Tag Archives: debt

The Economic and Ecological Collapse We Helped to Create on Valentine’s Day.

14 Feb

Bealtaine Cottage permaculture porchAny financial system that is based on debt is doomed to failure.

A good analogy is to look at one’s own household.

Do you consume more than you produce?

Bealtaine Cottage permaculture gardensKeep borrowing and eventually the crunch will come…payback time, with nothing in reserve to pay what’s owed.

Many people refer to this as, living beyond one’s means.

If this is what you are doing, then it’s time to take control of your own micro economy.

Bealtaine Cottage... Flo, aka Mrs MouseLeave your government to continue paying bankers grossly inflated sums of money and try to re-calibrate your own finances.

I was enjoying a long conversation with my mother on Monday.

mum, aged 80, at Bealtaine CottageGrowing up through WW2 was the greatest lesson in personal finance for her. (This is her, aged 80, at Bealtaine Cottage).

If one did not have money, one could not buy goods or services.

That proved to be enormously enabling for that generation…one of the healthiest and most empowered ever known in the modern world.

Mum, aged 80, at Bealtaine CottageMum still has all her own teeth…sugar was rationed!

She has never been over-weight, birthed 11 children and did not own a washing machine until I bought her one. (My elder brothers never quite got their heads around why she would need one!)

Mum has always lived within her means and helped all of her children as well.

If Mum ran the economy, the bankers would be paid according to their productivity…and politicians also!

Bealtaine Cottage polytunnelToday is Valentine’s Day.

Many people of limited means have bought flowers for their loved one…flowers grown in Kenya in Africa by using water from Lake Naivasha.

Bealtaine Cottage water barrelThe water levels have dropped.

This has had a devastating effect on plant, marine and animal life.

Hippo numbers have fallen by more than 25%.

The lake is now quite polluted with pesticide drain off.

University of Leicester environmentalist David Harper told the March 28, 2006, British Times: “Almost everybody in Europe who has eaten Kenyan beans or Kenyan strawberries, and gazed at Kenyan roses, has bought Naivasha water.

“It will become a turgid, smelly pond with impoverished communities eking out a living along bare shores … As the lake becomes smaller and shallower it will become warmer, fueling the growth of microscopic algae.

“It is only a matter of time before the lake becomes toxic.”

The Food and Water Watch report said: “The pesticides applied on the farms and in the greenhouses eventually end up in Lake Naivasha and in the groundwater, endangering the area’s people and wildlife … http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49188

Che Mousy Bear at Bealtaine Cottage Feb 12 001Kenya is the largest supplier of cut flowers to Europe, providing more than a quarter of imports.

These are mostly roses, and a third of annual production is for Valentine’s Day.

For less than the cost of a cheap bunch of flowers, you can buy a fruit tree and plant it for the one you love.

Plum tree at bealtaine cottage permacultureEach tree planted will provide oxygen for two people for the rest of their lives.

Apple tree at Bealtaine Cottage Permaculture Cottage 023Isn’t it time we invested in Love?

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Ireland…Ridden with Debt and Blessed with Land

10 Oct

We are a country ridden with debt and blessed with land…and water…and a temperate climate.

Ireland is capable of producing a lot of food, not just meat and dairy, but fruit and vegetables of all kinds.

We could have a great wool industry!

We were famous for our Crystal from Waterford!

Irish people are hard-working and dedicated.

What is needed is courage, integrity and honesty in our political leaders.

We need political leaders with vision and confidence…

If only we had leadership…

I have cut back many of the Dogwoods in the upper gardens and have been busily replanting some of the better cuttings.

The entrance to the Fairy Dell is enveloped in the striking reds of Dogwoods.

These easy to grow [stick a wand in the earth] shrubs are incredibly valuable to me…the stems remain a vivid red all winter, I use them in Willow wreaths for vibrant colour and vase  arrangements in the cottage to brighten a dull day.

The birds will eat the juicy ripe berries and the bees will enjoy the delicate spring flowers on the old stems.

Another misty morning.

Cobwebs everywhere shining with tiny drops of dew.

I walked through the Fairy Dell to the sound of the Blackbird rustling about among the fallen leaves, searching for breakfast!

It wasn’t just the mountains that had disappeared, this morning, into the mist, but most of the land as well.

My garden had vanished this morning!

It’s strange because the air was so still and the bird calls seemed to echo in the mist.

I hope it’s like this at Samhain…so many preparations are under way, especially gathering in the apples and preparing them for the freezer.

Despite the warm and sunny days,  nights are cold  and lots of little creatures are seeking hibernation spots…

I have to keep the windows closed at night for fear of having to share this cottage with too many visitors!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 3,498 other followers

%d bloggers like this: