Going backwards.

When I was a kid growing up we didn’t have terms like ADHD, OCD, ADD, and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Those things most surely existed, but I think that those of my friends who may have had one of these disorders probably got them solved by a good ass beating. I know the couple times I exhibited the Oppositional Defiance Disorder, my dad’s belt defiantly beat that little sucker out of me.

When we were kids we didn’t have playstations, xbox, or gameboys. We did have Atari and that little thing that went back and forth on the black screen. Computers were nothing like what we have now, cell phones? What the hell were those things? Boy have we come so far…so far from those stone ages, as well as so far from that kind of life that was so damn better for us.

Julie and I were driving to Agway to get some pine horse bedding pellets (we use it for cat litter), and as we usually do when in a vehicle we talk about a lot of different things. Today it was how much different life is now than when we were kids growing up. I think that I had a great childhood growing up. My parents instilled in me the skills and morals that make me the man I am today. Though both my parents worked, I wasn’t babysitted by the television, and the games I played were outside with other kids my age. I was able to ride my bike down town to get a slurpee from 7eleven if I had the money. We played in the creeks and fields around our houses. Life was grand.

Where have those days gone? Boy how far we’ve fallen from that time period. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the technology that we have today. Hell, without it I wouldn’t be typing this without it. We weren’t knocking life today, too much. What Julie and I were saying is how we are drifting back towards those days of self-reliance.

We’ve been gardening for the past couple years, canning the bounty from those gardens, and enjoying the simpler way of life that this offers us. As we continue on this path of self-reliance we notice that the technological things we have are used less and less. The television has been silent for the past 3 nights. Working outdoors in the garden and helping tend my mother-in-laws sheep sunup to sundown has made for good sleeping at night. It feels great.

We came to the conclusion in our debate while driving to and from the Agway, life would be so much easier and healthier if we were to go back to the way life was. Our ancestors worked hard for what they had, nothing was handed to them like a lot of people these days. They grew and raised their own food. Today people are so far removed from their food it isn’t funny. The other day in a conversation, a woman said to me that she couldn’t eat an egg if she saw a piece of fur on it. FUR?

Our ancestors knew how to grow and save the food they needed to get through the hard winters. They were so more active than we are today (I know that I am not one to talk being as I’m morbidly obese)but because of the lifestyle they led, they were so much healthier than we are today.

 What Julie and I are working towards is a freer, healthier, self-reliant, and sustainable lifestyle. I think that with the state of our Nation, we could all stand to learn some lessons from our ancestors, and work for a better way of life.

Don't we have more things to worry about than raw milk?!?

Today marks the start of the trial for a farmer that was doing what all good farmers do...supplying his customers and family with wholesome, good, ethical food. Are you people as pissed off about this as I am? I have no idea why the government must get involved with this? I can understand food safety concerns, but come on, they are allowing genetically modified food to be produced and sold without labels. This doesn’t raise any questions?

The customers of Vernon Hershberger are well aware of the risks (few that there are) of consuming raw milk. He was not selling raw milk to a huge population like Hood does so where’s the risk? The supermarkets like Kroger, Hannaford’s, Shaws, Shop and Save, Market Basket, IGA…all sell raw meat. Why isn’t the government stopping this and taking the butchers to court? Isn’t the buying of raw meat just as dangerous as buying raw milk? How about the overwhelming bacteria that is found in raw hamburger in these stores? Yet they can still sell it.

I think that our government has whole lot bigger problems to solve than whether a farmer sells raw milk to a select group of private buyers. Like say why they can’t balance a budget, or figure out who’s to blame for Benghazi. I have no idea how we can make a difference, but I know that we need to come together with a solution pretty damn fast.  

Julie and I were talking about some of this just the other day as we often do when driving anywhere. We talked about the problem we are currently having in this Nation with illegal immigration. We were saying that we could possibly solve a couple problems here, and it involves our prison system.

Why can we not kick all the illegal’s out of our country and use the current population in our prisons to do the migrant work that we are paying the illegal’s to do? Take the money that the migrants get paid and hire some veterans that are out of work, and pay them to guard the prisoners as they do the work. You have created jobs for out of work veterans, and got the no good low lives in prison out in the sun and doing something useful for once. People will say that the prisoners have rights and this is an infringement on those rights. I say that the moment they decided to break the law, they gave up those rights, why should you and I have to pay for them sitting in prison, good square meals, a bed, TV, books, etc…

I don’t know folks, but I think we need to take a hard look at what we are doing, this place is going to hell in a hurry and I see no light at the end of the tunnel. What if we got rid of all three of the branches of government and rebuilt it from the ground up, with people who cared about our Nation and fellow man, more than the paycheck, benefits, and power? Probably would never work…cause we can’t seem to agree on anything these days.