Category Archives: Mother Earth News Fair

MENF 2011: We’re all really dirt farmers

Posted on October 5, 2011 by dlhitzeman

Whether we all like it or not, we’re all dirt farmers. You don’t think so? Well, consider this the next time you’re sitting on the pot: you’re finishing the process whereby your body turns the food you have eaten into energy, nutrients, and dirt from which more food can be grown, even if we don’t [...] Continue reading →

Posted in animals, changes, compost, Dirt, farming, food, ideas, Manure, Mother Earth News Fair | Leave a comment

MENF 2011: Show me the money

Posted on October 3, 2011 by dlhitzeman

Sometimes its easy to get lost in encouraging people to grow their own food and forget that this stuff still costs money. As idealistic as we may all want to be, at some point we have to pay the bills. It turns out paying the bills may not be as hard as you might think. [...] Continue reading →

Posted in animals, Challenges, food, Gardneing, Lessons, Local, money, Mother Earth News Fair, options, paying the bills, philosophy, Self-sufficiency | Leave a comment

MENF 2011: Small steps are better than no steps at all

Posted on September 30, 2011 by dlhitzeman

The task of becoming sustainable, local-reliant, and ready can be a daunting one. If you’re just beginning, it can seem impossible. Yet, it turns out that far too many people want to do it all instead of doing what they can do when they can do it. It turns out that small steps are better [...] Continue reading →

Posted in Choices, Goals, Lessons, Mother Earth News Fair, philosophy, small steps | Leave a comment

MENF 2011: It takes a village

Posted on September 29, 2011 by dlhitzeman

While it is possible to do, there are very few people who manage to establish complete self-sufficiency, and it is my belief that such an effort is counter-productive and, in many ways, wrong. Perhaps a better term for the effort I advocate is “local-sufficiency” because I believe that it really does take a village to make [...] Continue reading →

Posted in Challenges, Choices, Goals, it takes a village, Lessons, long-term readiness, Mother Earth News Fair, philosophy, Readiness, resource sovereignty, Self-sufficiency, sustainability, village | Leave a comment

MENF 2011: More on not having to go it alone

Posted on September 28, 2011 by dlhitzeman

I think it is a human trait to view new undertakings, especially ones that are large or difficult, as occurring in some kind of isolation. Yet the truth is that very few people are really going it alone at anything we try to do. The growing desire so many people have to establish sustainable, ready [...] Continue reading →

Posted in advice, commiseration, going it alone, help, Lessons, Mother Earth News Fair, philosophy, Resources | Leave a comment

Mother Earth News Fair 2011: Learning we’re not going it alone

Posted on September 27, 2011 by dlhitzeman

My wife and I attended the Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in southwestern Pennsylvania this past weekend. For us, it was an amazing experience to be surrounded by thousands of people who care about agriculture, sustainability, and readiness as much as we do. The fair, I think, had something for everyone. [...] Continue reading →

Posted in Mother Earth News Fair, philosophy, Resources, Self-sufficiency | Leave a comment