2020: The Year of Independence

2020: The Year of Independence ©

We are entering a time in human history where True Independence will become a reality and no longer just a dream. Independence in this instance means learning how to live a Sustainable Life through growing your own food and cultivating permanent culture (healthy, living soil) , producing your own energy (solar, wind, water, etc.), Having a safe and constant water supply, energy efficient housing for you, your family, and friends, and developing practical, common sense knowledge and wisdom. This is the time in human history when Independence will be won in a peaceful and co-operative way. One person at a time going within and rediscovering their true essence... their inner intuitive nature and then employing it in their everyday lives. Independence really begins with us as individuals and spreads through inspiration. People observe us and our calm, peaceful, and, disciplined manner and naturally want to know more about our lifestyle.
Here we will share with you guidelines for Self-Healing based on simple, common sense principles, now all but lost to modern western society. Let us begin with the basics:
Where does our food come from?
I grew up in a small neighborhood in Pennsylvania where almost every neighbor had a backyard vegetable garden including my family. Our garden took up almost all of the backyard and we kids were pretty much exiled to playing in friends’ yards or in the street. One of our many chores was to pull weeds, water the plants, and keep an eye out for evil critters eating the veggies. I couldn’t help but wonder how my next door neighbor, Mrs Scheggia, a fresh-off-the-boat Italian woman could maintain such a beautiful and bountiful garden with very little effort and only hand garden tools. She employed simple composting with kitchen food scraps, and mulching with dead leaves, cardboard, and newspapers. Nearly every day, she could be seen walking out the back door of her kitchen with a colander heaped full of food scraps. She would walk to her garden and stand and admire her perfect rows of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and other vegetables. Moving slowly up and down the rows, she would grab handfuls of food scraps, tossing them, scattering them among the plants. My mom was disgusted by what she called ‘a barbaric’ method of gardening and consequently, so was I. Only years later did I come to appreciate my neighbor’s simple, pure methods of natural, organic gardening. Although her method of composting seemed crude, it worked... the vegetables were beautiful and plentiful.
In those days, many people still maintained what was commonly called a ‘Victory Garden’ which was popular during the first world war. The US government urged Americans to help defray the burgeoning strain on the few farmers who were not drafted into military service by growing their own food in backyard gardens. Some estimates put the number of family gardens at twenty million. More than forty percent of the vegetables and fruits at that time were produced in family and co-operative gardens! In the year 1917 President Wilson even initiated an educational program funded by the US government to teach citizens how to grow their own vegetables and fruits. The campaign promoted the cultivation of not only private back and front yards, but also available public lands. Vegetable and fruit production was reported to have exceeded $1.2 billion worth.
The motto used by Woodrow Wilson to inspire the people was, ‘Food will win the war.’ This Program was one of the most successful and efficiently run initiatives in the history of the United States and continued long into the later years. There were voluntary programs for food conservation such as, ‘Meat-less Mondays’, and ‘Wheat-less Wednesdays’ and free recipes encouraging people to substitute sugar, eggs, and other animal foods with other ingredients. Local communities offered classes on Canning and Preserving food at home as well as many other methods of conservation.
We are beginning to see a resurgence of the backyard garden and a general return to self sufficiency and this time it appears to be for different reasons: The simple fact that individuals, families, and communities have the intuitive desire to take back control of their food supply... Because they can no longer trust the quality of what is available commercially, even if it is labeled ‘Organic’. If you are one of the many who have a strong desire to free your dependence on others for your health and well-being but are not sure where to begin, you can learn the basics in the following Web Logs and on our WebSite at: HealingOurselves.org.
Enjoy this journey. Stay Happy and Healthy. Charles & Monika Stone