Leila, you're spot on about how so many of the settled folk in this 'new world' north america are fundamentally alienated from the land. An artifact of colonial history. Homesteading's probably a good cure for that, but it might take a few generations yet. I guess all the newcomers were homesteaders to start with.
totally agreed.
anywho thanks for listening to my ranting =)
i really do think about this quite a bit, its not just some abstract ideas...these are things that i think about all the time and it trips me out.
and its really strange in this country, because we all know that we live on stolen land. or well idk, maybe people just dont think about this way, but i feel like....this having been how this place started off...well theres some weird feelings, guilt by association, unfairly really placed on all of us...because the people who did all those things are long dead...but the weirdness of it still lingers on here...to me anyway it does. and theres some lesser spoken about things that happened with the creation of this country, like how many people were also kicked off their land..kicked out of where they were from and sent here, many by force- not choice.
it is really too bad that homesteading (as in free land for homesteading)
is not legal anymore. or something like it, some kind of relief for people who are burdened with huge land payments and house payments, people who want to grow food who cannot due to not having land and the absurdity of (so called) "real" estate and its over inflated fake values..
actually to me, it seems the most natural thing for someone to find an appropriate spot and say...hey this must be the place!
and create shelter/grow food/homestead.
i truly believe it is total weirdness that people have to buy land...i suppose buying a ready made home is one thing, because there needs to be compensation for the labor and builders who made it ready to go....but its so far beyond something like that...in that you just have people trying to make money from their homes/land...and not in a way that can work..
the capitalism applied to land, and that those who wish to farm but have a hard time affording even small plot of land, this is all really bizarro to me.
i do think it can change, and is changing, too slowly, but not to say there arent some ways to work within this now....i hope more and more options, communities, affordable land....starts coming up for people and theres more and more alternatives and possibilities for the people.
the way things are now all the wrong sorts of people are the ones who can afford way too much land only to
profit, and those who just want to inch along, grow food and have a small sanctuary are unable to do so , or its a very difficult for them. i am not totally against private property, i think there are different things this speaks of...someone having their small sanctuary that they connect to and love on the land, build a structure, take care of- to me this is what would truly entitle one to consider a property theirs.
i think humans are territorial too, everyone needs private sanctuary, so i can understand that kind of private property, sovereignty.
....i am just opposed to exploitative, capitalist, private property paradigms...and the whole real estate market weirdness.... of people who seek to profit without that way of owning that requires caring for the land, and responsible stewardship. i do think there are rare souls who do have it in them to steward large amounts of land, but i dont think these are usually the same people who are able to do so...and those who can are usually the least cut out for that job, or role.
anyway maybe people dont see it as such, maybe this all seems like its not relevant....and see all this stuff as separate issues, i see this as one of the
root causes of almost ALL of the social problems we have. the neo colonialist paradigms, people who use land to profit without any connection to it, without responsibility or caring for it, the nearly impossible task of just finding a place to be and the insecurity this creates in everyone as a whole. the attitude that everywhere, even public space, BLM land, is basically now like someones backyard or is treated as such....and the headtrips, the colonialism weirdness...all of this affects our social cohesion, our relationships, so much...
i really think this is one area, is a root cause, if this were set to right, if homesteading were legal, or there was access to open/abandoned/raw land/farms for free (well to improve with sweat equity) or if at least it was more reasonable....
this would make many of our other problems fade away. it would also instantly revitalize our economy..as this is one of the main causes for it being so messed up (imo). it would also make our food supply much more stable, as there is obviously a huge relationship between food and the land...and that many people cannot currently have
enough land, or get the initial costs together to start producing their own food and eventually surplus food for others.
and if this were available i think people would also be able to be more nomadic, but in a healthy way...more like doing loops between several places, or being able to stay somewhere for a while...and then move onto another place.
i dont think this is neccessarily unhealthy, i feel like ideally people would want to have a little of both- be able to explore, be able to have long term food project/home base...and make it much easier to be working together with other people in a community
project .....would make this more possible ...as in people could share the jobs and rotate between different locales.
i think its not too much to say- we want both! home space and some
freedom to travel occasionally.
not being locked into mortgages and such....
there could also be more community projects, and less pressure and difficult obstacles in creating and maintaining community spaces.
ah enough of a tangent for this morning, sun is shining, i
should shut up and get to it !
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