Skip to main content

Welcoming the new year....and setting up success

When I started this blog, now going into it's third year, I wasn't sure what I wanted it to do.  It lacked focus and intent.    

I had a rough idea that I wanted to be a homesteader?  However at the time I really had no way define it.  On TV you see people isolated to a great extent, trying to be off the grid and self sufficient.  To a certain extent that's where I would like to be too.

That's really is the basic definition of "homesteading" and even that most basic of definitions means different things to different people.  Generally however, we can all agree that it means trying to be a little more self sufficient.

In some ways I consider that lifestyle to be the ultimate goal.. For now however I am just trying to reconnect with with nature by growing a garden.  The more I learn about some company farming practices, the more concerned I become about the food that I eat.  Being able to grow your own food is never a bad skill to have.  

Although I'm not interested in raising livestock one never knows what the future brings.

I want to reduce, reuse and recycle more. Sue surprised me the other day by buying us a garbage can specifically for metals.  We are just trying to live more simply.

My dream is to slowly make this property a native oasis.   Sadly however I also know that climate change is real, if you believe in it or not, and it's going to affect us in a variety of ways.  If this is going to be my legacy, and I think it is, then I have to prepare my property for the next generation the best way I can.  

 

Long story short is that Pennsylvania is expected to be wetter and warmer than it was in the past.  Which means anything that I plant in the coming years will have to be adapt to that reality after I'm gone.

To do anything however requires a plan.  And I am planning for a future that I may never see.  I just don't see the "future" as being a very bright one for people in general.

That's the ultimate goal - to somehow set up an oasis for the future, then my question becomes:   How to get there?   

That's one of the reasons this blog will most likely be moving to another server in the coming months.  I'm going to need feedback, expert help and advice and, in order to do that, I need reach the largest audience possible.  No, we will not have a You Tube channel or Twitter account anytime soon.   No need for it really.  There is a lot of good info out there and I will always share those resources with you. 

I'm still panning on keeping the blog advertising free, I'm still planning on keeping politics off the blog as much as possible; however when you find yourself talking about the environment your bound to talk about politics.   Lately I've been commenting on sites that are either propagating misinformation or spreading falsehoods.   I think that will continue in the coming year.

So it may be political? 

In 2023 I think I'm going to concentrate more on that journey towards....the individual's role in saving the environment.   

So again...heading into 2023 I've a vague idea of what I want to do, and not any clue on how to get there.   Just a mist covered mountain path to trod and the belief that I am going in the right direction.  

I hope you join me on that journey.

Labels:
Location: Stoneboro, PA 16153, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

Honoring the past - Thinking more about "invasive" plant species.

 Recently I've been giving some thought to invasive species.  I had received both positive and negative feedback on the blog post concerning kudzu and recently I came across a very well hidden, and very small, wild cherry tree while doing some yard work.  Since it's against the house it would have to be removed since the root systems could damage my foundation.   A buddy of mine at work was asking if I was going to transfer it, his logic being that it was a fruiting tree that would not only attract a variety of pollinator's but that the deer would eat the bark and cherries, keeping them away from the garden (which Sue and I swore we were not going to do this year).  It occurred to me that I was going to have to do a slightly better job of identification, since black cherries are native to America , where as other types of cherries are not.  Being able to make a precise identification would be helpful.   I used to be able to identify all these tre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Paradigm shifts and Project 2040

In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “ There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy. ” His observation has been echoed by people ever since and changed a bit over time, but has remained a stark warning. Only anarchy the way most people think of it rarely occurs.  We have found that people are more likely to band together when their communities face some sort of disaster, be it from war, plague or natural disaster.   We are all too familiar with pictures and videos of communities digging through the rubble of bombed buildings searching for survivors...but how many of us remember the moments during the Covid epidemic of people singing from their balconies?   When you have a community; people will always help people.  Despite these bleak times the things that make us human - our compassion - will see us through. Recently my life changed due to issues with a car .  While, in the scheme of things it was a minor crisis it did make me think if things coul...
1 comment
Read more

A sense of time in place - traveling in Central PA

One of the first items that Sue and I bought as a couple all those years ago was a grandfather clock.  We used to snuggle under the blanket and listen to the chimes on the hour, the sound filling our house with a warmth and resonance.   That clock is nothing special, being simple in its design and technology.  It's accurate because of the beauty of physics and math...and is a lost art form in its own right. I thought a lot about time and place as we traveled this week.  I thought a lot about place.   Sue and I finally took a brief vacation recently.  Due to circumstances beyond our control, every plan we had made to get away earlier in the year came to naught.  My father became ill and ended up in the hospital which we decided to stay home "just in case."  He ended up in the hospital at least three times this past year, and I decided to spend what time I could with him. Family, after all, is what brought us back to Pennsylvania. We had p...
3 comments
Read more