Community

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Hands-On Preparedness Fair – Workshops

Our call for highly qualified workshop leaders has been answered in spades.   The quality and diversity of topics to be covered at the Fair on July 23-24 is outstanding.  See some of my older posts for a flyer and overview.  Here is a sampling  Preparedness Fair Schedule 7-24-2010

A sequence of three presentations, starts with
Permaculture Design and philosophy, (Saturday @ 10 am)

Permaculture is a design science that takes a whole-ecosystem approach to sustainable development. The term, Permaculture, means permanent agriculture and permanent culture. Permaculture developed in Australia in the late 1970s, by Ecologist David Holmgren and Natural History Professor Bill Mollison, and has since spread throughout the world. Leaders of the sustainability movement are applying Permaculture principles and design methodologies to everything from gardens, home sites, village designs, businesses, and entire regional economies.

Participants will be introduced to a unique tool that incorporates natural design systems into problem solving on multiple levels. Design Resource will offer future classes with in depth studies on topics like energy, food, healing aspects of the landscape, community networking and financial permaculture                                              

 BACKGROUND:   Kevin Guenther is a registered landscape architect, Leed AP professional and certified permaculture designer who has focused his consulting business (Design Resource) on sustainable design

Followed by:
Foraging and Gathering Food and Meds  (Saturday @ 11 am)

Hike through our 500 acre natural preserve in Sewanee Creek Gulf:  Foraging for food and Medicine is the 2nd hour of the permaculture presentation                                                                                                   

Workshop leader, John Rose says, “I work very much hands on, and each location I visit is different. There are a few guidelines common to the practice of safely interacting with anything in nature, whether it is wild plants, wild animals, weather, the elements in general, and ones approach to them.  Includes a general document that will help clarify these things.  I will also include a list of items that are useful learning tools such as a good small notebook with pen, or pencil for drawing and describing plants in their element.  This same notebook can be used as a nature journal for keeping track of such things as time of year, environmental conditions, weather, terrain, and many other aspects, all important to correctly identifying a plant at any given time of year, and under varying conditions.  I will look at not only edible and medicinal plants, but also poisonous plants, and plants that have other utilitarian uses for such things as fire starting, cordage, shelter, and other things.”

And third in the sequence:
Preparing Foraged Foods and Meds  (Saturday @ 2 pm)

Dr. Christina Berry adds that simply identifying edible plants and meds won’t get you far if you don’t know what to do with them.   This workshop will teach about preparing foods and meds from the foraged vegetation found on your foraging journey. Preparations of tinctures, teas, salves and syrups will be made and explained. Discussions of the use of different herbs for different treatments will also be discussed. Resources will be provided for further research.

And there will be much more.  Other workshops include:

TVA’s energy expert, Les Hartman and Village founder Grant Miller present
Alternative Electricity Generation Options.  (Saturday @ 9 am)

Understand available options, pros & cons of each, cost/KWH range, personal work cost, etc.    Understand options for grid tie vs. local battery storage.  See various electricity production options including water, PV, a Lister Diesel Generator and Wood Gasification.

Delve deeper into PhotoVoltaic Solar electricity with George Horrocks, chief design engineer with Tennessee’s largest PV installer.
Power from the Sun  (Saturday @ 10 am)

 Learn the Basics of Producing Electricity from the Sun and Why There has Never Been a Better Time to Go Solar. Whether you want to lock in your energy costs for life, clean and green the world, have backup security when the grid goes down, or see solar as a revenue generator for your family or business, with the price reductions of nearly 50% for solar in the last two years, coupled with incentives in the form of grants, tax credits, and TVA’s Generation Partners payments, now is the “perfect storm” of opportunity to install a solar array.

First on the priority list for preparedness is water.
Rain Water Collection Systems Tour and Demonstration  (Friday @ 3 pm & Saturday @ 1 pm)

Join Paul Owen of Nature’s Tap for a tour of the Miller Home off-grid system.  Understand the benefits and costs of setting up a Rain Water Collection System that can reliably supply all of your water needs.

Then explore options for Water Purification with George Miller,  water quality lab manager for the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley Water District via internet link from California. (Saturday @ 1:30 pm)

Discuss water purification options including filtration, chemical, UV, distillation, etc.    Learn the best use of water from various sources, its treatment primarily for drinking, and its storage.

What about food?
Tour the garden, greenhouse and orchard with permaculturists and gardeners.  (Friday @ 5pm & Saturday @ 1pm) Explore your questions about self-sufficient gardening.  Then learn how to prepare food, observing dutch and solar oven prep’s.  (Saturday 11 am through lunch).  Enjoy tasty BBQ catered from local restaurant, Holy Smokes and learn how to preserve meat and fish by smoking, drying and making jerky.
Sample some local favorites while observing the process of milling wheat for bread, home-made yogurt from milk and tasty jam from local berries.

And you can Can.  Learn how with Carolyn Park and Becky Miller
“Food Preservation Made Simple, Quick and Easy, By Dry-Pack Canning Method”  (Saturday @ 11 am)

CLASS OBJECTIVE:
Have a hands-on experience while learning a proven food storage method.
PARTICIPANTS WILL…
-Learn how to properly can foods such as whole grains, legumes, sugar, and other dry foods.
-Participate in a step-by-step process for canning and sealing dry food in #10 cans and mason jars without the use of electricity.
-See how proper food storage can extend food shelf life for up to 30 years.
-Obtain handouts to help you gain the knowledge to build your own food bank and become food secure.
DISPLAYING:
-Other Food Preservation Methods
-Equipment
BACKGROUND:
Carolyn and Becky have had life long experience in gardening and food preservation. Experience was drawn from three generations of family farming and homemaking.  Recently they have focused on long-term food storage to promote family sustainability and wellness.

“But wait, there’s more”   🙂

  • For hunters or wannabe hunters, expert hunter Bob Blackburn will host a round table discussion on hunting in the Tennessee Woods.   (Friday @ 7:30 pm)
  • For self-defense, expert Brad Bleasdale will present a two-hour course entitled “Choosing and using a Pistol for Defense”   (Saturday @ 10 am)

This Class will cover gun safety, types of handguns, how to eliminate “caliber confusion”, holsters, lights, and lasers, and a host of other topics.
Designed for people considering a pistol, or as a refresher for those who already carry.  Perfect for women, youth, or novice shooters.
Class will include hands-on instruction, and range time with a certified shooting instructor.  Gun and ammo will be available for those without.
Children are welcome but must be accompanied by an adult.

Bio:  Brad Bleasdale is a lifetime shooter and shooting instructor.  Blessed with the heart of a teacher, Brad teaches novice and intermediate shooters the basics of firearms safety and competence.  Brad has instructed hundreds of people in the safe and effective use of firearms, with specialized classes for women, youth, and church groups.
$10/person or $25 / Family.  MUST HAVE:  Eye Protection (sunglasses are fine), ear protection, folding chair, notebook, water.   Bring your own Handgun and Ammo

Alternative HealthCare for mind and body.

  • Start with a 2-hour Native American flute lesson that will soothe and heal the soul, by renowned musician Tony Gerber.  This hands on instruction includes a Native American Flute, all for just $60. (Friday @ 4 pm)
  • Take care of the physical you with a discussion of holistic healthcare methods that have worked for you.  Remedies for every day live.  This round-table will be presented by Dr. Cliffton Brady.  (Saturday @ 1 pm)

Entertainment and Fun

  • Enjoy a movie under the stars at the 26′ wide Village Amphitheater.  Bring your own steak or hot dogs to grill for an outdoor feast.
  • Groove to the jam session sounds of “Space Craft”  (Friday Supper, Saturday Lunch)
  • For the young in body and spirit, learn to rappell off the cliffs near Miller’s Falls with certified instructor, Jesse Gainer or play Village Games with Haley Blackburn.

And that’s just a sampling.  So much to learn and do.  So little time.  Come, join us for the first annual Preparedness fair at the Village on Sewanee Creek.

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10 Best Places to Survive in America

One of our villagers just sent me a link to this blog
http://survivalpreparednessblog.com/10-best-places-to-survive-in-america/comment-page-1#comment-104

Unconventional among “10 best places to live lists”, it focuses on places to survive that are rural and the #1 criteria is CHEAP land.

While the Village doesn’t qualify as having the cheapest land in America, I happen to think that the higher cost at Sewanee Creek is offset by quality of life in a planned retreat where you surround yourself with instant community with like-minded people who are committed to helping each other learn to be self-sufficient. 

There’s an old saying about being penny wise and pound foolish and getting what you pay for.  Cheap land may not be the defining factor if you have spent your life behind a desk and lack the necessary skills to go it on your own.  Even for folks that are die-hard outdoorsmen, going off-grid alone is a tough way to live.

Otherwise, I like their logic.  Mountainous, remote, moderate weather, good local and natural resources.  His #10 pick is just a few miles away from us and he cites the natural beauty of the area. 

Overall, I like this BLOG.  What do you think?

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Preparedness Fair @ the Village – Permaculture

Permaculture Design Class 2010I’m excited to announce one of the presenters at this year’s preparedness fair at the Village on Sewanee Creek.  Kevin Guenther is a renowned sustainable landscape architect from Nashville.  He will be presenting on the Permaculture ethic, how it is both a community building mind-set “PERMAnent CULTURE” and a method of low impact, productive agriculture, “PERMAnent agriCULTURE”.    I’m attaching a flyer for one of Kevin’s paid courses on the same topic.  Permaculture Design Class 2010

Segueing from Kevin’s presentation, we plan to do a walkabout tour of some of the 500 acres in our Nature preserve to discover naturally occuring “permanent” food and med’s. 

Finally, what to do with those natural treasures?  We will prepare some of these into edible dishes, topical ointments, or other medical remedies.  Practical, hands-on information you can take home and use.

For more information about this year’s Preparedness fair go to https://1stvillager.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/preparedness-fair-at-the-village-on-sewanee-creek/.

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Like-minded vs. group-think

Working towards creating what some would call an intentional community, I am often told by interested folks that they want to live with “like-minded” people.  Since I learned early in life that words often don’t mean the same thing to different people, I have been interested to know what “like-minded” means.

Does it mean?:

  • We agree on everything?
  • Faced with similar situations we always come up with the same solution?
  • We have all the same beliefs on politics, religion and other controversial topics?
  • Our world view is identical as to the cause, effect and solutions for evil or social injustice?
  • We are focused on achieving all the same objectives?
  • Our methods for dealing with problems are the same?

If any of the above represents a proper definition of “like-minded”, I fear that finding any two like-minded people in this world may be a daunting task.  Even within a group of devout believers of a narrow religious sect, reaching complete unity of thought is extremely difficult as illustrated by the failure rate of intentional communities when group or leader-imposed unity of thought and action is the single-minded goal.

So, while living with like-minded people sounds like a nice place to be, in practice it is difficult to define, let alone live. 

Take “like-minded” in another direction and I also wondered if it might mean “group-think” in a negative sense.  Is it healthy for everyone to think the same?  Think lemmings.  Think Jonestown, drinking the cool aid and mass suicide.  In these cases, wouldn’t independent, rational thinking have been a better solution?

Does that mean we should abandon the notion “like-minded” altogether?

 I think not.

What brings “like-minded” back down to earth from the ethereal heights of utopian ideal is its interpretation in terms of broad principles instead of detailed tactics.  When people deeply share and are committed to good principles and values like honesty, sharing, love, service to others or unselfishness, their daily actions reflect their core thoughts and beliefs.  They may define themselves politically as conservative or liberal, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or hold even more extreme or unpopular views.  But if they choose to treat each other with deep respect, love, concern and they choose to serve one another with all their hearts, why should it matter that we hold different views on issues outside our immediate relationships?  These differences are the things that bring spice to a conversation, enlightenment to a thinker, breadth and depth of thought.  The unchallenged mind is a lazy mind.  Let us, therefore, welcome diversity of thought, but strive for unity in purpose, values and principles that uplift and build us as individuals and as a community.

This kind of “like-minded” is something to like.

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A Life Transformed – Part 2

Part II: Dreams

            My summer in the garden changed my vision for my future almost entirely. Things about which I had rarely thought suddenly became central to my idea of happiness. Food was one of those. Being blessed with the opportunity to eat so much whole, real, home-grown food has deeply convinced me of its importance. In just the past few years since we moved here, my family has developed a simple, but unique food culture that gives me a physical, tangible connection to this place as I move on to college and other chapters of my life. I’ve even told my parents that for my graduation present the only thing I want is a supply of our home-canned vegetable soup mix, salsa, Mom’s apple sauce, and, of course, green beans. My everyday breakfast of homemade yogurt and the delicious mainstay of homemade bread with homemade strawberry jam are traditions I plan to carry on. I’ve learned here how powerful food, especially whole, healthy, real food, can be to bring families and communities together.

            Now, when I look at my family’s garden, I see a great deal more than plants that give me nourishment. I see a visual representation of my connection to my family and to this place and of my own personal growth. I see a teacher that has many more lessons for me, lessons about simplicity, gratitude, humility, discipline, perseverance, respect, inner peace, the importance of connections, gentleness, caring, observation, hard work, independence, and love. I truly believe that, as Masanobu Fukuoka teaches, “The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation of human beings.” Growing food is about growing yourself.

            But most exciting, when I look at my garden I see my dreams for the future connections I hope to share between myself, the land, and my own family. When I look at the corn field I can hear the taps of my toddlers’ feet and the excited squeals of their game of “peek-a-boo” between the stalks. I can imagine their dad calling them over to help him stuff one of his old shirts for a scarecrow and a precocious 3-year-old telling them they’re doing it wrong. I can see myself buried in a mass of green bean vines until I feel a tap on my shoulder; my little son’s face is glowing with pride at the huge carrot he has just picked. I look now at the tiny fruit trees we planted a year ago and imagine them tall and strong enough to hold little climbers eager for the first ripe apple of the season.

My glimpses have spilled over from the garden spot to encompass all of our land. I envision a driveway lined completely with blueberries and raspberries, flowerbeds filled with sweet potatoes in front of the porch. The house itself is very small, but always warm and filled with light and laughter and people rushing in and out. I can feel the rush of summer air as someone opens the back door to bring in another basket of green beans to snap. “Grandma” is taking a batch of her famous whole wheat bread out of the oven (the smell is to die for) and “Grandpa” is sitting in an armchair serenading us with his saxophone. Someone hops on the piano bench and it becomes a regular jam session. It’s harvest time, and there are tables set up everywhere for slicing cucumbers and peeling peaches. My brother and his wife are there canning their peaches and pickles with us. More probably gets eaten than goes into the bottles, but there’s more than plenty. With all of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, there are several conversations going on at once. The floor is kind of sticky in spots from where someone has absent mindedly knocked over the syrup for canning peaches. In the evening everyone helps clean up the kitchen and take dinner out to the back porch, where we sit until sunset.

            In my dream all of the people who mean most to me share my love for and connection to the land on which we live. I’m able to instill the importance of that connection in my children, and our whole family grows together through our experiences in the garden. It’s an important bond that we share and the memories of our summers together shape us all and keep us coming home, no matter what other far-ranging adventures life may have in store for us. We are made of this place. The very food we eat is made of the love we put into the garden. The garden is a place of Renewal from life’s stresses and hardships, Freedom from the pressures of the world, a Place to call home, a Refuge from pain, the Memory of golden days, the Peace of silence, the laughter of a Community, the promise of Justice, and the Transformation of the soul.

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A Life Transformed – Part 1

My lovely daugther just graduated from St. Andrews Sewanee School (SAS), valedictorian of her senior class.  Her experience at this outstanding school was transformational, but that’s not what this is about.   She just shared with me her final paper for her Environmental Studies Class.  Submitted May 20, 2010, it is still pretty fresh.  To me, it is timeless.  . . .  and wonderful!

Here is the introduction and part one of two parts.  I’ll post the other part later.  Enjoy!

            One last orange streak is still visible in the lightening sky, and the chilly air feels clean as it enters my lungs. The only sounds that break the morning stillness are the calls of birds and the gentle rhythm of my flip-flops along the trail. I swing open the large wooden doors of the greenhouse and set down the baskets I’m carrying. I walk slowly down each aisle of raised beds, trailing my hand through the lush potato leaves, plucking out a weed here and there. We should be eating tomatoes within the next week. I hope I didn’t trim the leaves too far back.  I’m definitely going to have to find some other way to use all these cucumbers. The spinach is going to seed – sad, I’ve really enjoyed that this year. Mmmm, cilantro. I’m so glad Mom decided we should try out more fresh herbs. That strawberry looks especially juicy. I pop it in my mouth. Yep. Delicious.  I come to the end of the first row – a bed full of green beans – and I have to stop and smile. This is my favorite part of the garden. More briskly now, I retrieve my baskets from where I set them down and begin to rustle through the rough velvet of the leaves to find each hidden pod.

            I’m not part of any unbroken family chain of gardening wisdom. My ancestors left the farm for the suburbs in my grandparents’ generation or before. My own connection with the land is relatively recent. As I walk here in my garden, I’m often unsure what to do for it. I don’t hear the soil and the sun and the plants speaking to me. Not yet, anyway. But I feel their importance, their peace, their simple joy. And I’m learning to listen.

Part I: Return

            I was born into a family of America’s corporate elite. For most of my life my dad was a top executive whose salary supported our living in large houses in affluent areas with excellent schools. Though I grew up in many different regions of the country – including Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Atlanta, Georgia; and Louisville, Kentucky – the areas where my family lived were fairly similar, as were the thought processes of the people who lived there. It’s no great wonder that I grew up ignorant of anything beyond culs-de-sac, strip malls, traffic, and processed food. I was taught at a young age, not by my family, but by the whisperings of “Mother Culture” that the only respectable jobs required business suits and graduate degrees.

            I was shocked, therefore, and more than a little upset, when my dad informed me that after my freshman year of high school we would be moving to a large plot of land in Middle-of-Nowheresville, Tennessee. I’ve never been spoiled enough to object loudly, but internally I was dreading this move more than most. After the packing was done my mom and I joined my dad, who had come in advance to start work on the new project: sustainable land development. At that time our house was only a foundation, and the three of us lived in a tiny camper next to the construction site. I spent that summer hiding out in the trailer with a book or on the computer. My dad was in love with our new land, and he often tried to get me interested with hikes to the waterfalls, the bluff views, and the beautiful greenery. My attitude was always the same: “Yeah. It’s beautiful. Can I go home now?”

            A year passed. I was hardly ever home because of all my school activities and commitments. I spent a few months in Costa Rica, which planted the seeds of simplicity in my head and in my heart. Though my neighborhood in Costa Rica wasn’t very close to any open land, I became accustomed to walking to every destination, enjoying beautiful rainforest views as I crested each hill, and smelling in my clothes the sunshine we used to dry them. Those seeds were just the beginning of my return to the land.

            Most people would guess that the deep change in me came mostly because of my time in another country. Perhaps, but I don’t think so. I can trace the transformation in my thoughts and dreams to one summer spent in our family garden. OnRaised Bed Gardene week, really. I had just come back from a fun but stressful month at Tennessee Governor’s School for the Humanities. I was feeling hurt and frustrated by school friends and looking for a place of cleansing and healing isolation. I began to work with my mom every day in our family garden. It took me only a few days to recognize the peace and significance that I felt in the mornings I spent working there. The way I talked began to change. I started to dream out loud of a small house where I could live simply with my family and a large garden. I gave thanks openly for the simple things, and I expressed frustration that I couldn’t express adequately to my friends just how I had changed and how much this new connection meant to me. I often lamented to others and in my journal, “How do I explain the feeling of waking up, putting on shorts and a t-shirt, walking out to the garden, picking green beans that I grew myself, snapping them, throwing them in a pot with a little sugar and salt and pepper, eating them, and not needing anything else in the world?”

            A trip to my old neighborhood in Atlanta reconfirmed that I had changed deeply and dramatically. The suburban life that once seemed to me the only way to live now repulsed me. I felt like I was drowning in a huge sea of pavement. Traffic seemed unreasonable – where was everyone going? Parking lots made me squirm. Strip malls appalled me – why in the world should a town need an entire store devoted solely to makeup? I regularly ranted to my mom about the stupidity of such a lifestyle. She reminded me that this was the way the majority of Americans live, that most didn’t know any different, and that not too long ago I was one of them. As I walk through my garden, through the trees between the garden and my house, and through any open space, I often reflect on that trip and on Gerard Bentryn’s statement, “If you cannot see where your food comes from, you are doomed to live in ugliness.” As I do, I am overcome with gratitude to God for guiding me and my family to this place and giving me the opportunity to learn to see.

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Preparedness Fair at the Village on Sewanee Creek

It’s official.  Our first annual preparedness fair will be held at the Village on Sewanee Creek Commons, villager homes and gardens and our nature preserve on July 23-24, 2010.  Call in advance to reserve a campsite or exhibitor space.

See the attached printable

flyer for details.  Preparedness Fair Flyer

See you here!

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Calling organic volunteers – wwoofers

The Village on Sewanee Creek is a self-sustaining community on the beautiful Cumberland Plateau.  As we build the community, we could use some help getting our organic community garden off the ground.

We are blessed with some wonderful amenities that make it a pleasure to grow food here.  Like…. a 2,000 square foot high profile, heated green house,  a catfish pond, the beginnings of a forest mushroom garden, fruit tree orchard, a wonderful amphitheater complete with a 22 foot wide outdoor movie theater and live performance stage.  We raise chickens and rabbits.  Miles of trails through our 500+ acre nature preserve complete with caves, waterfalls and rushing creek.   We have an active online farmer’s market nearby in Sewanee at the University of the South.

We are experimenting with steel shipping container construction, off grid power generation (wood gasification and bio-diesel generators).  There are lots of opportunities to learn sustainable living skills and possibly earn some land in the Village.

We will provide primitive shelter.  You are welcome to all the produce you can grow to consume or sell under the Sewanee Creek brand.  Go to my main website at www.sewaneecreek.com for photos and contact information or just email me at info@sewaneecreek.com.

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Personal Freedom, Creativity and Work

“Everything that is really great and INSPIRING is CREATED by the INDIVIDUAL who can LABOR in FREEDOM.”

 Albert Einstein

In this quote, Einstein pulls together several of my most cherished themes (emphasis is mine). I feel most inspired when I can create something with my own mind and hands. It may not be ground breaking to someone else. But to me, it is beautiful. It makes my life happy. I feel inspired.

Yesterday was one such example. I worked all day beside my neighbor, Joe. We put up the frame for a dock on my brother’s pond. That simple installation was part of several other solutions.  We now have an inexpensive valve system for a 4″ pipe that won’t freeze and break in the winter, a place to fish from in the summer and overflow control for the dam. I can look forward to extending that big pipe from the bottom of the dam to a micro-hydro generator. I think we finished it in time to let the pond re-fill before summer sets in and to stock it with lots of catfish.  All together, it’s a very simple, yet elegant solution that took time and several iterations to figure out and implement, culminating in a sense of satisfaction.

We also restarted the wood furnace and routed hot water through an old car radiator with a fan behind it to heat a greenhouse cold frame tunnel within the bigger greenhouse. I was surprised by the amount of heat it puts out and how efficient the solution is. I went to bed last night feeling good. What a blessing it is to be able to work and create on my own land with my own hands. One of the reasons it is important for Villagers to own their land is that essential element of personal accountability. Without that, it becomes too easy in an intentional community to expect others to carry the load. One must give in order to receive. As the scripture says, “Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread … of the laborer.”   Upon achieving a measure of self-sufficiency based on one’s own labors, it becomes even more fulfilling to help others. 

Finally, Einstein speaks of freedom.  How wonderful to be able to make my own choices and either enjoy or suffer the consequences of my own thoughts and actions.  Out in the country, I feel so much more free than in a suburb where everyone is looking over my shoulder, judging every action or inaction, and the epitome of creative labor is how well and often my lawn is mowed.

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Prepper’s Top Ten Necessities for Life in Troubled Times

  1. Relationships: Positive, mutually supportive with capable, skilled people
  2. Spiritual & Mental Health: The foundation for all positive action.
  3. Physical Health: Sustainable, natural health care to supplement a healthy lifestyle.
  4. Water: Reliable, secure source of pure water
  5. Food: Natural food from a source you trust and control (yourself)
  6. Shelter: An energy efficient dwelling
  7. Energy: Redundant, reliable, private sources of storable energy.
  8. Reserve: Store and rotate a backup supply of everything you use (water, food, medicine, tools, fuel, clothing & other consumables)
  9. Trade: Prepare to trade for everything else (Cash, Non-Depreciating Assets, Barter-Valuable Supplies, Practical, marketable Skills)
  10. Knowledge & Skills: True self-sufficiency comes from experience – knowing how to do it yourself.

Take a good look at this list.  If this were a report card, what would your grade be on each of these important subjects? For the past 50 years, the developed world has lived in a pampered, complex, yet socially dysfunctional style that values:

  • Entertainment & Entitlement over productive Work
  • Self-Indulgence over Selfless Service
  • Pleasure over Moral Integrity
  • Intellectual Prowess over Practical Skills
  • Dependence on complex systems over Independent Self-Sufficiency
  • Conspicuous Consumption over Provident Preparation.

Is it any surprise that most people lack the skills, preparation, and resources to confidently face a troubled future? Is it any wonder that people feel helpless and out of control? Is there any way you can become confidently competent and provisioned for these ten essential items all by yourself? It’s a daunting task.  But, with help, you CAN do it.

That’s why relationships are at the top of the list. That’s why we are building a community of self-sufficient people at the beautiful Village on Sewanee Creek. If your values are the inverse of the above list, If you want to become more confident, more self-sufficient, and more at peace with your neighbors and in harmony with nature, If you desire close, trusting relationships in a like-minded community, but aren’t ready for a religious or hippie commune, give us a call.

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We have fun learning from each other

At the Village, we encourage intelligent, open interaction about things that matter in life.  We encourage a diversity of opinions, seasoned with a good measure of humility as we seek to learn from one another.  We have a private website called “friends of Sewanee Creek”  where Villagers, prospective villagers and other like-minded people exchange information on many topics and build relationships.  Here is a sampling of a recent exchange.
======================================================================================================================
Study Links GM Corn to Organ Damage
Not to jump on the food scare band wagon, but I coincidentally just ran across this article. It says studies are now linking Monsanto genetically modified corn to organ damage in rats (liver, kidney, heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells).
Naturally, Monsanto claims the studies are bogus. Given the pervasive use of GM seeds in the US, I suspect it will be a long time before conclusive evidence comes to light or anything major is done about it. I’m thinking how long did it take for tobacco usage to be effectively challenged?
Read the article in Food Safety News at http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/01/study-links-gm-corn-to-organ-damage/?CFID=1479691&CFTOKEN=49241182

Digging a little deeper on this site I also found an article reporting that Monsanto has withdrawn its application for approval of GM corn in Europe. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2009/11/gm-corn-pulled-due-to-food-safety-concerns/

Right now I’m feeling good that we drink 100% chemical free water from the sky and have a freezer full of home grown GMO free corn.

Added By:   Grant Miller On Mon, 01/25/2010 04:49:23 am

Villager 1 – 01/25/2010 08:22:54 am
While I wouldn’t doubt that GM foods have their own problems, I also believe that humanity in general has chosen to go down food paths that are not appropriate to our body chemistry for millenia now.
In fact, all grains (corn, wheat, etc.) cause mild to severe inflammation in the bodies of ALL people. In other words, our bodies are not intended to consume grains in large quantities, let alone as dietary staples. In fact, there is a growing consensus that a grain based diet is the leading culprit behind heart disease and several common cancers.
This problem is magnified by various myths propagated within our culture. The idea that all fats are bad. The idea that body fat is caused by consuming animal fats. The idea that a vegetarian diet (which almost always includes grains) is healthier than a more primitive meat and *true* vegetable diet.
At the end of the day, once a society has sacrificed its allegiances to the alter of convenience and cheapness, its food supply is going to go to hell. GM foods are just one step along the path of a food supply that’s divorced from a natural and optimized state.

Grant Miller – 01/26/2010 11:03:22 am
Politics and Religion are the taboo subjects we are warned never to discuss openly. Ahhh, but then there’s food. Nothing strikes closer to the stomach or the taste buds.  So, I thought I would have a little fun with this one. Here’s my best shot for now.
I think it would be fun to hear your ideas about food in the form of a fun limerick.

“We are what we eat” they all say
and make such political hay.
We debate about diet
till we wish they’d be quiet
and leave us quite out of the fray

Some choose to only have meat
While others claim life’s staff is wheat.
Empty carbs make me draggy
my spare tire gets saggy
but then, without bread where will I put my butter?!!!

Now meat, when taken to excess
puts my bowels in utter distress
A constipated grouch,
I lie on the couch
But good meat is simply the best!

No dairy? that’s out of my loop
Ice Cream’s my favorite food group
But milk makes me swollen
down deep in my colon
with gas, but I’ll have one more scoop!

Then come the social elite
when choosing a diet to eat,
say, “let them eat cake”
Oh!, goodness sake
Few things are as good as a sweet.

Others say fruits, nuts and sprouts
will make you most healthy, no doubt
But, Some get quite edgy
while touting their veggies
and leaving the meats fully out

And when it comes down to fat,
I’ll testify, “that’s where it’s at.”
For if you want flavors
that everyone savors
Nothing even comes close to that.

But, as for me and my house,
we mostly just try not to grouse
at the food placed before us
cause Dad always warned us
to clean up our plates or get out.

So, after it’s all said and done
There are few foods I’m likely to shun.
Without rhyme or reason
In any old season,
Moderation is rule number one.

Except for Ice Cream, Butter, fat of all kinds, fresh home baked bread, fresh strawberries or raspberries or peaches right out of the garden, a thick, juicy grilled steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, buttered yams with brown sugar and pecans, corn pudding, fresh steamed, buttered broccoli or pretty much anything that makes my mouth feel exquisitely happy and reveals no immediately discernable cataclysmic side effects.       smile

Villager #2 – 01/26/2010 09:14:04 pm
..Love your poem, Grant. Right on!!

Friend #1 – 01/26/2010 10:13:03 pm
I am no expert, but I think we need to remember that almost all the food we eat today has been “genetically modified” in some way. Even non-hybrid seeds are the result of centuries of genetically crossing to emphasize desirable characteristics. One can argue that this is different than the modern GM process; but how much really?
And whether corn, wheat, rice, oats, rye, etc is best eaten fermented, I think there is much biased research out there to stake too much in it. You can find a study that supports just about any point of view.
Inuits can survive on mostly meat, fat, and fish. But, they have many many generations of adaptation. Not sure we could do the same. Does that really mean that grains are bad for us? Like so many foods today, perhaps grains are misunderstood. Perhaps it’s not the grain, but the refining that gives it less-desirable qualities. Breaking a grain apart, throwing away the germ, bran, or other components, destroys the complex interactive ‘wholeness.’
I’ve done research on raw milk. Milk has a bad reputation–many people are stricken with significant stomach ailments after consuming milk products. Raw milk is illegal to sell in most states. In some of those states, a person can arrange with a dairy farm to become a part owner of a cow (cow shares) and consume raw milk from ‘their’ cow. So what is wrong with raw milk? The US Government says it killed people and made many sick at the turn of the 20th Century. Further study, many years later, suggest that most if not all of these incidents were due to improperly stored raw milk. However, the ban on raw milk stands. So what is the big deal? Studies (yep, those darned studies) suggest that lactose intolerance and it’s accompaning stomach ailments in many people, comes from the pasteurization of milk; it kills the good bacteria that aid digestion;It breaks apart the whole, and destroys the interactive complexities. As with meat, if milk is not properly handled, it will make you sick, but most food is that way!
So perhaps the same type of issue exists with grains; breaking them down and refining them takes away the good compounds. Food is wonderfully complex. It’s probably why we can’t duplicate the health benefits of an apple, orange, or broccoli. There exist many supplements on the market, claiming to give the benefits, but they all seem to fall short; they can’t duplicate the complexity of the raw or whole food they derive from.

Grant Miller – 01/27/2010 06:47:15 am
I like your take on this, Clayton. One thing I know for sure is that I don’t know much. In my short life I couldn’t possibly count the number of fad diets, supposedly well-founded on studies, that were quickly superceded by an opposing view. That’s not to say that we should throw all the babies out with the bathwater. Rather, take a long-term, skeptical view. Live carefully, eating moderately, the foods you perceive to be natural, as the gifts from God that they are, and enjoying food to its fullest.
As we explore and test what works well for each of us, share it. I love xxxx‘s conviction about a diet that obviously works well for him and I am grateful to learn this perspective. I’m not quite ready to go there for my own reasons, some of which may be peculiar to my own body or belief systems. Yet, I am enriched to learn more of another perspective and encouraged to trust that more meat could be a healthy way to re-balance what I consume now. Thank you, xxxx, for having the courage to share your beliefs and experience with conviction, yet with the humility that accepts other’s experience and beliefs.

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If you like this kind of sharing with like-minded people, you can request an invitation to the Friends of Sewanee Creek at info@sewaneecreek.com.  Please note the reasons for your interest.

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How One Top Executive Left the Rat Race for a Self-Sufficient Community in the Mountains

How One Top Executive..

How One Top Executive Left the Rat Race for a Self-Sufficient Community in the Mountains

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Child’s Play – Sand Box or Sand Mountain?

In our quest to build community at the Village, we don’t think just about the physical facilities that are needed, but how they must come into being.  Often the best way to assure that common structures don’t become neglected mausoleums (like so many planned gated community clubhouses) is to involve the community in their conception and construction.

Today, I’ve been thinking about building facilities that bring people together, including a playground for kids, a man-cave common shop for building projects and tinkering and a place for female activities like scrap booking or quilting.  But we must start from the point of creating activities rather than creating buildings.

A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed a day of play with two families who visited with their nine young children.  As the adults were preparing hobo dinners in the fire pit, we noticed that the kids had gathered at a large mound of dirt near the stage.  They were busily digging caves, leveling pads for imaginary structures, playing king of the hill and any number of other great, creative games.

So, this morning we were noodling about building a kid’s playground.  We were reaching into our childhood memories for hints of what will make it the coolest, most fun, most awesome place for kids to hang out and play. I remarked that the first thing we need is a good sand box for the creativity it brings out.  Then it struck me.  The traditional sand box simply won’t do.  It’s too two-dimensional.  We need a sand mountain. And what better way to build it than to involve Village parents and their kids in its conception, placement, and construction?

We have all the materials we need right here at the Village.  I’m thinking rather than use pressure treated lumber for the box, why not use some of the huge logs that have already been cut?  Discarded tires make great barriers or climbing structures too.  Build three sides tall and fill it with sand.  When the sand goes flat from a lot of play, I can bring my tractor in to re-pile it into a mountain.  Maybe put a climbing wall on the back side of the logs.

But then, what do I know?  My most important work is to get the Villagers involved in a way cooler solution.  Who knows?  It might be so cool that the adults will rediscover how much fun it is to play in the sand and we will have to expand it.

Anyone up for a sand sculpture contest?

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Thoreau’s 4 Steps to Great Accomplishment

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe”
– – – Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau’s wisdom begs four great questions:
Do I have a dream?
Do I have a plan?
Am I acting on the plan?
Do I believe I can get there?

To the first three, I can shout an unequivocal, “YES”!
I have a big, vivid, dream.
I have worked out detailed plans that are continuously revised against life’s realities.
And I have worked to realize the dream.
These are the easy and obvious steps, commonly practiced by much of humanity.

The greatest obstacle to grand dreams is in the daily grind of caring for faith despite the setbacks, the delays, the distractions, the unbelievers, the trivializers and the scoffers.
Faith is a delicate flower that must be nurtured and protected against all enemies.

I am thankful for friends and family who lend me their hope and encouragement, especially my neighbor, Joe Nunley.
Without friends, my faith and my dreams may have suffered a premature death.

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Becoming a Self-Reliant Asset to your Community

Today, build something useful & beautiful that will outlast you.
Make a habit of building and sharing every day.
You will be a self-reliant asset to your community.

And….. you will love yourself more!

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Learning from Chickens

A chicken may just be one of the dumbest animals on the planet. Yet, today I found that there is much to learn from them.

I spent a good part of my Sunday afternoon relaxing in a lounge chair just observing our new chicken yard. Here’s some background to my story.

About 6 weeks ago, we took delivery of 30 Guinea Hen Chicks. We nurtured them in a cardboard box on our back porch till they outgrew it. A couple weeks ago Joe and I built a chicken coop. As soon as it was ready we moved the Guineas to the new coop while we finished off the fence around the chicken yard.

Guineas are originally from Africa. They are self-sufficient, extremely hardy, voraciously eat bugs (particularly ticks) and are great watch “dogs”. Pretty good neighbors by all my criteria.

Joe has been raising some laying hens and a rooster that he offered to give us. A couple days after completing the fenced yard, we moved the chickens in after dark while they slept. That was Friday night. We put them on their roosts so that when they awoke the next morning they would find themselves in their new home. Joe even brought a box for a nest and a golf ball as a placebo egg. The ball is a cue to where they are supposed to lay. Sure enough, the next day we had 4 beautiful eggs next to the golf ball. That was Saturday and we had a repeat performance today. Nothing like truly fresh eggs.

The first day the chickens and guineas mostly ignored each other. Their second night together I found them snuggled up tightly on the roost. One chicken even had a guinea under her wing.

Today, I noticed that they had become much more segregated. One of the red hens has taken to intimidation, chasing the guineas all over the yard and out of the chicken house. But when it gets dark, they all end up in the house on the roost again, although this evening, at a greater distance. They seem to have noticed a difference. The guineas are about half the size of the chickens, but growing rapidly. When mature, they should be roughly the same size. It will be interesting to see who intimidates whom when size is no longer a differentiator, the chickens are outnumbered about six to one and the guineas have a tactical flight advantage.

The behavior I found most interesting today was guinean. Guinea hens are extremely social animals, running in a tightly packed flock. In this case, I thought they were acting quite human. I had laid out some straw in one corner of the yard. There was plenty there for all the guineas, but it was mostly ignored. One guinea chick randomly took an interest, plucked a single piece of straw from the pile and sprinted for the opposite end of the yard, shaking the straw violently in its beak. Suddenly, that piece of straw became highly desirable to the whole flock, improved as it was in form and function by the shaking. As many chicks as could get near the first guinea began trying to take it away, while continuing to ignore the straw pile. There ensued a mighty chase until the first guinea finally dropped the straw. On the ground, it immediately lost its appeal and the flock’s attention returned to scratching randomly in the dirt.

How similar are people who must have the latest chic’ (pun intended) gadget just because someone else has it. How they scurry frantically about until it it is either acquired or becomes unfashionably passe’. How quickly the cycle spends itself and we rush off in hot pursuit of some new object in a different direction!

Aah, the vanity, avarice and covetousness of men, guineas and chickens. Also, like the red hen, how quickly we seek to intimidate or exercise authority over others just because we can.

Observing chickens may be at the peril of your pride in the human species. You might conclude that we aren’t much smarter than they. On the other hand, maybe we could all learn from watching chickens and stop running around like,  uhhhh……
a chicken with its head cut off?

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Community -The Value of People

I get calls all the time from people saying they are looking for a community of “like-minded people”.  It seems that has become a cliche’.  Like most buzz words, it’s worth digging a little deeper to find out what it means to the person using it.   A wise man said, “the map is not the territory”.

The Village is all about making a place to live where people share similar, bedrock values especially caring about and being able to depend on their neighbors.  That takes a lot of work.  It means I have to explore their map of reality below the surface cliche’s.  Fortunately, by the time most people call me they are pre-screened.  They have found us by searching on some important key words.  They know they want a self-sufficient lifestyle and they want community.  They aren’t very interested in a superficial country club lifestyle where everybody wants to flaunt their wealth.  Most of the time, they are busy professionals, intelligent, successful folks with solid values who want to simplify.  They have usually read my blog, so the field has already been narrowed to a select few with a pretty good fit – compatible values.  But even then, I’m not shy about telling people who wouldn’t fit that they might be happier with a different kind of community.  Why?  Because I live here and I’m building the kind of place where I want to live for the rest of my life.  Great relationships with people are more important than money.  People are more important than things.

In hard times especially, people need to draw together.  Trusting relationships are everything.  This message seems to be resonating with people more and more as the economy looks ever more shaky and the government looks ever more out of control.  At a time when most luxury resort type communities haven’t sold anything for a year and are going bust, we are growing rapidly.

If you call or visit, there is no high pressure sales pitch.  Even before we show you around, we like to sit and chat for a while – explore your “map”, your values, your goals and aspirations.  Before you fall in love with the land we want to know that you will love the kind of people who are here.

We offer a private website where villagers, prospective villagers, contractors, and even neighbors from outside our “non-exclusive” development can get to know one another and share their views, ask each other candid questions and make sure this is where they want to be.  I have even offered to set up conference calls between prospective and current villagers to explore the fit.  It’s a slow process and it risks killing sales, but I think it’s worth it.  After all, making a move like this is a big change for most people.  There’s more to a happy life than a nice secluded house nestled in nature’s beauty.  You’re not buying dirt and trees, you’re hoping to buy a happy life.  We do everything we can to assure that will happen for our Villagers … and for ourselves.

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3rd Annual Independence Day Celebration @ the Village

An independent, self-sufficient lifestyle is one element that defines the Village.  So, Independence Day is OUR day, our 3rd annual.

We will start celebrating on Friday the 3rd with a double feature on the big screen under the stars in our amphitheater.  Call for an invitation to join us.  You might even consider bringing a tent or RV to camp out near by.

The 4th will start out with an early flag ceremony.  Bring a flag to plant in a field of flags.  Celebrate the freedom and independence promised by our constitution.  At the amphitheater stage, we plan to have bluegrass and country music with some free form jamming.  I’ll bring my sax.  You’re welcome to join in.  You can hike and explore our 500 acre nature preserve.  In the evening, villagers will share a potluck dinner and fireworks.

If you would like to join us, please RSVP us at (931) 442-1444.

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Tiny Homes – Big Life

Some time ago a Realtor suggested to me that the formula for calculating the cost of building a home should be a large multiple of the cost of the lot.  At the time it struck me as a bit odd.  The more I have considered it, the more out of step that thinking seems.  It reminded me of advice I received as a young man.   I was contemplating marriage and buying an engagement ring.  The jeweler informed me that I should budget a certain percent of my annual salary for that ring.  There was no consideration for any of my personal values, economic circumstances, nor of my future bride, only custom and fashion.  A thinking person holds neither fashion nor custom in very high regard.  It seemed that someone concocted these  formulas more for the benefit of the salesman than for the happiness and well-being of the buyer.

For a person who values nature, if there is to be such a formula, shouldn’t the numerator and denominator be flipped?  Shouldn’t the land value be a multiple of the house?  Which is the more durable, the more valuable over time?  What does REAL in Real Estate refer to?  Great architects will invariably assert that good architecture is molded to the character of the land, not the other way round.  The most famous example of the principle is “Falling Water” designed by our most lauded architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.  But I hold that the true spirit of the principle was best illustrated by my favorite philosopher, Henry David Thoreau.  He found his greatest joy living in about a 150 square foot house of his own construction beside a lovely pond in the woods.

Today, it has become quite fashionable to downsize to small, even tiny houses.  How good it would be if behavior were driven by wisdom not fashion, but what a happy coincidence we find ourselves in!  The unforeseen benefits of a small home are substantial.  When the land one lives on is of greater value than the house, the true proportional value emerges between things made by man and those made by God.

This conflict of interest has reached absurd proportions as American suburbs filled with McMansions that people can neither afford nor use.  Huge spaces that only require the owner to fill them with furniture that they can also not afford.  Possessions own us.  Thankfully, current economic hardships have brought a degree of common sense back to at least some.

In the Village, it’s really ok to own a small house rather than be owned by a huge, wasteful one.  There is no minimum house size here. We are blessed with a mild climate and stunningly beautiful land filled with plants and animals in their natural state.  A small home invites one to be outside and enjoy all that nature has to offer.  The Village lifestyle is the antidote for the cocooning generation, holed up with TV’s, video games in cavernous mansions, full of things and yet empty of life.

How full one’s life becomes when the great out-of-doors becomes the boundaries of our habitation, not the walls of our house.

For some ideas on living small, check this out:   http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/

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Spring Green and Peace is in the Air

It’s that beautiful time of year when the new green is fresh and delicate.  Recent rains have filled the creeks to overflowing and the waterfalls roar.  At our elevation, the dogwoods, wild azaleas, wildflowers and mountain laurel are about a month behind Atlanta – now in full bloom.

Spring brings out the best in us.  While the dark clouds of the economy and world events are still with us, people are breaking free of fear and indecision.  In the past couple of weeks we have sold seven lots and our new Villagers are a cut above.  Intelligent, hard working, concerned about having and being good neighbors, there is a sense of excitement, energy and cooperation awakening in the Village community underlying a sense of well-being and deep calm.

New owners are voluntarily working together to share information, green construction ideas and purchasing power as they build their homes.  It’s a good place to be.  This year promises to be the best ever.