Evolution

Thinking about the way forward has had me thinking about how it is I and we have come to the place we are, and where exactly that is. Not necessarily our home, though that is a reflection of the place we are, but the place of mind and perspective on how we want to live. Without really being aware of it, there has been a definite evolution over the years since we first started out together. From a focus on being ecologically minded, environmentally conscious as a means to an end, we've moved to a place of simple, sustainable living, as a means to being environmentally conscious, but more than that as well.

What do we mean by "simple, sustainable living"? At the place we are now, and the vision we have that we would like to live true to, it involves a number of things. It means living simply in the sense of (trying to) not fill our lives and home with lots of material things. The whole "less is more" idea. And in trying to live simply, to focus on living authentically and with a greater understanding and knowledge of where the things we do have come from and the impact they make. In some cases that means making or doing things for ourselves, because how much more value does a plate of fresh-cooked vegetables or a plate of scrambled eggs have when you know exactly where they came from and actually put in your own energy to help produce, or how much more is the winter chill chased away by a fire made with wood that you cut down, split and stacked yourselves than paying the oil (or gas or electric...) company? It brings us untold satisfaction to do these and other things for ourselves, to live creatively. In some cases that means voting with our dollars, to buy things that will last, are produced locally, or will have added benefit (i.e. fair trade items, organic foods...) A side effect, so to speak, of these choices is more sustainable living, a smaller footprint, our small vote for a better way of living and more sustainable future. And, while not the entire picture, that is not a small thing.

The statement on our blog "Intentionally simple, because complexity just makes us tired" is somewhat paradoxical. As our perspective has evolved to focus more on living simply and authentically, sustainably, our lives have at the same time become more simple but also more complex: growing our own vegetables, raising chickens for eggs, tapping trees to make maple syrup, baking our own bread instead of picking those things up at the grocery store, cutting down trees and splitting wood to help heat the house instead of just turning up the thermostat and calling for another oil delivery, etc. Those things all, undoubtedly, make our daily lives more complex.

A big influence for me in all this has been learning more about the food industry. In all the reading I've done, one thing that stands out to me very clearly is how interconnected things are. Within the food industry, but from there expanding in ever-widening circles until there is little that is left untouched by how we as a country (largely) produce our food. That, I think, is perhaps the major way my thinking has evolved over the last ten years or so, to understand more fully how complex the issue(s) of living sustainably are and how it's just not possible to look at one facet in isolation. So in trying to be intentionally simple, we are opened up to a whole new world of complexities. But, somehow, I find these complexities to be comforting and real, affirming, simple. Such that choices you make can lead to a win-win situation: when I pull a loaf of homemade bread out of the oven, or cook up a pot of garden fresh broccoli, I get to enjoy the tasty goodness, I know what is in the bread, and it's all ingredients I can pronounce and have in my kitchen, I know that the broccoli was grown without any chemicals, and I know that at least for that moment in that admittedly small way, I am voting with my time and resources for a way of life that I believe in. It is a simple act with rich and complex effects and implications. This is what we are trying, quite imperfectly, but always learning, to do.