What the trees have to say

I want to get closer to the natural world, and these headphones are bringing me very close indeed. I'm listening to the sound of trees drinking water at Kew Gardens near London. It's astonishing to hear the hundreds of gallons of water gushing upwards into the slurping trees. A beautiful sound. 

Admittedly, it's hard to escape from the ominous vibe these days: friends calling to say they've lost their jobs, weather that's peculiarly, distressingly hot in January, the thick layer of greasy black soot that drops daily onto our windowsills.

Now seemed like a good time for me to become a couture pioneer. I've lost interest in shopping; I'm crafting clothes for my entire family. I'm shying away from restaurants; we're growing winter crops of sprouting broccoli and kale (admittedly with mixed results); I've abandoned my car in the garage; despite mighty unreliable leg muscles I'm carting groceries home in an enormous wire basket affixed to my bike. I'm hanging out my laundry to dry, braving the raised eyebrows of my neighbors in tony Manhattan Beach. I'm trying my best to remake my life and by extension the world. It's fun. It's an improvement.

This blog is about my efforts to remake my life and my family's. In the spirit of statistical process control, I've decided to measure everything: our electricity usage, how much meat and sugar we consume, how many miles we drive, how much exercise I get and whether it improves my waistline, how many things we can make and grow ourselves. 

It's about nutrition, fitness, sewing gorgeous clothes, baking bread, making cheese, growing a garden, living (mostly) without a car and above all living an elegant life, not actually becoming hippies.