permaculture

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>]

Yes.  The idea of more self-sufficiency and less reliance on the System is 
more a practical matter of self defense than idealism. I'm reminded of the 
line, the harder you work, the behinder you get.  Two and three job families 
sinking deeper in debt make my point. Today personal bankruptcies are at an 
all time high and consumer credit is maxed out. It's now common for college 
grads to hunt for any kind of work, with thousands of dollars in credit to 
pay off.   People count on the government-run economy to create jobs, but 
it's losing jobs on a massive scale. The unemployment numbers don't even 
include millions who have run out of unemployment benefits or have given up 
looking for jobs.

What's happening is, we live inside a commercial machine designed to work us 
at the lowest possible cost and advertise us into buying (on credit) 
everything that makes money for the corporate machine.   Consumers and 
producers of basic foods are caught in the cost-price squeeze of corporate 
agribusiness and distribution.  The cost of Shelter, clothing, entertainment, 
utilities, and transportation are decided not by the lowly buyer but by the 
corporate behemoths behind mortage financing and credit, real estate 
inflation, housing codes and zoning, materials, energy transmission, roads, 
highways, and vehicles. Interest alone can be 2/3 the final cost of a house. 
Actual materials and labor may be 10%, excluding land.

Yet getting out of the high priced city or suburb and finding lower paying 
self employment in the boonies (make your own job) may just about even out 
financially. Buying cheap and fixing up without mortgage interest saves big 
time.  So does driving less by working closer to home.  So does producing 
more of what we need for food and daily living, and swapping with others 
locally. Familes on welfare and commodities need to go where living is 
cheaper and they have room to grow more healthy food at home. Youngsters and 
oldsters alike can live better in rural areas. If you think they can't find 
work in rural areas, have they seen what job hunting is like in the city?  I 
see lots of talk about not finding affordable housing in most big cities. But 
rural America has been decimated for decades and a lot of homes are standing 
empty, land unfarmed and idle.

The barrier to more self-sufficiency is in our heads. We think job 
applications, credit applications, resumes, more "education". We fall into 
the trap with a hundred million others. Getting out is the ultimate 
educational experience.  Getting more control over our own costs and needs is 
the idea.

paul@largocreekfarms.com
http://medicinehill.net
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 10/17/2004 at 11:25 AM Lisa MacIver wrote:

>Agree, no such thing as self sufficiency, but we can all do more for
>ourselves rather than rely on "the system"; moving to a farm however
>large or tiny, and producing more of what you use (and learning to use
>what you produce) is both noble and highly doable.
>
>Lisa in Ashland Oregon
>urban city slicker turned semirural food producer
>www.fwfarm.com
>
>> Experienced people have long advised that the inexperienced move into
>> farming gradually, and I agree. As for the dream of self-sufficiency,
>> "there ain't no such animal".   Throughout history people have lived
>...
>> >between the dream of  self-sufficiency and the fear that I'm too
>> much of a
>> >city slicker. : )
>
>
>
>
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