Self-Sufficient Revolution

Never Stop

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 11:21:00 +0000

Time is not a crutch for inaction; it's a constant reminder to act now. Keeping pace in an expanding universe demands continual action, and considering the inherent randomness of non-stop action, asking where we may be in five years is a futile question. Act today, reap the rewards now, and die in peace.

The Problem With Farmer's Markets

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:25:00 +0000

Farmers markets are sometimes misleading for those of us looking to support small farms and gardeners growing their own food. The problem is that many who sell their goods at the markets claim they grow or raise the food themselves; when they do not.

About Self-Sufficiency

Self-sufficiency is about not relying on others for our necessities. Granted, it is not always possible or practical for one individual or family to provide all of their own needs. This is where community comes in. When one family raises livestock and another is skilled in barn building, we have the makings of a more self-sufficient community. However, when one company or even family produces a product, such as watermelons, and sells them in bulk to disperse to the community, we get further away from self-sufficiency.

Farmers Market Deception

The watermelon example is how our local farmer's market often operates. While it is better than flocking to WalMart to buy bananas--which I am guilty of-- it is not what some of the vendors claim to be. Vendors tell a customer they just picked their tomatoes from their garden last evening, when they have a truckload purchased from the not quite so local Amish farm conglomerate. Acting as a middleman is not as conducive to the fresh, local and self-sufficient image the customers have of these vendors.

Trust is Essential for Sufficient Communities

I am not saying vendors make these misrepresentations with the most ill conceived intentions. The real problem is that in order to wean our communities from the teat of a multinational food network we need values such as honesty, integrity and empathy. Otherwise, the cycle will not break, only change hands.

Restaurants With Local Food and Eating Locally

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 22:56:00 +0000

This great piece on the Organic Connections online magazine got me thinking. The article centers on a restaurant that uses mostly local ingredients for their dishes. I know there are a few places around this Mid-Western whole in the wall that buy a few things locally when they are in season, but this practice is generally limited.

How can so many of us ramble about the injustices our government subjects us to or how our public servants only care about money and notoriety, when we cannot even get organized enough to feed ourselves? I am not talking about everyone providing all of their own food. I am not sure any society has ever done that on a large scale. I am simply talking about bringing more cooperation, humanity and simple common sense to something as basic to our survival as eating!

Now, I am guilty, to a degree, of some of the same practices that endure the brunt of my ramblings. So, I guess I can answer my question, partly by looking into my own motivations for what I eat and where I get it. I occasionally find myself at a chain restaurant, spending my hard-earned money, looking around and thinking WTF! A few people are getting rich from feeding us garbage from all over the world; while many others work lousy hours, for lousy pay, with no benefits. Yet, still, here I sit.

I could have gone to a local restaurant, where at least if someone is getting rich off the place, he or she is likely from around here. One problem with this is most of their food is likely bought from the same calorie factories where the chain stores get theirs so I am still not really eating locally. I live in the breadbasket of America and the only people with enough sense to take advantage of it, while taking advantage of us by using their quaint image to make out like John Dillinger in a rural bank, are the Amish.

Well, I cannot even grow a beard, I really like my old baseball cap and I tend to rebel against rules, so joining an Amish congregation is out of the question. This leads me to one answer. Work on changing my own habits and writing things like this expounding my jadedness and stroking my ego, while drinking a Mountain Dew. At least I don't have to sing any damned hymns!

Corporation's Fear Self Sufficiency

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:47:00 +0000

While reading The Field Guide To Fields by Bill Laws, a pretty cool book for being published by National Geographic, I came across a revealing quote from an English Victorian era bourgeoisie landowner. It seems the bourgeoisie's fear of self-sufficiency was very much alive in Victorian England. The parallels with the fears of today's corporations are eerie.

What is bourgeoisie

If you're not familiar with the term bourgeoisie, it's the Marxist term for the capitalist class that owns the means of production and gives laborers wages. We now have a sort of super-bourgeoisie class consisting primarily of Wall Street pinheads, big bankers, lawyers, CEO's and all those other scumbags. If you are one of these scumbags, you are likely not reading this. If you are, your skin is thick and your wallet thicker, so I think you can handle a little name calling from an under-paid recovering "financial representative."

Victorian "pauper's patch"

Back to The Field Guide of Fields; at one point the author discusses the history of field enclosures and allotments. In doing so, he writes of the "paupers patch," which was an allotment of land-most often used for gardens- given to commoners in Victorian era England. It is explained how the program wasn't so popular, as land owners feared laborers might steal seeds or not work as hard, so they could have the energy to work on their own lands.

The quote

This direct quote from a landowner is revealing, "The extent of the garden of a labourer ought never to be such as to interfere with his employment as a labourer." This could be the mantra of today's corporate executives!

The idea that the wealthy want people working for them is not startling. The tragedy is how much the working class still falls for the mind numbing gimmicks of those with the means. Self-sufficiency lost it's glory when it was traded for wage slavery in the industrial revolution.

Who needs them anyway?

What happens when the working class wants a better standard of living? They take the labor elsewhere. If they can't do that, they bring the cheaper labor in to replace the less compliant wage slaves. Freedom from the bourgeoisie, or corporations, and self-sufficiency is not easy and there are many checks in place to keep it that way.

However, for those who want to change, there are opportunities. The more the working class cooperates with one another, the more likely these opportunities produce results.

Hurricane Sandy Highlights Need for Self Sufficient Heating

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:53:00 +0000

When disasters such as hurricane Sandy hit, the need for us to have the knowledge and means to take care of ourselves is apparent. I'm inclined to believe that these disasters are only going to increase in both frequency and intensity. Who wants to have no power for a week or more? An ice storm hit this area several years ago and I found myself much more unprepared than I thought. We were without electricity for about ten days.

Having some source of backup power is vital for many of us to have necessities in these times of trouble. Most homes in my area run on natural gas heat with electric blowers. The gas heater may also need electricity to start it running. Therefore, if you are out of electricity, you are out of gas. After the ice storm event, I invested in a wood stove that reasonably heats the living room, kitchen and dining room without by itself.

Getting decent, cheap wood is not very difficult. Particularly after storms, when people are almost begging you to cut up and take away downed trees. Other times a truckload of wood, depending on the type runs about $50 to $75. That is not a bad price to pay, even if it is only for your peace of mind during emergencies.
Of course, there are many other things to consider, like lighting, refrigeration, etc. However, from my experience, there is nothing worse than being stuck without heat in the middle of a Midwestern winter.

It is easy to put things like getting a back-up heat source off, but events such as hurricane Sandy serve as grim reminders that neither the government nor the corporations can save us from Mother Nature. We can do what we can. I wish all the best for those left without a home to have heat in.

About Corporate Responsibility

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 18:29:00 +0000

The drive for corporate social responsibility and sustainable business is a noble one. Corporations even have sustainability managers and teams to help them address well-meaning models such as the triple bottom line. Considering the mission of corporations, it seems these ideals are really just well thought out schemes. Schemes designed to enhance corporate images for those of us who care about social and environmental justice.

I say, take responsibility by relearning lost skills and starting our own businesses. We do not need corporations to have or jobs or live. Corporations, by law, have the rights and responsibilities of a human citizen. In practice, they have an abundance of rights, without the responsibilities. Read more on
corporate social responsibility.

"Hello me, It's Me Again"

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:50:00 +0000

Hmm...After a LONG hiatus I'm back with the need to be self-sufficient like I need to breathe. I'm staying tuned in and using my writing for motivation. They can't keep a good human down!

Is Working for Other's Being Self Sufficient?

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:38:00 +0000

I was asked to step in as a graduate assistant for another semester, even though I'm done with my course work and only working on getting my research on electronic waste done at this point. The pay is not much for teaching two labs, taking courses and working in the computer lab, but it's difficult to pass up guaranteed cash when your scraping by writing and working on your little urban homestead. We are attempting to make the urban homestead into a rural one...unfortunately it's going to take money. My best effort will be put forward to prevent this job from interfering with my gardening, chickens, rabbits, writing and misc duties/skills I'm learning. This job will end, but my needs won't.

This brings me to the issue of is working for others self sufficient behavior? In taking an adult learning course over the summer, it seems that field tends to think of self sufficiency as living on one's own without the need for assistance from other's to pay the bills--mainly through working a job--or doing acts of daily living. This is not true self sufficiency,as when we work for others we are at the mercy of our master's. Perhaps an exception is short-term labor, where we have a fall back to return to. This is where I'm at, and am vowing to never be caught up in the traditional full time job where I won't have time to pursue my passions to their fullest. I hope to uphold this vow. For now, I have to run and return to the computer lab I must watch over for my master's, in return for a paycheck.

No More Free Checking Accounts-Ditch The Banks

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:04:00 +0000

When I saw a monthly charge on my checking account I called asking what the deal was. My bank advised me that they no longer offer free checking unless you keep something like a minimum of $1000 in your account at once. This is another one of those, if you already have money you get to keep it, if you don't were going to take it kind of things.

Anti self-sufficiency policies and those that keep the poor, poor and the rich, rich often go hand in hand. Why can't everyone see this? Is it because they are too busy with their life of slavery or watching the latest episode of Friends or whatever the hell the newest, trendiest T.V. show is? Is it because we've been trained to have a set of ideologies, of which watching out for true individual rights is not one of them? Or perhaps it's because America's lower middle class and poor know that no matter what we do it means nothing unless you have the money or the connections to make it so?

Finding a way to ditch the bank is another small step to self-sufficiency, but as we all know, "they" make it extremely difficult to live without one. Most of my funds come through Pay Pal right now and I really want to ditch the bank by going straight through the Pap pal debit card in my eternal quest for freedom. Upon further investigation it appears the Pay Pal debit card is just as limiting, with fewer protections, so there goes that prospect. Perhaps getting some sort of pre-paid debit card to load from Pay-Pal would work? Hmmm...but me thinks Pay Pal requires you link your account to a bank account or credit card. Will look into this and report back if I find a way to ditch the bank, and their $7 monthly fee.

Free Our Stomachs and The Rest Can Follow

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:14:00 +0000

A revealing article on The Grist about raids on small farms and food supply clubs. Just another way the corporations keep us from living without them. Here's a little taste:

"While no one will say officially what the purpose of this latest raid was, aside from being part of an investigation in progress, what is very clear is that government raids of producers, distributors, and even consumers of nutritionally dense foods appear to be happening ever more frequently. Sometimes they are meant to counter raw dairy production, other times to challenge private food organizations over whether they should be licensed as food retailers."

Wow, why am I even surprised? Control of the food supply is control of the people. Like to know what licenses are really needed, when these laws were made, and why we let it happen? Everyone's been all up in arms about the proposed Food Safety and Modernization Act, and it's not even passed.

They don't need an act to make laws, the corps and the courts just do it. I think they all learned it from Nike.

Read the rest here...

Make Corporations Pay Taxes

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:57:00 +0000

A Government Accountability Office study states two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005. Perhaps if they paid taxes, small business could compete?

Child Labor

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:07:00 +0000

O.K. child labor laws serve multiple purposes, but when we think about it, we see what may be the main purpose behind one particular law. According to the Indiana child laborl law, parents can't have their children under 14 working for them in their business. Think about that, just another barrier for a ma and pa type business to overcome. If a small business begins to infringe on a larger chains profits, they can always rat to the state labor board about how ma and pa have their ten twelve year old sweeping the floor of their farm store. Or maybe how the ten year old is sewing part of a hand made bag.

This also serves corporations in helping to prevent children from learning self sufficiency skills that pay off. A big middle finger to this particular Child Labor law!

Why Self Sufficiency: The Beginning of a Journey

noreply@blogger.com (Don Shepard) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:52:00 +0000

Seeing all the jobs lost, not just during the recent "recession" but over the last couple of decades or so has many thinking about being more self sufficient. Things such as growing and raising your own food, creating your own heat source, and using candles at night are all part of self sufficiency. On another level, starting your own business is self sufficiency.

Self sufficient activities are generally better for the environment than the go to a job, get paid, buy all the stuff you "need" trend that corporate American and our government have taught us.

I'm compiling a list of laws, ordinances, and just generally shady practices that corporations and our government-aren't they really the same?-force upon us to maintain the status quo. Becoming more aware of these tools is the only way we have to fight the oppression.

The difficulties in having a small business keep mounting-i.e. pay more for health insurance, pay all your taxes, license fees for virtually everything. Local ordinances that limit things such as food production are another small example of the tools I speak of.

The list will be long, and presented as a journey, if anyone reads this and something to add, please drop me a note in the comments. Stay tuned, this is going to get good.