Living-Deliberately.com

I’ve recently had lots of bank exposure. I have my little bank in my former town and it’s branch, closer into the city. I have a few different kinds of online accounts and frequently spend time getting all the accounts to work together, to transfer money where it needs to go and when necessary, make it either more accessible or less. I traveled a lot last month and kept an eye out for a bank, other than the giant Bank of America, that would have locations in all of the places I was. That is no small feat! Many states, many towns…I knew I was likely going to open yet another account so that I could have local check cashing, in my new locality. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

But there was  bright green sign that kept catching my eye. True, true it’s my favorite color: bright green. And, true, true, there was a branch location in every single town I visited. I’d decided to go with them just upon that.

Then came the day I walked in. I wasn’t enthusiastic. It was lunch time. I had all four kids with me. Going into a bank is usually quiet and echo-ey and I get “looks” from navy-clad professionals who look like they’re biding their time until lunch…or 4:30…wherever it is in the day. Lines are always long. Kids are always antsy. Waiting for the paperwork process is a pain the butt.

The *very second* I walked in, two bank employees got up and welcomed me. They did not get weird expressions of dread when they saw four children walk in with me. Across from the waiting area was a plate of fresh cookies and coffee. On every table and test was a big bowl of giant gumballs. I told them that I wanted to open a new account and within seconds I was sitting down across from a guy who seemed genuinely interested in doing this aspect of his job today. Right away they both expressed that they understood I didn’t want this to take a long time and that they’d do all they could to help me get it done and on my way.

He helped me open the account; she got my children washable markers and paper to color, and cookies and napkins. It was fast. It was easy. After he introduced me to the tellers I’d likely be working with, I left happy. Even after cookie crumbs and gumball drool, they still did not seem at all fazed or exhausted that some woman brought her four busy-bodies in. In many other businesses, that would have gotten me looks of fatigue, stress, dread, and the unique, “eewwww…..your kid just got goo on my desk…thanks for making my day even harder.”

Two days later I got a hand written thank you card from him, well written and with a phone number included, should I have any questions. My debit card also came, already pinned. We did that in the office, which was groovy because I loathe waiting weeks to get my card and then more days later to get my pin separately, and then have to relearn yet another number. It was great to choose my own ahead of time.

That day I went to the drive in teller. They asked me first if I wanted the kids to have lollipops. And I got a service call, just to check to see if I was indeed happy with my Region’s Bank experience.

The day after that I walked in alone, to get some paperwork notarized. The same employeed recognized me, noticed I didn’t have my kids, and asked me how they were doing. She described their cuteness to the employee she took me to, so that I could get my needs met. At this point, I was feeling a little guilty I hadn’t spent the same amount of effort to learn their names!

You know that point where they say, “Is there anything else I can help you with today?” I think it’s been a long time since I felt like the person asking it was genuinely interested in doing more than the bare minimum. It occurred to me that these Regions folks actually like their jobs! They enjoy their days there! And it shows in how they deal with people.

Two nights after that I got a call from a hired-survey center. The deal was to answer a series of questions using a scale from 1-5; 5 being the highest. I gave Regions a straight “5″. Yes, they made me feel like my buisness was important to them. Yes, they made me feel like I was a person, and not just business. Yes, they seemed to sincerly want to help. Yes, they greeted me right away (don’t you hate walking into a place where no one will make eye contact with you?). And on and on.

It seems a little odd to be so excited about something like a bank these days. I think it’s bigger than that though. This company has obviously given some thought to branding and the new generation, which uses conversational marketing and the relational economy to stand out in their field of competitors. They aren’t striving for the status quo, which would probably still give them a successful bank business. They seem to want more than that. They intuitively understand the connectivity this day and age is seeking. Their sincerity shows. They are indeed, Living Deliberately.

It’s refreshing, in the most spring-green of ways, to not have to dread a regular chore in my routine. Going to the bank is a happy spot in my day…not just for my kids, who know they’ll get free lollipops, but for their Mom too, who won’t be treated as if she were just another faceless customer handing over her hard-earned money. So a big THANKS to Regions Bank, and in return, here’s the biggest personal referral I can offer!

One day about 6 years ago, I was sitting at my computer in the family room, feeling more than a little down that we seemed trapped in Suburbia, unable to realize our dreams of a country lifestyle, or of being more self-sufficient in how we provided for our family. Books sat on the shelf of how to garden, how to raise small animals, how to live off the land…but our lives seemed to show no sign of changing anytime soon to allow for more than a few container plants here and there. I needed a vision, an example, to push my mind out of the box I had it in; the box that said sustainable living could only happen only in wide, open spaces. Somehow, link by followed link, I ended up at pathtofreedom.com and a hero was found, a deliberate-liver if there ever was one!

Jules Dervaes lives smack dab in the middle of a major city, in it’s inner city, next to a school, on a small city lot. Over the years, while he home schooled his children, they re landscaped their yard into more than just gardens; it’s an edible eden. They’ve added animals, kept records of their harvest, and had excess they’ve been able to sell to restaurants. One feature on the site included their grocery list and food tallies…this was the very first pantry plan that inspired my budgeting-self…it was not full of pre-packaged convenience foods bought on the cheap but rather comprised of very real foods, bought in bulk, meant as a supplement to what they already grew. I began to glimpse how organization and planning like that could harmonize to provide a bigger picture of sustainable living.

They had just begun back then another of what I call a “hero project”…the making of their own biodeisel fuel from used cooking oil for their suburban. They were looking at, and working on, ways to radically reduce their dependence on the power grid. Taking advantage of the temperate climate in which they lived, and not letting “but we live in a neighborhood” hedge in their minds, this family became a profound example to me of “blooming where one is planted”. Through their projects and progress, my mind began to realize what COULD be done, in ways that could possibly be mimicked in cities all over the globe to increase local, more sustainable living. The reasons it’s not becomes “we won’t do this” rather than “we can’t do this” because Jules and his family are proof that it CAN. The obstacles change and the strategy to overcome them morphs.

It was a little dream-come-true when I got the returning email that said yes, Jules would indeed agree to an interview!! This, with a rather ordinary housewife who can’t pay for it and who hasn’t managed to get it to “blog press” anywhere near the targeted date. But this spring I learned another lesson, one that I don’t doubt Jules himself has confronted time again: life happens and sometimes we rearrange our plans, which is not always to their detriment. In order to farm, small scale or large, one submits to unpredictable circumstances. Weather happens, disease…harvest comes in and our routine stops to accommodate it. It was only a little ironic, and mostly fitting, that my writing has had to wait while I mothered children, got the garden in, broke down a wall so we could build another, and started a new business. When one lives a seasonal life, somehow everything fits in place, in a rhythm, and not all at once.

And so here it is…my interview with Jules, one of my very favorite deliberate heroes:

Tia: I first found your website a few years ago; we were living in the suburbs
of North Florida, on a similarly sized lot and in a very similar climate
to yours, and I was instantly inspired by what could be done! When you
began, did you have any vision, any inkling of what it could develop into
and become? Where you setting out to create just a great place for you to
live, or did the idea that it could have such an impact for others occur
to you and effect affect the planning?

Jules:The creation of an urban homestead, Path to Freedom, was a result of my long-held beliefs in simple living and care for the environment. At the start, I did not imagine it would come to have such a worldwide impact. In 1990, during a period of severe drought in Southern California, I did away with my moisture-challenged lawn replacing it with wildflowers, drought-tolerant plants and, eventually, edible landscaping. Even though for many years I had been gardening, including homesteading in New Zealand in the 1970s and, later, on ten acres in Florida, I hardly relied on these plantings for my family’s “daily bread.”
In 2000, however, I took the radical action of becoming an urban pioneer, in angry reaction to the news that U.S. biotech firms were bent on introducing GMOs into the food system. I wanted to protect my family from this mad experiment and provide them with the real food we could grow
ourselves. In the midst of the urban wilderness of Los Angeles County, I began to turn my city lot into a homestead, fanatically planting every available space to the four corners of our small world.
In July 2001, my family started documenting our homestead’s progress and our journey toward self-sufficiency through an online journal, PathtoFreedom.com. After the first full year of gardening in 2001, we had raised 2,300 pounds. By 2003, we met our goal of 6,000 pounds (three tons) of produce harvested from one-tenth of an acre of garden area. By 2004 we were involved in an active outreach program, including tours of the homestead, workshops and eco-documentary film screenings, and more than 30,000 visitors to our website a month from over 100 countries.

Tia: I’ve linked to your site on my blog for the past year and told many others
about you along the way, usually using your work as an example of what
things can be done. So often the people I come into contact with are
discouraged, feeling trapped and powerless. If you had to pick 3 things
that you do that have had the farthest-reaching impact in your lives and
lifestyle, what would they be?

Jules: Paraphrasing Theodore Roosevelt, I encourage people to do what they can, where they are, with what they have—right now. Begin with small steps.
The most important step we have taken has been to grow some of our own food. During the summer, up to 75 percent of our vegetarian diet comes from our garden. Not only do we have the assurance of knowing where our food comes from and the satisfaction of having grown it ourselves, we enjoy produce that is unbeatably fresh and tasty.

Second, we tackled our energy usage on a variety of fronts. From simple steps such as installing CFLs, using only energy efficient/Energy Star appliances, and not using a clothes dryer, to more radical steps of forgoing electrical appliances altogether and installing solar panels, we
reduced our average daily usage from 10.6 kwh to 6.0 kwh and produce much of that energy through our solar panels.

Finally, we addressed the transportation energy problem by owning only one car for a family of four adults; cutting back on the number of trips made; and learning how to brew biodiesel in our garage from waste vegetable oil. Last year, we made just two emergency trips to the gas station to buy diesel.

Tia: I love that quote! We also use this idea with our financial goals and really
anything that we are convinced has merit but feel daunted by. Would you
say that living this way costs less money? I know it seems like it would,
like that might be obvious, but a consistent criticism of “green” living
is that it costs too much for the average middle-classer to do.

Jules: Living green does not necessarily mean spending a lot of money. Granted, you can “buy your way” green, but there are other ways. A basic principle of living lightly on the earth is to cut back — cut back on the amount and type of travel you do; cut back on the amount of energy you use to heat or cool your house; and cut back on the number of single-use items you buy. As you are able, you may want invest in green technology that may initially have a high outlay of money, solar panels for example, but that provides savings in the long term. Some costs of green living, such as eating organic food, can be offset by “doing it yourself.” One of the reasons I started growing my own food was that I wanted the benefits of eating organic vegetables and fruit, but I couldn’t afford to buy them in the grocery store.

A future step is to cut back further on our water usage. In addition to the water conservation steps we have already implemented, we plan to install a gray water filtering system and collect rain water off our metal roof.
Tia: That’s project that has my interest! Where I
live in TN the water costs more than the electricity and it is very
unreliable in it’s safety. The well water isn’t great either. In
choosing a place to live I can see how investigating the water supply
is an important detail to remember and that even in America, it’s can’t
always be taken for granted. Are you on city or well water currently? Do
you use a filtration system at all?

Jules: Path to Freedom is connected to the city of Pasadena’s water supply. About 40 percent comes from local groundwater supplies and about 60 percent is imported from the Colorado River and Northern California. We do not filter the drinking water but do pay close attention to the annual water quality reports published by the city.

Tia: What about the neighbors? And the city zoning laws? Have you ever
encountered battles or resistance to having city animals?

Jules: Our property is bordered on two sides by a school so we have residential neighbors on only one side. We have not had any issues with our neighbors over the animals. The animal enclosure is located on the school side. The enclosure is kept clean, and the animals do not make much noise—usually. The city of Pasadena zoning laws allow a limited number of farm animals to be kept as pets if they are housed at a minimum distance from a residence.

Tia: I think I like how that’s written! I think city chickens make better
pets than dogs and frequently tell people that they are quieter than
many “acceptable” pets too. You keep chickens, goats, and rabbits right?
Has the school shown interest in your project over the years? What a
neat thing for urban children to witness!

Jules: Our micro-farm includes two goats (Nigerian Dwarf and African Pygmy), three ducks (Khaki Campbells), and chickens (heritage breeds). The neighboring school children have visited on a number of occasions, as have other school groups. Besides seeing the animals, the children love operating the bicycle-powered grain mill.

Tia: I read that the Dervaes kids were home schooled; we also home school as do
a good portion of my readers. One of my favorite things about
homeschooling is that my children have a larger access to a wide variety
of people of all ages and backgrounds that formal schooling doesn’t
provide. For instance, when we shop at our natural foods co-op, they see
lots of different people who value healthy eating and a strong, local
community and know this isn’t just “Mom and Dad’s” thing. Now that the
Dervaes children are grown, what is your perspective on homeschooling in
hindsight? How has it better empowered you to participate in a project
such as Path To Freedom?

Jules: Starting homeschooling my oldest child back in the late 1970s when the concept was not widely accepted was difficult. Today people can be proud of it; back then the children were ashamed and could not be open about how they were schooled. The school authorities were not sympathetic, but because I had teaching credentials, I could placate the authorities.
Other people thought that what I was doing was strange. My children had to apologize for and felt strange for being homeschooled. As adults, they still struggle with feeling not accepted and outcasts. I wish I had been better prepared and had had help. I was doing it alone with no outside support or understanding.

Tia: You are one of the true pioneers who deserves my thanks! So THANK YOU
for doing what you did!

Jules: Thank you for expressing your appreciation. It is gratifying that homeschooling is more accepted now. An advantage of our homeschooling experience is that my children and I have learned to take on a project that at the beginning is not widely accepted or takes us into unfamiliar territory. The psychological barrier of fear of strange things is not as great because of our past experience. So tackling a project like Path to Freedom is not as overwhelming for us as it might have been.

Tia: This is one of my very favorite things about homeschooling and Living
Deliberately with my children. We are raising kids are much less fearful
than what we see in the past or around us; they are not afraid to go
against the grain and take on a challenge!

Jules: Another advantage for self-motivated people is that education as a “do-it-yourself” adventure is installed in the children early. They learn to run with things, unobstructed. However, some children are not as internally motivated and require more of an external educational structure. A disadvantage of “unschooling” is that it doesn’t cover the wide range of things that could be learned.

Tia: Timely subject as we unschoolers (really more like “tidal schoolers”)
evaluate yet again if we should start using more “canned” materials. Did
you ever find you needed to transition from unschooling to a more traditional
method in order to allow for whatever they were needing or wanting to pursue?

Jules: Because I didn’t have a background in music or foreign languages, I wasn’t able to teach my children those subjects. They could have benefited from tutors or curriculum in those areas. Overall, homeschooling has been empowering for my children, but I wish I had had a better start. My limitation of parent-as-teacher was that I had been trained primarily in book learning. I was deficient in crafts and “how-to” skills. For example, I didn’t learn mechanics for repairing my car until my late twenties. As any homeschooling parent knows, it is a struggle and a lot of work to keep up. I feel I’m better prepared now (my youngest is 23 years old). A second time around would be a nice, but unrealistic, option!

Tia: Global Warming has certainly been in the news a lot lately! With or
without the latest research, I think energy conservation just makes sense;
it seems obvious to me that resources can’t last forever and we harm our
environment, sometimes irreparable, with our culture’s wasteful habits. In
just a simple change like compact fluorescent bulbs though, I hear a lot
of complaining about their different (less bright) light. What do you say
to people who are interested in changing but struggle to adapt? (Not just
with lighting but anything energy efficient).

Jules: If we truly believe global warming is a crisis, it is our moral responsibility to accept our culpability and do something to change our “carbon footprint.” A little voluntary pain now may help stave off much greater suffering in the future over which we may not have any control.

Tia: My dream car is a biodiesel Suburban because of you guys! One thing that
really concerns me about Ethanol though is that it is still mono-cropping
corn, along with all the hazards that causes. I wondered why recycled oil
is not being paid more attention. What do you think of the discussion that
is going on regarding this topic?

Jules: I was prodded to investigate biodiesel because delivering organically grown produce to local restaurants in a gas-powered vehicle was just not logical. Now I obtain used vegetable oil from one of my catering clients. My son, Justin, brews biodiesel in a converted hot water heater in our garage from the waste vegetable oil. I view biodiesel as a “band-aid” technological fix. Our understanding of and practice of mobility need to be radically revised. Living locally, including obtaining food from local sources, will become increasingly necessary for our future.

Tia: Do you think a project like yours is attainable
for those still spending much of their time in the mainstream system?

Jules: Projects like Path to Freedom can be started while a family is still in mainstream society and certain aspects of “green living” can be undertaken. However, you will be limited by time restraints. In a whole life project such as Path to Freedom, you need total involvement, full immersion.
As the world situation worsens, people will need to commit fully to a different, non-mainstream way of life. One can start a project of change whatever the circumstances, but one cannot keep straddling two positions. To quote Theodore Roosevelt again, “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

We did it a year ago for money reasons… she did it for time and money. Cutting the expense of cable, dish, or what-have-you is a great way to inject more time into your day and more money into your budget. It’s one more way to take a step back from the herd and think about what we do and why. I’m always a little stunned when I’m reminded that the “great” people of our time, the really accomplished and success stories almost never watch TV at all, let alone as many stations as cable provides. So here’s to you today Sarah at Ordinary Days…may this one be extraordinary!

In a comment below, Richard says, “My family is from Arizona, which thankfully, is one of perhaps only two states that ignores daylight savings time. When we moved to the East Coast, we took a “When in Rome…” kind of attitude and set our clocks back. What a huge mistake. For days afterward, it felt like we were walking zombies. We’ve opted out ever since. That’s right. We completely ignore DST and it’s been great.”

So my tired, little red-headed mind, doing it’s morning routine a full TWO HOURS late this morning wants to know more about this!! How’s it done? Do you just mentally adjust the start times for everything? Are you late to stuff (or would that be early in spring?) One reason I’m still so behind is because I still wake up with the sunrise, which is now an hour late to the rest of the world.  I’ll no sooner get it adjusted and it won’t be long before we switch again. I really dislike the spring change, which makes 5:00 drivers heading right into bright sunshine unguarded by clouds. On Wednesday I nearly hit a kid on ATV; the car going the other way was driving into blinding sun and did not miss. She hit the kid going full force, overturned the ATV, and knocked him clear of it. He had no helmet…and somehow, miraculously, he got up out of the road and laid down on the shoulder, moving himself out of the way of the oncoming car that likely would have run over his body. I had many, many thoughts in the hours afterward and eventually it crossed my mind that time change (and sun) IS a factor in traffic accidents.

Anyway, that was a little tangent. The long and short of it is that I think Daylight Savings Time is whacked. I heard something about how it supposed to save energy but I’m really wondering how….instead of having my lights on for an extra hour or so in the evening, I have them on in the morning.  Put it on a large scale for corporations and it’s pretty much the same. This website attempts to answer it.  There is also a section on the protest against it:

“Protests are also put forth by people who wake at dawn, or whose schedules are otherwise tied to sunrise, such as farmers. Canadian poultry producer Marty Notenbomer notes, “The chickens do not adapt to the changed clock until several weeks have gone by, so the first week of April and the last week of October are very frustrating for us.”

Anyway, Richard, can you share a few details of this beautiful rebellion over a stupid idea like DST?

My friend Tim wrote about the power of micro-credit and the poor  and some really cool women volunteering in ways that change others’ destinies. This idea of little loans intrigues me….in one sense it’s debt and encouraging others to use it.  But in another, these are really small loans that radically change another’s life and empower them to change the tide of their lives.  At any rate, it’s certainly not “credit” the way we typically think of it in the west. It leads me more to think of “little is much” or “a little goes a long way” and of “angels in our midst”.

Over a tepid cup of coffee, my right leg falling asleep from being tucked under my left too long, and with a lingering pain in the neck from three days ago, I find myself glad that today is Friday. What is the exchange for spectualar fall colors, mountain vistas, and four beautiful seasons? The hunger for spring fever, color, and warmth when there is really none in sight for at least another 6 weeks or so. It seems most people I know are all suffering from the same late-winter doldrums, so I’m far from alone. The days feel sleepily colorless and that is their own appropriate beauty.

I finished up Crunchy Cons this morning, a book I borrowed and found a few pages in that I was going to have to buy because one must scribble and underline in a such a book. It’s a book that restored our hope in a “conservative” party that actually CONSERVES something; true, such a wonder is not the current republican mainstream, but maybe we think it’s a bit more attainable than we thought at the beginning of the book. It deserves a proper review, a long one that is comprehensive, but the above bland call to hibernate is leading me to post only quotes. I found the book a bit more chewy than crunchy, having been long familiar with most of the traits it described. It’s very approachable and I think anyone who feels disenchanted by politics, and especially the “religious right” kind of politics, ought to give it a read. You just might find yourself surprised.

“Crunchy conservatism is not, as you’ll read here, a political program; it’s a sensibility, an attitude, a fundamental stance toward reality, a pretty good road map to a rich, responsible, fulfilling, charitable, and above all joyfull life. It’s about living a life mindful of and honoring the wisdom in tradition, and in so doing building a tradition to pass on to one’s children, and to future generations……That fundamental stance toward reality is sacremental. In religious language, a sacrament is a physical thing-an object or an action- through which holiness is transmitted…..On a mundane level, you can grasp sacrementality by considering good manners. You might practice good manners because life is more pleasant when people do, or you might practice good manners because you believe it’s a matter of social obligation. A person thinking sacramentally may practice good manners because it’s pleasant and socially correct, but she will do so primarily because treating others with that kind of formal respect conveys her fundamental conviction about human dignity. Someone living by a sacramental vision would therefore treat someone with the same good manners even if it were somehow unpleasant, or there were no social obilgations to do so.”

In quoting Russell Kirk, the author, Rod Dreher offers this challenge, “What can you do….to raise up the human condition to a level less unworthy of what Pico della Mirandola called ‘the dignity of man’? Why, begin by brightening the corner where you are; by improving one human unit, yourself, and by helping your neighbor.” It reminded me of recent quotes I’d read by St. Seraphim. “Aquire the spirit of peace and a thousand souls around you shall be saved.”

“Restoration of a sane economy, one that respects human dignity, has to grow organically, from individual human beings freely choosing to reform, not having it forced on them.”

“We are told that small-scale farming is inefficient- this is true- and that because our factory farms feed the masses, and do so cheaply, we should be satisfied. And that’s a deal that makes sense to nearly all of us: just keep the stuff showing up in produce bins and under cellophane in the supermarket cooler, and keep it relatively cheap, and we’ll ask no questions. But in striking that devil’s bargain, we sign away our responsibilty for what’s in that food, how it got there, and what was done to human communities to close the deal. To participate in a system and a way of thinking in which the act of eating is merely a commercial transaction is to sell out our spiritual and cultural patrimony. I understand the free-market reasons why American’s do this. But I don’t understand why it’s called conservative.”

There’s good stuff in here on communities, neighborhoods, religion (a whole section on Orthodoxy and Frederica is quoted in a few places), the environment, beauty, education, and consumerism. Read it. Let’s talk. Let’s get inspired.

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Speaking of Crunchy Cons and not being alone, check out the new link in my side bar, for my friend Tim. The link is called Living Rich, which is something Tim and his family not only do, but also encourage, inspire, and exhort others to do. One of the reasons my family currently lives in Tennessee is because Tim’s “can do” attitude inspired us to take the plunge and change our lives! Tim lives out loud, lives deliberately, and empowers others to do the same. He’s got a contest coming up for teens and he’s working on a book and he comes into contact with some truly amazing people. Check it out!

Cathy sent me this link about a group of people who decided to try and see if they could go a year without buying more “stuff”. I’d heard of someone who did this a few years ago and they wrote a book about it….it the idea catches on just a little it could empower a movement of contentment! Imagine!

““I really found a lot of times there were things I thought I needed that I don’t need that much,” she said.

The pledge provided unexpected dividends as well, such as the joy of getting reacquainted with the local library and paying down credit cards. Gone, too, was the hangover of buyer’s remorse.

Perry got satisfaction out of finding he had a knack for fixing things and how often manufacturers were willing to send replacement parts and manuals for products that had long since outlived their warranties.

“One of the byproducts of The Compact has been I have a completely different relationship with the things in my life. I appreciate the stuff I have more,” he said. “I don’t think I need to buy another pair of shoes until I’m entering Leisure World.”

Here is the second and final part of my interview with Richard Morris of breadandmoney.com, author of the book A Life Unburdened. See part one of the interview here.
You could have just changed the way you ate as a family and quietly gone on with your life. What made you take the pursuit of fulfilled living another step, to growing a garden, spending time on a farm, and sharing it all with the world?

The garden and the internship, working on a farm, were all part of a natural progression—a logical and inevitable domino effect, that resulted from taking responsibility for my own life. I’ve lost family and friends unnecessarily to our crippled health care system and our genocidal profit-based approach to nutrition. The American Diabetes Association, for example, encourages diabetics to consume sugar. A recent medical study, funded by a member of the grain producer industry, recommends that Black diabetic women load up on grains as a diabetes management strategy. A certain maker of fast food sandwiches parades around a guy who lost weight eating their food and the take-away message we get is that we should rely on a fast-food purveyor for our nutritional advice. In the face of this industrial assault on our health and our lives, I felt as though I had no choice but to go public with my story.

I read that you garden and that you did an internship on a farm on your website. What kind of things do you grow and do you have plans to raise animals?

We grow heirloom tomatoes mostly, but also some greens, beans and herbs. It’s a work in progress and we have yet to realize the garden’s full potential. The health of the soil is paramount and we’ve been working toward amending the soil with compost we’ve been building. We don’t currently have any animals, but yes, one of the chief reasons I did the farm internship was to sample the farming life. I especially wanted to see what it was like to keep a cow. We live in the “burbs” and would likely have a hard time getting a cow waiver for our half acre lot. Actually you’d need about three acres to keep one jersey fat and happy on grass and clover. We’re definitely in the market for more land, beyond the burbs, but whether or not we buy a cow remains to be seen. One thing I definitely want to do next year is to buy a live chicken and go through the whole process from the back yard to the kitchen table. I think it would be very educational for all of us.

Ah… (visions of Richard becoming a city chicken farmer swirling around in my brain ). One of my pet-passions, because I think it’s more realistic than everyone moving out of the city , is urban and suburban homesteading. I’m finding that there is a mixture of attitudes…I love what you said about kitchens getting bigger and more professional and yet few people cook. There is a lot of that conflict going on. Anyone can tell from the size of gardening sections at Home Depot that people like to garden and plant…and yet we grow little of our own food. Laws are inconsistent and nebulous about keeping city poultry. I get a bit of criticism from people who think we “can’t go backward” and yet with food scares, I don’t see how we can get away from the need to grow at least a portion of our own food. Do you have any ideas about this?

I don’t see producing our own food as going backwards. That’s the problem with how we perceive food today. It’s taken decades and hundreds of billions of dollars, but various industries has been very successful in convincing us that producing our own food is somehow wrong. Owning a family cow used to be a sign of moderate wealth in this country. Growing your own food used to be regarded as a sign of independence and intelligence. No more. We’ve become a nation of infants, utterly dependent on deriving our meager sustenance from the corporate teat—or more correctly, the industrial trough. We went backwards at the turn of the last century when we abandoned our agricultural roots for the promise of convenience and more free time. We’ll we got convenience, but I don’t know anyone who believes they have free time. In addition, as a bonus, we also have diabetes, cancer, obesity and heart disease at levels that surpass what we had in 1900. It’s not an either/or option. Either we go back to pulling a plow or we go forward to eating food chips made from recycled human waste. No, there is a middle ground. We can still have many of the modern conveniences we enjoy, but we can also have healthful fermented foods, backyard and community gardens, pasture-based meat co-ops and while we’re at it, localized, solar energy-based economies. That’s what urban/suburban homesteading is about—the diffusion of the old with the new. This we can do.

You know better than most how hard it is to break a destructive cycle and change your life…what kinds of things do you say to others who want to but feel overwhelmed by the thought?

People have to be inspired before they can motivate themselves to make real change, so I try to inspire. My story seems to have that effect on some people and for that I’m glad. The bottom line though is that there is no fast and easy way to fix your health, nutrition and life problems. What I do, then, is show people for instance, how they can give themselves a raise so that they can afford to buy better quality food. I stress the importance of self-directed education about your body and nutrition. I talk about time management and how most of us really do have the time to cook. The key thing I talk about is that we are not powerless. We can change our lives for the better.

I’ve been pondering this aspect of “living deliberately” for a long time. When I’ve made choices, like to cloth diaper or learn how to make something, I feel empowered by it. Ultimately, it was realizing how much personal power I had over my own life that enabled us to break out of the monotonous and damaging lifestyle we had in Florida. This has got to be one factor, I think, of why it can be so important to have community gardens in the inner cities, and relationships with farmers too, as they realize there is a demand for what they have. What would you say to someone who wants to eat better but finds the cost and effort to be daunting?

Much of the focus on healthy eating concerns what we eat. That’s fine, but some people can realize dramatically positive change by focusing on what not to eat. Get soda, soy, unhealthy vegetable oils, ready-to-eat cereals and most forms of sugar out of your diet and you’ll be amazed by how much better off you’ll be. Of course you’ve got to replace those “foods” with something else, like healthier whole foods, but they cost more right? There is a common myth that cheap food is, we’ll, cheap, but often that’s not the case. I have an exercise where I walk people through some common foods and I show that for Coke and Pepsi, we often spend $3.00 a gallon or more for them. That’s more than most of us pay for gas! Instant oatmeal is far more expensive than whole oats when you calculate the price per pound. No one would buy these foods if they were priced by the gallon/pound, but industry marketers know that we’ve been trained not to think this way (thank’s to the public school system) which allows them to profit from our ignorance. Mary and I decided that good food and good health was more important than cable TV, so we cut the cord, canceled the account and gave our big-screen TV away. A side advantage of this is that my youngest daughter stopped asking for McDonald’s once she was no longer being hammered by their ads everyday. We realized that spending hundreds of dollars per year on mobile phones was dumb, given that humans have thrived for eons without cell phones. We ditched our old phones and got simple pay-as-you-go accounts. In total, I’ve spent about $120.00 for the entire year for my cell phone and account. We buy food in bulk (half a cow, half a pig, etc) and save quite a bit in the long run—plus it’s good quality meat. Organic produce, bought in season and locally, is often the same or less expensive than conventional produce. Instead of buying new cars, we fix our old ones because when you do the math, the repairs never cost anywhere near as much as a new car. There are lots of ways to reduce your household expenses with the most important one being getting rid of your consumer debt. This frees you from indentured servitude to the consumerist culture. Finally, I tell people to not get overly hung up on labels. Sure pasture-based, omega-3 enhanced, cage free, organic blah, blah, blah… it all sounds great, but what if you can’t afford these foods or don’t have access to them? Do these four things:

1. Stop eating garbage (see above)
2. Buy conventional meat as unprocessed as you can find and afford, whole dairy (especially butter, yogurt and milk), whole eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains.
3. Cook
4. Read, think and learn, read, think and learn, read, think, and learn…

I can’t say this often enough. If we did that, most of us would be far better off than we currently are. You find that you also have more money in your pocket because cheap food is expensive, in part because we tend to eat more of it.You know, in my experience it is very unusual that I see a black face among the “farming foodies”. I think that might be at least part of why I find you to be a refreshing voice. Have you found a niche, a way to reach an audience that may not pay attention to health-nut fitness guys or aged hippies (both, who are typically white in my experience) sending a similar message?

It’s a challenge getting Black people, as a social class, to take personal responsibility for their health. Part of the problem stems from a dangerous proclivity toward reliance on the supposed omniscience of authority figures in medicine and government. One look at the tragic health statistics among Blacks shows that this blind trust is ill-placed. The problem has it’s roots in more than two centuries of forced dependence on a hostile social system for the necessities of life—a system that has not historically had their best interests at heart. In this regard, the legacy of slavery lives on in the arrested development of that natural inclination to think for oneself. Fortunately, that innate tendency has not evolved out of existence, but lies dormant… waiting. It can be reawakened. Poor nutrition and the dire health consequences that result from it, are everyone’s problem. It is neither a social or class issue since, these days, everyone eats the same food more or less. I believe in equal opportunity nutrition, so my message is for everyone. I go wherever I’m invited and speak to whatever audience shows up. I think it’s simply a matter of finding Malcolm Gladwell’s tipping point; that point at which an idea can no longer be resisted by the people. I believe we’re getting closer to that day. I’m optimistic at least… but then again, it might just be the food. (laughing)Well, okay. I think you’re awesome and these changes are obviously working for you. You have an energetic aura of freedom around you; it comes through in your site and in your words. Were you a positive-thinking kind of person before changing the way you ate and lived, or is that a beautiful bi-product of the revolution?

I would say that my positive perspective is largely due to the food I eat today. I know that may sound crazy to some people, but it’s true. When I was a vegetarian years ago, I lost about 50 pounds and certainly looked healthier, but I was cranky and even somewhat depressed in those days.

Doesn’t sound crazy to me at all . I should think that speaks loudly to anyone who knew you before and after.

I was actually pretty good at concealing how disconnected and unhappy I was. Most people who knew me would have described me as “serious.” These days, I can truly say I am happy. I really like the phrase, “living deliberately.” It suggests to me, the concept of living with purpose. Too often we go through the motions, drifting through one day after another, taking little notice of our own lives. To have a purpose, a reason for waking up in the morning and a plan for your future, that to me is living deliberately. We are social animals with a historical and evolutionary connection to the land, so gardening and establishing connections with farmers is that part of our behavioral heritage that we’ve lost. When I was on the farm, I felt as though I was part of something important. Every day had real meaning. That is how we should all live, with purpose, intent and honesty.

Someone asked me last week what I thought Living Deliberately really looked like and it was the same day you sent me this. “Man! Now that’s Living Deliberately!” Living with Purpose, intent, and honesty.

In my book, I have a section called, The Ten Steps for Success. The point of this section is to make the point that as great as good food is, it’s not just about food. Our lives are very complex. In order to realize positive, long-lasting change, we’ve got to change more than just what we eat. Everything from stress management to relationships to how and when you sleep contributes to your success. What makes food so important is that it provides the raw materials to fuel your life so that you can make the other changes you need to.

Okay, I’ll say it again, “I totally agree!” I get reminded of this when I want to eat out with the kids and what we get costs way more and fills us less than a good bowl of porridge or veggies. What do you do for food when you travel?

We travel like pioneers from the 1800s by always taking food with us. Things like dried fish, beef jerky and pemmican, cheese, nuts, raisins etc. Pemmican, for example, is made from dried, ground lean beef mixed with tallow (beef fat).
It’s what the plains Indians used to rely on hundreds of years ago. It’s very nutrient dense and the fat is very satiating—it acts like an appetite suppressant. I can literally live on pemmican for days when I’m traveling, although I usually stay with like-minded people when I travel so I get to eat well. We usually don’t go to restaurants. The last time I ate at one, I got sick. I’ve discovered that once I purged my body of processed foods, I lost my tolerance for them. Ironically, I don’t get sick anymore from viruses and germs, etc, so while I might get a bad case of acid-reflux from eating at a restaurant, I can sit on a crowded subway train where everyone is sneezing and coughing and never even get the sniffles.

What’s the next book about?

It’s a follow up to my first book. A lot of people have been asking for recipes, what my exercise routine was like, etc. I’ve learned that it’s not enough to say “just eat good food,” because some people don’t know what good food is. This second book will be a more detailed description of what I did, but it will not be a diet book. I hate diet books.

Amen! I appreciate this conversation so much! You came at a point when I’d been getting a bit discouraged and this has been one crazy week to be sure. I hope sharing you with anyone who reads this has the same effect on them!

I also know what it feels like to be discouraged. Sometimes you just can’t help but ask yourself if all the extra effort and money is worth it. Why not just do what everyone else does and pop a nameless package of something into the microwave and choke it down with a Coke. It’s then that I think of all the family and friends who are no longer around, because they died of the diseases of civilization (cancer, heart disease, stroke) and our broken health care system. I remind myself of how much richer my life is today… how I love my wife more today than the day we were married 20 years ago and how I see opportunity and hope where once there was only despair. When I think of these things, my answer to the question of whether it’s worth it is a resounding, YES.

Does it get any better than that?!?

Sometimes the days run together and taste like white bread…a bit bland, a bit beige, and a bit forgettable. And then sometimes a day holds a surprise. A hearty, whole grain, hot loaf full of depth that can’t always be repeated and intrigues one with it’s constant nuance and impact. When that happens, things change. A wholesome, nurturing connection impacts the hours and opens the mind and a kindredness is found.

Richard Morris was that kind of surprise for me. A friend sent me a link to his website a few weeks ago, thinking I might find him interesting. “Interesting” is perhaps too beige of a word for what I thought! It’s too overused, too common. Here is a person, a fresh and vibrant and healthy personality who’s story exudes, nay oozes, an aura of freedom and vitality. I didn’t get three of his articles in when I knew intensely that I had to know him, I had to talk to him. His website doesn’t have the words, “living deliberately” upon it but the spirit is everywhere, from each inspirational article to every beautiful photo. I knew this was someone I had in my hall of fame; he’d quickly become one of my deliberate heroes.

I was thrilled when he emailed me back, granting me an email interview. I was beyond words with encouraged glee when I discovered a new friend and kindred spirit. One interview doesn’t seem enough….he should have a running feature! And then, looking through my notes, I realized I could write a book! But he already has, one with a fantastic title called A Life Unburdened. And he’s working on a second. So check it out, and here’s my interview with Richard Morris, and in places, his wife Mary’s story. The interview will be posted in parts, due to length.

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I just spent quite a lot of time over on your site, breadandmoney.com! You are an amazingly fresh breath of air and talented writer. Can you tell me a little about your story?In 2003, I weighed over 400 pounds and suffered from sleep apnea, asthma, hypertension, adrenal fatigue and a handful of other interesting miseries. I had a wake-up call one day in New York when my knee gave out without warning as I was taking the elevator up to my office. I could see a tombstone in my future and I don’t mean pizza. We each arrive at a crossroads at some point in our lives. That was mine. I had a choice. Follow the well-worn path set by so many others, down a road of dieting and despair or take the other road—in the words of Robert Frost—“the one less traveled by.” Like Frost, I discovered that “that has made all the difference.” That pivotal decision led to my rediscovery of the redemptive power of real food. Among many other wonderful things, I lost over 160 pounds in 18 months.

Wow!! So, that’s like, a whole person, weight-wise that you lost in a year and a half!! And was this just by going back to simple, homegrown kind of foods? Did you experiment with different fad diets like South Beach or Adkins or anything like that? When did you come across books like Nourishing Traditions?

Like most people with a serious weight problem, I was either on a diet or planning to go on a diet almost every day. I tried vegetarianism, a diet drug prescribed by my doctor and engaged in countless other episodes of low-fat masochism. I had some success low-carbing, but didn’t really do enough research to understand how it really works. I eventually concluded that diets simply don’t work. I learned of Nourishing Traditions in the spring of 2004, which was almost a year after I decided to return to eating nothing but whole foods. NT accelerated the learning curve for me. It’s a great book. Richard is originally from Detroit and now lives in Virginia but considers Arizona “home”, which is where he grew up and met his beautiful wife Mary. They have two daughters, Stephanie and Raven, ages 16 and 11. When I started the conversation I didn’t know they were a fellow homeschooling family but I wasn’t surprised when that came up! You might say I’m a born-again independent thinker. Like all children, I came into the world with an innate ability to think for myself, but that independence, viewed as a congenital defect by our educational system, was vigorously discouraged from kindergarten through college. In my case, I’ve spent the last 3 years trying to undo the damage of 16 years of formal education. Thus at the age of 46, I’m struggling to regain the native intelligence I had when I was 5. Having two children to whom I can look to for leadership in this regard, has been a great help.

I love this! Children humbly teach us so much and I think we do well as adult to learn. BTW…it was when you said this that I began to suspect you were a fellow home schooler! Have you always home schooled your girls?

Stephanie was home schooled from about the middle of fourth grade at age 9. When we moved to Virginia, we thought we’d give the local school a try and enrolled her in sixth grade. In less than six months, she asked if she could go back to being home schooled. Raven was home schooled from the very beginning.

On your website, Mary shares her story as well. And while she didn’t have as much weight to lose as you did, she had her own “crossroads” moment to come to, with an ongoing struggle with depression. She now glows with radiant health!

Mary is my treasure. We’ve known each other for 25 years and have been married for 20 of those years. She lost 50 pounds and was finally able to let go of the depression medication that had left her perpetually frozen in place for so long.

I love that phrase “perpetually frozen in place”. I think it describes ongoing depression well. Did Mary’s epiphanal moment happen around the same time yours did?

Yes, that’s what was so amazing about our nutritional revelation; we came to the same conclusion at the same time. I go into much more detail in the book, but when I called Mary from New York to tell her of my plans, she responded with a story of her own. We just felt like we had to do this—to go back to cooking and eating the way our parents and grandparents once did. (Mary speaking): I was depressed for a good portion of my life. I would get really sad and cry for no apparent reason. I was taking Wellbutrin for about three years. I did not want to tell my doctor about my depression initially, but, my it was getting worse and I was concern about its negative effect on my family. I prayed and asked God to heal me. I did not want to be on medication for the rest of my life. When I started taking Wellbutrin, it did seem to help for a time. I read “once a student is ready, the teacher will appear”. Well, it happened when I decided I wanted health for my body, mind and spirit and for my family. I listened to my heart and discovered through my reading and research that my body was not getting the nutrients needed to function properly. I had a severe hormonal imbalance. I started eating good fats, such as, butter, coconut oil, cod liver oil, real eggs, etc. I began to think clear and all of sudden I had a purpose for living. I saw my family health improve also. It felt like a burden was lifted. It is a miracle! I have not taken depression medication for over three years now. I’m healed and I thank God.

What was your life like as heavy people?

Normal. What I mean is that morbid obesity, sickness and disease has regrettable become a normal occurrence for American families in the 21st century. We were just like a lot of families, spending a large share of our income on health care, which is really the sickest of euphemisms, since if we were healthy, we wouldn’t have needed all the medications and doctor’s visits. We bought cars, TVs, toys and other useless trinkets like the consumer zombies we were trained to be. We were an astonishingly unhappy family and we were not alone in our discontent.

It takes a lot of courage to utter words like that. Dave Ramsey says, “Why be normal? Normal is broke!” I guess the same could be said of being overweight. Sadly, it’s quite normal. How has your professional life changed?

I am a graphic designer by education and profession. I worked in the software industry in the financial sector, as a user interface designer, for most of the last ten years. The software industry is an industry rife with disappointment, denial and desperation—the perfect breeding ground for unmanageable stress. Today I feel like I’ve been asleep for most of my life and have only recently awakened. I wrote a book, “A Life Unburdened” that talks about my transformation and I remade myself as a public speaker. I’m rediscovering the simple joys of living openly and with purpose.

What did your children think about the changes as you made them? Were they full participants?

Yes they were solidly with us on this, but they were a bit confused too, because as we learned more about food and nutrition, we would adjust our diets likewise. For a while, it felt like we were changing something every week. Children like stability in their lives… well, I guess we all do don’t we? We explained to them that we were all learning together, so change was inevitable, but what kept them on-board with us, I believe, is that they saw the benefits themselves. Stephanie lost weight and her asthma completely disappeared. Raven used to have seasonal skin problems that completely disappeared after we added healthy fat to our diet. Perhaps most important, Mary and I were happier, which as any child will attest, makes for more agreeable living when you don’t have your parents hassling you all the time.

Go Team Morris!! What’s a typical menu at your house look for a day?

We always have eggs, wonderful pastured eggs, for breakfast. Additive-free bacon, raw cheese, fermented kimchi, tea or seasonal grapefruit usually round out breakfast. In late fall, lunch might include leftover chicken, a piece of cheese, home made pizza, kimchi or sauerkraut. Dinner could be wild salmon with green beans and sweet potatoes. When the blackberries are in season, I’ll pick a handful and cover them in raw cream—no sugar needed. Delicious.

Okay, what the heck is kimchi? And if you make it, can you pass on a recipe?

Kimchi is a fermented dish made of cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic and a few other odds and ends. It originated in Korea and is most similar to saurkraut. Raw foods are the most healthy from a nutritional standpoint, but most people won’t eat those wonderful organ meats like raw liver, beef heart and kidney. Kimchi is a raw food that you can add as a side dish to your meals that can help integrate beneficial bacteria into your diet. These bacteria can enhance your intestinal flora and, among other things, improve your digestion. Antacid drugs are some of the biggest money-makers for the pharmaceutical industry. That’s because many people aren’t preparing their food properly, like soaking nuts and grains, and they may be lacking the right mix of digestive flora needed to properly digest their food. I found that my need for antacid drugs was reduced, then eliminated as I integrated more raw foods into my diet. I was in such a desperate state when we changed our diet that I could not afford to wean myself off the junk convenience foods I was eating. I had to go cold turkey. I expected severe withdrawal symptoms, but was surprised to discover that there were few. Lets face it, few things are more satisfying than a properly prepared home cooked meal. I used to think the packaged foods I ate tasted good. I now realize that they had no taste at all. What I was really tasting were the massive quantities of sodium and sugar that go into 90 percent of the convenience foods we eat.

I hear ya! Real food is so BEAUTIFUL! I feel downright wealthy when I have a plate of real, whole, foods. And isn’t it amazing how sickingly sweet a sip of soda is after you’ve not had any HFCS or white sugar in a long time? I like your point about going cold turkey too. I think that’s often a part of radical, deliberate choices. It’s a complete, repentance-style, turn around. No having one foot on each side of the fence. Would you agree?

Yes, one of the most common things I hear from people is that they’ve begun eating whole foods, and they love the food, but they admit that they’re not experience the level of change that they were expecting. Usually when I probe a bit deeper, I find out that they’re mixing whole foods with packaged convenience foods. I tell people that washing down a trans fat laden donut the size of a spare tire with raw milk won’t do much for their health in the long term. You’ve really got to give up some of the more egregious junk food. I really sympathize with them because I know what they’re going through. Most of the blame lies with conventional health advice doled out by the dietitians and diet gurus who say it’s OK to eat that garbage so long as you do so in moderation. Sometimes we eat “fancy food,” but most of the time it’s just good ol’ food. Food is important, but it shouldn’t consume your life. Eating should be as effortless and second nature as breathing. The fact that knowing what to eat is so complex today is proof of how much the industrial food industry has mucked up this most basic of necessities.

Eating can be, but cooking isn’t LOL! I honestly do prefer though, the connection with the food I feel, the almost-meditative quality one gets when they use things that actually grew somewhere, as opposed to coming from a factory or a lab.

You’re right. Cooking this way definitely takes more time and effort, but I enjoy cooking in the same way that I enjoy reading a good book or the intellectual challenge of solving a difficult puzzle. The combination of sensorial feedback and the sense of completion and closure one derives from the preparation of a meal can be therapeutic. This only works if you’re managing your time well, so if you’re rushed, it’s not any fun at all.

I totally agree. Time management is one more way to live on purpose. Dave would call it, “telling your money where to go.” and time is the same way. I love the title of your book, “A Life Unburdened.” . And your website name too. How did they come to be?

I was exercising one day with a 40 pound weight vest. When I took the off vest, I felt so light it felt as if I might float away. I suddenly realized that for years, I had been lugging around more than 160 pounds. That sense of being unburdened from the weight of the vest eventually became the title of the book. I originally wanted to call the web site bread and circuses, after the practice of Roman emperors who pacified the mob by providing them with free food and entertainment. While to-the-death gladiator fights are thankfully no longer part of civilized society, we have something similar in our mad desire for cheap junk food and our peculiar obsession with television, both modern day equivalents of bread and circuses. We cannot demand accountability from our leaders when we are stuffing our gullets with Oreos and our minds with “must see” TV, which is of course why television and junk food exist… to keep us pacified. Bread and money refers to the connection between what we eat and the price we pay for it. That price is not always monetary, it can also include the price we pay in health and ultimately our freedom.

SmallWorld Kicks Debt to the curb.

I’m not usually a “herd mentality” kind of girl. But if this is the kind of herd I’m in then I say, “bring it on!”. This is awesome! It’s such a blessing to have friends who understand the struggle and fight and instead of putting pressure on to “keep up with Jones’” and to buy the latest and greatest, know we’re all working to be FREE. It’s gonna be a BIG  PARTY when that happens!!! YA”LL GO!!!