If we could live like this.. how much better could the world be.
- Thread starter Faithfulservant
- Start date
juantoo3
....whys guy.... ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb
I'm not able just now to watch the video.
May I presume the concept is to live like Thoreau, apart with his thoughts unfettered by cares of the world?
I tried it once, early in adulthood. It is an absolute relationship killer...I never met a woman willing to give up and forego a modern bathroom.
On the chance there may be an exception, a Boy Scout Handbook from at least 50 years ago, older is better, will provide some basic instruction for living off the land. Each lesson would then require more in depth study, but the basic concepts of water, shelter, food and medicine / hygiene are there in a basic and practical format.
A fiction book that inspired me greatly as a youngster is "My Side of the Mountain," a young boy goes off into the woods and makes a way to live alone, living in a hollowed out tree. A movie was made in the late 1960s, and while good, it, like so many others, wandered from the book and glossed over or left out some crucial points.
For many years in the 1970s and 1980s, a magazine called Mother Earth News was awesome for "back-to-the-landers." If one can get past the neo-hippie commune aspect, there were some intriguing and innovative solutions to basic problems of self-sufficiency. Later, the magazine sold and that underlying philosophy disappeared and it wasn't as good anymore.
I learned of a series of books through Mother Earth News called Foxfire. I think they were done by the editorial staff at M.E.N, by interviewing old timers still living in Appalachia circa 1970-72ish. I think there were 9 or so volumes eventually published, but I focused on the first two, which have the bulk of information for living "old style" prior to electrification. Issues such as butchering a deer or hog, building a log cabin, preserving foodstuffs (canning, root cellar), etc, are covered in depth.
What one finds is there is always work. Nothing comes easily, things we take for granted like clean drinkable water are a chore to do yourself. And once one chore is finished it is time to take up another...there is always something else that needs to be done.
May I presume the concept is to live like Thoreau, apart with his thoughts unfettered by cares of the world?
I tried it once, early in adulthood. It is an absolute relationship killer...I never met a woman willing to give up and forego a modern bathroom.
On the chance there may be an exception, a Boy Scout Handbook from at least 50 years ago, older is better, will provide some basic instruction for living off the land. Each lesson would then require more in depth study, but the basic concepts of water, shelter, food and medicine / hygiene are there in a basic and practical format.
A fiction book that inspired me greatly as a youngster is "My Side of the Mountain," a young boy goes off into the woods and makes a way to live alone, living in a hollowed out tree. A movie was made in the late 1960s, and while good, it, like so many others, wandered from the book and glossed over or left out some crucial points.
For many years in the 1970s and 1980s, a magazine called Mother Earth News was awesome for "back-to-the-landers." If one can get past the neo-hippie commune aspect, there were some intriguing and innovative solutions to basic problems of self-sufficiency. Later, the magazine sold and that underlying philosophy disappeared and it wasn't as good anymore.
I learned of a series of books through Mother Earth News called Foxfire. I think they were done by the editorial staff at M.E.N, by interviewing old timers still living in Appalachia circa 1970-72ish. I think there were 9 or so volumes eventually published, but I focused on the first two, which have the bulk of information for living "old style" prior to electrification. Issues such as butchering a deer or hog, building a log cabin, preserving foodstuffs (canning, root cellar), etc, are covered in depth.
What one finds is there is always work. Nothing comes easily, things we take for granted like clean drinkable water are a chore to do yourself. And once one chore is finished it is time to take up another...there is always something else that needs to be done.
Last edited:
Faithfulservant
Well-Known Member
Watch it when you get a chance. He lives clean off the grid.. doesn't consume anything he doesn't prepare himself.. gives glory to God. He is happy and filled with joy.
juantoo3
....whys guy.... ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb
And no girlfriend / wife...
I very much appreciate where he's coming from and what he has accomplished. It is a lifestyle few gravitate to (unless they grow up Amish or Mennonite).
TheLightWithin
...through a glass, darkly
- Messages
- 1,801
- Reaction score
- 1,050
- Points
- 108
I remember them both! I just got a copy of the book from a booksale because I remembered it, and my grandmother used to devotedly read the Mother Earth News.
Faithfulservant
Well-Known Member
I've been so discouraged lately looking for even healthy produce.. it all looks wilted and goes bad really fast. I wish I was a person that could grow my own food and live off of it.
juantoo3
....whys guy.... ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb
I just ordered two books for nephews' birthdays coming up. My Side of the Mountain for the youngest (I think he's turning 9), and the older boy (13) I've ordered the Education of Little Tree.
Some people make a stink over the author, same man wrote Outlaw Josie Wales, actually this story is supposed to be Wales and his grandson, from the grandson's point of view. Again there is a movie, Graham Greene is in it, good movie but much left out...as per usual.
Some people make a stink over the author, same man wrote Outlaw Josie Wales, actually this story is supposed to be Wales and his grandson, from the grandson's point of view. Again there is a movie, Graham Greene is in it, good movie but much left out...as per usual.
juantoo3
....whys guy.... ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb
Build up muscles dragging a hose.
Faithfulservant
Well-Known Member
All boys should read where the red fern grows! Well all girls too.
Faithfulservant
Well-Known Member
I just don't know how I could do it with all these 109 degree temps in Texas right now
juantoo3
....whys guy.... ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb
The Yearling was written about 5 miles out of town on the other side of the Prairie. Cross Creek. Old Florida.
Faithfulservant
Well-Known Member
Old yeller is another favorite of mine
juantoo3
....whys guy.... ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb
Gotta wait until it cools off a bit. Wife is tearing the garden down now getting ready to plant the fall crop. I need to finish prepping the A frame for the winter to cover my bonzai trees, gonna use it to support tomatoes until then.
Faithfulservant
Well-Known Member
I just had a thought that all my favorites inspired deep emotions in me.
juantoo3
....whys guy.... ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb
Don't hate on me...but one movie / book combo I liked a lot when I was 15-16 was Lord of the Flies. That opened my eyes a great deal to certain unchecked human tendencies. I really learned a lot from both the movie and the book.
Faithfulservant
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't hate on you for that! I'm always most impressed with books that show the struggles we have as human beings and how close we are to animal like behaviours. They've done studies..
7 Famous Psychology Experiments | King University Online
Many famous psychology experiments studying human behavior have impacted our fundamental understanding of the mind, mental illnesses, and more.
online.king.edu
JustGeorge
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 303
- Reaction score
- 414
- Points
- 63
I'd do it. Plumbing is nice, but the ability to live in a more natural way would be nicer. (Despite the name 'George', I am a woman.)
I think where I'd struggle would be solitude. I'm not a loner. No toilet? Whatever. No people... meh. I'd need an off grid community to make it work for me.
(I'll come back and watch the video later. House too noisy right now.)
juantoo3
....whys guy.... ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb
Ah yes, John Broadus Watson and Behaviorism...the foundation of modern advertising psych. I did a thesis on him and his work, fascinating individual that somehow flies mostly under the radar.I wouldn't hate on you for that! I'm always most impressed with books that show the struggles we have as human beings and how close we are to animal like behaviours. They've done studies..
7 Famous Psychology Experiments | King University Online
Many famous psychology experiments studying human behavior have impacted our fundamental understanding of the mind, mental illnesses, and more.
Sadly, psychology as a science is a pale shadow of itself from the days of Freud, Jung, Watson and James. I jokingly asked one of our psych docs awhile back if she was Freudian or Jungian, she laughed and told me she doesn't have time for that. The way things are set up now, patients spill their guts and the doc writes a 'script' for some meds and sends them on their way.
TheLightWithin
...through a glass, darkly
- Messages
- 1,801
- Reaction score
- 1,050
- Points
- 108
What happened with the author that caused controversy?