Saturday, August 15, 2009

Another transition family

Another post-peak oil family is described by one of its members in this Washington Post piece. Doug Fine, his fiancee, and son live a life similar to ours in many ways, even though they're in New Mexico:
  • Goats for milk (no word on meat)
  • Chickens for eggs (ditto)
  • Gardens for produce
  • Far from nearest town
Some of his concerns resonate with us, namely relying on others for a lot of repair skills, and possible security worries.

Unlike us, they've made a lot of progress in generating their own power, taking advantage of the American Southwest's terrific sun. We have another key difference, which is that we're doing fine for water (too fine, this summer); Fine's Butte has to irrigate mechanically.

Perhaps a more subtle difference is that Fine writes as though community networks are of minor importance to his family. Ceredwyn and I, in contrast, have been working hard to grow our Ripton relationships, in part because of the things we lack (skills, tools, etc.)

The regional differences (they in New Mexico, we in Vermont) are obvious, but also telling. Fine doesn't seem to worry about heating their home, while wood burning and preparing for it is a crucial part of our daily lives. We look forward, too, to March and getting maple syrup.

1 comment:

Reed Hedges said...

Hi Bryan and family. I've been reading Doug's blog for a while now. Can be long winded sometimes, but some good stuff there.

The past few posts have had a streak of survivalist in them (he acknowleges this and discusses it a bit).

In the most recent post he talks about his community more.

It's fun to think and talk about DIY, self sufficiency, etc. but in thinking about my own survival if I were to be shaken out of my little in on technology and oil based global economy and everything changed, the two main factors I see are local community and having a good attitude and ethic. I'm definitely still working on that last one; feeling tired, depressed, whiny, lazy is a big impediment to getting stuff done!