—Lancaater Farming. Saturday, Mar. 2, 1974 12 ORGANIC LIVING By Robert Rodole LOW-ENERGY LIVING CAN BE FUN Some people haven’t waited for the energy crunch to hit before cutting back on their high-consumption lifestyles. Instead, they’ve chosen to make do with less power, fewer gadgets and a more down-to-earth diet because it’s more satisfying and enjoyable. Now their experiences can serve as inspiration for all of us faced with shortages and possible sacrifices. Bade In 1968, Eliot and Sue Coleman moved to Maine in search of a simpler, more satisfying way of life. Today, with two children and 40 acres of their own land near Harborside, they are finally realizing self-sufficiency. The Colemans must work harder than most of us, and they do without some modem conveniences we might consider necessities, but they feel it’s worth it. The Colemans have no electricity, but they do have a wood burning stove. They use six cords of wood a year for heat and cooking. There's no telephone, but they prefer the peaceful isolation that comes with being out of earshot of a ringing phone. Face to-face communication suffices for socializing and tran sacting necessary business. The Colemans eat no supermarket food. They raise all their own food (except grains, peanuts and cooking oil) on a one-acre organic truck patch. Fertilizer is no problem, because Eliot uses seaweed, manure, leaves, spoiled hay and other inexpensive local materials. Surplus garden produce is sold at a roadside stand, providing cash to live on. Last year the Colemans made $3,000 from their one-acre plot. “If everything grew perfectly, I’m sure we could make $5,000 or even $6,000,” says Eliot. This year they are planning to keep bees for the first time, and their goat herd has grown. But they don’t equate success with owning more things. “I have no idea what I’d do with more money,” says Eliot. “If I had a larger farm, I’d have to develop a taste for fast cars, television sets and vacations in order to do something with all that money. “I may be 100 percent wrong,” he says, “but if I am or not, I think there’s virtue in charging down the avenue I'am charging down at least until I exhaust its possibilities.” Most of us in urban and suburban settings can’t pack up and go charging off to the Maine woods. But we can leam to live with less energy and enjoy it. Jeff Cox, a Pennsylvania magazine editor, managed to cut his kitchen electric bill in FREY FREE STALL LIFETIME FREE STALL HOUSING Cut bedding costs 75 per cent, reduce labor for barn cleaning and cow washing; reduce teat and udder injury to the minimum house your milking herd in free stall housing Each cow provided a stall for loafing She won’t be stepped on, the rear curb forces manure out into alley for mechanical cleaning or washing A few minutes twice a day cleans the stalls and curbs, bedding lasts almost forever if your stalls fit the cows. Popular sizes are 6’6”, 7’ and 7’6” Size ’em by breed Our free stall partition may be mounted on wooden head boards or we make a steel 'hvider Set the legs in S to 10” concrete curbs to hold and retain bedding Stall floor can be soil, sand or gravel Bedding straw, sawdust, peanut hulls, ground corn cobs, etc Should be installed with paved alley surface 8 feet wide lor mechanical cleaning or washing - 8 Models all steel welded farm and feedlot gates - 2 Models all steel welded head catch gate For prices, contact Fred Frey, Mgr 786-2146 FREY BROS. RD 2 Quarryville, Penna 17566 OR SEE US AT DAIRY DAY MARCH 5, FARM & HOME CENTER half a few years ago. Here are his recommendations for doing the same In your home now that energy is In tight supply: 1. Get rid of all but truly essential appliances. Among the items Cox found expendable were a coffee maker, automatic can opener, deep-fat fryer, dishwasher, bun and plate warmer, rotisserie, air conditioner, steak broiler, and toaster. “If It does what you can’t reasonably do, it can stay," he says. “If the appliance is only for ease or comfort, It goes." 5^9 2. Be prepared to do a little more work. “It’s better for you, and for the quality of your kitchen and food, if you keep your personal hand in things, from disposing of garbage in the compost pile to washing your own plates,” says Cox 3. Seek out quality-built, hand-operated kitchen appliances. Coffee grinders, grain mills, and food shredders are just some of the products available. Cox also feels that his family’s shopping habits are geared to a low-energy lifestyle. “Today,” he says, “everyone depends on national suppliers of immense size, which scour the nation for raw materials and punch out trillions of poor quality products, using tremendous amounts of energy.” Cox enjoys buying as much as he can, including eggs, milk and meat, from small local producers. That way he avoids much of the packaging and processing that consumes so TRY A CLASSIFIED AD MODEL RSC tOO A MILKMOVER SYSTEM gels /on out of the barn sooner-with more money in your pocket l It saves your lugging heavy pails of milk from barn to cooler • HAS MORE MILK CAPACITY • PERMITS FASTER MILKING • ELIMINATES EXTRA HELP • PROTECTS MILK QUALITY • IS 100% SELF CLEANING • HAS ELECTRIC CONTROLS • FITE INTO ALL BARNS • EASILY INSTALLED Available thru your local dairy equipment dealer or call the fac tory collect to arrange for a free demonstration on your farm. Manufactured by o/oUG m iNDUs'mCS »nc UaHNSOIM P.0.80X 283, ELKTON.MD. 21921 Phone 301-398-3451 )t!B\ The Proven Performers! stfe CLARK ELECTRIC, W INC. ' RD. 1, Box 82 Kinzer, Pa. 17535 much energy in our society. • “We work for one corporation and buy all our life support functions from other corporations. Now’s the time to take back the responsibility for at least some of our life support functions, especially growing our own food and disposing of our wastes in an environmentally-sound manner,” Cox says, noting that doing this cuts energy use tremendously. "If you raise a milk goat, for Instance, you save the energy used in processing the milk, carting feed to the cows, taking the milk to the cooperative dairy, packaging the milk, delivering the milk to retail stores, and the gas you’d use driving to and from the store." You can live better for less like the Colemans, with the help of the 48-page guide, “How to Live on Less and Like it More.” To get your copy, send fifty cents to Robert Rodale, Organic Living, in care of this newspaper. Please ask for the booklet by name and allow at least three weeks for delivery. TRY A CLASSIFIED AD PHONE 626-2191 or 394-3047 J3' • STAINLESS STEEL CONSTRUCTION [ vd DIPLOMAT- I Proven on thousands of dairy farms the world over, 200 to 1500 gallon sizes FULLY FLOODED GIRTON COLD PLATE IRE FREON 12, THE SAFE REFRIGERANT [FOAMED IN PLACE) INSULATION ambassador - v The ultimate tank for the large, quality conscious dairy farmer 500 to 3000 gallon sizes PH: 768-8228
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