The Good Life Lab: Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living
Wendy Jehanara Tremayne
The Good Life Lab: Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living
2013, Storey Publishing, North Adams, MA
Thirtysomething Wendy Tremayne and her partner Mikey envisioned meaningful work (not jobs) and a lifestyle that wasn’t detrimental to others or to the planet. They didn't want to be isolated from community, or need a lot of money, or have a life devoid fun. So they created the life they wanted and documented it in The Good Life Lab, a funky, practical and philosophical manual for builders, foragers, makers, homesteaders and anyone else like them looking to live out of the waste stream to craft an enjoyable, responsible and inspired life. Building a home themselves in an abandoned parking lot in New Mexico, their papercrete shelter is powered by a PVC solar array. Like people of just a few generations ago, they make do or do without, so by necessity they’ve learned many “mad skills” such as the herbalism, physics, botany, construction and electronics included in The Good Life Lab. Part diary, part how-to manual, part zany inspiration, each of the several dozen projects — from shelter making, to creating a digital homestead, to fermenting, to turning a dorm fridge into a wine and cheese refrigerator — is covered in just a few pages. While practical things like food, shelter and clothing are important, so is fun. Mikey rigged a trampoline he found in a dumpster to shoot fireballs. He describes the fire trampoline as "the least useful, most fun thing I could think of making." It may later be reconfigured into a flaming doorbell.
Gail Lord is a freelance writer living in Massachusetts. Please send book review copies to 51 North Street, Grafton, MA 01519 or email socbookreviewer@gmail.com.
