Who is nuts?

[Wood Scrounge]

I work in an office with a bunch of folks who rarely go outside or do anything for themselves. I notice that they all seem to talk about the environment and how mankind is destroying it. I recently started telling them they must go outside for a total of just 6 hours a week in order to be able talk about the environment.

They think I am a nut because I burn wood, plant new trees for future wood, take my family hiking, fishing and camping, get 30% of my vegetables and fruit from my little 2 acres here on the edge of the megalopolis and I compost everything. Who is nuts?



Sorry a little venting.

 

[WAPITI39]

Wood Scrounge
I agree with you completely and I feel that is the main issue with the majority of the population. Everyone who has not experienced or ever even participated int he ways of this planet and they all appear to have some preconcieved notions that they know whats right ebcasue they all watched it over coffee on the news before work. We would all be better off if Folks were in better touch with life itself just like you are. A littel self sufficiency can go a long way for ones view on life. Anyways just wanted to say thank uyou for venting and glad to see other are just as frustrated with folks making rules on games they ahve never even played.

 

[buckwheat]

I'm with ya. I live in a somewhat upscale neighborhood (that's a story in itself); but I've got firewood stacked behind the house, behind the shed, and a big pile of rounds in the back yard right now. I ride a bike for short trips to the store instead of taking the car. The neighbors just kinda of smile and wave...

We don't really have time for a decent sized garden, but that might be my spring project if I can borrow a tiller.

I don't consider myself an environmentalist. I just like saving money, being outside, and getting some exercise.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Are they the same people that thought up Y2K ?
That one kind'a fizzed too. They are wearing blinders and can only see what is in front of them. The see the television, the news reports and whatever they chose that lines up with their way of thinking. They get an idea in their head and get so focused on it that they only see the problem and not the whole picture.

 

[Zodiac45]

The times they are a changing Fella's. People will learn what they need too learn and it won't be by just reading it alone. Society norms and specific skill sets seem too be (like everything else) cyclical. I've grown a veg garden, have had chickens or a pig and harvested and planted trees for firewood for as long as I can remember pretty much. There's been times when people thought I was behind the times and then there's times when they ask me for advice/expertise. All depends on where we are in the cycle I guess?

 

[Wood Scrounge]

Ah very good question, I guess our existence here does have an impact on the environment the amount is up for debate. However, the point of the post was to vent about folks who seemly have passionate beliefs on the environment, but do little to improve it and have never (rarely) enjoyed it.

 

[TreePointer]

Ah very good question, I guess our existence here does have an impact on the environment the amount is up for debate. However, the point of the post was to vent about folks who seemly have passionate beliefs on the environment, but do little to improve it and have never (rarely) enjoyed it.

I think you have a good point. I have a friend who had been against all hunting until she hit a deer and totaled her car. Now she understands the utility of the state game commission and the important role that hunters play in population control.

 

[K7NUT]

Is it your conclusion that man is not destroying the environment?

You know, I'm so tired of this backlash of hatred of the HuMAN being!
Yes, MAN does have an impact on the enviroment, but guess what, that's how God desined it! It is up to us, to a certain degree, of how much an impact we have on it. There are many factors involved, unfortunately greed is the destructive factor in the 20th/21st century. But we can not ignore ignorance...!

Take for instance the consumption of dairy products. We have been lied to for years about the impact it has on our bodies, but the FDA still stands behind it, why, MONEY. Do the research...

It's the same with the enviroment, and you guys are right, the Latte sippers(the ignorant), watch the talking heads and spew/regurgitate the same non-sence as if they came up with that crap them selves. Some how, do to lazieness I'm sure, the American people are getting stupider and stupider! Anyone else watch the advancement of China and India? I am and were about to be removed from super power status by people who arn't afraid to break a few eggs, or should I say, don't have the restrictions we do. Is it right,no, I think we need to find a balance, but were going in the direction of OVER regulation and stopping the economic machine and there going the other way! OH crap!!!!! I'm afraid of heights! How did I get on this soap box!?
Sorry, go cut WOOD!!!:greenchainsaw:

 

[dingeryote]

Unfrtunately, what you are seeing is predominant in and around our countrys Urban centers of population.

The majority of people are "End users" of the planets resources, and are completely divorced from the process other than creating a turd.

They also live in a societal vaccum thanks to thier schedule, and rely on media resources for almost all of the information that they use to form an opinion on anything.

Hence, they do not see or experience, nor do they understand the world outside of thier concrete bubble.

Given enough time outside in the boonies they would have some changed opinions.

Given enough time in contact with people outside of thier little bubbles, thier opinions and ideas would be more inclusive.

The term "Ignorant" fits. And it's a shame.

We no doubt DO affect our climate, to what degree and in what way is still unknown, and inconclusive.

The fact that so many gobble up the chicken little versions of thoerys out there, and then blindly Parrot the originators thoughts and agenda points to a loss of free thinking, stemming from the herd mentality adopted from living in congestion.

What "If" a rapid end to one form of emissions would result in a rise of another set of circumstances that would be more detrimental than our current assumed situation?

The answer is to drag these people out into the boonies, entice them to go to Yellowstone and other places wild and educate them.
As Teddy Rosevelt intended, and conservation groups today still attempt to do.

Good luck tearing them away from the X-Box and DVD player though.

And good luck convincing them the flat out LIES from the Enviro-commies are not truths.
30 years of indoctrination is gonna be hard to un-do.


Stay safe!!
Dingeryote

 

[K7NUT]

Bravo!!!

+100
I think you said it a little better, but we think the same way.


:agree2:

 

[wood4heat]

The majority of people are "End users" of the planets resources, and are completely divorced from the process other than creating a turd.




Stay safe!!
Dingeryote

I love it!

 

[Scootermsp]

Sheep

These folks blindly go forward through life like sheep, the media tells them about global warming 24/7, well it MUST be true then. The same people who complain about the environment being destroyed would not dream of firing up a saw to cut a few cords of wood....they simply mail a check to a gas or oil company. I LIKE using wood, I feel it is a very responsible use of resources, and the $$$ saved goes to my growing saw collection and children's tuition. I can't wait to see where the price of oil goes....my wood will be free!!! I like the work....it gets me out of the henhouse, is very thereputic, and keeps me strong. My goal from now to November is 20 full cords ready to rock.

 

[K7NUT]

These folks blindly go forward through life like sheep, the media tells them about global warming 24/7, well it MUST be true then. The same people who complain about the environment being destroyed would not dream of firing up a saw to cut a few cords of wood....they simply mail a check to a gas or oil company. I LIKE using wood, I feel it is a very responsible use of resources, and the $$$ saved goes to my growing saw collection and children's tuition. I can't wait to see where the price of oil goes....my wood will be free!!! I like the work....it gets me out of the henhouse, is very thereputic, and keeps me strong. My goal from now to November is 20 full cords ready to rock.

Amen brother!:spam:

 

[mtfallsmikey]

I work at 2 offices buildings near Dulles Airport, not too far from D.C., and live 70 miles to the west. Some people think I'm a total redneck (yeah!), some think it's "whimsical" to live in the woods, some are curious...most are repulsed by the thought of shooting a deer, fishing, getting veggies from anywhere other than Whole Foods market, and building my own furniture, and.... must have come from the set of Deliverance 'cuz I play a banjo......

 

[clawmute]

I work in an office with a bunch of folks who rarely go outside or do anything for themselves. I notice that they all seem to talk about the environment and how mankind is destroying it. I recently started telling them they must go outside for a total of just 6 hours a week in order to be able talk about the environment.

They think I am a nut because I burn wood, plant new trees for future wood, take my family hiking, fishing and camping, get 30% of my vegetables and fruit from my little 2 acres here on the edge of the megalopolis and I compost everything. Who is nuts?



Sorry a little venting.

You aren't nuts. Neither of us are.

Everyone that grew up watching Disney and Bambi are apparently qualified environmental experts. They're not just out of touch with nature and the earth, they never made contact in the first place. I do feel sorry for them, but often that is overcome with anger when they attempt to legislate the lives of people who have an understanding of nature, animals and growing things. After 40 years of rural life I realize how all of these things are interconnected. Urban dwellers, for the most part, do not. I say for the most part because there are many city dwellers that would love to live in a rural or country setting.

We have chickens. Raise vegetables. I kill several deer on our place in the fall. I fish in our pond that I built and on the stream that flows 100 feet below our home. I cut and heat with wood 100%. I make as many of my own tools as I can. I work with wood and steel. I love trees and everything about them. One of my really fun hobbies is identifying trees. We are close to the earth and watch the ebb and flow of its seasons.

The butterflies and hawks migrate down our little river valley in the fall. At dusk small flights of "woodies" and mallards twist their way over the water going to a safe night roost somewhere up river.

The does drop their spotted fawns in the spring and I often get to see them as I go out to work as they feed along our 1/4 mile long drive. Being green is the recent craze, but small farmers, homesteaders and veteran country dwellers laugh and have been going green for years. We don't flush our toilet every time someone has to urinate. What a great waste of water. Today as when we were on well water (I am a well fighter with 20+ years OTJ) we run water the very minimum and keep all lights turned off that are not needed.

Our chickens are our garbage disposal, turning scraps into fine brown eggs. The four deer I took last fall will keep us in venison until next November. Being green has nothing to do with joining the Sierra club or donating money to PETA.

When we were forced to live on a trailer park many many years ago, my heart longed for a place of our own. That last winter before it came to pass I wrote this:


A Mountain Home

By Frank Lee Jennings
©2009 All Copyrights remain with the author


Someday I’ll have a mountain home
With forests all around
And through the hollows I will roam
With gun and baying hounds

To hunt the mountain game, all wild
Turkey, deer and Squirrels
Land not yet by man defiled
Best land in the world

The beauty of an autumn’s day
Or winter’s stark delight
Chipmunks on the ridge at play
A flock of Crows in flight

A long day’s hunt, a pleasant one
The tires hounds all close by
The evening chill, a winter’s sun
Sets in a cloud streaked sky

Then homeward trail at twilight time
Lest darkness come too soon
And we must wend through Oak and Pine
By light of winter moon

Crispy leaves crunch neath’ my tread
This frosty winter night
The hounds, all anxious to be fed
And fight their daily fight

Then through the branches shafts of light
All softened by the fog
A guiding beacon in the night
For huntsman and his dogs

The kenneled dogs howl for their bone
And feeding them a trial
Each thinks the grub is his alone
And fights from pile to pile

Once more the hunt is over
And ended where began
A home out on the mountain
In a whispering White Oak stand.


Seeing a dream come true is a wonderful thing. I love it even more than I thought I would and so does my life mate of 43 years. Men who love the simple ways and things are more blessed than millionaires. THe simple life is the best.

Frank

 

[mtfallsmikey]

:agree2::agree2::agree2::yourock:

 

[Wood Scrounge]

I just want some independence from society; I would love a lot more but I live on the edge of the megalopolis (I95 corridor) so “some” is all I can manage right now. Heat my house almost entirely with wood that I harvested from different locations. Have a garden and fruit trees to get some produce from, we are learning to can some of that produce. Repair\upgrade my house and vehicles myself, etc, etc.
The folks I work with do NOTHING for themselves. One guy here lives in a MCMansion and he needed his deck stained, I offered to show him how. A few weeks go by and I ask him about it, he paid someone to do it! This guy has no kids and nothing but free time, I just don’t get it???
I am no mountian man by any means but man, do somthing to save yourself some money at least.

 

[Scrapiron]

I have several friends who don't do anything around their place and they don't have kids. I have one friend who paid someone to hang blinds in their new house. $100 to hang 8 sets of blinds. Amazing. I could give several examples, but the storyline is the same.

I wonder what they do with all their time. Well, not really- We're usually out splittin and stackin wood, taking care of the chickens/goats/garden/compost pile/fruit trees/pasture/barn fixing/grass cutting/etc... whew. And I work 50 - 60 hours a week on top of that. My wife works part time and home schools our two kids.

And ya know what- we LOVE it. We moved from the suburbs to the country and we are all much happier and healthy. We are a part of an amazing community that focuses on each other (and the Lord).

We don't watch a lot of TV (no cable), maybe a couple of hours a week, which we know if way below the average. I guess that's what most folks do- watch TV/movies and surf the web.

I wouldn't call us "green", but just using common sense and trying to "get in front of it" if something happens. And by the looks of things, that something is coming quick.

Anyway, as some folks have said, our culture has progressed to where we are mainly consumers- not the best position to be in when the proverbial stuff hits the fan.

I was talking to a co-worker about why we moved out here and I mentioned that one aspect was that we could "mostly" sustain ourselves- water, heat, some food- at least the basics for survival. I asked him, what would you do if the trucks couldn't bring food to the supermarket? What would happen if you couldn't turn on your tap and get water? He didn't know- he never thought about it. (or knew what he would do).

And that's the point, people don't think about it. I don't want everyone to think I'm saying the sky is falling (alla Y2K).

 

[danrclem]

The thing that upsets me the most is that those that preach the message the most usually abuse the environment the most. They think that the rules are for you and not them. Just think about Al Gore and all of the Hollywood types flying around on their private jets. Think about Obama who tells us to turn our thermostat down to 68 degrees or lower when he has his oval office set on 80 degrees. They are all hypocrites. If they weren't they would be living in a cave eating raw meat.

I believe in respecting the environment and taking care of it as much as I can. I'm not going to stop hunting, driving my car or using electricity. If someone else wishes to do so I say go for it. I also say that they have no business expecting me to abide by their convictions.

 

[MNTAINGAL23]

We get asked why we live so far out and Hubby's answer is "we couldn't find a place any further out"
We love it out here, quiet, peaceful, see the stars, have wildlife in the yard and around our area.:rockn:
I wouldn't live in the city if you paid me to.