Wednesday, September 12, 2012

“Aka Grandma” Here with Her Container Garden and Container Orchard


After reading another blog I knew I had to at least put a few words together that might bring a balance to the Survivalist vs Common Sense Planner debate from a Grandma’s window.
There was an ancient woman, Naomi [her name meant “sweet”], who faced these very issues and she lived both sides Survivalist and Common Sense Planner.  Famine struck and her and her husband had to make some difficult decisions.  They packed off to “no man’s land” leaving family and tried to survive.  After years the result was a husband dead, two sons dead and three women left standing. She changed her name to “bitter” because of the experience.  Now Naomi “aka Grandma” had to make a decision.  Stay and lose everything including herself or shift gears and head to where family lived.  She chose family.  She was kind enough to offer that option to her two daughter-in-laws.  The decisions were made - one daughter-in-law decided to stay in “no man’s land” and the other followed Naomi to family.  The result of Naomi’s wisdom was setting up a family line that would impact the world. “Wisdom has built her house, ….” Prov 9:1.  Notice Wisdom is a “her” or should I say “aka Grandma”. 
Coming from families deeply impacted by the “Great Depression”, raised with the “nuclear war” fear and sure the end of the world was soon, in the 1960s my husband and I lived with a wood stove and also had a garden and orchard in a rural area away from our families.  I froze and canned everything we could get our hands on and cooked from scratch.  The promise of this life was "sweet".
Then years followed serving those in needs around the US. We answered JFK’s call – “Do not ask what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” and a Church’s message of get ready for the end of the world. We lived in large cities such as Miami and Boston but we were still following the Survival Mind Set.  Then back to living the Survival Dream with 40 acres, a log house, a shallow well, plenty of wood to burn on the property and 30 minutes by car at 55 miles an hour to the nearest store and gas station and 45 Minutes to a small town with a hospital.  Through these years we home schooled, private schooled and public schooled our two boys. During all of this time we lived away from our families in “no man’s land”.
The result was two sons moving to follow their dreams and us left living alone in “no man’s land”. Reviewing our past choices we found the result of our experience was “bitter”.  
The boys' dreams were to help build the Internet in the 1990s. IT was in the large cities.  Fortunately this was near our extended families. Wisdom finally took hold of us.  We are slow learners it seems.  We packed up to a midsize town near our sons and their budding families.  Today we are helping our son raise his son, our only Grandchild [they live with us] and keep close family ties to our other son.  The goal is to build and impact the future generation.  Our extended families live within an hour of us now.  We can celebrate holidays and life milestones together. We could bundle together if the economy gets worse or if the very worst happens.  Our goal is a binding of families and being able to survive as a group if the need arises. Living in “no man’s land” would leave us without the generational binding and impact.  Our sons want nothing to do with “no man’s land” and Survivalist thinking.  
Today we have a pasture full of cows across the street [not ours – nice view though], a container garden and container orchard on our minimum maintenance lot.  We live with lakes, streams and salt water within minutes around us.  We are minutes from a farmer’s market, a hospital, our favorite big box store and in a neighborhood of military serving at the nearby military base.    Our shelves are full of both canned and dried food and water enough for six months. Yes, it is not enough to carry for years but it is a good foundation for an emergency. We have emergency supplies for potential disasters of our area as well. 
I was able to match my husband’s two Masters with two MBAs.  We both teach online and have helped thousands and thousands of military and general population students reach their goals of having good jobs to help build their families for the future generation. 
Last year I had 2 major surgeries and almost died.  Living as a Survivalist so far from a hospital I would be dead.  Living with Common Sense Planning I am alive helping raise up the next generation.
We did not just “wake up recently” about societal issues.  We lived in the “60s ” and a total of 3.5 decades as Survivalists or with the Survivalist mind set.  The result was “bitter”.
Today we chose to live in our “60s” and beyond [the horizon of our end is within sight] as Common Sense Planners building the future generation and turning our future experiences into “sweet”.
Following Wisdom and Common Sense Planning
 “aka Grandma” with the Container Garden and Container Orchard