#homesteading

[bigfeathersfarm]

[clockworkwillow]

Meow meow (using clay excavated from my back yard)

[infamousbrad]

This Really IS Uncomfortable

If I were going to pick one best-of episode of Marketplace podcasts' series "This Is Uncomfortable" for you to listen to? It'd be this one: "Confessions of a former homesteader."

I don't care why you're thinking about moving out of the cities, suburbs, exurbs and going "back to the land." (And if you're not, the interview subject really lays out why she and her husband did.) I don't care if it's because you're a ...

religious fundamentalist

political extremist "doomer"

environmental "doomer" or even just

exhausted by late-stage capitalism

... you really need to listen to the first half of this episode about how much it sucks being a yeoman farmer on your own personal land far away from the evils of the cities, and in ways you never considered. And it's easy to laugh at this particular couple because if you read between the lines, they started out as the worst kind of Quiverfull right-wing nutcases and the schadenfreude, if like me you despise that movement, starts off pretty tasty. But stick around for the denouement, because it's heartwarming in ways that are probably not what you expect.

And that's only the first half of the episode? The second is a recurring segment where the host acts as the accountability-buddy for a younger colleague who has gotten herself way into an unrelated bad financial situation and has been putting off fixing it because her executives aren't exactly functioning, because she's accumulated even more financial panic and aversion than she has actual debt.

And this episode's segment is about a subject near and dear to my heart: I don't care what incentives they offer you, run the fuck away from Capital One (and credit card rewards programs in general). I worked for MasterCard International when this shit was just getting started, long enough ago that I haven't written about just how evil Capital One is (and how credit cards in general are scarcely better) for Tumblr, and I sometimes forget how few of you know. Absolutely must-listen; it may even save your life.

[mhoganmell]

Getting Ready for Our First Swap Meet

We are officially getting ready for our first swap meet, and there is a lot more to do than I expected. The first step has been giving everything a good cleaning. We have been scrubbing cages, cleaning supplies, and trying to make sure everything is looking its best before we load up and head out. Farm animals are messy, so keeping things clean is always a job, but getting ready to bring things…

[bigfeathersfarm]

[kurimuri100]

Guild Wars 2 Homestead - Cat Cafe

[bigfeathersfarm]