Growing Your Own

And the young woman who labeled herself “the best slave” also clearly and beautifully demonstrates that it applies in only a very limited context.

Well, kinda–sorta. We’re still settling in to the new place, and between that and other things that keep on flowing, it seems that there isn’t much happening here that’s worth talking about.

There are some things people just don’t think can be made at home. I suppose the thinking is that the tools and/or setup will be too expensive or difficult (or unavailable), or the process is not suitable in some way. Some seem to think that about marshmallows, but there’s nothing terribly tricky or challenging about making those. (Our last effort yielded some delicious chocolate ones—too bad I didn’t write down how much cocoa powder I used.)

That successful endeavor emboldened me to try others. And, as Snolf the First is interested in chemistry, I now have a handy excuse for trying more weird things. (No, no thermite yet, Uncle Carl!)

As well as more reason for me not to sell candy any more ...

Some musings occasioned by the imminent departure of Lobo’s first brood from our home and my concerns for their successful fledging ... Even so, I will try not to make this overly personal, not just for privacy of the individuals involved but also because I’m interested in exploring the broader ideas and issues, not just our family situation.

Not just any ol’ month, though. As I mentioned yesterday, we had a farewell feast last night. For the past month we’ve had a Belarusian houseguest. He works with Lobo at Casey Research, and was here primarily to get a lot of hands-on training. That was accomplished; and of course, we tried to give him as rich a sampler of American life and Pacific Northwest beauty as we could. Naturally, woven through our interactions were many threads relating to freedom. He may have provided me as much food for thought as we did him.

This is very interesting, and might possibly be a great "project," especially for those who still have their children in government schools, for whatever reason.

It does seem to be a popular question these days, no doubt encouraged by Wendy McElroy’s essay Leave the Police State That Is America, which has been followed up with an excellent series of So ... You Are Staying in the States posts. Part V is the most recent installment, and includes links to its predecessors.

She offers good information, but I’d like to back up and consider Wendy’s advice to leave the USSA. As one who has done so, and returned (after much deep thought regarding that choice), I offer some of my perspective, based on our experiences.

Some time ago I explored the workings of brains, and therein as well as in the discussion that followed, I hinted that I would take up related matters at some point. That day has arrived for one of them. It seems to me we each operate under a tyranny that is inescapable—at least permanently and meaningfully inescapable. But then, I am probably showing my ignorance with that statement.

Lobo and I have done both, at varying times, with both broods of his children. And of course, there are many methods proffered for both approaches—which I originally found a little odd with respect to unschooling, since it’s supposed to be unstructured schooling. It is to this point (or goal, or whatever) that I primarily speak.

Brought to you by Peter, whose post Santa the Spy reminded me of yet another Ray Stevens classic:

(direct link to the vid on YouTube)

O’course, Lobo and I never filled the snolfs’ heads with the Santa myth ... and now that they’re old enough, they see the snooping, nannying connection between “Santa” and the state. They don’t care much for either one. :-D

A friend sent me the link to this and I found it appalling. Of course, today, there's a plethora of such stuff to admire in our world, but this particular article is one which I think the denizens of Sunni's Gulch might find up their alley, or down their back road, or something.

It's about a SWAT team making a raid on a family in a small town in Ohio for having the temerity to operate a food co-op. Enjoy!

See HERE

A ramble from early October mentioned in passing the FDA guidelines for melamine in foods. Surprise, surprise—they’ve tweaked them again!

For context see this.

A few days ago Annie and I ran into a woman who we hadn't seen in two or three years. I will refer to her as "D". D, unlike most of the people we know, is a libertarian. We were making the standard small talk including the usual chit-chat about out daughters. Annie mentioned that Ayn, who is now 16, has been working full time since February and that she went to Paris in August to meet with some friends she made on-line. D was, well, shocked. "You let her go!?" I was very surprised by this reaction, given that she is libertarian. Annie, who handles these things better than I do, simply said, "we raised her as a libertarian, it would not have made sense to tell her she could not go." The objections continued along the lines of "But she is only 16 and does not have good judgement/experience/etc". At some point I got involved and, perhaps rudely, pointed out that this applies to most adults, that we did tell our daughter these things, and that she decided to go anyway. Continuing, I asked if we should have used force to stop her. D was rather flustered and muttered something to the effect that she should not have been allowed to go, then made an excuse to get away from us.

I feel an urge to clarify something. It’s probably superfluous after this ramble, but given the response around the web to my comment yesterday, made in an old thread, I want to be as clear as I can be.