Survival__ Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation - Charles George Smith [43]
We live in Central Oregon at 4,200 ft. altitude. Our garden is situated on 30 ft. of volcanic ash. We have almost no organic stuff in the "soil" except pine needles, which are acidic. No worms - they would starve to death. And, you can only count on 30 nights a year that don't freeze. To say the least, it is tough to grow stuff here. We have to heat our greenhouse and cover our garden with thermal blankets at night. And, water frequently because it is also a desert.
But, despite that, we grew almost all of the vegetables that we ate last fall and winter. We have great luck with snow peas, Chinese peas, snap peas, carrots, beets, lettuce, onions, garlic, kale, and Swiss Chard outside, and tomatoes, summer squash, pole beans, cucumbers, and green peppers in a little greenhouse.
What is also a great help is chickens. We love our chickens. They give us great eggs and are very fun and relaxing to observe and live with. I would never have believed that I could look forward to my edition of "Backyard Poultry" as much as I used to like to read Newsweek. What a laugh.
When the trucks stop rolling, we will probably start to keep rabbits, too, for protein. I can't eat a lot of carbs. Bad for me. Maybe even guinea pigs to feed to the dog. Sounds horrible, doesn't it? But, we've got a half St. Bernard/half Tibetan Mastiff. They can't eat dandelions.
We need to re-think so much. Right now, I'm looking into where the hand pumps went that the state parks used to have, since they've been replaced with electric ones. There must be a pile of them somewhere. If (when) the electricity fails, it's going to be hell getting water from the well without a hand pump - in the winter."
Don E. recently checked in with this report from Maine:
"I have looked about me here in Maine and wondered what my tribe will be. I agree that they will emerge. We joined MOFGA, the oldest organization in the country for organic living, and in surveying what their network looks like Maine comes off as a very sane place. Redneck to a large part, but also a lot of industrious hippie-types raising goats and crops. A very interesting place. The watchword seems to be 'lisa'; low impact sustainable agriculture. It really is amazing how big the movement to grow local food without chemicals is in this state. My hope, slightly tongue in cheek, is that new hampster, Vermont and Maine will break off into a new nation with a regional gov't that looks more toward Canada than south."
Though these accounts are local, these same members of The Remnant are also acting on a national level—not in an organized fashion, but in a Remnant fashion, by example.
Chapter Seven: Ontological Forces and Analytic Tools
The ideas presented in this chapter are abstract and difficult, but without an understanding of these concepts our analysis would be superficial.
We cannot hope to understand the forces which will shape the Great Transformation unless we examine what might be called ontological forces: structures of Nature which work not just in organisms but in human societies and history, and ontological states which can be characterized as the politics of experience. By ontological I mean these forces are not limited to certain eras or cultures; they act upon human societies in all era and locales.
How do we make sense out of the vast, interlocking complexity of the modern world? We started with an accounting of key contexts: human nature, the environment, waves and cycles of history, etc., and then proceeded to explore human nature within the context of complacency and fatalism. We concluded by exploring the Pareto Principle and the way a relatively small group can end up influencing the majority of much larger population.
Though not a strictly predictable law of nature like gravity, the Pareto Principle