Capital Controls and Other Mischief

I wrote in a previous blog that the government would be coming for our 401Ks and IRAs and now that appears to be happening. That's going to hurt a lot of people, but even more thefts of our money are on the horizon.

This stuff isn't hard to predict once one awakens from the State-induced slumber. Official government policy appears to be loot everything in the shortest possible time, so in addition to grabbing retirement accounts, they will do lots of other nasty stuff. For example, we will be required to pay higher taxes (sales tax, value-added tax, financial transaction taxes, “global-warming" taxes, etc.) The tried-and-true technique of hyperinflation will be used to extract money from us through stealth (as if one can't tell!). Eventually, there will be a currency devaluation where over a weekend--or a "banking holiday"--the currency will be declared to be worth one half or less of its current value.

Capital Controls Coming
Traveling outside of the U.S. we have met a lot of people who are very aware of the things I've described and it is refreshing for us to be able to talk openly about topics that get a negative or defensive reaction from mainstream Americans. And while it is good to meet people who are awake and are moving themselves and their assets to friendlier jurisdictions, their growing numbers will create a defensive reaction on the part of the U.S. government: it will pass laws to prevent money from leaving the country. These are called “capital” or “foreign exchange” controls (and they are usually imposed before a currency devaluation.)

What Can One Do?
Here are some ideas:
Open a Goldmoney account
Get out of the U.S. (or the U.K., etc.) and travel around, perhaps acquire residency status somewhere and think about acquiring another passport
Open a foreign bank account
Buy foreign real estate

Longer term:
Never, ever again vote for a Republican or Democrat. That system is being used to enslave us.
Pay no more taxes than what are legally required (losthorizons.com).
Boycott multinational corporations, especially Wall Street banks.

Remember that taking these steps will be characterized as “unpatriotic”, so be ready for that. The U.S. is basically at the same point right now as Nazi Germany in 1933, and Americans' sloppy sentimentality for their country isn't just a frustration; it may well turn quite dangerous for those who question it. You should hurry.

Isla Boca Brava

Public transportation in Panama appears crude to western sensibilities, but our experience is that it works very well. From Cerro Punta, a small town in the corner of Chiriqui province, we bussed down to David, then caught a bus to Horconcitos (another tiny town), and hired a taxi to the Gulf of Chiriqui. A short water taxi ride later we found ourselves in a tropical paradise called Isla Boca Brava.

Because traveling in Panama can have its disappointments, we weren't sure what this trip to the island would be like and we had committed to a week here, so we were wary. But when we saw how beautiful and peaceful was the place with a nice room besides, we felt a huge weight fall off and the peaceful feeling never wore off for the next ten days.

In the jungle on this island is a troop of howler monkeys that make a throaty and fabulous racket. Some mornings they were right outside our window! Needless to say Isla Boca Brava is a rustic gem of a place, and it won't stay secret for long. The travel guides haven't caught up to the fact that the road to the gulf has been paved and getting here is easy, and I predict that in the next five years this area will change dramatically as people come in and invest money.

Well worth going.

Zip Line in the Boquete Rain Forest

We did a tourist thing, the Boquete Tree Trek, a zip line that "zips" among the trees in the rain forest. Very, very cool!

I'll post more pictures soon.

This video was taken by the guide as he zipped down the longest cable in the park (400+ meters). All of us Groses have already gone ahead and are waiting on the landing. You can see us just barely at the end filming YOU filming US!



Update, January 31st, 2010: I said I'd post more pictures...

Observations on Panamanians

In this cultural immersion we have observed a few things, though we can't usually say WHY they are, and of course, these observations are subjective too...but here they are:

• The women wear really, really tight pants (sorry, no pictures). But nudity seems forbidden; we never see men going shirtless. In fact, people are usually pretty well-dressed.
• There are dogs everywhere. They are usually used for guard duty. Locals seem reluctant to neuter them. They don't neuter their horses either.
• Panamanians are not sentimental about animals. They treat them in ways that gringos find appalling. We've been told they think Americans—who dote and fawn on their pets and animals generally—are crazy.
• There is trash everywhere. The gringos carry their trash with them until they can throw it away in a trash can. The Panamanians throw trash on the ground or out the window.
• Everything—except their buildings—is on the verge of breaking. The method of construction here is cinder block, rebar, and cement; wood isn't used because it gets eaten by termites. In the town of David we passed by a trailer being propped up by a milk crate, a common scene.
• Everything is imported from China, which appears to be a country without a single shred of conscience, but is good at making money. (I know I've just abused 2 billion people, so I'll have more to say about China later. We will ALL have more to say about China later.) Panama seems to be a dumping ground for products that are so poor in quality they were rejected by more modern nations. Panamanians are sweet but naive, and they are poor so they go for the cheapest solutions, something at which China excels.
• Panamanians are not good at capitalism, which has both good and bad angles. On one hand, they often offer poor service, or they are out of something for too long, etc. But on the other hand they are not out to smother the competition because that wouldn't be nice to the competitor who might be a family friend. Community is more important than competition.
  
• Panamanians make loud noises. They love firecrackers. They honk their car horns often, they install car alarms that go off frequently for no good reason, and they play their stereos loud. Peace and quiet does not appear to be valued.
  
• On holidays Panamanians put stereo speakers out the window and play loud music for all the neighbors.
• There appear to be few rules on the road.
• Panamanians don't queue. Like Italians, they mob.
• Panamanians love sweets. There is sugar in almost everything and they will spend a lot of money for desserts.
• Panamanians don't walk much, instead they drive.
  
• Panamanian children seem to grow up loved.
• Sometimes this guy drives by blaring a loudspeaker. He is selling fruit.
  

Las Turistas de Boquete

The Panama countryside is beautiful. We went for a hike into the high country with our friends and neighbors, Roger and Margaret. It's a rain forest so there is lots of water and waterfalls. I later learned that the tall trees you see us walking through harbor a community of howler monkeys. They were laying low, apparently, when we were there.

We visited a coffee farm, or finca de cafe. Connor and I stayed another day to pick beans ("recogemos los granos de cafe"). For a day's work we earned $5 (that's $2.50 each and I'm sure we were being generously tipped!) Between us we picked 2 latas or tins. The record in a day on this farm was 14 latas by a native man and his son. This particular farm is organic, which matters a lot otherwise we'd be rubbing against pesticided plants.


We also rented scooters one afternoon and rode around the narrow mountain roads above Boquete. The views of the surrounding countryside are pretty incredible, but the roads wash out occasionally, and there are usually pedestrians so drivers have to stay aware (but as you can see I did it with my eyes closed!) Some of the roads are so steep our little scooter couldn't make it and we had to push!

Just the other day we all went horseback riding. It's funny because we usually have a lot of trouble communicating to any depth with the locals and when we told them we were from Texas they immediately concluded we were all vacqueros and took us right to the pampas. In truth, Connor had never been on a horse before and Janet and I had not ridden since childhood. (Alexis is the most experienced.) But we didn't hurt ourselves, though there was a close one when I let my horse ride up too close behind Janet's and her horse kicked almost throwing Janet off. I think by the end they figured out we were a bunch of fakers.

The quest for health food in Panama

Healthy food is important to us. We try pretty hard to eat only organic, non-genetically modified food. Plus, we must avoid gluten grains which are so common in the mainstream American diet we sometimes feel like we are on the outside of society looking in. Over many years we have learned that we do best on the "paleolithic diet": fruits, vegetables, nuts, berries, and meats. On this diet leafy greens are a staple.

What we discovered here in Panama is discouraging. It's hard enough to find healthy food in America, but in Panama it's almost impossible. For one thing, grains (corn, rice and occasionally wheat) are abundant in panama, but vegetables are not, especially leafy greens (it's too warm and humid for lettuce and spinach to grow here.) Starchy fruits and roots are very common, and they are usually deep-fried. I'm not sure of the history where corn and beans became the staple diet of Latin America, but I'm pretty sure it's a distortion created by colonialism. In any case, these starchy foods elevate our gringo blood sugar (and the natives don't look like they're doing so well on this diet either.)

Another issue is labeling. We read food packaging carefully and what we find here in Panama is rather shocking. Almost all packaged food contains sugar, and it is almost a rule to find toxins like monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrogenated fats, soy, etc. Because of this we eat as much raw fruits and vegetables as we can find. But that brings up yet another problem.

Pesticides are sprayed all over the place here and they are not regulated. We are talking the really nasty ones that have long been banned in the US. This is a picture of the pesticide wall in the local hardware store. We now realize that virtually all of the raw vegetables we find in the grocery stores are toxic. So, our strategy is to buy all that we can from the one organic source, and to eat few of the vegetables that need a lot of spraying like potatoes, bell peppers, and apples (imported from Washington!)

It's strange because in many ways coming to Panama is like stepping backward into time to the bad old days when farmers stirred chemicals with their bare arms, motor oil was dumped on dirt roads, and racism was institutionalized. Things are like this because this society is so new; it only got a chance to develop after the last dictator, Noriega, was thrown out in 1989. Panama is ripe for entrepreneurism--and there are many opportunities--but it deserves the right kind: that which benefits the people and doesn't exploit them.

Getting fatter down in Panama...hasta luego!

Pictures to share

Here are some pictures we thought we'd share...

Why we came to Panama

We've often been asked why we chose to visit Panama.

First, it's warm and beautiful. Anyone who has experienced a winter in Oregon, Missouri, or even Texas knows there are better places to be, and Panama is one of them.

Second, we want to get out of the crazy consumer-uber-all US bubble and experience something completely different. It will be a welcome new challenge to be in another country, learning a new language, and seeing how other people live.

Also, it's a very unfortunate truth, but the US is toast due to the financial debacle unfolding there. So much debt is being tossed onto the backs of Americans that it will smother them. The people's industriousness will be siphoned off to debt service and we will see a rapid decline in living standards and in services generally. The future for our children will be bleak. Crime will rise. For the first time in its history we will see a wave of emigration out of the USA to find better opportunities. (This future could be averted if Americans get furious and repudiate the debt. I don't expect this--but it could happen.)

Due to the above we want to get started on a second passport. I've talked to Americans who thought getting a second passport—or becoming a citizen of another country in addition to their US citizenship—is illegal! But it certainly is not illegal. In fact, it makes a lot of good sense to give one's family additional options, especially as the wheels come off in the US. We're not saying that Panama is the place we've chosen to establish residency, but it has a lot going for it which I may mention in future updates, so it's a good place to take the plunge into.

So far the people in Panama are friendly and helpful, both native and expat alike. The expats here seem fully informed about what and who is behind world events, which is refreshing. It's nice to be among people whose minds are free.

More later...

The day we cleaned the squirrel monkey pen

I mentioned we are living next to an animal rescue facility called Jardines Paraiso (Paradise Gardens) where we've been going to help clean and repair animal pens. One day we got to clean out the squirrel monkey cage and here are a couple of short videos we took.

Note: monkeys are crazy. In the last video one of the monkeys jumped up on me. But shortly after the video I made one wrong move and he bit me!

From Panama with Love

Here is a succinct account of our recent past...

As the days passed in our trailer in southern Oregon watching the summer turn to fall we knew we didn't want to brave another Oregon winter without substantial shelter over our heads. So just before the end of September we drove down through California on I-5 and then through

Arizona and New Mexico on I-10, and back into Texas. I feared a breakdown the whole way because my Jeep's bearings had been whining even before the trip. Though it was an eventful journey I'm happy to say we made it to Texas healthy and whole.

Once in Texas we proceeded to go through the “stuff” in our storage sheds and sell or give away items we no longer wanted. (Unfortunately Texas received a record amount of rain during
October so we had to sit on our hands a lot of the time.) We sold our van, then our travel trailer, and lastly the Jeep. It felt strange and even sad to wave goodbye to all these vehicles that had supported us for so long, but we didn't want to pay storage while we went south for the winter and each vehicle had its own set of problems that would have taken more money and time than we wanted to spend. Once the Jeep sold we stayed with our very patient and loving relatives until we caught a bus to Fort Lauderdale.

I don't know how many of you have ridden long distance on Greyhound Bus Lines, but you should do it at least once. And you will only want to do it once, I'll bet. Anyway, from Fort Lauderdale we flew on Spirit Air to Panama City, Panama. (Spirit Air is so much cheaper than the majors that it cost less to take a bus to their Fort Lauderdale hub than to fly to Panama from Dallas.) Once in Panama City we stayed in our first hostel for two days, and then took a bus to David City, where we stayed at another hostel for a couple of days and then we took another bus up the mountain to Boquete, Panama, and it is from here that I write.

In Boquete we stayed at local hostels and tried to figure out how we could avoid staying at them any more. These places are fine, but not the best for a family and certainly not a value for staying in an area long term. We began asking around and checking bulletin boards outside local markets, made a few calls on our new skype account (oicu812ic) and voila! We are now staying for two months in a beautiful local apartment for much less than the hostels would cost us. Not only that, but we are a short walk from Boquete town center and across the road from us is Paradise Gardens, a garden and animal rescue facility. The children have already made friends with the capuchin monkeys there.

So, we will update you frequently and please stay in touch.

Withdraw from the System

If you reflect on national politics something becomes obvious: YOU can not control ANYTHING. You are locked OUT of the political process. National policies are decided for the benefit of somebody, but not YOU.

Need examples?

You don't want the U.S. army in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the imperial stormtroopers are there and there's nothing you can do about it. We have even learned that the Iraq invasion was made on the basis of lies, but your current "representatives" didn't reverse policy, did they?

In 2008 Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives but their leader, Nancy Pelosi, slapped the new "representatives" in line when they wanted to prosecute George Bush. These periodic purges of "voting out the bums" has no practical effect. Again, they all represent Big Business and NOT you and me.

No one wants illegal aliens crossing our borders but there are many millions of them in this country now and over the decades amnesties have been granted to many millions more. The decision has obviously been made at the highest levels to flood the lowest stratum of the System with poor people to exploit for cheap labor. (This also undercuts the middle class, which is an apparent goal, but that's a big discussion for another time.)

Nobody wants taxpayer money to be paid to bankers and record numbers of people told their "representatives" not to do this, but TRILLIONS have been handed over to them anyway. We are told "they are too big to fail" which is a feeble rationale for crime.

The vast majority of Americans oppose gun control legislation, but our "representatives" vote it up anyway.

Who would possibly want to eat genetically modified foods? But the big corporations will not have informative labeling and they make sure their servants, our "elected representatives", will never approve such a thing.

You are disgusted by the atrocities committed against the Palestinians by Israel, but your "representatives" continue to send that vile country billions, even as you become poorer.

I could go on and on with this, but I think you get the idea. It doesn't take much pondering to realize that if the System is completely unresponsive to your demands, but you still are expected to support it with your taxes, then you exist merely to provide sustenance to it. Let me spell it out: you were born into a System that keeps you in place and extracts money and life energy from you. YOU ARE FARMED. YOU ARE A CROP!

I know that's depressing, so go ahead and be depressed. Depression is what you feel when you've lost something, and if this idea is new to you then you HAVE lost something. But what? How about the illusion of the American dream?

The question you should be asking is what do I do about this, and there are many, many things you can do. I'll present a list soon, but I would like you to do what I did: WITHDRAW from the System. Take yourself and your family outside of it and refuse to give it sustenance. If enough people fought back against the System by withdrawing their support from it, the System would have to surrender to the awesome power of the people. Massive, non-violent civil disobedience is the one thing to which the System can not respond.

Helping this to happen is the reason I do this blog.

Obama: Meet the New Boss

“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views. As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if not all, of them.” --Barack Obama

Barack Obama first came to my attention when he spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention. My SUPERVISOR--back when I was a HUMAN RESOURCE--mentioned how impressed she was with this guy. Back then I feigned interest in such mainstream topics, but in truth I never watched TV and regarded presidential politics as theater and orchestration.

The best thing about Barack Obama being elected is that it proves Americans can elect a dark-skinned man to be president. But is there more to be happy about? What justifies the misty-eyed giddiness I am witnessing about this guy? I had the misfortune of being in Ashland, Oregon on Obama's inauguration day. Everywhere I turned it seemed someone was waxing out loud about how great it was that Obama is the new president, but what is it about this guy that has everyone so impressed?

First off, can any serious person think it possible that a senator from the political cesspool of Chicago would be squeaky clean? Seriously! A quick look at Obama's voting record as a senator shows fairly consistent support for the war machine, and a spotty record on individual liberties. I see nothing there to justify the claims that this man is going to be a source of HOPE AND CHANGE, though.

And how could anyone listen to the presidential debates and take either candidate seriously? The one time I overheard the Obama/McCain debate it was "Al Qaeda this", and "Al Qaeda that" but give me a break! These men were parroting the official fairy tales. AL QAEDA DOES NOT EXIST, people. This "organization" is a concoction of the CIA to keep us all afraid and more easily controlled. (I realize that for some of you that statement will sound unbelievable, but it's time to wake from your slumber!)

I did not hear Obama bravely challenge the official account of 9-11 or the bogus reasons to wage war on Afghanistan and Iraq. Now THAT would be real change!

Obama lied
I paid close attention to the conflict between the countries of Georgia and South Ossetia when Georgia surprise attacked the other country (at the urging of the U.S.) and Russia responded by immediately halting the attack and kicking Georgia out. The U.S. claimed that Russia attacked first, a claim that was proven false by an international inquiry. When Obama was asked about this, he simply lied when he accused Russia of starting the conflict with Georgia. (Sarah Palin did the same thing, which bolsters a claim I will make that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats.) This was a big moment for me in assessing Barack Obama's character.

Obama's appointments don't lie
His cabinet picks are where Obama's presidency moves from lofty rhetoric and starts taking shape, and what an ugly shape it is! He has chosen entrenched insiders who each have a history of suppressing the people and the truth. Where's the change?

Without going through each candidate, certain strong themes stand out from Obama's appointments.

• He leaves in place Bush's secretary of defense (!!) which tells us the war machine will go on as before. The imperial slaughter of dark-skinned peoples, including the Palestinians, will continue unabated.
• His economic team is much the same set of scoundrels that are systematically looting the country as we speak. The looting will continue.
• Obama's environmental picks signal a separation from policies that benefit Big Oil, and this actually gives me hope! Unfortunately, the premise behind this will be "The Climate Crisis" which is a huge fraud (and one that is steadily unraveling.) But watch for the carbon tax!
• Obama will promote global government. Most of Obama's picks are members of the Council on Foreign Relations, including Zbigniew Brzezinski, Obama's foreign policy advisor. The Council on Foreign Relations exists for only one purpose, to end national sovereignty and deliver us into a system of global governance.

Politics as dialectic
Here's what's really going on. From brainsturbator.com:

We find ourselves up against an entrenched power structure composed of a relatively very small group of wealthy elites. They seldom rule directly or even visibly, and maintain their power through building huge armed bureaucracies who enforce power for them.

In America, the two-party system is a fraud, which controls the people and forces them to choose among candidates that do NOT represent their interests. The people are bounced back and forth like a pinball between the hard-right and the soft right, but the underlying agenda keeps moving along. Each election cycle we are given--not the right to choose who our candidates will be--but to select from the men we are given, and if you pay attention you'll notice that the candidates from either party are basically saying the same things. From the Clinton velvet-glove we are swatted over to George W's iron fist and now we are given "hope and change" in the form of the friendly-looking, dark-skinned candidate Obama.

Here's what Carroll Quigley said about our system in his very important book, "Tragedy and Hope":

The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy.

When Barack Obama repeals the Patriot Act, and the Military Commissions Act, and other heinous legislation from the Bush era, that's when you'll know he's worthy of your trust.

Gifts for the chillens

Relatives have been asking what our children need for Christmas, so this post is for them. But nobody get trampled, now!

Alexis
Guitar case, Alexis is playing a lot lately and needs a better case for her guitar.

Guitar capo, Another item for Alexis' guitar playing.

Strings, players always wear them out.

Diabolo, since Connor got his diabolo (and is getting rather good), Alexis decided she really wanted one too.

Feltmaking kit, Alexis loves crafts and discovered this recently. She's been asking for a kit like the one called FELTMAKING KIT: INTRODUCTION a little down the page.

Tumbling mat, Alexis has been doing circus classes and could use a mat to practice her moves!

Gypsy skirt, and another, Lexie is becoming interested in looking pretty and likes earthy styles.


Connor

Connor has picked up mandolin playing, and so needs accessories like strings, instruction books, DVDs, and a music stand.

He loves camping gear, such as a mess kit, a quality sleeping pad, a pro backpack, a tiny stove.

He built a bow and arrow and has become interested in hunting. A youth bow would be an ecstatically welcomed gift.

He rides his bike everywhere and has asked for one of those bike computers (also called 'cyclocomputers').

He likes juggling and eye-hand tricks: Juggling balls

Many thanks to you all for your kindness and generosity. Merry Christmas, wish you were here.

Your IRA belongs to Uncle Sam

I once read an article by Gary North on tax-deferred retirement plans like IRAs or 401Ks. He said:

Want to know what I really think will happen? The worst-case scenario? A demagogue gets into office and pushes an emergency order (which Congress will not override) which deposits all these funds into the Social Security system, for everyone who has a net worth (not counting home ownership) of [$__________]. Fill in the blank with whatever the tyrant thinks he can get away with. We could see an envy-grab of the retirement programs of the upper middle class.
...
The time to start thinking about a premature liquidation is when a new President is elected on a radical platform, probably with a shift in Presidential political parties, and with both houses of the new Congress belonging to his party.

Wow, pretty good call Gary!

The demagoguery of IRAs has begun in the person of Teresa Ghilarducci, a wacked out professor who recommended to Congress that retirement accounts should be confiscated and replaced with Treasury bonds, "to spread the wealth" (she actually said that). This kind of behavior is not at all uncommon among governments. The government of Argentina has stolen its people's money at least twice, most recently when it confiscated all pension funds, to protect their value of course.

Any president coming into office in the midst of this economic chaos is certain to look at all possible ways to raise money, and higher taxes are a certainty. But the Obama administration has foreshadowed a particular willingness to squeeze the cash out of the people. For instance, they will probably attempt to pass a global warming tax, a debate I'll particularly enjoy since global warming is such a grand hoax. I think confiscating retirement accounts and freezing bank accounts are very likely too, so be prepared. It's going to get even weirder.

I feel sorry for my friends at Intuit who will probably have little choice but to watch the government take their 401K money. To get their money out of harm's way they would have to quit their job, rollover the plan into an IRA, and then liquidate. At this point, there's probably no time left for all that, even if they wanted to do it. The government may also attempt to make a confiscation law retroactive to the first of the year, a trick Bill Clinton successfully used when he raised taxes in 1993.

These are times to be very wary of one's money, people. Don't be afraid to make bold moves. The politicians certainly aren't.

What was Biden talking about?

On October 19th at a fundraiser in Seattle, Joe Biden had some very interesting things to say. Go to the source article and see for yourself:

• In the first six months after Obama's victory there will be an international crisis.
  
• It will be a "generated" crisis.
  
• Obama's response will be very unpopular with the American public and his approval ratings will plummet.
  
• His response will be different than what Americans want, because they are too stupid to know the right thing to do anyway.
  
• He ended his comments by saying he had said too much.
  

One might interpret these statements as the musings of an experienced politician, except for a few things: Why would Biden say the crisis will be "generated". That's certainly a weird thing to say, don't you think? Second, how does he know that Obama's ratings are going to plummet?

Knowing this crowd, I would advise you to prepare for the worst.

The story of selling our house

We saw the financial chaos coming when we were living in Dallas, Texas. The housing bubble had already started to pop a year before, though gently at first and only for areas that had the most dramatic rises, but we knew it would make its way to Dallas (and everywhere) soon. One reason for our certainty came from the frequent walks I took around our neighborhood. I liked to walk to work off the frustrations from my wage slave job, and after walking down one block after another, seeing house after identical house helped convince me that the suburbs are doomed. What an unnatural way to live! We knew that these endless tracts of suburban houses would drop substantially in value, but we also anticipated other problems like wide-spread layoffs and even interruptions in the supply of food, and we began to feel like remaining in our suburban house was a trap of sorts. So, we decided to sell it.

We put our house on the market in early 2007, and--because we were in a race with time--each month that went by we lowered our price by $10,000! (This caused some big arguments in our household, I should add.) We didn't have many showings, but after two months we received an offer, although it was so low-ball we refused it. Apparently, these buyers thought we were desperate, but we weren't desperate--just determined. Eventually, this person came up to our (low) price and so bought our house.

We sold at the last possible moment because immediately afterwards the housing market began to fall in earnest. When the press gave the phenomenon a lot of attention house sales plummeted. At the time of our closing we felt we were cheating ourselves of profits, but when we walked away from it and we were completely out of debt for the first time in many years, it felt good. And it still feels good!

Debt-free is the correct posture to be in for the period of economic chaos we are entering. If you do have money it is a good idea to put it into REAL things like land that can support a big garden and skills and tools that will help you make a living during hard times. We are entering a period of chaos that will be unlike anything any of us has ever experienced. You should try to join or build a local community of friends and family who will hang together. That's certainly what we are doing.

Zoning is a problem for communities

One reason there are not more intentional communities are zoning laws (true grammarians won't like that sentence--sorry). These were set up to control how land is used and they have their place much of the time. Who wants to live next to a cement factory, for example?

But zoning laws make it illegal for groups of people to live together on a piece of land. This presumably “keeps property values high” and it ensures more tax money to the government. (Notice how the money system lies beneath every official rule.) Unfortunately, it means that friends and families who come together to form a community must do so illegally.

The above picture shows a typical situation where land is subdivided, and each parcel is owned by a different person. Each property must have a clearing within it for a house. Each property must have its own well drilled, its own driveway, and of course each property must be patrolled by a large, noisy carnivore to make sure no wild creatures come near (sorry you dog lovers). You probably couldn't dream up a more damaging system to the local ecology than this.

And on each property sits a single, solitary family.

They are called “homesteaders” and they are some of the busiest people around. This is because living out in the country is a ton of work. Nothing happens automatically like in a city, so hauling trash, chopping wood, clearing and patching roads, and endless trips to town are a basic fact of life. Then throw in all the things that people who move to the country want to do, like raising chickens and goats and horses, growing herbs and vegetables, raising honeybees, building outbuildings, etc., and you are occupied full time. To make matters worse, most homesteaders have to leave their property to earn money to support the whole affair. This means, basically, that the average homesteader is working two jobs: the money-earning one, and maintaining the homestead itself!

In a community, of course, these tasks would be shared among the members, which gives rise to the old saying, "Many hands make light work". The search to find a part of the country where zoning laws allow a community to form and grow unhindered led the Dancing Rabbit folks to move to the hinterlands of Missouri, which certainly wouldn't be my first choice of places to live.

We have found that sometimes homesteaders are agreeable to having cool people live on their land to help them with their property, providing work in exchange for rent. There are also farmers who need help with growing their crops, packing vegetables into boxes, and selling at markets. Sometimes a property owner needs help with a specific project, such as constructing a new building. Some of these situations are very short term, and sometimes long. I have to say that most of the people doing work trade are young, twenty-somethings, but often a family can be accommodated and sometimes a family is specifically advertised for. Here are some websites where such matches are made.

http://attrainternships.ncat.org/

http://www.wwoof.org/

http://www.organicvolunteers.com/

Zoning laws derive from a model of property ownership that was invented by the banking industry. Owning one's own land is a highly appealing idea, but this current system of one family per plot is an obstacle to a healthier way of living for humanity and the natural world. I see no hope that this system will change until industrial society slams into an ecological wall. I wish I saw a more hopeful path. In the meantime those of us who seek to form eco-communities will have to do so discretely in the hinterlands.

End of summer 2008

I've not posted a lot lately because I've been busy living a life in the country and typing our latest doings into the internet has seemed less important.

But this week I've had a couple of experiences that encourage me to pick this blog thread back up. Two different people--friends I haven't yet met--contacted me to tell me how helpful they've found my postings, something I still find extraordinary...and very encouraging. Breaking away from the dominant system has been a huge leap for us and it remains my hope that others come along after us. Only when enough people abandon it can the dominant system falter.

Since January we have been living on the homestead of some new friends, paying our rent through work trade. This isn't an official "intentional community", but we find we've been doing all of the things we wanted to do, and we are all happy, so here we remain. If you'd asked me a year ago if I wanted to be living in a forest, growing my own food, learning how to recognize wild medicinal plants, building cob houses, and playing my guitar I'd give an enthusiastic yes! We've been busy raising vegetables, learning natural building, and meeting other good folk around the countryside.

For the last couple weeks we've helped with the workshop that built this cob house. People came from all over the place to learn how to build a house made of cob. This was a pretty big structure, and the temperatures spiked right at the beginning of the workshop, so we all worked pretty hard. I'm pooped.

It's also that time of year around here that the blackberries are ripening. We were invited to pick on one of the many local wineries, which we are happy to do because these berries get lots of water and so they are fat and juicy! Now that the workshop is over we'll spend a couple days gathering pounds of them and then we'll can them.

So that's what we're up to lately. Next month we'll go back to Texas and Missouri to see la familia.

Summer projects

We've been spending our summer learning a lot of new things. For instance, I strung up some hummingbird feeders. The thing that attracts hummers is the red cap. The bottles are filled with sugar water (1 part sugar to 4 parts water). And no, the sugar will not make their beeks rot off! Turns out this mixture is not too different from their natural energy drink: nectar.

I helped put the roofing on this pole-frame building. Some friends are doing a lot of building out here in the country and sometimes hire me to help out. I'm fascinated by all forms of building so I'm happy to help and learn.





I also recently helped a friend put in a cob bread oven. This is the third oven I've worked on. She lives in a very rural setting and patiently--over months--dug away the hillside to make space for her oven. We used the excavated clay to build the oven itself, but there was almost no sand. This means the clay will crack, so she'll have to seal the combustion chamber initially, and it's possible the whole thing will collapse. The good news is all the material can be re-used if need be.

Connor spent a week near Mt. Shasta at a wilderness camp. This was a hard one for us, to let our Connor go away for a week. But, now that he's back it's all good. He was one of the younger boys in the group, but as the instructor said, "he was the heart of the group". He learned a lot about camping, outdoor craft, and people, and refers to the course frequently.

More on gardening soon...

Solar Water Heater

I built a solar water heater. It is perhaps the simplest style of solar water heater in that the heating part and the water containing part are together in one unit.

I stripped a water heater down to just the tank, painted it black, put it in an insulated box also painted black inside, and covered the box with glass.

The first picture shows the box during construction where I packed insulation in between the box framing. This insulation came from the original water heater and so did the sheet metal I sealed it in with. The wood was mostly scrap laying around the place, so everything was free!

The second picture shows the box with insulation in place, and the
third picture shows the inside of the box painted black.

The picture missing here (because it's still in my camera which I forgot because we left for town in a hurry and so much for casual, stress-free life in the country, but anyway...) shows the completed heater sitting out in the open under the sun warming up our shower water for free.

Just painting a tank black would provide hot water. Placing it in an insulated box will keep the water hot overnight, and will extend the season well into the autumn.