I came across an article on self-sufficiency and a book review. Amazing how close to my thoughts and beliefs, like mind reading. In a Countryside magazine article (jan/feb, 2010), regarding Jd Belanger's new book "he admonishes people to think of their frugal lifestyles as a business", "a business must be more efficient and less wasteful than a hobby, self sufficient living cannot tolerate waste". It's an "investment in a minimalist lifestyle that can be just as profitable as investments in the stock market". The Complete Idiot's guide to Self-Sufficient Living. Definitely will get this book. I am not a complete beginner, but being self taught in most areas of gardening and animals, a library of books for reference is important. Jd Belanger has been writing about homesteading for 30 years, that's a lot of knowledge.
'voluntary simplicity' . . . . . I like the way it sounds!
I have kept track of eggs gathered per day, food bought, the few dozen sold to a neighbor and the year the chicks were bought. Should have also kept track of the dozens given away to family, and the price of the chicks. It wasn't hard, I kept a paper for counts on the side of the fridge. We also kept track of expenses for 4H horses, considered as part of the responsibility of the kids projects each year. For home schooled kids, this is great for math lessons (gardening and animals), even the youngest can help with counting, weighing, writing the numbers, etc. Real life math makes more sense. While in high school and not understanding algebra, switching to bookkeeping saved my grade point average. A light went off (in my head!), 'this is algebra', it made sense because of real life applications. I feel that kids are not helped to understand why they must know math, especially in high school.
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