways in which we all are groping the “elephant.” Certainly it is difficult for us to know just which end of the thing we are groping, or if we are even anywhere near it, or if it really makes any difference. After all, La Illalha Ilallaha, what ain’t god?
    I would like to share a little of my own neurosis. I struggle with this one hourly. It is nearly impossible for us to exist on this earth, especially as resource oblivious and consumption entitled westerners, without laying waste to the very living environments which support our physical lives.
    Nearly everything we do in our daily lives has huge environmental consequences collectively. Most of us think nothing about getting in our @ 3000# of once living environments (Yes even a Prius has huge environmental costs,) and driving or flying to all of our important events. And then there are all the product, resources, and foodstuffs which we consume. How many of us truly wear something out before it gets landfilled and replaced by shiny new and clean, and for what purpose aside from our own comfort and aesthetic?
    My constant struggle is the waste and inertia in our massive systems, and I also realize that I am likely focusing on the minutia, where perhaps I could effect more change elsewhere.
    People sometimes think I am homeless or a bum by the way I dress, which is often in semi ragged worn clothing, and old tennis shoes. Sometimes I think about shaving my ragged beard and trimming my hair as well, to better “fit in” and to get less vibes from the straight tidy consumer americana television generation. It makes me pretty sad that what you look like and dress makes such a difference in how we treat each other. I go for the sparkle in someone’s eyes.
      I bought some new socks, about 3 years ago now, and they are still sitting in the bottom of my drawer awaiting the day (which is soon now,) when my old sox finally fall apart.
    Why you wonder is that? When I bought my new socks, my current, and now 3 years older, ones were getting fairly worn and “holey, and since then they have gotten “holey and worn” to the point which many of them are more hole than sock,  I can with good conscience replace them. My wife and kids, well, they think I’m semi nuts, and they understand.
    When I look at products I see the living environments which were mined and shredded to create them. I see what was once flowing clear living water, I see rocks, earth, soil, trees, plants, grass, and nature in it’s wholeness, and I see the animals within their natural homes. I taste the clear alive and prana filled air, and I see the bright stars without smog or city lights obscuring them. Many living today have perhaps never even had the experience of being in real wilderness.
    And so I ask myself, “is this used up yet?” Have I gotten the use out of this to justify it’s creation and manufacturing? To me, I would rather consume much less, make it last, and repair it, and have some nature left. Everything we use and consume, is made out of once living and life supporting environments, and most of it is just “stuff.” For me to replace something before it is really used up and not repairable, is a crime against nature.
    I have recently started making my own yogurt (really easy to do) in glass mason jars because I could no longer justify throwing out a plastic tub every week which it came in. Even if it were recycled, it is still a waste. By my estimation this will keep @ 60 plastic 1 quart tubs from being created.
    We have had a worm bin for a few years now, and after all the organic worm edible stuffs are taken out, and all the recyclables, what is left is a mass of mostly plastic crap, which really serves no purpose, aside from either floating in the oceans, or in landfill. And there is growing evidence regarding the toxicity of all the plastics to out bodies. So why use it to begin with?
    We have replaced our kitchen garbage can and no longer use a paper bag liner every week.  It may be more inconveniently messy or sticky, but now we no longer bring home groceries in a paper bag, just so we can line our trash can and keep it cleaner. It all goes straight in, and then gets dumped directly into the street garbage can. No plastic liners (which never decompose), no paper bag liners.
    We are in a society of ownership and dominion, where we assign $ values to everything, and we view the earth and everything upon it as “ours” to do with as we choose. It seems that nothing exists for itself, beyond human profit. It is all pretty interesting.
    And La illaha ilallaha, it is all important, and none of it matters. Ultimately giving thank’s and being grateful for all life offers likely redeems everything. And huge heaps of forgiveness for our and other’s constant shortcomings and blind spots.
    Sierra Salin on the bus

  — sierra salin on April 4, 2009

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