Valerie Hird

A wild man is a protector. A father. A warrior for all that is good.

When the chaos seeks to obliterate you, sheering your flesh from bone, I will hold all the pieces together in love, until you are ready to reassemble.

When your seas boil, and your winds throw cars at corn fields, I will wait patiently for you to catch my eye, so that both of us can laugh.

When Hell opens up the fiery gates, and sends all the cosmos against you, I plant my heels deep in the ground. I lay my shield low. My sword is sharp then, my love. The steel sings sweetly. With a smile, Hoka Hey! My last breath a farewell kiss. Today is a good day to die.

For ours is the oldest love affair. The greatest story ever told. Cupid and Psyche, Shiva and Shakti, You and I.

Same but different. Would we have it any other way?

A wild man is not a boyfriend. He is a force.

randal cranor wrote:made in spain, take apart to clean, adjustable steel grinding burrs...fresh grind everymorn for 35yrs.

absolutely stunning!

thomas rubino wrote:Inherited this from my mom.  She inherited it from her mom.    Still grinding  after 100 years.

I have her hand crank stone burr grain mill as well.

That is an incredible work of art and mechanic! proof that when things are made well, we shouldn't need to replace them for decades. I hope to see "planned obsolescence" disappear in the future. Your coffee grinder is incredible.

Here's the book that began my journey. I give it a 9 out of 10 acorns since perfection is a difficult standard to reach. Although it was dang near perfect for me. I was helping clean out the attic and found this book among my mom's book collection. I opened it because, well, I like old books. I like the way they look and smell, and I like the way their text is laid out (designer by day, illustrator woodland fairy by night) And then I was so enthralled by the content that I sat there in the attic for the rest of the afternoon and read the whole book cover to cover. Unfortunately the cover has since cracked but we keep it safe.

I've been eating oats for a long time and there's a chapter about how to source ingredients on the cheap-cheap including getting oats from feed stores instead of grocery stores and that just really excited me. It was the first crack in the system that mainstream society had ingrained in me. The first time I realized there were other ways of living that were very real and tangible routes. Nothing makes my heart swell like this thought does. We can choose to not be a part of a society that breaks people down.

It would take a few more years wading into the tiny house community forums before I eventually learned that what I was looking for was an off-grid lifestyle so I could pursue the joy that is running through the woods, growing my own food because the current food industrial complex is disgusting and wasteful, and building fairy homes. I'd joined some homesteading subreddits and eventually my feet led me to this website. And Possum Living was the book that started it all. Thought y'all might be curious to see it. About half a year ago I transitioned from the intention of tiny-house living to fully off-grid. Might as well fully go for it. Then one day my mom sprung on me that apparently my family owns some raw land in New Mexico with potable water sources. What a wild ride and this book will continue to be a guiding force.

What i loved about this book was it's personality and how realistic she wrote it. It's a fun read even for someone not interested in off-grid living.

Joan Olsen wrote:.... I have a Belgian Malinois.....

oh wow! those dogs are incredibly smart. And incredibly beautiful. I can see this being a very good investment.

Maruf Miliunas wrote:Progress report…!

Maruf, I cannot be of any help because I'm nowhere near you but I just wanted to say that even 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing so keep moving forward and you will get there! It will be worth it!