Miscellany - On the Dump, Not Writing a Book, and the AIP Class
Sharon February 21st, 2009
This post seems to be mostly a melange of randomness 
- look for something better organized on Monday.
First of all, if it seems like I’m not posting quite so much lately, you are probably right. While I was writing the three books, I don’t think I realized just how tiring and stressful it was to be working on one book while writing proposals or editing another. And it is only in the last couple of weeks that I’ve suddenly realized that I’m tired - not just regular tired, but tired of writing and analysis, tired of organizing my ideas in my head or looking at life as a series of potential essays, tired of the computer.
The first few weeks after finishing Independence Days were just a madhouse of catching up on all the things I’d put off because I simply couldn’t think about them. It took until nearly mid-February for things to really settle down, and right now, a slightly slower pace and less dense writing really suits me. In fact, at the moment, I don’t really want to be writing anything but the blog - and that, perhaps a little less often.
It has been chronically hard for me to balance the question of how to both live my life and write about it. I’m not sure what balance between agriculture and writing, home life and work life are going to emerge for me - and the economy may well take a hand in this, if Eric’s job isn’t secure. But for the first time in a long time, the question is open to me - I loved writing my books, I loved having the chance to do them, but now, I feel like I finally have the chance not to be driven entirely by events, but by what I choose and what I want. I doubt it will last - events may decide for me, but I’m trying to just relax and enjoy things.
For now, I don’t want to write any books. I want to plan my garden, play with my kids, read some novels, write a little, watch events and wait - I’m not sure I’m even yet at the point of wanting to plan for the future. Instead, I just want to breathe a little. So expect a little less content here, until I find my balance.
Second, have you been to your dump lately? I know not everyone has one, and I’ve been grouchy about mine lately. They’ve reduced the kinds of recycling they are taking, and I’ve been bugging Eric to sign us up for trash pickup, which comes up our road anyway, and recycles more varieties. I’m a bit sick of hauling our recycling into town to drop in our friends’ bins.
But we’re still doing the dump, and may I sing its praises, just this once. Eric took the trash out, and came back with the best haul of cool stuff from the dump ever. In this haul was a set of six beautiful and large blue speckle mugs (to replace the cracked and handle-less ones), some bowls, and - get this - a *complete* Encyclopedia Britannica, Macro and Micro, from the 1990s with yearly updates to 2002. In perfect condition.
Ok, I’ve changed my mind - I love the dump. The heck with trash pickup - I don’t want any fewer excuses to go there. Now I just need to see if anyone is unloading bookcases .
Finally, the Garden Design Class will wind up this week, and the Adapting in Place Class will start next Tuesday. Of all the classes I’ve done, the AIP class was the most fascinating, exciting, troubling and wonderful. It deals with one of the big questions - how do we deal with our shifting situation where we are, with what we have. I think that events are moving fast, and many of us have assumed we had more time to make changes - now, a lot of us are confronted with the fact that we’re not going to move to a farm or to the walkable paradise, we’re not going to build the perfect superinsulated straw bale house .
Adapting in place will run online for four weeks in March, with most of the material posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Aaron Newton and I will run the class together, bringing his expertise together with mine and helping people set up a plan for how to live well with what they have, where they are (or in a familiar location). We do have a few spaces. Cost of the class is $150 - all the scholarship spots are filled, but we’ll be posting plenty of material for free on our respective blogs. If you’d like to participate, send me an email at [email protected].
Have a good weekend,
Sharon