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BE THE CHANGE
Reno family touts the joys of a lifestyle based on radical simplicity.
WRITTEN BY BARBARA TWITCHELL
PHOTOS BY CANDICE NYANDO
Mahatma Gandhi sagely advised us to “be the change you want to see in the world.” Katy and Kyle Chandler-Isacksen have taken that advice to heart, and some may even say to the extreme.
The couple and their two young sons live happy, healthy, joyful lives on $7,000 a year. That’s not a misprint — no lost zeros. How do they do it? By choosing a lifestyle of radical simplicity.
Less than three miles from the glitzy bright lights and neon signs of the downtown Reno casinos, the Chandler-Isacksens live in a modest home on half an acre. By choice, they have no electricity and, therefore, none of the modern conveniences that require power. Nor do they own a car, preferring to walk, bike, or use public transportation.
They admit that it takes extra planning and effort to create heat, light, hot water, and methods for preserving food without electricity. But they manage just fine by using candles, a woodstove, a root cellar, and passive solar ovens, heaters, and dehydrators.
They produce most of their own food. Vegetables, fruits, eggs, chickens, honey, and rabbits are the mainstays of their subsistence. They further rely on a gift economy, a system in which they give freely of what they have and believe that abundance will be returned to them by the generous spirits of others.
The goal of this alternative lifestyle, they say, is to promote a deeper connection to the human spirit, community, and nature, while withdrawing their support from systems that are destructive to humanity and the earth.
Lifestyle change
They didn’t always live this way. Kyle and Katy were raised in upper-middle-class homes, are highly educated, and each has a decade of successful experience as middle- and high-school teachers. They were living the “American dream,” but were dispirited.
In 2007, they walked away from it all and began a quest to find a better way — a lifestyle that truly reflected their values. They found it at the Possibility Alliance, a community in Missouri dedicated to service and Gandhian principles.
In May 2011, they came home to Reno and co-founded the Be the Change Project, an urban homestead devoted to family learning and service. It is a fossil fuel-free environment with an organic micro-farm, a natural-building demonstration site, and room to host service groups and workshops.
Working a total of about four days each month, they earn the $7,000 needed to cover what their own self-sufficiency efforts and the gift economy cannot supply. That unjobbing is a key element.
“It allows us to fill our lives with the things we really value,” Katy says.
That includes spending time with their boys, Liam, 9, and Wylan, 6, both of who are homeschooled.
Sharing knowledge
They also are heavily engaged in their community. They share their knowledge by offering free classes, workshops, and tours, hosting school field trips, and speaking at events. They started the Edible Hood program, giving out hundreds of donated seeds, trees, and plants to neighbors. Their goal is to transform the neighborhood into a food forest, an ecosystem that is rich and healthy for everybody.
At the start of their project they wrote: “We know that an urban homestead where permaculture, integral nonviolence, and natural building is lived and taught; where service is a daily act; where at night, the soft glow from beeswax candles shows smiling faces gathered around a table sharing stories, music, and dreams, will be irresistible.”
Judging from what they have accomplished so far, it appears they may be right.
Reno writer Barbara Twitchell was skeptical at first, but came away amazed and inspired by the Chandler-Isacksens. Although she’s not quite ready to cut the electric cord, she is considering adopting some of their ideas — maybe even indulging in an unplugged day now and again.
