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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Gene GeRue wrote:

> 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?

I'm the world's biggest news pessimist and I'm not depressed.  In fact,
I'm quite hopeful that people will experience a revelation, either by
gardening or bartering or simple frugality.  I don't take any pleasure,
perverse or otherwise, because to me watching TV is a glimpse into a
world that I am simply not a part of.  It is not that I am better or
worse off.  Comparing my situation to others is like comparing apples to
oranges.  Back during the election, I was extremely concerned about
Obama's election to the Presidency, but now that he is in there, there
is nothing I can do except try to console those who are starting to
recover from the Obama virus.<g>  My garden is a bit bigger, but that
has more to do with DH helping me than with any economic downturn.  I
plant as much as I can every year.  This year I planted a bunch of old
seed, just to use it, and instead of 5 or 6 planned slicing tomatoes I
will have close to 20 tomatoes(slicers)  I will plant the normal 5 or 6
and will then pot up and give as gifts the remaining toms to my friends
and relatives who won't have a garden-those who are either too elderly
or who don't have the time or space or who have children who want to
learn to grow their own.   In doing this, I am actually feeling pretty
good about things, because I am doing what I can to prevent more hurt.



> Seems to me that this is our time, the time we will tell our 
> grandchildren and great-grandchildren about.

You think so?
I feel like my time was in the 70's.  Our family was frugal then as now.
 I learned how to garden and fix cars in the 70's.  I saw my
neighborhood changed by war and protest.  I burned my bra and stopped
wearing makeup.

Honestly, this year and last year seems no different to me than 2004 or
2005.  I'm living the same way, which is scraping by....


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.


Are you still in Phoenix or have you made the trip to Heartwood?
You've been quiet lately...what do you plan to grow and specifically how
will it be different than usual?
> 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?

I don't think homesteading is superior, but it is what suits me.  For
some, it would be Hell.  Some people need the cement of the city the way
I need the green of the forest.  To each his own.  However, I do believe
that regardless of whether one chooses a homestead life or a city life
or whatever, one can either grow more of their own food or participate
in CSA's and eat local.


> 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.

Well, you need balance.  Today, I went on a hike with some friends and
from 10 to about 4:30 I was traipsing through the woods exploring the
creeks, old homesteads, flora and fauna of the area, etc.  In the past,
I listen to the very liberal media, and then I listen to my conservative
neighbors;  I read that the price of oil is rising, then I just go get
on my bike. What stresses me is not the situation itself, but the hoopla
over the situation.  The hoopla is the smoke that distracts from the
real issues.

--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of
living on public assistance."

--Cicero, 55 BC
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/