Recession

[goodcompanion]

Recession. What does it mean for our endeavor?

Probably it’s not great news, but it will be, ultimately, a more favorable condition for animal power than prosperity, which came close to eradicating draft power completely. Of course I use the terms recession and prosperity in the general, economist-lingo sense.

I have a young helper who is about to go off to mechanic school, hoping to specialize in heavy rig salvage and develop a specialized towing and repair business. I’ve told him that I think specialization is the wrong path, that the future belongs to the generalists. To stick with the automotive vocation, the future (if there is any at all) is the old-fashioned service station owner, who can fill your tank, rebuild your carburetor, or weld your bicycle frame.

Make something useful from scratch, whether through craft or by growing or harvesting it, or learn to fix broken objects. It struck me recently that we have a culture in which almost no-one can fix broken objects. If a high schooler goes to a guidance counselor looking for advice, he or she is never told, “You might have a good future fixing people’s broken stuff.”

I was buying glass in town for my barn windows, and the glass shop owner was wondering aloud what recession would mean for the glass business. “Not so great for the glass business,” was my response, “but possibly all right for glaziers.” A difference of semantics, but the point being, people might not spring for a big new window, but the old windows will still need to be fixed and we always need people with that expertise.

But still it’s an adjustment. For small farms that focus on high-dollar custom foods, we may find that kind of expense might be the first thing to go on peoples’ budgets?

How many readers feel ready for hard times?

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Erik, It is something I think about all the time. I some ways we are well situated for a slower economy. We grow food which is something people will continue to need, and we farm with very low inputs which helps protect us from rising costs. We do have some liabilities and may have to make adjustments in the years ahead. We currently consider our products sold locally if we take them to the Ithaca Farmers Market were we are able to sell them for a premium price. In the future I think we may need to consider selling to our neighbors as truely selling locally. This may affect what we choose to produce (more meat and vegetables) and simplify the cheese making. There isn’t one part of our farm I don’t expect to be different in five or ten years. Donn

[Anonymous]

I look at it a little differently. My farm is planned for self-sustenance. So I don’t look at it from the profit margin side. I do agree with Donn that selling local will mean small towns and villages within 10-15 miles of home, if I ever choose to do that.

In the event of a serious recession/depression, my primary concern will be more about locals (or city refugees familiar with the area from hunting and such) who think that I may have an “excess” on my farm.

Will it be a good thing for those of us who are already using draft power? I think so. In fact, I think we’ll have more opportunity the worse it gets as more and more neighbors can’t get or can’t pay for the gas to run their machinery.

[Carl Russell]

I don’t know how prepared we are for “hard times”, as I have been around the calendar a few times and realize that we never have any perspective on the future until it is the past. So I don’t pretend to be able to see what we are truly in for.

However, back in the 70-80’s when I was still in school, I began to be skeptical about so many of the careers that I had to choose from. I saw little security in them. I started then to see a sustainability associated with lifestyles that used land, plants and animals, low-debt, low in-put, low-cost, low-impact, natural sources of power and energy, and were primarily driven by self-sufficiency. Low cash-flow!!!

There is no way that I could have stayed at it this long without making the choice to stay home. We have had our farm since the late 30’s. For most of this time it has been a Tree Farm, concentrating on forestry, and forest products. There is just enough open land in conjunction with neighboring fields to have a self-sufficiency scale diversified farm. Although there is no mortgage, there are down-sides to Co-ownership, and we have put, and will put, a lot of time into caring for my aging mother. (Family is another “cost” in our modern economy that needn’t be. True security probably has to be about family.)

Anyway, there is a lot of talk today about collapse. In a way I have been waiting too long for it. I remember a black Tuesday in Oct. 1986. I was logging with my first horse on a job where one of my neighbors was painting the porch. He had Public Radio on, and when I pulled out hitches I could here the frantic reports of the crash. I would stand in the woods listening to the sounds of nature, smelling the mixture of my sweat, manure, and spruce pitch, and I felt so ready. I had been at it for 6 months. The solution that I had chosen seemed so truthful, that regardless of my inexperience I was certain I would be alright.

Today I feel empowered by twenty more years of fine tuning the original objective. I still feel certain of its truthfulness. We are many times more proficient than I was back then. We have many options on the table, a diversified income stream, and a pretty good ability to take care of ourselves, and several other families to boot.

But, I’ve got to say that in a lot of ways this has been a hard hand to play. I always tried to “shoot the moon”, and many times felt flat on my face (playing Hearts). I realize that I have put a lot of time into things that I see as invaluable investments, skills, animal power, family, off-grid living, home-based enterprises, that will only really pay off for us IF there is a collapse.

So, on one hand I feel we are prepared to be sustainably self-sufficient, but on the other hand, if this keeps dragging out, we run the risk of being slowly strangled like everyone else. You know “eggs in a basket” and all that! I know that Earth-based lifestyles and systems defined by natural energy flow are the only true sustainable choice, but we may still have to go through some really “hard times” before it works for us. And the truth is, it won’t be until we get on the other side of it before we can see who made it.

My objective is two-fold. Set up a system on this farm that has the best shot for us to make it, and to pass along. And to set an example of the way I see it, just to throw into the mix, because I have learned a lot from what others left behind. As long as I’m able, I’ll just keep scratching the Earth, my cave-paintings. Carl

[Rod]

I think the same way but also am not oblivious to the “elephant in the room” which expression was brought to my attention in another post. And that is, providing the human part of the equation remains healthy and able to work.

Ultimately we have a very thin veil of security no matter what we do, or how hard we prepare and although it’s noble to try it’s also wise to be realistic. Life is chancy and sometimes the cards do not fall our way as they have not for many on our globe throughout history. I also embrace and hope in self sufficency but see community as an essential background to making it a little more resilient and able to withstand those unplanned for curves in the road.

[Carl Russell]

@Rod 735 wrote:

…. the human part of the equation remains healthy and able to work.
Amen to that!

Ultimately we have a very thin veil of security no matter what we do, or how hard we prepare….. I also embrace and hope in self sufficency but see community as an essential background to making it a little more resilient and able to withstand those unplanned for curves in the road.

Some times communities are only as big as a single household. We have a lot of work to do to turn these communities into supportive backgrounds. Most of what we write about here are ideas that make sense to us, but are for the most part way outside the paradigm that controls the modern community.

My hope is, and there have been responses that are encouraging, that our ability to put into practice our philosophy of sustainability will be a strong enough that others will be motivated to try out their own. We also don’t try to live on an island, and find things in common with as many of our neighbors as we can.

Realism is a good thing, but one person’s realism is another person’s idealism, or even defeatism. What we each have is perspective, inspiration, and opportunity.

The reality that I see is that no matter how many artificial institutions we put into place in our modern attempt at culture, there are still significant limitations associated with natural parameters.

Realistically, there won’t be sufficient change within our lifetimes to validate lifestyles that are completely in sync with natural parameters, but in my mind that doesn’t diminish the truth.

Realistically, we are only naked apes floating on a rock through space, and as such we are extremely vulnerable.

Realistically, one person, or one family farm will not affect very much change.

Realistically, I need a reason to get up every day, something to work for, something to provide for my family, something to leave behind.

Realistically, we are victims of space and time, and only have the present in which to operate.

There is a difference between perceived reality and true reality, and our modern culture is entrenched in a perception that we can live insulated from the realities of the Earth. Does that mean that people who don’t buy into it are misguided.

The reality is, that the US dollar is devalued. Our country is carrying a huge debt, $9 trillion. I have no way to even begin to understand that number. Our government is trying to solve the problem by creating economic stimulus with deficit budgets, and encouraging consumerism.

The reality is, that so many of our daily needs are supplied by transportation, transmission, and generation systems whose financial and environmental costs are skyrocketing.

The reality is, my family is just as vulnerable as everyone else.

The reality is, that we do have a root cellar full of potatoes, wood for the stove, and gravity water, so I know that we can have mashed potatoes for dinner tonight.

Beyond that, my guess is as good as yours, but I will bet on animal-power, and an Earth-based livelihood.

I don’t see that as noble, or idealistic, or a dream (ie. Thread; Caught between dollar and dream). I see it as my responsibility to my family, present and future, to make realistic investments in the best chance at security that I can. Carl

[Rod]

The sense in which I meant the word Noble to be understood is:

1 a: possessing outstanding qualities :
2: a: possessing very high or excellent qualities or properties
b: very good or excellent
4: xxx
5: possessing, characterized by, or arising from superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals

From Websters dictionary.

[Carl Russell]

Rod, I realize that. It just got me thinking, and I have a bunch of extra energy due to waiting for the weather to change, and it’s an important topic, so I spewed. Carl

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