This seems like a pretty good estimate of the problems we are facing over the next few years, and the probable outcomes, which aren’t going to be good for anyone.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/20/what-lies-ahead-2/
Tram, thanks for this. Some heavy reading as it laid out very serious outcomes that are sure to happen and anyone of these happenings could flip this economy into some serious outcomes. My, my, my. I wish you well. BOB
Being offline for a few weeks (painting the house) lets you discover some gems (like this post) waiting on you when you get back into things. Really nice to see that Chris and Adam have made such good progress. As Karen noted: It is a lot of work.
I’m jealous of the apples! I have two groups of apple trees on my place, one that came with the farm which were mostly chosen for eating and the other, mostly young ones, which I planted and are mostly for cider making… but also great eating. And I haven’t got one single apple on any of them. I’m not sure if it was the two snows in April or the dozen or so late frosts that did them in. What I do know is there probably isn’t an apple within 50 miles of this section of the Allegheny Highlands. Nor are there cherries. Or peaches. Or pears.
Sometimes that is life at 3000’ elevation. 
About the applicability of showing your wonderful new homestead to a group where a lot cannot make it happen. I congratulate you both and thank you for showing us your progress. Sometimes it hurts to see others grasping a dream that we ourselves have chased for so long… without getting it in hand. For myself only, I know that sometimes the dream becomes a bit more humble by necessity. When that happened, I know it never made the dream any less dream worthy.
But it did finally happen for me. How?
I kept a small portion of my powder dry. Way back in the day when my I had nary a gray hair or ounce of fat on my body I had the dream of owning a small farm somewhere around my hometown in the hills. So the very first job after college I saved up a chunk for my PhD and another for the farm. The first chunk went away quickly as I made it through school but I never touched the other. It was a grand total of $75 a week for just over two years. All in company stock.
After grad school I ended up working in NC, then Chicago, then finally Minnesota over the next 16 years. And then my chance came. The family farm came available (with no family discount mind you) and I got my dream job within easy driving of it. That little chunk of money was now $60,000. I had sold it all and re-bought it all twice in that time. I knew my old company and I knew the business. Market timing is a once in a thousand shot but it worked. Twice. I still have a mortgage but it is manageable and not terribly large.
In short it took some luck to get me and my family on this place. More than I would like to admit. But there was also a lot of work. Biggest thing, I believe is the long term commitment to that dream and sharing you life with someone who shares it. Sometimes these things don’t happen fast. A lot of times they don’t happen at all. There is no one size fits all method to owning your dream homestead. Keep the faith in the dream and don’t be afraid to buy in totally for a downsized version of it. That’s my advice.
The rewards? Sitting on my front porch looking over the fields that my great-great-great grandfather cleared. Hoping that all of those old mountain men can see their old place and approve of the job I am doing in keeping it productive.
Will
Yeah I knew things were bad but not just how many boulders are lined up in the cliff above us. That article really puts it in perceptive.
10a
I found the Peak Prosperity tribe because of Damon Vrabel.
I encourage folks to watch his Renaissance 2.0 presentation, still available on YT.
Specifically, Lesson 4: The Culture of Empire
In this lesson, Damon refers to narcissism and power-based relationships and the emotional toll that financial dictatorship takes on human and non-human life. He posits that this system perverts our natural value systems, away from the natural world and empathy for others.
I’m looking forward to the next edition of The Crash Course and I intend to buy copies and gift them to the folks I love. I have a small request, Chris and Adam: please include a chapter that focuses on this emotional toll and how we can learn to see things with our own eyes, with attitudes of gratitude. This post was a breath of fresh air.
YEP! Depressing. It’s going to be interesting. I need until next Aug (?) and the end to 12 years of a piece here, piece there and then the final piece, our last home. Be well…BOB