I Haven't Changed...It's You

It's possible that some of you think I am suddenly becoming crazed and extreme in my desire to simplify my life and to save money where it is unnecessary to spend it. If this is so then you must not know my background well. I think, then it is time for a wee primer on my origins, my life as the daughter of an herbal hippie mother. The only thing my mother would probably not do is to use cloth wipes and cloth pads. But that's because she hates doing laundry. She used cloth diapers (at least with me) so I know that in concept she's totally fine with the idea.

• I grew up with a mother who believed in going to the doctor as little as possible. Only for extreme cases did she take us in. We got our required vaccinations and that was it. When we were sick we hardly ever even got an aspirin. We got herbal tea, soup, hot baths, and bed. We almost never got antibiotics.

• My mother grew as much as she could in her own garden. She has always had a garden and there has always been at least some herb and some vegetable growing in it. Most people we knew in Ashland Oregon did the same.

• We kept chickens for years for the eggs and the fun of having them. Yep, chickens are damn fun animals! Although my mother (at the time) was vegetarian so we didn't butcher any of our hens or roosters, many of our neighbors butchered theirs. No one thought it was extreme to keep and eat their own animals.

• My mom routinely made her own yogurt. Yes, you can buy it, but why buy it when you can make it for cheaper and better at home? I haven't begun making my own yogurt yet but I do make my own ricotta which is cheaper and better when I make it myself. Lots of people back then made their own yogurt. It would have disgusted almost everyone to have bought plastic tubes of blue yogurt for their kids.

• My mother canned a lot of fruit and juice every year. She doesn't have fond memories of making the grape juice but she made the best fruit butters, sauces, and her canned spiced peaches that she got from the local farmer's market will live in my memory as one of the greatest treats of my childhood. I only wish she had written down her recipe.

• My mother kept a clean house. Well, I always have to point out that eventually it was me who actually did most of the hard core cleaning... but she had (to my memory) only one nasty chemical cleaner in the house that she saved for only the gnarliest jobs. We always used Bon Ami to clean the bathrooms. She used Bon Ami because it doesn't have any toxic chemicals in it. She used it because her mother had always used it. What do you need Ajax for when you can use plain old chalk to do just as good of a job without poisoning your family?

• My mom never bought antibacterial soaps. Why? Because they are really bad for you. Our country has become increasingly obsessed with a fear of germs. Regular soap and water takes care of them just fine. How do I know? Because if our home and our habits were breeding grounds for bacteria then I would have spent a lot more time being sick as a kid. Kids now get sick all the time. We got sick once a year. Antibacterial soaps are just helping the bacterias to become stronger, more virulent in nature, and harder to fight off naturally. I have never bought antibacterial soap myself and never will. The more chemicals we use to keep the bacteria at bay the more sick our country seems to be getting. Doesn't anyone else see the connection?

• Eventually my mom got her herbalists certificate. She made ointments and first aid supplies, and tinctures herself. She gave them all to us kids too. I used her comfrey salve quite a lot and it was great. It is my mom's influence that had me making my own shampoo when I was 19 years old. It is my mom's influence that has me always growing medicinal herbs in addition to the culinary ones. She has been my inspiration for learning to make medicinal salves and lip balm. (Although I still have to perfect my lip balm before I'll be truly satisfied.)

• My mom has used tooth powder on and off for years. She is always willing to try the natural version of any commercial product. Not all of them are as effective as could be wished. But it is always worth trying something new that is made without the use of harmful chemicals. My mom has been a trailblazer in this department. I have so many friends who, like me, are interested in finding the less toxic version of every household item, and for me my mom has been the greatest inspiration.

• Nothing ever entered the house I grew up in that had High Fructose Corn Syrup. Nothing. OK, wait...once a year we were allowed to go trick or treating and my mom never cruelly took away our candy. But nothing came into our house that used highly processed ingredients through the usual grocery list. In fact, we never even had regular white cane sugar. We had: date sugar (not my fave), honey, and molasses. I think we once in a while had brown sugar. She did it on the principle that the more processed a food is the less good it is for our body. She actually did research on the subject. The more processed your food is, the less it has to offer your body. Period end.

• We used cloth napkins and dishtowels growing up. We always had paper towels and paper napkins available, but I remember that we either often or always used cloth. We also used dish towels in the kitchen. In my own kitchen I use dish towels for almost everything. Less hygienic than paper towels? Not true. If you have any common sense at all you would figure out that you need to change out your dishtowels every day or every other day depending on how much you use them. I do buy paper towels, but rarely. I have very special uses for them and so I buy one roll every few months. Extreme? Life of deprivation? Hell no. Dish towels are much nicer.

• I was raised by a woman with a strong connection to the earth, what's healthy for both us and the earth. This isn't new radical thinking, people. It is only in the past century that people have disconnected themselves from their food sources (how many of you have plucked a chicken? Ask the same question 100 years ago and nearly half of everyone you ask would say yes!) and away from common sense. It is only in the past sixty years that we have become germ obsessed to the point of making the bacteria situation way worse.

• I was raised by a woman who was exploring all of these ideas long before me. Long before my friends. My mother, and many other people in the late sixties and seventies, were looking at the same situation we are now: the necessity to stop dependence on fossil fuel to run our society. It didn't go mainstream back then. I hope it does now. It isn't like you have to go back to the dark ages and throw your piss out your window into the streets, be sensible!

The subject of change is not one that, for me, has only come up now that everyone else is freaking out about a depression. I have been working along this path for many years now and through the influence of my mother it's more like getting back to my roots than an extreme life makeover. It's a slow process. You don't make tons of change over night. I'm not going to do cloth wipes tomorrow. I'm not ready. But I have the grace to recognize that it is not only a valid option but one that may eventually become necessary. Those who do it prefer it to scratchy toilet paper and they are quite hygienic people.

I made my own shampoo when I was nineteen using castile soap and herbs I made into a decoction myself. It was fun. My spirit came alive. I felt like a kid mixing potions from the dirt and the plants in my mom's garden. I really loved the shampoo, actually, it smelled great and felt great. It made me feel capable.

When I moved into our first house and had my very own garden for the first time in my life I found myself immediately rediscovering my mom's secrets: always plant sage. Always plant lovage. Always grow something you can eat. Always grow flowers for the birds, bees, and butterflies. It is as natural as breathing, these concepts. It took no effort for me to not plant any lawn. Every success I had felt like making another little connection with the ground under my feet. Botany, food, beauty. Are these things puritanical or crazy?

The difference between those who survive things like economic depressions and those who do not is a) common sense b) understanding the need of reciprocity* c) resourcefulness. I just read a passage of MFK Fisher's on some one's blog the other day that really struck home and I entreat you to go read it near the end of her post. Common sense is not something the people of the current generation in my country are famous for. We've lost touch. I'm lucky that I grew up the way I did. It's like coming home to make my own body products. It isn't crazy, it's better living. It also happens to save you money in a lot of cases.

So, for me, this economic downturn is just another excuse, (as if I needed any), to refocus my efforts on making my household more natural and less resource sucking than ever before. It is merely offering me the inspiration to redouble my efforts to simplify and learn more of what I've already been learning and doing for years now. I haven't changed, it's a lot of people around me who are changing, or refusing to change.

Like the people who refused to leave the mountain when Mt. St. Helens erupted, those who refuse change now will suffer more than those who embrace it early before the fire really touches them.

My previous post offers a way to narrow down different things you can tackle. It isn't an entreaty to do all these things right now. In fact, it isn't an entreaty at all. I'm not making more than half those changes right now myself. But the first step to making change is to recognize where change can be made.

If all you do this year is stop using toxic chemicals to clean your house you will have made great strides in improving the health of both your family and the earth.

I have already made that step so I'm on to the next one.

It isn't being extreme to make these changes, it's extreme to make none.

*Reciprocity is necessary to get along in tough times. Sharing resources with your neighbors. Trading eggs for fabric, or sharing tools...people have depended on it for thousands of years. It is how we help each other through rough times. When we pool what we have we have a lot more. Although this is the concept behind "Communes" which I think are an awful way to live. It is entirely possible to have your own home but still practice being a great asset to your local community and share your resources with your neighbors. I only lived in a commune until I was five years old but it has left an indelible bitter impression in my spirit. So I believe in fostering communal support without communal living.