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  • From: <eureka AT hctc.net>
  • To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Primitive Technology Living
  • Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:45:31 -0500

Bob--You find the neatest stuff online! I'll watch it with some popcorn when I get a chance. I have the feeling there are small enclaves like this in many wilderness areas...although probably not in Texas as there is no public land.--Sage

On Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:35:04 -0700 (PDT)
bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com> wrote:
Sage, I just watched this movie about some people living on the mesa in NM, not just like what you describe, but certainly not mainstream. . It is a documentary that won some indie awards earlier this year. If you watch it, there is a button on the far right bottom hand side to make it full screen, it isn't youtube. It is about an hour with a few, intermittent advertisemnets. There is even a person named Sage : -)

Here are descriptions:

"Twenty-Five miles from town, a million miles from mainstream society, a loose-knit community of eco-pioneers, teenage runaways, war veterans and drop-outs, live on the fringe and off the grid, struggling to survive with little food, less water and no electricity, as they cling to their unique vision of the American dream…"

"Look out the window while you’re driving through the rural American Southwest. You’ll see the stark beauty of the landscape, but what you won’t see is the underground community a few miles in the distance. They inhabit this stunning, yet unfriendly territory. The Mesa has no access to the electricity grid and it’s not patrolled by a police force. There is no official rule of law. However, many residents are extremely patriotic and believe in the basic tenants of the U.S. Constitution.
This post-modern wild west is a haven for American Veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Gulf War Syndrome. Teenage runaways are also drawn here for the sense of anarchy, anonymity and freedom. Fueled by the growth and distribution of Marijuana, the Mesa has developed an underground economy all its own. But marijuana’s legal status has brought increasing government surveillance. A recent police raid solidified anti-government sentiment.

Anti-establishment beliefs are tested when a group of rebel runaways called “the nowhere kids” begins to stockpile weapons and steal food from neighboring residents. The community is challenged to find common ground in order to protect themselves against this dangerous faction. Residents form a council, and hold a hearing to deal with the thieves. This self-imposed government is the very thing they have come to the Mesa to escape. "

http://snagfilms.com/films/title/off_the_grid_life_on_the_mesa/









--- On Fri, 10/17/08, eureka AT hctc.net <eureka AT hctc.net> wrote:

From: eureka AT hctc.net <eureka AT hctc.net>
Subject: [Homestead] Primitive Technology Living
To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Friday, October 17, 2008, 9:37 AM
Once, about a decade ago, when traveling in New Mexico, a friend set me up to meet and spend the day with a woman who would teach me about their edible plants. I was expecting to meet another botanist. I drove to a remote wilderness location, and the woman met me there on foot. She was only a few years older than me, thin, and covered with spider bites.

I followed her down into the canyon where she was living in a cave. It was actually more like a small grotto, where she had dug out a grave shaped hole and filled it with cattail fluff to sleep in. She had made her home here for two decades and raised two "love" children, one
grown and gone, the other making his home somewhere up the next creek. She had learned everything she knew from a rather generic book on the edible plants of north America. The only time she'd gotten sick was from ergot poisoning,
and that put her in the hospital. I did not ask how she got there, imagining the woman crawling out of the canyon and onto the highway for help. I spent an entire day
"grazing" with her, taking notes and photographs. At the days end we got into a hot spring and a large snake slithered out between our feet. By that point I felt so one with nature, neither of us reacted and it went on its way. I often wonder if I went back if she would still be there, if I could find her.

There's a certain satisfaction when completing a backpacking wilderness trek, but then I have some rather high technology gadgets like a whisperlite stove, water purifier, goretex jacket, mountain tent etc., but it always feels so good to get back to the comforts of home. I think of myself as the hardy, outdoor type, but I've never started a fire from scratch or called a cave my home. It would be an interesting experiment for those of us with land to try it sometime for a while. I would undoubtedly be covered in fire ant bites.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas
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