Farm Fodder

Seems I under-estimated my wood needs.

Marilyn has been using the wood burning cookstove quite a bit this winter. As a result, I have had top scramble for wood a couple of times. I have wood for about a week or two right now and the boys and I will have to go cut some more soon.

Fortunately there are downed trees by the creek that have cured enough to be used right away. The only downside it that we have to cut it in sizes we can carry back up to the house and then we have co cut it to length, split it and stack it. We also had to dry out most of the last load, since it had snowed and rained the same week.  But we have learned a valuable lesson…

The boys and I added compost, rabbit droppings, rotted hay and other compostable goods to the worm beds in the greenhouse. We intend to raise worms and also establish a good supply of worm castings for the gardens.

We setup a metal shelf on the porch where the woodstove is and put lights above each shelf – this will be a good plant starting shelf. Marilyn already has seeds in the trays on the shelves.

I really don’t understand why people are FOR the confiscation of privately owned guns.

From all of the history lessons about China, Russia, Nazi Germany (and it’s take over of Austria), the Eastern Block countries overtaken by Russia and the countries of Africa, it is clear that when the citizens were disarmed, the totalitarian governments that were in, or took power  made subjects out of citizens.

Perhaps if we shut off the tv, smart phones and other electronic distractions and picked up a history book or two, our position on this matter would change to that of our founding Fathers – keep the citizenry armed to prevent a tyrannical government from overpowering the free citizens.

Whether you have a gun or not, you should respect MY right to have one, if only for the selfish reason of keeping your freedom, even though you won’t fight for it.

Those in the government that want to take away our guns have evil intent in mind for all of us – not just those that have guns. If and when the day comes when the government starts knocking down doors to take guns, I hope that the anti-gun crowd of “citizens” can run fast for the hills. Nothing else will save them OR us, because after the government knocks down the doors for guns, they will have no deterrent and will continually knock down the doors for whatever they want from us.

Oh, and don’t forget to zig-zag, because they’ll shoot you in the back as you run…

The title here is a quote from a dear friend. We were discussing the things we did on the farm and wanted to do. He then made that statement “it’s hard to live simply”.

Well, Ed was right.

We are slowly progressing “backward”. I guess I should call it regression, but it seems to be moving us forward towards a truly sustainable lifestyle with few ties to the nanny-state and it’s industrial infrastructure (fondly called “the grid”).

What does that mean? It means we grow much of what we eat, we have our own water source, we are using less and less electricity and try not to eat out if at all possible.

Why would we do this?
Tales from Hurricane Katrina (and those now leaking out from Hurricane Sandy) have shown that we should NOT rely on the government for assistance and we should be prepared for catastrophic events.
We also should be growing and storing our own food. – If you’ve read any of my posts, you’ll know why.
For instance, if Snokist can sell “reconditioned foods” to school children, and not get shutdown when they sicken the school kids that eat it, what good is the government doing for us, the populace? None – the FDA is really there to protect the Corporate Big-AG industry, not to force them to be safe. Sure, they say that the regulations are in place to make food safe, but honestly, the regulations that are in place are there to keep small farmers that care out of the business. So, I prefer to grow my own food and be responsible for myself.

Why use less electricity? Doesn’t it save you lots of time?
Well, yes and no. If I have to work outside my home (off the farm), and trade the hours I put in working for someone else for money so I can pay for expensive electric gadgets and then pay for the electricity (which is constantly going up and will eventually be so overpriced I can’t afford it), then how am I saving time? It certainly doesn’t save me money, either. And what about the stress from holding down an office job, then I have to exercise (partly because the health insurance company insists that I do) to alleviate the stress from the job and to keep in shape. That didn’t happen until the early 20th century. Prior to that, daily life was enough exercise.

If I had to rely on the electric grid for heat or cooling, what do I do when there are emergencies that take out the infrastructure?

So, yes, it is hard to live simply. But it has its own rewards.