Recipe for Fried Cabbage and Lobster

Fried Cabbage and Lobster

 This recipe make enough for two, but I ate it all myself in one sitting!

1. Heat about three tablespoons of coconut oil in a large skillet over low heat.
2. Thinly slice one small head of cabbage. Put in pan and slowly fry until tender, stirring regularly.
3. Once tender, turn heat up to medium-high and fry cabbage until slightly brown, stirring constantly.
4. Stir in liberal amounts of garlic powder, curry, Worcestershire, and Asian fish powder.
5. Move cabbage to the perimeter of the pan, freeing up the center.
6. With heat still on medium-high, add four tablespoons of coconut oil to center of pan.
7. Add 8 oz of lobster chunks (imitation works well) to center of pan and quickly fry for just a minute or two, stirring constantly.
8. Remove from heat. Add Asian peanut sauce to lobster and stir.

Enjoy!

Cold Winter Winds

January is the most challenging Winter month in Virginia. Overnight temperatures can dip down into single-digits, and Winter storms bring in steady winds. That's a rough combination for a tent, where air infiltration is a big problem. Even though I've gone to great lengths to seal the gaps in my canvas, the material itself is so porous that the wind comes right through, causing my candles to flicker as they dance in the cold air. On nights like that I burn a hot stove, so wood consumption doubles and burn time is cut in half. And I have to wake up every few hours to stoke the fire.

As I snooze through such nights, I let the temperature on my face act as an alarm clock, the rest of me being cozy and warm beneath my blankets. I've found that when my face gets cold enough, say at around 30 degrees or so, I usually wake up. And just in time to add fuel to the stove, there being a nice, hot bed of coals still glowing. Of course, there have been times when I've slept through and have woken up to temperatures in the teens, and dying coals that needed kindling and care. I always knew when that had happened as soon as I awoke, and frowned and grumbled to myself for having slept through, knowing that I would be up a bit longer tending to the stove.

January's cold has also worked to acclimate my body. Forty degrees is now quite comfortable, so some evenings I'll heat with just propane, satisfied to wake up to a 30 degree morning.

I'm enjoying Winter now, having passed through the December doldrums. February is just weeks away, then Spring, then the heat of Summer when I'll wish for January.

Fire Safety

From a fire safety point-of-view, my home is a small, flammable space with open flames everywhere. The tent itself is only 12' x 14', and in it I have a double-bed, a kitchen area, a bathing area, a toilet, two chairs, some small shelves and tables, and at this time of year, a wood stove. It's packed pretty tight, and even though the canvas has been treated for fire resistance, I'm still surround by a lot of flammable material.

I light with oil lamps and candles, cook with propane, and heat with propane and wood, so there are always open flames about. And it being a small, crowded space, the likelihood for accidents increases. One false move, and an oil lamp falls to the floor or the propane heater gets knocked over. Or worse, a failure of the tent frame, a fallen limb, or an accidental bump could dislodge the stove pipe from the wood stove leading to thick smoke and open flames within the tent.

So here are my fire safety tips for tent living:

1. Don't live in a tent! It's dangerous!

Okay, if you ignore that rule (like I do), then at least:

1. Install a carbon monoxide detector. This is a must! Carbon monoxide accumulates quickly in a small space like a tent. My CO detector goes off routinely, so it has probably already saved my life.
2. Install a smoke detector. This is more for peace-of-mind, for example, when I leave my wood stove burning through the night. But my smoke detector has also alerted me to sooty wicks and slight obstructions in the stove pipe.
3. Keep a fire extinguisher handy. Fortunately, I haven't had to use mine yet, but I've had some pretty close calls when I've almost pulled it out.
4. Prevention. Arrange your space so as to minimize accidents. For example, place oil lamps on stable surfaces out of the main traffic flow, and avoid setups where you have to reach over an open flame to retrieve objects.
5. Have a fire plan. This is perhaps the most important. Imagine everything that could go wrong, and plan your response ahead of time. For example, what would you do if a tree limb ripped off the stove pipe and knocked over the wood stove? Or an oil lamp fell to the floor and broke? Or you smelled propane? Or your hair or clothes caught fire? And so on.

Please think about these things, be safe, and enjoy the thrill of tent living!

Winter Melancholy

It's the last day of December and I'm feeling down. The tent feels awfully small this time of year. The days are short, and I just want to sleep. I need some sun! I start feeling this way every year around this time. January is tough, too. But once February is near, I know it's about over.

Heavy Snow Takes a Toll

I had my first significant storm-related failure a few weeks ago. We had a Winter storm with mixed precipitation and the heavy accumulation of snow, rain, and sleet on my rain fly caused it to break loose from the conduit pipe running along the eaves.

Heavy snow damages rain fly

Fortunately, my good friend, Tom, had convinced me to attach the rain fly to the conduit with nylon zip-ties. Not only was that a clever and easy solution, but the zip-ties broke before the grommets did, so it was easy to fix the damage.

Not so for the small tarp that I had set over the picnic table. I rigged it about the same way, using zip-ties, but the tarp itself wasn't very thick so some of the grommets tore out. I'll replace it in Spring with a heavier tarp.

Living room tarp was a total loss

My Second Anniversary of Tent Living

I moved into my tent in November of 2011, so it's been two year now. Nearly as long as Thoreau lived at Walden Pond. I've planted no beans, as he did, and I don't bathe in a pond, but like him, I've lived the simple life long enough to get a good taste of it.

This second year of tent living was my year of routine. Last November, I was setup much as I am today, which means that I've solved all the problems that needed solving, and I know how to live well through each season.  My one big home improvement project during this past year was to hang a tarp over my picnic table during a particularly long Summer rain storm on an otherwise pleasant day when I wanted to spend some time outdoors. But that's it. So I am cruising along now on a steady course.

This November is different from last since I know exactly what to expect in the coming months. Last November started with a feeling of dread since I had not yet had a good Winter experience. But last Winter was a great success, so now that is my new memory. And I know now that there will be very cold times, as well as warm and cozy times. And long, dark evenings spent reading in solitude next to a fire. And early bedtimes. And cold mornings when the coals did not last through the night. And wind and rain and Winter storms. And clear, crisp, snowy days that will make me squint and smile. And hot coffee with my morning walks through the quiet, snow-covered pine woods. And visits to my swing and picnic table and hammock, covered with snow, surrounded by mud, waiting for Spring's warmth to wake them up again. And stacks of kindling and firewood that I will have to keep dry and well-supplied and tended to, that being my primary concern this time of year.

I can already say with confidence that I will live yet another year this way, should all things go according to plan. I've yet to seriously consider returning to the normal way of life, this one being so much simpler and therefore preferable to me. This time of year, I often sit by the fire, gazing into it for awhile, then look around my home, realising, as I often do, that I want for nothing more. And that makes me smile, knowing that I am living well and right, for me.

Land Search Continues

It's been a month now since I started my most recent land search. I ran a Craigslist ad looking for land to lease for off-grid living, and posted a corresponding link to Facebook. Both received a lot of attention. Several of my friends offered to let me stay on their land, and to-date I've gotten about 140 blog hits from the Craigslist ad.

I also met some new people, like Donna and Ron who saw my Facebook post and asked about writing an article on my lifestyle, and Jonathan and Joe who saw my Craigslist ad and sent me emails. Jonathan was very encouraging and said he would pass the word to his friends. But it was Joe's email that got me thinking.

Joe lives in a rural area about 3 hours from me. He owns an 86-acre farm. Sometime ago, Joe let a friend setup a camper on his property for occasional overnight stays during hunting season. An anonymous neighbor complained about the camper to the county who sent investigators. Joe was informed that he was in violation of various county ordinances and was forced to stop using the camper.

I also heard from my old friend, Elizabeth, who I'd met on my previous land search back in 2011. She had also shared with me some of her experiences with nosy neighbors and county authorities.

By now, I was starting to get angry! How could the county restrict someone from tent camping on private property? I did some research. From what I can tell, there are three areas of concern that people wanting to live my lifestyle should be aware of:

• Health codes. Especially in the area of water and sewer
• Fire codes. Such as fire-retardant materials, indoor use of propane, wood stove installation, and so on
• Occupancy and zoning. Limitations on "camping", and the definition of "campgrounds" (this is where Joe got into trouble)

I already learned about the health code issues when I setup my tent toilet back in 2012. And the fire code restrictions are probably a good idea (considering I've already had a few mishaps with my propane heater and wood stove!) But it's the limitations on tent camping that can be the show-stopper.

I was pretty angry about the whole situation until my friend, Elizabeth, finally talked some sense into me. "Oh, my. Looks like you have swapped priorities and choose contentiousness over enjoying life in your tent. I feel bad for you!", she said. That really got to me. Of course, she was right. I was getting all worked-up just thinking about the authorities ending my peaceful lifestyle. So worked-up, in fact, that I had already ended my peaceful lifestyle without a single visit from the county!

So my current strategy is to lay low and be a good neighbor. And maybe invest in some camouflage.