Meli Mot

Thank you! I have responded via purple moosage.

I would consider other genders if totally platonic and petfree, with no keeping of animals because it is a wilderness and protected forest so the wildlife has priority.

I am a single, slim, physical, playful, vegan 54 year old female with no children or pets. I own 13+ acres of woodlands with two fully finished tiny cabins, water catchment system, daylight drive DC microgrid solar power, humanure compost system, and have been planting fruit and nut trees for a future fruit forest in addition to foraging. Seeking a female partner who also desires offgrid simple living, hiking, storytelling, campfires, affection, and building a beautiful eco-conscious future together, ideally with a small women's ecovillage. There is a queer-friendly town nearby for dressing up and getting out sometimes too!

Purple moosage me if you are interested!

I live rurally and offgrid and have no vehicle and do not drive. I mail order dry beans and grains and some other basics, and forage for the rest. If i really feel the need to leave "campus", there is the rural transit program (i believe it is a nationwide thing?). Just have to call 3-5 days in advance and request a ride. In my area, it costs $3 per ride per county.

I am interested in pursuing clothing self-sufficiency in my totally perennial vegan food forest vision. My first thought was using nettles, as i have a nice patch of them. However i noticed yesterday that deer eat them (i do too), stems and all. So i don't want to take away their food. I was looking into making clothes from bark. Apparently many cultures including the Ainu in Japan, traditional Hawaiians and Ugandans also have used bark to make clothes. For some trees, the bark even grows back, so it is a renewable resource!

Has anyone ever done this? I wonder if any trees could work in my mesic hardwood forest, which has tuliptree, maple, oak, sassafras, hickory, beech, mainly?

I have been using a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.4", SM-T307U, for 3.5 years since i have been offgrid. I got it used on eBay for $90. It works offline and has a slot for a SIM card. I use an Amish vendor with a basic data plan for just $20 a month. I make calls using Google Voice. I use it for all my needs, i do not have a computer or phone. The only issue i have had lately is humidity, and so i bought some desiccant packs and keep it and its charging cables in a bag with dessicant packs when not in use.

Thank you for the quick reply! So fascinating how age-old traditions quickly got changed by modernity!

I do "intermittent fasting" daily, eating only between 4am and 8am, nothing else all day but water. It makes life a lot easier to not have to make a fire to cook and wash dishes multiple times a day, as r ranson mentioned above. I don't get hungry because i am eating to satiety.

"That corner of England had 4 extra letters in the alphabet when my dad went to school,"

Wow, what were the letters?

I do not take showers or baths.

I have long hair (to my waist), i never shampoo or wet it at all, except around once a month when I henna/indigo it. I just 2x daily, "scritch" and "scratch" (fingernail and fingertip scalp massage),  and comb with sandalwood comb and real horn comb. I never use soaps, shampoo, or water at all on my hair, except the henna/indigo paste and rinsing it out, around every 4 weeks. I agree with above mention, of cleaning one's combs every so often of sebum. I use a strip of dental floss to clean between the tines of the combs. I only do this when i notice that combing doesn't seem to be effective on removing grease. Then i know it is time to clean the combs.

For my body, i do a "Tudor" style dry bath (from the book "How to Live Like a Tudor"), with real linen rags and a spritzer bottle of distilled rainwater. The only body part for which i use soap are my feet.

This keeps me smelling sweet all day. I noticed when i went to town and used city water, that i started to smell during the morning. So i re-washed with some of my distilled rainwater which i had packed, and that corrected it!

I have been washing this way for years now. It is nice to be free of the toiletries and also to use so much less water. I have also previously tried soapwort, soapnuts, vinegar, baking soda, and shampoo bars, and this current has worked best for me.

I also just brush my teeth with baking soda, with the blessing of my dentist for over 10 years. Followed with flossing and occasional diluted peroxide swishing for brightening.

My aha moment was when I realized the drip from the stainless steel water tank attached to my woodstove could be utilized for distilled water! Previously i thought the drip was just annoying, and would put things under it to catch the drip. Then it occurred to me, this is distilled water! Wow! Now i have distilled water when I need it!