Day 23

One thing I hadn’t thought about when I started this 31-day project was finances.
I just graduated from Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism–so you can imagine, I have some debt to pay off (mostly to beloved family members). As a free-lance writer and a part-time biodiesel shop-owner, I usually have more time than money. Therein lies the genius of this project. I have spent almost no money on food (I did buy vodka for a long-term alcohol steeping recipe), and that has made it possible to pay bills and rent. I knew food was my main spending item, so to have it erased has been quite a relief. Enough so that I may stick with the diet even after July is up. Except for the following items:
-coffee
-tea
-butter (when I don’t have a cache of duck fat anymore)
-milk
-flour
-corn meal
-dry beans
-rice
-hardtack (ha ha!)
-a few small loaves from Brioche Bakery
-one cheese a week
The ideal is to gradually find substitutes for all of these things. Not only is it a fun challenge, it really saves the dough. I mean, I’m poor, ok?
On the milk and cheese front, I’m brainstorming a way to have a goat collective. That is, I need a site to host a herd of goats. A group of friends will own them collectively, take turns milking them, feeding them, walking them, etc. Then we share the milk! I know a guy named Jim who does this very thing in Berkeley. My ideal is to find a place in Oakland. Holler if you have any ideas or know someone with land.