![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRTFgjEYrr3iZnqD1noMPCSK3GEYYQ7BohUW8kPiMeJqw/image.png) ## QUESTION OF THE WEEK - How Can We Reconnect with Nature in Our Daily Lives? This is such a difficult question because it really has two answers: 1. Move yourself closer to nature each day. Avoid the expense of keeping up with the Jones'. Instead, use that money that would be wasted to invest in your future, allowing more time and ability to spend in nature. 2. Forget about that. You need a homestead and a greenhouse. Your reliance on a grocery store is about to come to a horrible and painful end. So, if you are stuck in a dead end job, in a dead end city, get out. I do not believe we have the time to talk about work/life/nature balance anymore. I am of the opinion that work/life balance is not achievable in the current paradigm of 9-5 slavery. (The hamster wheel has to spin faster and faster and faster, else you are falling behind. Fall too far behind, and you no longer have a house/car/job) So, what is the answer? In what paradigms can answers be found? - - - - - - -

## The nuclear button option If we only had a handful of years before big-Ag farmland stops producing, what do you do? Lets say that we had 5 years (and yes, it may be that short) what kind of plan do you need? Moving to a homestead and getting it producing is of utmost importance. If you can sell your house, cash in your 401k, leave your job and start building a greenhouse, that is what you need to do. Five years is barely enough for you to start working out your system of raising crops and livestock. It really takes a year to add each thing to your homestead. A year to get your greenhouse built, and start growing. And your first year, your crops will have so many problems. So much learning to do. The next year you are better, and by the third, you usually have a good idea of all the processes that must be done each growing season. Chickens are easy, but building a coop, working out how to grow fodder and store it for your chickens. Learning about the need to cull too many roosters. Finding all the places your chickens may lay eggs. Are some hen types broody? How about eating them? Cross X are great tasting, but you cannot raise a new batch yourself. You have to buy these from a breeder. And so many other things. You need to work out the chicken tractor, or run, or paddocks. It really is a year of building, then a year of learning, and then, it mostly works. Soooo, if we have 5 years of grocery store left, we need to move to a homestead now. Forget about any other plans you had for the future. Bonus is, you will be surrounded by nature 24/7. - - - - - - -

## If there is still time Lets say we have a decade or more. Then, what we need is a solid plan with searching for property for our homestead, and moving our job to a work from home model, or starting to go part time, while ramping up the homestead food production. (this means, growing herbs in your city house windows. Growing greens indoors with grow lights. Hydroponics systems. And small backyard gardens. These learn you the skills, and get your thumbs green) You need to mentally prepare yourself to break free from all the ideas planted in your head by consumerism. Like, saving up for retirement. That you need a 9-5 job/career. That you need those frills and that new TV. And the biggest one is that your 401k and Social inSecurity will fund your retirement. If gas is $10 a gallon, and hamburger is $20 per pound, that retirement account ain't gonna do nothing. But, if you used whatever you had to get into a homestead, then those eggs and chicken costs you 10 hours a week. Taking care of chickens and growing fodder. And if prices of eggs go up past $10 a dozen at the store, then you are still paying the same 10 hours a week. The problem with this is letting go of all that stuff you think are your dreams. Vacations in your golden years. Life with a really nice house, and nice cars… All that stuff was put into your head by the TV. And, to most people, it just "sounds right". It is what everyone does. But it is not. It is a dream, and most don't make it to that dream. Many men reach retirement and croak shortly after. - - - - - - -

## The crypto option We are at the beginning of what will probably be the largest crypto bull run we have ever seen. Crypto is going to go up and up and up, while the price of houses/property (in crypto) are going to go down and down and down. A lot of people are going to sell that land to get into crypto. So many are going to FOMO in, selling whatever they can for it. That means, for people who hold crypto now, the price of property is going to get much more affordable. So, you can see that in this year you can move yourself from a small nest egg, to a fully paid off homestead. After you have a homestead, and the necessary buildings on it, then your living expenses go WAYYYY down. And you can survive on almost any income. If you aren't paying taxes (cause your income is below the deductions) and your aren't paying a mortgage… (Lets say you pay 50% of your income in taxes, and then 50% remainder on a house. That is 25% left for living) So, after you have a paid off homestead, you need only earn ¼ of your current salary. And after you are growing your own food, you need even less. So, look at your crypto portfolio. Look for good property to start your homestead. Then keep an eye on the crypto going up, and the property prices going down. When things look good, trade your crypto for a homestead. Build your finances around this model, instead of around the "buy as big a house as you can afford, have the newest car, the country club fees and all the toys, that you don't get to use but once a year" - - - - - - -

I wish i had good news and could just talk about growing potatoes in pots on your patio, and other such life hacks to shoehorn in nature into your city life, but i do not believe in the city life. I believe that city life is coming to an end. And, it is going to die in a dozen ways. Stores closing, crime escalating. Jobs drying up, rents exploding. People too stressed to take care of themselves, restaurants going out of business. Then we have crumbling infrastructure. The electricity, water and gas are not a given. What about unCivil war? The cities will be where most of the fighting occurs. So, there are many ways to take your focus and move it towards the healing nature. But, these are just ways to make your city prison stay more enjoyable. The real way out is to get yourself to a homestead with things paid off. This will become easier, as we start making off-grid energy much more easily available, and learn to move water through the skies. Life in the future will be much different than what we have now. It is just the in between time that takes courage and a plan to move out of the city and into the country. - - - - - - -

All images in this post are my own original creations.