The Earth Home Garden Library

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Even with all the thought & effort we've directed toward simple living, and reducing our consumerism, I'm still addicted to books & music, so here you see the results of a lifetime of reading & listening.
This composite of two photos shows about 2/3 of the library.

The books cover a wide range of interests including organic gardening, small scale farming, the raising & caretaking of poultry & livestock, composting, permaculture, self-sufficiency, sustainabilty, ecology, species diversity, native-plant gardening, simple living, alternative lifestyles, alternative transportation (pedal-power), human powered tools, arts & crafts, classic & contemporary literature & poetry (especially that related to ecology and a sustainable future), histories of empire building, colonization, imperialism, globalization, fascism and the corporate state, the military-industrial complex, democracy & dissent, political history, socio-economic classism, racism, religion, genocide, anarchy & survival, and practical guides on everything from primitive skills like basket weaving, acorn preparation or hand tanning hides to more contemporary manuals on carpentry, earth-friendly houses & their construction, alternative energy (such as solar & wind power) and several titles on watershed and habitat restoration.

There are also many books on healthful cooking, holistic medicine, medicinal plants & herbs, grammar & writing skills, philosophy, human sexuality, a large assortment of books on natural history, evolution, geology, biology, botany and related technical manuals, journals and field guides, Beacham's 6 volume reference guide to endangered species of North America, a 10 year collection of World Watch Institute's 'State Of The World' reports, dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, music books and more...

All in all, probably close to 1,000 hand-picked volumes which are an invaluable resource, and will be even more so if "civilization" continues on its present course, which seems highly likely.

On the music side there are over 2,000 CDs spanning nearly a century of recorded music.
A large collection of early American mountain & folk music (fiddle, banjo, classic ballads, hillbilly & cowboy music) as well as hundreds of historical folk recordings from vanishing cultures of every continent on earth, and there's country blues, delta blues, blues, r&b, cajun, reggae, jazz, big band, swing, country, western & western swing, pop, doo-wop, rock, modern jazz, classical, contemporary folk, alternative, hip-hop and contemporary world music.

Again, all hand selected during a lifetime of fascination with music (& dancing) and its historical & contemporary significance to people's lives & times.

I'm often rather self-conscious about possessing this large library of stuff, but to me it represents a lifetime of research and self-education (I'm an unrepentant high school dropout), and I like to think it might someday be treasured by a small community of like-minded folks as part of a library for their own research, education and (hopefully) home-schooling.

By the way, the couch is a second-hand freebie, the lamps were bought at a yard sale for 3 bucks each (we had to buy shades), the curtains were home-made from remnants, our musical instruments were all purchased used (except for the ukelele which we got from the local music store that was going out of business), many of the books & CDs were purchased used, the signs on the wall to the right were also freebies (found art junk Americana from defunct gas stations of the terminally ill petroleum age), the fan that cools the room in summer is 100 years old and our little cabin was hand built in 1969 by the old guy we bought it from.

Phewww!
There, I feel better now! ;~)

See what stuff does to you?
Sometimes I feel like Frodo with that damned ring!