Migrations Have Occurred

So, I certainly owe everyone an update.

We moved off the hill in December of 2009. It was a long story, but worked out for the best; three months later, we discovered we were becoming parents! So now there is a little BabyPacker learning to stomp around.

Before he was even born the family gave us one of those terrific baby backpacks by Kelty, complete with brush guard! I can't wait to get out there with him once it warms up! I guess I'll have to start going ultra-light now, if I'm going to have the little bush-rat in my pack.

As I mentioned last week, the original Guerrilla Camping blogs have been gradually refined and expanded over the last four years, and are presently going through a lengthy proofreading process before heading to layout. I'm hoping to get it all done before the end of spring, but everyone laughs when I suggest it's possible.

I think I'm going to put out a first edition with less layout than I would like, and sell it cheap to guage the reaction.

Meanwhile, the lost chapters are finished. These were chapters I felt were quite important, but at the time I was unable to post them, or complete them to my satisfaction. I spent my family leave finishing these up as I completed the expanded Guerrilla Camping book, and will be posting excerpts here once the proofing process is finished.

The most important new chapter is on staying out of trouble when stealth camping or guerrilla traveling. Another involves the use of supply boxes to move seasonal or sensitive gear without having to lug is or risk it on your back every day.

I will be migrating the original GNN Guerrilla Camping 101 Blogs here this evening, so if you've been looking for them, here they come! If it is your first time reading them, please keep in mind that these were furiously written in the limited time I had in front of a computer at that time; forgive the terrible formatting and wretched typos. I'd also like to throw an immense amount of thanks to Floyd Anderson who's work at the GNN Archive prevented an immense amount of information from going down the memory hole, including Guerrilla Camping!

There is so much to say. Guerrilla Camping is currently going through the proofing process with two very amazing editors. Patiently patiently waiting. We might yet see a book!

Changes changes changes. Work work work.

Thanks for all of you who have continued to keep up with this blog and send me letters of encouragement and thanks. I am very happy to know I keep finding readers. I have gone back and reedited most of Guerrilla Camping and am working on laying it out to either self publish or pimp out.

The blackpacker persona exists today only as a spark in my soul, the foundation of who I have become. I've settled in Mendocino county, married my fiance, and had a son. I still work at the farm supply, and have started doing all the marketing for them.

I've got to be one of the only people in the world who could decide it was time to grow up and get serious with life and go back into graphics design. Well, marketing.

Those of you who followed my blogs on GNN when I was posting as hagcel will understand this immediately, as most of the issues I covered revolved around media literacy, culture jamming and memetic engineering. For those of you who tuned in as I started writing about my lifelong hobby as a vagabond, it might seem a bit confusing.

The primary reason I am doing this is because my community needs me. Seriously. Small businesses are buried in search engines even in local results. It seems that unless you make wine and use a Napa, SF or New York ad firm, you don't exists around here.

It took me less than one week to fix that at the farm supply, and over six months, I have nailed down every relevant search result for our business and was able to build some markets that are particularly favorable to my ethics (organic nutrients, sustainable micro-farms, and self-sufficiency), so I can still sleep at night even though I'm paying taxes and being a legitimate member of society.

So, I've restarted the marketing and design firm from SF, and am going to try and make enough money to give my son the ability to go to college without going to war.

Urban Merit is a full service Ukiah marketing and design firm that works to build our local economy by supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs. We specialize in search engine management, brand development and outreach and print and web design. Our team has been assembled from many parts of the state to create a dynamic and fully featured marketing firm.

Our website, www.urbanmerit.com is currently in stasis and will launch sometime this weekend. Once my book is finished, you will be able to buy it there or find out where to buy it form there.

Thanks for sticking around.

Hey! I'm over here!

You know, I'm a lifestyle migrant; Offline and on. That said, you can keep up with my current projects at work over at REDACTED. There you will find info on our gardens, grow rooms, chicken coops, and helpful tips on everything from erosion control to treating mite infestations in chickens.

Guerrilla Camping is still going, but since it's been a few years since I had internet with anything but that dumb phone, posts are still going to be intermittent. Big news coming up soon though, so stay posted.

For all of you who followed my stuff on GNN, drop me a line! I miss you!

Funny customer inspired thought...

I'm going to sell organic cyanide from organic apple seeds so at least
our rats won't die of cancer...
I think my sense of humor is intact.

Quick Update. Coming up for air again.

Well guys, once again, long time, no blog. As I have mentioned previously, blogging via the iPhone is obnoxious at best, impossible at worst. At last, however, I got a computer. Just the cheapest little netbook I could find. I don’t need the distraction of trying to see what a machine can do. A word processor, a few MP3s and the ability to work online is enough for me.

I’m still quite off the grid, however, I can upload stuff at work, so am working on getting that set up right now.

It has been a wild and convoluted year. The rise and gradual fall of our daily victories, right? They finally got me working full time at the Farm Supply, and it is possibly the best job description I have ever had… “Just wander around and do what you do.”

That’s right. No looking over the shoulder, no second guessing, just the support and assistance of my co-workers and manager. Without question. Open accounts at all the best shops in town, and working for a store that instantly gets me handshakes and warm welcomes at all of them. I must be a running joke at the local welding shop, as I have the most experience with a welder at the shop, and before I got promoted, I had about 14 inches of wire-feed welding under my belt. But they are helpful, and certainly don’t make me feel like an idiot.

About two months ago, we finally got DOGS. Yes. Big DOGS. Well, giant puppies at least. A mix of Great Dane and Cane Corso (an impressive Italian mastiff and, according to legend, descended from the same dogs that fought the lions in ancient Rome). Jack and Liberty are amazing dogs, already able to come, sit and stay with hand commands from a distance, and comfortable in lots of unusual situations, such as parked next to the machine gun booth at the 4^th of July carnival in town.

The cabin is… well, the cabin. Things are strange, and we are looking for property to own ourselves.

Well, I’ve got more pressing things to write, so that is all for now.

 

Homestead blacksmithing

The newest addition to the abilities pile. Forged a little coal
scraper before work today... The wife loves it. More later...