Archive | Thrift RSS feed for this section

Financial Collapse…One Woman’s View on What to Do!

6 Feb

Growing Lettuce in a Hanging basket

Summer at Bealtaine Cottage.

The days are long and the simplest of good food is grown in easy ways…like this “Pick and Come Again,” lettuce in a slug-free hanging basket.

I have had lots of time to ponder the way of things in the world.

Growing strawberries in a hanging basketListening, reading and watching allows one to build up a picture of what is really happening. 

The strawberries, meantime, can take care of themselves…another hanging basket crop!

Midsummer Day in the permaculture gardens of Bealtaine CottageI do not have television, so my head is not bombarded by trivial nonsense.

Preferring to spend time, especially summer-time, in the gardens allows me to think.

Bealtaine Cottage Permaculture Garden at MidwinterUnderstanding that the economy is not collapsing, but, that it has been collapsing for quite some time now, is essential to developing a plan of action.

Since 2008 when the preliminary financial shock-wave hit, people have felt the slide into financial chaos.

Ensuring a small sum of money is kept aside, at all times, for emergencies, means one is  less vulnerable.

Home made wine in demijohnsBealtaine Cottage PermacultureGetting out of debt is essential too.

That noose around your neck will only keep tightening and there is no advantage in trying to keep up with one’s neighbours.

The likelihood is that they are deeper in debt than you!

Bealtaine Cottage  bread binPay off your creditors in small regular amounts and keep one credit card…safe…at home!

Don’t go shopping with a credit card in your wallet…use cash only!

What if you are at rock bottom and have no money?

Bealtaine Cottage potager vegetable bedTurn your garden and especially your useless lawn into an edible paradise.

Tax free, organically grown, healthy food, growing as close to your home as possible, means more money in your pocket and better health!

Bealtaine Cottage toamtoes in an old bread binNo garden?

Rent an allotment.

Bealtaine Cottage summer in the permaculture tunnelDo not rely on one source for your income.

Prepare for loss of regular income by becoming as diverse as is possible in terms of income.

For example, whatever you are good at can be turned into a micro business or even skill-swap scheme.

Bealtaine Cottage garden shedBe generous in all you do and with all you have. 

Creating abundance and generosity around you will ensure the same will be returned.

Finally, let me just say this…

Bealtaine Cottage bicycle and valerianMuch of our financial despair comes from the lunatic assumption that we can throw things away.

Well, ponder on this…THERE IS NO AWAY!

Bealtaine Cottage lounger in the tunnelThere never has been an “away.”

We live on one very small planet.

What we do, we do to the planet and all it’s inhabitants.

Bealtaine Cottage dogs Flo and JackStart to live with the consequences of our actions and choices.

There is no “away!”

There is only today and what we choose to do.

Don’t Forget to visit the Bealtaine Cottage Shop on Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BealtaineCottage

If you enjoy the free content of this blog, please consider making a donation using the button below. Thank you!

Thank you for supporting this blog

An Alternative Christmas

12 Dec

Bealtaine Cottage permaculture porch

The frost has settled on the ground all around the cottage.

Bealtaine Cottage Permaculture GardenThe land looks very much like a Christmas card, with frost sparkling in the early morning sun.

Bealtaine Cottage Midwinter GardenThere is something so captivating about the light at midwinter…it really is quite magical!

Bealtaine Cottage Permaculture Garden at MidwinterThe sad thing is that much of the magic has disappeared from Christmas.

This special time has become so very commercialised, that it seems near impossible to avoid the frenzy that is now Christmas!

However, in recent years I have attempted to do just that, and this year I feel comfortable with my own very special take on the festivities.

I am a baby vegan…just starting this wonderful journey.

Previous to that I was a vegetarian, so meat has been off the menu for some time now.

This dietary choice takes me out of one Christmas loop.

So, instead of a massive dinner that used to leave me wedged onto a sofa for most of the evening, stomach heavy with over-indulging, I cook up an absolute feast of dishes that serve as a dinner and evening buffet for family and friends.

Xmas eve Dec 11 001As it is a special feast, all who attend bring a special dish of food, so the term feast is justly applied.

Gifts are exchanged, but they are special, hand-made or locally sourced gifts.

This year I have made each family member an album of photographs of special memories.

A painting of a beloved pet was commissioned for another dinner guest.

An Irish woollen scarf has been knitted for another…and so on.

September 2011 Permaculture Cottage 010There are lots of home made wines and liqueurs, all made from fruit and flowers grown here at Bealtaine and none of which will cause a hangover!

Games are played…most of which end in silliness!

Bealtaine Cottage Permaculture stoveAs there is no television we talk…something that the television usually does for us!

In the afternoon we all go for a walk in the woods down near Lough Key…usually with no-one else around.

“Who shall describe the inexpressible tenderness and immortal life of the grim forest, where Nature, though it be midwinter, is ever in her spring, where the moss-grown and decaying trees are not old, but seem to enjoy a perpetual youth.” ~Henry David Thoreau

At this special time of year, in the deep midwinter, there is beauty and joy and friendship.

Money cannot purchase any of these gifts.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 3,497 other followers

%d bloggers like this: