7 Ways to Ditch the Consumer Mentality Ditch the consumer mentality Defining the consumer mentality: “I have a problem (or need), therefore I must spend money.” In a culture of “more is more,” sometimes you just need a reset. I like to find ways to make sure that the things I own are serving me, rather than the other way around. It’s easy to end up in a lifestyle where you do work, get a paycheck, and use that paycheck to buy stuff and solutions. Ditching the consumer mentality is about finding ways to make your own solutions at least some of the time. In time this tends to decrease the dependence on a paycheck. If the concept is intriguing you might check out the book Early Retirement Extreme which is available from libraries and online including a Kindle version. (author’s website here) 1. Mend an item of clothing A basic sewing kit ranges from $2-$10. Consider that less than 100 years ago, making at least some of the clothes for oneself or one’s family was a common skillset. Nowadays, sewing is more of a niche crafting skill. While crafting isn’t for everyone, fixing a seam or replacing a button is easy to learn, only takes a few minutes, and is well worth doing if the item is your favorite. 2. Complete one existing task or project It’s a lot of fun to come up with ideas and start a new project. If you have a project languishing around, tackling it can really give you a boost. Plus, then you can start a new one! For me right now, this is a scarf that has been in progress for a LONG time, and getting some plantings into the ground in the front garden. 3. Cook or bake a thing from scratch We all have to eat. Extra credit for trying something new or a bit challenging, but I will allow anything at all that you haven’t made before. Cooking from scratch is another lost art, although the 2020 covid lockdowns made things like sourdough starter popular for a time. If you find or develop a great recipe, especially for a baked good, that can be a nice item to share and gift in the colder months. 4. Propagate a houseplant Pothos is especially easy, and spider plants practically propagate themselves. (Whether or not they clean the air, plants certainly bring natural beauty inside.) I use a few hanging planters that keep them out of reach of pets and children. 5. Make a library trip Gone are the days when libraries only had books. They have music, DVDs, and often online resources. Often local libraries host crafting and other creative groups. Some libraries offer “take and make” craft kits. I wish I were into crafting. It is just not my gift. But in terms of free entertainment, libraries are so amazing. If they don’t have the particular item you want, they can almost always order it from other libraries with reciprocal agreements. 6. Educate yourself without spending money Spend an evening on something you find interesting… Listen to a podcast. Listen to an audiobook. Watch a documentary. Read something not directly necessary to your daily life. Check out Coursera, Bored panda, or Youtube (I love recipes, sustainable lifestyle, and gardening inspiration videos especially.) 7. Invent and make something This does not have to be a crafty item. A birdbath can be any shallow container, weighted down, with some water in it. A clothes rack. A pillow. Change up home decor by shopping what you already have, repurposing something, or rearranging items. My coffee table started its life as a shipping pallet. My planted fishbowl started out as a gallon pickle jar. Making, creating, and living on less… It’s a way of life.
On Homesteading and Minimalism Homesteading and Minimalism Can homesteading and minimalism go together? Both concepts speak to identity. Ultimately, you decide, what does the label mean? Then, whether the labels apply to you. Being a homesteader can mean doing more things yourself, being more self-sufficient, and resisting the culture of materialism. Being a minimalist usually includes defining a personal focus on what really matters, and engaging in an ongoing process of weeding out things that do not add value or meaning. Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com If your ideal homestead includes land, trees, and livestock, then you must own the objects needed to provide care and maintenance. The care itself might be part of an intentional lifestyle. If being a minimalist includes only owning an arbitrary number of items, you might fall into the trap of being forced to buy items when you need them, and regularly discarding items just to avoid ownership. Photo by Matthis Volquardsen on Pexels.com Intentional Living I have been thinking a lot about the themes of a life well-lived. There are certain things that I call “part of my definition of the good life.” A good example of this is books. Notoriously, books are heavy and not very practical if you move around a lot. I have used a Kindle device, Audible subscription, and Kindle app on my phone at various times. But, I love books. Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com So, I have found a balance. I buy books secondhand, and I keep a limited number of books that I really like. I come back to them again and again. But we do not keep accumulating them. Instead, we frequent the library, we use electronic sources, and we limit the size of the home library. The good life looks different for everybody. I find that with music, good food, good stories, and companionship, life is rich. Having material things on a bigger or grander scale does not enhance or replace the essentials. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. (What is essential is invisible to the eyes.)Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in The Little Prince Commonalities of the Homesteader and Minimalist Can you be both? I think so. And what I like about it, is that both ideals can be scaled to your current life. We don’t have to wait for the perfect life circumstances to come. Photo by Anete Lusina on Pexels.com You can practice minimalism in your attire or your bedroom. You can practice homesteading in an apartment or on an acreage. Commonalities include focus, resourcefulness, and efficiency. Being mindful. Using resources, including your own time and energy, wisely. Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com For more thoughts on homesteading and minimalism Medium – The 12 Design Principles of Permaculture as Rules of LivingMorning Chores – 20 Tips to Help You Become a Minimalist HomesteaderA Home Made From Scratch – Minimalism vs. HomesteadingHomestead Hustle – Minimalism on the Homestead15 Acre Homestead – Minimalism in the HomeCouch to Homestead – 9 Essential Tips to Becoming a Minimalist Homesteader Photo by Roberto Cervantes on Pexels.com
Homestead Inspiration Inspiration for the small homestead Homestead inspiration in the suburbs What is your homestead inspiration? Nutrition? Sustainability? Independence? Simple living? With homesteading dreams, but practical constraints, it can be hard to focus on living a less consumerist life in the here and now. Let’s live within our means. Let’s produce more of our own food and keep our homes from being filled with a bunch of “stuff” without function or lasting value. Finally, let’s cultivate free time, and spend it doing more than just watching TV. Yes, I love a good movie night, but I want to keep up skills and learn new skills. Photo by Davyd Bortnik Homestead vs. practicality Not everyone can up and move to the country, as many of us are still dependent on our jobs. Country living homesteading (in the sense of having land and livestock) is a daily, time-consuming commitment that can take up a lot of time, effort, and resources. It is worth counting the cost and making sure you want to do the work. Living less wastefully We live in a highly consumeristic, materialistic society. All too frequently, we buy things new and then send them to the landfill a short time later. Planned obsolescence defines the lifespan of too many products. Still, many items can be bought used (cell phones) or repaired (laptops) and a modern way of life enjoyed without fully buying into the production stream. Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without.American proverb from the Great Depression era Homestead inspiration for the small garden Start small! You can do it. This is all supposed to be fun. I believe that with life, homemaking, gardening, and even working, it is supposed to be fun. Without fun, something is not right. I believe that in family life there is supposed to be fun in our day-to-day lives and interactions. Without fun, our relationships are out of balance. Photo by Caroline Feelgood Currently, I live in a suburb with a front yard and a backyard garden. In our neighborhood, we get more wildlife than you might expect, which has been the primary barrier to food production. There are also a lot of trees, which are beautiful and stately. They provide a lot of shade. Placement of plantings has to be very strategic to work around all that shade. Now a few years into this, we are getting a few more berries, a few more squash and tomatoes, a lot more hickory nuts and just a couple of hazelnuts. It is exciting to see our novice efforts at permaculture gardening starting to bear fruit, literally. Here are a few of my sources of inspiration Tenth Acre Farm – Permaculture for the Suburbs Mother Earth News – 1-Acre Dreamin’Homestead.org – Permaculture PrinciplesAtitalan Organics – Mapping Zones on Your PropertyTenth Acre Farm – How to Develop the Permaculture Homestead in PhasesMother Earth News – 9 Permaculture PracticesFood Tank – 16 Successful Projects Highlighting Permaculture Use Whatever else is going on out there, when we’re on the homestead… Let’s keep it cozy.
Fruit Trees for the Backyard Thinking about backyard fruit trees? Start by thinking about your motivation. What made you consider adding fruit trees to your yard in the first place? Are you interested in preserving your harvest, or just enjoying fresh fruit for a couple of months each year? Next, what kind of fruit you and your family like to eat. If you already are eating some of your produce locally or in season, think about the types of fruit that you always look for or always notice when the season arrives. Consider some of the practical factors. Be realistic. How much space do you have? How much work do you want to do? How long do you intend to stay at your current address? Most fruit trees take at least a few years to produce much, and many require another tree as a pollinator. Even self-fertile varieties will set more fruit if you have two trees. It’s okay to start small. If you aren’t sure about the answers to those questions, a container plant is fine to begin with. A couple of strawberry plants, a Meyer lemon, or a fig tree, for instance. If you have a lot of area that is partially shaded, a shrub or bush may work better than a tree. What is your climate zone? Most of the time, it is easy to find the USDA hardiness zone for plants in the United States. Keep in mind that most food producing plants need full sunlight. I recommend making a map of your yard that firmly identifies which areas are in sun or shaded, and during which hours of the day. Then you know where trees can succeed. You may be able to identify some generalities about the soil in your area. Is it clay, sand, or loam, primarily? Is it more acidic, or more alkaline? Often, there is a county extension service that will provide soil testing, and there are also online based services. Make sure you use a representative sample for testing. What are the benefits of fruit trees? Fresh fruit in season, obviously. More bang for your buck in the long run, in terms of food produced per annual inputs. Something you may not have considered is that even if you live somewhere with contaminated soil, the fruit will generally be safe to eat even if the soil contains heavy metals. While annual vegetables might need trucked-in soil with a barrier beneath it, trees are capable of filtering out this type of contamination. Reference here: Monitoring and mitigation of toxic heavy metals and arsenic accumulation in food crops: A case study of an urban community garden What is a fruit tree guild? A common concept in permaculture design, a fruit tree guild mimics the way that different plants co-exist in nature. It is a community consisting of a fruit tree, understory plants, and ground cover plants, designed to produce food and herbs. The idea is simple, but this is something that I am just starting to learn about myself. A popular blog post on the topic from Tenth Acre Farm here. Where do I get fruit trees? While I do advocate starting at a local nursery (if you are lucky enough to have one) or a local plant sale, I recognize that often the selection there is limited. At big box stores, the plants are often shipped all over the place and you may not really know what variety you are getting. I have obtained plants this way and had some fail, and others do just fine. It is easy to order trees online, and I have found that there is a much wider and more specific selection of heirloom varieties and native plants such as highbush cranberries, online. Gurney’s Seed and Nursery Co. Fast-Growing TreesI’m sure there are many more options with a simple search. Let me know what fruit trees you might be thinking of planting. Are there other permaculture concepts catching your imagination lately? September starts tomorrow and I am dreaming of all the kinds of pie… Let’s keep it cozy.
