This and That - Saturday Share It

Welcome to Saturday Share It.  This is a feature that I've done n my other blog, Hiccups In Time.  It started with me simply sharing links that I came across throughout the week.  Then I shared links, explaining why I found each engaging.  Now... I'm just adding the links into my explanation...  I hope you enjoy this week's installment here at A Return To Simplicity.

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Our journey toward simplicity and homesteading finds us in the suburbs. Not apartment living. More like a townhouse, but we don't have a lot of space in which to garden. My understanding is that we can expand, if we'd like to, and without permission. It's a little late in the year to do too much. So, that might be a project for next year.

This year, though. I'm doing more in the way of vegetable growing. Only we're doing it in containers at the moment... We have lettuce, tomatoes, and this year I inherited some other plants from a family that was preparing for a last minute PCS (Permanent Change of Station). Among the plants I procured were sweet peppers, zucchini, and yellow squash. I LOVE zucchini and squash. My kids, however, are not big fans.

As I was poking around little bits of the blogosphere this morning, I came across a recipe from Homesteading On The Internet for This Can't Be Squash Casserole.  I loved that she cooked it on an open fire!  Something that I would LOVE to do, myself.  With the exception of the fire, we have the means...  Our neighbors have a fire pit, though.  I'm not sure how well it would go with that, but I'm thinking that I might have to give it a go at some point or another.  Never know unless you try, right?  And it's just been SO hot lately.  Cooking is just not something that I've been wanting to consider lately...  Yes, I might have to try a bit of outdoor cooking.  Something beyond grilling.

I'll let you know how things go...

As I was catching up on my feeds last evening, I came across a video at Green Mountains Homesteading that really just says it all for me these days.  I just had to share...

In truth, I've never been terribly political in my views, but the more I've begun to become cognizant of the abuses that are being made... I'm starting to pay more attention and be more vocal regarding my views. As I see it, it's the only thing that will make things better in the end... After all, it's seems to have been our readiness to trust, as well as our complacency as a people that has gotten us in the spot that we currently find ourselves.

Not too long ago, I found Nancy's blog, the "How To" Homemaker.  I LOVE it!  The other day she posted information about the book So Easy To Preserve from the Georgia Cooperative Extension Office.  I'm definitely adding it to my list of books to get in the near future.

With Dh deployed, I'm looking for ways to keep myself AND my mind occupied.  I've figured what better way to do so than learn some of the skills that are of interest to me for when we homestead.  Among those things is preserving.

Dh has the Canning Guide from the US Department of Agriculture, but I'm definitely open to any bits and tricks I come across along the way...  I especially want to try my hand at jams and jellies.  One step at a time, I suppose, and... I'm not deluded enough to think that my little container garden will give me any major yields this year, but it's all a learning process I figure.  Right?  One baby step at a time, and better to take those steps now than to take them when we're more in need of the foods and what-not.

So explains the journey I have ahead of me...  From Southern California City Girl to an (Aspiring) Southern Missouri Homesteading Country Girl, and this blog will be relating the steps in between...

Welcome to my path, and thank you for joining me!

Stuff and Nonsense

And you know that I love you
Here and now not forever
I can give you the present
I don't know about the future
That's all stuff and nonsense

~Belinda Carlisle, Stuff and Nonsense

I don't know what made me think of that song this morning.  Maybe because I know that this update is going to be a mishmash of stuff this morning.

I'm excited!  In my search to find things to keep me occupied, I came across a workshop that I'm REALLY looking forward to participating in.  It's called "Oh the Stories You'll Tell".   I read the description, and I knew that I just had to participate.  Then, after registering, I've begun to converse with Natasha via email, and... I can't tell you how much more excited I've become.  Her energy... I can feel it through her words.  Now, that shouldn't come as any surprise, really, given the fact that I'm an empath, but... Wow!  Her energy is infectious!  I can tell that she loves what she does.  We're starting on the 10th, and I can't wait!

Again, in my search to find things to occupy my time, I'm in the process of registering for school.  Yes, I'm going back.  This time, I'm going to work toward my Associate's in Psychology through Ashworth College, and the Army is going to pay for it!  Whoo hoo!  I'm really excited about this... Currently, though, we're waiting for the program, through which I'm going to get the funding, needs to replenish it's flow of funds.  The Military Liaison said that it should only be a few weeks.  That was about a week or so ago?  So... *crosses fingers*  Hopefully, something will come about with that soon.

Another bit I wanted to share...

I came across a great article last night from the Tenth Amendment Center.   What Happened to the Land of the Free?  I found it to be really informational in showing what has occurred within our government since its inception.  Little by little, over the years, we have lost many of our freedoms.  All that is left of the once unique dream  that belonged to the Founders of our nation and upon which it was first founded are the vestiges of memory.  Much like a wonderful dream that one awakes from in the morning, as the day progresses it fades from memory, almost as if it was never dreamt at all.

And as hubby prepares for work, it is time for me to get on with my day. Have a great one, everyone!

The American Dream Has Changed

A dear friend of mine sent me a link to an article - 'Empathic Civilization': Is It Time To Replace The American Dream? by Jeremy Rifkin. In it he speaks of the 'American Dream', where it originated, as well as its need to change. And while, I agree that the American Dream has soured and that it is in need of change, I do not agree that bigger government is the way to go to accomplish it.

To my way of thinking, government has overstepped its bounds in oh-so-many ways over the centuries. It has entangled itself within our lives to the point where many are being suffocated by it. It is time that it stepped back.

"The more corrupt the state, the more laws" ~ Publius Cornelius Tacitus

"The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be." ~ Lao Tsu

Indeed, I agree that the "American Dream" needs a facelift, but I also do not believe that the "American Dream" that we know today is the same "American Dream" that our ancestors knew; those forefathers that came to this country to find a better life. No, at some point, big business grabbed a hold of the American public and, after distorting the dream, force-fed us with their vision of it. It has become plastic, superficial.

The forefathers of our country came here in pursuit of a better life... When they didn't get it because of the continued entanglements and corruption of the Crown, they sought to break off from it. In the end, they founded a new country, holding "these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Nothing was said about the pursuit of putting one's self so far in debt that one can no longer feed one's own children. No, that is a carry over from the homeland. Big banks. Landlords. It's big business that we allow to tell us what we should want out of life. It is big business that we've allowed to guide us in building our personal facades, and all the while, in doing so, we line the pockets of big business. Making them richer while we go further in debt, in an attempt to be okay with ourselves.

The Founders did not want such a thing for We the People. Our ancestors didn't want such things for us. After all, that was what many of them came to America to get away from.

Take for instance, the Irish immigrants during the time of the Potato Famine. Indeed, there was a shortage of food because all many of them could afford to eat at the time was potatoes. Why? Because the landlords had jacked their rents up so high that they could not afford to eat much more than that. Again, why? They wanted them off the land! Land that had been rightfully theirs before the English came in...

This, I'm certain, was only one example of the time and was long after America had been established, I admit, but one of the best examples that I, myself, am familiar with.

Part of the dream was coming to America to be free of such things. But, where are we? The same position that many of our ancestors were when they came to this country. Only the facade is much different in appearance these days. Having been led to the distorted view of the dream, many of us are then swindled out of it, all by big business.

Indeed, the disparity between classes has grown immensely over the years, but BIGGER government is not going to solve it. Why? Because whether many of us want to see it or not, We the People are no longer in control of the government. It no longer answers to We the People. Rather, it answers only to Big Business. Bigger government means only more power for Big Business.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." ~ Old Chinese Proverb

If we ask government for anything, it should NOT be a fish. Rather, we should ask them to teach us to fish for ourselves.