So Amber, Lici and I are going to try a new experiment out for us

We're slowly getting all the equipment together so that we can start doing something very important to our health. We've been planning over the past several months to start an indoor vegetable/fruit garden, using Hydroponics, a 1000 Watt Metal Halide bulb, and lattices for plants such as tomatoes to help them stay upright.
The Hydroponics systems we are going to use will be homeade deep-water culture systems. They are seriously easy and inexpensive to make and operate. The grow lights are about 250 bucks to get, but that gives you the ballast, the bulb and reflector, all you do is hang the light, plug it in and it's on.
The reasons we've decided to grow the majority of our fruits and vegetables indoors is because we unfortunately live in an Urban environment, and I don't care to eat anything that comes from the soil we have here.  With the Hydroponics, we should get insane yields, far better than we would get with soil, and it will be plants with all of their nutrients in them, like they should have, thanks to the organic hydroponic mixture we will be using.
We've been talking alot lately about the values of our parents, and one of the things all of our parents did was they grew food, and canned it and froze it, to store away for a rainy day. And I have to admit, I miss just going out to the garden and picking the vegetables I am having for dinner that night.
Our parents really had it right. Growing up, McDonalds was a HUGE treat for us, just ask my brothers and sister Heidi. We rarely got it, because they were located so far away, and we didn't really have alot of money. Now people are eating McDonalds like crazy, and we as a Nation are getting fatter and more unhealthy everyday. I would know, because I was one of them.
3 years ago, I weighed in at nearly 340 LBS, and had a 56 inch waist. My blood pressure was a sustained 190/130 or so. It's a wonder I am still breathing to this day. I let the depression from the knee surgery, and all the injuries I've had, to take over. All of a sudden, I was drinking Coke's by the 2 Liter bottle sized, every day, as well as eating entire bags of candy bars, and entire large pizzas to myself in one sitting. In short, man was I killing myself. Why would I ever do that to myself?
I think alot of that could come from me feeling so disconnected to the land anymore. Growing up, my elders gave me a very important gift. That was to love the land, work it faithfully, respect nature, and you will know it's bounty. I grew up being able to sit out in the sun on a beautiful summer day, out in Northern Idaho, which to me is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and oh man do I miss it. Life was so simple then. It felt so good to sit under an apple tree and feel the cool earth between my toes.  So much of that life was so carefree, so close to nature, so full of love and awe at what the Earth can provide us. Now I live in a world of concrete, and steel, exhaust fumes instead of the dust of a dirt road on a warm summer afternoon, pollution, noise, danger, and unfortunately all too often, violence.
Those thoughts have been on our minds alot lately.
Today, I weigh less than 270 Lbs, and have a waist size of about 39 inches, a huge improvement. I don't want to leave this world young, I want to live my life surrounded by those I love.
So Amber, Lici and I have made a decision, we are going to begin to return to the ways our parent's lived, in as much as we are able to. We will be not only canning food, we will also be purchasing a food dehyrdator, we already have the vacuum sealer. We have a goal of getting away from the Urban life as soon as we can, returning us to a much quieter, simpler life.
Growing up, I couldn't wait to get the hell away from Idaho, now I wish like hell that I could go back, this very day. I want to tube the Clearwater River again, go hunting in the fall, fishing for steelhead, grow my garden, raise my chickens, maybe a cow or three, and a couple of horses. I want my family to live someplace where people still wave to eachother when driving down the street. Where friends gather for coffee for a few hours on a Saturday morning. Where I don't have to concern myself with stupid crap like drive-by shootings.
So our experiment is going to be a bit long lived. It will be a sustained effort to try to get some of that back, and to begin to move towards home once more.  Eventually, more and more, it looks as if we will eventually go back to Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho.  Living in an urban environment has put far too much stress on us. I think the key in life is to live a simple one, to be happy and free, and to be thankfull for the gifts you have. To be charitable to those in need, to encourage the next generation to live such a peacefull life, enriching their existance, and making our world a much much healthier, happier place.