…all last weekend - the temperatures were in the 70’s on Saturday we had a “cold spell” on Sunday (it got into the 50’s during the day). The weather has been warm enough over the past couple of weeks for trees to start pollinating and this calla lily to be fooled into blooming. I’m writing this on Tuesday evening and the temperature in the morning is forecast to be in the low 30s and upper 20s - so much for spring.
In discussing gardens and growing and farming, Benita and I have referred to living a simple life (some folks make Amish references about us). And not only about gardening, but in other areas also. Some time in 2007 we became aware of how little we watched the 50 +/- cable channels we had so we had our cable disconnected and began watching broadcast channels. We didn’t miss the cable. Then in July 2008 I found myself becoming angry every day as I read the newspaper. There was generally some story about some new horrendous murder that had occurred or other gloom and doom that made me realize what a crazy world we live in. So, in response to this I had the newspaper subscription discontinued. Instead of reading the gloom and doom I found myself going outside to eat my breakfast on the back porch. My son would sometimes come outside and began commenting on how he liked to hear the birds sing. We would watch hummingbirds and bees feed on the bottle brush bush. The most recent event that we think of as simplifying our lives is when the microwave oven finally went out sometime in December. Benita didn’t want to get a new one because of some things she had read about food cooked in microwaves - we haven’t gotten a new one and we have rarely missed the microwave.
What I have been thinking about lately though is that we are not so much simplifying our lives as we are making deliberate choices. There is nothing simple about milling wheat and making bread; there is nothing simple about making soap (have you ever tried to buy lye at Wal-Mart?); to re-heat food we have to think ahead about 15 minutes in order for leftovers to be heated well.
Really, it’s about being deliberate rather than simply accepting whatever the norm is. We make choices to cook healthier foods at home rather than eating convenience foods; we are making choices about the lifestyle we want rather than living the fast-paced hurry up lifestyles of others with small children. We have our children in some activities (TaeKwonDo and dance) but I would bet their young lives would be just as full and well-rounded without these activities.
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