Guest Post by Hardscrabble Farmer
Even in these times it’s possible to live the good life, to find all the beauty and kindness in this world every single day, but you have to be deliberate. Nobody has been down more rabbit holes and paranoid meanderings through our world and yet I found out how to-for me-find contentment and hope in spades. If you stare into the abyss and all that jazz. You’ve got to refocus on what you can do And the more you incline that way the more you’re likely to get through whatever is headed our way.
Just because they dominate the narrative doesn’t mean they get to take up residence in our head. We get to choose who we are friends with, what we read, and how we behave. Those things occupy the most important part of our lives. Just because they’ve just found a way to convince people that what they say is important doesn’t mean it should concern us. It doesn’t have to.
Withdraw. Leave the cities and suburbs where you contribute higher taxes in support of their system.
Boycott. Don’t spend any of your money on any company, person or entity that is hostile to your interests.
Cut Back. Reduce your economic footprint as much as you are able. Offer labor in exchanges, or barter whenever you can. Remove you investments from the markets and invest it in those things that have long term value and which are local. A piece of property that can produce a living is far more valuable than a 401K of equal value.
Be A Good Neighbor. Reach out, do things for people just because, attend funerals, drop off a meal or small token every once in a while. Smile. Wave. Keep your eye out for them when they’re away. There’s nothing better than having good neighbors when things go wrong and there’s nothing more appreciated than a random kindness.
Shun. If someone tries to make you their business, if you encounter those who are so manifestly bent on imposing themselves on your life, ignore them. Pretend they no longer exist. Being angry, arguing, getting into conflict is a lose/lose proposition. Nobody can accuse you of not saying anything, that’s not a crime yet. To shun purposely sends it’s own message without hostility, without recourse.
Teach. Everybody has something they’re good at and sharing it with other people spreads that wealth. Everything we know came from some other person who was willing to show us, return the favor.
Learn. If you aren’t reading a book, picking up a new task or discipline, following some passion, producing a craft, working with tools, or listening to others share their expertise, you’re cheating yourself. You can learn volumes every single day of your life if you set your mind to that task. The more you know, the better you are able a multitude of things, further reducing your dependence.
Think Free. Do not allow your mind to be controlled by external forces. Instead trust your conscience to direct your thoughts and follow them wherever they may lead. The first step in being free is to think about whatever your mind perceives, not censor your thoughts.
Stay Flexible. Life changes constantly, be prepared for any eventuality and accept whatever happens without regret or anger, but with an inquiring eye for the opportunity in every eventuality.
Love Somebody(ies). That is all.
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A breath of fresh air! Really, really good advice. Although I am doing, or have done, some of the things mentioned in your post, I need to do more. My wife and I moved from the suburbs of Atlanta to the NE Georgia mountains area. We bought some acreage and since moving here 5 years ago I’ve taken up raising a small flock of chickens, I put in a large garden (and a small orchard), I started keeping bees 3 years ago, and am involved in several voluntary positions in my county and our church. Since retiring a few years ago I spend more time reading alternative news (like TBP) and although I’m glad my head is not in the sand since I pulled it out 11 years ago, I grow more and more weary with just how far this once great land has devolved. The lunacy knows no bounds and I find it hard to listen to it all any longer.
Anyway, HF, thanks for the reminders and, thanks for letting me know we are not alone in the struggle!
I bought a few acres up there as well, just a few years behind you is escaping my densely populated city in SC.
The sun is shining!! For a couple days anyway. Until the next snowstorm.
After being called all kinds of names, but thankful for the accolades, even from you which was an honor, I am going outside to feel the sun on my face. I’m a sunflower by nature and have to use a SAD lamp in the winter.
Heading to the post office. Look for something from me in a few days.
Finding joy in helping others is key. No matter how small. Patience and a smile for a harried cashier, for instance.
I KNOW… we got sunshine. On a rainy day!
The pens are all still very schmooshy, but the little goats are scampering in the sunshine.
Thanks … I needed to hear this. Some of the events/news that I’ve been encountering as of late has been getting past the point of even being categorized as overwhelming. What happens will happen. We will all be affected. How we deal with circumstances will determine our eternities.
Terrific advice. As a committed non-voter I’m always getting ragged on by people who think voting has ANYTHING to do with truly authentic citizenship. As if driving to some government building and pushing a button for some fake bullshit artist-like trump-is a heroic accomplishment. This list of positive actions is a sterling example of what real citizenship looks like. And it’s soul satisfying and fun. My two areas of focus are growing my own food and community service. I’ll now take this further instruction to heart.
Vote, my ass-and keep busy.
VOTE HARDER says a whole chorus of softball-PSYOP writers right here on this mighty-fine and much-esteemed blog.
Don’t blame Admin for reposting these softball-PSYOP columnists—> it’s out job to ridicule and savage their intellectual babyshit.
Outstanding…!
Romans 12
Gonna take your advice and study Romans 12 right now.
Just finished reading it again.
Thanks, GCP for the reminder.
Thank GCP. Just read it and posted it to my desktop for easy reference… Chip
Nice! People can poison the air with their attitude and bad outlook. It’s nice to be reminded that we make up our mind about the events and circumstances. No sooner does a person talk about a wall in somebody else’s backyard than a whole gaggle of peeps are for and some are against it and nobody gives a damn about the people whose backyard is being trampled. Another crew is working on divesting others for having too much. How much is too much except it’s more than they have. Yet nobody can eat more, breathe more, wear more; everybody gets the same number of hours per day and no more than 120 years to live.
That was a good read Farmer. We likely took different paths to reach the same philosophical destinations. I still have trouble with two of the last three though. Thinking free after all those years of lies & 1/2 truths we’ve all been fed is a hit or miss thing. I’ve got the elevation dialed in but the windage is a little trickier with all the hot air blowing around. Staying flexible (mentally) is also easier than it once was but it’s hard to teach an old curmudgeon new tricks. Got the badge (& the T-shirt) & wear it with pride. Best wishes for your full recovery. I hope you have better surgeons (& insurance) than I did.
Where are you, and where am I. Love somebodies that is, that is all! Love Everybodies is the hard part. I sometimes lack the empathy to care whether tribe or family exist. I prefer justice, judgement, Truth and light. Beauty rests in simplicity. A dozen healthy plants, you created SOME FUTURE. I have found, instead of looking for the beauty and kindness, to BE that beauty and kindness sought after. Every day, in every thing. Even holding the door for someone, while waiting for them to cover ten more steps PROVES someone is not too busy for their fellow man (or woman). It is the deliberate acts of kindness that cannot be overlooked, are the ones that shine. Helping neighbors, picking up strangers, feeding hungry people when the blessings are few are the things that teach our kids and others to pay it forward. No one owns tomorrow! We have no clue if we never get up, or rise again. It’s all a gift, and the sooner this reality sets in, the sooner peace in turmoil shows. Joy comes from the satisfaction from doing well, TRUE PEACE comes from living well.
Mangled,
Well said. This sage advice is top notch and fits nicely with HSF’s response to the never ending doom and gloom…
Thank you for the reminder on where we should spend our thought life.
Off Topic:
A Bill to Federally Legalize Marijuana Introduced in US
https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-introduces-s-420-to-legalize-cannabis
Let’s burn one.
Great piece. Thanks I might add a grandfathers advice
Do good work well and smile
Hope you’re healing
I enjoy learning from Lesley the bird nerd!
Sound Wisdom
When we moved here from the North a decade ago we came because of my daughter’s health. We needed to be close to quality medical care.
She’s 14 now and told me that when she graduates she plans on moving back North again. She wants the rural life style. Acreage, horse etc. I asked her if she thought that was wise given her periodic medical needs.
She told me that she was healthy and that she couldn’t live her life based on what “might” happen.
I think she’s going “back to the land” as soon as she gets the chance. I told her if she moves I might follow. She said “I know.”
Smart kid.
May I reproduce this on paper and give it away (to folks over here in England)?
Be our guest. Distribute it widely.
+1000
Be careful in Holly’s neck of the woods.
I know it has been posted before and I apologize for not remembering, but what is your email I would use for making a request. Thank you.
His e-mail is on the right hand side under “ADVERTISERS”
It’s —-> [email protected]
Thanks…I saw it initially and thought it was for advertizers. Didn’t know if he preferred another for general inquiries.
Correction…advertisers.
Reproduce and distribute this DEMOLITION of a HUGE WHOPPER to your friends and family in England!
http://mileswmathis.com/dunblane.pdf
Haha ! I picture this ‘farmer’ walkin with a staff, wearing a hooded cape; followed around by this wise/wiley coyote, walking the hills and valleys……..
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum-
“The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.”
Great advice, HSF. As Jim Rohn said, “Work on yourself as much as you work on your job.”
Top Cat, if I had heard that 40 years ago, I’d be perfect by now.
Great stuff, but let me throw out a few thoughts and a couple of hard learned lessons. We are exactly the same age, so we probably learn certain life lessons along the same timeline. I had an older farmer I leased land from years ago who was very helpful in my life and taught me lots of things. One of the things he was very insistent about was, get big enough where one bullet can’t kill you. Meaning, bad things are going to happen from time to time. As long as you are the only mule capable of turning the grindstone, if anything happens to you, everything grinds to a halt. That advice has saved me many times when I’ve been in situations such as yours, laid up nursing injuries or with my time diverted by family issues. The show went on. Maybe not as efficiently or perfectly as it might have with me running it, but it went on, and that lessened the economic strain a ton. I was sort of surprised the maple syrup enterprise didn’t continue on without you. I’m sure there are some dark magic parts to that are almost innate, and very tough to teach, you just have to have a feel for it, but that’s how learning happens, by doing. Becoming less controlling and trusting others to do the right thing. It’s very hard to do. You get to certain stations in life by being on top of everything, and very seldom does anybody else get it right in that way. The larger anything is, the harder it is to control. You have what I call big property skills. The ability to take an almost insurmountable list of tasks required on a big property, and breaking it down into manageable chunks and priorities, where over time it all gets done. I watch people obsess with getting all their computer files perfect, they would be in trouble if they had to maintain a yard, much less a larger property. Control madness, I think they call that in psychology. But at our age, what’s next? When the mortal frame can’t handle 12 hours a day, how does your world function? I have a pack of farm cats that I’ve had for 10 or 12 years. They started from us feeding a few strays, but I didn’t know how fast the things could reproduce. I thought they were like lions. I never had a cat. I thought they had to grow up and have a few cubs every couple of years. Wrong. They breed like rats. So we had a couple dozen kittens before I learned about spay and neuter. It worked out fine, on a big place a couple of dozen cats are almost invisible. You see them at feeding time, maybe scratch them behind the ears a little bit, and then they go on their way and do what cats do. But now they are at the end of their life span. And since they were all born the same summer, it looks like they are all going to die off this year. And they need a lot more care than they did when they were young and healthy. Father time is going to get us all. A friend of mine lost his mother 8 weeks ago, and his father today. That’s a tough hand life has dealt him. He’s had a lot of time to prepare, but it’s not the pain of losing them that’s hit him the hardest. They have a family business, and in the span of eight weeks he’s gone from being basically an employee to CEO. And he’s quite concerned. To feed his family, he’s going to have to be the guy making every call from here on out. His father handled everything until a week ago. I’m more confident in how he will do then he is. I hope you’re healing up quickly, and I’m sure you’re chomping at the bit to get back to it.
champing
On the East Coast we chomp.???
We here down in Dixie also chomp.
Someone should write a screenplay.
CHOMP
That was a great breakdown. I appreciate the time you put into it and just how accurate it was.
The maple season is one that takes an enormous amount of work, coordinated based on the air temperature day to day and at the very minimum 2 heavily invested people (at our level of production) working as many as 16 hours a day doing an extremely difficult job that is physically taxing. We were only a couple of weeks of starting our work when I fell, so there was literally no time to even think of giving the season a go of it with the severity of the injury.My son at 22 has been watching me do it for 10 years, but has only been able to really participate for the last three or four- less because he was out in the world for a bit after high school and not here. He simply hasn’t the same experience that I have to know all the little details, it’s taken me 10 years just to feel comfortable doing this every year. You’re moving large volumes of liquid, your keeping an evaporator going non-stop at 1,000 degree temperatures, and on and on and on. There’s so much labor and time that even if someone wanted to throw in with us, and I’ve had plenty of friends and family lend a hand before, that there is quite literally no one with the knowledge and the time to be able to fill my shoes. If we had a smaller operation, no problem. That’s why it’s still a fairly precious commodity. It isn’t something that can be industrialized, each property is unique and the sheer number of associated tasks is what makes it a true artisanal product.
I’ll be back at it next year.
Fill your shoes? Thought you are down to one shoe at the moment! ?
Hope that corrects itself shortly!
a very nice comment, in spite of the lack of paragraph returns
Some South Carolina sport for BB, HF.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWnctZ_KaoM
1983
WarGames
11 years old like my son is today
“The only winning move is not to play”
BOOM!
Thankfully the proverbial lightbulb over my head lit up early in life.
Happy Birthday to your son, Magnum ! I hope you guys were able to have a decent amount of time to spend together !!
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum- Cat’s in the Cradle sort of thing, you know !
“Be a good neighbor.” To me that is a crucial part of getting through whatever happens. I read a piece by someone who survived the collapse of Yugoslavia, in an urban environment. He, friends, family and neighbors banded together and created a communal defensive fortress. You cannot survive alone, as I am, three miles from the highway and town at the end of a gravel road surrounded by thousands of acres of Appalachian forest. A while back I carelessly put my tractor off the road while plowing a record snow. I tried to retrieve it on my own with the pickup. I was ready to call a tow truck and instead called a neighbor. He showed up with his 4WD tractor towing a little trailer with cables, straps, spare batteries, a come along and tools. He is a very careful, thoughtful guy. It took a couple of hours of slow work, moving my tractor ahead a bit, tightening the cable and strap until I was back on the road. He is a good neighbor.
Do you remember the old “State Farm” commercial about good neighbors being there?
OK, so this seems like an appropriate place to post this idea I’ve been turning over. It seems profound to me, a chapter in a self help book, maybe a book in itself. I doubt I’ll ever right it but I want to get the idea expressed somewhere. maybe some around here can help me flesh it out.
First, a little book-keeping. The beauty of the article above is it expresses a huge amount of experience, hard-earned wisdom, decades of careful thought, trial and error, condensed into a few memorable, actionable ideas that can be carried around with on everywhere and be used as a framework for how to conduct oneself in the world. I have expressed on this blog that this exact idea as the most fundamental definition of “Truth.”
Second, a lot has been written here (including a recent article spawning a major shitfest) about cognitive dissonance. The concept is always presented in the pejorative. In most cases, this is the correct way of looking at it. For the ideologue, truth MUST be kept at bay or an entire worldview comes crashing down–the standard connotation of cognitive dissonance. HOWEVER, I have found that often conflicting ideas both have tremendous utility and the ability to hold both in one’s mind and utilize either or both depending upon circumstances, is a sign of high level critical thought. Eric Weinstein compares this to running different sets of code in the same space (ie one’s mind).
For me, I run code that help me solve engineering problems and I run code that makes the poetry of Rumi (for example) make perfect, profound sense. They are definitely not the same code.
On a thread a while back, I made a meandering comment about the seeming dissonance between “delay gratification” and “live in the moment.” In a way, the moment (the present is all that exists) it is the only time in which we can feel anything, think anything DO anything, but instant gratification does not work in any way. It is the quickest and surest path to resentment and bitterness I know of. So, how to justify these two ideas.
It may seem simple, but I find it to be occupying my thoughts continually and profound in its implications: “Pay attention to the moment, but serve the future.” Most of us, most of the time do the exact opposite. Be aware, feel your feeling as they happen, think your thoughts as they happen, examine why they are occurring (meta-cognition), but act in a way that you will look back tonight, a week from now, five years from now and feel good, proud in that future now.
To me it feels like a very deep, subtle and nuanced TRUTH.
“Pay attention to the moment, but serve the future.” Be aware, feel your feeling as they happen, think your thoughts as they happen, examine why they are occurring (meta-cognition), but act in a way that you will look back tonight, a week from now, five years from now and feel good, proud in that future now.”
That’s sage advice. A catechism of efficacy.
Thank you sir. It hit me hard when it first came to mind. 9 words is all, but i think it is close to true bedrock.
You guys brothers ? Haha, now I picture ‘farmer’ lookin’ more like Obi-wan, with a trusty drudroid joining the duo of sages.
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum-
“For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
Here is my take on being “in the moment”. I am a photographer. I like street photography, where you have to be aware and ready to capture the fleeting image. Some of my best photos are the result of being “in the zone”, not thinking but letting the deep mind/unconscious take over.
I also like landscapes, where you usually , but not always, have time to think, study, compose and take your time. I have a friend who will set up a tripod, take multiple shots at different settings and go home to his computer where he carefully merges and tweaks several images into his ideal version of what he experienced.
That’s meaning gryffyn. That thing that we all get to define that transcends the hopeless futility and suffering of our lives. Especially pay attention when toy feel that way.
Drud, “Pay attention but serve the future.” A great thought. I am in my late 70s, pushing the envelope, bearing the scars, bruises and joys of a full life. I try to capture meaningful images and share them. If our digital age continues, some of them may inspire a young person with a gift to keep on with the quest.
Cheers.
Perfect.
yo Hardscrabble – hoo-rah. The “Repented” are [where two or more] GATHERing, inland rural on UNencumbered/Unaddressed portions of arable county “allodium” – GROUPed, GUNned, GARDENed, PROVISIONed and . . . S-I-M-P-L-I-F-I-E-D! The “Blessings in the Beginning” are revealed and thereby accessible to the faithfully repentING/REDEEMed/GATHERing RemnantS, fulfilled in daily fellowship, productive enterprise and the opportunity to assist/gather other repentING in greater need.
I hardly ever comment on a HSF post. Why? I have nothing to add.
Great stuff HSF.
You’re a good and wise man, Farmer. As always I value what you say but something in me still wants me to kick them in the nuts.
Romans 12:20
(hat tip, GCP)
…
Very nice and very good advice.
Excellent post HSF. Speedy recovery to ya. God speed… Chip
Sure. The world is my oyster, right?
For what? To what avail? You’ll all be dead in the blink of an eye. In the end we are all food for worms.
This is the meaning of life; Eat. Drink. Be Merry.
“For what? To what avail?”
Because it makes life worthwhile. And the world is your oyster. And food for worms becomes food for grass, which becomes food for cattle, which becomes one of the menu items on the
FIRST ANNUAL TBP LIBERTY FESTIVAL FARM 2 TABLE DINNER!!!!!
And you should eat and drink and legally, you can be Merry if Medicaid covers the cost of your transition, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
“Because it makes life worthwhile. ”
If you say so.
HF philosophy;
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Stucky philosophy (and it’s Biblical, too!)
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All is vanity and vexation of spirit! There is nothing new under the sun – the same comes to the good and the evil, to the religious and the impious; and so on.
Today was a vain day, and tomorrow is looking to be much the same. Wonder if I should use a sick day? Naahhh, what’s coming might be even less desirable, better to save them up.
Stuck is transitioning? Great, now [s]he can get along with her sister better. That would be a first if [s]he attended the first TBP as a male and the second as a female.
“instead of looking for the beauty and kindness, to BE that beauty and kindness sought after. Every day, in every thing. ”
I have two few questions:
1. Is it reasonable or a good idea to love evils?
There was an old Chinese story. A very kind farmer saw a frozen snake. He was so kind that he put the snake into his chest. Once waken up from freezing, the snake bite the farmer and he died. Some people behave like the snake.
2. Is it a good idea to be so kind to people with very incompatible views? I am libertarian. It is next to impossible to love socialists.
No offense. I am trying to learn the fine art of life. Thank you.