Tag: homesteading

Becoming Indigenous

How could we become indigenous? I don’t mean that we can, or should, replace the indigenous people who are already living here.

I’d want to build in abundance. I’d want to steward the land so it could feed many people, and wouldn’t take back-breaking labor to maintain the food. Not everyone will farm or make baskets, we’re going to want doctors and engineers and fire-fighters. I wouldn’t want to make my homestead perfect at the cost of my neighbor’s – because in five generations, we’ll likely have some g’g’g’kids in common.

The Marginalization of Productivity

The marginalization of productivity is a feature of our modern world. It keeps us good consumers, because we can’t make the things we use on a day-to-day basis. If we can make them, making them is seen as low-status, and/or the things we make are seen as low-worth. ”Bought” things are better.  At least, that’s how it’s been. We are seeing a turn-around as, to cut prices, the “bought” things are being made so cheaply that their quality has dropped below middling-well-made home items. How did we get here?

Daydreaming of a New Life

Why would you want to leave your home? I was born here, raised here, I married here, raised a family here, my parents are here. I know the pathways and the taste of the wind after a good rain. 

A change of location would mean that I would have to build new community networks. It would mean learning the land, the people, the weather, and their ways. In daydreams, everything goes perfectly. In reality, there is no such thing as a ‘perfect place’. 

Daydreams vs. reality – there will always be a tug-of-war.