The Wild Homestead

Last week Seth and I watched a documentary called "A Family Undertaking" by POV, which airs on PBS. The documentary touched on the same ideas as explored in the New York Times Article: Home Burials Offer and Intimate Alternative. The point is that funeral homes in the US have a monopoly on the arrangements made after death, though after-death care by family members has been a traditional part of human life throughout history and offers incredible emotional benefits.

In my family the general attitude has always been "put me in a pine box and bury me in the back yard." I've never been subject to attitudes condoning spending tens of thousands of dollars on a funeral. I've never even understood why the costs would exceed 1k in any situation.

The film and the NYTimes article are inspiring in that they show that people in American really aren't afraid to care for their own loved ones in death. There is a growing return to that way of handling funerals and I'm happy to see it.

I think more people are starting to take responsibility for their own lives and their own humanity elsewhere as well. Perhaps it's just because of my personal interest, but I notice more and more people gardening, homeschooling and even expressing interest in homesteading around the country. Indeed, many of us are still in the earliest stages but at least there is the interest. What, ultimately, will be the result of all of this?
Are we finding our way out of this consumer madness? I sure hope so.

The lady chickens are doing well.
I'm taking a stab at growing some fall tomatoes. We'll see how this works out... hopefully it does some good. I am saving the rest of the seeds for next spring.

I would really like to work hard on getting a winter garden going. Nothing makes me happier than leafy greens and now is the time to plant broccoli from seed.

I'm working on looking for other sources of income so that we can get some of these things going. That's right, dirt and seeds cost MONEY! At least good dirt... all we've got here is clay and fire ants.