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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Self Sustained Living = Survival

I read something this morning that disturbed me a little. No, it wasn't something about the new Swine Flu(Mexican Flu), it was on the economy and spending trends for the first Q of the year. The title of the article is Economy Shrinks 6.1% in 1Q. The article goes on to state that people have spent money on big-ticket "durable" goods, including cars, furniture and household appliances led the increase. That spending rose at a 9.4 pace, the most in a year. Consumers also boosted spending on clothing, shoes, recreation services, medical care, gasoline and other energy products. But not on food, where spending dipped slightly.

Not on food? This article tells me people continue to be oblivious to the obvious. I guess 12.1% unemployment isn't worrying those that still have jobs for now. Those people aren't worried about eating, they can still pay to eat out every night.

The report still has dire warnings on overall economic performance. When will we (our government) admit that the billions of tax payer dollars they spent did nothing to help us? The gov keeps saying "just wait, it'll be good", how long are we supposed to be deceived by this? Have any of the unemployed found gainful employment yet? I'm not talking about a job that pays substantially less than what you used to make so you can get by...

Living self sustained will help you live healthier and happier. It takes some work but it's worth it. I have the option of having a bit of land. I can bale hay for my large animals but for my family and my small animals, I grow what we need on a spot roughly equal to a standard Chicago suburban back yard. The spot I grow feed in for the large animals is about a 1/2 acre. So there's no reason why anyone can't feed themselves in the city. Whatever you spend on food each week will be money you can save for things such as your house payment.

This is not hard to do. This is actually quite simple. The containers can be purchased for less than the price of a movie ticket. You can even use water caught from the downspout from your gutters. Set it in a sunny spot, keep it watered and eat. Even your backyard chickens will appreciate them, they'll gladly eat them too!

6 comments:

  1. Great post! I agree that people are still not doing enough to help themselves, they are waiting for our government to help them instead.

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  2. I guess it's just too hard for some folks to break the cycle of consumerism, spending on "things" instead of investing in food.

    Sad, very sad!

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  3. Great post MM! Your blog is a true inspiration to people like myself - people trying to become more self-sustained. You are sooo right when you say that "This is not hard to do"! It is actually easy to do once you set your heart and mind to it. Thanks for always keeping us motivated to try and do more for ourselves!

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  4. Thanks for writing this. I think some of us know, and some of us don't. "Got a clue" & "no clue". I don't think people want to know what's down the road & they choose to ignore it or believe only the good things. Come to think of it, I wish I could do that :-)

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  5. If people only knew how easy and how good the food was and how much money they could be saving they would be standing in line to get their seeds. Good post MM, keep up the good work.

    Chris

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  6. Great post, MM. There is some work involved in anything that's worth having in this world, but anyone can put in a little time and effort and make themselves more self sufficient.
    The more time I spend on rehabbing the old garden and getting going again just makes me feel better mentally and physically.

    Thanks for the inspiration!

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Comments always welcome