Leslie is SNOWED in! With NO electricity, phone, water, candles...

AND no internet! So she asked me, from a borrowed cell phone hooked up to a car charger, to let all of you folks in cyberspace know that she will get to your orders, emails, phone calls and marriage requests when the power returns!! Merry Fricking Solstice, y'all!

sincerely,
Gabi Moisan, loyal friend...

Creating A Sustainable Dream Part 2

Searching through Real Estate in western North Carolina looking for an affordable place that is not only right for sustainable living but is also a good long term investment has consumed me! I have to confess I don't really play around when it comes to choosing a home- because I actually know what I am doing... in fact I used to do this for a living and miss those wild days of a swinging happy economy where buying and selling land was almost as easy as putting a quarter in a gumball machine. Each property I consider gets examined carefully, not just on the MLS but also through pulling up tax records to read a lil history on the place, and sending over some questions to the seller. Most of the last few months I have been searching for land only, but was not opposed to some type of structure being already on the property- whether it be a barn, house, or tiny cabin... as long as it had the features I am looking for to slowly transform it into a green, sustainable mecca which will not only give me good exercise but also provide me with some independence.
At present all the best places I have found have houses on them & are located in Madison County (where I wanted to be!), these are the current top three and I would like to introduce them to you and get some votes!
1. The Rabbit Den Cabin - This is the tiny under 600 Sq Ft house I am in love with, the brown cutie pictured above! It has 15 acres with a small pasture with it, a tiny barn just the right size for my donkey and adjoins national forest on both sides. It has spring water, a wood stove and NO BATHROOM! Ya might think no bathroom sucks, but actually the bathroom is the one room I would like to create myself, completely eco style with composting toilet and tub that drains into a grey water system. This place inspires me to make art, and is close to community and a town.2. The Haunted Farm House - No, it's not really haunted, but my gawd it reminds me of the farm house in every movie were the zombies or children of the corn or whatever tries to break in! I love it too! This house is not only close to town, close to national forest, but also comes with 2 totally usable flat farm-able acres. It has a wood stove plus electric heat and a bathroom/kitchen already in place. There's a cool outbuilding the donkey can stay in behind the house. This big house also has job potential... think Appalachian Trail hikers stopping point to shower and rest, cause I would be that close to the trails and downtown Hot Springs. A big selling point is the house is a classic farm house which is never a bad investment... you know unless it's the money pit and really does have ghosts!3. The Hunting Cabin- Ok, here is something sustainable and bad ass from the start, this log cabin was made with ALL lumber right on the land by hand back in the 70's! It is on 7 acres of very beautiful farm-able land with endless forest behind it for adventures. There are also fruit trees, springs, an old trout pond(which is dry) and cool rock formations. Like all the others above it has wood floors, but doesn't have a wood stove already in place (i use wood stoves for heat and cooking during the winter) But does have a fireplace chimney! It also has neat outbuildings so I have a place to put the donkey here too!!! Only drawback is the house isn't as close to an immediate community but is a few miles from a general store. I imagine I will be making friends with people at all the general stores! ha.

SOoooo, which do you love, which gives you a good vibe, which would you like to live in and why!?!

XoXo

The Freak Bugs Of December! (Mosquito & Ladybug)

Thank Gawd that mosquito is not on my flesh, it's just resting on the flesh of a butternut squash! Here at the house in Big Sandy Mush there has been a freaky bug phenomena... bugs that are normally long gone by october are still hanging, flying, and multiplying around this December. Starting with the bad first, WTF are mosquitos doing still alive in high elevations of the smokey mountains? All standing water nearby was made sure to be dumped, there is nothing new or usual and the owners of this porperty say they never seen mosquitoes here at this time of year, eva'! The sickest part is I am watching these guys fly around slowly in the cold, inside and outside the house. In freezing rains, ice on the ground, temperatures hit 10 degrees and STILL they are here! One could say this is a result of global warming, but man I am cold, why aren't they?
There are some character/personality difference in these mosquitoes mainly being they look more light brown, pale, and starved. They also fly very slow and don't bite as often or easy but they DO bite. They do less stealth and more hovering ova' ya face while sleeping and biting up your fingers and forehead. These light weights are also easier to kill, as the can't seem to work up the chutzpah to really zip around. Has anyone else been bothered by mosquitoes this winter, in a region which normally does not have them?
Moving right along... LADYBUGS! And some friends of ladybugs that look kinda like them. Right before the coldest snap here there was a big ladybug boom- literally landing all over me, even in my mouth if i talked! (They taste like bitter lettuce, which is not so good.) These ladybugs even felt like they were biting, which has never happened to me before. After all the freezing cold weather there are still ladybugs crawling around in the house and I found this gypsy band of ladies folded up in a piece of organic cotton fabric on the porch. Check out all the variations of color, I don't think all these guys are really ladybugs but they don't seem to mind. The pink arrow in the picture below is pointing to the extreme black sheep of the gang, cause he was downright missing dots(plus he's all black!)
BTW- I was told when I was 20 years old and living in NYC that ladybugs were very good luck, my apartment back then filled up with them during warm weather.
XOXO

Gluten Free & Organic Dried Fruits and Nuts!!! OMG!!!

Anyone with Celiac Disease or who is on a strict gluten free diet because of allergies knows what a pain in the A$$ finding basic & safe organic foods can be! I have literally searched for over 8 years to find organic replacements to my once healthy snacks of dried fruits and nuts, only to run into the problem of vendors dusting their packaging equipment with wheat every time. For a normal person this wheat dust practice ain't no thang but a chicken wang... for someone with Celiac this equals more symptoms then there are cowboy hats at a wild rodeo in Texas. People with Celiac Disease have been banned by faulty genetics from saving big bucks at the bulk food section in the health food store when seeking snacks because of vendor and store cross contamination, which may be the lamest thing about the diet for me. Screw bread, I want organic bulk whole foods that are safe!
*
OK - so here is the kicker... I....Have....Found....ORGANIC...Dried fruits and NUTS safe for those with celiac! OMGAWD....
I found a company called Raw From The Farm online with the help of my good friend Noel, this store skips the middle man vendor BS and gets their goods straight from farmers. Now some farmers deal with these goodies plus gluten grains and so they will not be listed here, but for those products I asked about specifically here are the ones that the farmer themselves confirmed are gluten free:::

DRIED FRUITS:

• Raisins
• Dates
• Apricots
• Peaches
• Nectarines

Dried Nuts:

• Pecans
• Walnuts

NOT GLUTEN FREE: the sunflower seeds are not gluten free, which makes me wanna cry. Why Mr. Farmer WHy!?
*
If you see other products on Raw From The Farm's website I didn't mention in this list please email them and ask them to write the farmers about the foods you are interested in - this company took the time to write each product I asked about and gave me the farmers response! How awesome is that?
To top the fact that these snacks listed are raw, organic, and gluten free the company also will package the goodies in your choice of a PVC/Plasticizer Free plastic bag or a compostable Eucalyptus Fiber baggie!! Holy eco coolness.

PS-- Does anyone know where someone with Celiac can order organic dried beans in bulk?

XoXOoooox

Nude "Canary" Calender for 2010

Bet you just couldnt wait for the Sorta Naked Women of MCS Calender to arrive! ha ha... actually I bet you didn't know it existed! Hitting the awareness scene this 2010 is a naked calender showing pictures exclusively of women who have been chemically injured causing them to have the socially & phyiscally disabling disease called Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. These injuries have a range of causes usually stemming from an exposure to chems in the work environment, in war, in 9/11, and even in the home. Since MCS is a disease only known to recent history (AKA major pollution & use of unhealthy chemicals) there has not been much research to validate and search for a cure, leaving people with MCS in the dust with the many of the other invisible diseases that Big Pharma has no invested interest in.
This Awareness Calender was put together by Susie Collins of The Canary Report in order to bring some attention not just for the cause, not even so much to raise money for charity - but to show the real human side to an illness which has been treated with disdain and rudeness by most of the medical community, up until recently when Gulf War syndrome was recognized by the military.
So... for you dirty birds out there who don't really care whether the ladies have MCS or not but more so about seeing some naked skin - do you have a mask wearing fetish? Like big and skinny ladies? Love some artsy nudes? Love nature with naked ladies in it? If so... you'll love this calendar! (Click that link and see it!)
For those who can't purchase it (cause duh the fresh printed ink makes peeps with MCS cough and swoon), don't worry a video version will be coming out later this month!

PS- I submitted about 5 photos for the calender (all including the F word), and the pic up top was the one chosen... this one below was a reject!!! I kinda like the reject, ya'll!

XoXo

Nature Made Ice Sculpture(s) Part 2

After last night's 10 degree freeze the ice formations turned their creativity up a few notches - creating bubbles, drips, swords, sheets, icicles, swallowing branches and coating rocks. The endless abstract sculptures actually made me forget that my finger tips, lips and nose are freezing into numb useless extremities...at least for a little while. Check out the shapes I found while out in the woods collecting firewood...
Dat's me behind some ice that created a giant frozzel bubble around a big stick in the stream...
NOw... How did it make that blop freeze upward? From a drip? How wild!

This last one is the most interesting phenomena - the wet mud shoots up these lines of ice that kinda look like a rock formation or maybe Superman's home planet. :)
XoXoooox

Nature Made Ice Sculpture

And.... Lift Off!

XoXo

Electric Bike For The Petite (and up!)

As some of ya'll might know I don't drive a car for medical reasons (lame seizures!) but love to ride my bike the 'cajun knuckle' in search of some freedom. Only problem is my health doesn't really lend to making long distance trips up steep hills here in the mountains... usually I can make it to the Big Sandy Mush Community Center and back for some WWF style wrestling (about 3 miles round trip) and I am exhausted! I have saved up money to buy a riding donkey, but will have to be getting a new place to live where I can put it first... (that would be one eco friendly ride-No gas just grass!)
During the limbo period of not being mobile my mom kindly offered to purchase an electric bike she saw in the Real Goods catalog as a super thoughtful and generous holiday gift!!! WOO-hooo! (((My lucky month!))) I contacted Real Goods right away but found out the bike they sell called the Urban Mover was not suitable for my size or needs.
After scouring the interwebs I learned that not all electric bikes are created equal- just like a scooter, car or regular bike each one has a specific purpose, terrain and size person it is made to fit. I decided to write several companies and find out what electric bike could handle a steep ride and small person. Only one company wrote me back so far this week (if others finally do I will post it here in the comments section.)

***

"My mom has offered to buy me an electric bike for the holidays, but I don't know much about them.
My question would be this:::
What kind of electric bike would i need to get to travel in the mountains. I would not be taking it off road much (possibly will have to get down a gravel driveway to get to a road) - but the hills here are intense and steep! I live in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina.
Also I am tiny, about 5 ft 3inches tall and 100 pounds, so i want to make sure the model bike i choose isn't too huge for me.

Thanks so much for ya'lls help!
Leslie "
www.oko-organic-clothing.blogspot.com

"Hi Leslie,

We have a couple of bikes that will do the job. Our best hill climber is the Bionx kit. We install this on the Montague/Swiss folding mountain bikes but they might be too large for you (5"4" to 6'4"). If you have a mountain bike that fits you, it isn't hard to install at Bionx kit on it.

see: http://greenspeed.us/bionx_motor_bike_kit.htm

However, being tiny is a plus when it comes to electric bikes. You will go faster and further than larger folks. I think a good option would be the Ecobike Vitavio EBFOLD. This is a smaller bike but it has a pretty beefy motor. The tires should handle gravel fine. If not, the tires are standard 20" so you could put some knobbys on it. The smaller wheels also give you better tourqe and hill climbing power, plus at 100 pounds, you will fly up the hills.

see: http://greenspeed.us/ecobike_folding_electric_bicycle.htm

Best,

Kevin

Electric Cyclery

949 715 2345"

***

If any of my readers out there know anything about electric bikes, I really would love to hear some thoughts, reviews, and see some links to more info about them. Everything I have read makes them sound like a dream come true for anyone who has transportation limitations like I do, to people who want to zoom past morning traffic, don't wanna pump gas (that's you MCS'ers), and to those who simply want a more environmentally friendly set of wheels. Oh, and all ya' naughty peeps who got DUI's and got your license to drive taken away... an electric bike might be the answer for all of us... that is if you can't have a donkey. :)

XoXo

Learning To Use An Ax

Oh...Gawd... today I learned how to better split wood with a "go devil" style ax! I have not done much log splitting in my life, being that I grew up in a tropical big city that only sees the icy junk we call snow like once every 20-30 years and also thrived on central heat for the rare chilly days. I remember begging my parents to put logs in the fireplace, just for fun. :)
As you can see in the very top pic, I have to stand and meditate before i swing the ax, getting just the right position before swinging. And I can tell ya, I was doing it all kinds of wrong.
See in the pic above, my hands are WAY too far apart at that point, but my legs are not. The reason I am standing so funny is because should I miss the log, I didn't want the ax to hit my leg instead... even the thought of the chance of some possibility of this occurring terrifies me more then the worst horror movie ya eva' saw X's a million nightmares.
Because my hands were so far apart at the end and too close together at the beginning of the swing, I could not get proper momentum going to crack the log...only getting a few dents...
Once ya give it a good wack and it doesn't split or crack, the ax kinda gets stuck in there - which can seem impossible to pull out, but if you hold down the log, and then pull the ax handle down to the ground in front it will roll back out.
THEN START OVA' !!!
Hells yeah! With the right amount of force, aim and hand placement (which is not really shown below, cause i slid my hand back down after it split), it gets alot easier. The hands start out on opposite ends of the ax in order to pull the weight up over head, and when coming down they slide to the bottom together.
The thing is, I used to use something called a "wedge" to split logs and I can say for someone my size (AKA tiny as hell) using a wedge is a little easier if ya' don't have the body weight to really slam an ax down. But it is never a bad idea to have some basic skills to work with, in case you are ever in a situation where all the easier tools are not available and ya need to make a fire. (Blizzard perhaps? Zombie Apocalypse? Peak Oil? Living out in the middle of nowhere and have no car to get supplies easily? Extreme poverty?)
BTW- the logs were from trees already dead on the property here. Supa' eco-nomical. :)
XoXo

DIY:Simple Humanure Composting Toilet

Have ya ever thought about where your poop really goes once it's flushed away? My first hint of understanding this mystery was growing up in New Orleans and driving on the Earhart Expressway past the big, smelly and ugly sewer treatment plant in Jefferson Parish on my way to school - it fascinated me to no end that everything flushed ended up somehow at this steaming alien looking factory of steal & holding tanks. Everything, meaning all the usual bodily excrements plus I began thinking of my mom's toilet bowl cleaners, toilet papers treated with bleach, puke, tampons, needles, paint, firecrackers and gawd only knows what else the freedom of flushing gave to people to throw down there. It really hit home when as an adult I moved into a secluded cabin in the pristine mountains of North Carolina, which only had an outhouse for a bathroom, and the reality of what goes down the toilet goes into the earth became a glaring truth. As I not only prepare to move into a place of my own soon and refuse to be part of the land wrecking "septic" builder genre, I also presently live where no septic is available so I have been exploring what type of system works best for a potty.

Working 'best' will ideally follow these criteria:
1. I don't have to face coyotes and freeze my ass off if i have to go to the bathroom.
2. Gentle on the earth and my nose.
3. Doesn't cost me ridiculous amounts of money just to have a spot to poop.

The following video is a simple DIY project about how to make your own composting tiolet for $25 or less! Considering that a manufactured composting tiolet will cost well between $850-$3,000 dollars to install making your own humanure system is probably the most economical and truly the most earth friendly.



PS- Here is another link for plans to building a PASSIVE SOLAR COMPOSTING TIOLET! Woo, now that is neato!

XoXo