Molly

Creating a life of my own is my prime interest. Experiencing life freshly in a way unmediated (as much as possible) by major advertisers is my direction. I keep working toward outgrowing concepts that hold me in stastis and growing into new thoughts.

Some ideas of our culture create much suffering and diminish us all. The belief that the natural world is valuable only to the extent of its exploitable physical characteristics is an example of dangerous and limited perception. A related idea is that many people are just “trash.” This idea is especially chilling, considering what is done with trash — burying it (as people are buried in ghettoes, sweatshops and prisons) or incinerating it. I want to reverse these thought processes, opening to the realization that we are all connected to each other, to the earth and to all living beings.

Other special interests are other cultures, particularaly traditionally nomadic ones such as the Rom, studies of women’s history and thought, primates and interspecies communication, cooking and puppet theater.

Welcome to Sootypaws!

Off the Grid
Living Off the Grid is a description of what we do in order to live without electricity and running water.
Cats is a quick look at some of our cat buddies over the years.
Buildings — Photographs of the Shack, Shop and House we built.
The Mystery Jar — We take a look at the Mystery Jar, is the label or the contents more important?
The Christmas Truck— Molly wrote this story in 2000.

Woods
The Seasons — We’ve collected some of our photographs to show the changing seasons on our farm.
Socks’ Frog Pond has some photos taken during the late winter.
The Great Morel Hunt tells about Molly’s and George’s hunt for the Great Morel Forest, a semi-mythical place briefly seen in Spring 2000. We attempt to find it again.

Journals
Molly’s Journals
These are pages from Molly’s Journals kept during the 10+ years of our project. What it feels like to live off the grid.

Blacksmithing
Making a Latch is a description, with photos, of the steps we go through to make a Suffolk latch.
Making a Hinge is a description, like Making a Latch, that shows the steps we go through to make a Butterfly Hinge.
Making a Grip shows the process for making a Cabinet Grip.

Gas Well Study
Gas Well Study portal page with links to sections within the Gas Well Study portion of the website.
Underground Injection Control Class 2 Wells are used either for the disposal of oil and gas liquid waste or for the enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas.
Gas Well Study Site Visits has annual reports, environmental assessments, and individual well information.
YouTube Videos has information about select videos from the Gas Well Study YouTube channel.