It takes me about an hour to make 8.5 dozen organic chocolate chip cookies (assuming I have pre-softened the butter). 40 minutes of that is cook time during which I can spend about 7 out of every 10 minute cook cycle doing other things. Last night I prepped dinner and made my lunch for today while I waited for them to bake. The cookies last me about three weeks. What I really want is an under-counter LCD TV so I can watch Scrubs while I cook.

In the last 18 months I have used my dryer three times when I had planned poorly and didn't have time to let things dry. Other than that I've air dried everything.

I agree that it is hard to make time though.

I agree. It is more work. As for "Who has the time". We have all the time we need. It's about what you choose to do with you time. Why work extra hours at work, so you can buy fast food, spend all day at a desk then drive to a gym to work out?

For me, I'm always happier when I'm outside doing something. There is something quite satisfying about moving rocks to build a patio, mowing with a pushreel mower and chopping weeds with a scythe.

The way I look at it, when you aren't sleeping you are going to do something. Why not make it something meaningful, useful and fulfilling.

Simple, low-energy need not be a lot of work. You can take shortcuts that Grandma couldn't. For example, rather than hanging each shirt with two clothespins, and than folding it or transferring it to a hanger when it's dry, put it on a plastic hanger once, while it's wet. It's no more work than using a dryer. See http://www.instructables.com/id/E8TUUHVF5HVTECN/

Wow Charlie, I use the clothesline most of the time, but it never occurred to me to hang the clothes on hangers -- great tip, thanks!

I like doing things "retro-progressive", like washing dishes by hand and carrying out the water I used to plants in the yard, preparing meals from scratch using organic produce from my local CSA, and -- occasionally -- creating hand-made gifts, costumes or decorations.

If you dont have time to buy and prepare food in a proper fashion that is good for the economy (lowering healthcare costs as an example), good for the local environment (help keep local producers in business and prevent local youths growing up with no prospects), and good for yourself (anything thats been on a chemical conveyor belt and handled by some indifferent person with chemical rubber glives on should be avoided) then don't eat..
Its that simple.... eggs come out of a chicken, not out of a non-recyclable tube bought at a profit-driven supermarket..

we moved to a rural area and got jobs only good enough to support our fruit and veggie gardening addiction. I can or freeze most of what we eat because our shopping choices are so limited. Our job on the side is cutting trees from the edges of farmer's fields and we heat our house with the resulting firewood.guess we're "retro-progressives" ! it's a good life and north central kansas is a beautiful, well-kept secret.

my family is trying to get back to basics, too - we are hoping to downsize our lives to fit into an RV trailer and then travel to figure out what part of the US we want to "be" in. (sort of like the Western pioneers in horse-drawn wagons) We're leaning toward the Northwest, but there are lots of things to think about when relocating a young family. We have no family ties to any particular place, but I wish we had that Village that our ancestors had.