A couple of days ago right after I posted my Quote for the day of the 25th we had a power outage that lasted about 18 hrs. In that time the wind was just whipping thru our area,knocking down trees,blowing roofs off,etc. In the past, no electric in our case would have meant no well,no furnace,no lights,etc. But being that I have been here on this forum for awhile now and also receiveing Countryside mag.,I have picked up during that time some very helpful suggestions and ideas from the rest of you and hopefully I have bought some of my own to it. We have gotten a generator,stored gasoline,a pantry stocked with food,firewood for fireplace,etc.,etc.,etc. When the power went out,all I did was got the fire going in the family room fireplace,bought out the candles,and for supper time we had our coleman stove and then when night came I fired up the generator for a hour and plugged in the furnace and the well and everyone got their showers and the rest of the house got warm and then me and the youngest laid in front of the fireplace with candles and read a book together until bed time and then she asked me why don't we do this more often.

And so, after she went to bed some things came to me and that was after you have the essentials of life(water,food,housing,heat) everything else is just wanta's. As a family unit for the first time in awhile we had no worry about terriosts,no anthrax,no government bull,no foreign war,no massive job layoffs,no enemies,etc. Just us and our neighbors ( my wife went over to see if they were all right), just local people doing their best. Since then I got to thinking (now we're in trouble!) and I have pledged to myself to start cutting back on more non-essential stuff,to start a "GO LOCAL" campaign,and to be part of my local community more then I have been and to promote the need for family. Just during that short period of outage it really dawned on me that if your not careful and you bank to much on our now modern society to guide you, your going to realize someday thats it's just a game out there,and sometimes it takes a little child to make you realize that. Thank you for listening and thank you all for your helpful suggestions on this forum/magazine that has helped bring me to this stage of life.

-- TomK(mich) (tjk@cac.net), October 28, 2001

Answers

Hi Tom! I was thinking much the same recently. Cutting back on everything that isn't really importsnt, and really getting closer to the people in our cimmunity. There is always something going on here in our small town and I try to help out whenever possible. When you get down to the basics, it is the people that really matter.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 28, 2001.

My husband and I made the decision to "get back to basics" several months ago. We are involved in our little community, helping out when we can. I enjoy my time spent on the computer communicating with friends I've made on the net but when it all comes down to it, home is where the important things are. As you said, sometimes it takes a little child to make you realize what's important in life. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

-- Grannytoo (jacres40@hotmail.com), October 28, 2001.

We do this on purpose ...though not in a while...and call it a "pioneer" day/night. Cut everything off and use wood stove, lanterns and such. Play board games, cards and just be together.

Going out and checking the animals using a lantern takes you back to our early American settlers era....and a sadness for the complex world we have now.

Thinking and acting locally is a good idea and I have been trying to do that also....going to the local gas station, for example. It's a few cents higher than the big guys, but you can hang around and chat there..catching up on the local stuff. Do that with the goofy teenager behind the counter at the big guy and you'll get one massive headache! That is if they can keep up a conversation long enough...try it sometime.

Shop locally too. In the summer roadside produce stands pop up everywhere...cheaper and 10 times the quality of Kroger,Wal- Mart..ect. Yard sales and trade days are of course a gold mine...the problem is buying what you DON'T need! Mine anyway. Conversation and good deals abound.

Turn the power off on purpose next week Tom and enjoy yourself!

-- Jason in S. Tenn. (AJAMA5@netscape.net), October 28, 2001.

Getting back to basics really started when I purchased the farm, but somehow, I got off track when the 15 year old tv wore out. Then the desire for a more simple life crept back into my mind/heart once again when I started tearing the walls apart to remodel. Looking around at the stuff you absolutely have to use daily really makes one wonder why so much money is spent on the other "stuff". While camping, I discovered just how much water is really necessary to wash dishes. Very little actually. In my opinion, if more people in the world would begin lively like we were on a spaceship with very little resourses and space, then our landfills would deminish and our resourcefullness would increase. But, now what do you do with all the "stuff" you already have? Garage sales only give the problem to someone else. I'm trying to figure out how to do an adobe/stucco thing with all the junk mail and magazines. Should we use all unnecessary things now in our possessions as "Art"? If we just stop buying that kind of thing, the supply would eventually dry up. What do you think? Iris

-- Iris (Sar_India@msn.com), October 28, 2001.

I have to diagree with Iris.....yard sales are very environmentally friendly!

If I had an extra hoe for example...and put it in my yard sale, someone who needed one to start his first garden might buy it. No resources were used to produce a new one and the new gardener got a good deal buying used instead of new. Also no adding my hoe to the landfill is good in itself.

And it might lead to less reliance on the big "food" producers if his garden succeeds.

Good anyway you look at it!

-- Jason in S. Tenn. (AJAMA5@netscape.net), October 28, 2001.

Iris, check with your local recycling center. My town transfer station takes both magazines and junk mail to recycle. They also have a trade center to take good items you won't use but someone else may, free for the taking. They take old clothing, rags, and all the typical stuff like boxes, boxboard, cans, glass, newspaper, etc. The local food pantry will take any food you decide doesn't really go with your new ideals (like microwave pizza, etc.). Someone will eat because you offered. I know the gizmos and gadgets of modern day life seem a little inane to you now, but many of them may have purpose to someone else.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), October 28, 2001.

Tom - What a pleasant evening you described!

-- rick K (rick_122@hotmail.com), October 28, 2001.

Tom, we were without power from the same storm and had our 4 year old granddaughter with us. She loved it!!! We didn't even fire up the generator as we heat with wood and had already done chores before the storm hit, so didn't need to carry water except for the house and the artesian gives plenty for that. (we have done the animals that way for years when we had power outages but this was the first storm we have had since we had the generator and would have used it if we had not gotten power before time to water stock came) I am glad it was a useful experience for you.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), October 28, 2001.

We lose our elec about 4-6 times a year. My big suggestion is that we store water (not for consumption) in gallon containers in the basement. We use them to flush the toilets when the elec is out. Since we also have a well, no water mean no potty. This way if it is out a few hours we don't have to turn on the generator unless it is out for a longer time.

When our kids were smaller, we lived in the 'burbs and one of their favorite things to play was "Little house on the Prairie" days. We used as few modern conviences as possible. Cooked on the woodstove, no lights, tv, etc.

-- Chris in PA (clmngs@aol.com), October 28, 2001.

Last Chritmas Eve we had an Ice Storm and lost utilities for 13 DAYS. We have a full electric house so we learned alot of survivial then. To make matters worst we were out of propane for the gas grill. Had a fireplace but you know unless your ontop of the fire your cold. Did alot of Dutch Oven Cooking, used my Y2K pantry and managed to get some water out of the well but not too much that is run by electricity too. We had candles but finally went to bed when the sun went down. Living way, I mean way out in the boonies it sure can be dark. I am better prepared now. The only think I wish I could have bought this year was a Sweetheart Cook Stove, but will get that one next year. Bought a generator but have set up the property some to not have to rely on it because it takes gas. In our area, the hospital all including gas stations were closed, they needed utilities too. Now most of the area got their utilities back in 8 days we blew a transformer so had to wait until we could flag an electric truck down. It was quite cold in this house.

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), October 30, 2001.

Is it not past time to be thinking about your own renewable energy system?? I'm sure glad for mine It provides me water /warmth / fridg / freezer......

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), October 30, 2001.

Ji mi, explain what yours is?

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), October 31, 2001.