Take Time with a Wounded Hand

Me, materialstic? You Betcha!

Not so much that I gotta have kind, but the I spent years gathering these things, kind. I started in my closets. My husband has more clothes than I do, so that wasn't an issue, but as I went into my bedroom and started pulling books off the shelf, nope, That's Mark Twain have to keep it, I found I had some issues.

I know that many of you are uncluttering your lives, giving away things you really don't use and have no sentimental value. But. . . oh here comes the whining. . . I have to give up just about everything. There is no storage at the farm. I can only take minimal amount of things with me. But what stays and what goes?

I decided it would be easiest to start with the things that we need to actually live. Not the pretties. I have an issue living without books. That won't happen. I, in theory, could leave everything behind and start anew. I don't want to, wait, I need to stomp my feet. I have things that I had since I was a child. The very first teddy Bear I was given the day I was born, I have a hope chest that was my crib when we went to see my grandmother. I think I will fill that hope chest with my memories, my husband's and my children's, and that will be all the pretties I will take. It will be difficult to leave the rest behind, but I have little choice. Emotional this is rather difficult.

We found renters that will make you guys proud. There is this family, the father is on disability because of 2 full tours for the Army. He is on meds to make him sleep, one to stop the dreams, and one to manage pain. His wife is a manager at a chian restaurant, and they have 6 kids. These 8 are living in a 2 bedroom apartment. What they pay for that 2 bedroom apartment will get them a 3 bedroom trailer and 3 acres from us. My husband and I have talked already. Before we found this family. We wanted to be able to give another family a chance, and decided not to charge more than mortgage. I would like to charge less than mortgage but that wouldn't be feasible. We are leasing out the back 2 acres to the horse neighbor, but that will knock only a little bit off the rent. The future renter grew up on a small farm, he knows the ins and outs and this will give the family a wonderful opportunity to live independently. I hope.

I have to go now. I have to sort through a life time of acquired goodies, tug at some heart strings and hope it doesn't break. . . to badly.

Me, materialistic? Unfortunately yes.

What type of Foot Print are you leaving?

I found this an interesting test. {edited to add} Found the link from Walk Slowly live wildly.

Earth Day Foot Print Quiz

CATEGORY ACRES FOOD 4.2 MOBILITY 0.2 SHELTER 1.5 GOODS/SERVICES 1.2 TOTAL FOOTPRINT 7
	IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
	IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.6 PLANETS.

I then took the test again with my future green designed house. It didn't change. Looks like I need to change my food habits. Yet what am I doing that is so wrong according to them? I eat meat. It takes more resources to grow livestock than it is to grow corn based products. I spent 6 years of my life as a vegan. When I became pregnant with my second son, I craved pork sausage. The craving was overwhelming. None of the vitamins I was eating helped. I broke and ate a big plate of Sausage, biscuits and gravy. I ended up with a migraine and heavy guilt. But why should I feel guilty? My body demanded something that I was not obviously receiving in my diet. My vegan friends were mortified, would you eat dirt if that's what you body craved? Give me a break, but I had to answer truthfully, I would try to find an alternative to stave off the craving. So then why hadn't I done that with this other craving. I had! Nothing worked. And then I was called later that night, one of my vegan friends had to confess that she was eating eggs. She felt so horrible about it, but her body {she was pregnant too} was demanding the eggs.

I became a vegan because of the treatment of animals in feed lots, the wastefulness of excess meat, and the mass slaughters. Not that I thought eating meat was wrong. I just had no other way to show my disgust. So vegan I became. Now that I own my own land, I raise my own food, and there is meat on my table.

But here is yet another quiz telling me that I should change my diet. Unlike some of the others, this one simply says reduce your consumption. That’s a lot better than some I have ran across, that proceeded to tell me how horrible of a person I am for eating meat.

I raise my own, I do not mass slaughter, and I eat what I kill.

end that rant for the day.

Did you take the test? If so, what was your footprint total?

on a different note, Billymac on Critique my blog is hosting a contest. It is a popularity contest, and I have no idea what the prize is, ok I assume the prize is being named the most popular blog. Not really my cup O' tea. But the plus side is that when you go searching for my blog to leave a coment on, you will find other blogs that will interest you. The email I recived states;

Everyone out there who has a blog has some steady readers. The object is simple. The blog with the most comments by the end of December will be named the named THE MOST POPULAR BLOG OF THE YEAR. You can direct family members, friends, coworkers, your kids...whoever you know who has access to a computer can find your link on my blog and comment in the comment section under your post.

Here's the catch. You must also ask your friends to visit some other random blogs from Critique My Blog and place a friendly comment on their blog as well. The nicer the better because at the end of the contest the top 3 blogs with the most comments will be judged by their peers via a poll as to who they think is the most popular blog. So if you let the other bloggers know who is sending traffic their way then in the end the bloggers with the lesser comments will be inclined to vote for the blog that sent the most readers their way. The judging will begin on the 20th of December and last until the end of December. The winner will be announced on January 1rst!

I am not to give you the direct link to my critique, you will have to look for it.
If you do head this way, remember to tell them A Homesteading Neophyte sent you. We can at least support Billymac and his blog.