Photos of possible new location

Hey gang, here are some photos of the land in uppermost NY - known as Many Oaks, it's a diverse 550 acre parcel with mixed hardwood forests, river frontage on Indian River (seriously), vast cattail swamps, seemingly endless meadows... it may not be as remote as the other possible location - there is a driveable road bordering the land and it's about 1/2 hour to the nearest small town. You can occasionally hear evidence that humans still inhabit the earth, as there are homes scattered around the surrounding territory. It is, however, very rural and un-developed. Being 550 acres, I think it affords us a wonderful opportunity to create a sustainable community that could potentially live on for many generations to come. I'd be much more excited about creating something that will live on and provide an example to the world of the possibility of living happily, comfortably, in a beautiful thriving primitive community than to just have a really amazing 4 month experiment that radically and beautifully transformed our perceptions and memories but otherwise ended.... we'd also be in a better position to maintain a sustainable, craft based, education based or other small income-providing lifestyle (there are invariably going to be some expenses - as Max said, we are new at this)

Hillary in borderlands of cattail swamp

Indian River

Endless Meadow (keeps going way further than you can see in photo)

Pete in borderlands of cattail swamps

Small pond near wigwam

Pete n Hillary outside wigwam, happy as can be (note - there's no cable in the wigwam, hahaha)

Possible Location Update

First, a welcome to the site's newest author, Destroying Angel. A great first post, with surely many more to come.

As he mentioned, he's got a lot of experience with the skills needed to live life outside the boundaries of civilization and is willing to share them, but as he so sagely noted, "Nature will be our real teacher, I'll just help you live long enough to hear what she's got to say to you."

Additionally, he is part owner of a parcel of wild land in upstate New York (very upstate - just about 25km south of the Canada/US border). There are a number of benefits over using crown land, including a reduction of legal risk, continuity of the primitive living community over time, and allowing people to come and go as they please knowing they will be able to find us again. (Pictures of the area will be posted here soon!)

As always, we'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter, either here in the comments or in the new facebook group.

-Max

Opening thoughts

Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out the blog. I offer my greetings and prayers of thanksgiving to all that have made this dream possible. Max asked if I'd write from time to time since I've got a good deal of survival/tracking training as well as personal experience. I'm honored to do this and hope that it proves useful in some way.
I have long been praying to find others who'd be willing to embark on a journey like Reinvent09. Since finally joining facebook several months ago I've been trying to reach out to folks that are part of wilderness immersion programs, tracking schools, anarchist groups, etc. I hoped that I would find/create a group of like-hearted individuals that yearn, as I do, to reconnect with our ancestral selves, to know what it feels like to answer only to our truest needs and our simplest primitive desires, to set aside all the distractions and conflicting adjectives that cloud our minds and perceptions, thereby enabling us to hear the song of creation. This song alone can liberate us from the bonds of our tired, tomb-like cocoons, into the splendor of our authentic selves and the uniquely perfect dance of freedom that is both our heritage and our birthright!
I've been making lots of wondeful new friends in my journey, many of whom share a similar vision. There has been no one, however, that is willing to entertain the notion of really living this vision. Don't get me wrong, there's an army of awesome individuals out there doing really great and inspiring work, and they're devoting their lives to it. It's just that everyone seems (i.e. I may be wrong) content to try and change the system from within. To run schools and programs that take people out of their normal realm of thinking and acting, to empower them with some self-reliance skills and arm them with some ancient ancestral wisdom.... only then to send them back to their normal lives of competition and consumerism. I understand that lives are changed in the process, and a person's level of competitiveness and consumerism is lessened by these experiences, and that's all very good and important stuff. I'm just not convinced that it's going to save us from the storm that's brewing on the horizon.
I often look at it like this... few people would disagree that we, as a species, have strayed at least a little from the path of being good stewards of this planet and all its inhabitants. Few would disagree that that is the path we were once on and ultimately should get back on. So when someone's hiking in the woods and they stop and realize that they've gotten all caught up in their thoughts and failed to notice that they're no longer on the trail to wherever they were going, what options do they have? Assuming they still want to get where they were going, they can either back track to the point where they stepped off the trail, or they can change course and try to intercept their trail somewhere near where they would have been had they remained on course. Well I personally don't see anything wrong with backtracking, going back to how we used to live when were were not yet a blight on this beautiful planet. Most people are so caught up in the web of progress, however, that this idea is utterly abhorrent to them. That would be a total admission of guilt or stupidity or something else that they're equally unwilling to come to terms with in themselves. Fine, so let's take the other option and strike off into the untamed wilderness that lies between the here and there, and we'll bring with us what we need or otherwise feel we absolutely can't live without, and we'll see if we can't someday make our way back to that yellow brick road. Sounds good to me, however most people are nearly as reluctanct to pursue this option for the simple fact that you can't take as much shit with you when you're bushwacking as you can when you're on a trail..... "What do you mean, I can't take my blow dryer and my crystal martini glasses?! Fuck it then! Fire up the bulldozers and we'll make a new path to the promised land! And while you're at it, fire up the blenders, too. Might as well have a drink while we're improving upon nature's perfection, right?"
Well, it's usually agood time for me to get off my soap-box once the expletives start flying around. I don't know any of you and don't want to piss in yer shoes on our first date, hahahaha.

Best wishes,

Destroying Angel

A More Different Poster

[Link to PDF]

Improved Poster

About 36.4% better than the first round

[Link to PDF Download]

The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops (1909), by E.M. Forster [Link to Full Text]

I read the story in high school, but it reads differently now.

'The Machine stops.'
'What do you say?'
'The Machine is stopping, I know it, I know the signs.'

Possible Location Update

It looks pretty good on the federal govt's topo maps:

(47° 1' 11.53", -79° 58' 17.55")

[Link to interactive topo map]

First Poster

Well, it's not perfect but it'll do for now.



[Click here to download PDF poster]

Update: Much improved poster here: [Link]

How to Poop

We're doing it wrong:

http://naturesplatform.com/health_benefits.html

+47° 1' 11.53", -79° 58' 17.55"

Possible Location:


View Larger Map


General Use Crown Land, about 2/3 of the way (~16km) from Temagami to Lake Temagami near Spawning Lake. Looks like the route from Hwy 11 to the spot is passable by foot. Other bodies of water include McLaren Lake and Hardwood Lake and the unnamed rivers that connect them.

Economic Terror

Schneier posted a great quote from a novel:

Part of the debtor mentality is a constant, frantically suppressed undercurrent of terror. We have one of the highest debt-to-income ratios in the world, and apparently most of us are two paychecks from the street. Those in power -- governments, employers -- exploit this, to great effect. Frightened people are obedient -- not just physically, but intellectually and emotionally. If your employer tells you to work overtime, and you know that refusing could jeopardize everything you have, then not only do you work the overtime, but you convince yourself that you're doing it voluntarily, out of loyalty to the company; because the alternative is to acknowledge that you are living in terror. Before you know it, you've persuaded yourself that you have a profound emotional attachment to some vast multinational corporation: you've indentured not just your working hours, but your entire thought process. The only people who are capable of either unfettered action or unfettered thought are those who -- either because they're heroically brave, or because they're insane, or because they know themselves to be safe -- are free from fear.

Nailed it. Time to move beyond civilization, if you ask me.

Simple Medicine

From the Hesperian Foundation

Where There is No Doctor

Where There is No Dentist

Traditional Native American Dwellings

According to Wikipedia, anyway:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Traditional_Native_American_dwellings

Presentation Background Slide

[click to enlarge]

More Edible Plants

These videos are fantastic. To me, watching the fellow interact with the plants provides much more information than photos in guidebooks. Plus, mildly entertaining.

[Link]

Update: Here's his website: http://www.eattheweeds.com/

Update 2: Here's an ongoing, dynamic edible plant document [Link]. I took most of what's there from this fellow's videos, but will be updating it from other sources as I continue to study.

Edible Plant Information

The US Army is, well, the US Army. But, on the positive side, they've got some decent materials on edible plants:

• Edible and Medicinal Plants
• Poisonous Plants

I have also been keeping a bit of a personal list of local ones, which I've put in PDF format:

• Edible Wild Plants

Ontario Crown Land

According to the regulations found here, we can camp anywhere on most crown land for 21 days at a stretch before moving to another location. Another location is defined as somewhere not less than 100m away. So, we may have to shuffle 100m every three weeks.

Crown Lands
In Ontario, travel for recreational purposes on Crown landsand waters is generally free and unrestricted. Generally, camping is allowed free on Crown lands up to 21 days at one site (to qualify as a separate site which can be occupied for an additional 21 days, a second camp site must be at least 100 metres from the first location by that camper) or unless otherwise posted under the Public Lands Act. However, some Crown lands may have restricted-travel zones for forest fire prevention, officially closed forest-access roads or specific areas posted with signs to prohibit all or certain kinds of uses or travel. Some Crown lands may also be posted against hunting and possession of firearms to protect forest workers or other resource users. Contact the local MNR office for the area in which you wish to hunt for further information.

Ontario MNR Hunting Regulation

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Hunting Regulations Summary 2008-2009: Web Page or PDF

Q & A: The Big Six

Update: A Few Clarifications

(Note that this page is dynamic and updated from time to time)

What?
A four month experimental journey in sustainable living.

Who?
All kinds of people. When people think of living outdoors, they think of people with mental illness or alcoholism or just incredibly bad luck. When a group of not-at-risk individuals voluntarily opts out of modern housing for an extended period, people may take notice. We hope to reframe the idea of living without modern buildings away from a hard luck circumstance to a celebration of life.

Where?
Strongly leaning towards a place called Many Oaks in upstate New York.

Here are some of our generally favoured traits and decision criteria:

• out of range of car noise and city lights
• legal risk minimized
• variety of ecosystems, esp. must include water

When?
Some period within May through August 2009. This allows for the participation of university students who are off. It is also the warmer season and will allow us to learn and live in relative safety (compared to, say, January).

Why?
Each morning, I wake up and greet the sun. Each morning, I look at the state of the world and my heart breaks anew. Reinvent 2009 is an experiment in finding new ways - perhaps old ways - for human beings to behave towards each other and the broader community of life.

How?

This is a biggie and we've got a lot to learn.
Land: How much? Unclear… need more research. It would ideally have a river, plenty of trees and all kinds of life.
People: A number of people who are interested in exploring this idea more. Perhaps ten to twenty. Maybe more?
Skills: Firemaking, wild plant knowledge, hunting, tracking, fishing, trapping, shelter building, music, poetry, dance.To make up for my lack of skill in some of those fields, I will:

• practice more of the skills I have only theoretical knowledge of
• compromise and bring some artefacts of civilization to make up for any gaps that would present an unnecessary risk to the participants
• possibility: spend time with the original people of this place to learn from them how to live here

Materials:
Warm hat, coat, boots and blanket for each person
Tarps and cord
Musical Instruments - mandatory!
knives, axes
firestarting tools
fishing line and hooks
some food in an emergency cache - this is our first time, after all
lots more - plans still under development, of course - Please join the discussion!

Welcome to Reinvent 2009

Background

After a year of voluntary houselessness and having graduated from university, I went on a solo trip into the woods, intending a month-long stay, hoping the fish or the trees would teach me something I couldn't find on the Internet or in a book. I was only there for four days, but I didn't leave because I was hungry. I didn't leave because I was cold. I didn't leave because of the bugs. I left because I was losing my mind with loneliness. That spot was incredibly beautiful and generous, offering up snake, frog, rabbit, fish, raspberries and more. Without anyone to share it with, though, my time there was reduced to an experiment in self-abuse. The fish and trees had held their tongues.

I returned to the city feeling defeated and confused. I started writing a novel about the experience while latently also trying to figure out what to do next. The answer came from an unlikely place, derived from a conversation with my friend's father. He asked me, as I've been asked countless times, where I saw myself in five years. I demurred, using my usual metaphor of the leaf floating on the river. "That's all well and good," he said, "but think about it for a sec. Five years from now, what world do you want to live in?"
"Well, I realize I'm not smart enough to know quite what that would look like," I said, "but I think I can pretty concretely say it's a world where people participate in the community of life rather than killing it and selling it for money, a place where a Blackberry is something you eat and high fructose corn syrup isn't. Where it would be unthinkable to horde while your neighbour suffers."
"Well?" he asked.
"Well what?"
"So build it."
I almost said "We can't" but caught myself. Of course we can.

Summary

For some period within May through August 2009, a group of people will travel to undeveloped land and live there. Four months - no TV, no internet, no high fructose corn syrup. Just each other and the land.

Through our actions we can communicate an often-neglected alternative story about homo sapiens - one in which we're not the villain, a story that is very difficult to tell in words.

This is an amazing time to be alive. We're bumping up against the very real limits of the planet to endure the civilization we've built and our generation has the opportunity to reimagine and reinvent for the first time in ten thousand years what it means to be human.

Mission Statement

• Learn and Share - to let go of preconceived notions and discover truly sustainable living and culture, and to share our findings with the world
• Provide an Example - to demonstrate a credible alternative way of life that does not require destructive practices
  

Contact Information

We would be delighted if you would join the discussion by leaving a comment on the relevant post.

If you'd like to contact me personally, email me at hobolyfe@gmail.com.