Where did we go wrong?

[ams3651]

I agree that people in rural areas are becoming rare. Alot of those with land and the ability have always to some extend grew their own food and lived off the land, so to speak. The majority of the population lives in over populated areas. My boyfriend and I have had this conversation about expense, when Hamburger Helper is $1 a box I cant beat that. When I lived in town and didnt have a washer and dryer I couldnt use rags instead of paper towels, I couldnt have a garden or chickens. Ive always liked baking but one day I couldnt find one scratch recipe in all my cookbooks for a cake. For me, the timing of me buying my home and land just happens to be at a time when going back to some old ways makes sense. For 12 years I lived in town and couldnt wait to leave.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

We at one time thought we had to have 2 incomes to survive. Even with 2 incomes we were living paycheck to paycheck.

Now I tell everyone I can't survive without seeds and chickens

No really, DH and I both work from the home, don't make a lot of $, but we own what we have and are able to enjoy it.

Something my DH and I were talking about the other day. So many people working 40+ hours a week, are never home to enjoy the things that job is paying for, shipping their kids off to school so they miss that AHA moment when their child first learns to read, and they are living life so fast it seems they never get to just sit on the porch and sip coffee!

I guess being SS to me means family, time, and love. It means being able to provide our basic needs from our own backyard, and never having to leave my driveway for the next great adventure!


edited for typo!

 

[dacjohns]

I'll be catching up a little later.

 

[Wildsky]

I think we all kinda agree here.

We've only been in a rural setting for just over a year, prior to this, we lived in San Diego - hubby and I both worked 40-50 hours a week - kids were in day care and after care, and we rushed home to throw a couple of frozen meals on for dinner - or opened packets and mixed with water :/

Now, we don't have lots of fancy stuff - but we're home more, I actually work part time from home, the kids always have at least one parent in the house - they get to play outside without us having to watch them. SO much safer.

We're not nearly self sufficient, but SO much better off than living in the big city with fast food and strange neighbors.
I cook meals from scratch more often than not - I made chicken noodle soup today and the kids are loving that. No more packets of noodles or potatoe flakes.
My hubby LOVES his mashed potatoes to have little chunks in it - and you can only do that with REAL potatoes..

 

[DuppyDo]

I think watching TV has brainwashed alot of people's thinking. They see these silly,unrealistic shows and think this is how life should actually be.
I'm also amazed at how many people are afraid to get there hands dirty, sweat and work hard,thinking its some kind of lowly thing to do. Our ways as a nation of wasteful consumerism is coming home to roost.
We Americans use a huge share of the worlds resources, and have come to expect this, as if its some kind of right. It's harder to survive today, two working parents,or a single parent, prices of everything are rising shapely, wages are not keeping up. We have been on an unsustainable course for a long time. Why are we in an energy crunch again? Why didn't we learn from the 70's oil embargo when Carter was president...? Money and greed...Oil and auto executives making back door deals on the golf course.
We love our children, we want to make life easier for them, yet obesity in the young is common now.Instead of being outside chasing a ball, moving there bodies, they sit and play video games. This mess were in has not happened overnite, its been a long time coming, and its not going to be easy to reverse. It will take doing with less, hard work and smart thinking. The worlds resources are running on empty...
We as a nation produce so much less than years ago, everyone wants to get rich on Wall St.and be the boss.
Keeping up with the Jones, wanting everything to look perfect.
I use to be so angry when i was a child and my friends were allowed to go to the beach and play. My dad made me work and do chores instead.Today i'm grateful that he did what he did.I learned to work hard,get my hands dirty, and i do enjoy hard dirty work...Don't get me wrong, i do like the goodies in life and things that make life easier, but i think we have gone wayyyyy overboard, and we need to get back to basics. Americans just use to much of the worlds resources and expect to much.Not all Americans, but wayyyyy to many.

 

[inchworm]

Recently, I have been thinking about how much knowledge has been lost in just a couple of generations. When I was very little, my mother sewed our clothes. We had a large vegetable garden and she canned our food and made things from scratch. She taught my older sisters these things, but being 8 years younger, she didn't bother to teach me those things. She said she and Dad worked hard for me to get a better start in life so I wouldn't HAVE to do those things. My Dad grew up where the only source of food was whatever you shot on the way home from school or the chickens in the barn. I have to assume my grandmother knew how to butcher a chicken and skin a squirrel. I haven't got a clue. As a child, I was amazed by my mother's old Fannie Farmer cookbook which had instructions for plucking and butchering. I bought a newer Fannie Farmer when I was an adult and was so disappointed that all those things were gone.

Inchy