Tent Living

Part of my Self-Directed Independent Study curriculum this summer involves going “back to the land,” as they used to say when my parents were my age. This being a new millennium, however, I am not forging my way alone in the woods but rather toughing it out in my parents’ back yard …. in a tent. The accommodations are pretty lux, with a piece of foam for a mattress, plenty of wool blankets, and an outhouse located behind a stand of fir trees for privacy. I awake every morning at 4 am to the sound of a million birds greeting the dawn, which comes early here. If I am lucky, the crows keep quiet long enough for me to cover my head and go back to sleep. There is something so luxurious about laying in a tent and listening to the sound of wind in the trees overhead.

 With regard to self-sufficiency, I AM doing my fair share of foraging for food and luckily there is a garden only steps away and a field full of blueberries at my fingertips. Blueberry picking is part of my daily ritual and involves extended time in a crouched position, waving at horse flies, peeking under leaves, and competing with a stray ant here and there for my harvest. It is so well worth the effort.