Homestead mailing list

["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>

> I do think people who visit Starbucks every morning on their way to work
> are wasteful/not frugal when they could have a cup of joe at home.
> Sorry, but I understand that coffee at Starbucks is like $4 a cup (I've
> never been there, I don't think...I've only been to one coffee shop in
> my entire life..hey Tammy in Colorado, did we meet at a Starbucks or
> another coffee shop?)  I don't suppose there's anything wrong with
> visiting Starbucks on occasion, but buying joe at Starbucks instead of
> making it at home, well, that's a bit too "rich" for my blood.
***There's a Starbucks in the grocery store in the little big city we go to. 
We generally don't buy any coffee there because of their whole policy over 
refusing to support shade grown, etc.  However, as a treat, youngest and I 
occasionally get a strawberries and cream.  Sure is nice when it is 110 out. 
Plain old coffee is about $2.35.  It is the frufru coffee that costs the big 
bucks.
> It's not about that, it's about an attitude of doing for yourself vs. an
> attitude of throwing up your hands and expecting others to do for you.
> It's about learning skills and doing whatever it takes to reduce your
> dependency on commercially available stuff.  Plenty of folks homestead
> in the city...many places have community gardens, and even if that's not
> available, there's farmer's markets, CSA's and other ways to get
> wholesome foods without having a big yard.  I used to live on less than
> 1/3 of an acre, but I had a friend with garden space.  What I did not
> grow in containers, I planted in her garden. I couldn't have animals,
> but I worked to find another place, here, where I could have animals,
> and while I lived in the city, the folks here educated me on raising
> critters and living sustainably.
***The problem is there isn't alot of info out there for folks or help with 
this sort of thing.  If folks ahve spent generations in the city they don't 
have the knowledge to take advantage of that small space.  Welfare isn't 
designed to really help anyone.  If it was, it would do things that make 
sense instead of simply doing stuff because some politician somewhere 
decided that would work.
> Why did they ask the government in the first place?  IMO, people make
> choices everyday, you know, personal responsibility.  No, many who live
> in conditions such as what you describe are looking for a convenient
> life...one where the government sends them a check every month, and that
> is a vicious cycle of dependence.  It IS possible to get off the mouse
> wheel and out of the rat race, but it takes a lot of hard work and
> sacrifice.  It's not easy, but it can be done.

***It is called apathy.  Anyone who thinks it is a convenient life has never 
lived that life.  Yes, it can be done but frequently the system is set up to 
keep you in it.  I mean, look at the reality of it.  Welfare is a circle and 
without it there would be a whole lot of people out of work!

> It's an option...
> There's no reason for true hunger in this culture.  What people have to
> get over is pride.  For example, old people couldn't physically dumpster
> dive if they wanted to, but in many cases, their pride gets in the way
> and they refuse programs like Meals on Wheels or community outreach
> charities.
***That might work in the city but it doesn't work in some areas of the 
country because it doesn't exist.  There is no Meals on Wheels in places 
like Nowheresville or the Rez or a million other places.  There are places 
where there are no jobs, period.  Without jobs, what should people do, pack 
it up and move to the big city where there are only minimum wage jobs and 
the rent on a one bedroom apartment is more than 75% of what they'd make 
working?  Some folks are between a rock and a hard place and damned if they 
do and damned if they don't.
>
The sense of community is about dead in the U.S.  The extended family isn't 
there in lots of instances.

Yes, there are a whole lot of gimme gimme folks out there but there are just 
as many that simply don't know where to turn or what to do.

Lynda