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.

Comments

What all the cool kids are reading.

Hallowed grounds

      September got away from me it seemed,     A lot of personal things happened in the last month which made me question a few things, including if it was worth continuing this blog; considering how my readership is so small.   In the end however I decided it was.  Rome, as the saying goes, was not built in a day.     I can already feel the winds of the coming winter starting, our garage is all ready full of three tons of wood pellets for our stove and yesterday was the first day we lit it.   It was not a bad or particularly cold day but we had a chill in the house that caused my hands to be ice cold, and lighting the stove helped chase that chill from them.            Soon it will be time to work on winterizing the home.  First however, we had one last trip that Sue and I had wanted to make; or more of a pilgrimage of sorts.  We were going to visit the National...

This beautiful life - Thanks Mom and goodbye.

    It's been a few days since I've been able to put electronic pen to electronic paper so to speak.  This was due to the untimely death of my mother, Patrica Ann Wilson or simply Pat as many of her friends and family called her.             Like any mother she could be a pain in the ass, loving, supportive and making her son's crazy at the same time.  However she always believed in and supported my brother Gary and I whenever and however she could.       The funny thing is that Sue and I moved back to Pennsylvania because we knew that our parents were getting older, and that we wanted to spend more time with them.   Now this happens with us being less than two months in the area.  At least my mother got to see our new home.     I'm sure that she probably thought we were crazy to move this far out into the country, where are nearest neighbors really are a horse named ...

Why didn't Erie, PA develop into a bigger city?

          Recently I had to travel up to Erie, PA for business.   It's about an hour north of me and is a rather small city, having just under 100 thousand people living in it.   It played an important role in the founding of America,  - where it was the headquarters for Oliver Perry's flagship Niagara during the battle of Like Erie in the war of 1812 .            It was also a important shipping center, being Pennsylvania's only access to the Great Lakes which was the easiest way to trade with parts of Canada at the time as well as move goods to the cities of Detroit and Chicago, which in the mid to early 1800's were just starting to develop.  It was also directly north from Pittsburgh which was a major industrial city at that time.     Yet Erie never really grew beyond it's humble beginnings and I wondered why.   Like any good sleuth I turned to the intern...