Ultra Minimalists, Part 1

Thursday, January 23, 2014Wednesday, February 4, 2015 ~ George Crawford

Learning a thing or two from the past…Part 1, 21st century americans are not the first to minimalize.

kylixdonkey — How much stuff do we really need to lug through life?

This is a lengthy ramble. So long in fact, that I have broken it into several posts to be trickled out over the coming days, weeks, or months. Skip on to the fun stuff if you aren’t interested in Minimalist* philosophy. There’s a lot of recent talk about Minimalism as a social movement. Not long ago, it was associated with artists and aesthetes, wanderers, mystics, and philosophers. That is to say, the fringe element, outsiders, and weirdos. These things come in cycles and I think, as a backlash against generations of sell-out philosophy and the creation of a professional consumer class, many people are reaching for something new.

We come to learn that everything old is new again.

I’ve been looking into history and prehistory on a full-time basis for many decades now. As hard to believe as it may be, I even get paid a salary to do it. One of my professional interests involves tools, tool-kits, and strategies for surviving that various people have come up with for dealing with the world. As a primitive skills-survival instructor and full-time frugalist I think it important to not reinvent a lifeway when we have millennia of ancestors who dealt with most of the same issues we do today.

A San bushman demonstrating fire-making. Ostrich egg canteen in the foreground.

For most humans, for most of our history, owning too much stuff has never really been an issue. We had what we needed and either made what we needed or did without the things we didn’t have. It brings a smile to my face to know that more than 2,400 years ago, well-to-do people in China, India, and the Middle East were contemplating the nature and evils of acquiring Stuff; even writing about it. That’s not to say that I have immediate plans to become a wandering mendicant like a medieval friar (as appealing as that might sound to some) but I do have an interest in lightening my material load and some very specific goals for the coming year.

mendicant

My foundation as a minimalist – I have been thinking about what stuff a person needs to survive since I was a teenager. Like virtually every young boy, I had grand ideas of escaping the family and traveling unhindered across the world. I devoured Jack London and Mark Twain stories as a kid. I loved the extensive and well-thought out gear lists provided in the Boy Scout Handbook, the Explorer’s Handbook, and the Philmont Guides. I read Larry Dean Olsen’s great book of Outdoor Survival Skills and Colin Fletcher’s The Complete Walker. I read about the mountain men of the fur trade, and always, took note of what they carried or didn’t seem to need. I would copy lists into a notebook and ponder them while sitting in some boring high school class, making my own lists of what I have, what I need, and what I want. This thinking encouraged me to work and save money to buy a better knife, backpack, or stove. I was probably the only kid I knew who wanted, and got, a file and whetstone for Christmas one year (my grandpa was good that way). My friends and I spent our teens and early twenties hiking and camping year round, mostly in the woods of the Ozarks in southern Missouri testing our mettle at that time in life time when all teenagers know they are invincible. Some of us even made it to Europe, Asia, Africa, and beyond.

In a modern sense of survivalist, many people look to the military or the loonies of teh mainstream media. Often, military service is the time when young men and women are introduced to such things for the first and only time. Realistically however, the military itself acknowledges it’s shortcomings on a personal basis as (with the exception of a few special operations units) its entire system is dependent on lengthy and complex supply lines, support chains, and de-emphasis of the individual and personal decision making. Military survival is therefore, approached as a means of keeping alive until help arrives. Great for fighting a war, but not always so good when you are turned loose into the world.

Coming up next…Ultra Minimalists Part2. Let’s look at a military example anyway: Romans.

* here are a few links to modern Minimalists of various ilks and philosophical merit. A journey through these links will hint at the breadth and depth of people on different paths but moving in the same direction.

Read, research, think, and enjoy!

Go to Part 2

Kitchen Box

Friday, January 17, 2014Friday, January 17, 2014 ~ George Crawford ~ 7 Comments

This is one of those “in progress” posts.

The little home is never done. I don’t expect it ever will be and I think that’s great. Trying to approach a balance that will be perfect enough to live in yet stay within the reality of time, money, and general laziness. Since the beginning, I have wanted an exterior kitchen on the vardo but, at first, I was obsessed with size and weight (or lack thereof). Over the last few months I decided to jump in on the project but, being determined to spend as little money as possible, I awaited materials to appear.

Still determined to keep the weight as low as possible, I piled up the kitchen basics on my floor and figured out an approximate volume. Two small stoves, a kettle, coffee pot, cafetiere, a couple of cooking pots, tea tins, coffee cans, and some miscellaneous space. A few essential cooking utensils for good measure. Not much really. I decided I can store the less frequently used implements inside the truck or in the tool boxes of the wagon. With that examination made, the final design was almost infinitely more simple than my initial thoughts (which contained shelves, niches, and little drawers that only add weight but some real coolness, to the overall box). These may be added later though. So here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

Upcycling some old pine 1 x 12″ shelving boards, I decided to use these as the basic building unit and the building began. Essentially, I created a box about 33″ tall by 21″ wide with two morticed-in shelves. I wanted a fold down shelf to cook on when on the roadside or at a temporary campground and for this, I found a couple hinges off an old secretary desk (I save lots of hardware) and old steel drawer pull that came in a box of junk from some auction years ago. To attach the door, an old piano hinge that needed a little scraping a brushing to remove some ancient enamel paint was located and brushed up.

Old steel industrial drawer pull being installed with some recycled stainless screws.

The door will serve as a wind block for food prep or cooking.

Still some tweaking and finishing up to do before we hit the road but it’s finally coming together.

While I ponder how to lock it up in a more secure way, a small latch from an old box does the trick for the moment.

I should mention here that I did buy star-drive, stainless steel screws for the construction so I’m now into the project for about $6.00 of real money. More to follow soon I hope!

Sheep Camp

Saturday, January 11, 2014Saturday, January 11, 2014 ~ George Crawford ~ 4 Comments

Cruising the interwebs this morning, looking for some images of caravans I came across this nice sheep wagon on Blacksmith Angel’s Tumblr blog. I love the photo but there’s no information with it.