A Doctor acquaintance of mine recently told me...

"I think that NB could be self sufficient for food. We can have a major impact on people's health and offer local produce. 90% of our health is lifestyle and a major component of that is diet."

As much as I believe that, it would also take a revolution in the way people think. Or a disaster.

We are sadly, too used to relying on big pharma, agribiz, and the heavily lobbied government regulatory agencies to take care of our health. When everything is reduced to a cost/benefit equation, a certain percentage of public illness becomes an acceptable risk. Of course, no one asked the people who are sick. The large money making conglomerates have caused us to abdicate our responsibility to take care of ourselves, in order that we may benefit from the sense of stability they provide. Of course, since we depend exclusively on them, we are a never ending source of revenue.

That abdication of responsibility is manifest in every part of our lives, by the fact that we don’t grow our own food, we don’t walk as much as we could, we allow others to entertain us rather than entertaining ourselves and the list goes on. And above it all is the implied threat from the economic think tanks that if people were to start to take responsibility, we would stop feeding the economy and we would be hit with recession, riots, destruction, and the worst case of piles that you have ever seen.

Who knew that responsibility could be so damaging?

The solution is of course, Is to take responsibility. Local organic food, exercise, stress reduction, and healthy relationships. Those are all of the things built into the Halls Creek development, and are the main reasons why I’m interested in helping with the organic component.

The question is; Do people want the solution?

The answer is; More people want it every day.

Despite all of the local organic farms in New Brunswick (There are many) we still import 90% of the organic food we eat from the US. I find that little statistic encouraging, because it does show more people taking responsibility for their health.

I am by no means a radical thinker. I’m not calling for the destruction of the economy or our way of life.

I just want to take responsibility for my life. If others decide to do the same thing, then so be it.

And if so many people start taking responsibility for their health, that the conglomerates start losing money…

I consider that an acceptable risk in the cost/benefit equation.

And So it Begins

Some of you may know that my main means of feeding my bad habits, is teaching Canadian newcomers how to start a business in Canada.
I get a lot of questions about various business ideas etc, but one in particular has been coming up more and more...

"Can I earn a living from a farm?"

I can't even tell you how much up my alley that question is. (For you non canadians, up my alley means perfectly in line with what I like)

It forced me to start researching a little more closely to get the information I need.

In a nutshell, the answer is Duh YES!. Good farmland in my part of Canada is amazingly cheap (often less than 500.00/acre) Organic farming is on the rise, and can't even come close to meeting the local demand (we import 90% of our organic food because there are not enough farmers to meet the need) I have met with many organic farmers who sell as much as $160,000.00 produce per year from two acres (yes TWO)acres of cultivated land.

But here's the really cool part. in my research, I realized that there is a need for a kind of teaching farm in our area, a place where people can learn and practice the skills they need to farm organically. In the course of my research, I've met everyone from farmers, to NGOs to Municipal/Federal/Provincial officials, Land developers, and landscape architects. The result?

I have been given Two acres to start with and potentially ten acres, in order to develop an organic teaching farm in my City.

I don't even know how it all happened. It just kind of snowballed from that question one of my students asked.

How will it all turn out?

I'll keep you posted.

The Hippy Dippy Retirement Plan

So Yeah. I may as well admit it.

My wife and I are Hippies.

I remember a few years back when a friend of ours told us we were hippies, I was quite surprised. Not surprised that we were hippies, but surprised that our friend had figured it out.

Looking back though, I'd have to say the signs were always there. I had back issues of "Mother Earth News" squirrled away in a box somewhere, and we did home school all four of our kids. We've made cheese, sprouted beans, milked goats (And luuurved the milk!),made yogurt and tofu, and canned jams, jellies, and Tomatoes. The thing is though, we haven't done any of it consistently.

It was the sort of thing I thought everyone did. You know; experimenting. Trying new stuff. Learning how to do things instead of always needing someone to do them for us. Once we learned how to do something well, we usually stopped doing it. I mean, the point was learning how. That way, we knew if we ever absolutely had to, we could.

And so, came the shock that these things labeled me a pot smoking, (never touched the stuff, although hemp sounds like a pretty cool plant) peace and love, back to the land, ponytail down to middle of my tie dyed shirt, anti-everything, greasy haired hippy.

I'll admit, there was a time that I wanted nothing better than to own a few acres, grow some food, and be surrounded by nature (back when I bought all those magazines...) But the reality was that I needed to work, and then take care of a wife, and then take care of children/car/mortgage/friendly neighborhood banker etc. Then one day, the kids were grown, and suddenly we didn't need as much stuff. The house was too big, we only needed one car, and for the first time I noticed that the friendly banker was getting way too much of my money.

I was actually a bit excited at the prospect of selling the house, paying some debts, and perhaps being a bit more fiscally responsible.

Of course, my banker was ready for me...

"WHAT? But Bob, you don't have a plan. Most people your age are well on their way to a secure retirement. You have no RRSPs, no investments. You don't even have critical illness insurance. If you die, or even worse, if you LIVE through something like cancer, who will take care of you and your wife..."

The conversation went on a lot longer, and by the end, I felt like an irresponsible
heel. Why oh why had we spent all our money making sure our children had a happy if somewhat materially deprived childhood. If I had only worked sixty hours a week instead of the thirty which allowed me the freedom to teach my own children how to read. If only I had spent long nights in the office instead of playing with my kids. If only I had studied on the weekends, to get a better degree, I would have enjoyed a higher paying job all those years.

But no. Stupid old me spent all those weekends volunteering with my wife and children
and at the beach, and camping, and fixing stuff, and growing a garden.

I had to face the facts. I had been a selfish bastard all those years. A selfish bastard who didn't think of the future. A selfish bastard, doomed in old age to eat cat food on dry toast until his desiccated body is discovered shriveled up in a dank hovel after spring thaw...

Then I got suspicious.

At a time in my life when I could finally wind down my dependence on loans and credit, I was being told that I better use even MORE financial products. What they didn't mention was that as my retirement fund grew, so would the banks profit-and here's the kicker-they would continue to profit until I died, and maybe even after.

Suddenly, my banker didn't seem so friendly anymore.

He did have a point though.

"Who will take care of you..."

I guess I'll have to.

The first step will be to buy some land and grow some vegetables...

This blog is about our journey to a zero carbon, sustainable, low income retirement. One achieved without RRSPs, mortgages, and as little debt as possible.

As far as retirement plans go, this Hippy Dippy one appeals to me much more.

And so, enter the Hippy.

A little older. A little wiser. A little more independent.

Now...Where did I put that box of magazines?...