self sufficiency

Simple

Work is not complicated. Today is not complicated. We simply must do what must be done. The morning was started with the dog and evolved to some carpentry. The sun out, became more beautiful as the day slowly grew. The wood cut, and lunch.

Out came the chicks; the sun would do them good. Enjoying the sunny day the chicks played and slept, ate and drank. Simple times; simple life.

The afternoon started slowly, the tractor in place and the chipper hooked up. The brush awaited. The chipper started and the chipping began. One pile, and then another. Almost Buddhist in its meditation: the brush goes in and chips come out.

The chips themselves simple in their creation. They will start as hen house bedding, and the compost and then on into the garden to start the cycle again. One day growing a tree that will be cut and used, even to its smallest branches.

The piles of chips, sitting in the sunshine, and a shovel. The old trailer brought to life but first the hitch attached to the tractor. The work is hard and the day is beautiful: both simple in their very nature.

The trailer full of chips and the stored for the winter. The day is simple; work is not complicated. As it should be; as it should be.

Doing What Needs to be Done

About two years ago I gave up a cush and fairly lucrative job teaching college to experiment with self-sufficient living. Since then I have struggled with what to say when people ask me what I do. The conversations are a bit awkward, at least for me.

First, I am not retired. It is difficult to remember the last time I worked this hard. Self-sufficiency consists of farming, but not the industrial type. Self-sufficient farming is physical and limited, but is rewarding and incredibly efficient if done correctly. But self-sufficient living is not limited to farming; I am not “just” a farmer.

Self-sufficient living relies upon the ability to fix things, to build things, to plan things, to heat and cool and keep alive. Self-sufficiency by its very nature is the dichotomy of retirement. It is the realization that retirement is synonymous with inability.

Secondly, I am not a contractor. While it is true that much of what I do during the day is carpentry-based the job title is not fully described by carpentry. While it is true that cabinets and counter tops are installed, they are also built often with wood that was milled right at the farm. But, I do not own a sawmill and I am not a cabinet builder. I sometimes must repair machinery or bring old machinery back to life, but I am not a mechanic.

Lastly, I make money and money is necessary, yes, but self-sufficient living is an act that strives to make money much less necessary. The hours in the week working at Trollcastle Farm is directly deposited into the bank account but does not come in the form of a check. Rather, it comes by not having to pay someone else; often money does not exchange hands. Money comes from not having to buy all the material that I use, all the food I eat.

So, what do I do? I run a business, a sole proprietorship. I fix and build things; I grow things, I am a caretaker of the little piece of land that I have. I work. I am a working man. I do what needs to be done. That is what I do.

More is Not Better

Give Me Give Me MORE | sweatglow

There’s a lesson to be learned in the idea that more is better. First, this is an idea that has proven itself time and time again false, and yet as a society, as individuals, and as a race we continually strive for more.

More is larger, more is better; we need more and we desire more! In fact, our society has based the concept of progress on the idea of more. Oddly enough, it seems that intuitively we know that this is not correct; it is not right. But we continue on.

Our current president has made a name for himself by believing, or at least selling the belief, that more is better. The idea clearly does not work. More seems to undermine better; quantity does not equal quality. Rhetoric does not equal intelligence.

To move forward the concept of value needs to be redefined: both what we value and why we value it. A self-sufficient lifestyle will do wonders in redefining what is important. In fact, the whole concept of self-sufficiency is better because it allows us to redefine value based upon need alone.

No longer is money the measure of value; no longer can we confuse desire with need. No longer can we continually accept that more is better. To be self-sufficient is not simply to feed, heat and shelter yourself. No, to be self-sufficient one must THINK for one’s self. More thinking does not equal better thinking. More production does not equal better products.

We can no longer define what we value with quantity. So, what do we do? One good starting point might be to start with less: buy less, think better about those few things that are actually important, and produce quality rather than depend upon quantity. Perhaps we will find that more is worthy only of less thought, and less importance.

Worth Its Weight in Gold

good as gold

Self-sustainability, individualism, independence; these concepts have analogies in the empirical world: eating, working, and learning respectively. Homesteading takes the concepts and their analogies and reminds us that they are inexplicably woven together. There is a logical, a philosophical beauty to these three concepts that is brought together by realizing that relationship that we all have to the world around us.

This is not “our” world, but it is the world in which we live in. When we lose sight of this simple fact we lose the ability to be self-sustaining. It is at that very moment that we are no longer independent individuals; it is at that moment that we cease to work and learn. What we eat is of no consequence, or so we think. But, without realizing it (perhaps) we eat what we are given. Think about this the next trip to the grocery store.

The adventure of homesteading is like all adventures, however: it is wrought with confusion, conflict, contrivances, and frustration. Homesteading is a true adventure because it is defined by the world in which we live, and not by us or our desires. The goal of homesteading is to learn to work, and to work to eat. Nature (as usual) had it right all along.

Homesteading is a political statement as well. To truly be an individual we must be independent and to to be independent we must be self-sustaining. If in the act of learning to work in order to eat we can remember that in doing so we are also creating our individualism by independently being self-sustaining, we will have come a long way in becoming a person rather than simply a human being. And that, my friend, is worth its weight in gold.

Learning How to Read

snow-forst

Many of us love to read books, great articles in good magazines, and perhaps less and less the news. But after years of reading I am learning how to read…yet again. There are certain topics that are difficult such as philosophy (a love of mine), and scientific books, even layman science is difficult to me. However, having recently purchased a property that I intended to make a farm, I am learning how to read again.

In the crisp, New England mornings I walk my dog through the months old snow and the half-century old forest that I own. I’ve done the walk twice a day for some time now and every day the land teaches something new. A crevice here, a creek that is burrowing a new furrow; hills and dales, and the trees: oak, birch, red and white pine, hickory, poplar.

Farmers, I think, know what they want, but few know what the land needs; only the good ones, and to know this they need to know how to read. Walking the land envisioning a field but the land won’t have it. Perhaps a fruit tree grove there, but the land has started one here. We own land, but we don’t control land.

Land seems pliable and passive, but don’t let it fool you. It is the master of its own fate. We are ego-filled and short-sighted. The land is wise and counts eons, not seconds. It is in no hurry as its age is endless. It knows that we are of it, and by it. we see land as potential, but it is full of the past.

I am learning how to read the land, and it is a difficult lesson. I am impatient and the alphabet is foreign. But the land is patience, and its alphabet it created. The words ooze out of the fog of my ignorance…slowly. But as I learn to read I realize that even the choice to learn is an illusion.

Work, Rest, Repeat

stress

There’s only so many hours in a day. That is the lesson to learn if one is to try to take a self-sufficient idea to a self-sufficient reality. Some of those hours are better spent resting and some are better spent working. There is a balance and I notice it when I swing by (thanks to J. Mellencamp for that bit of word play). This week was to be the week where both the greenhouse and the woodshed were to be started (not started) as well as my wife’s desk (started), and the cabinet doors and closet door for a new built in finished (done). I did mention to catch a bad head cold.

I don’t believe I’m lazy, but looking back over the week the projects fell short. But is that really the case? There must be time for rest and relaxation; we all know that. Taking time, however, is a different story. Work defines us to a great extent and there is nothing wrong with that, but the guilt of not getting all the projects going is ridiculous. There are those out there that feel this way and know what the importance of rest and relaxation are. They also know how difficult it is to do when there is a list of things to be done.

Self-employment carries the weight of work rather than the joy of work, but this is unfortunate. Often those self-employed become that for the simple reason of making decisions for themselves. However, the reality is often the opposite: the projects needing to be finished make the decisions for them. There is nothing wrong with having to work until late in the evening or even “crazy” hours, but there is something skewed to the thought that one must do this.

I, like many, enjoy working and the feeling that comes with finishing a job, doing it correctly and being able to look upon something built with my own hands. This is a craft-less world that needs more time, not more things. This is, perhaps, a good thing to remember when we wake up in the morning with a list of unfinished projects or unfinished business. The business of rest is equally important and (as I am finding) equally difficult as business as usual.

New-Old Lifestyles

When talking to people, especially older people who sometimes don’t understand why anyone would want to “go back” to raising and slaughtering your own meat, growing your own food and working your own land, they often point out that they are “fine” eating the modern products and processed foods of our current world. They are right, of course; at least sometimes, or partially.

But the real point is lost on them; the point is not just the healthy aspect, but also the moral aspect. We humans have somehow lost the necessary respect that life deserves and demands. It is not just for health reasons that we till our own gardens and raise and slaughter our own meat. It is healthier and better (lacking the additives and antibiotics) but is most certainly a more moral choice (respect for life and the living): a better choice.

A respect for life is the cornerstone of the agrarian lifestyle. This does not preclude, but does not necessarily include, a religious adoration of life, but it is a necessary moral choice that does much to define who we are at the end of the day. People that were raised on farms eighty years ago seem to remember the drudgery and forget the community. They seem to remember the hardships and forget the rewards. I’m not sure why and perhaps I will too at some point, but I hope not.

The irony of talking to older people who have had such “lifestyles” is that they seem to look upon the new crop of self-sufficient people as being a bit spoiled, but I would argue that the new farmers of old ideas are not spoiled, but curious and willing to do the work. Although many people will fail at these new old endeavors (because the physicality and harshness of the work have not changed) there are many who have found solace and education in pursuing “non-progressive” ways of life.

I think that when an honest lifestyle is dismissed so easily by others that it is because those that dismiss it have never really thought about their own life. To do so, like the new agrarians will find, is physically and morally demanding; no less than the new- life that they have chosen to lead.

My Own Mistakes

I continue to be taught by my tools and the wood and earth that I now work with on a day to day basis. It is a wonder how much a table saw can teach us if only we listen. My bandsaw lays in waiting for the lesson to be taught. A piece of lumber is a particularly harsh professor. Lacquer is a nun with a ruler.

The oak that I saw lures me into the comfort of knowledge only to take it away again, leaving me in the darkness of ignorance; but there is always a light at the end of that educational tunnel. The maple slabs never let me slack nor do they allow me to rest my weary head. I lay my well-worn sander on them only to find a new lesson.

My jack plane is a peculiar teacher. The razor sharp iron lures me into comfort and laughs at me again and again as its paper thin slices suddenly turn to chunks of precious wood. I cry and it offers no solace and so I am angered and it is entertained.

My shop lays in wait at night for me to wake and try my luck again at learning a trade that I thought I knew. It proves me wrong and I still fight. There is no “first place” or empathy; there is no participation points. I am learning from the best teacher that I know of: my own mistakes; and teach they will, one way or another as long as I keep trying.

Sustain Sufficiency

sustainability

The fall has come here at our new forest/farm. The renovation on the bathrooms is almost finished and the months past have flown by. The question still remains: is self sufficiency a pipe dream, is it possible? This discussion, I’m sure, is common in households that have decided to turn their backs on the supermarkets, the food-consumer concentration of non-sustainability, and suburbs that offer comfort and the all-consuming security.

First, self-sufficiency. The problem, it seems, is energy. How to sufficiently produce and continue to produce the energy that it takes. There are two possibilities: add to the energy production or take away from the energy consumption. Alone, there is no option: we must take away our need for energy to be self sufficient. So, self-sufficiency becomes a community approach to living at some point, which (in order to be moral, to be healthy and to be virtuous) must be sustainable.

Second, sustainability. The problem is energy. How to continue to sufficiently produce the energy that it takes to be self sufficient. There are two possibilities…

So while self-sufficiency and sustainability are not the same they are reliant upon one another: to sustain self-sufficiency we must have sustainable energy sources. This is the catch and the secret. This is the unending education that I am reminded of as a look out over my new acreage and feel the damp coolness seep in, watching the golden leaves fall.

I throw another log on the fire and sip my hot coffee.

Gowans Perspective

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