Releasing books into the Wild

I love books. At times I've owned more books then is good for me or my books. I mean hey, this could be getting close to Library standards. Well probably not that many, unless you'd of asked my non book reading husband. Now that I'm living or trying to live a simpler more earth friendly life I'm only keeping my most loved books you know the ones that are your best friends. The ones I'm not keeping go out into the adoptive world in a few different ways. I post a lot of them on the this is a way for me to trade them in for other books I want to read or add to my favorite book case. Sometimes a book I have have already been listed by many, many people. If I post this book it will probably sit on my shelf for a long, long time feeling very unloved. That's when I like to release them to the wild.

I came across BookCrossing about 4 years ago. My granddaughter was very sick and I had taken her over to the hospital for a test. They put us in a private waiting room and I reached over and found a children's book to read to her.

The book had all these funny stickers on it that said

I've been hooked ever since. Walter Sickers once said "Nothing links man to man like the frequent passage from hand to hand of a good book." What can be better that sending off a book into the wild, someone finds it, reads it, keeps it, or releases it again into the wild for others to repeat the sequence, Sometimes they log it into the bookcrossing website and you can go there and see the journey that you book is flying on. My grand kids and I have released a lot of books out at the Zoo. Its fun to then sit on a bench and watch someone find a book. I've let them at the Airport so they can find someone and fly away with them, though now that life has changed so, that probably is not a good idea, I mean it could involve bomb sniffing dogs and a lot of delayed planes. BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. So grab a book, any book. Register it with www.bookcrossing.com and jot its unique BookCrossing ID (BCID) down in the book, along with the website url or you can print some nifty free labels off their website. Release the book out into the wild and wait for it to write home to you. (You can also give the book to a friend, send it on a book ring etc-- just be sure to make a release note on it when you send it off into the world.) So what are you waiting for? Help make the world a library and recycle at the same time, through BookCrossing!

Why I think my kindle is living from scratch

For Christmas this year, my only wish was for a Kindle and the loves of my life (my husband and parents) went in on it together and bought me one. Considering the $259.00 price tag, this is one of my most frugal items I own. OK, I can hear you scoffing from here, just hear me out.
First let me tell you about my Kindle.
Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wireless in less than 60 seconds; no PC required.
3G Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle; no annual contracts, no monthly fees, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
Global Coverage: Enjoy 3G wireless coverage at home or abroad in over 100 countries. See details. Check wireless coverage map.
Paper-Like Display: Reads like real paper without glare, even in bright sunlight
Carry Your Library: Holds up to 1,500 books
Longer Battery Life: Now read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on, a significant improvement from the previous battery life of 4 days
Built-In PDF Reader: Your Kindle can now display PDF documents natively. Native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go.
Read-to-Me: With the experimental Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable
Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy
Large Selection: Over 400,000 books, including 101 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs. For non-U.S. customers, content availability and pricing will vary. Check your country.
Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are $9.99, unless marked otherwise. When traveling abroad, you can download books wirelessly from the Kindle Store or your Archived Items. U.S. customers will be charged a fee of $1.99 for international downloads.
That was all the technical details from the Amazon website.
Now let me tell you what I do with it.
1. I read a lot of free books I find on the Internet. Books ranging from the classics, to how to-informational, and books and short stories posted on websites and blogs by the authors. Now I can download the stories and pdf's and transfer them to my Kindle so I can read them anywhere and not be tied to my computer.
2. When I find a recipe I'd like to try or a free pattern to crochet I can download it and put it on my Kindle. Now I don't have to print it thus saying my paper and the expensive ink cartridges on my printer.
3. I live in a small town where the only book seller is the Walmart. I find that my taste in books is not often what the majority of the public wants to buy, or at least what Walmart thinks we should read. When I'm eagerly waiting for a new release odds are Walmart is not going to carry it. So that leaves me the option of driving 50 miles to a bookstore or buying it off the Internet and paying for shipping. Also I have found that most books I read I don't necessary want to own a hard copy of. As I'm trying to live simply I am trying to keep only my most beloved books in my library. Take the new book Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol . I really wanted to read his new book. It came out before I had my Kindle. The Library had a 5 month waiting list to read it so I bought it from Walmart. I paid something like $18.00 for it on the day it was released. I could of got it from Kindle for $9.60 and even better than that downloaded the first chapter for free and found out that the book was very disappointing and saved my money altogether. Now when I want to read a book I can get it thru my Kindle saving the trees and ink that would go into printing it. If it's one I want to add to my library then I can put it on my wish list at paperbookswap.com (they swap hardbound books also) and get it for free.
4. I even put my presentation for my CPR classes on it. Now when I teach a class I can use this instead of juggling all my notes. I can even load up my grocery and shopping lists on it and since I can add notes right on my Kindle I can keep a price list and update it while I'm shopping.
So this is why I'm in love ♥ with my Kindle, and not to lazy to turn the page as my family jokes.

Books (Free Downloads) GARDENING, WILD FORAGING AND SELF SUFFICIENCY

I found this great website with lots of free book downloads. So far i've downloaded books on candle and soap making, gardening, Weaving loom plans, spinning, The Homesteader's Handbook To Raising Small Livestock, chicken raising, lots of shortwave radio stuff for my husband, The Formula Manual for making your own recipes for almost everything other than food, Natural Dyeing Of Textiles. You've got to check this out, my Kindle is goingto be filled up with losts of free books to read now.

Click here to go to this amazing collection of downloads.

INDEPENDANCE DAYS CHALLENGE, WEEK 10

1. Plant something –
*Enriching garden for the Spring
* Started with harvesting Llama poo and adding to the garden
2. Harvest something –
* Chives
3. Preserve something –
* Chives,
* Green peppers
4. Reduce waste –
* Recycling cans, using cloth napkins and handkerchiefs, using homemade laundry soap, saving old jeans to reupholster a chair with.
5. Preparation and Storage –
* Continuing my water storage.
6. Build Community Food Systems –
* Continuing to shop at a locally owned grocery store instead of the large corporate store and local fruit stand.
7. Eat the Food –
* Spaghetti Sauce
8. Learn something –
* Continuing to take the Preserving food at home online self study course offered thru the National Center for Home Food Preservation and the University of Georgia, Need to get off my butt and finish this.
* Reading about raising Llamas
9. Simple Living –
* DH and I attended an evening of celebrating Grandparent’s Day with DGD at her school. We had such a great time that she was mad the next morning because we couldn’t go to school with her for the whole day ☻
* Celebrated DH’s birthday with a dinner of his favorites.
* Enjoying an ice-cream with DGD
* Reconnecting with family and friends out of town
* Reading
* Taking care of and enjoying our animals.
10. To Do –
* Finish sewing DGD school clothes
* Working on Christmas gifts

INDEPENDANCE DAYS CHALLENGE, WEEK 8 AND 9

1. Plant something – Potted the garden chives and moved them into the kitchen for the cold months.
2. Harvest something –Green Peppers. Tomatoes, Potatoes.
3. Preserve something – 1 case of quart jars filled with spaghetti sauce
4. Reduce waste – Recycling cans, using cloth napkins and handkerchiefs, using homemade laundry soap, saving old jeans to reupholster a chair with.
5. Preparation and Storage – Nothing this time.
6. Build Community Food Systems – Began my water storage.
7. Eat the Food – Spaghetti Sauce
8. Learn something –
* Continuing to take the Preserving food at home online self study course offered thru the National Center for Home Food Preservation and the University of Georgia,
* Reading about raising Llamas
9. Simple Living –
* Spent the day at the Zoo with DD, DGD and DSG. DD packed a lovely lunch and we used the aluminum Pepsi bottles with cork stoppers to carry our drinks from home. We had a lovely day and the only money we spent was for the gas to drive to the Zoo.
* Celebrated DGS’s first birthday and then the next week we celebrated my mother’s birthday with a great dinner and a family game of Monopoly.
* Yesterday and today we tore down the garden for the year.
* Continued making Christmas gifts. Sewing DGD school clothes
* Finished reading The Sword of the Lady by S. M. Stirling, Received 2 more books thru The Paperpack Swap to add to my reading list.
10. To Do –
* Finish sewing DGD school clothes
* freeze remainder of green peppers.

INDEPENDANCE DAYS CHALLENGE, WEEK 6

1. Plant something - Nothing this time.
2. Harvest something –Green Peppers
3. Preserve something – 25 lbs Pickled Onions
4. Reduce waste – Recycling cans, using cloth napkins and handkerchiefs, using homemade laundry soap, saving old jeans to reupholster a chair with. Mom and Dad bought a new Frig. and Stove, I took their old ones (Brand new to me), my daughter received my frig, and a young couple that my son works with took my stove.
5. Preparation and Storage – Bought extras of groceries. Bought and set up shelving for food storage.
6. Build Community Food Systems – Went shopping at a locally owned grocery store instead of the large corporate store.
7. Eat the Food –Tomatoes diced, Broccoli.
8. Learn something –
Continuing to take the Preserving food at home online self study course offered thru the National Center for Home Food Preservation and the University of Georgia, Reading about raising Llamas
Finished reading The Amber Room: The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure by Catherine Scott-Clark.
9. Simple Living – Continued making Christmas gifts. Canned an extra dozen pints of pickled onions for my dad’s birthday present, they are his favorite.
10. To Do –* Sew DGD school clothes

INDEPENDANCE DAYS CHALLENGE, WEEK 5

1. Plant something - Nothing this time.
2. Harvest something – Tomatoes, Green Peppers, last of the Watermelon
3. Preserve something – froze 10 lbs broccoli .
4. Reduce waste – Recycling cans, using cloth napkins and handkerchiefs, using homemade laundry soap, saving old jeans to reupholster a chair with. mailed off 2 books thru the paperback swap and ordered 2 books also,
5. Preparation and Storage – 10 bottles BBQ sauce, whipped up another batch of laundry soap
6. Build Community Food Systems – Went shopping at a locally owned grocery store instead of the large corporate store.
7. Eat the Food –Tomatoes diced, and sauce.
8. Learn something – Continuing to take the Preserving food at home online self study course offered thru the National Center for Home Food Preservation and the University of Georgia,
currently reading The Amber Room: The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure by Catherine Scott-Clark. This is the (true) story of two journalists who embark on a quest to find out what happened to the Amber Room. The Amber Room was a room in Catherine Palace in St Petersburg that was decorated with panels of amber mosaics. During World War 2, with the Nazis heading towards St Petersburg, the Russians packed up as many treasures as they could and sent them across the country to be safely stored. But they were unable to pack up the Amber Room, so they tried to conceal it in situ. This ruse was unsuccessful. The Nazis dismantled the room and relocated it to Konisberg Castle in Prussia. When the war ended, the Russians went to recover the room - but it had vanished. Where was it? Was it still in existence? There was evidence to suggest that it may have been moved again - but to where? The story is told from the point of view of the two authors, as they sift through archived data in both Russia and Germany, and also try to track down any surviving witnesses to that time. It's very easy to read and surprisingly gripping. Not a dry history book at ALL.
9. Simple Living – Continued making Christmas gifts.
10. To Do –* Sew DGD school clothes * Blackberry jelly