Homestead mailing list

[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

(Snips may be out of order)
>"When we have engine questions or tractor questions, we
look to Don, when we have real estate questions, we look to Gene or
Lisa, when we have economic questions, we can look to Bob (and
apparently Leslie!) "

I have myself asked Don about tools and Gene about real estate.  But they 
both have a long history of experience and expertise and their posts here 
show 
it.  Bob is not an expert on finance.  I know two dozen Bobs that amassed 
"wealth" in the stock and real estate run ups and live in a delusional world 
that 
the present down turn is short lived and their "assets" will be worth a 
fortune 
just as soon as things turn around.   Just because you got yourself tied up 
in 
expensive financial dealings doesn't mean you are an expert, it's as common 
as dirt now of days.

I want you to imagine this for a moment, Bev.  You and Bob are just about of 
an age.  Let's suppose that your goal was to homestead and you have some 
acreage that you already own.  You are middle-aged, have health problems, and 
do 
not have the pracitcal skills needed to make a go at farmsteading.  

When is the best time for you to move to the homestead and begin?  When is 
the time by far and away the most likely that you would succeed?  We, many of 
us, addressed this question a few weeks ago when we suggested that if someone 
is 
going to weather the coming hard economic times on rural land, it is of the 
essence to begin NOW.  Time passes, you get older, you get more infirmed, the 
economic backup and scaffolding you could depend on begins to evaporate.  
This 
was met with comments (from William for example) that it didn't matter, 
homesteading was no big deal.  Bob himself said in one recent post that to 
farmstead 
the way I am doing it is "easy."

Remember that I am not using the term 'wannabe' to mean beginner or person 
interested in exploring the possibilities but rather to mean someone going 
nowhere but in a constant state of pontification about his involvement and 
expertise.   It is wannabes that forever take the "Casey at the Bat" stance 
(that is:  
"ain't my style.  Strike two, the umpire said")

But even at that, all that's Bob's own business.  The thing is, let the 
volume and extent of your comments on a subject reflect your experience.    I 
talk 
a lot about finance but it is always from a standpoint of the dangers of debt 
and the advantages of both not having debt and not trafficking in a lot of 
money.  I've done that consistenty for decades and so I can talk about it 
with 
some confidence. 

>Here, if it needs to be done, it is just done.
I went out in the rain this morning to shoot at a dog, but I put wood on
the porch last weekend because I knew it would rain all week.  If I had
a 105 fever, I'd still have to keep the stove going, you know.

That's just the point, Bev, on a real homestead it just gets done.  Weather, 
sickness, age, accident, overall economy, none of it matters, it just gets 
done.  That is NOT what the gist of the posts of the chronic complainers was. 
 
It, says I, is not just a matter of writing styles or communication foibles.  
It 
was an entirely different reason for participating in the discussions.


James