More ramblings of an old man on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee

       Things like present circumstances may not be that bad. It might even get worse.

            Of course, it could get better, but I don't think so.

            Just in case I ordered some more seeds to grow, again just in case.  I do like to eat and live, and suppose the same for my Family and Friends. I assume most of the deer and other such big game will be hunted out within a year or so. So in the meantime, I think I can also snare some local rabbits, too. Fishing and grouse and quail will be nifty, too.

            As an old time Marine, I never assume the status quo will go on forever. Heck I could drive a train through that logic, and have done so in my past. I even resent the loss of old time school subjects like home economy and wood shop. Now I have to figure out these things on my own, and do so. Things like food, balancing a check book, paying taxes, and fixing a plumbing problem come to mind.

            Now where I live is not that a great place to grow food, but it will grow food. Heck the Cherokee Indians did it, and so can I.  More daunting to me is the canning process, which I have poor skills at these days. But I have already also done it, and lived when I ate the product, to boot. It is kind of like going to the grocery store and buying canned goods, only local style. So the water boiling process and canning process does work for this old man. I just wish someone who knew how to do it would teach me up front, vice having to figure it out on my own. Such is life these days in the rural land where I live.

            As an adjunct, some of the seeds I ordered are red cabbage seeds, which I believe also have medicinal value if times get hard, and of course if the cabbages grow. Some won't, like fail to grow. My intent is just to mix them with potatoes and some bacon bits with boiling water (from wood stoves), by the way.

            So am I reverting to some kind of USA agriculture way of living, like the Middle Ages in Europe? I don' t think so. So also I have to have a Plan B by my personality, like what do I do with seeds and such if we somehow muddle though. Right now I will just waste them over time, best case. I don't want to be a farmer, or even a gardener, in the long run. That's just this old guy's thoughts.

            Last, I am now even getting another chance in my now old age to apply my own personal beliefs. It's more difficult to walk-the- walk, vice talk-the-talk. Said another way, I still believe in the Golden Rule, so that to me means helping others, "as best I can". The rub will be occur most probably if times should get hard, like what does "as best I can" sort out to be?

            In the meantime and in this 21st century, I will just do the best I can with what I've got. And we've got a lot, thank goodness. Said another way, there are worse places to be if times should get hard.