Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Lisa wrote: I don't expect it's going to make me feel any better,  
> but at least I'll be
> informed and probably motivated to start a new round of seeds the  
> following
> morning.

I've been thinking about the results of reading bad news day after  
week after month. What do we gain by that other than perhaps perverse  
pleasure in finding ourselves better off than many people? Does  
knowing any of the bad news improve our lives? Or might it depress us?

Seems to me that this is our time, the time we will tell our  
grandchildren and great-grandchildren about. I plan to tell mine that  
I gardened even more intensely and that's how Grammy Chris and I got  
through the bad times just fine.

I've often thought about the very low percentage of people who choose  
to live what we think of as a homesteading life. Some of us are even  
surprised when our spouses see the value. We think homesteading is  
superior, but how to convince others? People do not respond positively  
to being told what they should do. Seems to me the best way is to show  
them by how we live. This is an opportune time to show the value--it  
is a teaching moment.

We can spend hours reading bad news or we can spend even more hours  
doing gardening and all the other homesteading things we believe in.

It's a choice.