Living With Less

Or, "I went camping in British Columbia for five weeks and all I got was this lousy armpit hair."

So I'm kind of going through a major transition phase right now. In case you couldn't tell, about 95% of the blog posts I made in the last month were scheduled posts I wrote before leaving because I didn't want to go camping and come back to a blog filled with tumbleweeds, reader population: zero. But the truth is, does it even really matter?

For the past five weeks, I lived out of a 65L backpack with about 6 articles of clothing and 2 pairs of shoes, sleeping outside in tents, falling asleep at dark and rising with the sun. I stopped shaving my armpits and peed in the woods and campground outhouses. Not very glamorous, I know, but it was hands down one of the best experiences of my adult life. I am no longer rotting from the inside out, and feel more in tune with the wondrous beauty of nature. There is an indescribably affinity, a little bit of myself within the peeling bark of Arbutus trees and the pockmarks of salt-eroded rock that I will never let go of.

I ended up bringing one 'city' outfit for when we were in Vancouver. It was this semi-creepy thrift store polka dot dress with a peter pan collar and it came in really handy for those days when I got sick of wearing Adidas track pants for days on end.

Tomorrow I'm taking the plane home back to Ontario. Back to work, back to life, back to responsibilities, financial woes and Twitter updates. Not that I'm complaining at all - there's a lot of people, places and things that I love back in Ontario, I'm simply ready to look at life with a new level of self-awareness.

I've decided that my ecofeminist-themed magazine is a go regardless of funding, and I plan to start creating content for it as soon as I have regular internet access once more.
Now all I have to do is re-shave my head, move into my new house, buy a new camera to replace my crappy old one that broke on the trip, and receive some cool pieces in the mail from Egocloset and I am a new woman.

Orwellian Paradise

For those of you who don't know this yet: I grew up on a farm. Animals, crops, eating fresh vegetables grown in the backyard garden and all that jazz. Honestly, I'm not jealous of people who grew up in the city, because as isolating as the country can be the peaceful slowness of it all is unparalleled.

The last time I took pictures of the Highland Cattle, all you readers seemed to love it! So when I received a marvelous pair of Cougar gumboots, I wanted to show you them in the context they truly belong: muck and straw. I'm proud to own a new pair of Cougar boots because the built-in thermal socks are rad, plus they're such a quintessentially Canadian brand.

Zara coat, thrifted skirt, American Apparel leggings, Cougar boots

This is Alfred the Highland Cow. He is named after my Grandpa.

Muscovy ducks

The sheep are rather unfriendly and it's hard to get a picture close to them.

Paris the Appaloosa horse. What a rock star! She is totally posing with me here.

If you want your own pair of PVC-free Cougar boots (retail $75), click here to find the retail store closest to you. Click here to complete a survey on Cougar boots - for everyone who completes the survey, $2 will be donated to the Red Cross!