Yes I agree on the ivermectin. Where do you find it?
I cannot type any slower for you to understand.
Telling me I am intellectually dishonest is an ad hom and disqualifies you from continuing to dialog with me.
Enjoy your life and the holidays
We have had solstice gatherings here for a long time. What we do is drum the sun back.
BrushHog said “homesteading isnt for everybody but is still a worthy subject”
You got that right.
There is a popular expression where I live “ganbatte!” which means “do your best under the circumstances.”
I am not a homesteader but my wife is mailing out boxes of oranges from our favorite tree, which matures early and next month I will send out my lemons to some city dwellers. I am still looking for the easiest way to harvest, store and prepare my own high energy snack food. olives, and finally figured out how to best store and use plums from our enormous tree. Mohammad. I am eager to hear of your recent exploits from your 4 acres. Such wealth producing acts are most important to our peak prosperity and give us meaning to life and are minor acts in the homesteading game. I applaud your good fortune in becoming rich by converting wealth produced by others into your personal possession due to your sagacious early understanding of cryptos in the bitcoin game. But I also respect your ability to create your own wealth and am interested, and will learn from you in that endeavor (real wealth creation) as well.
That said, the superior use of bitcoin to facilitate real wealth creation is an extremely important topic that you have brought up. I am sure that we will hear some great stories but at present am not excited about boring stories of hiding wealth from evil governments and accumulating wealth from others by “buying low and selling high.” Homesteaders and wannabes already produce wealth outside of the reach of evil tax authorities. We already have that covered. I want to see new businesses start up that CREATE copious amounts of energy, food, water, clothing etc. due to the superior qualities of Bitcoin. I hope that you can relate such stories which we can emulate. Getting rich quick by giving money to unknown 3rd parties with the expectation that wealth will grow up thereby doesnt quite connect the dots for a superior life for me. Maybe after each bitcoin is worth 2 million dollars things will settle down and we can get equity and fairness in wealth creation between individuals who exchange on a more level basis. Maybe then bitcoin will encourage real wealth creation.
We are not homesteaders here but do our best to become partially resilient. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step Mohammad and many do not complete the journey to homesteading. But the journey itself is a goal. So is becoming familiar with and working with bitcoin. Presently I dont see bitcoin “changing” allocations facilitating the creation of more wealth in this world (motivate people to work hard for example) other than helping rich people who amassed much wealth hide it from others.
At some point I hope that bicoin can facilitate real commerce in my community but am not holding my breath, as I see speculators dreaming about free shit for nothing as the main altered economic thinking and behavior from that good cryto currency. Not sure how withdrawal from working to produce real wealth in favor of free shit for nothing instant millionaire!!! is helping my society. On the other hand you are right that bitcoin is perhaps the best tool for dealing with the financial collapse.
My society has endured at least 7 or 8 financial collapses in its recorded history and many of us are waiting for the next, and will recover like we always do, by pulling together as a large family. I wonder how bitcoin would help or interfere with our next collapse and recovery. I would hate to see bitcoin used to create a new class structure of haves and have-nots but prefer to see very rich end up at the same place as the very poor. If the same instant millionaire free shit for nothing minded bit coin holders end up on top after this collapse (the rich in America will use it this way…?) then bitcoin will be seen as an evil force in society. Prove me wrong.
My town produces much more food than it consumes yet no one here is a homesteader and almost everyone is producing something for consumption, especially those in their 80s as they pursue the homesteading game. Baby steps.
The Emergency Use Authorization that the pharmaceutical industry is looking for means that they cannot be held accountable for distributing the vaccine. This means that if you have a side effect you CANNOT sue the pharmaceutical manufacturer. Recognize that you also can’t sue the government. And no doctor or pharmacy will give you a vaccine without you signing away liability for any possible side effects. This means that if you are vaccinated and happen to be one of the unlucky ones . . . you are stuck with paying the price. You can file your situation in the VAERS database at the CDC, but it doesn’t guarantee you anything. You then have to have your case heard and judged to be damage from the vaccine to collect any money.
All of that said, most people do not realize that ANYONE can file on VAERS that they or one of their family members has had a vaccine reaction. It doesn’t have to be a doctor. That is why if you do not get a vaccine from your doctor where they have noted the manufacturer and the lot number in your record, you really need to be sure that you have that information from whoever gives it to you or your family member. You will need that for a case filed n VAERS.
Here is a great article on the latest concerns with the new covid vaccines by the Childrens Defense Fund sponsored by Robert Kennedy, Jr.
FDA Investigates Allergic Reactions to Pfizer COVID Vaccine After More Healthcare Workers Hospitalized • Children’s Health Defense
Chris has provided the link to the EVMS data here:
https://www.evms.edu/media/evms_public/departments/internal_medicine/Marik-Covid-Protocol-Summary.pdf
https://www.evms.edu/media/evms_public/departments/internal_medicine/EVMS_Critical_Care_COVID-19_Protocol.pdf
As far as ivermectin goes, I was able to pick some up at my local Tractor Supply in the Equine section…
In the 5,500 page spending bill a provision will allow the Department of Homeland Security and the Labor Department, at their description, the ability to increase foreign visa workers. This at a time when nearly 18 MILLION American workers struggle to put food on the table.
https://youtu.be/hEWXXUk2ISw
Stimulus Bill - 30 Billion for tracking and tracing vaccine implementation. And a minuscule $600 for the the hollowed out middle class.
https://youtu.be/9o6TBYQiKX4
New motto - hey I am doing fine, I know, it sucks to be you!
In my imagination I see many of us on a pilgrimage to MA on some Solstice or Equinox to celebrate each other’s humanity, warts’n all. And, yes, clean out the barn and feed the chickens, running around uncooked.
One of my favorite books was written by Geert Mak. This book has also been translated into English and has the titles “Jorwerd” and later “An island in time”. It tells the story of a small village, Jorwerd, in the north of the Netherlands, from the region where I grew up. So it was very recognizable to me, although most of it happened before my time.
It shows how the countryside has changed since the 1950s and 1960s. Where everything took place for centuries around a few farms and life took place in small communities and villages. Each village had a grocery store, cafe and of course the church. Each had no profession, but was his profession. The baker, the policeman, the pastor, the farmer, the miller, the farmhand. This has remained unchanged for centuries. If you allowed someone to travel through time from the 16th to the 19th century, they would find more or less the same social connections. The clothes would have changed and some new inventions here and there, but that person would not have much trouble finding their way in that society of 3 centuries later.
That has changed radically since 1950-1960. Agricultural companies scaled up and mechanized. Workers were no longer needed. Other activities in villages therefore also stopped. Villages overflowed or became sleepy residential areas. You weren’t a baker, but you had a job in the bread factory. Shops disappeared and became supermarkets. The last that remained was the cafe and the church, which are now also closing.
This has happened at an unbelievably rapid pace. That transition happened in 10 or 20 years.
This transition not only led to an exodus of the villages. Loneliness, alienation, individualism, rejection of what is old, waste, gathering stuff, much, much stuff. It went with the same flow. This flow is not normal, although we are not used to it otherwise because a human life is too short to see such changes for ourselves. Our life is not going to change from normal to abnormal, but vice versa. That does not mean that we will go back in time and move around with a horse and carriage and that electricity will disappear. Technical progress has been made and that’s a good thing.
I really believe it is incredibly important to share. Without the intervention of money. Every person has something to share. It doesn’t necessarily have to be food. The point is to rebuild a community and that is something that can start on a very small scale.
https://www.unz.com/pescobar/behold-the-dawning-of-the-age-of-aquarius/
Much to ponder in this article about how the stars are aligning and historical - future meanings. I do believe in astrological influences. My take is what is discussed lines up with the Fourth Turning predictions.
To ignore building and/or enhancing personal and community resilience now is to ignore what I believe to be tangible, clear warning signs. When there is a megalomaniac like Klaus Schwab openly saying things like we must plan for cyber attacks, the likes of which will make the Covid crisis look like a walk in the park, it attracts my attention. Especially given the big wigs many ‘table top’ exercises that commonly and uncannily predate the calamities & disasters they are supposedly making mitigation plans for. I do not believe these things to be coincidental, in the least.
So my perspective is there is a strong likelihood of coordinated cyber attacks and resultant grid down scenarios in the coming months, year or two at most. The big question is how long they will last. Days, weeks, months? How long will each of us be able to ride out such a scenario, were it to occur.
Thinking about this, planning for such a thing does not mean having to succumb to fear or irrationality. It simply means being prepared for anything in ways that any given person’s circumstances permit, as well as doubling down on emotional and spiritual resilience to supplement the physical preps. The latter will be useless without the former.
I am no longer fearful of what the future may or may not bring. I have a quiet confidence that I have done all I possibly can to be ready for anything - based on so much of what I have learned here at PP. This in turn is allowing me to focus on all of the initiatives I have taken on within my circle of influence - all of which are geared towards building personal and community food security and resilience that is inclusive and accessible for everyone.
While I do not like what I see as dystopian parts of the Great Reset agenda, I do like the concept they are calling ‘build back better’. I am doing my part to help my community build back better so that we have foundational strengths that will help us to pick up the pieces and emerge stronger & better, in more inclusive & equitable ways, after the dust settles on whatever is going to unfold in this Fourth Turning. And I feel really good about that!
Preparations for different scenarios are an insurance policy that enables us to keep on going about our lives. It is time and money well spent, bringing some level of peace of mind, no matter how the stars align and exert influence.
I am too old to believe that message! How valuable will cryptocurrency be with no electrical grid? Just as tulips were once wildly valuable and then they weren’t I believe Bitcoin and crypto currencies will be the same. There is a scene in the movie “The Road” where the Dad finds gold coins and inspects them and then puts them back. They weren’t edible. I remember living without electricity after the 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake, without power for weeks. Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies would have been as valuable as the TV was.
I do understand the excitement and the desire to win big. Very much like a roulette table or a slot machine. Many people are wired in such a way to be drawn toward that activity. Some of us are not. Some of us believe that if you can’t stand in front of something and protect it with a gun it ain’t yours. And if you need an army to protect it, go to plan B or C.
I told you so - how about pride cometh before a fall?
AKGrannyWGrit
@brushhog,
I deeply love your two posts: the one describing your life and the other your rotation plan. I resonate with the first - my only wish being that I had discovered how much I love the soil 30 years ago. But, hey, with good fortune I’ll yet get 30 on the land, have my ashes added to the earth, and leave it all to my next generation. (The succession plan is already in place.)
The “Norfolk 4-course rotation” is simplified genius! I’m eager to try it on one of my garden plots, where I’m starting the work of building soil out of clay.
Thank you for both. Congratulations on a life being lived well.
I remember back in the beginning of the pandemic that Chris reported on concerns about vaccines (tested in monkeys, if I remember correctly) where they did fine with the first contact with the virus, but then upon second contact their immune systems went lethally haywire. I am interested to know if this new mRNA technology poses any kind of similar risk? I realize it may be too early to know for this specific vaccine, but I am wondering about animal testing of this technology that may have happened previously.
yagasjai,
You wrote:
I remember back in the beginning of the pandemic that Chris reported on concerns about vaccines (tested in monkeys, if I remember correctly) where they did fine with the first contact with the virus, but then upon second contact their immune systems went lethally haywire.That was actually a study involving cats. The cats tolerated the vaccine well at first, but when the cats actually encountered the virus, there was a one hundred per cent death rate due to antibody-dependent amplification. I have been trying to find that study but I have so far not been able to locate it on the net. Here is a statement about it:
- The formation of so-called “non-neutralizing antibodies” can lead to an exaggerated immune reaction, especially when the test person is confronted with the real, “wild” virus after vaccination. This so-called antibody-dependent amplification, ADE, has long been known from experiments with corona vaccines in cats, for example. In the course of these studies all cats that initially tolerated the vaccination well died after catching the wild virus.
It’s like being stung by a wasp. The first time a person who goes on to develop an allergy is stung, there’s a normal reaction. The immune system is over primed for the next attack and has an anaphylactic reaction upon second and subsequent exposures.
This is just one of the things that alarms me about vaccines. The other is the rush to market, on many fronts. The lack of long term testing and also the manufacturing conditions in a rushed atmosphere. The FDA does not monitor properly because they have been captured by the corporations that make the vaccines.
On his first afternoon at Merck’s Durham plant, Menachem’s concern deepened when his FDA supervisor belatedly emailed him a 19-page document, sent to the agency from a confidential informant at the facility. The allegations described a biohazard nightmare. Workers appeared to be defecating and urinating in their uniforms, and feces had been found smeared on the floor of the plant’s production area, the letter alleged. In a sterile manufacturing plant, bathroom breaks can be difficult to take because they require additional time, which could serve as one possible explanation for the events inside the Merck plant
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/fda-covid-vaccine-plant-inspectors
What Mohammed Mast said about homesteading is true, yet it felt incomplete. And I believe what’s missing is this: “homesteading” is most useful when incorporated as a mindset, as compared to describing the nature of one’s home. The principles of homesteading are not as much about stuff & land as it is the mindset & motivation to become more resilient & self-sufficient than before through the act of creation and stewardship.
It’s true that not everyone can afford 180 acres. But it leaves out the fact that only a relative minority even WANT to manage that much land, and even fewer are CAPABLE of using all of it. Chris looks to have a beautiful place with lots of land, and it sounds like that’s right for him and his goals. But many of us, while appreciating how cool that is, don’t yearn for that exact situation. And I’d bet Chris wouldn’t advocate that same path for everyone else either (just assuming that’s the reason why the t-shirts say “resilience” rather than “homestead” 
)
For some, the path to homesteading is a small country house with a big garden on less than an acre. For others, it might be buying a condo or townhome in a small town, running a business from their home and making use of community gardens. And still others may not garden at all but instead have a normal house in the country with several extra acres of woodland that they rent out to campers, RV’ers, and others. And while our extended family collectively owns a modest-sized place in the country with a garden and small berry orchard, for me homesteading is actually more about using our apartment property as a home office to make an independent living mining, staking, & trading cryptocurrency, drawing my comics and publishing them on Hive, and working on my drones.
Ultimately, it’s not about where or how much land you have or being fully self-sufficient, it’s about finding a way to make a place of any size a productive asset and becoming more self-sufficient than we would be without it. Maybe this is a better and more useful definition we all can agree on? 
Hey Granny, from your lips to God’s ears. Seems God didn’t get all the memo’s and instead were sent to President Trump where he relayed a new message: $2000 for each individual and $4000 for a married couple. He wants the current Bill to be amended with changes and the cash to us hard working Folks may have a chance of being more realistic. Who can live on a one time check of $600 bucks, no one, it wouldn’t cover a months utility bills. Honestly, I have no idea where these fools come from but collectively they serve themselves and certainly not the people. How in HELL did Trump lose this elections? It is pretty amazing and in my case I have no doubts that all the shenanigan’s that can be done to elect anyone but Trump was a timely and controlled dump of votes in favor of Biden. I will honor that he is my president but we all know what happened here, at least those like myself who watch this election from start to finish. I was comfortable with Trumps lead and then the dumps started coming in and what the fuck! Trump called all of this before the election and is right. My God, here in Detroit , Michigan they had more votes than registered voters!!! That’s called a rigging and all votes should be voided. Just my 2, we are losing our country and all that happens is shrugging shoulders. Me, I just want to disappear and head to our Cabin where I hope I’ll get a couple days in it before someone comes to my door with their M-16 and tells me I got to go, then starts to eating my food I busted my ass to produce. Shameful but, we’ll wait and see what the “Great Reset” intentions are really all about. I really hope I’m surprised and a great system appears that is equitable to all and we repair Mother Earth first and we change our ways. We have so totally screwed up every part of our environment, ecosystems and fisheries that we are in an emergency situation. Thing is we need science to really be the leaders now and they are failing us spectacularly. Fauci! Don’t need to go there but…REALLY! I will aggressively and firmly apply for any job that is inclusive of all lands and waters being cleaned up and for heavy fines put on the future polluters. The fare way to punish is to give these people a punishment equal to the crime. Just make them pay their sentence working every weekend picking up garbage until the job gets done. No more plastic products that isn’t biodegradable. We can change our packaging easily. This is a long comment, we all get the picture. Peace BOB
@nickbert said
...for me homesteading is actually more about using our apartment property as a home office to make an independent living mining, staking, & trading cryptocurrency, drawing my comics and publishing them on Hive, and working on my drones. Ultimately, it's not about where or how much land you have or being fully self-sufficient, it's about finding a way to make a place of any size a productive asset and becoming more self-sufficient than we would be without it.Not quite what I can assent to embracing as a common definition of homesteading. The core issue, imo, is antifragile. Homesteading is in itself a great lifestyle, but done wisely it is also a key element of becoming antifragile. If done wrongly, even homesteading can increase fragility - for example, by having a mortgage for one's property that cannot be paid off at need; or, by depending on annual supplies of seeds from commercial seed sources; or, by not having an on-homestead means of maintaining and building soil health. Becoming antifragile is a process and involves strategizing. For example, debt = fragility. But in addressing debt one person may choose to keep a mortgage even though s/he could pay it off because the interest rate is so low that real inflation helps eliminate it, in order to use more capital for infrastructure development without depleting emergency funds. For another person, getting the mortgage paid off asap may be more important because s/he hasn't a bank account sufficient to safely settle the debt if required. Antifragile means different things to different people. I agree that for some people it can mean multiple streams of income, or securing rent of one kind or another from one's land rather than working it oneself. For me, that might be less fragile, but it's not antifragile. To be antifragile means, for me, that I can keep body and soul together without any recourse to the market economy, and without the use of power tools. I am fully engaged in using both to prepare the land-based infrastructure that enhances my ability to continue in the face of a complete economic meltdown and through market disruptions (recently stress-tested due to Covid lockdowns), but every improvement and addition I make has a common base criterion: that it contributes to surviving and thriving even if fuel, electricity, power tools, or the broader market economy become unavailable. To me that is homesteading as traditionally and popularly understood. Redefining the term might feel more inclusive, but it doesn't help clarify the intention contained in talk about the homesteading lifestyle. Rather, it can lead to self-delusion about one's preparedness. If the world we know ends, I will not be fully self-sufficient. I will be able to live comfortably on what we produce on-property, but I don't raise meat animals other than chickens and I thrive on periodic red meat better than completely off it. So, I source red meats locally, and I can hunt and trap if necessary. Meanwhile, I use local growers to supplement what I produce for myself. Local economies that can convert to trade, trust, and barter also contribute to antifragility and I have such relationships. Yet, over the coming years I will incorporate my own red meat production for the added security it will provide me. People living in most settings can improve their antifragility through versions of homesteading as long as they have some soil. The permaculture community has demonstrated ways to scale land-based antifragility from a tiny yard to a farm of many hundreds of acres, in climates from near-arctic to Jordanian desert. All that's required is to research permaculture projects for one's climate zone, and to imitate/adapt existing successful projects. In addition to soil, time is needed. Being able to deploy significant money cuts time significantly. But labor can substitute for money, it's just slower; people of modest means need to get started asap. I also think it makes great sense for people of modest means to pool resources on a common undertaking. It's not easy; as Chris has noted, some people don't fit the needs and mix - therefore dating is always good before getting hitched. That also takes time, and should involve working on projects together, and talking about visions and interests while working side by side. I'm less sanguine about apartment and condo dwelling. Especially in highly urban areas. The absolute reliance upon public services (water, power, sewage) coupled to the lack of food production area could not allow me to feel anything but quite fragile, no matter how many streams of income I had. There are interim strategies that can work in such a setting, but nothing that I can imagine that is really reliable for the next decade, let alone for my benchmark "100 year solution" metric. I think our entire American lifestyle is fragile, and a lot of it is increasingly so. I don't trust that the services many rely upon, and are even dependent upon, will continue over time. This spring's Covid-inspired supply disturbances confirmed me in my distrust. The anti-police sentiment that's taken hold in some cities supports my distrust. The macro economic debt-maximizing, fiat-currency vector we're on underscores and writes to me in bold letters that distrust is the smart perspective, as do the political shenanigans of health and welfare bureaucracies. I don't pretend I can foresee everything that could happen - some of which might deprive me of my antifragile set-up - but I don't see any reason to have any long-term expectation that public services and infrastructure will do a better job - or even an equal job - in securing my future and my grandchildren's future than what I establish for myself on my own land, and pass on to them. My homestead is a place that can sustain me and my descendants through long periods of instability and disruption. It is a steading on which can be maintained a multi-generational family home. It's no mistake that steading means steady, and that steady state means to endure with unchanging fundamentals for long periods of time, even under stress.