simple living

The idea of finding a piece of cheap land out in the boonies and setting up a used travel trailer to call home, became planted in my head after reading the book “Travel-Trailer Homesteading Under $5,000”, by Brian Kelling. This little book is a must have for anyone planning to do this. A lot of my ideas came after reading this book and I never could seem to shake the idea from my head. It seemed like the perfect plan for me.

June sees the arrival of a whole range of fruits and vegetables, the start of the summer harvests.

Is it neat, or is it slightly odd that in this Los Angeles community -- it's called Pasadena -- a suburban mix of nice restaurants and well-tended front lawns, there is a home wedged in with the other houses where the entire front yard is edible?

Melting ice caps, unchecked global oil consumption, mind-boggling volumes of trash accumulating in landfills — the problems facing our planet are so overwhelming, it’s tempting to tune them out. They’re just so big.

Buy Nothing Day does not have the political teeth it needs to be an effective message to the public. Buy Nothing Day was originally conceived by activist Ted Dave and promoted by Adbusters out of Vancouver, Canada to counter act the hyperbolic spending spree called Black Friday. I think Buy Nothing Day is a ground breaking idea, but I also believe our way of thinking about consumption can shift further if it is a message more people can identify with.

Material things don't guarantee happiness. In fact, we're often burdened by the allure of our own stuff. Here's how to break free -- and train your mind for a greener, less resource-hungry lifestyle.

PASADENA - For Jules Dervaes and his three adult children, each branch sagging with fleshy eggplant and every lick of sun-generated energy are small steps along the "path to freedom."

Laboring full time at their urban homestead in Northwest Pasadena, the Dervaeses cook up their own biodiesel fuel in their garage, while outside, pygmy goats trim their lawn and provide fertilizer.

The family has invested seven years of ingenuity, sweat and sacrifice decoupling from the status quo and connecting to the world at large.