My seed order from Richter’s arrived yesterday. This was a double present as it was touching to have Heather remember my birthday with a gift certificate for herbs and so cool to have a preview of summer arrive just as the days are getting shorter and winter is clearly going to arrive, with or without my permission. I spent a totally unproductive hour (when I should have been making bread) just arranging and rearranging my garden to be. I have come to the conclusion that the space is too small by half. I got a lot of seeds.
I did get something productive done today. I cleaned out my kid’s toy cabinet in preparation for donating to the Potlatch. I realize just how much stuff I still have, in spite of my ongoing attempt to make do with less. I swear my useless stuff gives birth to more useless stuff in the dark of the night. I have no idea where some of this stuff came from. I certainly didn’t buy it.
I want to share something I am so pleased about. Bruce is spending Saturday at a barn raising. My son’s best friend has built a barn for his grandparents and needs help getting the walls up and the roof on. He thinks a group of 8 can do it in a day. I think this is about the best thing I have heard in ages. I think we have gotten used to the idea that asking for help is a sign of weakness. We so value our independence that we would rather pay a stranger than ask a friend for what we need. That is something that needs to change, not just for economic reasons but for preparedness ones. Changing times will require co-dependance. I am not free to ask for your help if you won’t accept mine. While building your pantry, don’t neglect building your relationships with your neighbors. Most of us will never own a doomstead. A community is a much better bet.
The Just In Case Book Blog 
November 17, 2009 at 8:23 am
Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but I heard (via Erma Bombeck) that kids junk and wire coat hangers breed when the cupboard is closed and the lights go out, there is no other explaination!
Great news on the barn raising! I hope to hear more about this kind of thing in the future.
Seed catalogs (big sigh and slight drool) are the perfect way to spend a bit of time. Gardens are never big enough until you have to plant them and weed them.
November 17, 2009 at 10:03 am
The simplest things are the hardest sometimes. Reading the last two sentences of your post felt like a light went on in my head. Not that I’ve been trying to set up a doomstead (I hadn’t even heard that word before, but I love it), but I’ve been feeling a little inadequate for not achieving that level of self-sufficiency. But you can’t buy freeze-dried community online anywhere so an uprooted natural introvert like me is going to have to make some serious effort to reach out.
November 18, 2009 at 10:29 am
RE: barn-raising.
I wonder about insurance. What if someone were seriously injured – would they need to tap your homeowner policy? I you might want a supplemental policy for about a million dollars.
When my children graduated from college this year, we had the party at a reception hall that was a converted barn. The owner required proof of us having an insurance policy for a half million dollars. It didn’t cost too much ($500 I think), and made a lot of sense for him to protect himself from liability (think of kids jumping off the banked barned, or falling down the stone steps).
I guess alternatively you could require all participants to sign a waiver or show proof they have their own medical coverage. But that seems somewhat cold.
Just saying; it sounds like a great thing, but if someone was hurt and uninsured, and had a family … that’s why insurance is available.
November 18, 2009 at 12:48 pm
The only people helping are good family friends. I can’t speak for anybody else but Bruce and I have good health insurance and a “no sue” policy. We have both had accidents that were the fault of someone else and still refused to sue. Isn’t it too bad that the subject even needs to be raised but it is a good question. Fortunately, not my problem as we are the workers, not the owners.