It has been a challenging detail orientated six weeks! All of the little tasks that needed to be done were accomplished and it wouldn’t be fun without some hiccups thrown in for good measure.
On February 1, Sara and the horses were supposed to be moved down to our land, but her trailer tire had dry rot, so we needed to wait until she got a new one. After the tire was put on, then came the fun stuff like being bogged down in the deep mud! Both her trailer and the truck pulling it got sucked down into the mud and wouldn’t let go. Luckily there was a neighbor down the street with a truck powerful enough to pull the truck AND the trailer out of the mud.
After that, the move itself went very smoothly.
You can’t tell from the photo, but this mud depression was about 7 inches deep and held onto the tires for dear life.
One of Sara’s friends, Robert, invested his day taking the trailer down, then going back home to hook up his horse trailer. He brought his dogs and they were there to make sure everything was done properly. Good job guys!
Two of the boys went into the trailer willingly. Josey, however, needed a little reassurance before entering the trailer.
Josey was NOT amused! But he went with the program and walked in.
The boys are not super thrilled with their new temporary paddock. They’re bored and trying their best to stay occupied.
They’ve been busy bending fencing to get at the grasses on the other side, pushing fences near tree lines to strip bark, and being, well, horses.
He tried to eat the camera in this photo. His nose kind of looks like a badass alien bunny face, right?!
Saint got Sara’s electric and water hooked up for her, and then he and Dom trenched the waterlines. Now she just needs the phone company to hook up her line! We’ll be utilizing a different type of septic for her trailer…actually for all of us. I’m pretty excited about it. Because we’re in a riparian area with the river on the north side of the property and another stream on the south side, I wanted something that I knew wouldn’t leach into the groundwater or put a big septic system in. She could tap into the existing septic, but we’re going to go with an alternative method, utilizing a Solviva design that uses a flush toilet and lots of worms. I’ll write a blog post about it as we get closer to installing the system.
For now, Sara has a composting toilet.
Simmi and her friend Angel headed for an adventure filled with fantastical games, stories of creatures that are hybrids, and getting wet. They pushed through the cold and wandered about a 1/4 mile from our place. They lost track of all time and space in their adventure. They gave us a bit of a scare, but then it became a good teaching moment for Simmi. She needs to understand that we live in a wild place where coyotes, wolves, and bears often come. She needs to become aware of her surroundings and always be within an earshot (and visual field) or she’s gone too far.
We got the old pasture posts and electric tape taken down. Dom has a pretty big workload this week, and the horses will need to wait at least another week until we can get the posts put up in the pasture. We’ll get there though!
In the backyard where we are currently living, is a little greenhouse. It is no longer being used so we’ll be starting our seeds in there! Toulousse and I will be rummaging through our seed vaults. Is that exciting, or what?!
For the next month we’ll be:
Finishing getting the horses settled and moving them to their pasture.
Cutting down some smaller sucker trees that popped up where we’ll be putting our post-harvest washing station, outdoor kitchen and dining room, and free standing bathroom.
Cutting some of the limbs off of an old willow tree that could end up falling just like the cottonwood tree. We’ll save a good portion of the trunk and we’re going to build a treehouse for Simmi later in the year. For now, the limbs have to be cleared to make way for our camp.
Finish making the raised garden beds in the market garden.
Clear our camp area
Get veggies started in the greenhouse
Design the chicken coop and chicken compost run
So many great things to accomplish this month. We’re also organizing and getting rid of things we don’t need or want. This will be such an exciting few months. We wish we could be there now, but it’s just not possible to make that transition without planning and doing everything the right way. Sure, we could quickly get our tents up and try to work around all the huge headaches attached to not planning properly, but who wants that kind of drama in their life? Not us! We have the ability to do things in a methodical way and I need to be super conscious that Dom doesn’t get burned out in the process. I care far too much about his emotional and physical wellbeing to try to push our move. It’s not necessary.
In the meantime, we’re exhausted but thrilled at how everything is coming together.
Living two lives isn’t easy. We live in a house with four walls, but our lives, our souls, our very beings scream to be on our land. Managing two lives isn’t easy when our time is divided between our work and commitments, and the commitments we made to ourselves more than 10 years ago when we decided that we wanted to live an agrarian life.
The excitement grows each day, and sometimes I feel that I can’t contain myself. Dom and I go back and forth about how to approach moving onto the land. Do we build our camp first? What about establishing the farm infrastructure? There are so many important decisions to make, that we barely know how to rate them on a list of things most important. They are all important!
For now, we have decided to move forward establishing the gardens. Our main garden which will be a semi-formal very structured French Potager garden will be the focus over the next few weeks while still gathering resources to build our camp.
I’ve always wanted to have a French Potager garden, and I’ve had a lot of fun designing ours. They feel otherworldly and completely magical. There is something poetic about how everything is arranged for beauty and function. The picture on the right is an example of a potager garden.
We’ve estimated that our garden area is about 50’x50′ but until Dom gets in there and gets an accurate measurement, I can’t get too specific with my plans. I estimate that the garden will ultimately be a 40’x40′ area. This area is the true focal point on the farm. It will marry two other areas together. On the west side of the garden will be an outdoor kitchen and covered gathering place. On the east side of the garden is where we plan to set up camp and build a chicken coop, rabbitry, duck pond, and a tropical greenhouse. To the east of that section will be a large market garden and high tunnel for high-value crops like tomatoes, peppers, basil, etc.
To the east of the market garden is pastured area for the horses, meat birds like chicken and turkey, and eventually sheep and goats.
Where was I? Oh yes, the French potager…I just have a general idea of what the overall design will be. In this area, there are a few challenges. One is the side of the mountain that blocks some light on the south side until about mid-morning. The second challenge is how cold air descends into the garden area.
In the photo on the left is Dom clearing the weeds in the area we’ll be building our camp, the animal structures, and the tropical greenhouse. See the mountainside in the distance? That is at the edge of where potager garden will be going.
To address these two issues, we’ll set up espaliered apple trees that require more chill hours and plant more cold hardy perennials in the area that will get hit with the coldest temperatures.
I’m also setting up our garden with far more cold hardy annuals and perennials. We are in growing zone 6 to 6A, however, our perennials will all have a hardiness to growing zone 3-4. The reason I’ve chosen this approach is that we are at the beginning of a Grand Solar Minimum. Agriculture will suffer greatly because of this natural cycle of cold coming to us. It will mean erratic fluctuations in temperature, excessive rain and snow, and much longer cold seasons. Fall will continue to grow shorter, with snowfall and bone-chilling cold becoming the norm. Growing seasons will be shortened. Farmers will find it difficult to plant in spring because of snow or frozen ground. Once they can plant, they will then deal with compression events that bring excessive rain. Rain in areas of wheat production will bring fungus and molds.
Thriving during the grand solar minimum is of the utmost importance for us. Food prices are steadily rising, and it may become difficult to get the foods we are all accustomed to. Also, have you tasted what is being passed off as fresh fruits and vegetables? They are tasteless, and, even organic food is becoming lackluster.
Our farm is not being cultivated to feed the world, but we will have a farm store for the products we choose to sell.
All these things weigh heavily on my mind and heart.
We can’t wait to be on the land full time. Right now it feels like we’re going at a snail’s pace, but planning is the most important part of this adventure we’re on.
Wait until you see the rest of the land! I’ve only shared the side where our farm will be. Then there are the other 10 acres to the west of the farm. It is where we will eventually build our home. We’re not in a rush to build because the farm infrastructure is far more important. We will be living in canvas tents for the next year and we may make the tropical greenhouse our temporary home if we get tired of tent living. In the meantime, we will continue to live these two lives.
Aren’t potager gardens beautiful? I love the whimsical aspect to them, as well as how they mix flowers and herbs and fruit trees.
The wattle edging is swoon worthy!
Pure magic!
There are so many beautiful versatile ways to set up a potager.
I want to build something like this for where we gather. It would be wider, but this bliss to me. Where this would go is at the edge of the badass grapevines that need new vertical space to thrive on.
At the entrance to different areas, I would love to have inviting entryways that beg you to come and stay for a while.
“We are starving for spiritual nourishment. We are starving for a life that is personal, connected, and meaningful. By choice, that is where we will direct our energy. When we do so,community will arise anew because this spiritual nourishment can only come to us as a gift, as part of a web of gifts in which we participate as giver and receiver. Whether or not it rides the vehicle of something bought, it is irreducibly personal and unique.” ~Charles Eisenstein
I have this deep calling that gnaws at my soul regularly. Each day that I am not moving towards my calling brings pain to my spirit. I have a dream that will be realized. I am called to the agrarian life. I am also called to bless others with my gifts freely and abundantly, and to lavish on those within my inner circle of friends and family, my unconditional love.
Who are those in my inner circle? It is those people who are aligned with my values and have a heart like mine. That doesn’t mean they are exactly like me in any way. They have a heart song that I recognize and embrace because we are spiritual kin. It is like deep calling to deep.
There are those who sing a song that sounds similar to my heart song, but by the end of the song it’s evident that the melody might sound similar, but the words are all wrong. They think they’re singing the same song, but you see, the song takes months to sing and they just haven’t invested the time to sing it the way their hearts needed to. Sounds cryptic, right?
It’s not.
Each of us has a heart song. Those who do not betray their own hearts or reject their own souls will find comfort in others who do the same. That is the heart song. We recognize it instantly. It is a song that you sing to others with your actions, your time, your intentions. Those who betray their own hearts and compromise their integrity recoil at the sound of a true heart song. Those who have denied their own beautiful song will be suspicious, cruel, withholding, cold, distant, all while still claiming to have a song just like mine. Their words and actions betray them. My love is anathema to them as they choke on their own betrayal and inability to break free from their overabundant pride. I have been witness to this throughout my whole life. It’s a part of the human condition.
Yet…
My heart is soft, so it doesn’t break easily. I keep it soft because others are too hard on themselves. My softness is a part of my song. But being soft doesn’t mean being weak. Weakness is a habit developed by those who have lost their way and compromised their integrity. Being soft allows me to fully recognize my desire to love radically. To give abundantly. To forgive freely. To follow my wild heart and search for home.
I’ve searched for home my whole life. No matter where I have lived, I’ve always made a home for myself. My husband is my home. My children are my home. Seeking deep connections with others who have a heart like mine brings me home. But my desire to set roots and be home has brought me to a new place. A place where I hear other heart songs sung unabashedly wild and free.
We started a new chapter in our lives recently. We currently live in a very small place and out of necessity we started searching for a new place to live. Even though there are only three of us currently living in this small space we call home, we also have grown children who, when they come to visit have no place to sleep when they stay over. Add to that the fact that I operate our coffee roasting business from this same space AND having the little storefront here cuts into personal space even more. Along with running a business comes balancing my time during the day homeschooling Simone. Some days she’s on the computer working with an online program, and the rest of the time she’s sprawled out at my work table completing the lessons of the day while I’m working on a customer’s order. Our space is very limited for what we need.
I’m also a hardcore introvert with a great need to recharge myself away from the presence of other people. That includes my own family. Introverts draw their energy from solitude and time alone.
Our current living space is not honoring my needs. I keep trying to make it better, and Dom will take Simmi out of the house so I can be alone and recover, but it doesn’t always work out the way we want.
In the process of looking for a larger place to live, we found a gorgeous piece of land we decided to invest in.
It is sacred to us.
There is great peace there.
It is a place where my wild and innocent young daughter can run free. A place where her feral heart can grow strong and soft.
With the investment we’ve made in the land comes the investment we’ve made with friends who have become our family in that very place. They are home to us. Our friendship was forged in our ability to be vulnerable to one another. We strengthened our friendship by hearing one another’s heart songs, and then we became family.
We’re home at last.
Over the next few months, we’ll be building our first home on almost fifteen beautiful acres. Located about 30 minutes south of where we currently live, this place of beauty stuns me everywhere I look.
There are unforgiving steep slopes, pastures, rocky paths and river beds. Rising up from the deep earth are sycamores and cottonwoods, willows and oak trees, evergreens and shrubs. Grasses and weeds reveal the splendor of a fertile and untouched land.
There are quiet places to recharge the soul, and gathering places to engage our hearts.
Time stands still here.
I’ve started planning our gardens, ordering seed, and designing our first house. It will not be our final house, but instead, it will be the business hub that we move into.
In past posts, I’ve mentioned that we want to build a house that doesn’t have any electricity and that includes conventional or alternative. The space we’re designing and living in first will have electricity in it. It’s the place where our businesses will thrive. My non-electric house will not be built until we have observed the land and find the best place suited for it. We do have an area that we adore, however, we need to live there full time and go through the seasons to know for sure where to build.
The business hub will be located in an area that is near the pasture. It will have our offices, art studio, fabric studio, a roastery, outdoor kitchen, as well as a become a Farm to Table venue. It all starts with that space.
It will (hopefully) be a bit larger than the space we’re currently in, but ultimately it will allow me to cultivate the land and get animals established prior to building our final home.
We’ll be living in our current house until we’re able to move into the new space. Unfortunately, we don’t have a good timetable for when that would be. We want to do it efficiently and inexpensively, utilizing the timber nearby as well as other free or almost free repurposed materials. I will be blogging about everything we’re doing on the land, but it won’t just be me blogging!
I’ll be adding new features to this blog, including new writers and artisans in our community. In future posts, I’ll share who they are and how amazing they are because there is just too much to say in one blog post. 😉
In the meantime, here are some photos of our new land…
This area we’re considering as the location for the business hub/temporary home. It is located near an open pasture to the left and two paddocks on the right. One of the paddocks will be used for small and medium sized animals, and the other for our garden. Each paddock is about 50’x50′.
The view from the first paddock looking north.
Simmi running past the second paddock.
A view north-west.
The western side of the property.
Beauty surrounds us.
Simmi’s favorite tree.
An opposing gigantic cottonwood tree stands guard at the entrance to the pasture.
The grapevines have decided to be hardcore and skip cultivation. They’re total badasses.
The pasture awaits larger animals and meat birds in chicken tractors.
This is one of the paddocks that will be turned into an intensive French potager garden.
There is so much to love about this place. It is a dream realized and a hope fulfilled.
Sorry Geoff and Ellen, I had to swipe your photo off your blog so my readers could see you guys. Ok, so who are Geoff and Ellen? Well, they are two heroes in my eyes. Capturing the true pioneering spirit, they set out on a journey to build for themselves a home, start a company, raise a family and be a part of community. Did I miss anything Geoff?
Anyway, I’ve been following their blog Montello Alpaca Company for over a year now, laughing at times and crying as Geoff shared a very private and horrible ordeal with his readers. They built their own earthbag home, raise alpacas and have a streak of hospitality a mile wide going through them. Their warm and inviting personalities make you just want to pack up and move closer to be part of what they are doing. I can tell you that if we weren’t destined to live in New Mexico, we would have definitely moved there!
The reason I’m posting this entry about them is this video they made of Geoff making a guinea pig kill and then roasting it, and then not only eating it himself, but interviewing Ellen as SHE ate a guinea pig for the first time. The film was intimate, Ellen was stunningly gorgeous as always (love the new hair cut!) and Geoff??? Um, well, he did the deed! I couldn’t believe what I was watching. LOL Geoff takes out this little tiny guinea pig, a BIG ASS knife, slits its throat, roasts it and watches his wife eat it. He ate it too. My question Geoff is “Was it at all filling?” You didn’t mention whether it is even worth the kill to eat the guinea pig since its so small.
It got me really thinking about rabbits though. I don’t think I’d eat guinea pig (not enough meat on the bones), but I have been researching meat rabbits. I was amazed at all I found out about them. As we get closer to raising meat rabbits, I’ll be sure to post something about it. For now, I want to leave you all with their video titled “Cuy Cuy Cuy.” Bon appetite!
I truly love my life, but that’s just me. How about you? Do you love your life and how everything is going for you? Do you have hopes and dreams or have you settled for less than you’ve always wanted in life?
I think I fall in love with my life just a little more each day, and I wake up smiling each morning knowing that dreams really do come true.
My life is filled with blessings. The blessings of an amazing and love filled marriage, four beautiful children each living the way they want, one very precious grand child that makes my heart melt each day, excellent deep friendships that make my life just that much sweeter, and a homestead that in a few years I hope will be fully functioning and growing to maturity.
In just two short months we will be celebrating our one year anniversary here, and since my computer is constantly giving me crap still (I think its jealous of the time I give to planting and building a homestead) I’ve been working a little here and there putting something together for our one year anniversary blog.
My biggest melt down came however, when I was writing and everything froze up and nothing was saved. On a WordPress blogging platform, usually it saves everything every few minutes, but if my computer freezes at just the right moment, I can be writing and writing but I’m actually not even online at that moment. POOF! All gone.
I just want to cry when that happens. Until we can afford a new computer, I will just deal with this quirky thing. Well, its not quirky, its actually a bad virus. I never want to deal with viruses again, so we are thinking of getting a Mac.
Right now Dom works two jobs just so we can make ends meet, and paying the bills and for food is about all we can afford. I’m not complaining at all about how much he makes, but I can’t wait till he no longer has to work outside the home and can be working with me here.
We know that we’ll need to invest in a new computer, but we’d rather put all our efforts toward building the duck pond. LOL Priorities right?
One of my only favorite places to shop (I hate going to the store almost as much as talking on the phone) is Good Will which is where I get my clothes.
Now don’t knock Good Will till you’ve tried it. I was able to get a very large french press, hand carved and hand painted one of a kind duck, a spring form pan, a pair of pants for myself (first purchase of clothes for me in a long time), a “my little pony” for Simmi and a little stuffed giraffe all for under $9.00. Now that’s a deal.
The french press was almost brand new and the retail price for one of those little beauties is about $50-60.00 bucks. The duck I fell in love with immediately! Right now it graces the top of our oven.
I know I’m being all over the place with my thoughts right now, but that’s only because I’m waiting for my computer to go POOF! again. Yes, as I write this my computer froze up at least a dozen times. I think it will take all day to write this blog entry.
I can’t say that what I do here is hard, although I do hate hauling rock or trying to dig through very hard ground. Its a part of getting our homestead established, and I must say that I would recommend this life to everyone.
I know that some say that homesteading is not for everyone…I say poppycock. Starting a homestead is really about faith. It is faith in God, faith in your family, faith in the land and faith yourself.
Each day I learn something new, and each day I also learn just how far I can literally push my body. I’m getting a little better each day. A little stronger with each passing moment. Each day I think that I will not get everything accomplished, and yet somehow I do…sometimes it just takes a little longer than I expected it to.
It is so peaceful working outside all day. Time just seems to fly by and before I know it the sun is going down. How the heck does that happen? It feels like I’m being enraptured by my own land.
I love the peace and quiet that exists when I’m building a berm and in the background I can hear Simmi playing in the water. We just ordered our Magpie ducklings the other day so now I think about how this changes the dynamics of our family life even more.
Our lives right now are fairly predictable, but whenever living creatures are thrown into the mix, well, we can throw predictability right out the window! We’ll have 15 little ducklings running around in a few weeks and I am so excited about that.
I can’t wait to see how Simmi will react to them. She loves to play in the sprinkler during the day while I’m working, and I can see the sprinkler as an instant invitation for little ducklings to spend time with her. I think they will all be fast friends.
Added to that peace and quiet will be the sounds of giggles and peeps from the ducklings and their new mama Simmi.
I’m hoping that all that we’ve planted will be able to hold out until the ducks are large enough to make some nice fertilizer for us.
All my veggies are doing well right now, but we don’t have any compost to side dress each veggie plant, and I don’t want to use a commercial fertilizer from the store.
Our ducks will do all the fertilizing until we have great compost made. Our veggies still appear to be strong, I just hope they will continue to be strong.
I know that if the plant weakens we can start to have some major problems, but as I watch over my garden each day, it seems that all the predatory insects are poised for attack.
Lady Bugs have taken up residence either on or near each plant. Its so interesting to see them in position waiting for a tasty meal.
Have you ever seen a young lady bug when it is first an alligator? Very interesting to say the least. The photo to the right I grabbed online, but I had the pleasure of seeing one these little prehistoric larva the other day on our rose bush.
I haven’t seen any of their eggs yet, but I keep looking. I love seeing them in the garden and around the fruit trees. I also love seeing all the spiders that are also on or near each plant.
I planted garbanzo beans directly into our sandy soil some time ago and they have made themselves known to us recently. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. At first I thought they were puncturevine which makes all those lovely goathead seeds, but when I looked more carefully, I realized they are coming up on the inside of the berm where I planted them.
I’m glad I didn’t pull them out! Right now they stand at a whopping three inches tall and seem to just be loving our lackluster soil composition.
I don’t think we plan on eating any of the beans that come from this particular crop this year, I just planted them to add nitrogen back into the soil.
Any beans we harvest will just be dried and planted out next year again.
I haven’t actually tried to grow anything other than beans in our sandy loam. I know that plants love sandy loam, but this sandy loam actually has a lot of salt in it. I’m excited about the ducks and really any other animals we get here, because as we add all they have to offer to the soil, we’ll be building it up anew.
Our Jerusalem Artichokes are growing strong and currently about six inches tall. Our Mammoth Sunflowers are about three inches tall. Things are starting to spring into action.
The last few days have involved digging and earthworks again. We’re trying to finish one of the major earthworks we have so we can start working on the duck pond.
The bog portion of the pond will be built right into one of our berms. Dom is amazing with the shovel and for the last two days I’ve been assisting him in digging. Did I dig? Uh…Uhhh…NO! LOL
I got to stand there looking pretty while holding a beer in one hand and the hose in the other.
He dug, I sprayed and we joked around and had a lot of fun while HE dug.
I hate digging. Although I have come to love it more now that I discovered that watering the hard ground before you put the shovel to the earth works best.
We pushed the dead tree and all the shrubbery clippings into the swales last night and then came inside when it was too dark to work anymore. My hunny worked all day, went shopping for a special dinner for Noah (he graduated from 8th grade and yesterday was his last day of school) came home and made our son ribs and baked potatoes, and while that was cooking in the oven he dug another 15 feet long and 4 1/2 foot deep part of the swale. This man of mine is truly amazing.
Can you tell I love my life yet? I love every part of it, from shoveling (okay not my favorite) and weeding to planning and planting.
From time alone in my garden to working with others in the family. I have no complaints about my life nor could I begin to complain about the lives of others.
I have little time for petty bullshit, people who complain about things they can not control or try to remember themselves as victims instead of taking responsibility for the choices they made.
If you find yourself complaining, arguing, justifying your actions, thinking you are better than others, put a shovel in your hands, claim a little patch of earth for yourself on your property and start planting something productive.
If you have time to bitch and complain, get down on your knees and start living for the first time. You won’t regret it. I’m not talking about just planting grass and flowers either (I am not fond of lawns especially in the desert)…I’m talking about planting things that will feed your belly AND your soul.
I’m thankful each day that I get to be on my knees, planting, sculpting berms, growing things that will give my family nourishment and great health, and working towards a greater good for my family.
I am fortunate to have a loving family where understanding one another is important and minimal arguing happens.
I don’t know what I’d do if I still lived in a household that argues and fights all the time. I’m grateful for all the love and even more grateful for a secure husband who doesn’t feel the need to pick on me, treat me like an imbecile, and who values me completely and fully.
Toxic relationships only get worse with time, so if you find yourself in that situation, cut yourself free from the toxic personalities that can hold you captive in misery.
You can’t change a toxic and unhappy person, and unfortunately in the end that toxic behavior is contagious. We all deserve to live at peace and while some people wish for peace, others like myself pursue it. Peace is a gift…and to sum up this entry, I’d like to end with a quote from Geoff Lawton:
“All the world’s problems can be solved in a garden.”
So true Geoff!
Broccoli and Brussels sprouts growing strong and beauitful.
A lady bug on one of our Granny Smith apple trees.
One of our mints going through a small population explosion. LOL To the left of the mint is an Early Girl tomato plant that I never expected to live. For over two months it just seemed stunted and yellowish and I was about to rip it out, but then the rains came the other day and POOF! it turned this lovely green color and grew twice the size it was. The desert fascinates me every day. I thought that I could predict what would grow and what wouldn’t, but the desert is filled with plenty of surprises…almost all of them good surprises. Another surprise was planting mammoth sunflowers and thinking that the seeds were not viable, and after almost 5 weeks out they pop. Hmm? I’ve learned that the desert has its own rhythm and plants just seem to take their sweet ass time growing here. I love it though…totally.
One of our red cabbage plants that seemed to double over night after it rained. So far all our cabbage has made it and is growing.
A close up of another garbanzo bean in the first berm.
A close up of some yellow flowers that Dom gave me over two weeks ago. They still look beautiful in the wine glass I put them in.
Normally, economic and social unrest sit in the back of my brain throbbing and pulsating like a deep migraine ready to explode.
These days however, the throbbing has moved to the forefront of my brain, creating the perfect storm within me for a rant.
I guess this is a rant of sorts, even though I feel fairly contained and at peace right now.
I have questions, because I guess I want to know if others feel this economic and social unrest?
Do you think our country is in for a major economic collapse? Beyond an economic collapse always follows a social collapse…are you concerned with this as well? Maybe its just a small percentage of us in the U.S. and around the world that are concerned, but I truly want to know what you all think.
How will the economic collapse of the dollar affect you personally? Have you invested in silver and gold as your “backup plan” or is it just a way to diversify your portfolios? What would happen if that gold and silver was confiscated by the government, as can be done in a TIME OF WAR?
What would you do then? My point is that paper money can not feed or care for you and neither can gold and silver. Huh? What was that you say? Well, haven’t you ever heard the expression “money doesn’t grow on trees”?
I’m sure all of you have. What good is gold and silver if there is no food to eat? If you can’t go out and buy it? You’d have to hoard food now for any impending crisis, and for how long do you believe that will last you? It won’t last. It will spoil or rot, unless its canned foods.
Gold and silver can definitely pay to keep the electric on, pay for gas, and other utilities, but for how long? What happens in the event of social collapse and the major infrastructure of your town or city is no longer functioning correctly?
How will silver and gold help that little predicament? It can’t. My point is that silver and gold, while important and valuable is not the end all-be-all for making it through an economic and social breakdown. Anyone that does have a portfolio knows that you never put all your “eggs” in one basket, and the same is true with gold and silver.
So what else can you invest in? Invest in purchasing and planting fruit trees and learn how to grow food in a sustainable way. The investment in all kinds of fruit trees, vegetables, grains, nuts, and livestock will create real food not only for you and your family, but for your community.
It is an actual commodity that others can not live without. Investing in your own fruit trees, nut trees, veggies, grains and livestock also creates an increasing yield each year if managed properly.
I know that when these kinds of questions about surviving come up, the first thing we think of is Y2K. Everyone who believed that our world was going to hell in a hand basket started building bunkers and hoarding food for when the collapse happened…it never did happen. Hoarding food and gold and silver is not the answer.
It just perpetuates the same problems over and over. Why? Because people have not learned how to actually grow good food…to get down upon your knees and plant some seeds. Growing food is not a method of survival…it is a way to thrive regardless of the economy.
It creates a firm foundation in which you can assist others in learning how to thrive as well. Our economy is consumer based and not product based, and in order to begin to reverse this trend, we will need to start getting on our knees and actually produce things of real value.
One seed can produce and produce, year after year, and without getting into the politics of big pharma genetically engineering and patenting seeds NOT to produce, buy organic seeds and watch those seeds perform endlessly.
A $2.50 package of organic seed will provide a yield where you will no longer ever have to buy that kind of seed or fruit or veggie again. $2.50 investment and never have to pay for another zucchini, tomato, watermelon, wheat product, rice, and anything else that can be grown in the ground.
Purchase an organic fruit tree for $25.00 and that tree will bear you fruit each year for that one time investment. $25.00 and never have to pay for another apple, pear, plum, peach or what ever else will grow in your region.
It seems such a small investment, but few do it. How about owning chickens and never having to pay for another egg or poultry product? Some may say “I don’t have enough land” but to that I say, do a little homework and research and you will find out that you can in fact grow a huge amount of food on a very small plot of land.
It also gives you the opportunity to create community gardens. We have just forgotten or haven’t been taught in the first place to grow things. Its either a novelty, or a “lower occupation”, which has been taken advantage of by big corporations.
If it takes a good three years for fruit trees to produce from the time you plant them, why not start now?
Even if there is no economic collapse or social unrest? The least you will be doing is utilizing your hard earned (almost worthless) dollar on something else you may want after planting some real products.
I have a dream which is becoming a reality for me and my family, the dream of thriving and producing something of real value that not only helps to create stability to us, but to our community that surrounds us as well.
One of the things I find repugnant are actions of well meaning people here and abroad that believe that they are the saviors of others by providing goods to developing and/or impoverished nations.
What will happen to them in the event of our own economic and social collapse? Will we actually be traveling to those distant exotic lands to put store bought goods into their bellies, and claim we are helping them?
We can’t help them unless we teach them to grow their own food, show them how to get access to clean water, and when we stop making them think that they should be thankful to us for the handouts. Because you know what?? they won’t be thankful when you don’t come anymore.
They will think they have been abandoned. We will never truly help others until we learn how to put the tools in their hands (and our own!) that will fight poverty.
Learning to grow food and share the surplus. Honestly, in an economic crisis, are you really going to be concerned with the well being of starving people thousands of miles away? I AM! I’m concerned that we have made them dependent on our way of life which, if we open our eyes, is in danger of extinction.
In the end, I believe that those in poverty has been defrauded of what they really need. They need to know how to care for themselves, and instead they have been enslaved by many well meaning people who think candy, bread, pasta and other commodities (even medicines) will help them out of their plight.
How many have gone oversees and taken pictures with these poor people, holding and cuddling their babies? And how many took a picture with these people while working along side them in a field, teaching them how to be self sufficient…not just to survive, but to THRIVE?
They hang around the cities, pour loads and loads of food, clothes and other products into their laps and then leave at the end of the week. Yes I’m ranting about this…well I’m railing on this topic, because when we can NO LONGER provide these kinds of services what will happen? What? Out of sight out of mind?
Will we really even care? Or will we say “I did the best I could, now I have to take care of my family. I can’t afford the trip to that distant land to bring candy and toys to these “poor” children I need to find a way to provide candy and toys for my own.”
I know that some (or a majority) of people will take offense to what I’ve said, but that is the truth, hard and cold. I’m sorry to burst the “good will” bubble and self congratulating attitude of those who think they are doing good, but unfortunately all you have done is create an even longer slow death of these indigenous cultures, who for thousands of years were able to create their own medicines, clothing, goods and services.
We have globalization to thank for that one. It is a slow and painful death which we bring to these people, and in the end, bring upon ourselves if we do not begin to make a change.
Why is the American Dream to own a home, have a couple cars, a couple of kids that go to college, and to keep buying stuff?
Why is that the American Dream? Its more like the American Nightmare, from which we will not be waking up anytime soon.
The American Dream should be about freedom and independence, but we are neither free nor independent. We think we are because we have money in the bank and we have a job.
But as we can see over the last few years, more people are losing their homes, their jobs, even their families. We think “this can’t happen to me”, but it can.
I have had this throbbing ache in the back of my head since the year 2001, and I remember thinking back then how much better it would be if we knew how to grow things, live off the land and live in a new way.
Ten years later, we are on road to making our dream an actual reality. Back then the only talk in circulation happened before the year 2000 with the Y2K event, and I was not worried about that in the least.
My American Dream is to be able to grow fresh fruits and veggies, livestock, honey, grains and to be able to pass this knowledge on to my children and my children’s children.
There is so much information out there on how to grow fruits and veggies naturally without the use of fertilizers and pesticides.
Ways of caring for animals that’s simple. How far we have strayed from real knowledge. We go to college to get a degree, but what will that piece of paper do for you if you can’t get a decent job?
Worse yet, what if you already have a great job that pays quite well, but all your bills and mortgage keep you tied to that job and POOF! your job is gone because you are expendable?
What then? How do you feed your family? How do you care for your community? What true worth is there in money? Even gold and silver?
We all need to eat, yet the knowledge to actually produce our own food is quite limited or non existent for the average person. Utilize the internet to learn how to produce real products that will help your family and community.
To summarize my long winded rant, don’t hold on to tightly to that money, gold or silver that you believe will save you or at least get you through.
Unless you own your home outright, it is not an asset, but a liability. If you pay a mortgage, it is a liability until you own it outright. An asset pays you! What are your real assets right now? If the housing market continues to decline as it has, you won’t be able to even sell it and break even.
We are just getting started on our road to freedom and independence, and this spring will begin our investment into an agrarian life.
For those who have a mortgage, start investing fruit trees and other real products onto your land, so that your liability will start to become an asset for you.
Let your land pay you back! It could in the end guard your greatest investment (your house) from foreclosure. If we are not headed for an economic collapse, then you can go into your yard and smile as you pick fresh fruits and vegetables for your family to enjoy before going on that long awaited vacation you’ve been saving a year to go on.
I’m not against buying things, raising the standard of living and enjoying the finer things in life, but just as you “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” when it comes to saving and investing, you have literally put them all in one basket because one crucial element has been neglected…sowing and harvesting of real products.
Here are a few videos that I feel should alarm everyone:
Thank you for visiting my blog. I've entered my 50's, and as I delve into the next exciting chapter of my life, I’m so pleased to be able to share it with all of you. I am a lifelong artist, writer, vocalist, crazy organic farmer, and own and operate Buffalo Mountain Coffee Roasting Company.
needed to wait until she got a new one. After the tire was put on, then came the fun stuff like being bogged down in the deep mud! Both her trailer and the truck pulling it got sucked down into the mud and wouldn’t let go. Luckily there was a neighbor down the street with a truck powerful enough to pull the truck AND the trailer out of the mud.
In the photo on the left is Dom clearing the weeds in the area we’ll be building our camp, the animal structures, and the tropical greenhouse. See the mountainside in the distance? That is at the edge of where potager garden will be going.
Aren’t potager gardens beautiful? I love the whimsical aspect to them, as well as how they mix flowers and herbs and fruit trees.
am called to the agrarian life. I am also called to bless others with my gifts freely and abundantly, and to lavish on those within my inner circle of friends and family, my unconditional love.
We started a new chapter in our lives recently. We currently live in a very small place and out of necessity we started searching for a new place to live. Even though there are only three of us currently living in this small space we call home, we also have grown children who, when they come to visit have no place to sleep when they stay over. Add to that the fact that I operate our coffee roasting business from this same space AND having the little storefront here cuts into personal space even more. Along with running a business comes balancing my time during the day homeschooling Simone. Some days she’s on the computer working with an online program, and the rest of the time she’s sprawled out at my work table completing the lessons of the day while I’m working on a customer’s order. Our space is very limited for what we need.
evergreens and shrubs. Grasses and weeds reveal the splendor of a fertile and untouched land.
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