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Good Life Lab: Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living

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This is the inspirational story of how one couple ditched their careers and high-pressure life in New York City to move to rural New Mexico, where they made, built, invented, foraged, and grew all they needed to live self-sufficiently, discovering a new sense of value and abundance in the process. Alongside their personal story are tips and tutorials to guide readers in the discovery of a fulfilling new lifestyle that relies less on money. Tremayne wholeheartedly believes that everyone has the skill, imagination and creativity to make it work.

Tremayne not only teaches the art of making biofuel, appliances, structures, gardens, food, and medicine but also presents reasons for makers to share their innovations and ideas through open source and creative commons licenses. She shares the joys of creating out of waste, home manufacture, and reconnecting with nature, and she teaches readers how to live off the grid. Practical, contemplative, and action-oriented, The Good Life Lab is the manual for life in a post-consumer age.

In addition, The Good Life Lab is filled with illustrations contributed by a community of artists -- Alethea Morrison, Allegra Lockstadt, Andrew Saeger, Bert van Wijk, Christopher Silas Neal, Gina Triplett, Grady McFerrin, Joel Holland, Josh Cochran, Julia Rothman, Kate Bingaman Burt, Katie Scott, Kristian Olson, Mattias Adolfsson, Meg Hunt, Melinda Beck, Miyuki Sakai, Rachel Salomon, and Sasha Prood -- making the book itself a work of art.

The Smyth-sewn binding style is the highest-quality book binding available. It is more durable than a glued binding and lets the book open flat, making it easier to read. The Good Life Lab has an exposed spine so that readers can appreciate and understand how the object was made.

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2013

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About the author

Wendy Tremayne

6 books24 followers
Wendy Tremayne was a creative director in a marketing firm in New York City before moving to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, where she built an off-the-grid oasis in a barren RV park with her partner, Mikey Sklar. She is the founder of the textile repurposing event Swap-O-Rama-Rama, which has spread all over the world; a conceptual artist; a yogi; a gardener; and a writer. She has written for Craft's webzine and Make magazine and, with Mikey Sklar, keeps the blog Holy Scrap.

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5 stars
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155 (31%)
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55 (11%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
Profile Image for Amanda.
164 reviews20 followers
August 10, 2013
I should get my politics out of the way up front.

Most homesteaders fall into one of two camps -- those into self-sustainability and those into sustainability. I fall into the second camp. Ms. Tremayne falls into the first.

The book is divided into thirds -- the first is the most interesting. Ms. Tremayne figures out that our consumer culture is toxic and has a series of revelations as she realizes she wants to do something about that. It's a little preachy, but that's just par for the course on these sorts of books. It's a slow and limping journey and she hits all the stops of the privileged white New Yorker -- yoga, maker culture, art, hipster happenings, a bit of romance, and finally Sufism (or other Other mystical religion).

The second third is the story of her and her honey trying to find a place, make a plan, figuring out what skills they will need and acquiring them. This *should* have been the most interesting part but it wasn't because she doesn't really think about her situation in any thoughtful manner.

Oh, there are lots of charts and thinking about how she can do more with less and that sort of thing. But she dismisses the entirety of health care with a few paragraphs about how they pay for catastrophic insurance and that their lifestyle is their medicine. Which sounds lovely but where's her birth control coming from? What if she and he weren't perfectly healthy? What will happen when they get old and get arthritis? Where is that catastrophic insurance coming from, anyway? Oh, yeah, the society she disdains.

She spends time talking about wildcrafting but never addresses the fact that wildcrafting in the New Mexico desert is something only a few people can do because it's a friggin' desert and if hundreds of people decided to wildcraft, it would be stripped to sand and dust in a few seasons. And she never mentions whose land she's wildcrafting on? Did she pay for the privilege? She's certainly not wildcrafting/growing enough to feed two people on an acre of desert land without a lot of water pumped in. Let's talk about that water now that we're years into a drought, please.

Much of the reason she can live this way is because she is living on the waste stream. Which is admirable but not long-term sustainable because if everyone did it, there wouldn't be a waste stream.

There are many other problems with her proposed economic model of the gift economy and finding a place in the desert to call your own and teaching yoga on the side.

The third part was the least interesting -- thumbnail sketches of how-to skills. She devotes a short paragraph to something that the Storeys spend a whole pamphlet upon. She's clearly assuming you're going to go online. Which is fine, but I wish she'd saved the trees and just said, "you can go online to find out how to do these things."

That said, they put their plans for papercrete domes online, free with a creative commons licence. Which is awesome.

In the end, a discover of self journey that hasn't gone far enough. Not useful as a guide, handbook, or how-to. Glad I got it out of the library instead of buying it.
Profile Image for Amin David.
2 reviews7 followers
June 8, 2013
I sat down and read THE GOOD LIFE LAB in one day. What a great memoir. If that is the right word for a book that manages to critique what feels what is not working, or nonsensical about life in America in this century and at the same time is so personal that it makes you think about your core values and how you live your own life.

And I might add, has a gentle non-judgmental humor that makes me smile while reading about Wendy and Mikey as they realize New York City is over for them, and somewhere else has got to be better for them to allow them to live a fuller, richer life.

That turns out to be Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, which has to be the most Ironic name of any city in America in it's description of which path this country is on.

This book may elevate the term "Home Maker" to the status of REVOLUTIONARY!.

For it is how we make our homes that dictate what we buy, therefore the whole super market Wall Mart supply chain, is something WE make by our life style choices. The stores do not sell what we do not buy. They would and could and will go out of business if we stop buying and start making and swapping what we already have and have the capacity to make. And it'll be a way to make the community that a full satisfying life depends upon

What won't go out of business is the people who make the tools that we can use to make what we want to make.

Th first 75 pages is about the decision, and personal growth issues that are on almost everyone's mind who cares about real progress on the planet; the next 100 pages are how they made the changes they wanted to make---and the mistakes they made along the way, and the last 100 or so pages are recipes and helpful hints and a reading list for those of us who wmight like to make a few changes.

It gives me the idea that I can homestead right here in my own home. THis book will change your perspective on who you are and how important you are to the big box store and the container ships coming from China and the XL pipeline.

The Buck ($) stops here. Good Life Lab Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living by Wendy Tremayne
Profile Image for Jay French.
2,122 reviews83 followers
January 30, 2021
You figure with the words lab, experiments, and hands-on in the title, you’d be getting a instructional book. But here, that’s not what you’re getting. More than half of this book is the author’s story about why she and her husband moved from the big city to desert New Mexico to live life off of the waste stream of society and nature. I liked how the author described the issues and the thinking she went through to make this decision. I don’t foresee myself ever making this same kind of decision, but I find it interesting when people think through issues and consider or ignore some aspects. You can understand what they value through that journey. When they get to New Mexico the author describes the many ways they made their way through life, making a living, foraging for food and supplies, and the like. The last section of the book, less than half, provides some capsule comments on the specific things they tried, from food foraging in the desert to using used cooking oil to power a car. There wasn’t enough detail here to guide the reader to experiment, so I found the title of the book misleading. However, this was of some interest in the variety of topics covered. I used to read “Whole Earth Review” and “The Whole Earth Digest”, and this is the kind of post-hippy maker-forward content in variety, if not in depth, that I enjoy.

The three things I found most interesting in the book:
- The author starts with attending Burning Man, and from there starting an event to re-use modified clothing that becomes somewhat popular. Certainly interesting from an entrepreneurial perspective, and you get that builder mentality throughout the book.
- People that use a restaurant’s used frying oil to power their cars are affectionately known as “greasers”.
- The author’s husband creates and sells electronic devices he designs and makes on the side. While a lot of what this couple does seems like subsistence work, this was the best example of how they could get ahead in the moneyed economy as well. Quite interesting ideas for products.
Profile Image for Lauren.
158 reviews
September 9, 2013
I bought this book at a small museum gift shop in Truth or Consequences, NM -- the very same small town where it was written. It seemed apt. At first I was a little disappointed that it was more memoir than lab, but it still stirred something deep in me about the life I am living and the one I long for.

The story was well written and inspiring, if not always for the faint of heart or those who are put-off by spiritual quests. There were a few places where I thought, "really?" but just because I may not have done things the same way, didn't mean that I couldn't learn from their journey. And there was so much to learn.

If you've ever imagined dropping out of your high-pressure city job to live off-grid in some crazy-small town, this is the book for you. If you've ever dropped out of your high-pressure city job only to realize that your new life isn't that different than your old life and you still have a long way to go, this is definitely the book for you, like it was for me.
Profile Image for Christina.
400 reviews7 followers
September 16, 2013
I gave up on this. While I generally agree with the foundational ideas (Americans buy too much stuff and work too hard for other people to buy said stuff), I found this difficult to read. While I can't point to a specific part that said, "You should quit your job and move to the desert too!" that message feels very clear. And there's no acknowledgement that desert living isn't for everyone. Or that if everyone in New York moved to the desert, the desert would rapidly cease to have the resources that the authors so unabashedly rely on. Absolutely, most Americans work too hard for other people to buy stuff we don't really need. The solutions for this need to be far more varied than presented here.
390 reviews2 followers
July 14, 2013
Not what I was looking for. There were only about 50 pages of actual project instructions, and even they are vague and largely Southwest-focused. I was hoping it would be more of a "we tried this stuff and optimized it like this; here's how you can do the same!" Nothing wrong with giving people the motivation and general ideas to work out their own stuff, I was just hoping for something different.

Instead it's primarily a philosophical discussion of why we should live differently, make stuff ourselves, and utilize waste, which is all well and good but not new. And it was told from a hipster/ Burner mindset that I found annoying, but to each their own. I only skimmed the first half of the book which went on about the author's life, etc.
Profile Image for Latasha.
721 reviews
July 24, 2013
Couldn't get into this. I don't think it's fair to write a book on homesteading and radical life changes/anti-consumerism ways when you were a hedge fund operator NYC prior to this life change. They have a lot of really neat projects, but I just couldn't really get into it since it is very unrealistic without the huge retirement fund/savings account that they obviously had.
Profile Image for Jessica Reuter.
68 reviews13 followers
February 5, 2018
DNF at 20%. This is straight up garbage. When the rich white woman turns to the black cop who arrested her at a protest and says "you know your rights were won by people protesting." I have to say NOPE. While I appreciate what the author is trying to do to reduce her carbon footprint, the stink of unchecked privilege just makes this unreadable.
Profile Image for Brekke.
108 reviews13 followers
October 1, 2020
UPDATE: Lots to take, lots to leave. But I am definitely feeling a draw to recommit to my life as a producer/maker as opposed to a consumer so there was a lot of good stuff here for me. Liked the stories about how they developed their life some (but there are definitely some eyerolly and preachy parts that you just have to skim over) and liked the last portion of the book with more practical skills. Only the basics are given, but I definitely got inspiration!

I bought this book years ago not fully realizing what it was: a mostly memoir by a pair of rich pseudo-religious burning man converts. I had thought it would be more doing and less philosophy. When I realized what it was I set it on my to-read shelf and didn’t read it... for years. That being said it popped out at me this week for some reason and think I might be ready to look past the stuff I don’t like to pull out the nuggets that I do like. Will report back.
31 reviews3 followers
January 11, 2018
I can’t think exactly when I was so excited about a book—it’s been that long. This is a gorgeous publication, aesthetically as well as ideologically and practically—the making public of wonderful ideas and information. The textual construction that shows How-to in the same way Wendy and Mikey embrace Creative Commons idea sharing and the economy a la Burning Man. I’ve never been to Burning Man. I was inclined to go sometime in the early days, but I never made it happen. I feel that way to some extent about the intentional, authentic lifestyle Tremayne is advocating. I have followed some of the same steps in that journey to live toward growth good and truth and meaning. I love Wendy’s lively, bright illustrations and these two makers’ can-do persistence and dedication to hands on learning, experimenting and coming into conversation with the life giving forces of the world around them. The ways they play and make “mischief” delight. The instructions and tidbits and recipes inspire. This is a manifesto in the most joyous and creative sense, and it makes me feel that, even though I haven’t yet made the changes in my life that call to me, there is still time.
Profile Image for Tommy Carlson.
156 reviews4 followers
September 8, 2013
The Good Life Lab is about a couple who had meaningless jobs that contributed nothing to society, so they moved to a rural area and made a homestead that provides minimally more value to society. Being unduly proud of themselves, they wrote a book about it. I haven't officially abandoned this book yet, but I have set it aside for awhile. I never got to the actual homesteading part. I couldn't wade through all the self-congratulatory build-up to it.

Maybe it's because my job is both meaningful and contributes to society. I dunno.

Other reviews have noted that the actual DIY stuff is minimal. So, maybe I should consider this abandoned.
Profile Image for Bekah Porter-Sandy.
252 reviews25 followers
December 12, 2013
Wendy Tremayne is a big personality with big ideas and big actions to back up her big worldview.
She's just not a writer.
And that's ok. This book still conveyed her concepts and thoughts, but it felt more like a compilation of blog posts than it did a cohesive manifesto of what it's like to live outside the mainstream and be happy while doing so.
I'll recommend the book for the actual content, but not so much for the presentation.
Profile Image for Emma Hughes.
435 reviews
Shelved as 'dnf'
June 13, 2016
While I appreciate the idea of living off the "waste stream," Tremayne's ideas are ultimately impractical. By choosing to live in poverty, you're not fixing anything for the people who aren't poor by choice. It's an interesting idea, but it's ultimately selfish. It doesn't fix anything for the rest of the world, it just helps two individuals feel good about themselves because they're trying to recycle rather than trash.
Profile Image for Itai.
87 reviews13 followers
August 6, 2016
"At one point the author declares her amazement at being able to live off of less than 30k a year."

"It's a book written by people of privilege who decided to come down from the mountain and slum it with the rest of us."

Profile Image for Carole.
684 reviews
October 21, 2019
Interesting ideas I’ll be thinking about for a while. The author and her husband are clearly way above average in terms of both their intelligence and their education. I somewhat appreciated their alternative approach to being makers over consumers, and she relates lots of interesting experiences they have had in growing into being excellent and diverse makers. On the other hand it was like reading about becoming an opera singer without having the voice to back the ambition and process. Lots less detail would have sufficed.

One weak link in the author’s adopted lifestyle is that if the majority of us adopted their approach of taking all their resources, other than food, from our culture’s waste stream and independently making useful and necessary things from them, in a few decades, if not sooner, there would be virtually no waste stream to pick in.

Another is that the author, and-implied-her husband, seem never to tire of analyzing every angle of the steps and resources necessary to meet every single need! She believes everyone can become a “maker” and abandon the role of consumer, and while she may be on target, using myself as an example, I doubt the majority of people wants to literally become makers and lacks the capacity for and interest in that depth of analysis and constant learning and experimenting.

She also had very little comfort, satisfaction, and pleasure in her pre-maker employment situations and lifestyle. Again, taking myself as an example, I doubt the majority of people would need to make such radical and total adjustments in their jobs and ways of living in order to increase their satisfaction, reduce their stress, and feel pleasure in their lives. Often small changes in action and interpretation of what’s going on In one’s self and life are enough.

A last piece that made this book less than it purports to be was that this couple wasn’t caring for elderly relatives or raising children. I cannot imagine living the life the author is living while living with and caring for dependent humans, elders or children, who need food, stuff, formal education and learning opportunities, medical care if they get sick or wounded, and talking and listening and hugging time on a daily basis.

The last part (Part 3) of the book was page upon page of how tos and recipes. It was dead space from a reading perspective, kind of like my imagined experience of reading all the details of how to build a house and all the building codes that might apply when your intention to build a house is merely at the mildly curious stage.
Profile Image for John.
1,674 reviews39 followers
March 31, 2019
Basically great if you're looking for some projects pretend you're going "off the grid", interested in sustainability and/or smug craftsmanship/authenticity.

The book is too gimmicky to appear to offer any sincere homsteading skills, but if you want to be the hipster in your neighborhood that is involved with the gift economy, rain barrels, practice Yoga, read Rumi, Sufism and listen to NPR, this book is for you!

Basically yuppies find Burning Man AND ARE FOREVER CHANGED.

1.) Make your own Toothpaste, Hair Cleaner, All-Purpose Cleaner, Glass Cleaner
2.) Creating clothing out of old upholstery, unknitting sweaters into new sweaters, etc.
3.) Building a homstead for under $5k
4.) Travel via Golf Cart and Vegetable Oil
5.) Living in Storage Containers
6.) Living on under $20,000 in annual fixed expenses
7.) Wildcrafting
8.) Make Magazine
9.) Start, even if you don't know how
a.) Start Projects
b.) Do for the doing
c.) Start making what you buy
d.) Use waste
e.) Seek simple, unabstracted natural materials
f.) Consider everything you buy, your responsibility
g.) Buy goods from people (rather than corporations)
h.) Buy used goods
i.) Fix what breaks
j.) Cnider context
k.) think backwards
l.) Avoid debt
m.) Avoid gossip
n.) Seek abundance (not wealth)
o.) Reclaim your skills
p.) Consider a cottage industry
q.) Unbrand yourself
r.) Abandon trend
s.) Lighten your paper load
t.) Go on a temporary media fast
u.) Get rid of the tv
v.) Make a pledge
w.) Watch out for goblins
x.) Acquire fundamental knowledge
y.) Know where you stand (directions, landmarks, equinoxes and solstices)
z. Reclaim your outdoor space
aa.) Contemplate Nature
ab.) Identify local plants
ac.) Know where your water comes from
ad.) Cook at Home
ae.) Don't hoard
af.) Give Stuff Away
ag.) Own (or share) tools
ah.0 Consider the value of labor
Profile Image for Amanda.
Author 3 books49 followers
March 13, 2022
I wrestled with whether to call this nonfiction or memoir. This is less "memoir" and more "I mention a few details of my life to explain how I have this experience to justify the advice I'm giving you now."

I think this book needed to be better organized. The first part starts with the author's life in NYC before her big move to off-grid living in New Mexico. I liked seeing what she did before, the small steps she took toward a different way of life, how she met her partner, and more. I thought....I'm gonna dig this book. But then....the rest of the book was head-scratchingly disorganized.

We get just a few paragraphs about how they chose New Mexico and then jump a year ahead. Um, that first transitional year is key. I want to hear about it! We only kind of sort of hear about it in bits and pieces throughout the rest of the book. Part 2 feels weirdly like talking about all the great stuff going on now, without much detail about how they got there. Part 3 finally gives some advice for doing things, but it was a strange place to end the book. This book could have been a lot stronger with real details on the transition from NYC to New Mexico and flip-flopping Part 3 and Part 2.

This book was published in 2013. Their blog and store are both defunct now (as are a lot of the web resources she suggests). I did a bit of digging and it seems she's still living in T or C, but she's now selling oil paintings.
Profile Image for Amanda.
245 reviews6 followers
July 4, 2018
I picked this up on a whim from the Half Price Books clearance section since the book is cool looking with an exposed spine. I'm a hippie at heart, so this appealed to my search for a different kind of life. It was interesting to read about the author's own path, and it was inspiring, but parts of this book annoyed me (a bit too woo-woo for me) and there wasn't enough DIY and how-to information. I applaud anyone getting the word out about the fact that we don't have to be ultra-consumers to live a fulfilling life, but wish it was done a bit more effectively.
August 7, 2018
I really can't add anything to the reviews already posted, except for the reality that this author seems to be onboard with the current "all white people are crap" train. So as a white male of decent character, I had to ask myself, "why would I want to entertain any of her closed-minded concepts into my life"?
Profile Image for Aimee.
892 reviews
April 14, 2019
I thought that this book was interesting, although it felt like Tremayne hasn't done a lot of reflection around intersectionality and privilege...The story of how she moved to New Mexico and the different things that she and her partner do to make a living mostly using the waste stream was thought-provoking, but it felt like a lot was left out in terms of the memoir component.
Profile Image for Jen Bracken-Hull.
239 reviews
Read
July 25, 2022
This was my introduction to the term 'living in the waste stream' and while this book isn't perfect, it's a good example of how you can learn things from imperfect books, much like learning from imperfect people. If we have any hope of finding an alternative to capitalism, I think the mindset expressed here--abundance vs. scarcity--is one the vast majority of us will have to cultivate. 3 stars.
Profile Image for Ezra Gysi.
12 reviews
October 2, 2022
The author seemed to have a "better than thou" attitude throughout the beginning of the book, even prior to her choice to leave. The author is a white woman who has some problematic takes on race as well as cultural appropriation written in this book, so I did not finish this book as it just didn't seem worth my time.
Profile Image for Aubrey.
424 reviews8 followers
June 30, 2023
Oh this book - I just loved it. I felt right at home reading The Good Life Lab. It was everything I plan for and dream of. It's what I'm working towards. It was an absolute pleasure to read and review. More on my thoughts here.
Profile Image for Cécile Le Bourzec.
64 reviews1 follower
October 13, 2017
The fascinating real life story of a couple that decide to question their lives and try something different. Their choices can seem very extreme and at the same time, reading this book made me wonder about all the things i could simplify in my own life.
302 reviews5 followers
April 23, 2019
It's always handy to start your foray into the off-the-grid life with a large pool of cash. Not to discount the skills they do learn and share- it's pretty impressive how they adapt and make technology work better for them. if you're into the high tech, hands-on, DIY life this book is a must read.
Profile Image for Pia Vidal.
161 reviews1 follower
January 21, 2020
For me it was hard to get into the book; it didn't "flow". It's a bunch of information all over the place.
I read "The good life" from Helen and Scott Nearinge and I wrongly expected this was going to be the modern version of it.
Profile Image for Taryn.
226 reviews1 follower
August 30, 2020
Reinforced some ideas already percolating and gave me some new ones. I doubt I’d ever go as far into this lifestyle as they do, but embracing what I can. A good reminder that I really have enough and I enjoy salvaging objects from going to the landfill as part of a creative practice.
Profile Image for Katie.
820 reviews16 followers
July 27, 2016
One of the books I received as a gift over the holidays was The Good Life Lab: Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living by Wendy Jehanara Tremayne. Tremayne is a former round-the-clock New York career woman who realized that her job was impeding on her life, and not making it any better. The cycle of needing the job to have the lifestyle necessary to keep up with the In Crowd, and to have to work even more to afford said lifestyle, didn’t appeal to Tremayne. Rather than stay in the loop of work in order to buy and then have to work more, she shucked that life and headed to New Mexico to live off the grid with her partner. She quotes Krishnamurti: “It is no sign of wellness to be well adjusted to a sick society.”

The book’s physical construction should be remarked upon here. The binding is unconventional, in that the spine is exposed. An explanation from the back cover:

“For this book, each folded group of sixteen pages, called a signature, was individually sewn together with thread, and then the signatures were sewn together into a whole, called a book block. This binding style is called Smyth sewn and is the highest-quality book binding available as it is more durable than glue and lets the book pen flat, making it easier to read.”

The Good Life Lab is part memoir, part reflection on the benefits and challenges of living off the grid, and part recipe book (recipes for food, medicinal tinctures, how to build a building with papercrete, how to roast coffee beans in a popcorn popper…the list goes on). Beautiful illustrations fill the interior, as do photos of Tremayne and her partner working with various materials.

I found this book to be inspiring, but also intimidating. While I enjoyed The Good Life Lab and definitely resonated with Tremayne, I can’t say this book is for everyone. I’m not even sure it was for me, but I’m more inclined to say that it wasn’t for me at this point in my life, but could very well be a handy resource in the future. As I said, Tremayne’s story is quite inspiring: she has been able to create a life in which she and her partner are sufficiently able to make almost everything they need for themselves (or buy it secondhand to repair and use). I would like to be able to do as much as she and Mikey do, making all food from scratch and taking classes to learn to weld and solder and craft things with my hands. But herein lies the problem for me, and I’d imagine many other casual readers: I’m still stuck in the work-to buy-to work cycle (though, in my case, not necessarily to keep up with any crowd so much as to afford rent and cat food). As someone who is not ready to pick up my life and live off the grid just yet, I felt sort of bad about my efforts while reading.

Tremayne’s story itself, in terms of how she made it to New Mexico to begin the life she wanted to lead, was what I enjoyed most. All of the tidbits, such as how to install PV solar panels and use WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil), made me feel sad that I cannot adapt my lifestyle more drastically. I think this book is an amazing resource for someone looking to live a self-sufficient and meaningful life, but I would recommend Beth Terry’s book, Plastic-Free, for the city dweller, or the person who is looking to transition portions of her life to be more eco-friendly. Terry’s prescriptions are meant to be taken in small steps, and aren’t as drastic as starting a new life elsewhere, but more about working with what you have, and making change where you can.

Finally, one point that Tremayne touches upon about our society really stuck with me:

“I wonder if people are afraid because they know that they don’t understand the real world? Acculturated knowledge is shallow, and the landscape of commerce is not necessarily logical, fair, reliable, sensible, or just. The footing is unsteady.”

She observes that “Since we are part of the natural world, civilization’s acculturated knowledge is not our own. We cannot intuit it. […] For a world that cannot be intuited and is difficult to understand, we have created a variety of interpreters: lawyers, accountants, and highly specialized people who interpret civilization’s code.”

My mouth dropped after reading these passages. In large, urbanized cities, we are unable to care for ourselves at a human level. Doing taxes is complicated because it is not knowledge we are born with, nor is it knowledge everyone possesses. The law is confusing because it is made up of rules upon rules that do not govern the natural world. This is something I’m sure I was subconsciously aware of, but had never really thought about before, so I felt my mind being blown open while reading such ideas.

In short, I’d recommend this book to anyone looking to make large-scale changes in his lifestyle. You won’t find a more in-depth, helpful resource about starting a homestead from scratch, unless you check out Tremayne’s blog, Holy Scrap, which she runs with her partner. This was a lengthy review, but warranted, because there was so much packed into this book, a true labor of love from the author; such is everything in her life.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
542 reviews
April 24, 2020
Not for me. Great projects and neat recipes but a little too hippy dippy. LOVE the illustrations throughout the book, though.
Profile Image for Kristy Ann.
452 reviews
October 18, 2016
Sometimes a book finds you at just the right time. I had the honor of meeting the author in May when the universe (with help from Loretta) sent me to her yoga class. I was drawn to her immediately and came to find out that she's an artist, an author and an all-around trailblazer with the courage to live her truth. I loved this book - it will certainly encourage me to remember that I was meant to be a maker of things.
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