Hello, Mike.
I liked bits of all of your posts, plus Opalyn's sample for the back cover of the SKIP book. I thought I'd give it a try, so here is my idea.
Year after year, millions of acres of fertile farmland are abandoned, orphaned, or unattended.
Countless hobby farms and family homesteads are sold off and bulldozed.
Thousands of elderly people are desperately trying to find somebody worthy to inherit their cherished homestead, their heritaged properties, with decades of family history and pioneer effort, and don’t want it bulldozed for a strip mall, family doesn’t want to live there. Somebody that won’t just sell it for a quick buck. Somebody that will love the land the way they love it now!
At the same time, thousands of young people dream of returning to the land, they want to help heal the earth by getting their hands dirty, learning the ways and means of natural living, aspiring to become guardians of Earth's precious countanence. Our beautiful birthplace. Humanity's planetary rocket ship. They dream of returning to the land, but, instead, join civilization's rat race, - spirits drooping, knowing of the near-impossibility of escaping the rodent's administration - the aim of, someday, affording a homestead of their own fading with time.
Suddenly a more direct path to their little patch of heaven appears. A path that Skips the debt. Skips the rat race. Skips straight to the dream of returning to the land and creating the life they have yearningly envisioned!
SKIP is a skills-based curriculum that industrious people can work to accomplish, and publicly document, their growing confidence and abilities, aiming to impress those who are looking for a worthy heir. Young homesteaders dedicate many hours to pioneer skills, proving they are worthy to take on the challenge. Landowners can see the fire in their eyes, and the dedication in their hearts – to build on this legacy, and help cultivate a wiser world.
SKIP is Hope. Opportunity. And Trust.
It's a bit effusive in spots and could be cut back, become more business-like or simply be disregarded. I haven't written for several years and am a little rusty but the e-mail link brought me here before I even got out of bed! I've just joined recently and am trying to read all the info and forums and watch the videos but am realizing it is going to take hundreds of hours! Everything is so interesting to me and I am looking forward to the knowledge I'll gain!
