Learning to love the high desert
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #120 • November/December, 2009
Earlier this year, the dogs and I got taxed out of Cabin Sweet Cabin. With a little help from our friends, we packed a small trailer with our...
Preparing for civil unrest
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #118 • July/August, 2009
The most remarkable thing about civil unrest is that there hasn't been more of it.
Politicians are making a hash of this country and much of the rest of...
The art of living in small spaces
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The art of living in small spaces
By Claire Wolfe
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Issue #92 • March/April, 2005
Long ago, I read that to live in the country you must have the soul of a poet, the dedication...
Circle of friends
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #111 • May/June, 2008
Hardcore survivalists cherish what I call the "George Romero Scenario." It goes like this: The proverbial poop has hit the propeller. Cities collapse into chaos. But we, the...
Turning a $10,000 House into a Home — Part 1: Salvaging the Wreck
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #155 • September/October, 2015
December 2012. Welcome to my house as I first saw it.
The door opens onto a dirt-floored room. It's not a garage, not a storeroom, not a laundry room,...
Winter in the High Desert — Understanding the music
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #121 • January/February, 2010
My old friends from the Pacific Northwest think I don't love them anymore, now that I've moved far away to the high desert.
It's all a misunderstanding.
One after another,...
Yurt Magic — Building an Enchanting Instant House
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #76 • July/August, 2002
I awoke last night to a circle of moonlight reflected on a wall. It was so vivid I could almost see the dark-and-light patterns of the moonface in...
10 traits for better living
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #151 • January/February, 2015
It's a mystery why one person can be poor but still proud, independent, and reasonably content while the guy next door is merely content to slide into a...
Simplifying simplicity
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #117 • May/June, 2009
In the bustling 19th century, Henry David Thoreau urged us to "simplify, simplify, simplify."
In the even more hectic 20th and 21st centuries, writer, philosopher, and frugalista Wendy McElroy...
Kick the credit card habit and learn to stash cash
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #107 • September/October, 2007
My friend Jeanie, a professional woman, whips out her credit card at every spending opportunity. Wal-Mart expedition? Credit card. A week's worth of groceries? Credit card. DVD rental?...
Homemade bread: a metaphor for life
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Homemade bread:
a metaphor for life
By Claire Wolfe
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By Claire Wolfe
Issue #113 • September/October, 2008
My parents never actually bought Wonder Bread; I got my fix only at friends' houses. The breads that entered our little three-bedroom,...
Moving on: A small town can be a haven during a depression
By Claire Wolfe
Website Exclusive • September, 2010
One day last summer, I departed Last-Chance Gulch and the high desert, a U-Haul trailer bobbing behind. I aimed for my beloved Pacific Northwest where a friend had...
Build a Trail
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Build a trail
By Claire Wolfe
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By Claire Wolfe
Standing near the top of the trail, looking down. The bright sunny spot in the middle distance will be the site of my future camping "pagoda;" it will...
Can the U.N. Ban America’s Guns?
By Claire Wolfe
Website Exclusive • April, 2013
The rumor flashed across the Internet last winter: the Obama administration is going to use a United Nations arms treaty to get around the Second Amendment and ban...
Activists on both the left and the right spotlight a broken federal government
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #97 • January/February, 2006
On October 28, 2005, 400 citizens of Vermont met amid the pomp of their capitol building and voted to secede from the Union. The media, to say the...
