Ep. 177 – I’m Not Larping. I’m Just Being.

That’s what Thriving the Future is really about.

Jill Winger, from The Prairie Homestead recently posted: “What the Hell happened to Homesteading?”.

Homesteading became a “movement”. A title. A brand.

The Instagrammers arrived and co-opted it.

If you post on “homesteading” on Twitter/X you are guaranteed to get a comment with the “P” word – Privilege. You can count down (3-2-1) to when it will show up in the comments.

Let’s drop the titles and Just Do.

Yes, I have used “Homesteading” content in my podcast.

Yes, I have a full time job. No, I don’t get 100% of my food (or even 50%) from my 10 acres.

“You’re just Larping!”

No.

I grow food because it’s more fresh, no bad stuff, and I like the taste.

I graft Asian pears onto the cursed Callery pears trying to take over my pasture.

I grow my own chestnut trees from seed because the trees I bought from elsewhere died. And I like chestnuts. I grew so many that I sell the extra.

I’m not Larping. I’m just Being.

Listen on your fave Podcast app:

Thriving the Future Podcast on Substack

Thriving The Future Podcast on iTunes/Apple Podcast

Thriving The Future Podcast on Spotify

What is Thriving the Future really about?

Mindset.

Some people say that my content is all over the place: homesteading, side hustles, entrepreneurship, Bloomscrolling over doomscrolling.

No.

Let’s go back to the beginning.

I started the podcast because my friend Perpend and I were having conversations that I didn’t hear anywhere else. We were in the midst of Covid. Vaxx mandates were on the horizon. I was about 2 weeks away from the threat of losing my job.

But Perpend and I were talking about different things – Living Not By Lies. Skills are more important than your two-is-one-and-one-is-none stuff. You need to develop a mindset and worldview to handle change and suffering and struggle.

That was 2021 – 2022. And you know what: We need that message now more than ever.

Here we are at the anniversary of the Lockdowns. And people are trying to deny it even happened.

“2020 was the Tutorial level of the game” – Cyprian

If that was the Tutorial level, we are quickly going to meet the Final Boss Battle.

We need the core Thriving message now more than ever.

It’s time to go back to the beginning.

Stop Living a Borrowed Life

“I don’t care about the news. I create my own news.”

That was my very first post to Thriving the Future, in Oct-2021.

Many of us are living borrowed lives – stories written for you by the news cycle, the political binary, the Like economy.

We used to call it FUD – Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt is evoked intentionally, to put someone at a disadvantage.

That’s what consuming their stories and their worldview is doing to you.

Stop consuming their stories. Start creating yours.

That is what “Just Being” means.

Skills Over Stuff

I don’t need the approved title “homesteader” to grow my own food and trees. I graft Asian pears onto the cursed Callery pears because removing them is damn near impossible. The problem is the solution. I am not doing it for a photo op post. I am just doing it because I like Asian pears. The Chojuro pears that I am grafting taste like butterscotch.

The skill is more important than the stuff.

While preppers store stuff and fret over two-is-one-and-one-is-none, I am spending my money on stuff that won’t easily break. I am developing skills that can’t be lost or taken away. Something that I can show and teach to my grandson.

And the chestnuts will get planted, the pears are grafted, the food is grown. Just not for Likes.

Subscribe now

---

I grow chestnuts in Kansas. Why? Because the chestnuts I bought from elsewhere struggled or died. Now I collect local chestnut seeds and grow them into seedlings. I sell the extras that I don’t use.

Get Midwest Memory trees that will survive and thrive in Midwest Zones 5 -7, go to Grow Nut Trees.