Off-the-grid back-to-the-land homesteading articles

2010: Questions & Answers with Touch

Plus thoughts on sundry things

Questions for Touch and some answers & thoughts

I have received countless emails over the years from customers and visitors of Rawganique.com who have ventured past our product pages into my articles on our off-the-grid living. Most emails are unique and filled with kind sentiments about our way of life — and full of reflections on the senders' wishes and dreams in the same direction of sustainable living. But there were some common themes and questions, so I thought it would be interesting to copy those here along with my responses.

Why did you do it the hard way and settled on a cliff with no soil and water and no power and phone?

Because we fell in love with the property and saw its potential. The land needed to be loved and healed. That it was hard work didn't deter our young souls (if we had to do it over, we'd probably think twice about all the work that's involved). We are not suckers for punishment, it was just that we were driven and inspired. The result was, we came to appreciate every little thing (like a seed germinating, and a plant thriving in our garden, whereas most of our gardener friends look bewildered when we gush on and on about how a certain plant is fruiting or flowering; for them, in their garden with deep bottom soil, it's just the norm, so nothing exciting). But when our plants started thriving three years into our mulch method, they really thrived! Everything is big and lush, thanks to the almost unlimited sunshine and heat of our cliff top location and our solar pump which brings us unlimited water from our ponds 150 feet below. We've come to love our garden with histrionic passion. We've had to work for every bit of it, and we're right proud of it all.

Why do you keep chickens, ducks, and geese if you don't eat their eggs and eat their meat?

Because we love them. We started out rescuing a few birds here and there from farms and the slaughterhouses; then we let them have babies; and now we have almost 70 birds in total in our yard. When we have a few moments to spare, it's relaxing just watching them frolic and play. Plus, they keep unwanted insect populations down. And we have a lot of excess greens from our organic garden which they love to eat, so it all works out.

What is it like shuffling work for Rawganique.com and homesteading, gardening,& caring for animals?

It's challenging. Both aspects of our lives are worthwhile pursuits to us. Running Rawganique has been a wonderful experience. We feel this sense of connectedness to perfect strangers in another part of the world whom we've never met yet who deeply share many of our core values and commitments to the earth, animals, and humanity. Of course, we wish we could spend more time at our homestead with our garden and animals. Many customers are shocked to learn that we are real homesteaders living on a small rural island and not running our business from some big city. That is why we don't offer overnight service. It's because we're in the boondocks! By choice. We wouldn't have it any other way. We're homesteaders at heart, but we're committed to the work with do at Rawganique.com.

What inspired you to start making your own products?

It started out with the the mass exodus of US organic companies overseas. Organic cotton mills were shutting down left and right and most companies were going to China, India, and other countries for manufacturing. So we stepped in and did the best we could with keeping our products sweatshop-free and chemical-free. This often meant that we had to do our productions in Europe, which has high labor standards, work ethics, and strict environmental laws across the board. This was the only way we could control the purity of the products we offer. Most of our products use fabrics that are custom-woven to our specifications because these fabrics just don't exist in the open market. We have control over how pure the raw materials are, the quality and hand of the fabrics we use, the styling, the sewing, and the environmentally friendly finishing of the final products. It's become our passion to re-invent classic, timeless clothing items that won't go out of style. We aren't into runway fads, but we do try to stay current and up-to-date with our offerings.

I like your models, and I'm glad to see some racial diversity. I would like to see even more diversity among your models, especially older models.

The models who are on our website are all from our small island community of 500 people. Unlike some big corporate outfits who intentionally aim to represent every ethnic group for marketing/affirmative action purposes (and who have access to countless models and a big budget), we just ask family and friends who love being photographed to model for us.

We embrace diversity in every form in our own lives and work, but we don't intentionally go out and find models who fit a certain criterion just so that we can end up representing every ethnic and age group. We work with what we have. Our community is vibrant and full of creative, independent, thoughtful, and intellectually diverse people, but it is not racially diverse. There are many older people, but those we've asked aren't comfortable being in front of the camera.

In the final analysis, we aim to represent our products as accurately as possible as worn on real people, and I think our various models have helped us achieve that goal in a brilliant way. We rely on natural lighting and use no make-up during our photo shoots. Our photo shoots. are fun affairs. Our models are real people who are genuinely nice and fun to be around. As many of our long-time customers have noted, our models have grown with us. To these customers, our models are like old friends they have known for many years, and rightly so, as our camera has captured our models going through changes in their own lives, like a good old friend who's gone through relationship changes, parenthood, among other things.

The paradox of too much is not enough and little is plenty

The impulse to be extreme in me is very strong. When I'm excited about something, I give it my heart and soul. With age, I've found that that can be more destructive than constructive. When I first went raw, I was militant.

thamm jamikorn touch tom

To send Touch an email: Email us!

RawForLife Raw & Sustainable Living Ezine

Edible Flowers (page 1)
Michael McCarthy: En Route to Portland (page 2)
Rawganique Convergence (page 3)
Random Ruminations (page 4)
On Hybrids and Such (page 5)
Steve Scharmer's 36-day Fast (page 6)
The Simple Life IS the Good Life (page 7)
Raw Veganism and the Protein Myth? (page 8)
Rawganique Diet (page 9)
September 11, 2001 (page 10)
No-till Vegan Organic Gardening (page 11)
Rawganique.com's Story
Humanure (book review)
Hemp Facts & Info
Hemp & Raw Food Books (30% off)
Free Gourmet Living Foods Recipes

All opinions expressed herein, excellent though they may be, are those of their authors and do not in anyway imply agreement from us or our staff. We publish them here solely in the spirit of sharing and in the hope that they may be of service to others who are also seeking a simpler, more sustainable, and healthier way of life. We do not give recommendations or advice and cannot be held responsible for them. Please seek advice from professionals if you need help. There are also many excellent books out there by qualified professionals to help you on your path to health. May your journey be a gentle, loving, happy, safe, and fulfilling one.

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