Just because I believe that Oil shocks are coming, the ability to expand credit in the West is over, the U.S. Government is insolvent, and we have too many people to feed when the next major crop failure hits a major producing nation (U.S., Argentina, and Brazil), that most debts, public and private will be defaulted on, and that the U.S. is likely to endure some kind of political implosion, etc... DOES NOT MAKE ME A DOOMER!!!
Actually, I am confident that I will prosper and my family will thrive through all of the above.
You see, its great to be a nobody. I have no power to stop earthquakes, tidal waves, hurricanes, civil wars - heck, I can barely get my kids to bed on time - so I don't concern myself with things I have no control over. I do spend time thinking about how best to prosper, practicing the exercise of "enlightened self-interest", and the rest I spend enjoying my family and my hobbies. That my hobbies are good for the family, productive, and inexpensive interests like gardening, raising livestock, and woodworking rather than golf and tennis does not necessarily make me a "Doomer", though I won't deny that these pursuits won't hurt me in the least and might in fact be very beneficial to me and mine at some point in time...
Yes, I have a significant store of food, a serious water purifier, land, tools, seeds... So what? I have a family! I have life insurance, does that make me suicidal?
I love my life. THIS life. If you think that having a backup plan is "bad luck" or "negative thinking", or that it means that I think the world is coming to an end well, that's your business, and if you have faith that "Big Brother" will always provide, well, that's your business, too.
It just ain't my business.
But the surf is up, and I think I will head down to the beach and do a little skim boarding. I would go surfing, but a guy that is well known in the water sports community here in South Florida was killed by sharks a couple of weeks ago... and about 20 miles north of my surf spot, and I am not over it yet... call me a "Doomer" if you like, but I hate it when that happens... and I started some seeds in pots indoors and am working the slips on the sweet potatoes because spring comes early in Tennessee. My garden has had a 350 pound pig in it since last fall, and he has done an excellent job of tilling and fertilizing the ground. Of course, that does not mean I won't make sausage out of him... I will. Just as soon as I get there in the middle of March. There will always be another pig next year. One of the steers will go into the freezer in July; we will keep a side and give a side to the family that helps with the farm during the winter when we are not there. 100% grass fed beef. Every month, we have a big BBQ of goat grown on the farm. My home made chicken soup is a whole different level of home made... if you catch my drift. The excess roosters that we don't eat will go down to the church food pantry - poor folks never look a gift rooster in the mouth... and they ain't vegetarian... The kids will ride horses and I will fix the barn. Every night a glass of wine with dinner, and desert after. And when the garden comes in? My mother's tomato sauce & gravy recipe made from home-garden grown tomatoes, onions, peppers, & garlic (and some imported virgin olive oil), and my literally home grown sausage and meatballs will make you think they moved Little Italy to Lebanon, TN. One whiff of that and its a "smile on your face and a song in your heart"! Did I mention the goat cheese? Brings tears to my eyes!
But you can call me a "Doomer" if it makes you feel better. Then again, I think people that call people like "us", and I know there are a lot of "us" reading here, "Doomers" actually like eating McDonalds and can't understand what all of the fuss is about.
Go figure.
Libertariananimal (at) gmail
21 comments:
Why oh why does ANY kind of preparation or safe-guarding make us monsters in the eyes of the mainstream?
But who gives a crap what they think...
Life is, and should be, an interesting challenge no matter what the circumstances.
I think that it relates to the infantile psychology of most adults today- and they become enraged children at the very idea that they may have to grow up and care for themselves and their own, without a welfare state/Big Daddy figure to always.
There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Why you be killing hogs in the spring with the weight down from getting thru winter and curing the meat in warm weather?
I always learnt you did it in the fall when they was extra fat from summer and the fall acorns and you cured the meat in cold weather.
Thank you so much. I have two interviews scheduled today and I know I am going to field the same old questions. Isn't it hard to live with so musch fear and negativity? Aren't your children anxious when they see you so worried. Who said I'm worried? I'd be worried if I hadn't spent a chunk of my savings on land, seeds, trees and made sure to keep my family out of debt and that includes no mortgage or car payments. I love the phrase enlightened self interest. Don't you just love pigs? So much out for so little in. Pork chops and a dandelion wine for dinner. The wine has aged nicely and the cost? ummm. Nothing but a couple of pennies for the yeast and such.
I don't think you're a doomer. Your damned smart by protecting the best interests of your family and enjoying yourself at the same time. Good Luck!
I've just about got my wife convinced we need an emergency generator and a stock of food. I'm staying North because I feel it's a better bet at my age to stay within 10mi of my four daughters than to be alone in a more hospitable climate. It's good to have family. Last, we're staying fit. If the going gets rough, it will go a lot harder on the couch potatoes with high blood pressure, diabetes and a 100lb spare tire. Health issues can strike at any time. But just like anything else that gets discussed here, there is no sense in not mitigating the risk.
Regards,
Coal Guy
Coal Guy,
Aren't you a Mass native? I am and I wouldn't relocate for all the sunshine in Florida.
Hi Kathy,
I'm originally from a coal and steel town in Western PA. As it looks now, We're in MA or RI for the long term. I am no fan of winter, but have never lived south of VA. There are some cultural quirks here that bug me, but overall our 26 year stay here has been very good.
Regards,
Coal Guy
Well said!
I often have to fight the same boring lines, oh you are so pessimistic etc. when I mention the occasional bit of negative data, or try to explain the basic mathematical principles behind the problem of peak oil vs a wish for continuous growth. A lot of people just don't wish to hear it, no matter how reasonable the argument.
It is depressing to start with but if anything, once you have an understanding of the predicament we are facing it makes you aware of the importance of enjoying life as best you can. I certainly do, and it is good to see you do too.
Dea Anon @8:36:
All of that is true... BUT... I wanted the hog to till my garden eat all of the roots and weed seeds, and fertilize in his own special way. I will get there around March 10, and I will get 1 day cold enough to process him. If not, he goes to the local meat processor...
I will post pictures of my garden, which looks like its been tilled already!
Kathy:
I do love pigs! They are the absolute best when it comes to food efficiency - our hog was 15 lbs last March, will be well over 350 this March - and up to 240 lbs or so most of his food came from table scraps and left overs and food waste from our family of 5. That would have been the case for the last 100lbs gained, but we were not there to generate the waste... and I wanted him to till the garden for me.
Coal Guy:
I am an unrepentant hedonist! Cooking, My garden, and my wood shop turn me on like a Caligula dinner party! Everybody has their quirks, those are mine.
I love the lifestyle, and my kids really, really can't wait to get back to the farm - that is really saying something given the fact that we live within walking distance to the beach in South Florida.
A small holding holds endless possibilities for projects and interests that truly are good for the soul.
I should also have said (actually I will amend the post) that I was always a prodigious saver living WAY BELOW my means... I guess from being raised by parents that came of age in the 1930's... my father knew what it was to be hungry AND to have no money for coal (oil and NG were not big for home heat in the 1930's) to heat the home.
I never, nor would I EVER, buy a little red sports car (in truth I couldn't fit in one even if I wanted one, heck I can't even fit in a regular car... I am nearly 2 meters tall and big boned), or any other silly show off sh*t... I don't own a watch or any other jewelry and neither does my wife... I drive a 2000 F150 but only about 4k miles per year... my main vehicle is a bicycle, and you'd have to hold a gun to my head before I would spend $4 on a cup of mocha latte...
THat might not be for everybody, but it works for us.
Cont from previous comments...
Savings is part of taking care of future contingencies, too. "Consumers" obviously think that saving is crazy and negative, too. Again, that's their business.
Kathy:
BTW... I stole the line "enlightened self interest" from Coal Guy... but I think I will stop using quotations... at some point it becomes your own...
I petition you to become your first vassal, Lord Jeffers the Doomer!
If even half of the stuff Jeffers says in his piece comes true, all you amateur farmers who think you can live separate from all the awful city people are in for a rude awakening. I myself think things will be different -- more modest -- and likely more expensive. But if anything like what Jeffers says comes to pass, you will have millions of broke, starving people on the road trying to find work and food (happened during the Great Depression), with no nearby government resources to prevent them from doing what they will need to do to eat (including assaulting all your family members -- guns or not.) Your farms are only as good as what surrounds you. I'd give up the doomer thing if only cause I don't believe it would get that bad, especially if necessity requires us to cut the massive waste and live simpler lives. If things do get that bad, kiss your pigs and your butts goodbye.
You're not a "doomer"? You should be. The Ponzi scheme is collapsing...
Bur,
During the great depression what they needed to do was eat and crime was mostly swiping a couple ears of corn, potatoes, etc. for their contribution to the mulligan’s stew.
Of course, men in Chicago were eating out of trashcans while a few hundred miles away whole herds of cattle were being slaughtered in Wyoming because it would cost more to ship them to market than what they would fetch.
Bur,
We "amateur" farmers do not think we can live separately from the awful city people. What I DO think is that by preparing to be able to provide at least some food, shelter, heat, water, etc. for ourselves, we'll be less of a burden on the rest of the local community and perhaps will be in a position to help others in the community with food, supplies, knowledge, or what ever else might be needed. It's called keeping options open.
May I ask, do you ever read Sharon Astyk like Greg occasionally suggests?
I suspect she'd bristle at the term "amateur farmer" at least as much as I did. As long as we are providing food or other farm products for our use, we home scale farmers have just as much right to be called farmers as the 10000 acre grain baron riding in his overpriced, over-air conditioned, over-financed, behemoth of a John Deere tractor. :-)
Bur:
I have to strenuously disagree with your contention about the roaming hordes of city dwellers.
I currently live in NYC. I do the same thing that Jeffers does. We see eye to eye on most things. Long story short....I own a farm in upstate NY near my hometown. It is a doomer's wet dream. All for the price of a 1 BR condo.
The village we are in is a few hundred people. Dude, ain't gonna be no sacking of the countryside-believe me. Everybody knows what goes on. And everyone is armed. Heavily armed. Another thing, these places have already endured the collapse in the last 30 years. They can deal with it.
I agree with your contention that it won't get as bad as some doomers would like. I have the place so my kids can breathe fresh air, skate and swim on a pond and learn where food comes from. However, it will do in a Mad Max scenario. Wink wink.
Best regards.
Lenny D.
PS G-how's the Elvis trade working for ya? EURUSD at par and Au at 2K here we come.
Bur:
Lenny is the perfect example - if you have the resources, why not have a rural property to enjoy and dig around in the dirt? They are cheap! Infinitely more so than a beach house, and infinitely more useful.
Its kind of cool to know how to do all of this stuff, and to understand what it takes - because it takes years before you know what you are doing. This is my 5th spring (growing season) on the farm. I think that I am now competent enough at this to really provide most (but certainly not all... I like olive oil, coffee, and bananas...) of what we eat, certainly all of the meat, milk and eggs.
And its FUN. REALLY fun. Its not for everyone. That's what makes this a funny old world...
I also believe that small holdings close to small towns will be excellent stores of value as well as excellent backup systems.
More importantly, it takes experience and practice.
Lenny:
Great call on the "Elvis Trade"... Fat, Sweaty.... but still the King!
"Just because I believe that Oil shocks are coming, the ability to expand credit in the West is over, the U.S. Government is insolvent, and we have too many people to feed when the next major crop failure hits a major producing nation (U.S., Argentina, and Brazil), that most debts, public and private will be defaulted on, and that the U.S. is likely to endure some kind of political implosion, etc... DOES NOT MAKE ME A DOOMER!!!"
Does this sound to anyone like someone who is buying a farm for laughs? To have fun leaning how things grow and enjoy playing around in the dirt??? Read your own text, Jeffers, and make a decision, please. Are you farming as if it was a Club Med, or is the world coming to an end? Cause from where I sit, you're being hugely bipolar. :)
Sharon is a friend of mine and she would bristle as do I. Isn't life about quality rather than quantity? My quality of life is excellent. My walk to work is out the back door. I begin my day with herb tea (I raise it myself the herbs) on the deck then work for a few hours. I take a swim in the backyard and put in another couple of hours. My kids are by my side. My husband and I do big chores together or work cooperatively with neighbors. We have time for music and dancing and reading and volunteering in town. I look at beauty all day. I smell good smells and eat amazing food. Would I be happier, safer, more productive, more useful if I worked at a 9-5 job, left my kids in day care, bought my food at Safeway and saw my husband on weekends for a few hours. Would I protect this place? I would die for it but I would rather live for it.
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