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 use of wate

 Today, the 14th of june, is the 30th anniversary of the first women's strike in Switzerland. Earlier this year as well, there was an upsurge of news and debates surrounding the 50th anniversary of women's right to vote (7 February 1971). Yes, that's very late compared to most countries. (in Canada, just to remind you, it was in 1918 - although I just read that excluded women of Asian descent, who weren't granted their rights until 1948). For a long time I hadn’t thought at all about ‘being a feminist’. It didn’t seem like a label that fit me. Of course I believe in equal rights for everyone regardless of race, gender, orientation, etc. But to me, singling out women as a ‘minority’ (not in terms of numbers but in terms of society) was a sign of weakness. Women are in every respect the equals of men, and if everyone is equal, groups and labels become irrelevant. I was raised as an individualist. I was taught to search out my own values without wondering about how those

  I am lucky enough to have a dad who is an electrical engineer. He planned and installed all the electrical systems in the Carabane. He's the one who really should be writing this post- but I am going to try to explain everything in layperson's terms! Production, consumption and storage I want to come as close as possible to self-sufficiency. In terms of electricity, self-sufficiency is a function of 1) how much power I consume 2) how much power I can produce 3) how much power I can store. So to reduce the power consumption to the maximum, I decided to heat via gas (and not electricity). I do not have a kettle, a vacuum cleaner, television, or microwave. The electrical load is therefore reduced to : the fridge, LED lighting, charging my phone, laptop and other portable devices, 3 ventilation fans (stove, heater, and toilet), and a hand blender in the kitchen.  We calculated the power use to be about 1 kwH per day. The fridge takes about half of that- it's by far the larges

I have 'finished' building the Carabane. Of course, there are always little things to improve, but it has started its journey in the world.  Getting a license plate was a bit complicated. I hired movers to help me bring it in for its first inspection, and it didn't pass. It created quite a stir at the vehicle inspection bureau- the movers and I sat calmly drinking coffee at my kitchen table while the inspectors all curiously peered in at us! After that, I had to do some minor changes- putting protections on the metal edges, getting it looked over by a certified mechanic, and moving the axles because the weight distribution was too far forward :   Finally, in September, it was all certified and ready to go. I stayed a couple months at a campsite right at the lakeside, which has an amazing view. But that campground closed for the winter, so I've moved to another one tucked away in the forest. I've been recording the interior and exterior temperatures every morning, so

Falu Rödfärg- Swedish red paint, made of flour, linseed oil, and iron oxide. From the very beginning, I dreamed of this red colour for the walls of the Carabane. Getting the paint proved to be a difficult mission, since I had it delivered to a friend's place in France just before the borders closed due to the epidemic. To bring it back, I crossed into France at an unguarded gravel road border with my bike, biked the last 4km, put the 25kg of paint into my backpack and then biked back into Switzerland! It felt very adventurous. I was very happy to put the wood cladding up. The Carabane had stayed too long with just a rainscreen. Here's how I made the boards fit the curve of the roof. I tried different techniques but this one gave the most satisfactory result. 1. Trace the outline of the roof on the back of the board  2. Offset the trace by 2 cm (because I wanted a 2cm ventilation gap between the roof and the boards) 3. Score with a knife (to reduce spli