I ‘d just gotten off the phone with Deb early this morning when I noticed quite the hubbub in an eastern red cedar overhead. This particular tree is a female of the species, loaded with blue-gray berries (seed cones). Apparently, a bunch of birds were having themselves a feast.
But not just any birds — these were cedar waxwings, Bombycilla cedrorum, which means “silk-tail of the cedars.”
And not just a few, either — a hundred or more crowded into the tree’s branches and twigs, vying noisily for the berries.
Until we moved to The Mountain, I’d never seen a cedar waxwing. Before today I’d spotted only a couple of solitary birds. This morning’s sight was a real treat.
The picture I’ve included here really doesn’t show what I saw. I snapped it and then put my phone down.
The experience was enough.
Earlier, a sleepy-eyed Deb came down from the bedroom into the living space, where I was hanging out with the dogs, and shuffled over to the coffeemaker. She poured a cup, then posed a question.
“Better or worse?”
I knew what she was asking. Given that I’d worked outside yesterday instead of resting and allowing my body to kick this upper-respiratory bug — and she didn’t scold me for that, by the way — do I regret my decision?
“I’m no worse.”
That’s true, but I feel like shit. I rested today, anticipating tending the burn pit all morning tomorrow. But I’m happier knowing that half the job, collecting brush, is behind me.
I have no regrets.
Travis Maddox of The Prepared Homestead made what I believe is a sharp observation yesterday. In a YouTube video titled “A country boy can survive… maybe,” he said this (abridged):
“Yes, Country folks have, in my opinion, a better chance of survival [when the SHTF] because they’re closer to the land. They’re closer to understanding and knowing old ways. Many of them hunt, fish, grow food.
“What I worry is that it gives folks a false sense of security.”
“If you’re a Country bumpkin like me and you do the Country everything — if that’s all you’re doing and you’re not preparing in other ways, it can give you a false sense of security.”
He went on to highlight the utter folly, bordering on delusion, of intending to “live off the land” after the collapse — that is, solely by harvesting game and fishing and foraging. Even a savvy woodsman in a remote locale will compete with hordes of hungry homesteaders, plus clumsy city folk, for finite resources.
Loners and wannabe mountain men won’t last much longer than greenhorns and metrosexuals.
America isn’t the unexplored, untrodden wilderness it was 250 years ago. We should remember how quickly wild game was depleted during The Great Depression and how it took 50 years for populations to rebound.
In short, even a Country boy needs to be a prepper in order to survive.
I’ve seen way too many Country folk who simply aren’t ready for what’s coming. They’re out there sniffing each others’ butts and telling themselves how superior they are to the rest of us. Inexplicably, they take pride in how little they know about what’s happening in the wider world, intentionally isolating themselves from information.
Certainly, these people have knowledge, skills and relationships that could give them a big advantage over suburbanites and “Country lifestyle” types. But a city dweller who’s informed, prepared and able to adapt will outlast a Country bumpkin who isn’t.
Dispute that if you want, but it’s the truth.
Deb and I came to this rustic way of living from the mainstream of American Life. Until a couple of years ago, we were never in the position of living so simply, so close to the land. But for almost 20 years now, we’ve been prepping, training, learning and consuming voraciously every bit of knowledge we can about the kind of Life we aspired to live — the Life we live now.
Through it all, we’ve maintained contact with news, current events and culture. That supplies invaluable context that informs our preps.
And y’know what? We’re humble enough to admit that we’re behind. We’re not as ready as we’d like to be. We have a lot to learn and, like building out our homestead, we have much still to do.
We assert no superiority.
Being (or claiming to be) Country isn’t enough. What matters most is what we actually do.
And yeah, we’re glad to be doing it in the Country.
Incidentally, The Prepared Homestead and Travis Maddox recently were spotlighted in “Viral right-wing homesteading influencers are demonizing migrants and pushing nativist conspiracy theories,” a smear piece puked up by Media Matters for America.
So was another of our regular YouTubers, Zac Bauer of An American Homestead.
I won’t get into the gory details, which you probably can guess from reading the headline. And when you realize that this ersatz “analysis” organization is subsidized by a certain Hungarian progressive billionaire, that’s all you really need to know.
When Deb and I saw that Media Matters had gone after some of the channels we watch often, it only confirmed that we’re spending our time wisely.
As I recuperate, I haven’t slurped any cold-and-flu tonic or popped a single pill (other than my daily vitamins-and-supplements regimen, doubling-up on Vitamin C). My therapy has been fresh air, sunlight and peaceful surroundings. Today, however, I self-administered an additional prescription.
I built a fire.
Some of you will understand. It’s like saging for rednecks, the smoke infusing everything it touches. I made a point of sitting in the plume, too, and let the smoldering oak and cedar wash over me.
Purification ritual? Do I feel cleansed? I don’t know about any of that, but I can tell you that it made a difference.
If you haven’t tried it, maybe you should.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB