Living Sustainably in the Forest, Pt. 2

Read Part 1 of Living Sustainably in the Forest

In the previous post about living self-sufficiently in the forest, I list out the essentials one must cover (shelter, skills, property, water and sewage collection, etc.) along with some options for each. Here, I'll touch on the daily living necessities, such as what to use for toilet paper, how to wash your laundry, whether to dedicate yourself to silverware or wooden utensils, and more.

Chores are less work and more play when they reinforce the way you want to live. Despite modern appliances to make life easier, chores in the civilized world seem unending. Partially, that is because we claim far more things to be necessary to our survival than are. Large wardrobes, specialty kitchen tools, decor. Residing in the wild will require you to dumb down what constitutes a necessity, but that's the beauty of it. You'll learn to recognize what brings you the most comfort, what you truly wish not to live without. However, the following, are bare essentials.

Note: these suggestions are meant to take you back to the very basics, how natives and pioneers might have survived.

Have Your Kid's Back Once in a While

When kids misbehave, sometimes correction isn't always the best course of action. It certainly wasn't on this outing to the park with my 7 year old son.

My dad once told me a story about my grandfather, whom I'd never met. He said when he was a teen, my dad had been sent to the principal's office for getting in a fight with another boy. My grandfather was brought in to discuss my dad's behavior. However, when my grandfather was told of the fight, his response was "Did he win?"

At first, I thought this to be a rather archaic way of parenting, encouraging machismo and the use of violence to solve ones problems. But he went on to say that if my dad had been involved in a fist fight it was because he felt that was the only way out. 

Venturing Alone in the Forest

Wind beat against my 4x4 capable Toyota in the middle of the night while I lay snuggled in the back on a thin inflatable pad. The valley likely only saw a light drizzle from this passing storm. But the hills where I camped were pounded by 15-20 mph gusts and sideways rain. I awoke intermittently to the rocking motion of my truck caused by the storm. Maybe sleeping in my vehicle beside a cliff wasn’t the best idea.