Sunday, June 26, 2011

Some preliminary Off-Grid John videos.

As some of you know, I have decided to move to the off-grid location very shortly.  This is both for personal, artistic, ethical and situational reasons (meaning concerns about the economy, etc).  I plan on documenting a lot of my what I do there on this blog and on videos that will end up on my YouTube channel.  I am doing this because I am a vain little glory pig and a publicity whore...

(ahem)

What I meant to say was that I am going to document my trials and tribulations and joys so those of you who are interested in the Voluntary Simplicity lifestyle can see how a guy who has spent most of his life in the concrete jungle copes with living in the woods in a 200sqft yurt with no plumbing, electrical hookup, or gas or electric heat.  I think this is a worthwhile project as I suspect that this is a lifestyle that may become one that people may be living in the near future when they have no choice in the matter...the choice may be made for them by circumstance...so the more we can learn NOW, the better off we'll be.

I have already shot a few videos that I am putting up here.  Two are just of a couple comical encounters with birds and one is a video about foraging.  I have a couple more of a tree-felling and a potato storage experiment that I have yet to edit, and then I will be shooting all kinds of new videos!

MUCH more to come...and MUCH more of a pragmatic and hopefully useful nature.




8 comments:

  1. This is an excellent post, John, and I look forward to your future videos. Congratulations and good luck.

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  2. I'd like to explore some of this myself. I'm at the Cook/Lake county border. I'm fascinated that you left the city and are 'going for it'. Keep us posted, please! I think you'd be a good virtual mentor for me in this regard. Thank you, John!

    D

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  3. @c0zmikn0mad-

    Well, thank you for saying so.

    I'll definitely be doing more foraging videos, but the two guys out there that have been virtual mentors for me are

    http://www.eattheweeds.com/www.EatTheWeeds.Com/EatTheWeeds.com/EatTheWeeds.com.html

    and

    http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/

    I also have a fair smattering of books that have been incredibly valuable to me...but they are all in boxes right now...I'll put them up in a future post once I get unpacked.

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  4. Great post John. My Great grandmother and I used to sit out on her porch swing a dusk and listen to all the birds. She knew all their names. Whiperwill was my favorite. You should try getting a percussion sample of a Whiperwill and add it to the mix!
    I also loved the lesson about how hemlock and Wild Carrot look pretty much the same. My friend Cindy Parker is an herbalist. She follows my blog. I am gonna send her a link to that video. She could probably do a series.

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  5. Thank you! Hopefully one I have gotten used to all the workarounds I have to use to get things done I will be able to post a lot more prolifically and do a lot more videos like that.

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  6. Hi John. I post as Limping Wolf at some of the same forums. I just watched all of your videos on this site and thoroughly enjoyed them all!

    I love the way you are living at your place. It's a near perfect template for what I hope to accomplish in Northern Michigan where I hope to relocate to before too long. Watching your videos reminded me of my home away from home.

    Regarding your Wild Carrot vs. Poison Hemlock video, it is my experience that the matter is settled if the root smells like a carrot. Poison Hemlock roots do not smell like carrots. "Wild carrot has a carrot-like taste and smell while poison hemlock tastes somewhat like parsnip and has a mouse-like smell" - http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weedguide/singlerecord.asp?id=550

    Keep up the great work with the videos. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your progress and learning more from you. You have come a very long way since your early LATOC days. Very impressive! ;)

    BTW - Great music, too!

    LW

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  7. LW...thank you! I always enjoy your posts on the forums.

    If I had a better sense of smell I'd trust Wild Carrot a bit more...I have about a half of what a normal person has.

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