The Hip Quaker
Somewhere around 2001, he and his artist wife Rebekah packed all their belongs and escaped California for rural Maine. I’m highlighting them because we urban folks tend to dismiss everyone who lives in the sticks as “potentially dangerous ignorant hicks.”
But regardless if you want a home in the country or not, you still need to have a look at Guy’s website. He’s got everything on there from thermal window insulation solutions and info about solar differential temperature controllers, to links and comments about wireless surveillance equipment, and robotic equipment. (No, he doesn’t have any robots running around the acreage, but he does have a solar powered lawn mower … and I’m sure he’ll gladly answer any questions on robots you send him….)
Arttec.net is intentionally folksy and down-to-earth. One trip to the site and I guarantee you’ll … feel smarter. It’s like a mini Smithsonian for geeks, homesteaders, and art lovers. You quickly discover there are no high or low-tech problems that can’t be solved. Some solutions are expensive and others … relatively cheap. (After all, he was one of the Visual Effects engineers for Star Trek…)
Guy and his wife Becky are wonderful examples of “Back-to-the-Landers.” I doubt if they’d classify themselves as such, but this team of art and science lowered their overhead, escaped the rat-race, and now live healthy and extremely creative lives. They have time and space to create far more than they would had they remained in an urban space where problems like … well … everyone knows the problems.
Oh yeah, any woman curious about fashion, click on the Chicago Native’s link to her textile art … and while there, explore her latest photos that came out of a recent MFA program. These are folks. Smart folks … but folks… aware … GOOD folks. People who enrich the “neighborhood” they move into—if allowed. They do their homework before picking a spot in paradise, and then they become “neighbors.” Neighbors are important in the less alienated rural countryside. You have to be. One wet spring morning you might need one to pull your car out of a ditch. Isn’t that part of the allure?
Becky continues to travel to market her textile art and Guy… creates high tech toys, teaches homesteaders how to insulate their homes, answers high tech questions and provides solar and wind solutions. He even built a canoe.
Visit the hip Quaker at: http://www.arttec.net/
Becky’s newest art site: http://www.rebekahyounger.com/default4.asp
Her older mainstay website is: “Younger Knits”: http://www.youngerknits.com
Black Farms 