mooretrees journal

Where are you and where are you going?
basuragomi
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Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 3:13 pm

Re: mooretrees journal

Post by basuragomi »

It seems that the most popular ways to arrive at internally-motivated anti-consumption are through Buddhism and Stoicism (or scepticism?), so reading some Stoic stuff might be interesting.

You could also take a more empirical approach and read about the neurological basis of emotions, habits and social systems. If someone can recognize how their habits were formed and can be changed, then they can shape their habits to align with whatever value system. Then an anti-consumption mindset can be constructed positively, i.e. without any reference to harm reduction or conforming to Stoic virtue.

Back in the material world, though, maybe an inflatable kiddy pool would be a good tool in a heat wave!

mooretrees
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Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 1:21 pm

Re: mooretrees journal

Post by mooretrees »

basuragomi wrote:
Sat Jul 03, 2021 2:03 pm
It seems that the most popular ways to arrive at internally-motivated anti-consumption are through Buddhism and Stoicism (or scepticism?), so reading some Stoic stuff might be interesting.

You could also take a more empirical approach and read about the neurological basis of emotions, habits and social systems. If someone can recognize how their habits were formed and can be changed, then they can shape their habits to align with whatever value system. Then an anti-consumption mindset can be constructed positively, i.e. without any reference to harm reduction or conforming to Stoic virtue.

Back in the material world, though, maybe an inflatable kiddy pool would be a good tool in a heat wave!
Thanks for the suggestions, I've lightly looked at Stoicism but haven't spent much energy reading any of the big authors. I do think the neurological focus is also a great avenue to focus on for me.

We did two weeks of swim lessons and heading to the pool right at 5:30 every evening was an amazing way to cool down! I think I'd like to go over to someone's inflatable pool, we've had a small pool that my son was never very interested in to date.

Biscuits and Gravy
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by Biscuits and Gravy »

Picked up Hunt, Gather, Parent; thanks for mentioning it! It’s been helpful in being more mindful of fostering the kids’ natural want to be involved, contributing members of the family rather than just useless, adorable lumps that are told to “go play, don’t mind mommy slaving away over here, sobbing into her clandestine glass of wine.” Asking DD if she wanted to help me cook dinner killed a tantrum, transformed her back into her curious self, and made for a nice moment between us. So what if she over salted the sweet potatoes? That’s small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.

mooretrees
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Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 1:21 pm

Re: mooretrees journal

Post by mooretrees »

@Biscuits and Gravy, nice to hear how that book has been helpful! You reminded me of it and I picked it up from the library again. I'm trying to incorporate more calm into my parenting interactions. I think it has been helpful and illuminating how difficult it can be to be calm for me. The author really stresses how we model ways of dealing with frustration and anger, and if we're patient and calm, we can model those traits instead of reactivity, yelling etc. I've found a few interviews with the author for DH to listen too, and I can tell he's trying to be more calm and patient too. Makes for a more soothing atmosphere.

mooretrees
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by mooretrees »

Lovely, lovely rain woke me up much too early this morning and now I'm wide awake. I turned off several fans, and am loving hearing the gentle rain as I type.

School bus:

Progress continues, slowly. We've painted the exterior of the bus a lovely minty green. We were going for sea foam green, but got as close as we could. The roof is white and the next areas to paint black are the bumpers, rims, and the frames around the bus windows. DH found a wonderful local source of clear fir tongue and groove lumber that will work for our bedroom ceiling. He asked around and ended up getting the wood from a friend's neighbor who deconstructed the basement in the local train depot in the eighties. This fellow recognized how good this wood was back then, and refused to throw it away. So he carted it off and it's been in his storage area since the late eighties. He's used it for various things and given it to people. The friend that connected us to him used it in their kitchen so we got to see how lovely it looked once it was cleaned up. There might be more in the pile at the guy's house, but what we've got should work for only part of the ceiling. DH didn't want to be too greedy with taking wood. We'll have some local history in our bus by the time it's finished. Wood from the train depot and the old elementary school will be featured.

He's working on framing in the windows on the caboose raise. He's hampered by the number of clamps he has, as each piece he glues on has to stay under pressure for 24 hours. Despite that time constraint, he's got plywood on the interior, and a quarter of the exterior. After he finishes the plywood, he'll move to milling a big piece of western red cedar he's got which will be the final exterior covering for the windows. It will look SHARP! He's been cleaning each of the bus windows, which is a slow process. He takes them totally apart, makes sure everything works, buffs the metal, cleans the glass and reassembles them.

AxelHeyst came (more on that later) and framed out the walls below the windows. In the heat too. It was awesome! We've got the insulation ready once we figure out what the walls will be. It was really nice to have help and get started on the interior build. It was especially nice to have help that knew what they were doing and could work independently.

Once DH gets the caboose raise windows in, he'll put the rest of the windows back in and the interior build will start. It was really, really helpful to talk with AH and his sweet DGF about actual living in tiny spaces. Especially about water and dry toilets. A lot of school bus conversions feature huge water storage tanks and we've both just thought we needed that. Now, I think we'll go with smaller water storage, a Berkey filter and more regular fill ups. I don't think it will be a big deal to fill up water containers more often, just something to get used too.

Pictures to come.

Garden:
It's not been an easy year to garden out here. The heat came early and stayed. Many seeds didn't germinate because it was too hot. It took a really long time for many of my seeds to get started and then some just stayed small. I think we might be over the worst of it? But the plants are bouncing back now. I have been mulching with rabbit poop, but finally added a ton of straw a friend gave me. I should have done that a month ago! The seeds I've started since adding the straw are going gang busters. Should have a good amount of kale and other greens in two months. We're eating out of the garden several times a week. Snap peas, lettuce, beans, potatoes (my first!) and cabbage. Most of the starts I started didn't do well. I finally have one broccoli growing, months after I transplanted it. Squash and zuc are flowering and a few small fruit are on the vines. The corn is HUGE. It is taller than me and just started to tassle. I'm trying to plant weekly for fall and winter harvesting. A friend with large hoop houses that usually house native plants in the spring, summer and fall offered to let me help her with fall gardening. She said they ate greens out the hoop house all winter last year. We'll see how that pans out. I'll still plant here am planning on getting some actual coverage for several of the beds for the winter.

Preserving the harvest:

I've been foraging fruit locally. A neighbor's cherry tree and a legendary local apricot tree both got several harvests. I borrowed a friends dehydrator and have five jars of fruit dried. I get nervous about dried fruit going moldy so they're pretty hard. Apricots are my favorite fruit to work with so far, so easy to get the pit out. Especially compared to cherries. A friend is coming over today to pickle and can beans and beets. I gave her bean seeds and both our beans are ready to harvest. I bought 20 pounds of beets and if it goes well today, might do that again. Besides the dried fruit, this will be the first of food storage I've done. Luckily, DS loves anything pickled.

Visitors:

We packed in three sets of visitors from the end of June to late July. It was amazing. Each group was so different and fantastic. The easiest visitors by far were AxelHeyst and his DGF. He's the first forum member I've met. Talking with both of them was just easier than many people. I didn't have to explain so much, or try and navigate the other person's wheaton level understanding. It made me realize how much work I do to accommodate my audience's perceived ability to understand my reasoning for not buying something, or trying to make something, or small victories that don't make sense to other people. We stayed up late sitting outside talking about stuff most nights. I think we planted a small seed for a min-ERE city?

Covid:

We're back to some light lockdown. Mostly because DS is too young to be vaccinated and we've got a low vaccination rate here with high case numbers. Depending on how the next month goes, we're still planning on sending him to preschool. That could change but it still seems that the delta is not as dangerous for kids. Work is kinda stressful, but mainly because we're short staffed and my manager and supervisor seem to have some very unhealthy drama going on together. It would be very hard to work full time with that environment. Luckily, I don't!

Other:
My grant for the tool preservation library is getting stuck in limbo due to bureaucratic rules. The organization doling out the money needs to give it an org that has a business number so it can't go to me. But the library has a million rules about how their funding and money works. It's maddening. I think I need to see if we can get creative and make this happen faster. We'll see if it will be useful to people this year.

We've been getting some good bites on possible locations to park the bus. Two locations that are really great are both in the next town over. I don't think I'd mind the commute to work, much. Both spots are on properties with few neighbors and acreage. Time will tell. I think one strategy we might employ is to test out a few spots for a month. That way both parties can have a feel for the situation and there's not a lot of pressure. At this point we have four solid leads, so that feels good.

We bought another motorcycle. It's an '81 V50 Moto Guzzi (I think I got that right) with about 20k on it. It runs but needs a tune up and a few simple repairs. I guess we're an Italian motorcycle family now? The plan is for me to learn to ride and get a year or so of riding under my belt and then take off for Alaska when our son is six. I haven't looked around for a motorcycle safety course, but that will happen soonish. DS can't get on a motorcycle til next summer so I've got some time. I'm mixed on learning to ride. It seems a little scary but also fun. And such better mileage than our car.

Lots of other stuff swirling around here. But this post is long enough and I want to do some other stuff before the family wakes up.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Great update @MT! It is really cool to see you thriving in your new lifestyle.

I have to admit that reading about your Italian motorcycle and trip to Alaska stirred up some deep, romantic notion of adventure in me. That is the kind of trip that is completely off my radar (I don't ride motorcycles), but sounds amazing. Just reading about it made me realize that I'm limiting my own visions for the future. I need to get a bit more creative! The fog of work has me limited to thinking of a nice beach, hammock, guitar, cheap tacos/seafood, and a stack of books.

In regards to preserving the fruit, you can always freeze some of it after dehydrating if you are worried about mold. I lost half of bag of dried plums last year to mold. My dad grows a lot of fruit and we often don't have enough time or space in the dehydrator because of the size of the yields. He freezes most of his dried fruit - it tastes great straight from the freezer, or will keep a bag in the fridge. I also regularly just freeze cherries (no dehydration), and we did that with our cherry tree harvest as a kid. You have to be careful with the pit, but frozen cherries are a really nice treat on warm summer days. Almost as good as frozen grapes.

Also nice to hear about your visitors and meetup with @AH. Keep up the good work!

theanimal
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by theanimal »

Glad to hear the bus is progressing well! I think we were trying for the same paint color on the walls in our house and got a similar result.

Let me know if I can be of any help when it comes time for your trip up here.

mooretrees
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by mooretrees »

Promised photos:

Image9986261A-153B-4B46-88F1-DB3AE79154E0 by , on Flickr

The final color of the bus, the area still yellow will be black and then the windows will go back in.

Image046A5FDB-D8B2-4236-9AF9-16043AF94076 by , on Flickr

Caboose raise image of the plywood covering the metal, this part is slow going but hopefully finished soon.

Image521CF990-7535-4EF9-BF6B-3677A878678F by Meghan Moore, on Flickr

Framing of the walls below the windows by AxelHeyst, in 90 F heat! Once we figure out the wall material, close up the windows we'll get insulation in the walls and start the interior.

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

I really like hearing about all the different things you are up to. Thanks for sharing.

mooretrees
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by mooretrees »

@WRC, freezing the fruit is a great idea. I'll do that, thanks. The fog of work is real. I hope our travels are great, but it will be another year or so before we can really test out motorcycle touring.

@theanimal, I'll absolutely be getting in touch with you before our trip. And hoping to have an actual visit too!

@GdP, thanks for the nice note. I appreciate comments of any type!

mooretrees
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by mooretrees »

Food/Garden:
Got another set of dilly beans pickled and canned the other day. Probably will have another round this week and then I'll pull the bean plants and put in kale or beets. The corn is so huge and some have fallen over. A few purple cabbages are almost ready to harvest and make up some more sauerkraut. A friend gave us two huge bags of her produce and we quick pickled a gallon of carrots and started fermenting cucumbers for pickles in the big two gallon crock my mom gave me. I'm hoping to still can peaches, pears, applesauce and hot peppers. I think pears and peaches are coming on now so this weekend should be fun.

Covid:
We're likely going to delay DS's school start and watch the local situation closely. Work is fine, busy but okay. This wave of covid is mainly being felt by direct patient care people (dr, nurses, etc) and the lab is fairly unaffected-just a higher patient load. Oregon has a vaccine mandate coming down the pipeline that will be interesting to watch unfold. Many people say they won't get the vaccine, but I'm so curious how they'll support themselves! It took us a few years to be able to live on one income, and we were really motivated. I think a lot of people will get the shots as they can't afford to find another job. Won't really know until October.

AxelHeyst recommended a book, What We Think About when we try not to think about Global Warming. It's been really interesting. There's no discussion of the science of global warming, more about how our biases and some evolutionary realities with our brains can really shape our thought processes. I'm actually rereading sections, and gaining some insight in to how my brain and other's work. One takeaway is that (no shocker) it's really key to surround yourself with the right people. If I understand that I'm a mammal and prone to some sheeple behavior, then having some forethought into choosing who I want to hang around is one way to work with those tendencies. So, I'm going to try and be more selective about who I spend time with.

I'm over this now, but I did go through a short period after the IPCC report came out where I wanted to throw our life away and just go try and plant trees. As I was going through it, I understood it was too reactionary and didn't act on anything. But, I do want to come up with a short term plan for doing more positive mitigation efforts for reversing climate change. I know logically, that my small efforts will likely not amount to anything, but I'd like to see how it feels.

mooretrees
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by mooretrees »

I helped my farmer friend out today for a few hours and she sent me home with some corn and a quart of honey. She's got some land with both parents in different areas (parents are divorced). I can see how many options she has for creating a more resilient life with some land. We pay rent to her for housing our coffee roaster, the bee keeper has a few hives and gives her more honey than she can use. She's contemplating getting some sheep, has chickens and is going to put in an orchard someday. Folks who are motivated can live really cheaply and cleverly in cities. I'm more interested in rural living. I want to see more trees instead of cars. Hear owls instead of mufflers.

Wood:
I've started to buck up the wood we got before fire restrictions closed down the local national forest. We cut about a cord of wood with our two roommates using axes and saws. Now I'm slowly bucking it and splitting it as I go. DH built a buck horse for the wood to rest in while we stood and sawed it. There is a learning curve for using these big saws. I'm finding that the less pressure I put on the handle, the smoother it will cut. I think the blade could be sharper, but it is working fairly well. I'm attempting to do two logs a day, but the bigger diameter ones are marathons of cutting. I'm getting a great arm, back, core and shoulder workout with each piece I cut.

Transportation:
We put an electric motor on our cargo bike. I'm loving it. It is a pedal assist so you have to work to earn the assistance. It's a game changer for cruising around town with my son. I struggled with the idea of not being strong enough to power it myself, but now I'm enjoying the increased mobility without driving. It's not a perfect solution to going car free, but it will really reduce my car usage, I think.

Climate Change:
I ordered a few books from Chelsea Green Publishing as they are having a big sale. The two I'm excited about are a mushroom growing book and a book about ten tree species that are green allies. The tree book is for me as I slowly flesh out the idea of trying to have a nut tree business. The mushroom book is for DH as he's grown them before and it could be a great little side gig. Or we could just grow magic mushrooms and become drug dealers! :lol:

Western Red Cedar
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Good for you for moving away from the chainsaw. It is a good example of systems theory in practice. Who needs to schedule time to workout when you are cutting and bucking your firewood with traditional tools.
mooretrees wrote:
Thu Aug 26, 2021 6:19 pm
I think the blade could be sharper, but it is working fairly well. I'm attempting to do two logs a day, but the bigger diameter ones are marathons of cutting. I'm getting a great arm, back, core and shoulder workout with each piece I cut.
This reminded me of the Abraham Lincoln quote - "Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I'll spend the first 4 sharpening the axe." While it applies to a lot of areas of life, it is also true in regards to sharp tools - they really make a difference in working efficiently.

mooretrees
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Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 1:21 pm

Re: mooretrees journal

Post by mooretrees »

@wrc, the day after you wrote that quote about Abe, I came home to find DH sharpening the two person saw. Made me smile. We've had a few evenings where we've managed to buck up two larger logs using the two person saw. It's really a good feeling when we finish a log. The local nat'l forest is back open now so we'll head out Sunday for an all day saw-a-thon. Likely we'll fell and buck up the wood in about 8' lengths and then head home to leisurely finish the bucking into the right size for the wood stove. This year we've also started removing the bark and using it for mulch around the garden. Taking the bark off will really reduce the future mess from the wood when we bring it into the house. And larch bark is very attractive and flakes nicely.

I'm liking headings so here goes.
Family:
We've decided to keep DS out of preschool for another year. The place we liked the most was not going to do masking. It was non-negotiable for the owner and I didn't feel like trying to find another school. Even with masks, schools are likely to be be transmission areas. Last year it seemed like schools weren't a big place for transmissions, but delta changes everything. I've been reading Montessori books and slowly starting to understand the principles and incorporate them in our life. I like their emphasis on teaching children independence. We've already changed where we store his plate, cup, and bowl so he can serve himself. We've got a milk pitcher and a water pitcher in the fridge so he can take care of hydration on his own. This accomplished two things; he can take care of his needs on his timeframe (and that is just satisfying) and we're off the hook for fetching something for him. Win, win.

There are a lot of homeschool resources out there, so much so that it's quite overwhelming. I'm sticking to two books and one youtube channel for now. I meet with another mom or two tomorrow to try and organize a weekly playdate in a local orchard.

Food:

I'm shocked at how plentiful food is right now. I am actually stressed at how full our fridge is with free food and the need to preserve it somehow before it goes to waste. I bought four dozen ears of corn and after DS goes to bed tonight, I'll work on blanching it and freezing it. I stayed up late last night getting another pickle ferment started. I've got a big sack of basil to turn into pesto, and some carrots and beets to quick pickle. Most of the food is coming from my friend who is basically a farmer on the side. I've helped her over the years and now we're trading coffee for produce and eggs.

Work:

This vaccine mandate is creating a shit-TON of drama at work now. Also, we have a new higher up who is coming out guns blazing trying to whip the lab into shape. Think we might have lost one phlebotomist today who was deeply offended by this new director. Really tiring and I never seem to stay out of it. I also was shocked at how many hospital employees attended a local rally about 'medical freedom.' When I heard about it, my first thought was, "great, now they'll end up in the hospital." So I made a sign and went down there. It didn't help the situation! Probably because my sign said "See you in the ICU"- perhaps a little aggressive? I was the lone counter protester, though I did hear a lot of positive feedback. And just thinking about it makes me chuckle a little. I don't wish the ICU on anyone, but there are logical consequences to not taking a single, fucking precaution when local case positivity is hovering around 20%.

I'm working a little bit more than I want, as tensions are high and I feel like I should be extra on top of things at work. People are stressed and we're all doing more work then we're used to.

Money:
I don't think I really talk about money that much anymore. I'm going to try and track money again, but this time involve DH. This past month the coffee business paid for most of the groceries which was a nice reality.

Hristo Botev
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

Looking forward to hearing how the homeschooling goes. If we had to do it over again, that's the direction we'd go. And it's still not out of the realm of possibilities that we might switch to homeschool for high school; but it's not likely. We feel as if we have more control over our kids' educations than our public schooling friends--who seem to be absolutely at the mercy of bureaucrats, with no real sway over what happens--but even still, our school took in a lot of folks who fled the public schools last year with the shutdowns and just general lack of leadership and direction re COVID, and we worry that our little parish school may become yet one more parish school that is Catholic in name only. For ERE-minded parents, homeschooling strikes me as one of those resiliency/self-sufficiency skills that might be way more important than whether you can fix your own bike, or do your own investing.

Hristo Botev
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

To the extent it's helpful, I went down the homeschooling rabbithole briefly a little while back, and it's definitely information overload for something that I think at it's core really isn't that complicated. But, that said, I found this helpful as a sort of very basic intro: https://simplycharlottemason.com/five-h ... ng-styles/.

If I were doing this, I'd be trying to go with some variation of the Trivium. And honestly, I'd probably be working with a Classical co-op that offers a hybrid homeschool/hybrid approach. These tend to be Catholic or at least Christian-centered, so I'm not sure if there are more secular-type hyrbid orgs out there. Though I know we've got a Classical charter school where we live that is not religiously affiliated.

Hristo Botev
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by Hristo Botev »

You may not be interested in any of this stuff at all, but here's a good review site that homeschooling folks seem to swear by: https://cathyduffyreviews.com/#

Frugalchicos
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Hey, would you mind sharing that montessori youtube channel you follow? Our kid had to quarantine for 2 weeks due to covid and she pretty much watched Peppa pig all day because we have to work. It would be interesting to have some more knowledge of what to do/ offer next time it happens.

mooretrees
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by mooretrees »

Frugalchicos wrote:
Sat Sep 04, 2021 7:12 am
Hey, would you mind sharing that montessori youtube channel you follow? Our kid had to quarantine for 2 weeks due to covid and she pretty much watched Peppa pig all day because we have to work. It would be interesting to have some more knowledge of what to do/ offer next time it happens.
Here goes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neENAi- ... M&index=11

She's got a lot of videos and I like her mellow style, though I think she it totally type A. I think your young one could get a lot out of montessori and not just when she's got another quarantine.

Frugalchicos
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Re: mooretrees journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Awesome. Thanks!

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