living "in touch"

As I've been house sitting an off-the-grid 3 acre property, I've come to love living so close to my humanity. When it's cloudy, I limit my energy use so that I don't exhaust the supply of stored solar power. When it's sunny, I can't make excuses for not vacuuming.

Living off-the-grid does take more time and planning. I use an "old fashioned" washer to hand agitate and wring my clothes and a wood stove to heat the house and water as well as to cook. I need to be mindful of when I want to shower (on a cloudy day when there's no solar gain) and bake so that the fire can heat in time.

For food, when the chickens aren't laying, I ration the eggs that are in the pantry. I eat vegetables from the garden and beans that have been grown, dried and shelled. Chocolate, imported cheese and Brazil nuts are treats.

In some ways life is more challenging and I can't respond quickly to my cravings. But I'm connected to my own sustenance in ways I've never been before and all these actions are full of meaning. And maybe that's what life is really about: growing, harvesting, making and responding to the earth.