Self-Sufficient Living

How to Save the World from Itself

1stvillager — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:35:19 +0000

Brace Yourself:

Below is the full text of a long post followed by 1stVillager commentary. It’s a great article and well worth the time.

Is deception no longer an adaptive human strategy?

by Kurt Cobb

“A lie is as good as the truth if you can get somebody to believe it.” So goes the cynical maxim. Naturally, it contradicts the accepted public morality embodied in the saying: “Honesty is the best policy.” That saying is attributed to Miguel de Cervantes though it has been repeated by many others. I rather think that the ancient Roman satirist Juvenal had it right when he wrote: “Honesty is praised and starves.”

The way to understand these contradictory statements is in the context of evolutionary success. Animals bear deceptive markings and patterns to camouflage themselves from predators. And, animals have been known to act out lies to deceive their fellow animals. William Catton Jr. relates such a story in his book Bottleneck: Humanity’s Impending Impasse:

One of the chimpanzees at the Gombe Field station provided a modern demonstration of this. He had acquired an ability to open locked banana boxes. But he seemed to know it was unwise for him to do so in the presence of other more socially dominant apes who might attack him and take the bananas. To solve the problem this ape perfected the acted lie. By striding purposefully away from camp as if on his way to a good food source, he tricked other apes who would amble after him for a few hundred yards. By doubling back alone to the then deserted camp, he could open a banana box and peacefully enjoy its contents in the absence of the other chimps who, having seen there was no food in the camp other than what was confined to boxes they could not open, did not return with him.

It’s no surprise that humans have also found deception to be a useful survival skill. Certainly, it is useful in hunting animals. Even today we use the duck blind to conceal the position of the hunter. But deception as an adaptive behavior finds its true test in relations between humans in warfare, in sports, and even in commercial activities. We are more likely to deceive those whom we consider part of the out-group since they represent a possible source of resources for the in-group to which we belong and whose survivability we want to enhance. My in-group, however, is constantly shifting. Is it my family? Does it include my friends? How about my community? My nation? Those whom we consider appropriate targets for our cons depend on what group we place ourselves in at any moment.

All of this was brought to mind by the recent failure of the Harper administration in Canada to overturn a law which prohibits lying on news broadcasts. The change was sought to enable a Canadian upstart cable news channel dubbed Sun TV News to adopt the same style as the Fox News Channel in the United States. Apparently, lying is part of the format and not being able to lie would prevent Sun TV News from fulfilling its proper role in the world of Canadian media.

Does that mean Canadians are getting the truth elsewhere? Well, not lying is not always the equivalent of telling the truth. If you lie, it means by definition that you are saying something you know to be false or at least should have known to be false. But if you are simply mistaken, then people don’t call you a liar. They usually try to correct you.

So, there are two kinds of misinformation which we are subjected to every day in human affairs. The first is merely incorrect information. It may very well be the best estimate of the truth by the teller. If we detect the error, we call it an honest mistake. If we don’t detect the error, it may have the same effect as a deliberate lie would have on our actions.

For example, it is passed off as more or less incontrovertible that the human economy can grow indefinitely without either running out of resources or destroying the climate. The argument is that high prices for any scarce resource will lead to the discovery of more of that resource or to substitutes for it. All of this will happen in time to avert any catastrophic collapse of human industrial society.

Even among some who accept the reality of climate change, there is a belief that the offending emissions can be brought under control through technology alone, that alternative carbon-free energy sources can be deployed rapidly and in sufficient capacity to replace our current level of energy production from fossil fuels, and that geoengineering projects can be constructed if need be to alter the incoming amount of sunlight or absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We will thereby save ourselves from civilization-destroying climate change while continuing to live pretty much as we do and with economic growth intact.

People who make these claims are, in my view, simply mistaken about the extent of the challenges. We cannot know for certain whether such people are wrong. But we can judge their chances of being right to be slight based on the evidence. The results of believing such information if it is false can be just as serious as believing intentional falsehoods.

This brings us to another kind of communication that is constructed of outright lies. Claims by industry-funded think tanks include that the Earth is not warming; that if it is, human activity is not responsible; and that such warming will somehow be beneficial to humans on balance. All these claims can and have been shown to be false by the actual scientific evidence. Another demonstrably false assertion is that there is no consensus among climate scientists that humans are changing the climate through their actions.

Catton explains in Bottleneck that the purpose of deception is to create a “false or misleading definition of the situation.” The ability to deceive depends on two things, the skills of the deceiver and a situation in which the deceiver’s words or actions will be interpreted as truthful. The generally rising prosperity of the last 150 years leads most people to conclude that the future will be more or less like the recent past, namely, continued economic growth with few constraints. So, claims of continuous growth fall on fertile ground.

Those who attempt to deceive the population about climate change also have experience as their ally. Catastrophic consequences tied definitively to climate change are difficult to demonstrate. And, most people have not been touched by frequently cited examples: Hurricane Katrina, the record 2010 floods in Pakistan, the shrinking Arctic icecap. Their experience tells them that at most climate change is benign.

The trends revealed by scientific research are far more troubling than the average person’s experience. While the scientific community has endeavored mightily to communicate these trends, the task has proven difficult because of the abstract nature of much of the scientific knowledge which must be communicated. This has made it fairly easy for the fossil fuel industry to muddy the waters with misleading and outright false information skillfully planted in major media outlets.

In the past deception may have been an adaptive behavior for the human species. But, as with any trait, changed circumstances can render previously adaptive behaviors maladaptive. The changed circumstance is that humans are now so numerous and so powerful through their technology that they are are able to undermine the very biosphere which supports their survival.

And, since humans coordinate their activities primarily through language, it stands to reason that if that language is now used most effectively to create a false or misleading definition of the actual situation, then the human community will not be able to act appropriately to ensure its continued survival in the face of multiple threats such as climate change, fossil fuel depletion, soil erosion, water pollution and so on. The ability to deceive then has become so counterproductive that it threatens humans with extinction.

Could this trait be somehow moderated to allow a more realistic assessment of our situation? Partly this would require a new definition of who is included in our community. If the definition remains narrow–for example, my climate-change denying friends in the fossil fuel industry–then there is little hope for change. If the definition can expand to all of humanity, then the need for deception is diminished. I no longer consider people halfway across the globe as part of an out-group who can be regarded as enemies and may be deceived without moral concern.

But overcoming deception will also require the inclusion of scientific information and observations not normally incorporated into what most humans call their experience. Of the two tasks I’ve outlined, this second one seems the more difficult.

It is discouraging to conclude that a human behavior which has been selected for by nature to enhance our survival has now turned against us. But in this way, language–which is perhaps the highest achievement of humankind–could become our undoing.

Kurt Cobb is the author of the peak-oil-themed thriller, Prelude, and a columnist for the Paris-based science news site Scitizen. His work has also been featured on Energy Bulletin, The Oil Drum, 321energy, Common Dreams, Le Monde Diplomatique, EV World, and many other sites. He maintains a blog called Resource Insights.

Original article available here

My Turn:

One level below the practical implications of this debate is a disturbing conflict for Christians.
Said Christ, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” When challenged, “who is my neighbor?”, he declared my neighbor is all humanity.

Yet, common sense and experience teach that at the survival level, “Honesty is praised and starves.” My experience building an intentional community based on a combination of the golden rule and a self-sufficiency work ethic teaches me that with few exceptions, the world functions on the level of base self-interest. People crying out for a return to Christian principles regularly engage in deception that is harmful to others simply because it works. In its most cynical form, the preachers of many organized religions are exposed as the greatest hypocrites, calling for mutual love while plundering the gullible under the cover of religious piety. So, even the advocates of “pure religion” are among the least trusted.

The call for mankind to unite under the banner of enlightened self-interest assumes a confidence in universal enlightenment that is more quixotic than Christ’s call to love all mankind equally. In the disinformation age, truth ubiquitously couched in half-truths, smothers any possibility of getting to ultimate truth. As noted, the modern religion called science is equally compromised by special interests. It has come to the point where one must do “primary research” in order to trust the conclusions. Secondary or second-hand science is no longer trusted.

“And, since humans coordinate their activities primarily through language, it stands to reason that if that language is now used most effectively to create a false or misleading definition of the actual situation, then the human community will not be able to act appropriately to ensure its continued survival in the face of multiple threats … “

One could infer from this that language is the problem. But the problem goes much deeper than language. Language is but a tool of deception, perhaps the singular tool in a devil’s tool chest that distinguishes humans from lower animals. But the author’s final sentence clarifies,

“The ability to deceive then has become so counterproductive that it threatens humans with extinction.”

This nugget approaches the truth. Language is not the root of the problem. The problem is fundamental morality. But to clarify, the root is not the ability to deceive, but deception itself, the common assumption that “Honesty starves” and survival depends on deception. That takes us back to Christ’s call to love ALL others as yourself, not just pretend to love others as yourself.

The fog of the disinformation war is penetrated by appealing directly to an ultimate source of truth. In science, primary research, done by a competent, meticulous scientist can yield truth to that scientist. Once public, having left the scientist’s hands and forced through the sieve of special interests, it becomes suspect. The same can be said of religion. Some still cling to an older notion that the ultimate source of truth is God. As with the newer religion of science, personal revelation (the spiritual equivalent of primary research) is the only sure way to knowledge of the truth.

I am hopeful that mankind will come to its collective senses, taking a higher road that leads somewhere other than death and destruction. There seem to be two potential paths leading to salvation. One is the path of universal enlightened self-interest through education, logic and scientific inquiry leading to enlightened choices. The other path embrace Jesus Christ’s call to morality, rejecting petty self-interest in favor of the Golden Rule. Ironically, the destination of both paths is enlightened self-interest where people love others as themselves. Many believe there is a fork in the high road forcing us to choose a mutually exclusive secular or spiritual option. There is no such fork. Truth is truth, whether revealed through either the rigor of scientific or spiritual inquiry. Both paths require rigor. If forced to bet on one path over the other, I bet that the spiritual path has been historically more successful in elevating human behavior than the path of universal scientific inquiry. For me, no such choice is required. In the face of man’s power to annihilate himself and evidence that he is well down that path, we must take up Don Quixote’s challenge to “dream the impossible dream”. But I can’t get my head around that dream unless equipped with more than a lance. Mankind must do the right thing not only because it is logically in his selfish interest, but also because it is right and moral. He will get there when armed with truth discovered both through scientific and spiritual inquiry. Thinking such a quest is possible while equipped with only half the tool-chest is worse than quixotic. It is foolish.

Full disclosure, I am a Christian and a Mormon with the spirit of Don Quixote.

Be the Meaning of Christmas

1stvillager — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:53:33 +0000

Every year at this time we struggle through strident calls to recognize the true meaning of Christmas. There are protests of non-Christians and atheists against creches in public places and equally enraged protests of Christians defending the traditions of a Christian nation. Strident? Protests? Enraged? Is this the new, true meaning of Christmas? Have we reached a new low, below crass commercialism? To all of that I say, “Bah Humbug”.

It’s December 25, but my family isn’t celebrating with our Christmas traditions today, although we did start the day with a reading of this special Christmas story. We decided to wait another week until our son (who works at Best Buy in another State) can join us after the Christmas retail rush. How nice! A little extra time to relax and enjoy the season without the hoopla.

This little story isn’t mine. But it inspires me. I hope it will inspire you to think of Christmas differently, whether you are Christian, religious, spiritual . . . or not.

My advice: Don’t argue about what Christmas should mean. BE the meaning of Christmas. And, if you are reading this too late to plan to do something really nice this Christmas of 2011, don’t worry. You can be the meaning of Christmas today too. There is absolutely nothing stopping any of us from celebrating our very own spirit of Christmas today . . . or any day, just like our family decided to celebrate on a day other than the one everyone else is.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

It’s just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas- oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it- overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma, the gifts given in desperation because you couldn’t think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.

Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without head gear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler’s ears.
It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn’t acknowledge defeat.

Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.” Mike loved kids – all kids – and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That’s when the idea for his present came.

That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling head gear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition, one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.

The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn’t end there.
You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.

Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing to take down the envelope.

Mike’s spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be with us.

Editor’s Note: This true story was originally published in the December 14,1982 issue of Woman’s Day magazine. It was the first place winner out of thousands of entries in the magazine’s “My Most Moving Holiday Tradition” contest in which readers were asked to share their favorite holiday tradition and the story behind it.

Official Year of Hysteria Begins Today

1stvillager — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:20:36 +0000

Well, I guess today is the official beginning of the year of hype and hysteria. One year from today, the Mayans reportedly predicted that the world will end. This History Channel doc~~crock~~umentary chronicles many of the reasons we should live in fear. To be honest, there are a lot more scenarios one could get catatonic about. Bad as these predictions are, they only scratch the surface. Not enough time in less than an hour. I found it laughable that the hosts of this program, after building to a crescendo of terror, concluded that on December 21, 2012, one would “go armed to Mom’s house” to make sure she’s OK. Another said he was thinking of stocking up on a few weeks of food. What’s THAT all about?
If the YouTube version goes away you can watch the entire show here.

What do I think? Hooey! The words “confluence of catastrophes” keep coming up in this piece. Yep, there are a lot of things happening. Who hasn’t noticed? But the greatest confluence here is between people making money out of fear, selling advertising. “Your Mercedes won’t help you”. But apparently, if you have an advanced Lincoln, things will be, oh so nice “with innovative technology built in that’s able to aid and assist you”.

I’ll double down on my bet that the world will NOT end on December 21, 2012. I won’t be doing anything special on that day. That date will come and go like Y2K, with a whimper. It’s absolutely the safest bet anyone could make. If I’m right I can brag about being right. If I’m wrong nobody will know, cause we’re all dead.

Meanwhile, the world IS gradually, but at an exponentially increasing rate, descending into poverty and chaos. Technically, what I’m about to write isn’t prophecy, since it’s already happened and is continuing. It’s been going on for some time now. There will be many more natural disasters that will happen around the world. More governments will be overthrown. Civil liberties will be lost. Corruption will grow even faster, at all levels unabated. People will watch on their TV’s and i Pads. Terrified for 15 minutes, then go to bed, waking up the next morning in the same state of denial and indifference. People kind of like to be scared. That’s why roller coasters and horror movies sell. But these things don’t require any forethought, work or sacrifice of the present luxuries, indulgently viewed as necessities. People don’t like that. So, they won’t DO anything about it other than periodically whip up their fears for a perverse thrill.

I can testify from personal experience. For years, at least 99% of the people who inquire about joining our self-sufficient lifestyle in the Village on Sewanee Creek, after confiding that they are deeply concerned for the future, are still thinking about it, but not doing. Back in 2006 when times were good, I suggested that it was time to prepare. Then the sub-prime mortgage crisis began gradually in 2007. People wanted to wait till better times came and they could get more out of their houses. Then the 2008 meltdown hit. People said they desperately wanted to be here, but were upside down on their mortgages. I suggested times probably weren’t going to get better. They didn’t. Today is no different. People have little money compared to a few years ago. But they still live in big heavily mortgaged houses, drive expensive (a bit older) cars, wear stylish clothes, eat expensive prepackaged food, pay exorbitant amounts for insurance and health care and incessantly wring their hands. They still have many assets that could be traded for a simpler, more secure future, but they won’t make any decisive changes. Frozen in the headlights. No, that light at the end of the tunnel is not natural.

The great depression was a bad thing. I believe we are in a depression now that is just as bad measured strictly by economics, but papered over by mountains of debt and extended unemployment payments. When those cease, people will feel the pain much worse than the great one. Will there be sudden jolts and disasters? Of course there will. But what we have been seeing is not a one-day event. It’s already happened and will continue to stew the masses like the clichéd frog in the pot. It’s a really BIG pot.

While the central premise of this documentary, the Mayan prophecy, is mostly hype, they did manage to get a lot of things right, the things we already knew. If you haven’t already started preparing in earnest, drastically cutting back on the frills and aggressively providing for future necessities, my bet is you won’t. You will be among those looking for a gun, pillaging your neighbors when TSHTF. Good luck with that.

What do I expect to be doing on December 21, 2012?
I won’t be surprised if my financial resources are almost completely depleted (or close to worthless, ravaged by inflation). It’s likely I will have discontinued all my insurance because it’s accounting for fully one-third of my expenses now and probably isn’t sustainable. So, I’ll be very careful to take care of my health, eating well, exercising and learning more about foraging in the woods for natural remedies. Not such a big deal. That’s the way people lived throughout all history up until just a hundred years or so ago. I’ll still be driving my old cars, some of which lack computerized chips and would survive an EMP or solar flare. But the price of gas will be pretty high, so I’ll probably be sticking close to home most of the time. It’s nice that I like where I live. It’s peaceful and naturally beautiful. I’ll be wearing my old clothes. I’ll be living in the grace of God, day-to-day raising our food. By then, my work building a self-sufficient community (marketing, blogging and sales) will be over, so I won’t depend as much on my wife to do the farming. I’ll be helping a lot more with the daily chores, feeding the chickens, chopping wood, tending the garden, making compost, taking care of the orchard. My entire focus will be on daily living. Do I fear the hoards of starving, thirsty people from the big cities? I guess there is some risk of that and it’s an unpleasant thought. But if there is anywhere that can be more easily defended than where I am and with the people who have joined us, I don’t know where it is. Will I be well armed? Is the Pope Catholic? There is some comfort in knowing that there is little here for anyone to come after. When you raise what you eat and live simply there isn’t much to plunder. It’s now late in December and we are still eating fresh tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, peanuts and other produce from the greenhouse. A new crop of winter greens (Kale, Spinach, broccoli, beets, carrots, etc.) is just coming on. Kill the farmer and you kill the goose that lays tiny golden eggs. That reason for a sense of security goes double for living on the edge of Grundy County, TN where people have lived close to the bone for generations. Survivors all.

After the hysteria, there’s a hymn that I love. It speaks to the human condition whether in poverty or wealth, sickness or health, joy or anguish. It is an anthem of eternal hope. After viewing something like this History Channel documentary, it helps to sing:

Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.

‘Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this and joy, your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is Well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
‘Tis not so; all is right;
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?

Gird up your loins;
fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake.
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell -
All is well! All is well!

We’ll find a place which God for us prepared,
far away in the West.
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the Saints will be blessed

We’ll make the air with music ring
Shout praises to our God and King.
Above the rest, these words we’ll tell -
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey’s through,
Happy day! All is Well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow too;
With the just we shall dwell!

But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we’ll make this chorus swell -
All is well! All is well!

Our Intentional Community Works Together

1stvillager — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:08:49 +0000

I’ve been exchanging emails with some nice folks who went to Italy to set up a ministry, ended up staying for an extended period, but are soon ready to return to America. Laurel asks some great questions. As I summarized what’s happening in the Village, I felt pleased with our progress and decided to share it. The names were changed for their privacy.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Laurel,
I’ll do my best to answer your questions within the text of your letter below.

From: Tom & Laurel Fitzgerald
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2011 3:07 PM
Subject: Greetings from Italy

Hello,

We are seriously considering purchasing two lots at the Village. I believe my mother would be happier on her own lot.

I’ve spent many hours looking over modular home floor plans and trying to familiarize myself with the whole building process. We’ve never had a home built before – let alone considered trying it from overseas. I am the kind of person to research and understand before moving forward – but then I am ready to move quickly as I’ve already spent all that time organizing all the steps and making the decisions ahead of time.

I’ve given some thought to your question about job/income. Because we couldn’t think of actually living there earlier than 24 or even 30 months from now, it is a difficult question to answer. However, Tom has agreed that a really neat goal would be to create a job/income via a joint-venture with others at the Village who want to create a business. How or what this would look like, we are uncertain.

There are others here who are interested in working together to create income. That could take any of a number of different forms including a partnership/joint venture with joint ownership or separate, yet synergistic businesses, leveraging different skills. I have found from experience that with the best intent and integrity, partnerships are almost always problematic and tend to create friction. So, personally, I prefer the latter option. Some ideas and opportunities might include:

The Ensigns (lot 2) are deeply into the “maker movement”. Fred plans to start an alternative energy company that builds hybrid solar systems (passive heat and PV). He is an amazingly innovative guy with a tremendous work ethic. He will do well no matter what he attempts.
George Jones recently purchased a very expensive training program that he has generously offered to share with anyone in the Village. It teaches one how to set up an online retail/wholesale business starting simply with eBay, then graduating to building a website and social media, etc. He is a bio-chemist and also plans to build a still for ethanol fuel production.
Ted Thomas (lot 12) is retired, but he has a PhD in plant genetics and really knows his stuff. Some time ago he developed a strain of grass used on golf courses that has some wonderful characteristics. He has indicated an interest in growing turf on plastic sheets for commercial applications.
Michael Stevens (lot 11) has had his own business from before he moved here developing websites that attract a lot of visitors and paid advertising. He continues to do well with that business. His wife, Sherry, recently got a position teaching at nearby University of the South and loves it.
The Fords plan to be here in the spring. They are accomplished musicians and currently operate a recording studio that they plan to re-open after they move here. Being close to Nashville will be good for them. You can listen to their music on their website. Proximity of the Ford’s new home to the amphitheater will also be excellent. They are excited about spearheading the community performing theater effort with Village children and whoever else wants to join in. I’m also excited about finally putting together a Village band so I can enjoy jamming together on my sax.
I continue to put time into developing the Village, but in this economy, real estate isn’t profitable. So, I’m developing other sources of income too. Recently, my wife and I discovered a health supplement that has made a big difference in our health. We were so impressed that we have decided to take it on as distributors. I’m also looking at a couple of other opportunities. My escrow/title agent tells me there is still opportunity at the low end to buy and flip houses. The key to success is buying them right and she has an inside track that she is willing to share. Also, I have a small invention I’m working on that I will test market soon.
The cost developing the Sewanee Creek logo, website, blog and brand can be put to better use as the community develops. Our combined output from gardens or other cottage industry projects can be marketed under the Sewanee Creek brand. My wife is an expert quilter. She has put her skill to good use recently making handbags. She markets them at local markets and on her Facebook page. I have experience in brand development from a career in chain retailing. Michael’s website building expertise and George’s training program could be valuable there as well.
One of the most critical pieces of any business is human capital. We have managed to attract some of the best. There are more that I haven’t mentioned who own property here, but haven’t relocated yet. I think we are already well positioned to thrive, not only as a self-sufficient community, but one that continues to attract talent and business innovation.

I’ve seriously been looking into the bed n’ breakfast idea and have already decided to go the short-term rental route which requires paying tourist taxes and registering a LLC. I believe we could generate a lot of interest in the location by Europeans, even if it is not a typical tourist stop in the US.

Marketing is always a big challenge, so your connections in Europe would be a BIG plus.

My one concern is that with all of my searching to read the covenants, I could only find a file speaking of it being updated with a Word file attached, but it didn’t show up on my browser. Would you be willing to send a copy of that to us? It would be very helpful during this stage in which we are exploring, dreaming, and researching.

I’m sending a copy of the covenants that were registered with the county several years ago. You need to know, however, that I intend to make some revisions to them, in the direction of fewer restrictions. I used a neighboring development’s covenants as a model early on because I was an inexperienced developer. As I learned and fine-tuned the philosophy of the Village, I decided to opt in favor of greater personal freedom for private property. That’s why I removed copies of the existing covenants from my website. The only rules for house construction that will remain are the requirements for a large covered porch and restriction against permanent trailers. I think porches are important to encourage interaction between families. We don’t want the village to be a low-end trailer park littered with junk. As written, the covenants on tree-cutting require my approval to cut trees over a certain size. Those covenants will disappear for land outside the natural preserve. I have lived in suburban developments before where the covenants were onerous and ridiculous, especially for a rural environment like ours where we want to encourage mini-farms with animals and technological innovation. The intent of the changes will be to avoid excess regulation.

I’ve also been kicking around that idea Becky has about starting a retreat. That could be a very interesting idea and if she is looking for collaborators, combined efforts might prove more profitable. Tom and I have experience in organizing church retreats and mission team retreats. We’ve also worked at a Christian retreat center and between us have experience in the areas of housekeeping, laundering, food prep/service and preparing an inventory database for the maintenance crew. If this is something she is interested in dialoguing about, I would welcome that.

We would be all over that idea, except that the nest egg we started this project with has hatched and flown off. Not enough left to build a nice retreat with right now. Working together to service such a retreat would be fabulous, spread some of the work and a lot of fun, I think. We look forward to a better day when we have some extra cash to invest with no more debt.

Completely changing the subject, we used electric golf carts at that retreat center for dropping off dirty laundry, delivering clean laundry to the various linen rooms, moving cleaning supplies between buildings, moving food from the storage shed to the dining room, for answer maintenance calls and bring supplies, and for carting flowers from the greenhouse to the various flower beds.

I like that! We have a bling golf cart that could be used for that if we build the retreat.

And speaking of flower beds, I’m interested in understanding how the community garden works? Can anyone participate? Does one sign up? Is there a rotation? How does it all work, exactly? Does the community garden include a small orchard? What about the greenhouse? Is that your personal endeavor, or is that a community project?

Right now, the community garden is wide open. Those who live here now have all opted to spend their time and energies building their own gardens. As each lot has plenty of room, it’s just more convenient to tend a garden closer to the house. The primary purpose of the community garden has always been more for socialization and learning than for production. We have solved for socialization and learning by rotating every week between families on our private plots. Each week, usually Thursday, we all get together to work on a project designated for and by the Village owner on that weeks rotation. Last Friday was our turn. We had four (4′X10′) cold frames made of PVC and 5-year greenhouse plastic sheeting. They weren’t being used and had been left outside the big greenhouse and damaged in the wind. We repaired them and since Becky and I aren’t using them this year, lent two to George and two to Michael. I think Michael is actually going to use them as shelter for his pigmy goats. We put the two for George on the raised bed garden that we all built a few weeks ago on his property. Hopefully by next week, the seedlings that we planted a few weeks ago in our greenhouse will be mature enough to transplant to George’s cold frames. As for the greenhouse, it is our personal property, but it is larger than we can use in winter (2,000 square feet) and we are happy to share it with Villagers in exchange for help in it. It’s working out great. While the men worked on the cold frames on Friday, the women worked cleaning out the remnants of our tomato, pepper and peanut crops. So, even sharing it with others we still have a lot of empty beds that need planting right now. Everyone is really enjoying working together and sharing.
Back to the community garden. I built some raised beds in the Commons early on with improved top soil from the local worm farm. George has planted and tended some herbs there, but other than that, it hasn’t been used much. The Lewis family, who are building their house now and aren’t here yet have volunteered to take it over and raise a crop this spring. It will be good to see it being put to good use, as George will no longer need it. As demand increases in the future, there is plenty of room to add more raised beds in the community garden. But it’s interesting how things have evolved with people helping each other on their private land. I think that’s even better than the common area garden.

I hope this answers your questions. Don’t hesitate to call or write again if you have more.

Happy day of rest,
Laurel

Best place to survive East of the Mississippi

1stvillager — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:22:29 +0000

My wife and I have always thought that our location is optimal for living through difficult times.

Our intuitive sense was recently validated by the foremost expert in the field. His name is Joel Skousen and you can read all about him, his analysis of world conditions and his consulting business on his website.

The third edition of his book, “Strategic Relocation” was released for sale this year. It includes:
* 200 new pages with detailed analysis of every state and province in the US and Canada
* All new color maps for regions, provinces, and US States, showing threats, private and public land use, population densities, roads and terrain
This book can be purchased here.

A few months ago, I received an email from Joel. He said,

“You’ll be pleased to know that the Cumberland Plateau received the highest rating for any area in the East in the new 3rd Edition of Strategic Relocation.”

In a follow-up conversation with Joel, I validated that his rationale matched mine. If you would like to know what and why, you can buy his book or you can drop me an email, call (931) 442-1444 or send me a message from my website.

Preppers might also be interested in one of my older posts on the ten best places to survive in America.

On a side note, Mr. Skousen recently pointed out that Atlanta has the largest disparity of wealth of any large city in North America. Thankfully, we are several hours drive from Atlanta, but that’s also fortunate for Atlanta residents looking for a safe haven within a reasonable driving distance.

One week later, Still in Thanksgiving mode

1stvillager — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:14:10 +0000

This year the thanksgiving holiday (and feelings that go with it) have been extended more than usual as I have focused on the blessing of being married for 25 years to an angel.

But I think it is difficult to stay in a thanksgiving mindset these days, not because times are hard, but because we still have so much (although perhaps less than we had a few years ago). As blogged elsewhere, the abundant life is more a state of mind than a state of having lots of material stuff. Now comes more rigorous thought from economists on why that is the case. Do you remember those boring lectures in Econ 101 about the theory of utility? Basically, the theory says with each additional (or marginal) thing we get, its marginal utility decreases. And with decreasing utility, so goes our thankfulness for it.

Here is the article that discusses “Thanksgiving and Marginal Utility.”

So Thoreau was right. The formula for optimizing thankfulness and therefore, Joy, is to minimize excess stuff and live in a state of mild deprivation.

Hmmm, deprivation. that sounds kind of bad doesn’t it? I have found that deprivation, in itself, doesn’t necessarily produce gratitude or joy any more than our greenhouse always produces the best vegetables. There are plenty of miserable poor people to attest to that and it takes more than just solar heat in the daytime to grow good produce. But, like the greenhouse, maintaining the right environment is important where, with some additional care and tending, the fruits of thankfulness and joy can be most rewarding.

I know this advice is falling on a lot of deaf ears. “Mild deprivation” doesn’t sound very appealing even with some quasi-scientific/Economic justification. OK, so try a dare based on the more traditional Biblical justification found in Proverbs 30:7-9.

Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Economic theory confirmed in Scripture or the other way around? All I know is that this week, as I have focused my attention on being thankful for the simple, non-material things of value in my life, I have felt a deeper, lasting sense of peace. That feels pretty valuable right now.

How to Celebrate your Silver Wedding Anniversary

1stvillager — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:07:04 +0000

Yesterday was a very special day for me.
Twenty-five years ago, I married the most wonderful girl in the world.
For 25 years, she has proved how wonderful she is by putting up with me through thick and thin, wealth and poverty, births and bereavements.

Five years ago she followed me into the wilderness to begin a totally new adventure, building a self-sustaining community. In that time, she has quietly raised the gardens, canned the fruit and veggies, ground the grain and baked the bread, fed the rabbits and chickens and scooped their poop, finished raising our kids, hosted numerous preparedness fairs and Village events, braved a cold winter while our house was built with four of us packed into our little fifth wheel trailer, helped build our house, handled the bills, served in the local food bank and church leadership, started a business making and selling women’s purses, researched hundreds of ways to become more self-sufficient, and cheerfully supported me in my crazy dreams and grouchy moods through it all.

If that’s not love I don’t know what is.

Several days ago I blogged about thanksgiving and gratitude. There is nothing and no one in this world I am more thankful for than my dear, eternal companion. She has literally saved my life, repeatedly. Day before yesterday, we sat down together to list 25 top memories commemorating our 25 years together. More than 100 recorded memories later, the pace slowed as we cuddled before the fire. The sun set through the trees. Darkness fell as we listened to the wind outside, the rain on the roof and the swelling creek. We realized that we had barely scratched the surface and agreed that this was the best way to celebrate an anniversary whether on a tight budget – or not.

As a follow-up to our exercise in reminiscing, we did some of the more traditional things too. We found a highly rated Thai restaurant in Chattanooga and relived, with our taste buds, one of our favorite memories. That was a fun one. In our second year together, she accompanied me on a business trip to Thailand when I was working on the business plan to develop 7-Eleven there. She was 7 months pregnant with our first child. I was busy all day every day, buried in spreadsheets, so she bravely set out by herself to explore Bangkok sites and traffic on a noisy, smelly tuk-tuk. Over spicy Thai dinners, we shared her adventures.

So we resolved to spend our anniversary and whatever other time it takes, expanding the list, filling in the details and sequencing it by year. When finished, it will be a gift to our children. It’s time for them to know more about our love affair and why they turned out so well.

Twenty five years has been but an eye blink compared to the eternity we plan to be together. But it’s an important milestone on the path where my love for this goddess of patience, kindness and quiet perseverance increases with each year. I am forever in her debt.

Fitting that our anniversary falls every year right after Thanksgiving, don’t you think?

Gratitude: Links to Faith, Love and Joy

1stvillager — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 21:49:01 +0000

The abundant life starts and ends with gratitude enabled by faith.
This day, Thanksgiving, has its foundation in traditions begun by the Pilgrims.

The occasion was a successful harvest after months of extreme hardship and deprivation. The Mayflower survivors invited the Indian king Massasoit to their celebration, and he came with ninety-some of his men. The Pilgrims provided waterfowl and turkey; the Indians added five deer. There were games and athletic contests, and even a joint militia drill. The celebration lasted three days. But they did not call the feast “Thanksgiving,” and the record does not mention prayers of thanks or any kind of worship service. Some historians question whether this “first Thanksgiving” was a religious celebration at all. But that’s because they don’t know the Pilgrims and what they really believed.

The pilgrims were children of the reformation, Christians seeking to live according to their best understanding of Christ’s teachings. They understood that God graciously declares guilty sinners righteous on the basis of Christ’s perfect obedience and his death, substituting his perfection for our imperfection, paying our debt by proxy and overcoming both spiritual and physical death for us. This gift of legally transferred righteousness is received by faith and such faith is itself the gift of a sovereign God. But they also knew that grace doesn’t end there. They, no less than the Reformers, had faced the obvious questions: “Why then should believers do good works? Doesn’t the doctrine of justification by faith, a free gift, lead to sloth and lawlessness?” Isn’t it OK to simply declare your faith, then enjoy a free ride?

The Pilgrim answer, and the answer of Scripture, involves the nature of saving faith and the work of the Spirit who grants it. To the extent that one comprehends and accepts Christ’s infinite gift of redemption, won through unfathomable pain, one cannot help but feel gratitude. Gratitude changes one’s heart. The depth of one’s gratitude determines the depth of one’s joy. The video that introduces this post shows how we can cultivate a sense of gratitude by noticing and focusing on the goodness of the gifts (blessings) we receive and how gratitude is inseparably connected with joy.

This is the very nature of joy. When we enjoy a thing, we are thankful for it. We praise the gift to the giver and so enjoy both.

“Thank you for this ring! It’s magnificent!”
“What a fantastic dinner! It was the best ever. Thank you.”

When we find joy in another human being, we show our joy and gratitude with words and actions. We praise and magnify the one we love. We are thankful to love and to be loved.

“I’m proud of you, son. You’re the best.”
“I thank God for you every day. My life wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“There’s no one else like you! I love you so much!”

Joy finds its fulfillment in thankfulness, in praise and thanksgiving. Silent joy is a contradiction. Mute appreciation isn’t really thanks. God requires our thanksgiving and our love so that our joy may be full. Shakespeare said it well, “They do not love that do not show their love.”

The spirit of thankfulness and joy are gifts that are cultivated by the Holy Spirit, who also gifts us with faith. These four gifts (faith, gratitude, love and joy) are inseparable, and they begin with faith. They work together. The fruit of true gratitude is a desire to give back in some meaningful way, not only in words of gratitude but also in deeds. The Holy Spirit gives the converted sinner a delight in serving God. And so, the circle is complete. Motivated by these gifts, one’s desire to work toward perfection, which is the love of God, increases. Long before Shakespeare, James said the same thing about the interconnected nature of faith, gratitude, love, and works, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” James 2:18

There is a perennial debate over whether salvation comes of faith or works. That debate introduces a needless semantic division amongst believers in Christ that is easily resolved with an understanding of the inseparability of the gifts from the natural consequences of those gifts truly appreciated and received. The core question is not whether we are saved by faith. It is, what is the quality of our faith? . . . or is my faith sufficient for salvation?

If it is true that the natural and inevitable consequences of true faith in Christ are gratitude, joy and a desire to serve, then it should be easy to measure the strength of one’s own faith to salvation. I am careful here to say, “one’s own faith” as feelings and desires are matters of the heart, known only to oneself and God. Each of us acts on those feelings in different ways that we believe will be the best ways to serve and may not be apparent to others. Hence, the command that we withhold judgment of others.

As I celebrate this day designated for Thanksgiving, I am prompted to evaluate the quality of my gifts. “For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.” (D&C 88:33) Here is the test of whether I have actually received the gift . . . (the gift of salvation through faith):
1. Is my heart overflowing with thankfulness for my gifts?
2. Is my gratitude evidenced by deep, abiding joy that transcends the fear, pain and difficulties of this day?
3. Am I filled with a joyful desire to show my gratitude through returning obedience and service to God by serving my fellow man?

If the answer to any of these questions is questionable, then the question remains, “have I received the gift of salvation through faith if gratitude, joy and love are obviously lacking?” If not, as Shakespeare might have said it, they have not faith who do not show their faith.

Comfort and Joy
That gift of joy and comfort was not meant to be enjoyed only after this life is over. This life is hard, often painful. But Christ promised, “…my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt 11:30 That is the promise of joy and comfort now.

The Pilgrims and Puritans are almost always portrayed as obsessive killjoys and miserable downers. There’s little truth in that image. Joy wasn’t an afterthought for our Pilgrim forefathers. For them, joy stood at the beginning, in the center, and at the end as a natural product of faith. For them, God was joy, even when they were hungry and that same joy expressed itself in thankfulness. For the Pilgrims, a day of rejoicing is necessarily a day of thanksgiving. And throughout Scripture that sort of rejoicing means feasting, fellowship, and worship. The Pilgrims were deeply committed Christians who had braved an ocean and a wilderness to seek and serve God. When they rejoiced together, it would not–could not–be other than a time of thanksgiving to their Lord and Savior. Yes, the Pilgrims gave thanks to God and so should all of us.

On this day of thanksgiving, my wish for all is that our burdens will be light and easy, that our joy and gratitude will be full as we contemplate the eternal blessings that are our gifts from God and that we will feel compelled to share that joy, love and gratitude with others.

It’s not what you make. It’s what you keep that counts.

1stvillager — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:10:51 +0000

“Sustainability“

It’s the buzzword of the decade. Wrapped up in that word are other buzzwords like “green” and “eco-friendly“. But these words represent passing fads. The bedrock reality underlying sustainability is a much more prosaic, boring, yet little understood word, “Economics”. It’s a terrifying word. It suggests complex supply / demand curves and the inscrutable workings of inscrutable institutions like the Federal Reserve, the IMF and the World Bank. People are increasingly frustrated and angry with the “banksters”, politicians and other manipulators of “the economy”.

Take a deep breath. It’s actually quite simple at our level. Make more than you spend. That’s it. Take charge of your life. Live frugally. Be industrious. Build and create.

That’s not to say that one need not be aware of the many external factors that weigh in on the spending side of the equation. America’s favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, is next week.

The Washington Post informs us Thanksgiving Dinner this year will cost 13% more than last year. Yup, inflation is accelerating. It’s about to get a lot worse. Thankfully, I’ll be keeping more of what most people will be spending on a Thanksgiving feast this year. We raise our own vegetables and poultry!

We’ll be enjoying some non-traditional, but delicious green tomato pie, remnants of our summer garden after a hard freeze last week. Interesting how that word “Sustainability” is increasingly associated with another buzzword, “self-sufficiency“. Keeping more of your output is inseparably connected with controlling both your income and outgo. And that’s what self-sufficiency is all about – personal independence and control.

The good life is about more than financial economics. Peace of mind is an even bigger part. That’s why self-sufficiency, the sense that I’m in control of my destiny is so closely connected with sustainability and economics, which are all about achieving an abundant life. Abundance can be in things, but has a lot more to do with state of mind. It’s hard to have one without the other.

It’s not easy to be self-sufficient and independent. It takes forethought, planning, intelligence and work, all values that were common to the early American ethic that seem to have become lost in the generations of excess. Thankfully, those values are coming back into fashion.

One of the obvious elements to consider in the outgo part of the equation is the general cost of living. We selected rural Tennessee as the place to buy land and put down our homestead. Tennessee offers the lowest overall cost of living in the U.S. For thinking people who want an abundant life, keeping more for themselves of what they produce, it’s an obvious choice.

For thinking people, there are many ways to cut costs beyond the current coupon fad. Coupons only tie people to existing products and systems that reduce your control of your life. Coupons might be put to better use as band-aids with a little stick-em. That’s all they are anyway; short-term relief for a chronic disease. Band-aids can be useful, but not for long. In the Village on Sewanee Creek, an intelligent “Intentional Community“, people work together. Cooperative effort on gardens, homes and other projects increases productivity and reduces costs. We try to standardize on equipment and vehicles. That way, it’s easier to repair things (increased productivity) and maintain extra parts (reduced, shared costs on a few critical items). This kind of coöperation takes extra thought, extra preparation, extra commitment. That’s why most people don’t do it. That’s why most people don’t keep a lot of what they make.

At the end of the day, economics is pretty simple at our level. Keep more than you spend. Spend only on things of lasting value. Work with your neighbors. It’s all natural law. We call it … “in harmony with people and nature”. It’s our motto and it’s working to create a more sustainable, abundant life for people in the Village.

Quarter Horse Parable

1stvillager — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:46:06 +0000

Many of you who have visited the Village, if you were lucky, got to meet Joe. He’s a local who does a lot of work here. Joe is an expert with horses as well as an expert trader. A few days ago, knowing nothing about horses myself, Joe told me a little about his favorite, the quarter horse.

According to Joe:
The Quarter horse is a powerful, sensitive breed. They respond only to the lightest touch on the reigns, but are among the most brilliant, agile performers. They are the breed used in rodeos, barrel racing, cattle roping, all activities that need precision and power. Joe buys and sells lots of junk horses. Most cycle through rapidly. He has one that just keeps coming back. With each trade, Joe makes a little money. Ironically, this one is his favorite. It’s a keeper and it’s a quarter horse. He sells it and then re-buys it for a lower price when the new owner discovers that it is un-ridable. That’s because people who are used to less sensitive and responsive animals tend to horse them around – meaning that they use gross, rough jerks on the reigns and gouge with their feet. Quarter horses respond to rough treatment with an equally rough ride.

It takes me a while to process information like that. This morning I awoke with a lovely thought. Good people are a lot like a good quarter horse. They are bright, sensitive, hard-working, responsive to a light touch, but may buck under a rough hand. Because I sometimes view myself as ineffective, an unskilled horseman, I often feel that people don’t understand what I’m saying or respond as I would like. When I feel that way, the tendency is to be less sensitive myself, to tug on the reigns too hard or dig in with the spurs. Almost inevitably, that brings on a rough ride.

That thought reminded me of Christ, quietly writing in the dirt. A gentle suggestion, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. The accusers who were ready to stone the adulterous woman melt away. He turns to the woman and gently asks, “where are your accusers?” Then, I can imagine he said lovingly, almost in a whisper, “I don’t condemn you either. Go your way and sin no more”.

Good people are like a good quarter horse and the adulterous woman. Imperfect, sinful, like everyone else, but humble and sensitive, ready to respond to a gentle touch with power and grace. It’s a lesson I struggle with over and over. Today, I will try to remember Joe’s parable of the quarter horse and live with a lighter touch.

I am so thankful that I live with a constant, perfect example of the gentle touch, my dear wife, Becky.

Use it up, Wear it Out, Make it do or Do Without

1stvillager — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:59:20 +0000

This was my mother’s mantra when I was little. Having survived the great depression in her childhood, she was a raving evangelist of frugality. That didn’t mean I was deprived in any way. My Halloween costumes, made from pieces of this and that, were always extravagant pieces of art. I was always the best dressed kid in my school, consistently walking away with the best costume award.

Speaking of school, when I decided to run for school president in the 6th grade, I easily trounced my opponents due entirely to my father’s artistic creativity. He built an amazing, rotating sign from old wood scraps, a rotisserie motor, photos we developed in his basement dark room and his hand drawn Peanuts cartoons. How could I lose with an endorsement from Charlie Brown? Back in the day, that sign was so far ahead of its time, it became a sensation.

Some years lager, my wedding reception had a Hawaiian theme because my bride and I had lived in Hawaii as college students. True to form, both my parents dialed up the heat. My Dad created a replica of the church where we were married standing about eight feet tall. The room was decorated with life-sized coconut trees and an outrigger canoe, all made from scavenged stuff, but looking like they came out of a Madison Avenue design studio. The brides maids and grooms men wore authentic Hawaiian formal wear, made by my mother. Hawaiian friends provided the entertainment. They were willing to do the gig for free because they felt they owed my parents so much.

I guess that’s why this YouTube Video caught my attention. Whether or not you buy into man-made global warming and the need to reduce our carbon footprint, it’s just way cooler to get the creative juices going and make great stuff out of almost nothing. In our intentional community at the Village, we look for opportunities to be creative, together when possible, and as frugal as we can be. It’s what I would call an abundant lifestyle.

Anyway, I hope this video inspires you to do more. With some creativity, even a depression can be fun.

Moral Chemistry

1stvillager — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:04:55 +0000

Good Samaritan

If there is one principle that the greatest sages, prophets, philosophers and religions throughout the ages agree on, it is the golden rule.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It is the foundation of moral behavior.

Cultures that foster the golden rule have a higher degree of trust, resulting in greater coöperation, productivity and wealth.

The Village on Sewanee Creek has three foundational principles:

Focus on these three principles creates an environment where harmony, trust and productivity can flourish. But people are imperfect regardless of good intentions. So the message of this TED talk is encouraging. Above good intentions, there are physical explanations for different people’s ability to empathize and practice the golden rule.

Turns out that bio-chemistry plays a major role and there are things we can do to improve our own natural tendencies to live moral, harmonious lives. I particularly like the concluding prescription. Hope you enjoy this talk as much as I did.

Demographics Drive Change

1stvillager — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:52:54 +0000

Whether it’s population or economic growth, exponential growth inevitably ends with bust and collapse.
Here is a video that explains the impact of exponential growth.

World news is fixated on the UN’s pronouncement that we are passing the 7 billion population mark.

Ironically, there are many countries where population collapse is the issue as chronicled in this op-ed from AlJazeera, “BABY BUST SPELLS TROUBLE FOR RICH NATIONS”

Japan is the poster child, but Russia, Europe and even the US are on the list of countries now or soon unable to support aging populations. For those interested in seeing what the future looks like for countries with aging populations, check out this blog on the rusting of Japan. Written from the perspective of an affluent expat financial analyst who is fluent in the Japanese language and culture, I find it fascinating in an eerie-dreary sort of way.

While energy resource depletion (aka Peak Oil) is one of the fundamental tectonic plates shifting beneath our feet, population demographics is another one.

Demographics defined my thirty year career. Perhaps nothing is as sensitive to or exposes demographics so clearly as how people eat. I was at the forefront of exporting American food service and retail chains to emerging nations around the world. I successfully developed well-known brands like IHOP, Papa John’s, Pizza Inn, 7-E leven, Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin-Robbins and Blockbuster Videoin over fifty countries.

Baskin-Robbins Korea 1 of thousands

In the 70′s, it was Japan. There was a massive demographic shift as young mothers entered the workforce (similar to what had occurred in the prior 15 years in the USA. Japan was becoming more affluent. Young families with growing incomes and less time wanted convenient food options. Japan was mimicking America’s infatuation with chain restaurants. Japan’s growth curve was steep and so was the decline.

None of the brands I represented had the marketing or financial clout of McDonald’s, so I had to be sensitive to targeting only countries that had youthful, aspiring populations, mostly in developing countries where success was assured. For me, that almost always meant youth in Asia. Our greatest successes were in places like Japan (in the early days), Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other middle Eastern countries and more recently Eastern Europe, China and India. Developing Latin American Countries

I opened this shop in Pakistan

were OK for inexpensive products like Dunkin’ Donuts). Western Europe was always a tough nut to crack. My career taught me to be intuitively sensitive to population and economic demographics. Lesson number one.

Lesson number two was equally grounded in fundamental tectonic fact as expressed in the phrases “watch where the feet point” and “follow the money”. In the politically charged, sometimes back-stabbing corporate world of a senior executive, it was often difficult to know what alliances would form to support or betray you. Even hero de jour, Steve Jobs, was thrown out of the company he founded. Those things shift quickly in the winds of expediency and personal interests. But if you have your ear to the ground you can always sense the grinding at the tectonic level. That is where the truth is.

As world resources become increasingly strained and rich nations slide into poverty, I see a growing call coming for population control measures that will target the less productive members of society, the old and infirm. It will be justified as “scientific” and natural survival of the fittest. Alex Jones and commentators like him attribute that to the “New World Order” elites, rising fascism, communism and the “banksters”. The mass media counters by marginalizing that rhetoric as nut-case “conspiracy theory” or “fear mongering”. It is hard to forecast who will be the leaders, the movers and shakers in a radically changing world. But it is clear that the world is about to shake because at the tectonic level (demographics and resources) there are unmistakable clues to the inevitable. Leaders like Hitler are impotent by themselves. Their power derives from their ability to tap into the tectonic forces of the masses. Demographic tectonics tells me there will be a mass of people clamoring for solutions. History tells me that someone like Hitler will offer solutions. The solution to over-population and under supply of resources is inevitably eugenics.

Under the din of claims, counter-claims and fault-finding, the tectonic plates of the masses continue to shift. Regardless of where one hangs the blame, earthquakes, like nature in general, move without regard to our feeble attempts to explain them. It seems an ironic twist of language that my early career was defined by the potential of youth in Asia, while in later life I am thinking more about the potential for euthanasia. My early analysis of the demographic potential of “youth-in-Asia” led me to respond correctly and productively to the needs of the masses by developing thousands of restaurants and retail outlets in emerging nations. Later analysis of demographic potential for euthanasia leads me to the conclusion that in a eugenic world where only the fit and productive survive, we had better get on with the job of being not only fit, but productive and self-sufficient.

My baby boomer generation has mortgaged future generations with debt that cannot be repaid. Those generations will default on that debt just as surely as sub-prime mortgagees did.

Best Preparedness Manual

1stvillager — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:39:16 +0000

A very wise man said, “perfect love casts out fear” 1 John 4:18

Another wise man said, “if you are prepared, you shall not fear”.

In a world rife with fear of many things, these two dictums are prescriptions for peace and harmony. Our motto is, “In harmony with people and nature” . We seek to follow both of these prescriptions for peace.

I have frequently blogged about the need for communities to be bound together by a commitment to living the Golden Rule, the most basic manifestation of love towards fellow-man. Communities where that is the dominant principle will do well during periods of social and economic chaos.

Top Ten rules for Self-Governance, Neighborhood rules for a Sustainable lifestyle, Austere but Without Fear, Antidote for an Economy of Fear, Top 9 Antidotes for Hard Times

But, there is another popular dictum that says, “All you need is love” . . . NOT!
Yes, it’s important to surround yourself with loving people, but regardless of how heartfelt the singing, kumbaya does not feed, clothe or shelter. That’s where other forms of preparedness come in. To cover ALL you need, combine personal preparedness, know-how and self-reliance in a like-minded community with a commitment to support, share and care. Another name for that is the Village on Sewanee Creek.

My blog also has a lot of information on preparedness like Top ten Self-Sufficiency and Survival Skills, and we periodically sponsor preparedness fairs and workshop events open to the public,

Just as Holy Scripture is the manual for a life committed to love of fellow-man, there is a manual recognized by many as the final, comprehensive word on prepared, provident living. It’s called the LDS Preparedness Manual and you can download it FREE here.

Follow this manual and you’re halfway there.

Inspiring Action

1stvillager — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 20:53:20 +0000

Watch this thought-provoking video. Then scan through almost five years of my blog posts and see if you can answer this:

Why am I building this unique community in Tennessee?
Like Apple products mentioned in the video, it’s the reason people continue to buy land here at higher prices despite a terrible economy and a worse Real Estate Market.
Hint: It’s not about the land.
See if you can boil my why down to a few words. Then post it in a comment.

If your why matches mine it could be worth cash towards your entry into the Village.

Build a great house for under $10,000

1stvillager — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:44:34 +0000

Needing to build a guest house. Inexpensive, but strong, well insulated, attractive and off-grid ready. There is a series of YouTube videos featuring Bob Vila building houses with Steel Shipping Containers, sometimes called CONEX boxes. When finished, they make attractive houses, indistinguishable from others in the tract. But the cost per square foot is about on par with standard construction at $150 to $200 per square foot. Other than the appeal to save-the-earth recyclers, I have a hard time seeing the point. There has to be a better way.

Done, for less than one tenth the cost.

A little over a year ago, a friend bought two CONEX boxes to build a guest house. They cost $2k each, delivered in rural Tennessee from Atlanta.
He put them on six steel reinforced concrete piers next to the main house. He purchased good quality used double pane windows and doors from a local salvage place for about half of a song. It was handy to already have plenty of dry storage with the containers already in place. The old saying “time is money” turns out applies not only to the cost of labor and capital, but to one’s ability to buy materials at a discount. A dry, secure place to store materials while you take the time necessary to buy frugally and build is an important feature of CONEX boxes that saves lots of money. Over months, that dry storage was put to good use to accumulate inexpensive surplus or used components like sinks, toilets, cabinets, counters, carpet, tile and a wood burning stove from CraigsList, eBay and other local salvage sources.

Immediately on delivery, the boxes are dry and secure. But they aren’t insulated and that’s a big deal on a house. Without it, these steel boxes become ice boxes in winter and ovens in summer. It is fortunate to live in an area where Tyson has forced the closure of all the older chicken houses. That’s good in several of ways. First, the toxic stench is gone. Second, the neighboring chicken farmers are no longer subject to Tyson’s vassal labor conditions. Third, the chicken houses are slowly being disassembled and sold for scrap metal and the 1 to 2 inch solid foam insulation panels are often discarded. He acquired two kinds of insulation for less than a song (about the chorus of ~~Yankee Doodle~~ Dixie), almost nothing. The spun glass type went over the container tops and under the low-pitch steel roof. Because each container is built to handle the weight of ten or fifteen more containers stacked on it, each loaded with tons of cargo in hurricane force winds on a tossing ocean, there’s no worry about having a higher pitched roof to carry a snow load, especially in mild southern winters.

With a plasma cutter, a friend cut holes in the sides of the CONEX for doors and windows and a gaping hole between them to open up a large space for a living area. It was a fairly simple task to frame the holes with standard 2X4′s and install doors and windows. Using standard framing and drywall, it was easy to add interior walls for a storage room, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living/dining area and laundry room. Needing more space in the main house, the laundry was immediately moved into the end of one of the CONEX boxes, installing plumbing and electrical in the process. A huge chest freezer was added. In short order, parts of the new house were functional even before it was insulated. The thick marine plywood floors could be easily drilled for plumbing. Used cabinets and the electrical panel (also bought used) were easily mounted to the steel walls in the new laundry room and hooked up by a licensed electrician.

Then more studs were installed vertically on the exterior walls, screwing them flat, directly to the steel walls from the inside. The two-inch depth of the studs is perfect to frame the 2 inch thick insulation panels. Next, he ripped some treated deck boards and screwed them horizontally into the vertically oriented studs and nestled more 1 inch insulation panels between them and on top of the 2 inch ones. There are three inches of solid foam insulation on the walls, almost what you would have in a commercial walk-in freezer. With the insulation in place the difference was immediately gratifying. The space, while not yet aesthetically pleasing, was comfortable and livable. People interested in sustainable housing often speak of the relative advantages of insulation vs. thermal mass. With the container house, you get both! By putting the insulation on the outside, tons of steel are on the interior where the mass absorbs, retains and radiates heat or cold from AC, wood burning stove or other heating system. This thermal mass helps keep interior temperatures relatively even. Meanwhile, the insulation on the exterior keeps the extreme temperatures outside. Another benefit of putting the insulation on the outside is that it doesn’t eat up precious interior space. Finally, top off the insulation with exterior siding, and Wa-La, it’s beginning to look pretty nice. Eventually, as time permits, he’s thinking of cladding the exterior with cord-wood harvested from the property to give it a true rustic feel.

A trip to Dalton, Georgia, just across the Tennessee border was well worth it. Dalton is the carpet and flooring capital of America. Found a great deal on commercial quality carpet squares that stay in place without glue or tacking. You can easily replace just the soiled or worn ones. Granite tiles go under the wood stove and vinyl for the kitchen and bath. I love the look of the corrugated steel walls. Granted, they aren’t the smooth drywall look most people are accustomed to, but something a little different is nice. So, keep the variation in the walls. Simply paint them with some lively colors and accent the larger reinforcing members and doors with a contrasting color. It wouldn’t be hard to overlay the steel walls with drywall or paneling, but if you enjoy a different look and like saving the time and money, paint works just fine. I especially like the back-splash wall behind the kitchen sink. Blending several vibrant colors, you can create a rainbow effect that gives life to the kitchen. The deep corrugation in the steel is perfect for up or down lights that wash the wall and intensify the colors. “Inexpensive”, “innovative” and “attractive”.

CONEX guest house kitchen

As you work with these big steel boxes, there are endless outlets for creative innovation to be discovered. Once set on the level, you have already conquered the carpenter’s primary challenge – plumb, level and square. After that, it’s just a matter of hanging stuff on them. Rather than try to make the finished product look and act just like the surrounding cracker-box tract houses, it’s fun to tease out the unique benefits of building with them. From thermal mass/insulation qualities to the unique undulating aesthetics of corrugated walls, to very serious economic benefits, there is a lot to be learned and achieved with steel shipping container construction.

This project is only the beginning. The goal is to make this little house sustainable and off-grid with the same kinds of economic savings. Use Solar PV (photo-voltaic), but spend $10k or less to do it. Use hydro-electric from the 50′ waterfall nearby and wind. Integrate and balance these complementary renewable power sources for both the house and transportation. Use the battery pack on a golf cart to flexibly store and supply energy to the house, the cart and portable applications like running an electric chain saw or MIG welder somewhere out on the 750 acres that make up the Village. Folks in the Village on Sewanee Creek are looking for the freedom that intelligent, frugal, debt-free design can afford. We’re experimenting with these and other abundant lifestyle solutions. Thankfully, we share and help one another in our common goals, so I don’t have to do it all myself.

If this appeals to you, contact me for more info or a tour here

Moving toward something good

1stvillager — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 04:06:24 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

I recently had an inspiring conversation with someone who has had a long-standing interest in the Village. We talked about how fragile our world is on almost every front, from climate changes to economic melt-downs to rioting in the cities like London and Birmingham, to corruption in politics and big business. You all know the list.

Then the conversation turned to preparation. Why do we want a self-sufficient lifestyle? We both agreed that it is totally impossible to prepare for every doomsday scenario. We do our best to be pragmatic about our preparations. We keep our eyes wide open. We try not to be in denial, but also not in hiding. In the end, none of us know what challenges may come our way or when. Meanwhile, we don’t want to over-react.
Fear can ruin your life. It’s important that we continuously move towards something good, not just away from the things we fear may be bad.

I often think of the life Henry David Thoreau, the great poet and philosopher, described in his landmark book, Walden Pond. He moved there, not to flee anything, but to move toward a more simple, peaceful, self-assured life. He wanted the freedom that comes from stripping away the bonds that come with having too many possessions. They tend to own you, rather than the other way around. He wanted the peace that comes from knowing that your life is not dependent on the whims of someone else, a job or the economy, or … whatever. And he proved it possible IF you strip away the unnecessary.

Life without many of the things we had come to think of as necessities is actually pretty good. I no longer carry a cell phone. After realizing that we hadn’t turned on the TV for a couple of months, but were paying about $80 per month in satellite fees, we cut it off and haven’t missed it much for a couple of years. Life is slower now even though the seasons and years seem to be rushing by at an increasing pace. When I was a young executive on the fast track my greatest fear was being unemployed. Now I can’t imagine going back.

Reflecting on all the people who have visited us over the years, most of them at some time said how much they aspired to this simpler, freer lifestyle. Yet such a small percentage act on those desires. I think it’s all about how we deal with fear and desire. I think most people who look into the self-sufficient lifestyle are initially motivated by fear. Unfortunately for them, it’s the same fear that keeps them from making a major change in their lives because everyone fears the unknown and big changes.

Hopefully, the people who do make the change are the ones who have made the mental commitment to move toward things they desire in life and let the things they are moving away from gently recede into the background.

Aftermath of 9/11 – Hope, Peace, Power

1stvillager — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:40:58 +0000

Victor Guzman survived 9/11 from the 85th floor of the World Trade Center Watch this video to see how he lived to tell how 9/11 changed his life in a positive way.
In a strange way, his story is my story.

I was on the opposite coast that dreadful morning, but the impact was no less devastating. I had celebrated my 50th birthday 12 days earlier by being downsized from the best, most lucrative position of my career as International Division President of Allied Domecq (Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts). I almost never watch TV, but for some reason that morning I flipped on the news a few seconds before the image of the first plane hitting the first tower seared itself into my consciousness. I believe the impulse to turn on the TV at that moment was not an accident. I called my family together and remember telling them that I didn’t know what it meant, but it was hugely significant and the world would never be the same from that moment forward.

Newly emancipated from my career at its peak, I was still full of confidence. I decided to take advantage of that moment of freedom and reward my dear wife, who had faithfully followed me across the world as we climbed the ladder. We abruptly sold our California house, moved to Atlanta and built our 5,000 square foot dream house where we could be near her family.

What followed was four years of unemployment. It was a period when, like Mr. Guzman in this video, I had the time to be intensely involved with my family. We enjoyed precious moments working, playing and studying the scriptures together. It was also a time of grief and depression. My oldest son, stricken with the disease of schizophrenia took his life. The first five years following 9/11 was punctuated by some consulting work and one year as International Division Managing Director (President equivalent) at Papa John’s International. In that year, my performance exceeded all the targets I was given, but within one year to the day, I was fired by a boss who had never intended to fill that position and knew it would be vacant again one year from filling it. I had sold our Atlanta home and relocated to a place we didn’t want to be. Success meeting my objectives at Papa John’s had refreshed my confidence, but this time I was done with living inside the matrix, the corporate life.

It had been just over five years since 9/11 and my departure from Allied Domecq. The second 5-year phase of post 9/11 life began. Always supportive, Becky followed me as I threw what was left of our life savings and all of my energy into building a community where we could live free and independent, surrounded by honest, supportive, creative and hard-working people of like mind, good people who care about their fellow-man as Christ taught. This second 5-year segment has not been easy, nor financially profitable. Today, I have more questions than I have answered. But, of the things that are important, I am blessed. My children are now all independent – two in college, two married with children. I had time to be with them in their formative years, building and enjoying them. I live in a place of immense natural beauty. My personal land and home are debt free. I have time to think and have spent a much of my time meditating, reading and writing. My wife has thrown herself into raising a garden that feeds us. We have a secure, private supply of clean, pure, life-giving water. Our efforts have yielded a core group of trusted, beloved friends.

So, you can see, 9/11 has a great deal of significance to me. You could say it was the beginning of a ten-year journey through tumult, failure, sadness, depression, blessings, hope, peace and empowerment. The journey has just begun.

In this moment of reflection, I am impressed to tell you that
the outcome of the next years will depend on whether we sink into confused despair or realize that we are individually and collectively powerful. With God’s guidance, we can create a world of hope, peace and power.

Top Ten Rules for Self-Governance in a Self-Sufficient Community

1stvillager — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:23:17 +0000

On SewaneeCreek.com, my blog and preamble to the Village Covenants I have stated that the only rule of great import in the Village should be the “golden rule”. I also recognize that this rule may be the most difficult of all commandments to live in its fullness.

Some time ago, I recorded in my journal that for the past several mornings, our family spent our morning hour considering Christ’s monumental Sermon on the Mount. I marveled how he wove together sometimes seemingly contradictory concepts, presented back-to-back, not only achieving complete harmony between them, but a richness, depth and texture only seen or felt when the tapestry is viewed as a whole, stretched out on the wall and illuminated. One such observation was his comments on being non-judgemental, immediately followed by a caution not to cast our sacred pearls before swine. At face value, the determination of who qualifies as “swine” requires judgment. But stepping back from the tapestry, I was stunned to behold the picture of a supremely wise, quiet and untrammelled person who sees no need to judge others for their shortcomings because he is so focused on overcoming his own. With such a focus, he is so much at peace that he also feels no compulsion to share (or foist) his wisdom upon others who may not understand or appreciate the subtleties of truths he holds dear, having learned them by the hard knocks of personal struggle and knowing that without similar struggle, understanding does not follow. He walks his path at peace with himself, caring about others and prepared to love and uplift them without judging and without compulsion.

With this beautiful tapestry in full view, my heart-felt at peace. I wanted only to understand and emulate the words of the master.

Recently in reading Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography, I observed this same great spirit of peaceful wisdom. Gandhi commented that Christ was his greatest example and that Christ’s Sermon on the Mount is the best example of how we should live. Yet, he commented, the people who least understand or practice Christ’s teachings are Christians. Whether that is true or not, I do not know. But I do know that mature wisdom dictates that we follow the principles laid out in this supernal sermon and lay aside our petty tendencies to judge, to exercise compulsion or to arrogantly consider ourselves above any other of God’s creations, our brothers and sisters.

Although I hold myself as a flawed, yet sincere disciple of Christ, I have discovered nuggets of great truth among all peoples and all spiritual traditions of the world. I hope that, just as the great Gandhi, a Hindu, was able to recognize the wisdom of Christ’s teachings, we can open ourselves to truth wherever it is found, meditate upon it, personally adopt and emulate it and become people of deep and abiding wisdom, faith, hope, and love for one another.

Can that happen in a world so full of strife? Are the principles taught in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount really practical to live? Though many would dismiss it as impossible in our modern, complex and competitive world, I submit that it is no more difficult, no less possible than it was in Christ’s time. And if we are to find peace in this life, the ONLY way.

The Spirit of Self-Sufficiency

1stvillager — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:27:36 +0000

There seems to be a general consensus among people that times are hard and will likely get harder. People are fearful and dissatisfied. Some who are awake to the fragile nature of our world are frantically provisioning for all sorts of real and imagined calamities. While it’s good to prepare, our best preparations are not in things. They are in us.

This is illustrated in a book I finished just last evening. Unbroken is the true story of Louie Zamperini–a juvenile delinquent-turned-Olympic runner-turned-Army hero. It tells of his horrendous suffering as a castaway on the Pacific and in Japanese POW camps, of deprivation, hatred, redemption and his resilient, unbroken spirit. I awoke peacefully this morning thinking of a journal entry I made several years ago. I had completely forgotten and was surprised to find a second notation about a dream I had where I too was an Olympic runner. Funny how much the subconscious mind remembers and connects when all is lost to the conscious mind. Here are some excerpts from my journal.

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3/24/2009 – Journal Entry

I have a new favorite scripture.

Philippians 4: 11-13
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

As our family read this passage, I was inspired by Paul’s strength and courage in a Roman prison – for 5 years.
We had a wonderful discussion about what it was that made Paul so strong in the face of deprivation of everything that normal people hold dear – especially his freedom. It strikes me that the last verse holds a key.
Paul asserts with infinite confidence that he can do all things. What caught my attention was the why and how of that strength. I noticed that in the King James Version it does not say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Instead, it says which strengthens me. The antecedent that which refers to is doing through Christ. By doing His will, acting on His eternally wise counsel, we are strengthened. Paul emphasizes an important part of that counsel when he says he has learned to be content in whatever state he finds himself. In modern terms, “happiness is not in having what you want, it’s in wanting what you have”.

I am filled with His Spirit, His strength and His peace most, not when I am on my knees begging for it, but rather when I am doing my best to do and be as He counsels…. then I am strong, capable and confident that I can do, be and withstand all things. In those moments, a deep sense of peace distills upon me and I am happy regardless of what is going on around me.

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Some one hundred years ago it was determined that the average American had about 70 wants, things he desired to have. A similar survey was taken of his grandson and he had nearly 500 wants on his list and today, I’m sure that number is even higher. Why? Because people are not content in what they have!
(Joe Guglielmo)

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10/9/2009 - Journal Entry

In the past few months I haven’t thought much about this scripture.
Last night I had a strange, vivid, unusually coherent and powerful dream that seemed to last most of the night. I dreamed I was in the Olympics as a sprinter and surprisingly (as I dislike running and have no talent for it) won a medal. After the race, there was a great deal of pomp and confusion. We were dressed in regal clothes with lots of patriotic emblems and medals representing our athletic accomplishments. We were taken to special stores where we could buy more commemorative stuff and shuttled about for photo op’s and interviews. At one point the whole group was asked to think hard and come up with 100 short quips about goal setting that could inspire others.
In my dream, I came up with only one statement. It was “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”.

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Paul was right. Self-Sufficiency is not about physical preparation as much as it is about spiritual and mental preparation. We must learn to be at peace, strong, contented in whatever state we find ourselves. A wise man once said, “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear”. Prepare your state of mind by wanting less.