Urban Homesteading in Florida

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

For example, when Jim and I set up housekeeping together, we agreed not to include television in the deal . . . and I can honestly say that we've never felt deprived by that arrangement. Instead, we spend our free time working in the gardens, playing with our dogs, cooking — and happily consuming — elaborate meals, hiking the unusual terrain of the Florida Trail, visiting with like-minded friends, or just relaxing with a good book.

I'm sure some folks might find the interior of our "castle" a bit austere, but we love it this way. In keeping with our belief in lowconsumption living, almost all our furniture is hand-me-down, and our windows have no curtains. The floors, too, are bare, but I think it'd be a shame to cover those gleaming planks, anyway.

Another aspect of voluntary simplicity, of course, is energy conservation, and we try to take every advantage of our semitropical climate; we do our best to live with it rather than fight it (by consuming megawatts of electricity to cool the place, for instance). It's warm for nine months of the year here in central Florida, so our house stands virtually open during those months, catching sea breezes which are then circulated through the structure by an array of ceiling fans. In addition, we use bamboo blinds to shade the sunny sides of the house during the hottest months of July, August, and September. Although our meeker friends (not to mention the power company) are dismayed by our ability to do without an air conditioner, neither Jim nor I feel the need for one. Besides, both of us spend a large part of each day outdoors.

From December through February, the three months of the year when the weather here can be called mild, we heat our home exclusively with wood. Jim installed a Vermont Castings Vigilant stove just before my arrival, and this efficient burner easily keeps us toasty on those few days when there's a chill in the air. We've never had to pay for so much as a stick of kindling, either: My industrious husband collects all the firewood we need by trimming trees for his lawn customers and hauling home the leftovers. So in addition to pine and oak, we keep warm to the crackling of such exotic woods as mango, Australian bonewood, avocado, and orange.

All in all, we manage to hold our utility bills to a rock-bottom $30 a month, year-round. We use gas to heat our water and to cook with . . . we've learned to do without such modern time-savers as a dishwasher, microwave, or clothes dryer . . . and we use "necessaries" such as the stereo and telephone only with great discretion. Even our burglar alarm system is low-cost (as well as entirely foolproof): four sharp-eared and lusty-voiced canines!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print