What Defines Us

A job is a job. It's a way to pay for a living, but that's it. Don't let it define your happiness. You work to live, not live to work. Work on what makes you happy.

Boy, what a punch those thirty six words pack!

This is a concept that has been weighing on my mind as of late. Yes, I work. Yes, I need to use money for everyday living. Yes a job that pays cashy money is essential to my ultimate goals. But I will not let my worldly job define me. I don't want to come home from a day of work and collapse onto the couch, ne'er to move again. What a waste of a day.


I don't want to be the 'girl from the store' or 'the check-out girl'. That is not who I am. How dare someone generalize me? How dare they generalize you? I realize that this is something I cannot directly change, but I have been consciously not referring to people by their jobs of late, and whenever someone calls me 'the check-out girl', I politely say, "That's not all I am!", or "Yes, but I also like to garden, and I love dogs!", or something of that nature.

I think it's very important for someone to be constantly reminded about who they truly are, and what matters the most to them. I think that because, unless we are in touch frequently with our hopes for the future, our dreams, people lose sight of them. They become deeply involved in the superficial world. It is so very easy to do. I think it has always been, but I believe it's even easier to get lost in it now.

In a large way, technology has saved us. It lets millions of dollars be raised for the needy in a matter of days, able to reach hundreds of millions of people in mere hours across all sorts of platforms. Technology lets doctors perfect their craft through ever-detailed scans and images. Technology lets loved ones who are far from each other talk face to face. It lets people show and share the beauty of the world with each other.

But in the same way, it has doomed us. It has made us greedy, always needing or wanting the newest things. The best ones. It has corrupted our innocence. It has corrupted us. We are exposed to everything all at once, at the touch of our fingertips. Constantly connected and wired, constantly barraged and set on edge until we want to explode.

Doomed us, that is, unless we can break free from it like a drowning person breaching the surface of the water. A violence of water and gasping, flailing and reaching for the nearest life preserver.

Unfortunately, many of us will never realize we are under the surface in the first place. Some of us will try to stay above it, and fail for lack of willpower, or for lack of knowledge how to survive this brave new world. A few of us will grab our preservers and be towed to the boat; here we can swim in the pool at our leisure, but never fall back into it - out of control. Able to strike a balance between floating and sinking.

But because of the need to have the best of the best, people will work as much as they can, to pay for things they don't need, to impress people they don't even know. They will let work define them. They will come home to their families and then use their technology to make witty posts and hope people respond. Essentially, these drowning people are tugging on apron strings, looking for validation and attention.

That's not who I am. That's not who I want to be.

To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing it's best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting.
- E.E. Cummings

Until next time,

Good Cheer!

Well, where is yours? Are you one of those that is ready for Christmas in September, or is it more like you turn around and wham! There's Christmas Eve? Somewhere in the middle?

I certainly am in the middle. I used to agonize over what to get my family that would be useful and practical at the same time that it was desirable and beautiful. While a present or two might fit all those requirements once every few years, it's nearly impossible to recreate a perfect gift each year. What's more? If you do find that perfect gift, who's to say you can afford it? I mean, I'm sure own desire for a milk cow is well-known in my family, but it's such and impractical gift as to make it ridiculous.

Instead I strive for simple gifts that are practical for the person. Each member of my family receives what I think they'd like best. Failing to find a physical gift, a gift card works very well. Nothing extravagant, but it allows whoever to freely make a choice of gift. Though, I do try to avoid gift cards when I can, as I see them as somewhat of a last-minute gift. Or a sign that I was unwilling to take time to think of that person and what they may like.


You know what's a fool-proof gift? Food. Everyone eats. At least, everyone I know does. Nearly everyone likes cookies, especially homemade ones so close to the holidays. Even diabetics can have cookies, in moderation of course.

I like tailor each gift to the individual person, and I thought you might like to see what I gave each family member.

Gramma

Gramma has long since stopped giving gifts, and for the most part, we (her family) reciprocates. I know she much prefers to have a clutter-free home. What's the point in keeping something in storage if it's not useful? I'm not talking about the spare bed we keep upstairs against the wall, I'm talking about decorations, redundant kitchen items, and the like.

And so, she has no use for frippery. What are you supposed to give a person like that? Well, in my estimation, she thoroughly enjoys spending time with her family, and takes that as her gift. She enjoys seeing the family together, spending time with us. We play Rummikub and try to beat her, even though she is the far superior player.

Mom

Mom likes practical gifts, but she's a sucker for penguins. So, I got her a Christmas card, and a small stuffed Ty brand penguin. A pine-scented candle, since those are her favorite, a few pieces of candy, a homemade candle holder, and plenty of tea-lights to go in the holder.

Siblings

Siblings are, by far, the most difficult to shop for. Holly got a candle holder like Mom's, along with candy. Ben got an Amazon gift card and more candy than the other two (Mom and Holly), because his little box was empty feeling. Becca did not come home for Christmas, and so has not received her gift. I'm choosing to keep quiet about that yet!

Friends

With friends I like to keep it simple, so I limit gifts to my best friend. I gave her a tin filled with her favorite candy (Reese's), and at the very bottom, a gift card to Panera Bread. Panera was recently put in the nearest city, and she's been enjoying the heck out of it.

Just small things that are practical, or that allow the receiver to choose what's best for them. It feels good to give others something, especially something they may have wanted, but wouldn't have bought for themselves.

Of course, the real reason for the season is the celebration of the birth of our Savior. He came humbly into the world, but left it a far better place. Thank God! He is ever merciful. I am ever so grateful for the gift of Salvation!

I'm hoping you had a Merry Christmas too!
Until next time,

A Very Good Article

Joel Salatin is an innovator in the world of sustainable farming. In this article he has some really excellent points. Please, give it a read.

Some (okay a lot... like 15) of my favorite quotes:

"Farming should nest gently into the landscape rather than dominating it."

"If the earth is anything, it’s a loving partner, not a subdued enemy."

"The thing you have to understand is that every time, every time, every time the government regulates something, it always, always, always hurts the small players and helps the big players."

"Why do we feel so helpless? Why must our first cry of foul send us running to a federal government bureaucrat to make all things right?"

"I pretty much stay disengaged from the farm bill because I don’t participate in it; I don’t want violence used to give me someone else’s money (try not paying your taxes and see who gets violent); all I want is to be left alone to practice consensual commerce with my own tribe."

"The people who think the government needs to participate in America’s food system need to understand that it was the government that promoted chemical fertilizers and pooh-poohed compost (no pun intended), who said that manure was not even worth hauling to the field, that developed and encouraged DDT use to cure all bugs, that subsidizes high fructose corn syrup, that promotes mandatory irradiation, that told us with the food pyramid in 1979 that the foundational pillar of a healthy diet was grain-based carbohydrates.

The food pyramid, you may recall, made no distinction between Twinkies, Cocoa-Puffs and Pop-Tarts versus fresh-sprouted quionoa bread. The government promoted feeding dead cows to cows and gave us bovine spongiform encephalopathy—mad cow. Why would anyone in their right mind want to give the government any authority in our foodscape?"

"As a result, we have a generation of bored, childish young people prowling the streets at night getting into mischief and wondering if they are worth anything. This is an epidemic, and a blight on our culture."

"To those who still can’t buy the no-regulations idea, I propose a hybrid: at least allow those of us who, as consenting adults, want to opt out of the industrial system, to be free to do so. If we’d rather live in teepees, heal with medicinal plants, and conduct meetings using talking sticks and chiefs, why does that harm the folks who prefer brick and mortar, blood-letting, and Robert’s Rules of Order? Why must the non-conformists be summarily rounded up, hunted down, and marched to reservations? How a society treats its unorthodox determines whether it is a tyranny or free society."

"You see, our culture is where it is not because of what someone else has done to us, but because of what we’ve done to ourselves. We are not victims; we’re the problem."

"...and that means waking every morning knowing our future is not up to someone else; it’s not up to a government program or paycheck..."

"Now to the veganism “saving the planet” concept. Because most vegans are on a physically degenerative trajectory, if eliminating humans is the path to saving the planet, I suppose you could make an argument that veganism does indeed save the planet since it rids the earth of humans. But I don’t think the earth was meant to exist without humans; in fact, I think humans heal the earth better than anything—they also destroy the earth better than anything. Most of the time really good stuff has a really bad counterpart—like sex and wine."

"It ultimately comes down to values and priorities. Yes, I know the Kardashians are crazily interesting, but so is what’s going to become flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone in a couple of hours. Our privilege to participate is a choice we exercise. And that’s the most important exercise of all."

"These credentialed folks who wield guns via their enforcers have decided that Pop-Tarts and Cheerios are safe and should even be subsidized, but raw milk, compost grown tomatoes and Aunt Matilda’s home-canned sweet pickles are hazardous substances."

"In the cycle of history, that system made us rich, wealth corrupted us and turned us into wimps, wimps made us victims, victims made us dependent, and now we’re just a bunch of babies looking for another government nipple to nurse. Enough already."

"I don’t trust anything from Vilsack or the USDA. That outfit has been demonizing truth for decades. If they had their way, Polyface would not exist. I don’t have time to fool with their chicanery. They have an agenda that as evil for this civilization and the sooner they get neutered the better. Yes, there is a time for anger. We’ve been gentle long enough, giving the benefit of the doubt, trying to play on the team. Forget it. The team is heading the wrong way and destroying the earth, our food, and our freedoms."

Until next time,

Loved

To be beautiful is to be loved. I like to think of it more like to be loved is to be beautiful.


I get caught up in the pettiness of the workplace just as easily as everyone else. I judge based on looks, clothing, speech patterns, method of payment (it happens when you spend a lot of your waking hours working in the grocery store). I see everything that is superficial. Sometimes I do it to make myself feel better, especially when I'm having a bad day. I am paid to serve customers with a smile, but I often feel like it's a burden and act like it too.

Then there are days when I feel and act like the child of God I claim to be. I feel love for everyone. I once read that if you love Jesus, you love everyone that same way. So if I love and follow Jesus, I need to look on everyone with love. Oh, is it hard sometimes.

Like the angry man who is also deaf. He practically screams and doesn't ask, but tells you what to do and how to do it with regards to his groceries. Or the woman with a sour expression who answers when you ask how she is today, “Terrible!” What are you expected to say to that?

Well, I'm happy to say that the woman and I have made friends. Every time she comes in the store, I make a special effort to go over and say hello. I once asked her why she always said she was terrible. Her answer was a long list of medical problems that almost prevent her from getting out of bed, and do prevent her some days. She wears a neck collar (a softer one than the EMT's use) most of the time and I used to think it was so she could garner sympathy. (Talk about seeing your faults in others! But that is another post all together.) It's part of her illness though that creates pain and weakness in her neck. She loves to grow tomatoes and has several of her own strains. So we talk tomatoes and I have a friend where before I saw a burden.

I am a work in progress, and I'm happy to say that God's love wins most of the time. It should be one hundred percent. I should be able to show kindness and understanding, overlooking the petty, all of time. Yet I am human, I am not perfect. There is only one person I know of who is perfect and His name is Jesus. I am not perfect. I fail. But I have the love of God on my side, and I only need to look to Him.

To be loved is to be beautiful.

The photo belongs to Brendan Bell on Flickr.

Until next time,

We Didn't Know We Were Poor

While purging old files at the office today, I came across a photocopy of this poem. I have copied it here exactly for you to enjoy. I can't seem to find it anywhere online or for sale. There is a page number [6] on the bottom left corner, and on the bottom right, it says Good Old Days Summer Special. Searching online for these terms and such doesn't seem to bring anything up. If anyone has more information, please e-mail me (found under the Contact Page), as I'd love to learn more.

We Didn't Know We Were Poor

By Ione Boss

We grew up in a house by the side of the road
With nothing modern to lighten the chore,
Just a little old shack, with an outhouse in back,
But we didn't know we were poor.

The Depression had hit Oklahoma,
The sandstorms had done lots of harm,
Some people were sad, for they lost what they had,
But my daddy would not leave the farm.

He worked day and night on that old sandy farm,
And he plowed till his muscles were sore,
But he made the crops grow, from the seeds he would sow,
And he kept the wolf from the door.

We had chickens and turkeys, some pigs and a cow,
And horses, I think three or four,
A roof over our heads, and nice feather beds,
Now, whoever said we were poor?

In winter, the snow would blow in through the cracks
And the wind round the chimney would moan,
But with a fire burning bright, and a kerosene light,
We were happy in our little home.

And Mamma would work in the kitchen,
While baking the bread she would sing,
And the meals she turned out, would make us all shout,
For the food, it was fit for a King.

There were beans in an old iron kettle,
And ham sliced thick in the pan,
Corn bread and potatoes, canned greens and tomatoes,
Now, try to top that if you can.

We never had very much money,
We seldom went to the store,
But no one complained, in sunshine or rain,
And nobody said we were poor.

The springtime I think we like best of all,
When the warm sun shone bright on the land,
Oh happy day, when our shoes [unreadable],
And we could run barefoot in the sand.

The wild flowers grew in profusion
And they were more lovely by far,
Than the prettiest rose, or any orchid that grows
When we brought them home in a jar.

To place on the old kitchen table,
To brighten it up for the day,
Their wonderful hues, of pink, gold, and blues,
Made a beautiful center bouquet.

In summer we'd hunt the wild berries
And the plums in the thickets were sweet,
Sitting under a tree, contented we'd be,
And enjoy our summertime treat.

At evening when the whippoorwills called from the hills,
We'd sit round the old cabin door,
With the whispering breeze gently stirring the trees,
And we never once thought we were poor.

In fall when the leaves would turn golden and brown,
Once more we would go back to school
With pencils and paper, notebooks and erasers,
To study the Golden Rule.

That little red schoolhouse I'll never forget
Though I live to be 90 years old,
The secrets we'd share and the fun we had there
Was worth more than silver and gold.

The months and the years have swiftly gone by,
Since we lived in those good days of yore,
So happy at play, on that old farm all day,
And we never did know we were poor.

P.S. I don't own this, and I'm not claiming it. I can't find anything out about it so I am using the information I have available.

All the World's Frustrations

We had a written assignment for Psychology due today (Sunday). The first question was along the lines of violence in the media and how it correlates with childhood aggression. While writing I was getting more and more angry, so I guess I found where a passionate subject of mine lies. I thought I'd post it.

Violence in media, meaning the often bloody, gory, painful, or otherwise harmful injuries and assaults endured by characters of television programs and video games, can be a touchy subject to many people. Some believe that the sole cause of the rise in aggression of the youth population is the fact that they are desensitized to violence because they have seen it on television, or are causing it in video games. There are also those who believe that the two don't correlate at all. When a person is desensitized to something, it no longer appears threatening or frightening; it matters very little.

Aggression can be defined as "hostile or violent behavior or attitudes toward another; readiness to attack or confront", or as "the action of attacking without provocation" (dictionary.com). A child constantly bombarded with the fictional deaths on television and video games, is more apt to be aggressive, especially if he/she isn't able to express anger effectively with age-appropriate peers. Children, I believe, need to play and run and have arguments with each other relatively free of close parental supervision. Children allowed so to work out disagreements from a young age, begin to understand how to interact with others. Problem-solving becomes familiar. With the advent of both parents working, daycare, and the general disinterest or distrust of neighbors that has become commonplace in America, children have almost nothing to do but sit around playing games and watching television.

Is it then so strange that our children become frustrated with what the world has to offer them? Hardly more than temporary entertainment and fleeting fun. Lasting, lifelong friendships become rare treasures. Is it any wonder that people have mental disorders? Our lives are so far removed now from physical labor, is it any wonder we have trouble sleeping? Frustrations build and the people don't know why. Frustrations can build to the point that violence is seen as inevitable, but we are taught to not get involved, to back off, and so we let troubling signs slip by us until someone explodes. Then we look back and say, "What a tragedy."

Yes, there is a definite link between what a child watches and ultimately what he does, but more of the responsibility lies with parents and guardians. Children need to do what children have always needed to do: laugh and scream and play, and most importantly, learn.

What Do the People Know?

I don't recall if I've mentioned it before, but I happen to work in a large-chain supermarket. We sell mostly groceries and have a selection of other such general merchandise items.

Since the very recent opening of my eyes, I have become disgusted by the majority of the items we are allowed to sell (allowed because nine companies essentially own everything in your grocery store and mine). I see people purchasing soda, and poptarts, frozen dinners, and fresh steaks, asparagus and strawberries and I can't help but wonder if they would continue to spend their money on these things if they knew what was in there?

Asparatame in your soda that will eat holes in your brain, high-fructose corn syrup that creates sugar intolerances in your body, frozen dinners full of fake flavorings and MSG, fresh steaks that were fed corn and grain and antibiotics for all of its miserable life, asparagus from Peru, strawberries fresh so far out of season that they can't possibly be healthy and pesticide-free.

If they knew, would they change?

I am trying. I really am. We do have a few fresh organic vegetables, grown in America (because organic produce grown in other countries is not subject to the United States' organic laws), and locally grown and slaughtered, grass fed beef in the freezer. This is pretty much what I've been eating: apples, beef, and cauliflower. Some local eggs too, for good measure.

Since the switch to better food I am discovering my cravings for processed junk is insane. I am irritable and feel uncomfortably empty often. When I fill that craving with something processed, I feel better. Getting my HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) seems to "fix" my cravings.

Scary, isn't it? I find it frightening.

Luckily a downtown store sells locally grown organic produce and I feel I must stop in tomorrow just to see what I can find.

Keep up the good fight, start your own, or tell someone about what they are really putting in their body, you might just plant the seed that gets another person on their way out of the corporate-controlled food system.

The Food at the Supermarket

This is the writing assignment I sent off this morning for class today. It is an informal way to explore the topic we are writing for our nine to tweleve page writing assignments. I've done well on the last two, but there is so much to cover with this topic that I had a hard time not jumping around too much! I am excited for our research papers.

The American public has been, ever so carefully, led to believe that thousands of choices are available to them at the grocery. There are more than forty-seven thousand items in any given supermarket, but very few companies (nine in total) provide the goods on those shelves. Those companies are: Coca-Cola, Pepsico, General Mills, Kellog's, Mars, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, Nestle, and Kraft. Through careful crafting of lies, false research, and general misleading the public has been fooled into believing that these food stuffs are healthy.

Almost every package includes a misleading label. Those foods labeled "Natural" or "All Natural" can still contain injected sodium or high fructose corn syrup, "Multigrain" does not mean whole grain, "free-range" animals are often encouraged to stay indoors, "light" sometimes just refers to flavor, "organic" is a popular word, and the USDA does have strict guidelines as to what can and cannot be labeled "organic". However, these restrictions only apply to the United States of America. Any products from out of country are certified by a different company, which in turn tells the USDA that yes, the food is indeed organic. Once the food receives the third-party's acceptance the USDA allows its label to be used.

On March 16th, 2009 law was passed into effect which mandated that food products be labeled with country of origin, to better enable consumers to choose from which country they wanted their food grown and manufactured. Of course, when made outside of the United States, the print type chosen is very small and located in generally difficult-to-read areas like the crimp of the bag. When a product is made in America, the labels and exclamations couldn't be louder or more obvious. Even companies that design a product in America, but have it manufactured out of country, proudly display the American flag.

Another disturbing trend is the incidence of disease among Americans due to their food. Salmonella, E-Coli, norovirus, ands stomach upsets are fairly common. There is one, however generally not connected with food, but is the most serious and life threatening one: cancer.

Everyone wants to discover the cure for cancer; it's nearly impossible to find one person unaffected by, or related to someone who has/had cancer. Scientists and millions upon millions of dollars per year are poured into research, but no one knows why cancer infects us so viciously. There are some identified culprits but the incidence of cancer is still rising. When people are diagnosed with cancer, now they are a martyr, fighting against an unseen enemy with an army of the afflicted. Does no one think that the increase in chemical in the food we consume could possibly have anything to do with cancer? Potassium bromate, BHT and BHA, artificial colors, acesulfame-potassium, carrageenan, nitrates and nitrites, olestra, propyl gallates, and saccharin are all known carcinogens, but the FDA allows them in small quantities in (especially prepared, packaged) food.

Now genetically-modified foods are becoming public knowledge. The largest chemical company in the world owned over ninety percent of the soybeans grown in the United States in 2008. They were genetically enabled to not be affected by Roundup, a chemical that kills weeds, also manufactured by Monsanto. Do we really want a plant that can withstand toxic chemicals? Are they safe? Monsanto assures us that their seeds are perfectly safe, even though research has shown an increase in cancer in laboratory animals fed exclusively genetically modified materials.

Yes, of course our food is safe. Just ask the government. They have such an impeccable track record of having the public's best interests at heart.

Fall Comes With Thankfulness

The days are cooler and day light leaves us a full hour earlier. Leaves are turning brilliant colors before wafting to earth. Cycles of life and death continue to cleanse the natural world and change us from a growing season to a sleeping one. Traditionally fall is a time of great preparation for the coming winter. Canning and putting up the last vestiges from the garden, apple pressing and processing, preparing the ground for spring planting.

The work is never done, it just changes.

I wouldn't change where I live for the world. Oh, I'd move to a new property, but never out of this area, and I am very resistant to leaving even my county. I am especially fond of autumn here. The hillsides turn into a patchwork of brilliant colors, incorporating the blues and greens of our pines with the red, orange, and yellow of various other types of trees. The sugar maples take the show though, with their vividness.

Something is in the air here, something intangible and beautiful. A type of peace and a desperate understanding. I use 'desperate' as my descriptor because almost all of us who live here understand the phenomenal place we have. The quietness, the beauty, the undeniable enchantment that permeates the breeze.

Those of us who can't see it, leave. Some of us (including me) leave and then high-tail it back home, where we've always belonged – even if we didn't know it then. Some of us do not return, because this is not where God needs us, not where we are called to serve. Others grew up somewhere else, found us here, and knew they belonged.

I belong, and I finally know it.

Overtaken by Stuff

I did manage to get to the county fair on Tuesday, but my sync cord is missing once again, and so no pictures today.

I had a lot more stuff than I thought. Moving always points that out to you doesn't it? So I am going to go through and sell or donate whatever I can't otherwise use. That includes the printer I paid $100 or so for and my small television, vcr, and dvd player. I need to pare down my belongings so I can stop feeling so overwhelmed and so I can focus less on things and more on my family and God - the important things in life.

I will be getting started on my hand-milled soaps soon and aquired some dried lavender for a gentle abrasive to use. I am currently locating a source for essential oils, and after that a mold. Then I'll be ready. I'll be sure to post about it when it becomes available in the shop.

Public Assistance

I grew up in a place very much in the grip of "too much assistance" from the government Food Stamps program. I have consequently always held a negative view of the program. It wasn't one thing that soured my view, but a combination.

First was the unfortunate fact that several (I'll extend that to most) people on the program appear or smell dirty and generally seem of below average intelligence. (I know how judgmental the above statement sounds, but I've just sat here for fifteen minutes reading and rereading and I have to say that it's an honest reflection of my thoughts and accurate observations.)
Second is that I never saw my family on it. My mom assures me that at one point we did have food stamps, but that she doesn't believe a person ought to stay on the program longer than they actually need. I don't remember it, but I do remember my mom opening and operating her own state licensed daycare. You can bet that was hard, taking care of other children all day in addition to her own four.
Third is that I come from a stubborn area and extra stubborn stock. We have pride, we can farm, we have never been rich or pampered, and most of us know God. What more should a person need? Taking assistance is selling-out and giving up, and we look down upon those people.

I recently read an article that startled the daylights out of me. It illustrates the fact that the government wants to (and is) desperately encouraging enrollment in the program even though 1 in 7 Americans are already part of it. The tone of the article is that the government is only offering to help and if we would only trust them and let them show us how much better it would be on the SNAP or equivalent assistance program, we'd be so much happier. We shouldn't be so prideful that we won't accept the "help" because it will add desperately needed dollars to our town/village/city's economy.

I do not understand how someone could take assistance permanently and feel satisfied. Are we not glorified pets of the government then? Provided for and well-trained, not earning our keep but available for our master's amusement because of miss-placed loyalty. Fat and happy and content and controlled.

I believe we as a country need to start standing up for ourselves and working hard. It's such a foreign concept that we might not be in a perfectly climate controlled place, that we might have to work and wait for our food, even though our grandparents lived without such conveniences as we have today, we could never contemplate it. It is considered so far out there that those who would actively choose that life are looked upon as unstable, crazy, uneducated, and possibly dangerous. It's not right.

We need to change. We need to start refusing government assistance in any form, because until we do, we will be under the thumb of a master all too happy to have us right where we are wanted: dependent.

I found this article especially moving and motivating; she also links to the same article I read, above.

Ideas for Self-Employment

I have very specific ideas on what I do and do not want to do on my homestead. While I wait for the money and land to become available, I am endeavoring to do everything else I can to prepare. One of these preparations is figuring out money. I do not want to work off of my homestead.

I know this isn't a reality for a lot of people, and a lot of people aren't willing to give up their conveniences in order to stop working off the farm. As I progress I intend to reduce (with the goal of eliminating) my dependence on electricity and petroleum products (such as gas and oil). Reducing and eliminating these things as they become unnecessary will further reduce my bills. There is only one bill I can foresee always having to pay: taxes. Whether income, sales, property, or school, I believe at this time that there will be those taxes to pay.

The why is partially a quiet yearning to be under no man's heel or hand and reliant only on God and His provisions through my own hands, and partially because I have come to realize how very lazy and forgetful I have become when everything is easy and available right now.

However, this post is not a dissection of my motives and desires, it's a plain listing of my ideas on what I can do to make the money I will need for those infernal taxes.

     1. Sewing
          Since receiving my heavy duty Singer for my birthday I have already sewn several small items, what I would consider "easy-sells". I also cut and sewed drapes into valances for a co-worker, hemmed a pair of shorts for another co-worker, hemmed a pair of dress pants for my sister's boyfriend, and repaired a seam on my uncle's work pants. I was paid for one of these jobs so far. I do realize that I will have to start charging for my work if I intend to actually make money, but I am loath to do so because I am a people pleaser at heart. I recognize it and must work on it. You will see it as a reoccurring theme in the next entries.

     2. Soapmaking
          I have wanted to learn how to do this for at least the past year when I was told to look at the cute goat pictures on Suzanne's Chickens in the Road, and stuck around long enough to see her making soap! I am not up to mixing lye soap yet. I am currently using melt and pour glycerin base and supplies that were given to me as a birthday gift this past year (noticing a theme here?). When I finally move home (this coming Monday!) to New York and get settled in, I will be trying the hand-milled or French-milled method. I would have tried it much earlier except it needs three weeks to cure and I didn't want to transport soap that was still setting up across six hundred miles in a hot car.

     3. Jams & Jellies
          This is the hardest one on the list. In order to legally sell them they have to be prepared in a licensed commercial kitchen. I have thought about contacting a restaurant in my area and finding out if they would barter/trade time in the kitchen for access to my homemade jams for free, or discussing how much it would cost to rent the kitchen for a couple hours in their off hours. I have also thought about the church kitchen. Sometimes they are exempt from licensing, and sometimes not. I will find out when I get back home.
          Of all the jam I've already made, all but two jars are spoken for and all but one delivered to its recipient. Again, I didn’t charge anything for them: they were gifts.

Those are the main ones I have come up with that would be pretty much immediately doable and available for sale. In the spring and summer I intend to inquire about getting tables at a few of the areas farmer's markets as my garden grows, and look into a booth at the county fair. I may also set up a table at the front of the house when work and school permit. We live on the main route through the area and we are only five minutes outside of town. I'm thinking it'd be a good source of customers.

I am aware there may be licenses or certificates or the like that I may be required to acquire. I intend (also upon returning to New York) to check in with the local Extension agent and find out what I need to do.

That's my immediate plan for saving the money I need to purchase my place, in addition to working at the grocery store in town. Eventually I'd like to sell excess products directly from my homestead as well as those above. Time will tell!

On Cloning

Cloning our public milk and meat puts more power straight into the hands of major monopolic conglomerations. They are the ones that can afford the complicated equipment and personnel to engineer and place these clones into their surrogate mothers. They also have the money needed to enlist or build and employ veterinary facilities for their often sickly cloned infant animals.

That leaves family farms again unable to meet the demand of the public for good, cheap meat. That's a lot of why we are in this mess we are in, because we didn't want to wait for the animals to grow to slaughter weight naturally. The demand for so much meat isn't sustainable naturally - they way God intended it to be - and so we allow other people to pump our food full of unnatural feed and antibiotics to force it to grow to slaughter weight (1200 pounds for a steer) in just 14 months. Allowed to reach this weight naturally, it would take years.


Why clone at all? It is infinitely more expensive to raise a cloned animal (from impregnation to birth to slaughter), and so it's been suggested that the companies would then use the more valuable animal for breeding purposes instead of slaughtering it for the market. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.

Cloned animals are more sickly than (I hate to call them "regular" or "normal" animals) their traditional counterparts and if not for highly specialized veterinary care, most would die long before they were even born. These high rates of miscarriages put strain and stress on surrogate mothers. Babies, if born alive, can be malformed and are certainly in more jeopardy health-wise than normal babies.

The FDA continually ignores public outcry that cloned meat and milk at least be labeled so consumers who wish to can avoid it.

Those who do resist are often labeled negatively and laughed at and patted on the head as if a small child who asked a dumb question. We are reassured with easy language and pat answers that everything is okay, that everything is safe. But we are told that so often - that something is okay and safe - that we are becoming suspicious. We know better.

Their arguments are that the same outcries went up over pasteurizing milk, and over artificial insemination and look where we are on those issues now. That we are obviously better off and cloning will follow the same path.

Those of us awake to the real food of yore know what is wrong with these things. We know they are not of God. We refuse to be coddled and reassured with falsities and we resist, albeit peacefully. We bring (most of) our food from the ground with hard work and prayer. We are trying to break through with earnest pleas for intelligence in regards to that most basic of needs: healthy food.

Sources:
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/campaign/cloned-animals/
http://www.livescience.com/2182-cloned-milk-meat-beef.html
Photos: William Warby.