We just returned from a 10 day trip back ‘œhome’ to Michigan to visit friends and family. Part of our time was in rural countryside and part in the Metro Detroit area. While staying with a close friend in rural MI, we were very appreciative of the extensive garden, the land to pick wild berries and the venison we were served, also from the property. The family heats their home with wood from their land, has a septic system and a well. We noted how close they were to living from the land and how valuable we thought those skills were nowadays. They nodded politely but didn’t fully understand our interest.

During a conversation with long time friends in suburban Detroit, we related this experience and spoke of our desire to find some land, possibly in MI where it is pretty cheap right now, in case we needed a refuge. We explained how we wanted to build a tiny home as off the grid as possible, grow our own food and possibly even learn to hunt. Hesitantly we divulged our suspicion that our country’s oil-dependent lifestyle might not be sustainable given economic and climatic conditions.

Our friends thanked us for ‘œcoming out of the closet’ about our fears and defensive plans. We all discussed how it is difficult to discuss these beliefs without sounding paranoid. Then we got to talking about ways we might be able to share skills and resources going forward and possibly buy land together. This is only the beginning of a much longer discussion but it was a relief to learn there are others who share our concerns.

So how does this relate to money? Well aside from the initial purchase of land, some form of shelter and supplies, the worst-case-scenario economy won’t be based on money but rather on skills and knowledge and our ability to cooperate. Most of us are a couple of generations removed from self-sufficiency but thankfully there are books and the Amish to learn from. There is also this great website called Queercents where you can find articles about making your own toothpaste, creating a really really free community-based economy and stocking up for financial or natural disasters among others.

Is this paranoid thinking? Maybe. The good news is that moving toward this lifestyle is beneficial financially and ecologically. Not to mention that learning to make things, fix things, grow things and live more simply is rewarding in its own right.

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