I have a problem. I can shoot a groundhog or trap a rabbit. I can skin, dress and butcher them. But once I have done all the above, I can no longer eat them.

Been there (simlarly not identically), and done that. The solution is very simple. Barter with someone to get what THEY processed. If you get on a regular buddy/community system with others, you will all eat well. We know this when it comes to the movement of garden produce around our circle, but meats can be approached the same way.


I guess Hardi and I have been philosphizing and planning about what we call "The Credit Bubble" for a long time, knowing it will pop in our lifetime. The effects of it extend so very far that to deal with it, you have to know the underpinnings. Most people we know, at this point, are just starting to do the "surface thinking." I can only summarize our "prep" by saying that we have minimized credit for a long, long time, and that our investment has been in community, not commodity. We refrain from generating our own credit bubble, and we don't live off someone else's.

Where we live..... we can live here, pretty much no matter what. We can downsize at any time to whatever degree is needed-- it would take about 3 days-- and we know enough about the details that would be involved to do it pretty confortably. I don't mean downsizing to a smaller house. If we had to, we're prepared to downsize all the way to a tent, 'nuff said. I have done it in the past. I've always lived "raised poor." You dont forget the tricks, and you don't let go of them easily.

But in the meantime we're pretty well positioned to keep ourselves to remain "those who look after others," rather than having to scramble for our own comfort. That doesn't mean we are rolling in dough we can pass along; it means that our comfort level is and will remain at the point where we can think and respond with enough clarity to help people do some positive thinking of their own in whatever may come up.

I think that's the secret of surviving in the minstry-- to always keep yourself healthy enough to remain a step ahead of the crowd so you can help them when they need it... because one of our favorite sayings is, "They know who to call." But another one is, "They prefer the hope to the reality." Eventually, as we get older, if we survive, we learn to take both the hope AND the reality.


A case in point. I have twice now offered some seriously-reality-based thoughts to an individual I am thinking of today, who prefers not to listen at the moment. That tells me that this individual is not yet at the place where their own "smarts" have gotten them into enough trouble that they can tell the difference between their hopes and a real, solid upward path. And that's fine-- because the day that person realizes they need to listen-up, they will recall what I said and/or my phone will ring. Till then I have my hands full of the last one who needed to call. And so it goes, around and around. (And of course sometimes I'm the one calling others when my "smarts" wear thin.)

Several times a year I get emails, calls, or in-person indications that whatever I said years ago finally kicked in, and usually an apology for not listening. The acknowledgement is nice because it updates me on what their next level of help-need may be, but the apologetic mindset helps them, not me; after I hear them process their thoughts about this, I just tell them to pay out that line, that kind of slack-- to someone else when they get a chance. My mom taught me this pattern-- we laugh and laugh when I call to tell her what lesson from her parenting kicked in "yesterday."

Community. It has its own triage built in, because not everyone can listen and accept at the same time. Good thing too, or we'd all be overwhelmed and panicked at the same time!

~Susan