On "Sustainability"

I do not know why this is such a dirty word amongst conservatives. Yes, the United Nations and many liberal governments are using it to try and seize control over you, but let's talk about a few points here:

1. Our current civilization is not sustainable. Not by any stretch of the imagination. We depend entirely upon a limited resource which we must fight wars to obtain. Everyone willing to sell it to us has already sold us theirs. So now it's time to kill to keep our civilization going.

2. Corporations have demonstrated that, if allowed, they will pollute, clearcut, or stripmine an entire region and then move on elsewhere. They are not local mom and pop shops that live in the areas they exploit.

3. There will have to be many initiatives in order to even begin to try and bake in enough "sustainability" to keep even a remnant of our civilization alive once we run out of fuel and run out of the military might to go out and acquire more.

Corporate shills like Glenn Beck have been telling you all about the evil "Agenda 21". In fact, they wrote books to sell you about how evil it is. Don't get me wrong, the United Nations cannot be trusted to any degree.

But just because your local town wants to open a recycling center doesn't mean you need to storm your local government angrily and scream about how they've fallen to Agenda 21.

Do you WANT to live in a polluted wasteland? Do you want to have your lands and property, and the places where your children will live, destroyed by corporations by profit?

No? Then you may just have to step forward and take some actions to stop this, even if it means that your speech and actions resemble that of a liberal environmentalist wacko.

Living in freedom does NOT mean we have to let bad neighbors destroy the land.

Morning Routine

We wake up these days mostly when we feel like it, which seems to be between 7 and 8am. It's the morning sun coming in through the windows that gets us up and moving. I used to think that every farmer should get up an hour before dawn. Where did I get such a goofy idea?

In an off-grid life, there's no real reason to get up before daylight. You can't see to do anything anyway. Take the extra hour of sleep and enjoy it.

When we wake up, the good wife starts fixing breakfast. I will sit and check the email, internet news, and other assorted time-wasters until the coffee is ready. Then I'll take my cup and begin morning rounds.

I start with the garden. Let's see how much the young plants grew last night and if any other things popped up through the soil. Later in the summer, morning is also a good time to see bugs on your plants before they hide from the heat of the day.

Then lately I go check on Janis, a quirky-looking bantam hen who has decided to go broody on 4 eggs up between some empty beehives behind the cabin. It's a terribly exposed place and I've moved her three times, but she returns to it every day. So I've left her to her own devices and I'll just spend the next 21 days worrying about her.

While I'm out looking at things, our cat named Jade is prowling about too. She stays inside these nights since she had kittens a few days ago, but of an early morning she needs a break and heads outside. She'll be there for a bit and then return to her babies.

Finally, I'll let the dogs loose to run and play for a bit before I begin my day. Usually I get started with the real work around 10am unless there's absolutely something pressing to be done. And usually there is not.

Life is good!

Permission

Do you really think the state is going to give you permission to build a better society?

Taterville

So the potatoes appear to have survived through TWO hard frosts. Some are having a hard time bouncing back, but they still have some green on them so I'm hopeful. I don't want to replant all of that. Since it means doing without taters this year if I'm wrong, I may plant a "necessity patch" somewhere else.

Across the farm there are hundreds of different types of wild plants coming up, many blooming with beautiful flowers. I wish I had the ability to identify them all and know their purposes. I'm certain that many would serve me no real use, but perhaps others might. What blessings am I passing by each day, taking in no more than its beauty?

My boys and I are building a fence for a barn pasture. After we build the fence for the barn pasture, I suppose we shall also have to build the barn.

This place was such a blank slate when we got here. It was just a big empty wildland. It looks like a farm now. Sometimes I wish though that there was still some more wildland left.

Sheep in the fence

I don't know what it is with the mindset of sheep, but I've seen them get their head stuck in a fence and then just lay down to wait for death. They don't pull back, they don't holler for help. They just lay there.

Seems to me there are a lot of people like that too. The first big obstacle that seems impossible to overcome and they lay down to die.

Frost!

Killing frost last night. Our last frost date around here is April 8, but of course I tried to sneak some stuff in early.

Potatoes are frozen and will all die back. Tomato plants were mostly frozen. One might live. Don't know about the cabbage yet. It's just now gotten it's true leaves. Might be some survives.

Frustrating gardening time. In fits and starts.

April Fool's Day

Finally, a day set aside to honor me!