Our December Project
Our friend Michael Bunker in Texas has embarked on his annual “December Project.” This is the description from his Process Driven Life blog:
The December Project is a way that we test and improve ourselves, our sustainability, and our preparedness and living skills by staying home, totally off-grid, for an extended period of time. This year we intend to go two full months. The December Project is a great way to find out just where you are falling short, on what you need to improve, and if your skill set is where it needs to be. We do not use the Internet (except for book writing/publishing necessities), no telephones, no electronic devices, etc. Everything is done the old-fashioned, time-tested way. The December Project for you can be ANY personal or family test that challenges you and your dependence on the world system. I challenge each and every one of you to find some type of way to test yourself, and this could be your December Project. It can be anything from limiting your "town" trips (maybe once a week, a month, etc.), turning off the electronic entertainment, trying to go several days without power, etc. The point is that every year you increase the elements of the test so that you are continuing to learn and grow. For us, it started with an idea I had to turn off the power to the house (many years ago, mind you) for a few days. A couple of years ago we decided (and encouraged by our desire to not have anything at all to do with the so-called "holidays") to stay home for the whole month of December. No store or town trips AT ALL. A year later we upped the ante, and decided no Internet, and no phones as well. I believe every hopeful Agrarian, every Christian separatist, every future homesteader, ought to have some type of December Project. Set your own rules and live by them.
We’ve decided on our own December Project. As we already live off grid and pretty much stay out of town anyway (after his tour in Afghanistan, David is even less tolerant of crowds than he ever was) we struggled with how we might participate. We’ve had computer problems and haven’t blogged for months about our life here on the homestead so we decided that our December commitment would be to share regularly on the blog, 3 days a week Lord willing, the activities and projects we’re working on this December. We hope to edify those who share or seek an off-grid lifestyle separate from “the real world.”
As summer here in the southern plains can be every bit as harsh and barren as a hard winter up north, fall and early winter here is kind of like spring with much activity. As the weather cools we are able to get a necessary head start on cool weather garden crops, get our meat curing accomplished and do physical labor that is next to impossible when the temperature is 110 in the shade. Our Dominique chicks we brooded by kerosene lantern this spring are laying and eggs are abundant and must be used or preserved. Lord willing, a good turnip crop is coming on and David is staying busy hunting and working on the addition to the cabin and I help him as he needs and tan the hides of whatever he brings home. Cooler weather also means time for making sauerkraut, wine and with the woodstove fired, breadmaking. This is the time of year we clear brush and burn garden and other debris, before dry weather and the burn bans return.
As a way of challenging ourselves in this commitment, we won’t be using internet links, but will share background information for our posts from our books. They tend to get dusty with the ease of jumping online for any little tidbit of information. We’ll answer any questions or comments on our posts online after January 1 but will be happy to answer snail mail during December. Our mailing address is D. Bowman, 24285 NCR 3055, Foster, OK, 73434.
