Our Life

We went from an ordinary couple in a nice house in suburban Kailua to the crazy hippies in the forest.  When I used to see friends on the street they would start the conversation by saying “how’s business?”  Now they say “how is it up there,” with a hint of mockery. 
           In most respects, we're as conservative as people in their mid-twenties come.  We don’t smoke, we rarely drink, and we believe in “the system.”  I run a business and spend most of my day on the computer.  The highlight of our social schedule is to hang out with my niece and nephews.  Our nightly routine is to light some candles, cuddle on the couch, drink a cup of tea, and read a book.  Yet, last night a duck slept by our bed.  Once a month I bury our semi-composted shit in the ground.  We drink only rainwater.  Today all I’ve eaten is a lilikoi I found in the hau and a papaya from our neighbors tree.  The biggest tragedy of recent memory is pigs wiping out my taro.  Our biggest inconvenience is the 15 bull frogs that moved into our ponds and keep us up at night.  Our biggest success is six beautiful star fruit from our tree. 

So who are we and what are we doing?  We’re not hippies, conspiracy theorists, revolutionaries, or even libertarians.  I believe in big government and “the grid.” I believe that we should support those who can’t support themselves.  But, I  also believe that there are some fundamental problems with the society that I’ve supported all my life.  We’ve lost touch with our surroundings, are losing touch with each other, and are entirely dependent on infinite growth.  We’ve built a civilization that will collapse if it doesn’t grow and we've convinced ourselves that humans can live outside of Earth's ecology.  From the first light of consciousness, we are taught to consume.  Turn on the TV or open a magazine and it’s almost entirely about consumption.  We have become hard-wired to live beyond our means.  

So, while there isn’t a title for who we are, for once I do know what I’m doing.    We are trying to live with what we have.  If it’s a cloudy day, we turn off our power at night.  If it doesn’t rain, we don’t use the washing machine.  If my chickens don’t lay eggs, we don’t eat eggs.  We are trying our best to become producers, not merely consumers.  And in the three months that we’ve been disconnected from “the grid,” we’ve started to connect to the planet.  This isn’t an experiment anymore.  This is our life. 

However, I know it’s not the life for everyone.  Even though I rarely use my truck and we produce our own electricity and water, our  impact is still likely larger than the average city-dweller.  And many times larger than the average subsistence farmer in a third world country. But, it’s a start.  For a couple with basically no survival knowledge, we’re making big strides.  A year ago I’d never planted a tree, I didn’t know AC from DC power, I didn’t know that the full moon rises at sunset, and I didn’t know Permaculture from Agriculture.  I’m still an infant when it comes to all of that.  I have 100,000 years of forgotten human knowledge to catch up on.  But we’re moving forward.

Smart Meters

Am I turning into the crazy guy in the woods who rants daily letters to the paper?  I hope not, but sometimes I worry.  And I know my wife does.  This was in Saturday's Garden Island.  

I dream of a sustainable Kaua’i.  One where we grow our own food and produce our own electricity.  Where we live with the resources we have without having to import those we don’t.

Then I wake up.  I read the letters in The Garden Island and I realize that it’s not going to happen.  Depending on the month, all we can talk about is the greatness of our cars, the sleaziness of a Co-Op that explores renewable energy, the inefficiencies of solar water heaters, or the health affects of Smart Meters.  We are looking backward at a time that we need to look forward.

Smart Meters are not some evil conspiracy for world domination by our local energy cooperative.  We have the potential to revolutionize our inefficient and outdated energy infrastructure.  Yet we are stuck debating whether the occasional burst of information from the Smart Meter is going to kill us or whether KIUC is going to sell our energy use information to the highest bidder.

Smart Meter technology is the first step towards a Smart Grid, which is one huge step towards energy independence.  Energy supply will accurately meet demand, but demand will be tempered by accurate pricing.  Those who use energy wisely (off-peak) will be rewarded, while those who don’t will pay the actual costs of that electricity generation.

We can live in the past, when oil was cheap, climate change a myth, jobs plentiful, homes worth something, and government worked.  Or we can look to the future.   

One Year

It's been one year since we began this blog. I was hoping to write a happy update about all being perfect in Yurtville, but... that's far from the truth. We just got back from a 10 day trip to New York. Our home, which we'd left in close to perfect shape, is in disarray.

- I'm writing on an IPhone because my Internet tethering no longer works.

- Our catchment tank is inexplicably empty. 4,000 gallons of water vanished through some leak.

- We are officially at war with the rats. After catching five rats in a row and realizing that they were just walking in under the flap of the canvas, we finally sealed it with cable the day we left. But, the unforgiving rats have chewed holes in the canvas in two places. From the inside and the outside.

- In June I planted about 40 'Uala (sweet potato) starts. Since then they've filled in beautifully around my ponds. However, the pigs picked up on the lack of human presence and destroyed both patches.

- The day we left I planted in our garden about 50 Kale and Arrugula starts that I'd seeded a couple of weeks prior. They are all gone. Presumably the ducks and chickens wiped them out.

- A few days before we left I seeded about 20 Balinese Papaya trees. Every pot has been cleaned out. Presumably by the chickens.

I'm going to sleep.