I read books

I've been having computer problems. My trusty iBook G4 has developed a reluctance to connect to my wireless network. And it has decided upon an annoying habit of shutting down unexpectedly while unplugged.
This puts a serious crimp in my blogging.
I really hate to be indelicate but my idea breakfast lunch and dinner while farming is Snickers candy bars and black coffee. I break up my routine with fresh tomatoes when in season and hard boiled eggs when the fellow that I sell feed to runs out of cash and pays me with eggs. As a result I tend to spend quite a bit of time in a certain room of the house that is too far to reach with an ethernet cable and in which I am reluctant to hook up a power cord despite the fact that it has a GFI on the outlet.
So I've been reading.
I've been reading two books. The first book I have now lost. I think it was called "Slow Money" and it was about the perils of modern farming and how everything would be better if we went back to the old ways of doing things. The clever folks call that sustainability," I think.
I couldn't find the book with a short google search but I found this link to a blog. It looks kind of like the same thing.
I like the book. I like the idea of farming in a balanced system. The knowledge to farm with few outside inputs and to live the old and simple life is so appealing. But, as an avid reader and one who remembers the tail end of the "old life" I can tell you that it is a whole lot of hard dirty work. To be honest, I'm not sure if I am smart enough for motivated enough to do it.
I've been reading about the new old style farmers (who are a total bunch of hippies) and I'm amazed. They are farming with horses and old equipment and reviving the old ways, but not the old faith. I wish the old faith would be revived, but without the whole prosperity doctrine thing, or the excessive Calvinistic streak, or the whole kill them if they don't convert sort of thing. I guess I could join the Amish but I do really like fiddle music.
But I digress...
The second book I picked up on the fabled anniversary trip to Portland last month. I found in a Portland Goodwill store next to a complete set of Robert Louis Stevenson books which I could not afford.
It is called "Into the Wild," and was written in 1996 by Jon Krakaurer. (apparently it was made into a film-what do you know-I'm out of touch!)
"Into the Wild," is about a fellow who decided to live off the land in Alaska in 1992. It didn't work out so well for him as he discovered the hard way that the seeds of wild potatoes contain an alkaloid toxin which builds up in your system.
The story is fascinating in that the guy just walks into the bush with a .22 rifle and a big bag of rice as his major supplies and he nearly makes it. One small mistake and he is dead. I almost didn't buy the book as I've read "Call of the Wild," and have talked with a few outdoorsmen from Alaska who have stories to tell about the clueless folks who show up from time to time and must be rescued.
I was impressed by this fellow's utter determination to leave civilization and his willingness to wager his life in a gamble that if he would have won would have been the achievement of a lifetime.
As someone who has always wanted to be a nomad but could never turn loose of all his accumulated crap and the history that surrounds each of his odd possessions I am in complete awe of someone who can just walk away...
I don't have "Into the Wild" quite finished and I suppose as my diet improves I'll have less time for reading. I read the last chapter so if I get distracted it will be kind of like reading the whole thing.
(I'm a cheater...)