I want my kids to be excited about living like that... I want to give them a practical gift for Christmas (like a tin cup and a little white sugar cake) and have them be GLEEFUL! I want that...

do you think the Amish would take in a hippie like me? I am not poking fun... I totally admire them in the fullest. Even if it meant giving up the internet. lol...

Love Val

Yes, we are reading LH on the Prairie, just finished LH in the Big Woods.

And guess what? Katie DOES want to live like that. My mom took us to Disney, and in the bathroom Katie comes out with, "You know? We shouldn't use electricity like this, every day. Because then we get used to it...and then we use too much of it, and it hurts the Earth. If we didn't have it at all, we wouldn't miss it. I wish there was no electricity."

And she tells everyone that we are going to sell all our stuff, and sell our house, and "travel around the world" in two years. :D

After that she would like to get land, build a cabin, and live in it. We are not to have electricity or running water, she says. LOL! She has been on this kick for months now.

I want to do it while she still has the urge, before the TV gets hold of her mind. I'm only half-kidding.

Oh, and she was so sad at the start of the second book, when they leave the cabin...she couldn't believe they would never see it again. :wah:

This is the same child who says to me tonight, "Alli and Kelly [my cousin and her friend] told me they think I am smarter than *they* are, because I use words like 'devour.'" I ask her, "what does devour mean?" "To eat." "To eat slow or fast?" "It means eat really fast, doesn't it, mom?" :eek: Sorry...she just wows me like that sometimes. Had to share!

Val I swear you and I tend to be on the same wavelength LOL I just re-read the 9 book Little House series. Just love it.

I would love to live more simply too.

I would love to live somewhat like that, but with the bugs I couldn't imagine an outhouse, and the smell!!
I would like running water and solar electricity, but I would love a cabin like they had.
I would love the simplicity, but I wouldn't want to have to lug water all day!:eek:

Also, they had to hand-sew, or peddle sew everything. They had to wash all laundry (even poopy dipes) on a washboard. Not my idea of fun :p
But, I would still like to simplify some. :)

Well and when you get down to brass tactics you would not really be able to live like that, and be socially inclined at all. A friend of my neighboors and I got into a discussion about it, and he was talking about the price of paper back then, and the price of sugar vs molasses because of the processing (which SHOULD still be the same way, but of course is not), you know? Things can not go backwards. But I keep thinking of growing most of my own food, living where we are building everything, espically like beds, chairs, benches etc. Just being self sustainable enough... I mean some of the conviences of today ARE progress. They all got Malaria when they frist came west... they would have died if not for the willow bark tea for the asprin content. Now we know things like that... but I just want the simple life. Where I wake up on sundays and make butter... where I make my kids gifts and they appriciate them, and don't always want more in the manner of todays children (I think that humans always want more and that IS the way progress is made.) But just to be happy with the land, the family, and the work. I would love to live such a dream. I can have some of that... Don is willing to live in a HOUSE (running water, cable internet and all... must be a house...LOL) with about 5 acres that I can wild craft, and work the land on. Within our family we are coming to a comromise with the times, and with our priorities. I just think it would be SO cool!

Love Val

We plan on doing it. We did it - no running water in Alaska for a year, did cloth dipes. Up there no one minds if you are smelly, because everyone is...so it is socially doable, you just have to go to the Last Frontier. :)

We plan on living in a tent or trailer on our land while we build a modest home. Although we have decided that before we even build the house, we will have a well dug and build a bathhouse, with laundry facilities, shower and tub and toilet.

An outhouse is not buggy if you maintain it properly. It doesn't smell bad, either. However, I was terrified of toddler Katie falling in there.

As for water, we had it much easier than the Ingalls. We could drive to an artesian spring and fill our 5-gallon jugs. We'd fill about 6 at a time and that would last us half a week. Think about that - 60 gallons of water a week, *max*! Pretty impressive. Oh, we did use the laundromat and take showers there twice a week, too, so it's really more than that. But the rest washed dishes, we drank it, washed up with it, and so on.

how laundry is accomplished? Me I for one would rather be Amish and use gas powered or even hand cranked wringer washers! I would not appreciate using a wash tub with a wash board!!! LOL! (Just kidding!)

In my house we practice moderation; for Christmas we only give the children 1-3 gifts plus some little treats like a big lollypop or a pack of Tic-Tacs and a yo-yo in their stocking. While they appreciate it at home they are still dazzled by the display their Nanny puts on (my DH's mother)!!! She buys them 12-18 presents *each*!

I think we can live a modern life without being wasteful and careless and find happiness. I think being involved with family and having family over for family sleepovers when relatives are in town is fun!

*I do so enjoy reading "Little House" Books that eventually we bought them all over the years even those abbreviated ones for beginning readers. We take out the Christmas scene paper dolls at Christmas so it feels like Christmas here in sultry Central FL!

Originally posted by mamabear
We could drive to an artesian spring and fill our 5-gallon jugs. We'd fill about 6 at a time and that would last us half a week.

I have family in Sitka and when I visited that was the highlight of my trip. I loved filling up those jugs at the artesian spring!

posted by volvomom:
I think we can live a modern life without being wasteful and careless and find happiness. I think being involved with family and having family over for family sleepovers when relatives are in town is fun!

Truly we can live a simpler life in this modern world.

Here are just a few examples of things that this thread has reminded me of:

I remember a time when we only had two children. My oldest was about 5y. One afternoon she asked me what was for dinner. I told her Bean Soup. She danced a little jig right then and there. Our children really are a product of their upbringing. If the parents are materialistic or simplistic, chances are that is how their children will be. A few of my children have never even been to a mall. We don't have a mall close - mostly have to drive an hour in one direction or another. But, the older children have only been to a mall for specific reasons. We have never - ever gone shopping just to go shopping. Bernice made a wonderful post about *not* shopping just for the sake of shopping. I think she said it is one of many great things we can do for our earth.
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Several months back my best friend was at the library and saw another mutual friend of ours who is a very "natural" type of mama and very earth conscious. She has a baby the same age as Katie (2.5y). My best friend overheard this conversation between our mutual friend's older son and his mom. "Mom, let's take the elevator!" "No, that is a waste of electricity".

Now, who ever thought of not taking the elevator as an earth-conscious thing to do. As ecology and conservation minded as I am, I must admit that it just never occurred to me. Here I think I do all that I can for the earth and for my own family's budget and there is just sooooo much more that I haven't even thought of.
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I don't think we need to live without running water in order to live a more simple life. We can do it right here, right now in whatever situations we find ourselves in. :)

I love this piece, and it speaks to some of the things brought up in this thread, about living simply right now vs waiting for "the land" (which I agree with, and aspire to, myself):

http://www.homestead.com/peaceandcarrots/HowNotToBecomeAHomesteader.html

I read it whenever I need a lift. :)

I wish sometimes we could 'go back'. Esp. with all these bills adding up right now for stuff like car insurance, property tax, etc.

I've been reading to Morgan every night from tbe Little House series. :)