Hi all, welcome to my blog! I am going to begin the process of collapsing now, and this blog is going to be devoted to talking about my experiences. My goal is not to achieve anything like the lifestyles some others have where they are mostly or wholly self-sufficient. Rather, my goal is to simplify my lifestyle such that I am better prepared for the coming future. I have no desire to fully abandon my present lifestyle as a Canadian university student in a decent sized city all at once, rather it will be a slow process.
And that, in a nutshell, is the benefit to collapsing now. By collapsing now, simplifying my life and eliminating wasteful habits today rather than when I'm forced to tomorrow, I can have the alternative in place and ready to go. If I'm right about the shape of the future, these habits have to go either way. One is on my terms, the other isn't. I'm picking the one where it's on my terms.
The future I expect is not one of further progress, nor of overnight collapse. I expect to live in a civilization for my entire life. If I have children, I'll be very surprised if that's not true of them as well. The shape of the future I expect to see is one where we gradually become poorer, less well off, have ever more disasters and crises to deal with. It's not going to be a linear trend either, it will be a process with temporary reversals, happening at different rates in different places. My goal is not to avoid this future, but to prepare for it.
And the easiest way to do that is to have a more resilient lifestyle. Which means fewer wasteful habits. I need to embrace what has been termed LESS: Less Energy, Stuff, and Stimulation. Since LESS is more, I will need to plan more, put more effort into my life, and do more myself. This seems like a fair trade off for having an easier time in the future. If I'm wrong, of course, it will not make me better prepared for the future. However, this experience will still teach me a lot about what I want in life, what is and is not worth having, and so even if I'm wrong, it's still a victory.
I will be updating this blog once a week on Thursdays with what I have done the past week to collapse now, what the results of what I have done are, any observations I have about it, and in general an update on the week. I'm doing this to keep myself honest, as a source of motivation. If anyone has suggestions for things to try out, please let me know, but for now I will be beginning off with only the basics. My plan is to start off doing less than I can do, so that it doesn't overwhelm me. It seems at the moment I have time, and it will be far better to start small and do a little bit than to start large and fail.
Here's an outline of what I have planned to do in order to collapse now, with the dates I intend to start off with:
This week, my intention is to start off a large change: I am abandoning eating processed food. By that I mean I will only eat food I, or someone I personally know, has cooked. Given this is how I like to eat anyway, this will not be deprivation, but rather merely a start. I will also begin the process of making sake, since it's used a lot in Japanese cooking and I happen to like the style. It's also a good tasting beverage, in my opinion.
The next two weeks will be continuing on that, organizing my things, and preparing for a major lifestyle change. On September 1 I will cease to have home internet. I will still have plenty of options for internet use (most notably, my university), but I will no longer have it at home. The idea being to see what changes such a state suggests to me.
I intend to start soap making (as a hobby, maybe later a side business) around the middle of September, and I will figure out what plants I can grow in the small space I have available and start gardening by October (or, spring, if the limited amount of sunlight turns out to be an issue).
Any questions, comments or concerns are welcome :)
Hi WB, I read your blog last week when you advertised it at ADR, but couldn't find anywhere to comment. This week I can only find a place to comment on last week's post, but at least that is progress! I want to say that I think what you are doing is great, and really forward-looking. Second, maybe aiming for progress rather than 100% success will help to keep you motivated.
ReplyDeleteIf you can say that last week you cooked three meals at home and this week you made five - then that is something to celebrate, and very motivating. Living in a different paradigm to how you have lived in the past, and to how your peers are living, is often difficult, so all small victories merit celebration:)
What are you doing for breakfast? I make raw muesli which is ridiculously easy - take a large jar, half fill it with rolled oats, then tip in whatever else you like. My personal favourites are buckwheat, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sultanas (raisins in American), coconut flakes, chopped dates. Nuts are nice, but more expensive. All these ingredients are available in bulk at my local whole foods store. Now close the jar lid and shake. Done. Gourmet breakfast muesli. Just add milk, or pour a bowl with milk and muesli the night before and leave it in the fridge overnight. Add grated apple in the morning - Bircher muesli.
Have you done much cooking? It often takes a while to get into a routine, to know what is a quick meal, how to make the things you like. My two eldest are now at university here in Australia, many hundreds of miles away from me, but they have been learning to cook since they were tiny. My son is the 'mum' at his share house because he has all the domestic skills, and my daughter lives on her own, and cooks in her tiny apartment, toting food home from the central city markets. But for all their experience of cooking from scratch, even they have days and weeks where they lose all motivation, so don't be too hard on yourself.
An excellent cheap eats, cooking from scratch blog is Cooking on a Bootstrap.
All the best with your goals this week, from a fellow collapser.
Hi Jo,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment and well wishes! I think I fixed it now, so you should be able to comment on all posts now, but I'm not sure what happened in the first place to prevent comments...
And I've managed to shift to all but about one meal a week cooked at home. As I said, this is how I like to eat, so the food itself is motivating, but yes, focusing on progress is a good idea! This is why I'm not setting too large goals, and why I'm focusing on getting what I'm working on down pat, then moving on.
For breakfast I either make a little oatmeal or pancakes. I make the batter the night before, put it in the fridge, and use it in the morning. It keeps rather well for a few days, plus the pancakes themselves keep as well. I'm going to have to try muesli, I've never heard of it before, but it sounds tasty!
And I do have a lot of experience cooking, my parents thought it an important skill, and I'm grateful they made sure we all know how to cook. I have quite a few recipes I know and like, and I'm currently trying out a Japanese cookbook, which is quite fun, even if I don't like the recipe it's still good to try it out. And I will try not to be. I don't expect perfection, and I fully expect to spend a few weeks trying to get a skill down before I can try another.
And thank you for the blog, it looks amazing! I will have to test out some of the recipes there, it looks wonderful.
WB, lucky you, to have parents who encouraged you to cook. Cooking a simple meal is scary and overwhelming to many young people. I have had any number of my kids' friends over who have never cracked an egg into a bowl before. But sounds like that is not a problem at your place - good for you, whipping up pancakes of a morning. Did you know that as you keep the batter over a couple of days it starts to ferment slightly, which makes the wheat flour more digestible, and increases the good bacteria in it? Good stuff. Also, in Scotland, the housewife used to make a giant vat of oatmeal once a week, pour it into a drawer to cool, then the family would cut slices of it for snacks during the week. There's an idea for you..
ReplyDeleteMuesli - is a UK/Australian term for granola. This is a raw version of course - do you get raw granola in the US?
In North America if it is raw it is Muesli, if it is baked it is granola. Usually muesli has some fruit, granola has oil and honey or sugar.
DeleteThank you for letting me know about that, it's good to know the difference. I have found places selling raw granola before though, I'm not sure why it wouldn't have just been labeled muesli. Maybe not enough people know what it is?
DeleteJo, I think overall my parents did a very good job. We turned out to be fairly good, competent people, and I'm glad I had the parents I did. I know what you mean about this, I have a large number of friends who never learned to cook and find it scary to think about.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about pancake batter fermenting slightly, but it makes sense. Fermenting seems to make lots of food better, it's a useful thing to know.
Snacks of oatmeal seem like a good idea to me, I think I'll try it relatively soon.
And here in Canada, I've found places with raw granola. I'm not too sure about the US though, it doesn't seem likely from what I've seen. I don't think enough people would buy it south of our border for it to be profitable.
WB, ha, Canadian, many apologies:) No, I imagine raw granola doesn't have nearly enough sugar to earn a place in a US supermarket aisle:)
ReplyDelete