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.