technē and poiēsis

Foraged apple and hazelnut muesli You have all heard of 'hunters' and 'gatherers'. It's often used to describe pre-agricultural societies- people who lived off the land. The hunters would head out with their bows and arrows and spears or whatever and try to catch some game. The gatherers would comb the woods for plants, fruit, and nuts. Lately I've been thinking that we still fit in these archetypes. Hunters intersperse long periods of waiting with short periods of intense activity. Gatherers have a continuous low activity level. If you're a modern 'hunter' you would, for example:  -reflect for a long time on a project for work, then pull everything off in one all-nighter -prefer sports such as climbing, tennis, or martial arts -eat large meals, but less often -might think of life as a series of big important events with some in-between time If you're a modern 'gatherer' you would: -complete tasks at work by breaking them down into multip...

  I've purposely avoided creating an Instagram account; I feel like it is a form of consumerism. I could post many photogenic pictures of my morning coffee in the caravan, the hammock hung in the trees outside, the sunset on the mountain peaks, or the many delicious meals cooked in the tiny kitchen. But the essence of Tiny House living is doing more with less- and perhaps also doing more and posting less.  The story of Modern Humankind seems to be a story of excess. Humans eat too much and then have to diet to try to save their health. Humans work too much and then have to take anti-depressants to save their sanity.  We have been systematically replacing natural cycles with one-way tunnels that need human input. We can look at agriculture this way, if we think of the fields of sterile crops kept alive by synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. We can look at the way livestock is raised, crowded in inhumane conditions and doped on pharmaceuticals. We can look at our u...