So why am I writing a piece of work (that is presently a spreadsheet) to help our friends and online community and families “maximize minimalism to create resilient sustainable homes”.
It will become a course you see. A pathway for ordinary people like us to live. There will be an email list. A course and a community. Tons of useful tips and facts. And a lot of discussion.
So why am I launching into this?
Well, for a start I have been walking the walk for quite some time now, so it is time I talked the talk!
Maybe it is a guilty conscience – I feel awfully guilty for the years when I did not even think of the environment I lived in. Though we have to get over the guilt. It is not useful. The planet is turning into a rubbish heap: so change it- we need to stop whinging about how bad we feel. Feeling guilty helps no-one. Get over it and get on with it.
Maybe because we have to start now. Here. To make a stand for Simply Living Simply.
Maybe because I feel happier and healthier eating clean food and living lightly and I want to help us all do that too? (yuk that sounds so sanctimonious).
Maybe because we need to combine modern technology with old fashioned norms to enable good happy wholesome lives for our grandchildren’s children. But where is that information?
Maybe because HOME is the most beautiful word and we all need to feel secure in the ability of our homes to shelter and protect us from the elements. Yes, I will be talking about architecture too.
Maybe because we are on the cusp of great changes environmentally, financially, and climatically so we have to thoughtfully design a way of living that can adapt fast to the changes ahead. I will be talking to the money guys too – investing in solar and wind is a thing. Self-powering houses! I love that!
We have become dependent. How I hate being dependent.
I saw a question on LinkedIn the other day asking how often you make a home-cooked meal but the writer had another term for it. I can’t remember what it was. Not ‘from scratch’ – some other term. Oh, I know what it was – prepped. How often do you prep a meal.
But SO MANY of the comments were from people who did not cook!
No one taught them how?
They missed the point?
So many people were saying that home cooking was for the holidays. When they got hungry they got take-out delivered or went to the supermarket to buy a meal. They gave away the power of food.
But the expense! My poor frugal heart! and the packaging! Plastic packaging is not cool. And losing touch with the concept of cooking a meal and serving it hot at a table. We are the next Incas.
Wherever I live there is a home cooked meal every night. (And to be clear I am not the only one cooking). If I am alone (and left to my own devices) I pan fry grated potatoes with bacon and onion into a kind of frittata but in a pan. Then cover it in grated cheese and flip – sometimes that works – so the cheese becomes the base and cooks and sizzles and caramalizes (and nothing makes me happier than fried cheese) then when everything is crunchy I lay it, like a huge potato pancake, on a plate and cover it in vegetables and Greek yoghurt.
When I make pasta I make extra for the freezer. Especially ravioli. That’s prepping. Right?
If I am being clever the fresh vegetables I buy are immediately cut up into serving size pieces and stored together in a covered glass bowl in the fridge. So I can just reach in for a serving of veg every night.
I need to go back and find that LinkedIn post so I can say I prep too!
So why am I writing this piece of work? Why am I creating a three month course?
I want to build a community of like minded individuals and families and companies who can support each other in building resilient sustainable homes and work spaces. So we can move forward with confidence. So our food and supply chains are safe and local. So we can save each other from the flood. Not just pretend the storm is not coming then wait for help.
I can do the heavy lifting. My team and I will do the research – by the way you are on my team. And we will get the info into peoples pockets.
I want to spread the word that we CAN do something. That our actions are viable and respected.
I know that changing from a plastic toothbrush to a compostable one won’t actually overcome plastic pollution but it will change the way we think. It is a chicken step. Scratch Scratch Peck. Remember? And we are a whole flock. Together we can make a difference.
No doom and gloom- I promise.
?Live Simply so the Planet can Live Large.
☀️Maximize Minimalism.
✨Create Resilient Sustainable Homes.
?PreCycle
PRE-CYCLE! This is my new word. Or (in other words) don’t bring that shit into the house to begin with. I don’t want to have to throw it into an over filled recycling bin with another dubious journey ahead of it.
I still have single use plastic in my sights. Much of this plastic is convenient. Individual punnets of anything are a luxury. And the convenience of easy disposal has made us lazy.
Maybe we need to toughen up and get used to the idea that our lifestyles today can not be as convenient as they were a decade ago.
So – as my Farmy researchers and The Fellowship – what can you and I ban from the house this week.
The latest: Plastic Bin liners. GONE. Small containers of cat food! GONE. Plastic toothbrushes. GONE. (Though all the toothbrushes I have used across my life STILL EXIST somewhere- never gone- aah).
?OK – what else?
LEGO is allowed because I have Lego that is forty years old and yet another generation of kids play with it. So Lego is on the good list!! ?? it is reused again and again and again.
See! Not all doom and gloom!
So, what do you think?
Cecilia
PS As usual I seldom edit when writing my blog – because I am amongst friends. So let’s pull this apart and put it back together in the comments.
PSS ?The trees come this week!
The article credited to The Kitchen's Garden
