Newsletter #240 2024 Jan 05 Friday
Call me a conspiracy theorist, or conspiracy realist?
Primal Woods and Homestead Rebel Farm
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You have probably heard of Event 201, a “…tabletop exercise based on a fictional scenario.” The event took place just a few months before Covid 19 broke out of containment. Perhaps we are expected to believe that Johns Hopkins, the WEF, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are simply omniscient, or perhaps the timing was coincidental; frankly, I don’t buy either of those explanations. This was the fourth such “exercise,” following Clade X, Dark Winter and Atlantic Storm. Check out the recommendations made by the groups, some no doubt will be familiar, aside from the recommendation to avoid destruction of the economy. Curiously, it’s interesting to note that if you search for “Event 201” on the WEF’s website you will find absolutely nothing, not even a link to the Johns Hopkins’ site. The same goes for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
I’m a bit surprised that it is still “up” on the Hopkins’ site. And now on to more current events.
Maybe you’ve been hearing more about the threat of a major cyberattack recently. Now, I do believe there will be a major cyberattack, we started it you might say, with Stuxnet, almost 15 years ago; An Unprecedented Look at Stuxnet, the World's First Digital Weapon. Other than “the West,” the world is pretty well fed up with our shenanigans on the global stage. Virtually no country south of the equator, with the exception of Australia, supported our stance towards Ukraine, for example. We have meddled too much in the affairs of too many countries. Unlike atomic weapons for example, cyberattacks can and probably will be almost perfectly unattributable, by design, and like Stuxnet; though based on what I’ve read it seems to have been a collaborative effort on the part of the U.S., Israel, and Great Britain. Predicting the timing though is another thing altogether. If I had to guess, I’d guess sooner rather than later. The next question that comes to mind is “what might be attacked?” It depends I suppose on the desired outcomes of a particular enemy, but worst-case scenarios are the financial system and/or the electrical grid; both of which are “soft targets” unfortunately, especially the latter.
Remember the Scout motto; Be Prepared.
Enough Of The “Good” News
For better or worse, that’s how my mind works. But what’s going on with Primal Woods and Homestead Rebel Farm?
I wrote a Substack post a bit ago, titled Structural Integrity and a Fruitful Life; I suppose it could have been just as well-titled as “2023 Was a Very Challenging Year.” The short story is that I wasn’t up to what I took on; see the post for all of the gory detail. There were numerous issues, which collectively became overwhelming.
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
Luke 10:2 KJV
Farming was a family affair, still is with the Amish, but the farm economy has been gutted, as is detailed in The Unsettling of America, by Wendell Berry, first published in 1977. In his afterword to the 1996 edition he writes;
…I argue that industrial agriculture, and the assumptions on which it rests are wrong, root and branch; I argue that this kind of agriculture grows out of the worst of human history and the worst of human nature. From my own point of view, the happiest fate of my labors would have been disproof. I would have been much relieved if somebody had proved me wrong, or if events had shown that I need not have worried. For this book certainly was written out of worry. It was written, in fact, out of the belief that we are living under the rule of an ideology that was destroying the land, our communities, and our culture — as we still are.
Wendell Berry, 1996, Afterword to the 3rd Edition
The work of destroying agrarian culture in the United States is substantially complete, sadly. And doing what we are trying to do single-handedly is exceedingly difficult, especially given the lack of infrastructure we inherited.
On this same subject…Russel Brand recently interviewed Vandana Shiva, in a Rumble video titled “‘They Want To WIPE OUT Farmers!’ Vandana Shiva On Protests & Globalist Takeover - STAY FREE #278.”
But if I’ve learned one thing in the past decade it is this; persistence is of the utmost importance. We will persist, one way or the other, in one place or the other, it’s a calling.
Winter Seems To Finally Be Upon Us
Chores now are keeping the laying hens and oxen fed and watered, and keeping the house warm, which requires firewood. As soon as this Newsletter is completed I will be heading out to cut and retrieve firewood, which is an almost daily endeavor. While I enjoy the work, "just-in-time” firewood harvesting is inefficient at best, and results in a lack of resilience that I’m no longer willing to put up with. If I am injured, again, it would result in the quick exhaustion of our firewood supply; after all, I am the firewood supply. The approach to firewood is one of many changes to be taken on in 2024.
Meanwhile, work on the Farmhouse Airbnb continues, including a plan to create a studio apartment in the walk-out basement.
We could employ this new space in at least three or four ways;
Intern housing,
an additional Airbnb “unit,”
as housing for part-time farm help,
or as a straight-up annual rental, stabilizing to some extent revenue from the Farmhouse.
Regardless, Geri and I both think it would deliver a solid return on our investment in the work. We will be doing a walk-through of the tentative plan with our contractor tomorrow.
And finally, some prep-work for the Pure Maple Syrup season which is just around the corner. We have completed the cleaning of the “pans;” the sap pre-heater, flue pan and syrup pan, and now we are cleaning the regulators and associated piping and seals that maintain appropriate fluid levels in the pans. After cleaning, some relatively simple re-assembly is required, which will be followed at the start of the season by a “test boil” that both tests and sterilizes the evaporator top to bottom.
Given the impact of inflation, aka programmed devaluation of the dollar, prices will likely go up when the 2024 season opens.
It’s a wonder-full life. In spite of what’s going on around us, I like to believe that I maintain a positive attitude, all things considered. Fifteen years ago or so I took some counselling, and while in general I don’t think it was of much value, I did get one thing out of the deal; I came to call it my “Stressor Ledger.” This involved making a list of what was causing me stress, prioritizing the list from greatest to least, categorizing the list (I can Control, I can Influence, or it’s out of reach of my Influence or Control), and then getting into action. As it turned out most of the stressors I could Influence or Control, and simply getting into action had the effect of reducing the stress. For those things that cannot be influenced or controlled, like the weather, just get over it and move on. I recommend the approach.
Geri’s got me signed up for taking down and putting away all of the Christmas decor tomorrow. I admit to not looking forward to it!
All the best, and may God bless you and yours,
John & Geri
Wonderful letter