What did you have to give up that you miss the most?

[Deb_A]

I can live without most of the creature comforts, but I'm really going to miss my gardens. I'm totally addicted to gardening, and since most plants cause too much humidity in a van, I'm going to have to go with tiny succulents, because I honestly cannot stand not having any plants at all. I thought maybe I could have a small grow-light with some mini african violets under them, if there is room.

It's going to take me MONTHS to sell or give away my plants and clear out the garden beds here at my apartment. I'll probably look for a place I can garden in the summer, somehow, or I think I'll go insane. 

The other thing I'm going to miss a lot is my kitchen. I love to cook and bake, and not being able to do that is going to be hard for me. I'm looking at videos on how to bake over a fire, like making cornbread in an iron skillet. Of course, you don't get that nice, brown top crust, but it's better than nothing. It will be a huge  lifestyle change for me.

 

[lenny flank]

Really the only thing I miss sometimes from apartment life is my microwave.

But I apparently don't miss it THAT much, since I could always get a bigger solar panel system and get a nuke....

 

[Moxadox]

You can use a cast iron Dutch oven and get that nice golden top crust. If you're into volunteering, there are community gardens that would love to have your expertise!

You're going to be fine. Being small and mobile will stretch you, as it does all of us, and you will discover new and amazing things about yourself. I'm certain you will find ways to put your talents to use! Hang in there.

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[WanderingBiker]

I'll also miss gardening, I have a 12 x 33 foot greenhouse with a 2000 gallon Aquaponics system... I have a small demonstration Aquaponics system along with 9 - 4' x 8' wicking beds.....

 

[WalkaboutTed]

Well, it was really nice to flush my shit away and not have to deal with it further.
Ted

 

[Deb_A]

Lenny - I once had no microwave for about a year, and I was fine, but yeah, I'll miss that too. No room for one in a minivan. I'm eating nuked acorn squash soup I just made right now. 15 minutes from prep to table. So delicious! 

Moxadox - I had forgotten about the dutch oven! I'll have to put that on my "need" list, since I don't have one right now. I have several cast iron pans, but no pots, just stainless steel pots. I'm going to need a couple of sizes of dutch oven. I guess if I got a dutch oven with a top that fit one of my frying pans, I could do the cornbread in that.  So much to learn.

And yeah, I know I'll find things to do. I've been downloading ebooks like mad for months so I'll have plenty to read. I think I have about 8 gigs of them now, so I won't get bored anytime soon. I'll be spending a lot of the summer in Washington state, to be close to my son and do some things with him. They garden like mad up there! I'm sure I can find someone to share some garden space with me. 

Wandering Biker - Oh wow! You still have that setup, or you had it? I've always wanted to do aquaponics with fish and greens growing on top, but never had the money when I had the space, and now I don't have the space OR the money. I honestly thought of just setting up a little 10-gallon aquarium and growing microgreens on top of it. Hey! That's something you can grow pretty quickly, so maybe I'll do that when I stop for a couple of weeks. Sprouts, too. I love sprouts.

Ted - potty issues almost made me change my mind about vandwelling, but I saw a video where this woman has created a potty chair that separates, so I'm trying to figure out how I can do that in a minivan. Won't be easy. I worry a lot about the smell too, but I'll figure it out.

 

[mert6706]

The other thing I'm going to miss a lot is my kitchen. I love to cook and bake, and not being able to do that is going to be hard for me. I'm looking at videos on how to bake over a fire, like making cornbread in an iron skillet. Of course, you don't get that nice, brown top crust, but it's better than nothing. It will be a huge lifestyle change for me.

I too love to cook and bake and try new recipes. When I lived in a Class A a few years ago I was able to manage but if I am able to acquire a live-in vehicle it will probably be a mini-van or sedan. I'll definitely have a huge adjustment to make. From what I have seen the solar ovens do a pretty good job. Maybe we'll run into each other and other like-minded cooks and do a potluck some time. Good luck to you!

 

[Moxadox]

I love these topics! Campfire cookery is one of my passions, and I'm missing gardening something fierce. I'm trying to figure out how to grow a tiny kitchen garden, just some leaf lettuce and herbs....maybe a terrarium would be just the thing!

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[MrNoodly]

Long hot showers, with great water pressure, whenever I want.

 

[RVTravel]

I love these topics!  Campfire cookery is one of my passions, and I'm missing gardening something fierce.  I'm trying to figure out how to grow a tiny kitchen garden, just some leaf lettuce and herbs....maybe a terrarium would be just the thing!  

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Hot onto the web, campfire cooking tips and gear....
https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/our-favorite-campfire-cooking-tips-tricks-and-gear/

 

[highdesertranger]

for those of you that want to bake check out Dutch ovens. there is tons of info on the web and youtube. corn bread is easy in a Dutch oven and with a DO you can get that nice brown crust on top. I can also do regular bread in a DO, well mine is more like sheepherders bread.

also solar ovens are pretty neat. Jimindenver has those down real well. he gives a seminar at RTR for them. highdesertranger

 

[jimindenver]

Solar ovens are pretty big. Solar cookers can fold up pretty flat. I do a video on a new one in the next few days that folds up to the size of a album cover and a half inch thick. I can cook just about anything in them except deep fry and some get hot enough I bet to do that too.

I rarely eat deep fried foods buy other than that I stay away from the healthier options since they just extend the suffering.

 

[A Savage Adventure]

I miss two things:

1. Stable High-Speed Internet
2. Comfortable Bed

 

[Deb_A]

As for growing your own food, herbs are pretty easy, and like I said earlier, sprouts and micro/mini greens don't take much space or time. 

I'm also learning a lot more about foraging. I know a lot of forageable plants here, but other locales are a totally different story. I thought it was impossible to forage in the desert, but seems it isn't, and the mountain valleys usually have a lot of good foreageable materials. 

As for the shower thing, I plan to do a lot of city dwelling and get a Planet Fitness membership so that I can have showers when I'm near one. Other than that, I'm pretty good at sponge bathing and washing my hair with little to no water. I'll miss my blow-dryer, although I imagine in the desert, your hair will dry in a hot breeze pretty quickly.

 

[Moxadox]

I'll miss my blow-dryer, although I imagine in the desert, your hair will dry in a hot breeze pretty quickly.
[/quote]


Yep, only thing I ever use my blow dryer for anymore is if I have a pesky jar lid that won't come off. When the humidity is in the single digits, your hair blows away by itself! You won't even need to bring a towel ;-)


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[MrNoodly]

I miss two things:

...Comfortable Bed

Oddly enough, the mattress I got for my van is the most comfortable I've ever had.

 

[Almost There]

After all this time on the road, I can honestly say that there is nothing I had to give up that is so important to me that I would care to change anything.

Yes, long hot showers are nice but then I think of the wasted water and take as quick a shower as I can. Both my ecology minded person and my frugal mind kick in....  

A comfortable bed - while what is comfortable is an individual thing, whatever you find comfortable can be had just as easily in a van as in a S&B.

A functioning kitchen was a must for me so having that was all part of the planning. As friends will attest, there's not a whole lot missing from my kitchen.

I have more stable internet all winter boondocking in the desert than I have right now where I'm stuck in a campground for the summer while I work. Buying a decent data plan for my cell phone, adding a WeBoost for better service (or a directional antenna) solves the problem.

While I liked gardening, the trade-off of being able to see Arboretums nationwide makes it a no-brainer to me! And there's just nothing like Mother Natures' garden for blowing all my own efforts to smithereens - take a walk in a desert or a forest and see what she can do!

I guess it's all just a mind set! One can either dwell on what they think they're missing or they can find all the bonuses that come with the lifestyle.

 

[GreyWulf]

What is there to miss everything you had in a house or an apartment you should have in your van, cargo trailer, or RV I mean it is an apartment on wheels I mean yeah I miss the long hot showers but I can get that at a truck stop I miss my 55 inch TV I now have to watch TV on a 6 inch phone big difference but as far as cooking and baking I've got all the Comforts of home. Anyting I did in my apartment I could do in my van. Only difference is less room but I've learned to live with it.

 

[Dingfelder]

I can live without most of the creature comforts, but I'm really going to miss my gardens.

I feel ya there.  Where I live, if we do things right, we can get tremendous yields of tomatoes in the summer ... and it's summer now.  I can eat tomatoes almost limitlessly, never get tired of it and since they're mostly liquid they can hardly fill you.  My ideal summer would include getting most of my water from fresh-picked heirloom tomatoes out of an organic garden.  Heck, I would roll around in them like a depraved lunatic Roman emperor.

I gave away all my gardening stuff, including lots of home-made compost and very special and expensive home-mixed soils and soil components, and had to make peace with being a master gardener who never gardened again.  I couldn't take it and snuck a peppermint in by a window.  When out in the garden, I've always found the fragrance when a breeze blew by my peppermint plants almost an intimation of heaven, a sudden shock of cool perfection so wonderful I felt giddy smelling it.  I couldn't not have any peppermint ever again.  To heck with humidity.

I also miss my jackets, which at present are in storage but which I know I will eventually have to give away.  Jackets are expensive, and if well cared for, last a very long time.  I take care of my stuff extremely well. I've bought really good jackets.  I've been gifted really nice ones too.  I've had too many for years, and almost all, even ones that might as well be new, will have to go. It feels foolish and wrong and somehow stupid and sad, but that's it.

I tremendously miss broad kitchen countertops and all the cooking pots and pans and utensils I need.  I miss my breadmaking machine tremendously.  My trailer has a range top but no oven, and while a range can keep you properly fed the rest of your life, it can't replace an oven.

Arrived just a couple days ago, I got a Rand Solar Oven, with the tray insert manufactured by an independent seller on e-bay.  From what I've read, it can get from 300 to 600 degrees, depending on sun, etc.  I went to a local shop, tray in hand, and got some properly sized baking pans to put in it.  I'm going to learn how to bake bread again, and chicken, mac and cheese, etc.  This time I'm going to have to do it without a temperature dial, and as to control of a heat source?  I sure can't control the sun.  Should be a fun challenge!

I'm a pretty decent cook, and have always viewed cooking as probably my number one force-multiplier when it comes to quality of life.  Anyone can cook a good meal and do it surprisingly inexpensively.  It's hard to know you're poor or remember every single one of your problems when you're eating delicious food. At least for a little while, the pleasure of eating well, and the pleasure of cooking well, can elevate your life and make you love it.  And you can do it every single day.

To me, that's astonishing.  And I'm going to keep doing everything I possibly can to get it back.

 

[MrNoodly]

What is there to miss everything you had in a house or an apartment you should have in your van, cargo trailer, or RV...

COULD, but not necessarily SHOULD. It depends on one's priorities.