Back to the (Future) Land

Did I sound preachy yesterday and the day before? Oh, I hope not!


Maybe it’s my age, but I no longer have many wants. I look around the house and yard, here, just off the one-lane road, and see clothing I no longer wear; items of one kind or another we no longer use or need. So, I’m talking to myself, truly! I believe this is partially what spring cleaning is all about! It’s time for me to send this unused and unwanted “stuff” on to its “second time around” owner. I’m guilty of not doing the same thing I’m advocating: if I am not using it, I need to pass it on (providing it’s fit to use!)


Neither was I advocating ditching a job in favor of taking a fling at self-sufficiency, but rather suggesting we all are exploring continually where we would like to be.

If, on the other hand, one were to find themselves in a situation where an outside job was reduced or eliminated quite suddenly, (not uncommon nowadays) with few prospects for changing the situation any time soon-- maybe it puts a different light on the quest for self-sufficiency. I’ve wondered if the current state of affairs economically in this country wouldn’t spark another so-called “back-to-the-land” movement similar to what we had in the late 1960’s and early ‘70’s. Curiosity led me to Wikipedia and sure enough, there are indications that people are, indeed, once again exploring rural living.  Throughout history, it seems there have been various “back-to-the-land “movements” stretching back to just before the fall of the Roman Empire. These have occurred largely because urban circumstances became intolerable, and people, trying to survive, envisioned a better life for themselves in the hinterlands outside  urbania.


Several have sprouted up in America: people homesteaded during The Great Depression; and, after World War II Veterans returning home sought a “meaningful” life and there was a strong interest in moving to rural circumstances. You might enjoy a book that was well known to me as a child since I lived in the Pacific Northwest, called The Egg and I by Betty McDonald. It’s a hilarious account of going back to the land in the 1940’s. Eventually it became a movie, starring Fred McMurray and Claudette Colbert.


One of the most significant things about the movement of the 60’s and 70’s was the size of it. It was also interesting to me to know that the movement was fueled by “rampant consumerism.”  I was  also surprised to discover that there is now an antonym to Consumerism—a “movement” if you will, called Enoughism.


I found both historical accounts fascinating and was somewhat nostalgic thinking back to my dog-earred copies of the Whole Earth Catalog and Mother Earth News (for whom I wrote a couple of articles.) There are many links in both Wiki entries that are just fun to follow out. Do take the time to browse it. Perhaps most significant is the overview of who “succeeded” at being a back-to-the-lander and the three most critical needs in order to do so. I’ll leave that up to you to discover.

The prospect of finding a small piece of ground for a garden, a milk cow, some chickens-- becomes very attractive, especially to supplement a pared-down income. Remember the old phrase, “I am not my job?” The implication is that you have an identity beyond what you do to earn a few dollars with the idea being that the job may take less of one’s soul to accomplish it, with something left over for tending to the chores and joys at home.


Those who would choose such a route probably won’t ever get to the point of flying off to Alaska in a red float plane to watch jumping whales “anytime you and Susie decide you want to,” but given the right attitude, they’ll probably enjoy life every bit as much if not more.


Have fun with exploring!

How Much is Enough?

WARNING- TWBAR:  translated "this will be a rant."  Not a big one.  Just a small one. From time to time, I ask your indulgence while I take out a topic and chew on it publicly.  There are just some things that need to be addressed.  For sticking with me, I'll reward you at the end with a single photo that reminds us why we're here--(thank you Boeing for stealing that phrase).  

So, while I'm getting the soapbox out and dusted off, check out one of my favorite blogs, At Home With the Farmer's Wife.  She has a wonderful "take" on the same theme today, but in a totally different way.  You'll love it--guys, too. Trust me.

And here's a takeaway maxim while I'm getting set up:

Use it up

Wear it out

Make it do

Or do without.

Ready?

Let's face it.  We like our stuff.  Stuff and more stuff creates a type of dependency.  In the last couple of decades, shopping went from necessity-based to entertainment (as my mother predicted).  Think for a moment how television, for example, creates the many desires you never knew you had!  All those kitchen tools and foodie things you now just have to have, sporting vacations landing the big one, the lifestyle you aspire to but will probably never attain, consequently you spend your whole life being unhappy...the list goes on!

Maybe it's a senior thing, but when I go into Walmart--even with a specific item or even a list of needed--and I do mean "needed"-- purchases, I am immediately confronted by what seems to be a blinding wall of fluorescent lights, waving signs of specials, television monitors blabbing on about other "specials"...bright colors, lots more people than I'm used to seeing at one time (coming in off the mountain's one-lane road!), and I not only lose my train of thought, but I have trouble remembering at the moment what was on my list and why I even came in, in the first place!  I want to turn right around, walk back out and stay out!  It's as if I've been assaulted. But, it's what "they" have designed.

My solution?  Bury my checkbook deeeeep, grip my list and stare at it until I can re-focus and get past the wall of distractions, question the need for all my intended purchases again, go get them off the shelf --if I'm not led astray by other mind-grabbers on the way, and then get out as fast as I can.

We've all seen countless numbers of broken (or not) and discarded plastic toys strewn about yards as we drive past peoples' homes; the landfill is overwhelmed with them.  Actually, West Virginia is pretty good about recycling other people's unwanted items.  In fact, there used to be a snarky joke going around that went something like this:  "Why do West Virginians use only clear plastic trash bags?  Answer:  So they can window shop more easily.  To which I say, give us a round of applause. 

But I wonder how many people do shop at the secondhand store, not just for kids' things, but for everyone's things.  Do we give things away that we aren't using?  I received TWO LOVELY hand-knitted, wool sweaters recently from a dear friend who had worn them at one time or another, but could no longer use them.  Believe me when I say they delight me far more than any store-bought new ones ever could!

Do we question what things are needs--real needs-- and what things are merely spontaneous desires that may not have even been in our mind prior to walking through the store's doors?  Impulse buying is a killer of bank accounts.

New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof  had an Op-Ed piece last Sunday entitled, "What Could You Live Without?"  It's well worth a read.  Like all good columnists, it gets us thinking.

American consumers have been called "the engine of the world's economy."  It's my belief that we're the "suckers" of the world's economy.  We're the dumb ones that buy, buy, buy!  (Incidentally, I love the Snob Specialists, Nieman Marcus's nickname:  "Needless Markup.")

I don't know about you, but I believe it's time for us to start putting those resources we're giving to China, to work for ourselves, here at home.  Right here...in our own homes. For that to happen, maybe we need to think about circumventing, or ignoring, the heavy-handed drumbeats for rampant consumerism. We don't need all this stuff.  We could probably go years without importing much of anything, before it got to the point of needing.

MM and I just finished watching an old PBS series called Civilization which we found at the library.  The final episode was entitled Heroic Materialism.  Sadly, Lord Kenneth Clark, the producer and narrator of the 13-episode series concluded that today, having gone through religion, nature and now, "heroic materialism" as a focus for living, we haven't yet discovered some other meaningful philosophy to guide our human endeavors. 

Maybe we need to be thinking seriously --not just tokenism--about simplifying, about sustainability, re-using, wearing things out instead of adding to the landfill; not having to have "new," making do with new-to-you.
  
So we've come full circle:  producing your own food is really no different from working at a day job of some kind and we need to decide how much we really need.  Yes, we all proably need some kind of income that the farm won't provide, but by reducing our wants, concentrating on our needs, and living close to the earth, we begin to take control of what often seems an out-of-control life.  

Duane Elgin (Voluntary Simplicity) sums it up: 

"To build a sustainable future will require dramatic changes in the overall levels and patterns of consumption in developed nations.  To change consumption levels and patterns will require a new consciousness and a new consensus among millions of persons--and this will require dramatic changes in the consumerist messages we give ourselves through the mass media, particuarly television."

We can't keep on destroying.  Isn't it time to begin building a sustainable and peaceful future?  Please give me your however-many sense-worth thoughts.  I'd love to hear from you...

Tomorrow...Back to the (Future) Land...