“Stop buying things you don’t need, spending money you haven’t yet earned, to impress people you don’t like.” ~ Deepak Chopra

This past week I moved and during the tedious process I realized that I have much too much. I have too many possessions, pound after pound of clothes that I don’t even remember owning, and trinkets that I don’t even remember why I kept them in the first place. It was time to rid myself of all my baggage and start fresh. As stressful as it was to move from the comfort of my pool room, and from the house I’d lived in for years, it was almost refreshing. There are just so many things that I just didn’t need. I admit it :I am a hoarder. I’m glad to have rid my self of most of it now, but at the time of throwing much of it away it felt like I was chopping off both my arms. It gives me anxiety to get rid of things I’ve had since I was young. I’ve got some pretty irrational abandonment issues I suppose. I just have to keep thinking “Sometimes change is beneficial”, and now that I currently live out of a suitcase I have much more flexibility. (aside from having tons of critters to care for) I realize I’m better off with out the material possessions but I can’t help feeling a longing for all my baby toys, clothes, and books. (I did end up keeping somethings that I found valuable [which could be rocks and shells I found 10 years ago, somethings I can’t let go of] and storing them at my mothers, thanks mom!) There are just more important things to life then material possessions, which I probably won’t be buying anymore of anyway due to my new “No Impact” Lifestyle. I just feel so much lighter now & I’m happy to be moving forward.

Lately. I’ve been really inspired to reduce my carbon footprint. I do try to do the simple easy things like recycling, turning off unneeded lights, washing my clothes in the tub, and drying my clothes in the sun but there is so much more I could be doing. For starters I’m going to do my best to not buy anything that requires oil for production, that means nothing that comes in a plastic wrapping. I’m also going to try to only eat organic locally grown foods which truly I look forward to doing. I already don’t eat meat and I try to stay away from processed foods as it is but I need to put a lot more focus into being environmentally conscious. A good way to start is to not buy anything new. No material possession to me is worth polluting our world for but if there is something that I’ll need I’ll be relying on thrift stores.

 My plan is  be as self sufficient as possible, most responses to that have been in some sort of variation of “Stop dreaming.”, “You’re kidding right?” and “Let’s be realistic.” but the more I think about it the more I realize that there isn’t anything else in the world that I’d rather do. Not only is it beneficial to the environment but  I’m also preparing myself for the future. Let’s face it, we’re running out of oil and once it’s all gone we will have to rely on local farmers which will hopefully cause us to become more community based. (due to the lack of oil, importing foods will be a clearly difficult task.)  Moving somewhere away from the city where I can live off the grid and support myself as well as my family is much better then spending non-renewable energy and producing emissions that eat away at our planet.

My vegetable garden is in a pathetic state right now though my plan is to buy land somewhere possibly up north where I can start growing on a larger scale. I can’t say it enough, I’m so excited I can feel it in my bones. I can’t wait to milk my own dairy cow for the first time, collect chicken eggs every morning, sheer my own sheep, make my own goat cheese, can my own homegrown fruits, compost my waste, and most of all build my own cabin (with basement/root cellar) and green house. I feel like jumping up and down when I think about it.

 I’ve also currently checked out every book from the local libraries  on homesteading and self sufficient living. My library card is about maxed out. I’ll be posting later on what books I found most useful in hopes of inspiring you to go check them out for yourselves.