Is a Self Sufficient Lifestyle Only Feasible if Healthy and Strong?

[Wannabefree]

I agree with Theo, networking with family, friends, and neighbors will allow my family to continue doing long after we are all physically incapable of doing it alone. To me that is the whole beauty of SS, to create a network of beneficiaries, who will help see you through the hard times, knowing some day the wealth of information and even the farm itself will be a valuable inheritance. My step kids, and nieces and nephew will benefit from ours as they get older just like they benefit from it now. I see no problem with aging and continuing to farm unless your a snarky old hermit

 

[Beekissed]

Just a ray of sunshine today, aren't we? Yes, news flash...people died back in the old days. Maybe even died younger than present day~but not everyone did or we wouldn't be taking care of 90 year olds in the raisin ranch. Death happens to us all eventually.

 

[Marianne]

I loved reading the story about the Nearings. Amazing people!

Joel, I agree with you on the disconnection of the generations in the past years. Now there are more opportunities for young and old, all around the world. I sure wouldn't want any of my adult children to feel like they had to stay around here and live the lifestyle that I have chosen.

And if I would have had to stay living with my mother and raise my children there? Well, I would have been either suicidal or homicidal in short order.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Just a ray of sunshine today, aren't we? Yes, news flash...people died back in the old days. Maybe even died younger than present day~but not everyone did or we wouldn't be taking care of 90 year olds in the raisin ranch. Death happens to us all eventually.

Bee, you're missing the point. 100 years ago, about the time they instituted social security, the over/under number on life expectancy was 65, which was up from the century prior.

There's always going to be outliers on the statistical curve, you may be just be lucky enough to see those making it to ninety + (and I'm willing to bet, the number is in the dozens, not hundreds). For every 90+ year old you see, there are hundreds/thousands from the same generation already in the ground for decades.

The claim (which I've heard time and time here before) is that the "good ol' days" were healthier - they weren't. ~gd was just saying go look at the data beyond the small statistical sampling you're seeing.

Yes, we will all leave this earth at some point, we should make the best of it while we are here. Romanticizing a historical view that isn't reality doesn't make sense to me

 

[Joel_BC]

Joel, I agree with you on the disconnection of the generations in the past years. Now there are more opportunities for young and old, all around the world. I sure wouldn't want any of my adult children to feel like they had to stay around here and live the lifestyle that I have chosen.

And if I would have had to stay living with my mother and raise my children there? Well, I would have been either suicidal or homicidal in short order.

Our experience (our parents, our homelife, our time of coming to maturity) was 'all of a piece'. The rebellion and youth cultures and generation gaps of the last few decades were what they were. I'm just adding the idea that what will condition the overall situation in society in the next decades may, in some respects, be less of the ease and affluence of the last few decades. Of necessity, people will adapt in one way or another.

I'm not proposing the notion of "the good old days" either. Those decades, those generations had their problems and limitations.

As time goes on, maybe the wise ones among our generation and the following ones will blend some of the good ideas and patterns of the past with some thoroughly new possibilities and ideas. Ya gotta hope so.

Anyhow, that's kida what I feel people are involved with here on SS. Picking and choosing. A blending.

 

[Denim Deb]

Thing is, no one is completely SS. We all have things that we can and cannot do due to either physical or time limits. For me, I try to do as much as I can. This is in spite of having Menieres, IBS, L4, L5 nerve irritation to my left leg and being 50 yo. I've changed in the past few years, too. I've gotten to the point that where I still want to heat w/wood, and don't mind cutting and splitting it, I prefer logs that are 10" and under in diameter. I don't want to mess w/the larger chunks, or the stuff that's hard to split.

 

[Marianne]

Our experience (our parents, our homelife, our time of coming to maturity) was 'all of a piece'. The rebellion and youth cultures and generation gaps of the last few decades were what they were. I'm just adding the idea that what will condition the overall situation in society in the net decades may, in some respects, be less of the ease and affluence of the last few decades. Of necessity, people will adapt in one way or another.

I'm not proposing the notion of "the good old days" either. Those decades, those generations had their problems and limitations.

As time goes on, maybe the wise ones among our generation and the following ones will blend some of the good ideas and patterns of the past with some thoroughly new possibilities and ideas. Ya gotta hope so.

Our 16 yr old grandson is still interested in what we have going on around here. I always tell him that he doesn't have to make/do/build, whatever, he just needs to remember that he can do it.

 

[Beekissed]

Just a ray of sunshine today, aren't we? Yes, news flash...people died back in the old days. Maybe even died younger than present day~but not everyone did or we wouldn't be taking care of 90 year olds in the raisin ranch. Death happens to us all eventually.

Bee, you're missing the point. 100 years ago, about the time they instituted social security, the over/under number on life expectancy was 65, which was up from the century prior.

There's always going to be outliers on the statistical curve, you may be just be lucky enough to see those making it to ninety + (and I'm willing to bet, the number is in the dozens, not hundreds). For every 90+ year old you see, there are hundreds/thousands from the same generation already in the ground for decades.

The claim (which I've heard time and time here before) is that the "good ol' days" were healthier - they weren't. ~gd was just saying go look at the data beyond the small statistical sampling you're seeing.

Yes, we will all leave this earth at some point, we should make the best of it while we are here. Romanticizing a historical view that isn't reality doesn't make sense to me

And that wasn't the only point that wasn't missed. Generally, people aren't romanticizing the past in regards to overall health and the relative age of death back then. They are waxing nostalgic over the fact that we have become a generation of couch potatoes who eat processed foods from the store, take too many pills claiming to fix the results of our lifestyles and that we could stand to be more~like our grandparents~ active, more skilled in surviving hard economic times and we could take more responsibility for our own health and welfare instead of expecting it to come from a pill bottle.

They just lived in an age that lacked the medical advancements that we have now...that is the only thing they lacked when it came to longevity. I don't think anyone is saying the old timers knew it all or had a lock on life...we're just saying that some of the things we've lost through time were of great value. If not, then why in the world are we even trying to relearn "old" skills, get back to a simpler life, etc...? Because they had some things/knowledge/lifestyles of value that shouldn't have been left by the wayside.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Thing is, no one is completely SS. We all have things that we can and cannot do due to either physical or time limits. For me, I try to do as much as I can. This is in spite of having Menieres, IBS, L4, L5 nerve irritation to my left leg and being 50 yo. I've changed in the past few years, too. I've gotten to the point that where I still want to heat w/wood, and don't mind cutting and splitting it, I prefer logs that are 10" and under in diameter. I don't want to mess w/the larger chunks, or the stuff that's hard to split.

eww...err...50...yeah...that's my next #...coming up just around the corner.

 

[CheerioLounge]

Thing is, no one is completely SS. We all have things that we can and cannot do due to either physical or time limits. For me, I try to do as much as I can. This is in spite of having Menieres, IBS, L4, L5 nerve irritation to my left leg and being 50 yo. I've changed in the past few years, too. I've gotten to the point that where I still want to heat w/wood, and don't mind cutting and splitting it, I prefer logs that are 10" and under in diameter. I don't want to mess w/the larger chunks, or the stuff that's hard to split.

eww...err...50...yeah...that's my next #...coming up just around the corner.

Don't feel bad Moxie... I'll be doing the same. I'm actually looking forward to it. A couple of years ago I didn't think I'd make 50!