OK, my ideal lifestyle.
When I get Dreaming as to what I can want, this is the limit of it.
It has one problem, that I could perhaps want to use a car once a month or so, and might still be wanting to use electricity for an internet connection. Well actually that is two problems.
But, if I can find a place where I can afford to buy land somewhere in the Australian bush, and near enough to a local Traditionally Oriented Aboriginal community, so as that I could properly re-learn the stories of place, then I regard that upon that piece of land, I will need only a roof, a fireplace, and a toilet and bath.
That is because I have white skin and so I get sunburnt easily. A roof will be useful in the rain also. There will be a stone fireplace, and there might indeed be carpets of a sort, hanging at the edges of the roof, and that can be moved around like a curtain. Then there can be some heat kept inside if it gets cold, but this is usually not a problem in Australia. There could be a loft built under the roof for a few things that might need to be kept up a little higher. But I do not want walls. Maybe just a couple of places to sleep that are on platforms high up under the roof.
Perhaps there could be a shed to lock stuff in when we are not using it, of if we have got in a car and gone to the nearest town for a few days. The car needs to be big enough to sleep in. At the town there can be stuff we could access like a library. Perhaps we can even start a small business that has an office there, since I have many ideas for providing for a family by teaching about Ancient cultural means. I hope one day to develop home schooling programs for children, that teach Islam, science and cross cultural communication, and sell such to folk with less broad ranging experience than my self. Or even establish a small school.
The people at the place would be me and my children and a Husband. (I am still waiting for the right one to make this Dream a reality) He will have to be a Husband whom is willing to learn to hunt for dinner, because if we eat any meat it will only be what we can catch and clean and cook our selves in the old way.
I am tempted by the idea of a refridgerator, but then I consider that if we had access to an office in a town, with electricity, we could dry food for eating when there is no fresh food. In fact, we could sun dry food. So now my mind is wandering into my knowledge of Permaculture. Perhaps gradually we could set up a permaculture garden that is compatible with the local native flora and fauna.
(Permaculture is an Australian developed model of sustainable farming in which the natural bushland is regarded as integral, and every component of the entire Human caused environment need fulfill three functions that link with the overall need for sustainablity. It is provenly effective in many countries.)
But to make a garden like that, we first need to be in a place, and live there a while to get the feel of what the place needs from us.
What I am saying is that already, while I feel a need for a computer and a car and public relations and etc etc etc to fulfill a known viable social function that is external to family, and according to what I Dream that I am capable of; when it comes to my skills at raising children, I Dream that I will be a better mother and wife if I only have a roof and a fireplace and a toilet and a bath.
The toilet can be a composting toilet that there are now many of. The bath can be a creek if we have running water on the land. But a rainwater tank makes good sense to catch to water running off the roof in this dry land. And there are plentiful shells of old disused spas at most city rubbish dumps, that need only be resurfaced and filled, and then can even be set up with a simple heating system from the fireplace. There need not be a bathroom, so long as there are trees around and folk to call out if somebody is arriving, but the toilet needs walls around it. Curved corrugated iron walls stop the flies going in.
The delux model has a wind electricity generator that supplies electricity to under the roof when in need. And perhaps the office is located within walking distance and other persons use their cars to come to visit instead of us going to places where people can maybe find us more easily. But without the internet, why would we want electricity?
The worst that could happen is that we became isolated by petrol shortages, and had to hunt and gather all our food. (lucky that I am often at collecting seeds, but it could easily become bad luck it they are not the right seeds)
This is all I find I am able to want for. I struggle to find any other wants, but the only others I can find are to walk the Earth and meet its people. I guess that is why I like the internet. This is a good excercise for the mind. To suppose, if you could access unlimited resources, what in fact would you really want for yourself? Now also to state that within all else stated here, I am assuming first of all safety for my children, then I find I can want no more. No more than gratitude for what we already are able, and within that, most of all gratitude that I am able to work.
