The internet feels rather lonely for a philosophical rewilder at the moment. The redirection of rewilding heavy hitters Jason Godesky and Willem Larsen into personal rewilding projects has seen a huge wealth of philosophy and the marketing of rewilding diminish. Rewild.info sits rather inactive even after switching back to its older, more familiar face. While in real life I see Willem everyday and have rewild camp every Sunday… I have to say life online feels rather lonely.
I missed a week of my Weekly Laundry list due to Echoes in Time and other busy things in my schedule, such as my training with the Portland Fruit Tree Project. You heard right, I signed up for their Harvest Leader position this year, which means I get to meet new people, learn a ton of stuff about trees, get free fruit, and help out those in need. Pretty awesome!
This week I had to work a lot so I missed out on a lot of chances to work on my list. My soaking pool turned into a mosquito incubation chamber and we had to temporarily dismantle it. Oh man, did it think stink underneath the tarp! Rotting grass smells terrible. I also felt pretty sick after working all week, so I justified watching season 2 of Dexter, and made some hide glue. I also forgot how much I know about flint-knapping as I decided to impart what I do know to some of my peeps at rewild camp.
This week I decided to go back to the basics of Urban Scout, remind myself why and where I came from and do some performance art! So I camo’d up, grabbed my trusty bow-drill and headed out to the Last Thursday event on Alberta Street.
I moved back to Portland some time ago now. I don’t really like living in Portland, but all of my friends live here, and all the cultural rewilding opportunities happen here, blah blah blah you’ve heard it all before. Lately, I really feel the weight of toxicity in the city (perhaps all those wi-fi signals have finally got to my brain!?) and don’t want to stay here much longer. I keep telling myself, “just a little longer”. I plan to eventually move back to Molalla, or at least out to the woods somewhere near Portland. I want to find land out there to live on or perhaps just travel around the cascades in a gypsy wagon. But alas, for now I must work and toil in the confines of urban civilization.
That you so much everyone for your words of solidarity in my current state of depression. The best feeling in this state of depression doesn’t come from bullshit advice, but solidarity in feeling the pain of those around me. Thanks for that. It feels good to not feel this pain alone. So, thank you thank you thank you! And thank you to Jason, David and Christine for throwing some much needed cash into my tip jar.
First, thanks Darrin, Katie, Scot and Christine for your tips! I really appreciate it.
This last week marks my first year as Urban Scout. I have taken some time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. I have listed my accomplishments and my failures and used that debrief to outline ideas and goals for intensifying my rewilding in the following year. I never made my full plan public, for fear that I would totally fuck it up. Of course, I did, and now I will share it with you so that you can laugh with me (or at me!). To say that I bit off more than I could chew sounds like a complete under statement.
My begging has finally ceased! I now have a job at One Green World, an awesome horticulture business out in Molalla.
First off, Boris… Thank you so much for your generous tip! You really saved my ass this month. SO thank you thank you thank you. Please people, don’t feel shy to drop me some dough. 
(more…)
This week I have spent almost all of my time scouring the internet, thumbing through phone books and scouting around the town of Molalla. In my search for temporary work, I found a lot of precious gems.
The time has come, as it does for all desperate bloggers, for me to gum up my site with stupid cafe-press products, amazon book lists and all that other crap.
This week I mostly did odd jobs, had meetings with grant foundations, volunteered. But the rewild camp at Porcupine Palace definitely high-lighted my week!
I’ve had a really hard time with this project, especially in the winter time. When things get so cold and wet and dark, I have a really hard time getting outside. I used to feel guilty over this, but I don’t feel that way anymore. It feels more like longing for something I can’t have. I don’t really know or have routines down for spending time outdoors during the winter. I know natives here gathered wapato even in the cold winter months, but I don’t have the heart to try that yet. Instead I have focused more on the cultural aspects of rewilding. I have spent a lot of time writing and putting on events like the Derrick Jensen talk and the Nuclear Winter Formal.
I have to say, I often feel at a loss when writing the weekly laundry lists. I know I have said this before, but it feels even stronger during these winter months. While everything I do relates to rewilding, and people enjoy reading about my personal struggles, I can’t help but feel bored writing about some of them.
Oh right. Week 34. Sorry. I have to admit, I haven’t done much hunting and gathering lately. I spend most of my time reading, laying in Penny Scout’s bed and surfing the internet at coffee shops. WTF?
So I thought that buying and living in a motorhome (moho) would work better than paying rent somewhere, providing me more time and energy for rewilding. I will now go through the list of why I thought having a motorhome would work, and what I have found so far…
