Moving to Portland, Oregon?

If you're planning a move to Portland, Oregon check out this beautiful home lovingly restored by my family's construction company!
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/rfs/762200670.html

Check out our company's web site:
http://www.bullisnwconstructionllc.com

Occasionally I have to do my job..... Thanks friends! The Minimalist

Minimalist's Backyard - Taming the Mess!

If you haven't tamed your backyard yet due to bad weather, floods, etc. I's not too late. Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Good Design:

First of all, a good design aimed at low maintenance will really help. Decks are great because they can cover a large area, are great for entertaining and most importantly, let the rain water absorb and the earth breathe. Avoid lawns. They are the highest maintenance item in a yard and waste water. If you have one rip it up and replace it with bark or gravel paths through beautiful perennials.

2. Trees:

The best trees are ones that don't drop leaves. Basically pine trees. We plant Leland Cedar on all of our properties due to their quick growth and low maintenance. They can turn a yard with no privacy to a very private one in about three years. The squirrels, birds and cats love them too! Routing the water from your downspouts to your trees really helps relieve the storm drains and here in Portland, we get a discount on our water bill for doing so.

3. Privacy:

Trees don't always solve every privacy problem. When they don't, you can use trellises with vines. I recommend either potato vines or honeysuckle. Star jasmine is also great but takes longer to grow. Clamatis usually dies out in the winter. There are some non deciduous ones but they grow more slowly.

4. Flowers:

To save money and time I grow perennials. That means if you don't have too bad a winter, they come back each year. If you put a cold frame or plastic to keep the frost off them, they'll have a better chance depending upon where you live. Buying a few showy hanging plants each spring really makes you look like a super gardner too!

5. Vegetables:

My vegetable garden is completely grown in containers. They're just ones that trees came in and misc ones I've picked up. I do this because I hate to weed.

6. Watering:

I have two drip systems with a timers. I created them myself. They cost around $150 to do the front and back yards. and I am sure I have saved much more than that on my water bill and in plants saved. It was fun to put together too. It's just a hose with off shoots of little hoses to each plant that I want to get water instead of watering an entire area which encourages weeds. I even have it routed up to my hanging plants!

7. Compost:

I have a compost bin that is open on the bottom so the worms can come up. I just put my kitchen scraps and yard debris in it so I don't have to take them out to the curb. Less work for me! To read more about composting you can read: Minimalist Composting: Why It's Worth It

8. Weeds:

You're gonna have them. I don't let them get me down. I just go out a couple of mornings a week for about ten minutes in my clogs and halter top with a shovel and get my frustrations out. Then I throw them into the compost bin and reward myself by picking some flowers, herbs and vegetables.

Happy gardening!

Self Taught Artist Part 3

If you're wondering about why I am interviewing an artist for my Minimalistic Lifestyle blog, it because this particular artist not only lives such lifestyle but her art is created from found objects she finds at the local dump in rural Vermont. Talk about sustainability!

The Minimalist:

What do you feel is most important about "found art" and how we relate to what we're told is no longer useful?

Self Taught Artist:

Interesting question. Honestly, what is important (to me) about found art is that it is abundant and usually free. That is important because I have to watch my money. It gets me out of the house and out of my head. It frees me up from trying to make art like everyone else. I'm not a trained artist, I can't pretend I know what I am doing. Found objects compliment my way of being an artist in that everything is open to interpretation. It doesn't have to “be” or “mean” anything. It is very freeing and challenging to work with objects that aren't SUPPOSED to be used this way or that way. As far as 'how we relate to what were told is no longer useful' ~
I believe that seems to be challenged and changing rapidly. If anything the opposite seems to be happening yes? EVERYTHING is useful now. It is like some human life game, find the garbage and make it useful. Who can do it first. Who can do it fast. I'm not really into the environmental aspect of it, there is just a part of me that enjoys finding use for things that aren't obvious. I am aware of all the waste, there is a parallel line right next to the whole green living thing, and that line is about just being resourceful for the sake of not living a 'leaky life'. Letting things clutter, wasting your energy or the planet's energy isn't efficient on so many levels regardless of if there IS enough oil or air. It is satisfying to not need the ac blasting and to FEEL. We are always trying to feel something other than what we feel. If it is hot you want to cool off. If it is cold you want to heat up. We spend so much time trying to feel or not feel that we aren't even living.

I find my life works better if I have less to do and worry about. Less to keep up, less to clean. The less you have to deal with the easier it is to deal with yourself. I don't want to be distracted from living my life. So many things can do that. Too much sleep, food, alcohol, running around, buying, doing. I'm earnestly searching for a way to live my best life. Keeping it simple. Not buying into the 'American dream'. Peeling off all those layers that society and life foists upon you to the point of being one fat stinky onion. Who are we once you let go of what you are told to think/do/be? What if you didn't know about race/religion/politics/ what if you didn't have all that music in your head....what if you were born and raised without so much want and need? Without judgment and comparisons?

Minimalistic 4th of July

As I write this it is not yet 8:00 Am and I'm thinking there are lots of folks stressing about entertaining today. It's easy. It's all in the set up. Here are my tips:

1. Keep food simple. Grab some potato salad and fruit salad from the deli, put them in a bowl with some sprigs of mint, set the bowls atop  baking dishes filled with ice.

2. BBQ - not you! Some one whose job is to only do that. Do not allow this person in your kitchen. They may make a mess. Marinade what they'll be cooking ahead of time, then figure out in advance what they'll need, and put it on a tray ready to go.

3. Put all beverages into a bucket with ice with an opener near by. Open up some chips, dips,  and nuts and put them in  bowls spread around your entertaining area.

4. Use your regular plates and silverware. Have a large basket or plastic container for people to stow them in when they're done. Make sure you have a bag for garbage and one for recycling. Label all of these containers to let guests know where to put things.

5. Serve everything on a buffet table in the shade.

6. After dinner bring out individual ice cream bars for dessert. Usually, only the kids will want them anyway.

Speaking of kids:

1. Buy bubbles and water pistols. That should keep them busy. I won't address the fireworks issue, except to say avoid them if you can. An activity like Bocci ball is a fun game for kids and adults as well. When we lived in the country, I once had a neighbor bring her horse over and gave rides to the kids. That was really great!

2. Keep the kids outdoors and your dog indoors. Never trust other people's kids with your dog! Dogs hate fireworks anyway and can run off.

3. To make sure small kids don't wander off, lock your backyard gate up high and ask your guests to re-lock it if they go out. 

4. Try to pay a teenager to entertain your guests' kids.

If you set everything up this way, your only job at your party is to see that people are having a good time. Make sure people have a beverage, introduce people to each other, etc.

Have a safe and happy 4th!

Next Entry: Third installment of my interview with The Self Taught Artist.

The Story of an Artist Part Two

This is a continuation of my conversation with a woman , The Self Taught Artist who gave up most of her possessions to go where ever life took her and ended up being an artist.

The Minimalist:
What things were important enough to keep?

Self Taught Artist:

The things I took with me were: camping gear, some pencils and paper, two little bags of clothes, and some personal papers. I have a small car so the camping stuff filled it up. I have to laugh, I actually took a small space heater because I thought I would be spending winter in a cold place and wanted to not be using much heat. What was I thinking?

So now, four years later all I kept from that storage closet was: a small cone shaped 'touch' lamp, some nice clothes (which don't fit who I am anymore so I took them to the dump,) a back massager, my computer stuff, a few computer books, and that's about it.

I should also ad that getting rid of stuff and going on the road changed my life as much as becoming an artist did. You learn you need less. to this day I use the same one glass, one, bowl...when you camp and live on the road less is better.

When I spent that winter in MN and got an apartment I had nothing and it allowed me to focus on what was important. I’m guilty still of bringing too much with me when i go somewhere, but in comparison it’s nothing and I always get it and laugh that I brought more than I could use/want/need. The paring down of STUFF is something to always be mindful of, because it isn't about the stuff. If you let it, that stuff becomes your master, all too happy to cloud your vision.

The Minimalist:
When you camped across the country, were you by yourself? Was your boyfriend with you?

I left alone, I didn't have a boyfriend. I met Tod when I landed in Vermont.

The Minimalist:
Did you make some interesting friends along the way?

Self Taught Artist:
I have to say I met the nicest people on the road: fellow campers, travelers, women who were also artists, (I wasn't but wanted to be) and massage therapists. Some I met while camping, others while holed up in a motel to rest for a week, and some I got to know while living in Minnesota for a winter. I've kept in touch with a handful and they are the beginning point when I look back at my life. They are the people who know me now, who I am, and they seem to accept and embrace me.

Part three in my next entry.

The Story of An Artist

Many of my readers don't know that I am also an artist and have an artist notebook site but through this site, I have networked with many other artists on the web. One artist intrigued me because she makes wonderful art out of found items , (which you know I'm going to love because I think we are a wasteful society)! But there are two other reasons: one, she is a self taught artist like I am and two, she gave up all of her material possessions to go where ever life took her and it led her to be an artist.

So, I asked her if I could interview her for my blog about minimalism and what she wrote back was incredible! It's long though, so I'll spread it over a few posts.

The Minimalist: What made you think your life sucked?

The Self Taught Artist:

I was forty years old and had recently been asked to move out of the house I had rented

for twelve years because they were selling it. I had been a massage therapist for seventeen years and was burned out physically. I had moved into an apartment and had a hellish neighbor below me that tormented me with music all night. I had recently ended a 6+ year relationship and I had no clue what to do anymore. I knew the city (Phoenix) inside and out and nothing felt new or interesting. I had no skills or education for gainful employment. I was having horrible panic attacks.

The Minimalist:
How did you find the courage to restructure your life?

The Self Taught Artist:
I had a very wise woman suggest to me I just get rid of everything or put it in storage and leave. Get in my car and go. Go towards life. Keep moving and find my passion. Live somewhere awhile, work, and then move on. Just keep moving. It took everything I had to do but it took less than it would have taken had I stayed in the stagnant pool that I had been wading in. It quite literally felt like do or die. Change or die.

The Minimalist:
What kinds of things did you get rid of?

The Self Taught Artist:

I love this question. About five years prior to this I had a very close friend kill himself. Something in me changed overnight. I started burning all the journals I'd kept for almost twenty years. I got rid of most everything and started over. New furniture, new this, new that... I started collecting things that I thought would help me be more interesting and intellectual. Hundred of books, hundreds of records and CD's, art, and antique furniture. Very shallow, but a necessary thing to go through. Then when I had to move out of that house I rented, I had to downsize. I had already begun a pattern of collecting and ridding myself of things so when I decided I was going to just leave with whatever fit in my car, I was excited to finally just be free of the whole material possession thing.

I got rid of my personal stuff: pictures, high school yearbooks, letters from people, books, papers, clothes, knick knacks, etc. I donated what I couldn't sell to friends: furniture, kitchen accessories, bedding, the whole thing. I kept enough stuff to fill up a 5x10 storage unit. Mostly it was a five foot diameter, round chair I had bought that I didn't want to part with. That was the biggest reason for getting that storage unit, all for a $1500 chair! I pondered this to no end thinking if I kept NOTHING sure enough I would go out there, end up coming back sooner than I thought and be pissed I had to buy everything back to start over. And sure enough, which is what happened, if I kept things in storage I would end up staying away and that monthly rental fee along with having to deal with all that crap stuffed in storage would be the bane of my existence. I paid rent for four years and finally had friends go through it and just chuck it. My 'best' things were in that storage closet and I had them send me some of it this year. know what? I never felt happy getting it. It wasn't 'me' anymore. None of it. I got rid of it.

The Minimalist:
It makes you think doesn't it? I love that she said," It took everything I had to do but it took less than it would have taken had I stayed in the stagnant pool that I had been wading in."

Next part of the interview tomorrow.

How many cars do you have?

OK, how many cars do you have and what's in there? If you have any extra cars or an RV for that matter, that you don't drive that often, why? These are great things to either sell or donate and improve your financial picture. Even if they're just sitting in the driveway they're costing you space and perhaps, money to insure them.

Let's talk about that RV. They cost about 80 grand. Now, how many nights could a person spend in five star hotels for that amount of money (plus interest on the loan to buy it!) And I shutter to think about the cost of gas! They're not worthless though, because people can live in them. Does it ever make you sick to think about all those RVs sitting in people's driveways while millions of people are homeless in this country?

So, let's say you only have one car. What's in it? If it's full of junk, you're making your life harder. Did you know that the more stuff in your car, the worse gas millage you get? For example, my friend keeps six flats of bottled water in the back of his car so he can drink one every morning on his way to work because he knows he'll be dehydrated from the wine he drank the night before. Now, a flat of water weighs a bit so I asked him, " What if you just reused a water bottle every morning by filling it with our snow melted tap water? You'd save yourself the time, trouble, money, and garbage created by buying bottled water and probably get better gas mileage." What was his answer? "Shut up and drink your bottled water!" And if you've read my blog you know I hate bottled water!

Do you eat in your car? If you eat in your car you are breaking all of the dieting rules right off the bat, making yourself have to throw away fast food wrappers, and creating useless garbage. Hopefully, you don't support these establishments because they are ruining our farmlands, waterways, rain forests, and creating needless garbage. So let yourself have the pleasure of eating in a calm manner, not while driving.

Do you have a thousand CDs rattling around your car? I have another friend who crashed his car while changing a CD! An iPod hooked up to your car stereo is a great way to go or invest in a 5 CD changer so you can have variety. Driving to work is stressful enough without listing to the news or public radio. You'll just be angry by the time you get to work! Sit back, relax, play those songs that no one likes but you, and sing along!