HOMESTEAD TSUNAMI

            One of the reasons I took nearly a month off from blogging was because I was hunkered down with a new book.  When I’m in book writing mode, I eat, sleep, and drink the project until it’s done.  Although I do other things, I try to keep my mind completely dedicated to the book until it’s roughed out.

            The title is HOMESTEAD TSUNAMI:  Good for our Country, Critters, and Kids.

            It’s the WHY of this movement that’s sweeping our nation.  Two years ago, prompted by a deluge of questions and interest about how to do livestock like Polyface on a smaller property, I wrote POLYFACE MICRO for the under-25 acre place.  It’s been incredibly well received but in the two years since, I’ve been impressed by three needs and they all center around the WHY.

            I’ve written this book to three people:

1.  The urban dweller sitting on the fence, ready to jump but intimidated and not sure if this is the right thing to do.  Lacking courage and enough impetus to actually jump, this person needs a shot of WHY to make a move.

2.  The naysayers who question why someone would leave Papa John’s pizza delivery radius and the convenience of city life to go to country hardships and privations.  Many would-be homesteaders become sidetracked by these well-meaning family and friends who can’t imagine giving up the supposed luxury of city living for the perceived difficulties of country life.

3.  The new homesteaders who, having made the jump a year or two ago, now see the harsh reality that it’s not just castles in the sky.  The milk cow has mastitis, the cucumbers wilted with powdery mildew, and half the canning jars didn’t seal after all.  These folks need to rediscover their first love, the honeymoon, the WHY that led them to the decision in the first place.

            In the last year or so I’ve been contacted by four billionaires—not millionaires—asking how to develop an agrarian bunker.  They think the wheels will fall off and are looking for a haven for their family.  These folks have personal jets and can go anywhere in the world.  Like many, they understand that when things get bad, you don’t want to be in the city.           

            You want to be in a place where you can get water, shoot a deer, get some firewood, grow a garden, and thrive when all about is chaos.  One of these billionaires asked me for my definition of “when the wheels fall off.”  Our team talked about it and came up with three things:  fuel, electricity, grain.  Normally things are never as bad as you can imagine.  

            But the tyranny and lies surrounding covid, and now Central Bank Digital Currencies (BDDC) along with intelligence gathering and video surveillance cast an eerie concern over the next decade.  We can worry ourselves to death or we can take pro-active positive steps that enthuse us with innovative platforms for thriving.  We can all make a list about what angers and frustrates us; the healthy response is what enables us to flourish when all around is chaos.  That way we can be helpful and hopeful when others become hopeless and helpless.

            Let’s assume 1 is visiting the supermarket three times a week and 10 is 1,000 jars of canned vegetables and meat from your property or a farmer you know.  On a scale of 1-10, what is your security level on food?