More rainy day thoughts: Why we started, how we will continue.

Another day of rain, this time it's a significant down pour. As we call it in this area a Noreaster, in Texas we'd call it a gullywasher. It's not the best sort of weather for a 45 - 50 degree day, but it'll help the water level for the area which is low for a number of the reservoirs. The chickens aren't getting time out wandering and free ranging because I don't want the high winds that have come with it blowing them around the yard and getting them injured or lost, unable to find their way back to get dry and warm. They objected strongly as I left this morning for work, I could even hear their objections in the car.

Since without photos there isn't much to talk about homestead side other than that the Lady of the House still hasn't given birth to the Critter, and we're going to be doing another work day Saturday, I'm going to have another day of thoughts on Homesteading.

I've been thinking about how our motivation and day to day function is going to change when the
Critter arrives, and obviously most of that is going to have to change as we see what living with the Critter is like. On the motivation end though I don't think it is going to change at all. Basically our motivation comes down to making ethical choices for ourselves and as much as possible for the greater good of the Earth and the creatures on it.

I've heard people before say that their children are their motivation for looking to the future, and trying to make it a better place. While certainly I do want the Critter to have a world worth living in when we have moved on there is more to what we are doing. We didn't necessarily think we were going to be able to have children, so our decisions were made independent of that factor. We were making our decisions based on what we consider to be important for the whole. While we know that what we are doing won't change the world, it certainly won't hurt it, and we hope it can make a bit of difference.

I'm sure most of us are familiar with the seven generation principle. Whatever it's actual wording or provenance it is a good basic guideline of trying to think ahead. Now obviously when you are barely scraping by, or just surviving you can't think seven generations of humans ahead, you can barely think seven generations of rabbits ahead. The important part of what we have been trying to do is instead of diminishing non renewable resources, and diminishing the availability of renewable resources, instead increasing the reliance on, and availability of renewable resources. Part of that is consuming less in general in terms of food and other resources, actively working to improve our soil, and what we grow. I don't know how having a child will affect that focus. I know that it'll be more difficult to think ahead as more of our time and energy are dedicated to day to day tasks, but I think that even in that day to day focus we are going to continue to be able to keep our focus on living ethically and our intention towards the support of all. While our child is going to be important to us, I can say that at the very least we started out wanting the world to be better for everyone, not just the impending Critter. We'll see where that goes.