Sustainable SW Blogs

See You at The Show Tonight....

MONDAY MARCH 10th ( Mikey's Birthday!!)
With support from The Sierra County Arts Council & Sid Bryant Wonderland: An Evening of Unusual Auditory Experiences
@ 7PM -  Portland, OR based East Forest A unique electro-acoustic musical project that combines melodic-ambient soundscapes, ethereal vocals, and 100% original field recordings to create a genre bending visionary listening experience. This music has a foundation in ancient and modern "sound healing techniques," that humbly hope to put a few cracks in the hypnotic spell of our modern life and help each of us discover a sense of self through introspection. East Forest has shared stages and worked with individuals and artists ranging from Deepak Chopra, Elena Brower, Shiva Rea to Moby.
@ 8PM San Francisco, CA band Foxtails Brigade performs in T or C for the 2nd time.  The San Francisco Chronicle describes them as, “Arresting music marked by unaffected whimsy, dreamy imagery and insinuating melodies.” 
Where: Grapes Gallery 407 Main St., Truth or Consequences, NM  Cost: $12.00, $8.00 to Sierra County Arts Council Member

My First Race (50k Trail Ultra), a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr. I ran my first race this weekend. It was a 31 mile (50km) trail ultra in Las Cruces, NM. I came in 7th place out of 33. My total time was just over 5 hours and 30 minutes. Wendy and Sesame came out to crew for me which we now realize is far more exhausting than running all morning. While I had a enjoyable run with no issues the one thing that was reinforced for me is "race like your train". My clothes, food, gear, etc all matched what I am accustom to using on each training run. The familiarity of the equipment made everything go super smooth.

Our homestead used to be The Robina Trailer Park. Mikey and I purchased the park and turned it into a private homestead. The front of the lot still features two metal signs mounted to a pole, a clear invitation for art. I feel that I've not contributed my fair share to the street art of town by leaving it blank.

One thing is for sure, this sign must never give the impression that business takes place here. Folks walk in our gate all the time thinking that we are part a Truth or Consequences bath house. But this is not the only reason that we must have a commerce free image. I want to be a reminder that job free living is an option, even if this option is currently limited to folks who start out with a nest egg or inherit a property. My heart is in the commons and so I'm aware that today's model of private property means that only some with own it. The no biz message is a reminder of what the alternatives are, even if there are not enough of them. Today, for example, it is illegal to live an indigenous life. There is no opt out to capitalism. And when corporations are using human talent to no good end, it is an act of protest to take back skill and creativity and use it to create a life of our own imagining. I want to know what it is to be natural, to be a creature. The artificial lifestyle of employment does not allow for this. I'm not going to change to meet it. I think things should go the other way.

This week I finally sketched out an image for the sign. I think it embodies these ideas.  I primed the surface with my buddy Jia.  Next comes the paint.  Stay tuned. . .

52,61,48,B,0

Had a late afternoon visit from strangers on Wednesday.  Deb and Jonathan came back today as new friends for a repeat visit and helped me clean up the last 70+ piles from the airfield.  Normally, I don't allow anyone to help with the labor out here - but to be honest...I welcomed some assistance because I really just wanted this task to be over with.  I had forgotten how fast a chore moves along when there are more than 2 hands doing the work. Photo on the right is the LAST PILE!  65,84,55,0,C  

 Mr. Floppy has found a new favorite spot for this daily dumping...just when I am almost finished clearing the airfield.  It will be interesting to see what plants will pop up after it rains a few times.  Some of the mesquite roots were quite large and went on forever.  62,77,38,0,C

62,82,55,0,W   

A friend just sent along this strip of pics from the San Mateo, CA Maker Faire Swap-O-Rama-Rama this past summer. There I unpacked the first box of printed copies of my book, The Good Life Lab. It was a pretty exciting day! And look, you can see the streak of grey hair that I got while writing the book. ; )

Mikey and I are yet again shifting diet gears. We've been juicing since July and we love it. But I feel that our chi is suffering. I feel cold in the middle and find myself craving more warm foods. Wishing to keep animal products to a minimum I've been exploring bean based recipes. Today I made a black bean chocolate spread that contains red onion, paprika, peanuts, sherry, garlic, dark chocolate, green onions, and soy sauce. Though we don't often indulge in white flour breads I made a gorgeous naan that came out exactly like the picture in my cookbook! I used my homemade garlic powder, which is really chunky, for the naan, along with parsley. It was an excellent match.

Candle making continued well into today. But with two small molds I found production slow, 6 candles took all day, and so I grabbed two vintage candy tins that I had collected from yard sales and made two larger candles using them for a body.

60,77,30,0,C 







 

Today I transformed my beeswax into these crazy cute beehive candles.

It feels like forever that I've been saying that I'm trying to find my way back to the life I was living before I wrote about my lifestyle in a book. Once again I am free to garden, build, and make stuff. Still I feel a bit like an onlooker who is trying to get into my life. I remember that the lifestyle I wrote about is composed of rhythms. Each one sounds a note: gardening, cooking, foraging, building. Together a symphony is played. Peace and joy follow. Still each rhythm must be found, activated, joined. Today I yanked all the oils I'd collected for making salve, lotions, and candles and I got going on a summer's worth of useful goods. I made all purpose balm, lip balm and a couple of candles. Next up, a half year supply of olive oil soap. Each thing that I make reminds me of the choice we have to make our goods or buy them. This raises the question, where do you want your labor to go? Domesticity? A world of your imagining? Or is it on the open market? 

Today I noticed this little charmer of a home for sale. The price, a modest $66K and that's in the hot springs district so it just might have a hot spring in the yard. Taxes? More than likely they're under $500 a year. Combine this low housing cost with year round gardening, a moderate climate (low heat/cool), undisturbed nature and you've got a formula for happiness. This is what makes Truth or Consequences a genuine charm. If you ask me cost of living is everything. When yours is low you are free to play, explore new interests, try out income generating ideas, travel, and whatever else you might imagine. You can live. This winter I've noticed a new round of speculators in town. Run down buildings are getting scooped up for cheap. Recently the decrepit Dude Apartments (best name in town!) was picked up. They'll be renovated, that's the good news. The bad news is that growth does not have a volume knob, at least not unless the town's elected officials have a vision, and ours don't. Time will tell... this story is still being written.

I start my powered paragliding training one month from today.  I haven't even been up in an airplane for 10 years.  Thanks to my buddy Chris Johnson, not only did I get a chance to get up in the air again - he also let me take the controls for awhile in his Cessna 172 on Sunday afternoon.  Appropriately, his plane was built the same year I was born...1959.  It was probably a good idea to get a feel for altitude before my first solo PPG flight.  Nice to be able to see what my airfield looks like from above.  42,57,30,0,W

People ask us how we deal with what we miss from city life, things like live music and exotic cultural events. Entertainment can be sparse in small, rural towns. I feel that it is best to fix problems like these rather than complain about them and so I've become in the habit of producing a couple of music shows a year in town. An upside of small town simplicity is the plethora of great venues that no one else is in line to use, gracious hotels willing to offer huge discounts for bands, and an audience that is starved for entertainment who assure that shows are well attended.

Blog readers, tell your favorite bands and performers to drop us a line of they are coming through the southwest. We will make them welcome. And if your in town next week, please come out for this great double bill. . .

MONDAY MARCH 10th ( Mikey's Birthday!!) 
With support from The Sierra County Arts Council & Sid Bryant Wonderland: An Evening of Unusual Auditory Experiences
@ 7PM -  Portland, OR based East Forest A unique electro-acoustic musical project that combines melodic-ambient soundscapes, ethereal vocals, and 100% original field recordings to create a genre bending visionary listening experience. This music has a foundation in ancient and modern "sound healing techniques," that humbly hope to put a few cracks in the hypnotic spell of our modern life and help each of us discover a sense of self through introspection. East Forest has shared stages and worked with individuals and artists ranging from Deepak Chopra, Elena Brower, Shiva Rea to Moby.
@ 8PM San Francisco, CA band Foxtails Brigade performs in T or C for the 2nd time.  The San Francisco Chronicle describes them as, “Arresting music marked by unaffected whimsy, dreamy imagery and insinuating melodies.” 
Where: Grapes Gallery 407 Main St., Truth or Consequences, NM  Cost: $12.00, $8.00 to Sierra County Arts Council Members
Brought to you by Wendy Tremayne 

the Santa Fe Seed Exchange on Wednesday, March 12, 2014

If you are looking for seeds and ideas for your vegetable garden, come to the Santa Fe Seed Exchange on Wednesday, March 12, 2014 from 4pm-7pm in Frenchy’s Barn on Agua Fria and Osage Ave. The City Parks Division and Home Grown New Mexico are hosting this event for all community gardens, school gardens and home gardeners. There are plenty of seeds available so come even if you do not have any to share. Bring flower, herb, vegetable and other seeds if you have some.

The Santa Fe Master Gardeners will be at the seed exchange with an “Ask a Master Gardener” table for gardening and planting questions.

The SeedBroadcast organization will have their seedbroadcasting station to answer questions about saving seeds and seed story recording equipment.  Tell your story about the seed, where you got it, how you planted it and more.  See their website for stories across America.

If you have questions, please contact: homegrownnewmexico1@gmail.com or call 660-4986

Freedom of religion is an inalienable right that our founders thought important to include in the bill of rights.   A right given to us by our Creator.  They saw fit to include it because God does not force it on us as well.  The progressive agenda seeks to do away with numerous individual rights for the benefit of the collective.  They feel the founding principles are a hindrance to our government as society and culture progress.  In my opinion, society and culture are not progressing at all - rather they are sinking lower and lower (walking after the flesh).  Our nation is happy to accept government intervention in all aspects of life and more than happy that religion is not forced upon the masses (remember - that was God's idea - not government's).  It's time to think carefully about what government wants you to accept, and what they would rather you not.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.    

2 Corinthians 5:For we walk by faith, not by sight 

First Rain this Year, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

We have gone a few months without any rain. Last night we might have picked up as much as a 1/2". This resulted in a gorgeous Sunday with clear skies and lovely cool breezes. Wendy and I went out for our separate runs which slightly overlap each other.