I decided to take my camera along with me on my chores yesterday and just take in the beauty!  Enjoy!

One of the benefits of sustainable living is finding consistent financial balance.

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Economic downturns happen all the time, did you know that?  It’s true.

Every since the inception of our great nation, our economy has had ups and downs.  Strangely, we act surprised when it happens.

Every economic system worldwide changes, depending on many factors.  Some factors can be controlled (debt and spending), others cannot be (natural distasters, wars, civil disruptions, etc).

Understanding that ups and downs will come, wouldn’t it make sense to live in such a way that when they do come, we won’t fall far?

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What do I mean by “fall far”?

Warren Buffet has a great quote that makes me laugh every time I hear it….

“When the tide goes out, you can tell who’s been swimming naked”

In other words, when the economy tanks, everyone who has been living above and beyond their means suddenly try to hide their nakedness.  You couldn’t see it when the economy was good, but when “corrections” happen (and they do), our nakedness (vulnerability) is exposed.

I don’t know about you, but I prefer to swim with a bathing suit.

In other words, I prefer to live my life in such a way that when the corrections come, I can withstand them…I won’t “fall far”.

Sustainable living earmarks one of life’s best ways to have a “stable home economy”.

Sustainable households either produce or “barter” for their needs, making currency more optional.  Most Americans do work outside their homes to earn an income, my husband does as well.

However, our goal is to become less and less dependent upon that income.   Using earned income is a highly effective way to become more sustainable.  Learning to live a non-consumer lifestyle will enable us to have the financial freedom we desire down the road.

Folks who use much of their incomes to sustain their heavy debt-loads will soon find themselves “swimming naked” when financial woes come, and they will.  They always do.

No one lives high forever.  I can guarantee you that.  No one.  They can do it for a while, but it’s simply not sustainable for an entire lifetime.  Sooner or later, the “fall” comes, and it comes hard, devastating those who are uncomfortable being closer to the earth.

Want to learn more about sustainable living?  We want to help you out!

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It’s Monday and time to share the best of what’s happening out there in the world of homesteading and sustainable living!

Take the time to either link up, if you have a blog, or leave a comment about what’s happening at YOUR homestead, be it

Urban, Rural or Suburban!

  This is a family-friendly, G-rated website, please link up as such.

 Please link back to “The Morristribe’s Homesteader Blog Carnival” and use our banner, thank you!

Step 1: Get to Know YOUR Farming Community

Step 2: Determine Your Ability to Grow Food

Step 3: Creating Good Soil

Step 4: Choosing Easy Crops

Step 5: Begin Composting

Step 6: Make Time for Your Garden

Once you’ve gone to all the work of the previous 5 steps, don’t give into the temptation to just “leave it alone” and check on it in a few months!

If you plan to be sustainable on any level, you must make time to manage your garden!

You don’t need a lot of time, but you do need to look at your garden each and every day!  Creating a new habit is what’s important.

Every morning, after my coffee, I take a stroll to my gardens and animals.  This is when I make a mental list of what needs to be done that day.  I may do these things myself or I may delegate them out, but I stay on top of it!

Here are a few things to be looking for:

*  Look for weeds and pull them while they’re small.  Then walk over and put them in your compost pile.

* Observe the health of your plants, notice any brown or yellow spots or leaves and take care of that right away.

* Look for any bugs on your plants.  There are beneficial bugs, like ladybugs, keep those around.  You’ll want to identify your other bugs to determine their motive and act organically.

* Are your leaves wilting?  Be sure to water your plants when the soil is not moist to the touch.  Be sure to spray your leaves as well as the area near the bottom of the plant!

Within about 15 minutes, you should be able to assess your garden’s health and make adjustments.

Taking care of your garden every morning feels wonderful and really sets the stage for your day!  After smelling the soil and the fresh air, I’m always in a better mood!

Just another step in your journey to be a great homesteader!

If we’re so in bondage to the “system”, you might be wondering how we got here. Yep, you’re sensing a little history lesson.  After this, it will all make sense.

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Prior to The Great Depression, American culture consisted of economies much smaller, and frankly more effective, than we know today.  The “home economy” was the basis for meeting most of the family’s needs.

Food was grown at home and families ate what they grew.  Energy was created by chopping and harvesting wood and burning it.  Cooking was also done with wood, many times in the same stove that heated the home.

Clothing was handmade for the most part and the use of “new” fabric was a luxury.  Entertainment and recreation centered around the family home as transportation consisted primarily of horses, who were far too precious of a commodity to waste on frivolous needs.

In other words, the family farm took care of itself.  What they couldn’t provide was generally bartered for with other community  members who lived nearby.  No “shipping” was necessary, everything was local by necessity.

Families also took care of their elderly and disabled.  Grandparents often lived with the extended family and contributed their wisdom in the raising of children and running the family farm.

Being that large families were the norm back then, combined with the fact that life expectancy was about 50 years old at the time, it wasn’t uncommon for older siblings to step up to finish the job of raising younger siblings.  Benjamin Franklin, being the youngest of 10, was raised by his older brother.

While there is no perfect economy, the “home economy” worked well for hundreds of years.

Then, in 1929, the Stock Market crashed.  Those who lost the most in the market were not the farmers.  The biggest losers were the ones who poured everything they had, hoping to get rich quick, into a market that was destined to crash.  “Bubbles” always burst.

It wasn’t until the “Dust Bowls” that the farmers of this country were devastated with the loss of their top soil.  The Great Depression ensued.

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There was plenty of blame to go around politically.  The incumbent president, Herbert Hoover, felt that private industry should come to the rescue of the economy.  However, the public’s opinion was turning and not accepting of Hoover’s longer term plans for economic recovery.  Then came FDR.

Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for President of the United States of America, based on a “New Deal” for the country, and won.  “The New Deal” completely reset the course of American economics and was the biggest governmental power grab in US history.

Hundreds of government programs were created, making for a big government to take care of it’s people.  Many desperate folks gladly laid down their personal freedoms to be taken care of.

Quite frankly, many of the tax-payer funded programs were and continue to be unsustainable.

The expectation of public assistance throughout a lifetime for many was never the intention.  It was created as a means of temporary help.  Keep in mind that life expectancy was only about 50 years of age at the time.  Today, our seniors live into their 90′s and even to 100 years of age.   That’s a lot of burden on a system that was never created to sustain that many elderly for that long.

The responsibility of the public began to shift away from the family and the church to programs that the government could not sustain forever.

Herein lies the problem.

Yet, to FDR’s credit, something had to be done.  Our nation had never faced such a devastating circumstances.  Quoting FDR…

“One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment. If it doesn’t turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.”   ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Yet, have we modified?  Or have we bought into an unrealistic “American Dream” that frankly isn’t sustainable?

Personal responsibility is the only sustainable way

There has never been a government in the history of the world who could sustain all of it’s people the way the US currently attempts to do.  It’s not only unrealistic, it’s a recipe for enormous debt and deficit….like we’re facing now.

A “New” creed was presented to the people, one that emphasized debt and a false prosperity, that haunts our generation currently.

Whether for the individual, business or government, prosperity cannot be achieved through debt.  It’s been proven over and over again in history.  The term “prosperity” had been redefined, to an inaccurate definition.

So what NOW?!

For us, it still comes back to personal responsibility, which I’ll term as “sustainable living“.  Modeling a lifestyle that I can “sustain” throughout my lifetime and pass on to my children for their lifetimes is what works best.  It’s healthy for us all.

History has a lot to offer us in terms of sustainable lifestyle options, prior to the Industrial Revolution, (which I’ll cover tomorrow).

*****

Want to learn how to live sustainably?  Check out the “A Year On a Homestead” tutorial video series at my eStore.

Do you know what the wealthiest and the poorest of this country have in common?  They are all dependent upon the same food and fuel distribution system.

In my ebook “Paradigm Shift: The Case for Sustainable Living“, I share some pretty personal details of my life.    I feel they are important to discuss as I build my case for a more independent lifestyle.

 As a young widow at age 26 years old, life had thrown me a curve ball that I couldn’t have anticipated.  I was left with a 2 year-old daughter to raise alone, and also found it necessary to make a career change in order to have more flexibility in my new “single mom” schedule.

From my uneducated attempts to heat my house with an inefficient fireplace and “green wood” (along with lighter fluid!) to save money, to wondering how to grow a garden for food, my thoughts were already spinning in the direction of sustainability, I just didn’t realize it.  I also had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  I was just trying to “make it” every month.

“Poverty is a great motivator” I often said during that time.

“Necessity is the mother of invention”

is another favorite quote of mine.  When the chips are down, I find that we dig into the deepest corners of our creativity for answers.  It was during these years that the “itch” for independence began in me, yet it would be years, actually decades before it came to fruition.

Years later, I married the most wonderful man on this planet.  Today, we’ve been married over 20 years!  I could have never predicted the path life has taken us, that’s for sure.

Today, we can pay the heat bills and grocery bills without too much difficulty.  But do you know what?  That’s a mute point.  There’s a greater issue at hand.

We’re still dependent upon someone else to provide these things.

Having or not having the money to pay for food, heat and water isn’t the problem, as we often think it is.  Dependence upon the system is the issue at hand.  We’re talking about the difference between being a consumer and a producer.

And here’s my point.…it doesn’t matter who you are or how much money you make (or don’t make).

You are just as dependent upon the grocery store for food as the millionaires are.

There is no difference between the rich and poor, (other than perhaps where they shop) unless they are able to grow/create for their own very basic needs.

The poorest farmer is rich when he knows how to grow food and build shelter to sustain himself.  The millionaire becomes poor when the grocery store is closed.

Rich or poor, humanity shares the same basic needs: food, water, shelter and clothing.

How many of these things are you able to “produce” for yourself?

If you’re like most people, not many.  That’s the norm for this culture.  We consume rather than produce.  Which brings me to another point:

Who, then, is in control of your life?

You might make great money, but unless someone is willing to sell you what you need, you’re out of luck.  Someone else is in control of your comfort and well-being.

These are hard words to hear, especially for Americans.  Most choose not to believe that they may one day be faced with nothing to buy.  But just ask anyone who lived through The Great Depression….

Nonetheless, understanding that the “middle man” of utilities and fuel distribution are in control of most American’s health and comfort is the truth.  Coming to terms with the fact that how much money you make will never completely insure your domestic tranquility.

In this lies my “Case for Sustainable Living”.

]]> http://www.themorristribe.com/2012/05/08/paradigm-shift-whos-really-in-control-of-my-life/feed/ 5 http://www.themorristribe.com/2012/05/07/8290/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=8290 http://www.themorristribe.com/2012/05/07/8290/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 23:54:31 +0000 kmorris http://www.themorristribe.com/?p=8290

This contest is closed and the winner is Nadine Osborne.

After seeing the trailer, I knew that this was a “not to be missed” movie!

Drawing 5/11/12, 9pm EST!

How to Enter to Win “Farmageddon” Movie on DVD

(each task represents one entry, please come back here to comment and let me know what you did.  This helps me to keep accurate count!)

*  Follow The Morristribe on Facebook.

* Recommend two friends to “like” The Morristribe on Facebook, have them say “So and so sent me!”  You can do this as many times as you want, one entry for every two friends.

* Google +1 my “Beginner Homesteading” series.

* Share this giveaway on your blog or Facebook page.  You can get an entry for each day you do this, up to 5!

* Follow me on Pinterest!

Keep an eye out for a few sneaky entry opportunities throughout the week on Facebook!  More chances to win!

It’s Monday and time to share the best of what’s happening out there in the world of homesteading and sustainable living!

Take the time to either link up, if you have a blog, or leave a comment about what’s happening at YOUR homestead, be it

Urban, Rural or Suburban!

  This is a family-friendly, G-rated website, please link up as such.

 Please link back to “The Morristribe’s Homesteader Blog Carnival” and use our banner, thank you!

All week, I’ll be sharing excerpts from my upcoming book “Paradigm Shift: The Case for Sustainable Living“…..

Few of us enter this world of sustainable living/homesteading without a bit of history that motivated us.

We all have our “story” about what created a “Paradigm Shift” in our lives.  Whether it be unemployment, under-employment, dissatisfaction in the work force, environmental or health concerns, the world as we knew it just didn’t make sense anymore.

The “way it has always been” just wasn’t working, or at least as well as it used to.  Or perhaps not to our expectations.

The day came when we wanted…

something more,

something less

something different,

and something more simple and satisfying.

The satisfaction that once came from doing the norm is gone.  But reality doesn’t allow most of us to just walk away from the American lifestyle just because we aren’t happy…..at least not right away.

But what what would we change to?  What sort of “life experience” are we after, anyway?

In the subsequent search for change, we discover the past.   A past filled with simple ways of doing things, that draws our curiosity about how people lived and thrived “back then”.

You know, “back then”, before electricity, cars and the Industrial Revolution.  Before we needed Prozac and Happy Hours, Oprah and retail therapy.

How did families “make it” back then?  What were the dynamics of their lifestyles?  Were they happier?  More fulfilled?  Were there marriages better?  Were their children more mature and responsible?

What was better about life “back then”?

Does it have anything to offer me today in the 21st century?

Questions about how families made it “back then” haunted me to a point of research on the subject called “homesteading“.

 My “paradigm shift” came after years of working in the corporate world, however, it came at a strange time in my career.  Many people leave jobs when they have reached a career “low”, but that was not the case for me.  I was at a career “high”.  I was where I had always dreamed of being.  Yet, once I arrived, I found it to be devastatingly shallow.

This epiphany took me quite by surprise, I must admit.  Being raised in the “Feminist Movement” of the 1970′s, I was sold a package that told me I would be happy and content with all that the career world could offer me.

With  my “rights” as a woman in-tact, not only could I out-earn men if I chose to, but I could earn the respect only given to men.  Empowered and in control, my personal happiness would soar and I would “have it all“.

However, I didn’t find this to be true in my life.  On the contrary, I felt that somewhere along the line, I lost the very best parts of myself and my womanhood.

The career world seemed more like more of a “prison” than it did “a means to an end”.  My rights weren’t in jeopardy…but my person hood was.

Ten years would pass before the many pieces of my life would merge together in a beautiful symphony of preparation for my lifestyle today.

Re-connecting with my past proved to be exactly what I was looking for….my “Paradigm Shift”.  I look forward to sharing my journey with you all this week.

Won’t you share this series?