New Truck?

My lovely wife surprised me. She just happened to mention that maybe we should trade in the car for a pickup truck. I happen to like little cars but she’s looking at trucks with good towing capacity. Our car, a Nissan Versa Note, isn’t really rated to tow anything. We also have an old Ford Escape that I put a hitch on. It’s strong enough to launch our sailboat -locally. I wouldn’t want to take it on the highway and go on a long trip. 

In the past we’ve had vehicles with big diesels that could tow just about anything. Apparently she misses those snorty monsters. 

Personally, I’m fine with my lovely wife using the car like a truck. It’s usually packed with shovels and other gardening tools. She volunteers at a nearby botanical garden. 

With the seats folded down the Escape can haul a lot of stuff. Maybe some stuff I should not have hauled with it. My niece was not impressed with the organic fertilizer smell that lingered for days. I must admit an open bed truck would have been a better choice, but how often do you haul stuff like that? 

Personally, I’m very happy to have vehicles that don’t have any payments, so there’s that. 

-Sixbears

Veggies, Fruits and Nuts

This wet weather has been harsh on gardens. After your tomato plants rot out three times in a row it’s time to give up. Not everything in the garden is doing poorly, but it looks pretty bad. 

Commercial orchards are not doing well. In general most have had significant loses. Due to micro climates some have done well. On the flip side others are almost totally devastated. 

The wild fruits are a mixed bag. Locally blueberries seem to be doing fine. Raspberries are not doing well. My pin cherries don’t ripen. They either fall off the trees while still green or go right from green to brown. I haven’t eaten any of them. There’s hope yet for the blackberries. 

The hazelnuts are actually looking pretty good. Time will tell how they turn out in the end. I’m told that beechnuts are doing poorly. They are an important food for wild animals. 

My sunchokes look good. They are my emergency backup survival food. Sunchokes seems to thrive in harsh conditions and nothing seems to kill them. They are more invasive weed than cultivated plant. The plan is to dehydrate as many of them as possible this year. They are good in soups and stews. 

My plan is to stock up on things that keep at the end of the growing season -no matter the price. My guess is that prices will only get higher as the months go on. 

-Sixbears

New England Rain Forest

As I write this we are having a long soaking steady rain. It’s been a wet summer. I’m afraid crops will rot in the fields. 

It seems that there are very few days when we aren’t at least at risk for thunderstorms. Sunday it really mattered where you were. At my location we didn’t get thunderstorms at all. I could watch them marching up the mountain ranges to the east and west of me. Heck, I even went for a scooter ride and drove about 30 miles south. Never felt a drop.

My lovely wife, on the other hand, had business up north. She experienced rain so heavy visibility disappeared. Hail came down and roads washed out. 

We are currently under another flood alert. There are times when I’m really thankful of my house’s elevation. The worse that has happened during floods is that all the roads out of my area are cut off. However, being in the hills, the water levels go down fairly quickly. That’s when we find out of there’s any pavement left behind. Sometimes there isn’t. 

The State of New Hampshire has been quietly preparing for a wetter environment. Drainage ditches have been dug deeper. Every time a culvert is replaced they install much larger ones. Those efforts have been put to the test of late.

-Sixbears

More Bang for the Buck

You get a much higher return by saving a dollar than earning a dollar. If you save a dollar, you save a dollar. Replacing that dollar with earnings is not so simple. Everybody who’s ever gotten a paycheck knows you only keep a fraction of every dollar earned. Income taxes, both Federal and state, are taken out. Social Security takes a bite. There are other things like health and life insurance that eat into that dollar. 

Never forget the cost of going to work. Transportation, eating out, special clothing, all kinds of expenses come out of your pocket just to go earn that dollar. 

Time put into things like gardens, doing your own house and car repairs, yard work, gathering firewood -all kinds of things save you money. 

Having a home in the country really saves me a ton of money. I’ve solar electric for a good part of my power, trees for firewood, a well instead of a water bill, a septic system, garden, and even hunting and fishing right here. That’s a good part of the reason I’ve been able to live on a fixed income for 29 years. 

That doesn’t mean you can’t save money living in an apartment in the city. It all depends what you have to pay beyond rent. If you pay your own electric bill energy efficient appliances make a big difference. Just switching to an induction cooktop for most cooking can save a bundle. If you have to pay for your own heat eliminating drafts and adding window films help a lot. There are even apartment dwellers who’ve figured out how to add small solar electric systems. Even some tomato plants in planters help. 

Remember, a dollar saved is worth a lot more than a dollar earned.

-Sixbears

Food shortages sort themselves out

Food shortages always sort themselves out. One way is that famine and disease reduce the population down to the available food. That’s what happens if you aren’t clever or massively unlucky. 

Let’s see what other options there are. Please. Seriously. Right now the most visible problem is a war between two major grain exporting countries. That’s a lot of grain off the market. Grains are the basis of civilization because they store and ship well. They also are fairly calorie dense. Without grains we have to fall back on other foods.

Meat eaters generally rely on grain fed animals, so a grain shortage affects them too. Grass fed cattle and wild game are exceptions. That’s a limited supply. During the depression just about any critter that could be shot or trapped was eaten. Game laws and enforcement didn’t help all that much. After the depression it took years for the forest critters to recover. 

Beyond grains we have issues with everything from vegetables to honey. Bad weather and/or pests take their toll. Some years are worse than others. This year has some worrying early indicators in key areas.

Then there are inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. Guess which two countries currently at war are  normally big exporters of fertilizers? Bingo! 

Most pesticides are petroleum based. Add that to the overall issues caused by oil supply problems. I could go on but lets just call this a quick overview.

There are some things in our favor. Countries food supplies aren’t just limited to their borders. Food is shipped all around the world. However, it will go to those who can pay for it. Those in better financial condition will be able to get anything they want. 

Higher prices will suddenly make more areas profitable for agriculture. As it is a lot of African farmers cannot compete with industrial agricultural giants and their economy of scale. The math changes with a general shortage. We will see food grown in places it hasn’t been grown in some time. 

We have a fairly recent example of a country that had to deal with a cut off of food and pesticides. When the Soviet Union fell Cuba was left high and dry. They were basically just growing sugar cane to ship to the USSR at above market rates. That ended. Cuba had a lean year, but they rallied. Just about every square inch that could be planted was planted. They also mobilized their education system to develop a crash program of organic farming. It worked. 

There are ways to cope with the disruptions. At the bare minimum plant anything you can as every bit adds up. Also, don’t get locked into just buying and eating the foods you always ate. Learn to make delicious meals out of what’s cheap and available. It will take some effort but nobody said keeping the horsemen of the Apocalypse at bay is easy.

-Sixbears

The Year of Gardens

The price and availability of food are issues we have to deal with. I don’t think food will be unavailable. Good food at a good price might be. A lot of my friends have decided to go all in with gardens this year. They aren’t new to gardening. This is the year those gardens are going to be bigger and more intensely managed. 

Unfortunately, my gardening space is fairly limited and already maxed out. What I do have is access to good fishing and wild foods. If you’ve noticed the price of good quality fresh fish lately you many have gone into shock. I’ve heard that the price of lobster is expected to be in the $100 - $125 a pound range. That’s insane. Fresh lobster rolls from the coast of Maine will be off my menu. What will be on the menu is crayfish from the lake outside my door. 

Our household already eats beans and rice dishes on a regular basis. Fresh herbs and veggies thrown into the mix makes a big difference. Make sure you are well stocked on spices and know how to use them. It might be a good time to expand your palate. I grew up with the New England spice rack: salt and pepper. By learning to use spices the same basic ingredients can be a variety of dishes: Asian, Mexican, Indian, and others. Heck, even a good hot sauce can make the same basic foods a lot more interesting. 

If you can’t garden this year, maybe pick up some heirloom seeds anyway and you’ll have them for next year.

-Sixbears

Gardens and Farming

There’s a huge difference between having a garden and having a farm. Gardens are smaller than farms, but it’s more than a matter of size. In general, gardens supply food to a household. Some folks may sell their extra, but more often than not extra garden goodies are given away. Most gardens these days just supplement a household's diet. In the past, they may have had to supply a significant part or even all of a family’s calories. Garden’s are for subsistence.

Commercial farms, even relatively small ones, operate in the greater market place. The variety is limited, often growing just one type of plant. They are focused on the market and profit. Money from the farm has to run the operation and meet the farmer’s basic needs -at a bare minimum.

Farms are not really all that great as a hedge against collapse. When the economy tanks, we have the strange condition of hungry people who can’t buy food and farmers who can’t sell food. Everyone suffers. The farmer is tied into the world of markets and banks. They rely on supplies of fuel, fertilizer, seed, irrigation, pesticides, and machines. There’s a lot that can go wrong.

During the great depression the only reason a lot of farmers survived was that they were also gardeners. They may have grown a cash crop like wheat or corn, but also maintained a kitchen garden with a variety of veggies and fruits for the table. That doesn’t happen as much these days.

Personally, I’m really glad there are farmers out there supplying my needs. We have a small garden, but my lovely wife is a lot more into it than I am. Of course, in a collapse situation I’d be darn thankful that she dabbles in dirt.

-Sixbears

Lousy Farmer

I would have made a lousy farmer. Thank goodness my ancestors gave up potato farming in the cold rocky soil of Quebec. That’s not a life for me.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad there are farmers. I’m doubly glad I’m not one of them. For me running a farm is a type of slavery, or at the very least serfdom. Serfs were bound to the land. Farmers are too. Don’t think so? A farmer that spends too much time away from his farm soon goes out of business. Lord help him if he’s raising animals as they require constant care.

I believe it was Henry David Thoreau who said something about how much of a misfortune it is to inherit a fully functioning farm. Then again, I guess we can call Thoreau’s cabin experiment at Walden Pond the great grandfather of the simplicity movement. He pared down life to the basics and seemed to truly enjoy himself.

Thoreau, while not a farmer, was a gardener. There’s a huge difference between the two, and not just of scale. A farmer grows food with the intent of surplus. That surplus allows him to participate in the money economy. A gardener grows just enough for his own needs. That allows him to have freedom from the money economy.

Farmers deal with the greater economy of banks, markets, suppliers, dealers, regulators -a whole host of masters. A gardener avoids all that. They can even afford to participate less in the money economy because part of their needs are being satisfied without it. No need to earn taxable money to buy the food that you can grow.

As you can imagine, governments love farmers and hate gardeners. The first farmers provided the surplus that supported bureaucracy, priesthoods and armies. Sure, we got civilization out of the process, but at a high cost to personal freedom, liberty and health.

-Sixbears

Your Garden Won't Feed You

Don't count on your garden feeding you in a collapse situation. I don't care if you are a really good gardener and are currently growing a lot of your food now. In a collapse situation that food might go to someone else.

Gardens are easy to raid. I bet you have a good idea about who has a garden in your neighborhood and who doesn't. If you have a garden, people know. If food is in short supply everyone will be thinking a lot about your garden. Unless it's fenced in and under 24/7 guard it will become a target.

Right now in “normal” times, I know people who have problems with their gardens being raided. A friend has neighbors who are all upper middle class to outright rich. He isn't and depends on the food he grows. His neighbors think nothing of walking off with veggies. Imagine how it will be when times get bad.

When times are truly tight, people won't even wait for the food to grow. They will come in the night and dig up your seed potatoes right out of the ground. Weeks later you will wonder why your potato crop never came up. It's happened in the past. It will happen in the future.

So what can you do? Store a lot of stored food and write off the garden, at least for the first year. If you are in a rural off the the beaten path place, your garden might stand a chance -if guarded. Having hidden garden patches can work. The trick is that they have to be plant them and forget them crops, like sunchokes. If you have to hike out to your secret plots every couple of days it won't work. Every time you leave your homestead, you are in a higher danger situation. You could be followed to those plots. Going there all the time will make trails for others to follow. Remember to bring a guard to watch your back as your work.

Hungry people are desperate people. Your garden does not stand a chance against the human locusts.

-Sixbears

Something the dog found

Ever since we've been visited by a bear, I've make sure to let the dog out as soon as she gets excited. That seems to have worked pretty well as I haven't seen a bear in a while. Lately it's been things like the squirrels invading the dog's space. Other times it's been the UPS man. (who's come to kill us all, apparently)

The other day it was something different. The surveyors were back. These were the same guys my neighbor hired to double check the boundary lines. That survey cost him another 3 feet of driveway. They lost enough of it that it's not used any more. This time the neighbor is looking to subdivide a 6 acre lot so his son can build. The property in question is quite some distance from my land. However, my land is the last lot with a really good reliable survey. All the original pins are still in place. Apparently that's a rarity with these old lots. Mine had been done by professionals who worked for the old paper company.

It's a small town and I actually know the surveyors. Once I introduced them to the dog everything was cool.

We've been in a moderate drought. I'm not sure what the bears have been eating. The strawberries early in the summer were sparse. Raspberries were none existent. Wild blueberries are having an off year. My nut trees are barely producing. The wild pin cherry tree at the top of my driveway produced nothing. Last year I was eating those little cherries by the handful every time I walked past the tree. The only thing that looks like it might produce are the black berries. Bears have been tearing up whole lawns to get at bugs and grubs. One place looked like the whole acre yard had been rototilled. Even raccoons are turning lawns over to get something to eat.

The farmers at the local market have produce to sell, but a lot of them make extensive use of greenhouses and hoops. Old fashioned open field farming has been hit or miss. However, there's fresh corn at the market so that's a good sign. That's one of the things that doesn't make sense for most home gardeners to grow. It takes an awful lot of space. I leave that to the big farms.

Our little gardens have been hit or miss. We have greens, beans, a few tomatoes and stuff. My lovely wife has managed to keep it all watered. Something got into my hops this year. The leaves are heavily chewed. In spite of that I'm hoping they produce enough flowers to make some decent beer.

The sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) are doing well. No wonder as they pretty much are weeds that can't be eliminated even if you wanted to. A lot of people look down on sunchokes, but I slice most of them up and dehydrate them. That way they keep for a long time. It's a pretty reliable survival food since the plants seem to thrive on poor soil and neglect -two things I have in abundance.

All in all it's been a pretty good summer so far. As far as the dog is concerned it's been the best one ever. Lots of interesting things to bark at, good boat rides, and plenty of sunny sleeping spots. Maybe the dog has the right idea about life.

-Sixbears

Adaptation and the law

Peak oil, economic collapse, environmental degradation -pick one or all or add some more collapse threats. Odds are something is going to go down rough for a lot of people. Highly educated people run the numbers and make doom predictions. In fact, there are so many making doom predictions that some of them will be right. Call it the shotgun theory of doom narratives.

Doom happens and then we are all dead.

Few account for people's adaptability. I remember during the oil shocks of the 70s. Before long you could not give away big American 8 cylinder cars. Little foreign 4 cylinders were in high demand. Car pooling became popular. Miles travel were reduced. Trips were carefully planned to get as much done in a single trip as possible.

People do adapt. Houses get insulated and drafts are plugged. Thermostats are turned down. People switch to less expensive fuels. Solar energy is used more, even in simple things like placing a house to make best use of sun and shade.

Gardens are planted. Life styles change. We don't go gently into that good night.

Of course, survival may be illegal in your community. They don't exactly make survival illegal. They just outlaw anything that's outside the current norm. Property values have to be maintained.

Here's the simplest test: are clotheslines outlawed in your community? Are there HOA rules or town ordnances against it? What about other things? Wood stoves banned? Some places don't allow solar panels on private residences. Are private wells outlawed? How about private septic systems, or horrors, a composting toilet! Will someone freak if you tear up your lawn and plant carrots?

That's just a few tried and true strategies and technologies for getting by in tough times. How many of them are outlawed in your area? If these simple things are frowned upon, imagine how they'd react to more radical coping mechanisms. We don't even know what tools for survival people will develop in the future.

I'm betting that if you can't do much outside the norm where you are currently living, don't expect things to change radically in the near future. In fact, enforcement of these silly rules could even get worse. People heavily invested into the old system of property values will try to hold onto the old illusions as long as possible. You will be made an example of.

As for me, I've got a clothesline. It runs right past the solar electric panels near the garden.

-Sixbears

From the ground up

We can rebuild the world, but it has to be from the ground up.

Local laws is where to start. Let's take something as small as zoning and home owner associations. Rules and laws tie people to the old paradigm. Cities like MacMansions. They can tax the heck out of them while providing minimal services. It's all about property values. Property values are image driven. That's why “unsightly” clothes lines, solar panels, and windmills are often banned.

Now imagine, instead of a half dozen MacMansions, we take the same piece of land and put in 30 microhouses. Each microhouse has it's own solar or wind power. They may share a common well or all share city water. They all have their own composting toilets so don't need city sewer. The gray water is used in a communal garden area. There is a mini common space for art and music.

Someone living in such a community would have a pretty good life. Their lack of a big mortgage means they could get by on a low paying part time job. They could spend time with family and friends. The microhouse community would be able to share things like child care, gardening, and transportation. They'd be ideally set up for barter.

Businesses zoning would have to change. Picture a number of people working out of their homes, woodworking, pottery, sewing, repair work, computer services -whatever. Jobs and hobbies that would not normally be economical suddenly are due to very low overhead.

While it would have many of the advantages of a commune, everyone would still have their own living space. The house might be small, but it would be their castle. If for some reason you didn't like your neighbors, it would be fairly simple to hitch up the microhouse and take it someplace else. In fact, it might be normal to do so now and then. Spend the summer near the beach and tow the house back in the fall.

The greater community as a whole would benefit. The microhouse village would be an attraction. A person could drop some mending off to be fixed, pick up some veggies and eggs from the local microfarmers, and then catch some live music in the park. Doesn't this all sound friendly and fun?

It could all start from something as simple as changes in local zoning ordnances. There's nothing special here beyond a slightly different way of thinking. Do this in enough places and the word will get out. There's no need to force anyone to live this way. It would attractive enough for plenty of people.

What's not to like? Freedom from debt? Freedom from job slavery? Freedom from communter maddness? A chance to know your neighbors and have a sense of community? How about a chance to have fun with life again?

There's big things that could come from small local changes.

-Sixbears

Technology yes, permission no

We have the technology to set up low impact sustainable communities. What we don't have is official permission.

We have the tools: water catchment, organic gardens, permaculture, alternative energy, rocket stoves, composting toilets, and so on. What we don't have is permission to implement solutions.

How many of us live in places where something as simple and useful as a clothesline is banned? Solar panels are not allowed on people's roofs, never mind a small windmill. People have actually been arrested for catching and using rainwater off their roofs. Imagine if someone would do something really radical like eliminate their sewer service and go with composting toilets and a home graywater system. The horror.

Rural living is usually a bit more free about those things than city living. When I wanted solar electric power, I just put up a pole in the yard and mounted panels. Try that in the city. It's a bit harder. There are people who stealthy do things without permission. Solar panels are quietly put up on buildings. Edible plants are sown in city parks. Abandoned buildings get turned into workshops and play areas. Of course, should the authorities take offense, it all gets taken away or destroyed.

Even after a disaster like hurricane Sandy, the authorities destroyed people's self help initiatives. Rocket stoves that had been safely providing heat and cooking were taken apart. Volunteer feeding stations were closed down. Makeshift shelters were destroyed. The government hates competition.

All these rules and regulations may have made some sort of sense during good times. When anyone who wanted to work could afford the basics of life. The rules were not too burdensome. A proper functioning economy was able to provide for people's needs. The economic conditions have changed, but the rules haven't. The government may not function at the level of actually providing the needed services, but it's ability to enforce rules still exists.

It's the worse of both worlds. The old ways are dying, yet they still have enough life to keep their replacement from being born. Maybe a little more chaos would be a good thing. At least it would wipe the slate clean.

In the mean time, we practice our arts. Some of us live in the country or in towns with fewer outdated rules. Others practice our arts in secret, hoping to not get caught. There are those who live mobile lives. If the rule enforcers are a problem, they move on. It could be done in a good sized sailboat or an RV. People also live mobile lives in canoes and on bicycles. Attitude is more important than income.

We have knowledge and skills. Food, shelter, clothing, safety and community can be provided without Big Brother and the Nanny State. That's one of the reasons I think we'll do better than the Powers that Be expect us to. More and more of us can do things for ourselves. We aren't going to just roll over and die.

-Sixbears

Veggie Summer

This summer I think I’ve eaten more veggies than during any other time in my life. We’ve only got a small garden, but it’s produced a fair amount. Friends and family have done well with their gardens this year. We’ve taken some of their overflow.

Then there is the farmer’s market. We have to support local agriculture, right? For me, the main attraction to the market is the chance to visit with people. The local farmer’s market always has some sort of live musical entertainment, and that’s worth catching. It’s a fun afternoon, and we can’t but help come home with a good assortment of veggies.

With all the veggies coming in, I’m making an effort to use them up before the next load. For example, instead of cooking a few plain sausages, I’m throwing in onions, zucchini, summer squash, and whole bunch of assorted herbs. Pasta sauces are homemade using fresh tomatoes and other veggies. We are eating fresh salads by the bucket full. The pressure cooker is making short work of root vegetables. I didn’t eat this many veggies back when a doctor put me on a vegan diet.

A few years back, I planted a half dozen filbert trees. They all survived and have taken off. There’s enough nuts this year to make it worth harvesting. I just tried a couple and they are delicious. Once they’ve had a chance to dry, they’ll store well. Planting those trees was a good idea. The first year I kept them well watered, but since then they seem to have thrived on neglect.

It’s been a pretty good wild berry year too. Cultivated blueberries don’t have any where near the flavor of wild ones. The blackberries are still producing too. Together they make a heck of a mixed berry cobbler.

As great as it is, the growing season up here in the North Country is short. Next Thursday is the last farmer’s market of the season. Last night it got down to 38 degrees. Frost is coming. The apple season has a while to go yet. I can’t wait to stock up on them. I make a mean apple pie.

Once the cold weather settles in, the local fresh stuff will only be a memory. Sure there will be some canned, pickled and frozen veggies to remember the summer by. Winter squash, potatoes, and apples will still be good months from now -a reminder of our all too brief summers.

-Sixbears

What kind of revolution are we fighting anyway?

Let's be clear. We aren't going to win a guns against guns, toe to toe bash up against the government. It's what they do: break things and kill people. Don't try and compete with the professionals.

On the flip side, I'm not advocating unarmed passive resistance. By all means, arm yourself.

What for? We aren't going to be snipping at blue helmeted troops. However, a well armed citizenry does help keep things polite. The police are less likely to drag you away in the middle of the night if they are met with a hail of bullets. Then they retreat to their squad car, only to find the driver shot and the vehicle in flames. The Nazi's and the KGB would not have been so successful against an armed citizenry with a bit of backbone.

Having some basic self defense capability is always a good idea. There are enough thugs out there, both state sponsored and freelance.

What we are fighting against is an unholy marriage between big business and government. Corporations have more rights than individuals. Until that is reversed, the government will serve their masters. Corporations are using money they get from us to take away our power and freedoms.

The solution is quite simple. Don't give them any more money. Banks foreclosed on your house? Raised your interest rate to 30%? Tired of the government bailing out the banks while you suffer? Then destroy them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uop5R7E314 Don't let it being in French put you off, it's subtitled. Simply put, if enough people take their money out of the banks, they will collapse. No need to fire a shot.

Every time a person does business with local small business instead of a giant corporation, a blow for victory is struck. When the deal is done completely in barter, or even as a favor, it's a double blow for victory. The Federal Reserve has only one product, when we don't use it, they lose just a bit more power.

Looks like things have gone too far with the TSA. There's open resistance. People are avoiding the scanners, overloading the hand grope system. Many have decided not to fly at all. Expect the airlines to freak out pretty soon. Only government bailouts have keep them in business as it is. They run on thin margins. Expect some to beg for government relief and others to go out of business. Fine by me. As long as they support the TSA dog and pony show, they can suffer the consequences.

Remember when the Federal government wanted to chip all livestock, right down to backyard chickens? Now they want to regulate people's backyard gardens. They can pass any law they want, but if everyone ignores it, it won't get enforced. Sure, they can make an example of a few farmers, but that'll only get us mad.

If you ever get on a jury, remember that you are not just judging the person, the law itself can be judged. (in spite of any instructions the judge may give the jury) If juries won't convict people because the laws are unfair, then the laws will have to change. This attitude may be why I was thrown off two juries and replaced by alternates on day one. If nothing else, proclaiming to believe in jury nullification will get you out of jury duty.

Government can do actions outside of the normal legal system. In the past, many have resorted to making people disappear. That works on a case by case basis, but only in the short term. A government that rules by brute force loses legitimacy. The iron fist is pulled from the velvet glove for all to see. The government "for the people" facade is shattered. It becomes very clear to everyone who the enemy is.

Does anyone out there still trust big media? Why? They aren't in the business of upsetting the cozy big business/government partnership. It's all about selling ad revenue. It's not about the truth.

Expect restrictions on the Internet. They hate our freedom.

When you run your vehicle on home brewed biofuel you starve the beast of road tax. When you grow your own food, make your own electricity, collect your own water -you gain a measure of freedom. People have voluntarily reduced their income to the point where they pay no income taxes. If the big corporations don't pay taxes, why should you?

Here's a controversial tactic. First, some history. The Roman Empire was able to expand and gain wealth at the same time. It was easy in the early days. Wealth from conquered lands fed back into the empire. That worked for quite a while. Problems arose when the conquered lands stopped sending money to Rome and Rome had to send money the other way. Maybe it was in the form of services the empire had to perform. Sometimes it just reached the point where the cost of military occupation exceeded the wealth extracted from the land.

The tactic? Make the government pay. Collect everything you can from the system: unemployment benefits, food stamps, heating assistance, medical services -anything at all. Make sure the system pays more to you than you pay to it. Some people don't want to do that, and I can respect their personal choice. However, it is one more bullet for your gun. Something to keep in mind as your situation changes.

At some point the government will be faced with a choice: either serve the people, or serve big business. Should it decide to serve the people, it has a chance of still being around in the future. If it doesn't it will be less and less relevant to people's lives and eventually all support for it will dry up.

Starving the businesses that have stolen our rights serves two purposes. They are punished directly -hit in the pocketbook. (If they wise up, they can change and survive.) Secondly, as corporations weaken, their influence with the government is weakened.

We can have a revolution without firing a single shot. The beauty of this form of resistance is that we can live better right now. Eating local food is healthier. Backing away from the corporate money system gives us more time to enjoy our lives. Doing more for ourselves, be it growing a garden, installing a solar panel, or fixing our stuff, gives us a sense of empowerment.

Non violent happy people having a good time, yet undermining the system, is something the business/government forces doesn't have the proper tools to fight.

If you want to live such a life, just do it. (as I steal back a corporate slogan.)

-Sixbears