Book Review: The Blood of the Earth: An Essay on Magic and Peak Oil

October 31, 2012

Phoebe says that despite her midnight coat and lambent eyes, she has nothing whatsoever to do with magic. Or peak oil. And for the record, she also scorns Halloween.

What do magic and peak oil have to do with one another? Quite a lot, actually, if you believe the author, John Michael Greer. And if you read The Blood of the Earth: An Essay on Magic and Peak Oil you’ll probably come to agree with him, because in this book, as in all of his writing, Greer is remarkably lucid, straightforward and persuasive.

Blood of the Earth is unlike any other book you’ll read on peak oil. It’s challenging, honest, sobering and inspiring.

It’s not a end-times book. Greer doesn’t do apocalypse. Nor is it an airy-fairy “we’ll save the world by the magic of positive thinking” sort of book. Instead, it is an investigation of the spiritual/psychological impulses that play out in our responses to peak oil. Part of this is understanding behavior and propaganda in magical terms. To do this, Greer offers a quick, intriguing primer on Western magic.

Happy Halloween!

Mrs. Homegrown

October 31, 2012

Miscellaneous

Halloween greetings from all the denizens of the Root Simple compound, living and dead.

(I believe this lovely old photo that I found haunting my hard drive is from the book Haunted Air a collection of old Halloween photos. Halloween used to be homemade–and a lot more scary.)

Chairs, are they killing us?

Mr. Homegrown

October 30, 2012

Design, Thoughtstylings

27 Comments

Even American cats sit in chairs.

The knee injuries I’ve accumulated running, hiking and fencing have a lot to do with basic flexibility problems. Mrs. Root Simple likens my inflexibility to that of a ginger bread man. So should I plant my stiff derriere on the nearest yoga mat? Or should I throw out all our furniture? I’m thinking the latter. Let me explain.

The Best Raw Flax Cracker Recipe

Mr. Homegrown

October 29, 2012

Food, Recipes

3 Comments

I have to admit to not being a huge fan of the raw food movement. Now I think we should all eat some raw food, but many nutrients are accessible only through cooking. That being said, I like a few recipes that came out of the raw craze, especially flax crackers. My favorite flax cracker recipe is the onion cracker bread you can find here.

This easy to make recipe requires no pre-soaking or sprouting. All you do is mix the ingredients (onions, flax seed, sunflower seeds, olive oil and agave syrup) in a bowl and spread it on a tray in your dehydrator.

The problem is that these crackers are so tasty they disappear within a day.

Do you have a favorite raw recipe? Leave a comment with a link!

Picture Sundays: A Chicken Coop Made From a Trampoline

Mr. Homegrown

October 28, 2012

Picture Sundays

2 Comments

From the Homesteading/Survivalism Facebook page, a chicken coop made from a trampoline. Here’s a little more on the project.

This coop appears to be a DIY variation on the Joel Salatin movable poultry pen. I’m assuming there’s a way to lock the chickens in the top part at night to keep out critters that might dig under the run.