Reason 541 to Consider Homesteading as a Second Profession

I've been reading a lot about homesteading these past couple of weeks, thinking about keeping chickens for eggs and raising bees for honey. Right now, the container garden is already producing green tomatoes, tiny jalapenos, and squash blossoms. If I was willing to put in the time and effort (and land), I could grow my own food on a quarter-acre of land.

Watching the coming global currency crisis roll through Europe makes me think this may be a good skill to have in the near future...

First Slow Food, Now Slow Money

I admit it; I am intrigued. I hope they have this book Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money at the library. It sounds like the application of the slow food concept to financial investment. I ran across this book by researching social responsible investing this evening. For retirement planning, I have purchased some socially responsible mutual funds, but primarily I've focused on funds that will invest in anything. Given the economic craziness that has happened in the last couple of years, maybe it is time for me to revisit these things that I have always thought valuable.

And in thinking about this, I have remembered that I have already been participating in local economies by signing a commitment to a 10% shift via Lowcountry Local First. This is where you try to shift 10% of your outflowing dollars from out-of-town to local businesses. That could mean moving your money to a community bank. Or buying food at the farmer's market, instead of from Chile and Peru. Or supporting local businesses over multinational corporations. I admit, I am not always successful here, but it is worth trying.

I realize that the marketplace out there is a lot bigger and more complex that the economy here in Charleston. This type of local economics might be futile. But it seems a worthy experiment.

Side note: Turns out, Woody Tasch, the author of this book is going to be at a local-level economic conference here in Charleston next month. And Lowcountry Local First is helping people become sustainable farming apprentices. There are so many amazing things happening out there in the world!