Posted on 01/14/2015 6:21:11 AM PST by TurboZamboni
Few other dreamers I’ve known have managed to fulfill their ambitions. In my experience, most dreams don’t die because of a lack of practical homesteading skills or passion, but rather become casualties of the failure of knowing to work efficiently to get enough of the right kind of work done. Bills pile up, gardens don’t get planted, roofs continue to leak, enthusiasm wanes. The cause of these problems often goes unrecognized until passion is cold, relationships frazzled and finances exhausted. Knowing how to work efficiently on a homestead where you are your own boss requires a specific skill set that contrasts sharply with the skills needed to work a traditional office job. I’ve worked for wages and now I work from home on my own land, and the two experiences are entirely different. If your goal is to be in charge of your own successful modern homestead, you must learn how to work, which is just as important as learning practical skills. Put into practice the following six homesteading habits to help you get the right work done in the right way, and you’ll bring the satisfaction of self-reliant living one big step closer.
1. Learning How to Work: Set Guiding Principles
(Excerpt) Read more at motherearthnews.com ...
I’ve been on my little farm for 25 years now. I have PLANNED the WORK and am WORKING the PLAN towards the day I can be at least 50% self-sufficient.
Life Is Good. :)
P.S. ‘Mother Erf’ LOL!
Ping!
I like this line from one of the pictures, “Now, the berries are kept for the family’s own consumption and the author earns most of his income from digital sources.”
Oh, you mean like the “other” real work jobs out there in the world?
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Used to get it. Tried to over look the nuttiness.
Then one day was reading about a guy who ran his place and vehicles with wood gassifiers he had made. He got the scrap wood for free from the local lumber mill.
The author, (not the subject of the article) wondered why anyone would used coal and oil when it was just so easy to get "free energy".
I put it down and decided with authors that dim I just could not take it seriously any more.
Switched to "the new pioneers". More how to, less BS.
Wow.
The last time we got “free” energy from lumber, most of the Eastern Woodlands got harvested. And that was with a much smaller population. I wonder how the author would like every tree in North America cut down. :)
EBT comes before both. ;-)
This is an excellent post. For all those here I’ve been looking for a “how to” on starting a business. Not the marketing plan, sales, production, get a bank account stuff etc stuff...have plenty of that and know what to do.
I’m looking for the: here is how to apply for a biz license, here are the permits for different bizs required, here are the licenses needed, here are the forms to fill out, heres what you need to do for different IPs, trademarks, copyrights, etc.
Mostly the govt (fed, state, local) stuff needed so I can do it the right way and hopefully protect it. More of a how to instead of an overview on the practical stuff - a checklist if you will.
Anyone know a good book or course along those lines? Even the college courses on business don’t give you this stuff and it’s what you really have to do.
Then you are going to have to talk to the local boys at city hall.
Good luck!
yeah- haven’t had much luck on those two routes or the COC, but thanks for the reply.
Best way to get that information is from somebody who has done it in your area. Start frequenting local businesses, preferably ones you won’t be competing with but have similar business requirements, get friendly with the staff, get friendly with the owners, and ask them. Because these things vary from state to state, and city to city, and even neighborhood to neighborhood (zoning regulations, age of plumbing, electrical grid strength, all of these can vary drastically in just a couple of blocks) the only people that can tell you how to do what you want to do where you want to do it is people who have.
Oh, yes. ME is definitely filled with crunchy dopes. ;)
I also used to truly enjoy ‘Organic Gardenin’g back in the days of Mike McGrath as Editor but then the ‘Rodale Clan’ felt the need to ‘progressive-ize’ the rag, so that put an end to that for me.
Really? I can’t even GARDEN without those a-holes preachin’ at me? Yeesh! When did vegetables become a venue for politics?
Liberals ruin everything. EVERYTHING!
Mini cow or goat? Chickens or ducks? Maybe both? What kind of dry beans are best to grow in my zone 5 area? That is the kind of thing I want to know about. Not about how we should all rally to convince congress to save the planet by cutting "greenhouse gasses".
Exactly. When I get home, I’ll send you a link to one of the funniest videos I’ve seen: ‘Sh#t Weekend Farmers Say.’
Sadly, I have said a few of the things they joke about!
What IS a stoat? And why are swans so expensive? They’re not even GOOD for anything, LOL!
When I was opening Coco’s Tea and Chocolates I went to the local Chamber of Commerce for such information and it was disappointing. We’re across the river from Georgia and the Alabama-side Chamber had check-lists for opening a biz in Columbus, GA.
One of my biggest mistakes was going to my bank for credit card processing and a VeriFone swipe machine. I should have gone to Sams that offers those services without a contract.
The bank has been a bait and switch rip off.
Thanks for the feedback.
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