If you are looking for inspiration for a life less consumed by consumerism check out The High Art and Subtle Science of Scrounging by master scrounger Jim Juczak. Whether its the $50 car or how to find free building materials people will thank you for taking, or tips on finding and storing free, wholesome foods, this book will encourage you and pay for itself over and over. In honor of James' tenure at Wheaton Labs this summer co-teaching the Appropriate Technology Course, the eBook is available here for a special low price.
I give this book 9.5 out of 10 acorns. This book is truly fantastic! The author was a teacher in a previous life (although, I gotta say, as another teacher, one never stops being a teacher, even in you retire!). His skill as a teacher is evident in how neatly and understandably the information is laid out. This book is both easy to read as well as PACKED full of information. It's also really interesting. I've stayed up past my bedtime quite a few times to read a few more pages!
It's about a whole lot more than just "scrounging," too. Here's just some of the things you'll learn about:
money management
building your own home,
finding affordable structures to live in while you build your own home
how to approach people to ask about stuff they have lying around
places and people to ask about free stuff
what tools to take with you to take apart cars for parts at a pick-a-part yard (we'll be using this info in just a few days!)
how to barter
how to glean
easier ways to ram tires full of dirt for earthship homes
why it's important to scrounge (save money, save the earth, be prepared for harder economic times due to peak oil)
some of his creative uses for scrounged items
how to raise your kids to be skilled, sustainable, and adults who can survive
how & why to well-insulate your home
cheap/free vacation ideas
where to get a free dinner
and a whole lot more!
Some of the scrounged items mentioned in the book are more...toxic than others, and there isn't a discussion about the downsides of scrounging and using more toxic oil-based paints or chemical solvents. And, there's some repetition in the book where things are said almost exactly the same in more than one place (though, this really isn't a bad thing, as it helps reinforce those ideas).
I have learned so much from this book, and will definitely be sharing it with my husband (who took me dumpster diving before we were even dating, and frequently brings home treasures he finds in dumpsters and road sides and the dump. Fencing saved from the dump is SO much better than flowers or candy!). I had not known that there were affordable handpumps that I could install on my electric well, or what tools we'd need to take apart cars a junkyard, or that I could make my own mozzarella in less than 30 minutes, or that an old propane fridge could be brought back to life by turning it upside down and taking it for a ride on a bumpy road.
James has packed this book full of a wealth of information, and the information is presented in a way that empowers you to think that, you too, can scrounge. The illustrations are fun and useful. There's a good-sized bibliography at the end with citations and further research. I think this is a book everyone can benefit from reading, and everyone will learn something from.
Love this thread and James Juczak's book. Anything that is saved from going to landfill is great in my opinion.
Piece of Trivia: Here in Australia researchers found that the people most likely to dumpster dive were not the homeless but were school teachers. Makes sense, many of them would be exposed to the latest info on why it's important to reuse, re-purpose and recycle and intelligent enough to follow through on doing just that.
Teachers also are usually pretty poor, and need a lot of resources for teaching, as they are usually not provided by the school. And, since they're dumpster diving for their students/teaching, there's less guilt/awkwardness.
(I used to be a teacher, and it is a lot easier to say, "I'm digging through your trash for things I could use in my lessons" than, "I want your trash for myself.")
Just a bump on this! Out of curiosity I looked for it on Amazon Prime, they wanted $22.00 for it used and still no kindle but there is only one. I would love to get it on Kindle but still, the price here is a lot better!
One of the neat things about PDFs, is that they can usually be sent to one's Kindle device for easy, low power reading on the go, too, rather than just a computer or smartphone.
Here's more info for people who may want to store all their permaculture digital PDF goodness on their Kindle reader:
Nicole Alderman wrote: my husband (who took me dumpster diving before we were even dating, and frequently brings home treasures he finds in dumpsters and road sides and the dump.
Ha ha ha, something to treasure and pass down the generations.
My missus gives me this look whenever I bring home free gems. The operative word is FREE. I once scored a wall fan which was practically brand new. I think modern fans have the wrong sintered bearings which seize, blow the thermal fuse and render the whole fan junk. I think it started with Mistral whose fans actually caught fire.
I used this fan and if I add oil to the bearings{I found out that the early electric fans had a built in oiler to lubricate their bearings. Someone should retro-engineer today's electric fans} occasionally, it worked perfectly.
Unfortunately this oil I used attracted dust and one day gummed it so bad the thermal fuse blew. I was asleep and awoke to a dead fan. The trick to repairing this fan is to disconnect the thermal fuse which is buried in the windings and attach this to a thermal switch which you secure to the stator of the motor. I cut the wrong wire and while this is now junk, I can still use this as a rotary thingy for something I have yet to build{a windlass perhaps to haul and lower stuff from the balcony}. I have several such motors salvaged from discarded fans. One day, one day.
So I bought a new fan. I tested this fan against another fan at the store by directing them at each other. I held a hand fan{you can use a piece of cardboard} in the middle and moved it until it was vertical. The greater the distance, the more powerful the fan. So I settled on a Midea fan from their Strong Wind Series.
This time I measured the temperature at the stator under low, medium and high settings. For your edification, here are the readings:
low 40W33 52c1,
medium 43W86 55c,
high 53W12 57c4
all measured at 32c9 ambient room temperature. with a cooking thermometer and a power meter.
40w33 means 40.33 watts and 52c1 means 52.1 centigrade.
So if the thermal fuse blows on this baby, I should look for a 60c thermal switch.
This fan is rated at 55W.
This fan is so powerful that I have hardly used the medium or high setting.
My father was an eminent Garblogist. He pulled 100 prints out of a dumpster once and ten years later sold them for $1,000 @ That was a $100,000 dumpster dive. Don't belittle the art of diving.
Roger
I am posting this because I just recieved the Ebook by James Juczak. Wished I saw this earlier. I really enjoy James' honest from the heart style of delivery. It is refreshing to see someone actually sharing thoughts on a somewhat taboo subject. As James says, it is all because of our matrix(societal) conditioning.
I spent many years a slave to the system, making good money and not lacking or wanting. Don't get me wrong I was always thinking about some new shiny car or gadget. I found that to continue to do so would come at a cost.
Life took a hard turn south when out of the blue I suffered a major brainstem swelling , presumably with undiagnosed encephalitis, with immune system dysfunction which attacked random organs. It attacked my skin, which felt like burns from hives so painful, an actual attack by hundred bees would be better. I had lost much of my short term memory (bodies'way of self preservation?). None of this helped as I happened to own businesses that relied on my wearing many hats.
I had no idea what was happening to me, and struggled with simple tasks. My health issues coincided with tragedy of a key employee's family member. I gave whatever time she needed to heal and settle affairs.
I prayed for healing and very slowly, over a couple years, I recovered my health and memory.
While all this was happenning, Tax and legal troubles loomed. A ruling making all tax debts personal and not business was financially devastating, and would take another ten years to resolve.
These events ultimately cost me my marriage, my businesses and my dream custom post and beam house. I now understand when someone says you need to loose everything to be free. It is a strange concept until you have lived it.
Sometime after, I discover Paul Wheaton and Friends at Permies.com/ Richsoil.com. What I learned appealed to me. I discovered I could live a permaculture lifestyle.
Even if I no longer have a 'homestead' to call home, all I needed was to live a 'permie life' mindset. I accepted frugality, the pleasure in most smallest of things and now I feel very fulfilled. I have been blessed so much. I can now re-gift to others in knowledge and or things I no longer need.
My parents grew up in the depression and I feel like I did too. I dad was a flight mechanic in the army air corps and about 30 of his fellow soldiers wrote up a certificate they all signed. He was named Master of Procurement. I find I am a lot like him. I once found a drug store going out of business and the dumpster was full of shelving and peg boards and the hand carried shopping baskets. Now I had recently had my knee reconstructed and had a brace from my ankle to my hip. I was on crutches also. So using one crutch I climbed into the dumpster and threw everything out. Then climbed out and loaded into my truck. I got home and told my dad if he would unload it he could have the peg boards for his shop. He unloaded it and kept everything. Oh well.
Growing up we never bought tires. My brothers would go to the alley behind the tire store and pick through the tires that had been thrown out (they had permission) . Their idea of a fun Saturday night was alley picking.
Needless to say I related to the book a lot. Thanks
If anyone is going to be near West Bend Wisconsinthe weekend of September 16-17, James Juczak and Uncle Mud are running the Building and Energy Stage at The MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR at the Washington County Fair Park & Conference Center. We hope you will join us for the fair and maybe a little Natural Builders/Permies get-together Friday night before the fair.
Our currently scheduled seminars and hands-on workshops list looks a lot like a mini Permies gathering at Wheaton Labs.
Build a $25 Composting Toilet
Save 50% or More on Your Power Bill
Fairy Houses to Forts: Hands On Mud Building for Kids
The High Art and Subtle Science of Scrounging
Hands On: Build Your Own Wood-Fired Pizza Oven From Dirt
Water for the Homestead
Clean Free Heat for your Home or Greenhouse with a Rocket Mass Heater
Mortgage Free: Strategies for NOT Having a Mortgage.
Alternative Energy Systems for the Average Person: Solar, Wind and Microhydro.
Building Codes for the Owner-Builder
Hands On: Building with Cob
Hands On: How to Stop Being Afraid of Power Tools
*Please check the schedule online before you come because things may change.
There are several other stages with lectures and workshops plus vendors for everything Permaculture from Homestead Livelihoods to Herbal Remedies to electric tractors to Earth-Friendly-living books.
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