Why we caved in and bought a Le Creuset stockpot

Local grass-fed London broil with local organic beets, carrots, onions, mushrooms and brussel sprouts.  This delicious dinner cooked itself.  We are super excited about our new stockpot.  We finally felt like we should fork out the cash for one of these real big stock pots, once it went on super sale at this store nearby. 

It’s big and red, and you can just put a ton of ingredients in it, stick it in the oven, and come back later for dinner.  We also just bought a new apartment-sized (or cabin-sized) oven from the 1940s that runs on gas, but we are converting to run on propane.

This is the second meal we have cooked in the pot, and we find it delicious.  We probably spend 50-75% of our income on food, because it is our favorite thing.  That way we can support local, organic farms, and eat more tasty items than what you get at a normal grocery store.  The difference in the eggs, carrots, fruits, is more than striking.

But finally we bought ourselves the fancy pot. 

Back in probably 2002, I read a series of non-fiction books (Your Money or Your Life, Affluenza, The Circle of Simplicity, Do What you Love and the Money will Follow, etc.) like I was going crazy, when I was trying to figure out how to support myself with creative endeavors.  I pretty much hated every job I’d ever had. 

I determined the best plan was part time work while making things in my spare time, and then trying to set my life up so that my monthly expenses were very minimal, so I would feel more free to do whatever felt important to me or made me happy.

Phil had a similar attitude about life when I met him, so we delved into things naturally together: started a design company to pay the bills while we started the band and I made art; and then we bought a small piece of land in the middle of nowhere and started building our tiny home on it.

We have given up a lot of luxuries, but we’ve maintained good food as probably our one constant luxury, whenever we could afford it (There was a year in there where we bartered for popcorn and ate that several meals a day, and got the rest of our food from a dumpster, but that was when we had to pay rent.).  And dumpster diving is free, and especially awesome if you can find a health food store with a dumpster.

When the economy started to tank, it did affect us, but not in the way it would have if we had been relying on other people for our jobs or homes.  I’ve been reading a lot of stories online and in magazines lately of other people who are living out of their vans, or buying travel trailers and finding a place to park, or building their own tiny houses. 

It’s so much more satisfying to choose an adventure like that, than to struggle to maintain a fancier way of life.  And I wouldn’t ever want to go back to fancyhood.  Sometimes we visit friends in the city, and for a day or two, we enjoy the ease of their central heating, or the silky vibe of it all, but the moment we pull back into our driveway in the country, a huge weight falls off our shoulders, and we open back up.

It’s a simpler, mankier life in a way, but feels more free.  And now, when we have started actually getting occasional checks in the mail from album sales, we buy ourselves a new real fancy red stockpot.

Thanks to everyone who is making our manky little country-time life a little easier, and more delicious. 

p.s. Oh, and if you have any good stockpot recipes, please tell us!
(send to info -at- bowerbirds -dot- org)