How to squeeze the sweet juice out of life

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If you are not willing to change, then don't expect your life to.     

Make your own Sauer Kraut Simply

Packed with vitamins and minerals,
sauerkraut has been used as a lay                 This is  a Simple  Sauer Kraut recipe
immune booster for centuries.
It has cancer fighting properties, is                        

full of anti- oxidants, and is an excellent

digestive aid.

The real benefits are from eating
non-pasteurized, lacto-fermented
sauerkraut, not the commercially
packaged kind.

See how easy it is to make a batch
at home in this video.


Video:(7:24) 

http://www.nextworldtv.com/page/5595.html

Our Moral Duty to Plant Trees

Our Moral Duty to Plant Trees

• We need trees to live.
• People and animals depend on trees for oxygen.  When we breathe in, our bodies use oxygen.  When we breathe out, we give off carbon dioxide.  Trees do just the opposite.  They take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
• A mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year.
• Trees help clean the air by intercepting particles and absorbing pollutants.
• Trees help cool the Earth by shading. 
• A windbreak of trees can lower home heating bills up to 30%.
• Trees give off moisture.  More moisture in the air means more rain.
• The 200,000 leaves on a healthy 100-foot tree can take 11,000 gallons of water from the soil and breathe it into the air in a single growing season. 
• We depend on trees for wood we burn for heat.
• We need trees for the wood to build houses.
• We need trees to make paper.  
• Roots of the trees underground are a natural water cleaning system.
• Trees prevent soil erosion.
• Trees help prevent flooding.
• Birds build their nests in trees.
• Animals live inside trees or build homes on their branches.
• Trees muffle neighborhood noise.
• Trees give us fruits and flowers
• Some trees have medicinal value and help make medicine.
• Trees give us things like benches, stairways, church pews, tables and chairs, picture frames, guitars, pianos, toothpaste, coffee filters, movie tickets, postage stamps, baby cribs and cradles, candy wrappers and cupcake cups.  
• More than 5,000 things we use every day are made from trees or from their extracts.
• Trees can increase the property value of our homes by 15% or more.
• Trees bring out the kid in us....by letting us swing from their branches.
• Is there anything more beautiful than a drive through a National Forest.
• Be sure to look for the wind chimes in today's picture.  

Simplify Slowly

Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb (simplify slowly, but consistently)

gift an experience

1. “If you want to give gifts, why not gift an experience—a nice meal, tickets to a concert, or a sunset on the beach? After all, the best, most loving gift you can give someone is your time and undivided attention.” - Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus                                                 
   
   

apple pie pizza

Best Ever Apple Pie Pizza

Gotta share this recipe for Apple Pie Pizza. If you're like me and don't care to make a pie crust from scratch, well, here's the answer to presenting your guests with a yum-dill-i-ishus modern version of Gramma's Homemade Apple Pie.

1 tube (12.4 oz) refrigerated cinnamon roll dough

1 can (21 oz) apple pie filling

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 T. butter, melted

•  Set cinnamon roll icing aside.  Separate dough into individual rolls.  Roll out each into a 4-inch circle. Arrange on a greased 12-inch pizza pan, overlapping edges.  Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.
• Spoon the apple pie filling over rolls to within 1/2 edge.  Combine the brown sugar and butter.  Sprinkle over the pie filling.  Bake 6-8 minutes longer, or until the crust is golden brown.  Cool.  Drizzle with the reserved icing. 

It's oozy-goozy good,

with or without whipped cr

GLUTINOUS SPENDING

GLUTINOUS SPENDING

Please stop talking about Black Friday. Has any one thought about excess consumerism. Or declining resources. Or corporate greed. Or media brain washing. Or  public mind conditioning. Can anyone who plans on spending money on Black Friday really say they absolutely have to buy it to help save natural resources or wildlife or open space -- that are declining at an exponentially fast rate!   Glutinous consumerism is ugly. Perhaps shoppers think only in the now and not for their future generations. Black Friday is for fools. Can you  live within the parameters of practically?

In addition to not buying on Black Friday join the moratorium on consumer spending on Nov. 26th in North America and Nov. 27th internationally. 

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Seeming To Do Is Not Do ,Taoist way.

Seeming To Do Is Not Doing

“Being busy does not always mean real work.
The object of all work is production or accomplishment
and to either of these ends there must be
forethought, system, planning, intelligence,
and honest purpose, as well as perspiration.
Seeming to do is not doing.”
–Thomas A. Edison

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Simplicity done your way

I think the most wonderful thing about voluntary simplicity is that it means different things to different people. There is no one way to do simple living right. Everyone has a different concept of how they want to live, what is most important to them, and what they need to make them happy. Trying to live someone else’s idea of simplicity will never work.
For us, all of our most important things are home and family oriented. We have a deep respect for all living things and a strong need to live close to nature. We value privacy and solitude and probably need more than the average “personal space.” We find working hard and tackling seemingly impossible projects to be both satisfying and fulfilling. Most of all, we genuinely enjoy each other’s company and working and spending time together. This is our version of voluntary simplicity and simple living, and it is a lifestyle we love because it matches who WE are.
Do you know who YOU are… what’s important to you and what you want and need in your life? If you have a genuine interest in pursuing simple living, do some soul searching as you answer these questions.
Bring into your life as many things as you can that have meaning to you and give you a sense of peace and fulfillment… purge some of what makes you feel stressed and unhappy. Make only small changes and only a few at a time. Be honest and flexible in your assessments and don’t be afraid to admit to yourself when something you thought would work doesn’t. As you discover what is really important to you and the way you want to live, use what you’ve learned to gradually restructure your life.
This will be YOUR version of voluntary simplicity… and YOUR way to do simple living right.
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What does Frugal Luxury mean ?

"Every state of society is as luxurious as it can be."

--Samuel Johnson

~~~

Many people confuse luxury with opulence.  To understand luxury you must look at the true sense of the word.  The American Heritage Dictionary defines luxury as "something....conducive to pleasure and comfort," so to indulge in luxury you need only to focus on what brings you pleasure and comfort.  Does luxury have to mean diamonds and servants?  Or can if be a plump down comforter on a cold night or a bowl of wild blueberries picked at the peak of that fruit's brief season?  Practicing frugality allows you to organize your life and thinking in such a way as to control your own happiness.  One way this is done is by allowing yourself to delight in ordinary things and occurrences.

As Thoreau so eloquently stated,"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor."

Make a conscious decision, at this moment to appreciate what your own life as to offer in the way of frugal luxuries. 

Source

~~~~~~

Delight in Ordinary Things.

 

This makes you live simply

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Zero Waste

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/reducing-waste/zero-waste-at-home.html   Oh, how wonderful ! But you say how can we  get all we needs in bulk  . Let 's start a campaign to  get a real  food  coop in our town. . Lets talk about it and see if we can do it.   Cheers, Dawn

40 years ago was simpler in many ways

Life was simpler 40 years ago

 40 years  I was homesteading  in northern  Wisconsin on 3/4 of an acre with 200 foot frontage on the Wisconsin . We had chickens , 2 goats that I milked 2 times a day .  A 30  by20 foot  garden completely fenced in to protected from the deer and others .  I also worked full time as a  LPN. and had time to fish , explore and  forage, spin and knit , read and walk in  the woods.  Life was good and bad , sweet and bitter but always simple.

Major Illness and Simplicity

 

 

Major surgery and/or illness makes you realize that simplicity is the modus operandi of choice.  Yes, when you need the help of others, simplify your routines, your meals, your life.  This helps you simplify directions to the kind, generous folks that are helping you and helps make them pleased to help you.  Don’t forget these grand caregivers feel good about helping, but they need to be shown gratitude.

I have seen within my recent surgery/recovery the working of community, my family, friends, Friends, people I hardly knew coming together in a healing community,  weaving together a tapestry of calling and visiting to help me and cheer me on.  They fetched and carried, diverted me with interesting conversation, and just sat quietly by my side 

Love instead of Hate

The Mean is a step toward simplicity

1. Aristotle believed that, in every situation, proper behavior lies at the midway point, or the mean. 
2. Example:  My doctor tells me to walk, walk, walk.  Forget about all other exercise, just walk.
3. How far?  Where?  I'm stuck, and I procrastinate. 
4. Guilt gets out its hammer and starts pounding on my brain, "You should be walking.   You should be walking.  You're not walking.  You're not walking."
5. Aristotle would tell me not to fret, but instead look for the mean.  It's midway between walking a mile and not walking at all.  Half-mile is the mean.  
6. If I go out my front door and walk ten steps today, eleven steps tomorrow, twelve the day after tomorrow, I'm working toward the mean.
7. In two weeks, walking will be a habit, and I'll be closer to the mean.  
8. A half mile a day adds up to 3-1/2 miles a week, and that's nothing to sneeze at. Not only that, but that Nasty Old Guilt will stop hammering away at me.
9. Thanks, Aristotle for teaching me about this cool approach.

Renounce Our Throwaway Ethic

Blog

It’s Time to Renounce Our Throwaway Ethic

by Addison Del Mastro, July 31, 2012 at 2:56pm

We’ve all heard of the throwaway society, and many of us vigorously oppose it through our activism, our buying habits, and our worldviews. In most cases, the throwaway mentality is associated with the wasteful use of consumer goods, like electronics, appliances, or clothing. But manifestations of this insidious ethic can also be seen in less obvious areas—including food waste and the euthanizing of millions of unwanted pets.

In the case of consumer goods, items are bought, used briefly, and then discarded, whether because they break quickly or because they become outdated or out of style. Many usable, even valuable items—from washing machines to computers—are thrown out, and new ones are bought to replace them. Meanwhile, as we overwhelm our landfills with perfectly good items and squander limited natural resources to make new ones, a sizeable portion of our population still lacks many material comforts.

By failing to appreciate the value of older items, the throwaway ethic creates an inefficient system of distribution in which many people go without, while the landfills prosper. Unfortunately, the situation is strikingly similar when it comes to food waste and animal euthanasia.
The value of food

With regard to hunger, many believe that there are “too many people” and that we simply cannot produce enough food for everyone. This is not the case: the world already produces more than enough food for everyone, with some to spare. One analysis suggests that we may currently produce as much as seven times the amount of food needed for global adequate nutrition.

The real problem is not the volume of food that’s available, but its distribution. Most of it ends up in the wealthier countries, where a fantastic share is simply wasted: as much as 40 percent in the United States, and Europe is not far behind.

Loaves of unopened bread discarded in a supermarket dumpster. (Photo via Secret Freegan)

If equitably distributed, the food waste alone from the United States and other wealthy countries would go a long way toward addressing world hunger. But, as with our consumer goods, the abundance of cheap food obscures the immense value of food: for us in the United States, a loaf of bread is worth merely its monetary price—perhaps two or three dollars. For the mother in the developing world whose child faces starvation, can we even put a price on that loaf of bread? Yet the wasting of food in the wealthier countries can have the effect of exacerbating hunger among those who need food most.

In popular culture, food waste is standard fare on many food-related television shows, helping to mainstream the perspective that waste is “normal.” The worst offenders might be British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s host of competition-style cooking shows. In one of them, Ramsay’s Best Restaurant, Ramsay explains that a good restaurant must allow the customer to send back a dish for any reason, even if the chef hasn’t made a mistake. In another, The F-Word (the "f" stands for food), Ramsay routinely orders his subordinate chefs to throw out food ranging from slightly burned fish filets to sushi-grade tuna loins that were cut improperly.

Sure, in fine dining attention to detail is paramount, and customers certainly pay enough to cover the waste involved. But it’s difficult not to see a moral problem here, especially when simple malnutrition is still a leading cause of death in the developing world.

“New” versus “used” pets

The throwaway ethic is even more disturbing as it relates to animal euthanasia. Here, the ethic is tragically applied to living beings (at least no television can suffer as it is dragged off to the dump). If the routine euthanasia of stray animals is not disturbing in itself, the sheer number of animals killed each year should be. According to the animal rights group PETA, “approximately 3 to 4 million cats and dogs—many of them healthy, young, and adoptable—must be euthanized in animal shelters every year.”

Ready to be recycled?

At first this may appear to have little to do with the throwaway ethic. But the striking part of it is the phrase “healthy, young, and adoptable.” Just like all the “perfectly good stuff” that goes to the dump, “healthy, young, and adoptable” animals are euthanized. The analogy becomes even more pointed when we realize that there’s actually plenty of demand for pets, just as there’s always demand for consumer goods: according to the American Humane Association, 17 million Americans acquire a new pet each year—or more than double the number of shelter animals.

The reason we “waste” so many animals is that most people choose to buy new rather than “used” pets. One animal adoption website explains, “The stigma that shelter pets have been stuck with for many years is that they are damaged goods [emphasis added].” And the American Humane Association blames this all in part on the fact that “many people consider pets to be disposable.” “Disposable”; “damaged goods”; “healthy, young, and adoptable”; all these phrases reflect the creeping of the throwaway ethic into aspects of our lives that have nothing to do with conventional consumerism.

Disposable humanity?
Although unrelated to world hunger or animal euthanasia, there’s one more incident worth mentioning here. In 2008, a Walmart employee was trampled to death by a mob of Black Friday shoppers too impatient to wait for the store to open. Is this, too, the throwaway ethic at work? Already, food and animals are disposable—will even human life become disposable?

In 1947, industrial designer and advertiser J. Gordon Lippincott dismissed fears about the consumer society’s damaging effects on human morality, predicting that the fast pace of materialism would instead improve national morals and increase our appreciation of fundamentals like security, family, faith, and love. Sixty-five years of the throwaway ethic have proven the exact opposite. The throwaway mentality has instead exacerbated costly and tragic trends like needless resource exploitation, food waste, and animal euthanasia, and threatens to degrade our society’s respect for human life itself.

The lesson here is that if we cannot contain the throwaway ethic, then we must do what we can to renounce it. And the good news is that, as I’ve discussed in some of my previous posts, we are already beginning to do so.

Addison Del Mastro is a student at Drew University and an intern with the Center for a New American Dream.

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Good Idea ,SIMPLIFY

why do I Simplify

Why Do I Simplify?

by Kate

No comments yet

Why do I simplify? Let me count the ways.
I do it to clear the depth and breadth and height
My chi can reach, not just putting out of sight
For the ends of Orderliness and ideal Minimalism.
I do it to the level of every day’s
Most simple needs, by sun and candle-light.
I do it purposefully, as some men strive for More;
I do it humbly, as I turn from Success.
I do it with a passion put to use
In my former greed, and with my childhood’s contentment.
I do it with a freedom I seemed to lose
With my cluttered space, — I do it with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,
I shall but live more simply after death.

 

Posted in simplicity

So which is better ?

Don’t wish for more than what you have for you will inevitably be disappointed

So which is better? Love or money ? Time to enjoy nature or be bombarded  with noise in a violent movie?  What do you you think ? Cheers!

Five Life Standards

The Five Life Standards, the essence of voluntary simplicity, are detailed in Doris Janzen Longacre’s book, Living More with Less (now available in a 30th Anniversary edition):

• Do Justice
• Learn from the World Community
• Nurture People, Not Things                                 Don"t miss it. Cheers, Dawn
• Cherish the Natural Order
• Nonconform Freely

Prosperity ?

Philosofact

Prosperity is buying things we don't want with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.

Rewards Of The Simple Life

 

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ~ John Burroughs, Naturalist (1837-1921) ~

Story Of Change

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/inspiration-1/the-story-of-change.html This is from the author of  The Story of Stuff.

Green For President

Green for President Occupy Big Food rally in New York City We’ve always said here that gardening is political, a way of opting out of a culture that pushes us to live lives powered entirely by fossil fuels and processed substances that bear only the slightest relationship to actual food. Food is political, as Michael Pollan has been telling us for years, and as the Occupy Wall Street movement asserted last year. So it’s very nice that the Green Party has just fielded its first candidate to quality for federal matching funds, an internist named Jill Stein. And based on an interview that appeared in the New York Times yesterday, I certainly like her.  Whereas I find most health care pros are pretty focused on pharmaceuticals and not so much on eating well, Stein actually cooks, and cooks organic, as a good Green should.  According to the Times, she is running because she “grew impatient with the social and environmental roots of disease.” She is also very funny on the subject of professional politicians.  Asked what it was like to debate Mitt Romney, as she did when she ran unsuccessfully for governor of Massachusetts in 2002, she said,  “It’s easy to debate a robot.”  Here’s hoping she gets to debate him again this year. • Email to a friend • Article Search • View comments • Track comments •

Release your life force energy : DECLUTTER

If you clear your house of all the items you don't need and
cherish, you liberate your space, your mind -- and your very
life force.

Things are all energy, they carry a vibration that we, on the                 
life force.

Things are all energy, they carry a vibration that we, on the
invisible level, are always responding to.

Our stuff takes up space on the shelf of course, and we all
know how good it feels to declutter.

But did you know clutter actually zaps our energy, makes us
tired and makes our lives feel stuck? Even if it is "organized"?

Go full screen on this one!


Video:
   
http://www.nextworldtv.com/page/11098.html

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Bibi Farber
Nextworldtv

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invisible level, are always responding to.

Our stuff takes up space on the shelf of course, and we all
know how good it feels to declutter.

But did you know clutter actually zaps our energy, makes us
tired and makes our lives feel stuck? Even if it is "organized"?

Go full screen on this one!


Video:
   
http://www.nextworldtv.com/page/11098.html

Fertilize Your Money Tree.

                                                                                                      Fertilize  your Money Tree
1. Be Aware of the places you are living above your  means , 4 Starbuck stops a week =$20.00 . A good  pot of coffee or  tea made at home  = $2.00 which equals 3 or 4  servings . what do you have a traveling mug  for.
       Here is a new concept , pack a lunch . yes , this is a whole new way to interact with your colleagues  or mother nature in a park , and save alot of bucks . Plus you know were the produce comes from ( hopefully  locally) .
 2. This is something I have learned studying simplicity ; One half of what you want is all you need .       This little saying will help save money, lose weight , be  healthier  and surprise ! even happier .  Wealth  isn't about  money .   It is about feeling good about yourself . Try it , you will  like it .      " 1/2 OF WHAT YOU WANT IS ALL YOU  NEED ."                      
  3. Here is another 1/ 2  concept it is ; half of the fun of planning is the planning.  You put together dreams and reality . Such as ;  I would  like a vacation to an exotic place ( dream ).  I save $100  for 12 months I  have $1200 ( reality) .  If  it doesn't work you  had the fun of planning. Also the experience of making a short term goal to a long term plan . Each time you try it the better you get . See you in that exotic place next year .
   Be aware when you are living beyond your means .


   Remember half of what you want is all you need .    These are some of the ways to fertilize your money tree. 
   If you can think of others , please share .     Cheers!

Plant a Money Tree

' Those who are not  stressed about money are those who  spend less than they make..'
              Where?   In your back yard  or on the firescape . Plant it where you live .
                       
                        How?  1. Be realistic .  Check out where you  spend the most  with least return for your  money . For instance;  junk food , TV connections, expensive clothing , gas to go shopping ,etc .
                                          ELIMINATE THEM ! Saving money and stress.
                                   2. Budget to become debt free . There are many good blogs and books on the subject . Look them up . Uses your computer and or the library to educate yourself . Be your own consultant.  Your bright go for the freedom from debt. You are in control . No increase in income , than  cut on your wants. You don't need it right now , save for it, very rewarding  and  much more appreciated  .
                                  3. Work on long term planning with short term goals . Goal of saving $5.00 a week for instance. 
                         Next post will be some ideas on how to nourish your money tree .
                                     Till then , cheers.  

Simplify your lawn the new way

Conventional lawns are over!

This video will show you a great sheet mulching technique to
transform your lawn for better use.

Why maintain a conventional front or back yard anymore?
They are wasteful holdovers from the days when estates wanted
to show off the amount of land they did not need to use for
growing food.

Now: Let's grow food, fruits and flowers and welcome the bees
and butterflies!

Video: (7:31)
http://www.nextworldtv.com/page/10895.html

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==============================================================

A Bright Idea

A Bright Idea

by The Well Admin
May 31, 2012

 

Remember those jars full of fireflies that used to light up the summer nights? Here's an equally innovative, but far less cruel way to light up the sky sans electricity. Whether indoors or outdoors, solar lights can add ambiance to your dinner table, front walk, or make for a really cool backyard chandelier.

Create your own solar lighting with these super easy steps:

Materials 

• Glass frosting spray (Disregard if you already have a frosted jar)
• A flip-top canning jar (make sure the top is NOT frosted—that's how the solar panel charges)
• Clear adhesive (packing tape, glue)
• Any solar light—the simpler, the better for taking apart (See Tap the Well for places to purchase them.) 

Directions (These might sound confusing, but it's much easier than it sounds)

1. Dissemble the jar, and set aside the top—you don't want to frost this; a clear top allows the solar panel to charge. Spray one coat on the jar and set aside to dry.
2. Take the solar light and using a screw driver or a skinny chisel, gently pry the solar panel loose from the surrounding case. Take care to keep all wires intact and then discard the casing.
3. You will be left with the solar panel (still connected to the battery, a small circuit board and the light sensor.)
4. Place the solar panel (face up) and the battery, circuit board and light (face down) in the the hallow casing of the lid. Secure it with adhesive and allow to dry.
5. Set this bad boy out in the sun for a few hours and it'll be ready to go at dusk!

Clever Ways to Benefit from " Stuff".

The Mesh Directory: Explore Clever Ways to Benefit from "Stuff" Without Having to Own It

Have you heard a lot about the "sharing economy" or "collaborative consumption," but don't quite know how to tap into it? A new online directory helps you find enterprising businesses and projects around the world that, collectively, are fostering "a community and economy where access trumps ownership."

The so-called Mesh Directory serves as a clearinghouse for businesses that throw the conventional model of "create, sell, and profit" out the window. Instead, these companies use social media and wireless networks to provide people with goods and services at the exact moment they need them, without the burden and expense of owning them outright.

From bike sharing and home exchanges to peer-to-peer lending, energy cooperatives, and open source design, these businesses are spreading like wildfire. Consider now-household names like Zipcar for car sharing, Kickstarter for fundraising, Groupon for daily deals, and Airbnb for lodging. Or, you can check out less-known companies like Never Liked It Anyway, which bills itself as "a place where once loved gifts from once loved partners get a second chance." Here, users can post ads featuring their unwanted jewelry, wedding paraphernalia, and other items in the hope that there's a willing buyer out there.

The Mesh Directory contains links to hundreds of other websites worth exploring, in categories ranging from kids' stuff and DIY to food & drink, energy, and mobility. And the list is growing daily. According to Lisa Gansky, the site's developer and author of the 2010 book The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing, the Mesh is your essential guide to the new wave of information-enabled commerce that's improving both our communities and our planet.

Simple Living is:



freedom from stuff and over-consumption . 

• 
• living intentionally and with integrity. 
• caring for the Earth and Earth's inhabitants. 
• an act of faith and a spiritual discipline. 
• living ethically. 
• a political act and an economic revolution.
• time tested and patriotic in the spirit of Thoreau. 
• anti-empire and pro-community. 
• our future as a species and a planet.