About the bikes

For a long time I have dreamed of owning one of these Bakfiets bikes...

The problem is, they cost about $3500 to get one of these babies. You read that right! $3500! I want to ride  bikes more as a means of transportation, but I'm not sure I can ride enough to justify spending almost as much on a bike as I did my minivan.

I worked on some ideas. How about I make my own. I looked into some different things others have done to build their own homemade Bakfiets. You take a kids bike, and adult bike, chop each in half, and then weld them together with a little extra metal in between.

I liked it, and thought I might try it out. I had some concerns about how well it would work, if the steering would be reliable, how much time and energy it would take to build something usable... Then Scott showed me this bad boy.

It's called an Xtracycle Hooptie. You can actually fit three kids behind you as you ride, one of which can be an infant bike seat. And some groceries too! One of the best benefits is that it rides like a bike, instead of driving like boat (referring to the Bakfiets).

But wait, there's more!!! It's not NEARLY as expensive. It is a third of the price of the Bakfiets!

Here's a video so you get the full experience...

I should also mention that this lady is my inspiration. Here's an article about her.

What am I?

My little brother accuses me of being a hippie. I've been changing a bit, and embracing things that are a little outside the typical Idaho-farm-girl mentality I've always had. I'm not sure when I stared to change my views on things, but I thought I'd make a list of the a few of the things that have evoked the "you're such a hippie" response from my little brother.

Things I do or would like to do that might make me a hippie...

Cloth Diapers. I actually do this. Sometimes I use disposable, but right now we are 100% cloth.

Homemade deodorant. I've been using this for about four months now. I love it.

Homemade dish detergent. I've been using this for about six months.

Homemade laundry soap. Six months on this one too.

Homeschool (Waldorf Style). We started in September, and we love it.

Biking. I totally want one of these! I'd love to bike to most places rather than drive. I've had a hard time finding a way to transport my kids and this seems like the perfect solution.

Grass fed farming dreams. Our big goal is to have some acreage, get some chickens, a milk cow, some pigs, and a horse or two, a dog. This might be our top priority for our ten-year-plan.

Tiny house fascination. I love the idea of building one of these things. I'm not sure why... but it just looks really cool.

Wooden toys, nothing battery operated. This is a product of homeschooling Waldorf style. We are slowly transitioning our toys to all be open ended imaginative toys.

Beekeeping dreams. Scott went to bee school. Now we want to have bees. I think we'll wait until we have more than a patio to keep them on.

Clean eating. I don't do this yet. But I wan to. We have slowly over the past few years been limiting our refined foods. We try to do more whole grain things. Less sugar. More foods in their natural state.

Juicing. I bought a juicer. I use it once a month or so. I'd like to use it more, but so far I've been neglecting it.

These are the thing I can come up with right now. So I have to ask myself. Am I a hippie. The answer I usually give myself and others is, "No". And I think that's an accurate answer, but I still have to ask myself. What am I? What motivates me to do these things? I'm not sure I've found the answer to these questions.