Many good things are happening in my life. It’s a really exciting time, now that I’m well in my forties.
But I spend a lot of time looking, observing all the things I’m also soon to leave behind. Things are getting better but it’s not without loss.
Enjoy Watching Youtube Videos about Agriculture
I enjoy watching Youtube videos about agriculture and farming, because it’s interesting to see how the land and it’s management come together to produce the food we all eat and enjoy. It’s fun to learn about the technology, the techniques, and the people that make it happen. Many people aren’t aware how technologically advanced agriculture has become, or how much goes into protecting the soils and resources for generations to come.
Parking management called about getting a discounted commuter bus pass, two months after CDTA discontinued my bus route.
I mean it’s a good deal… only applied about 7 months ago…. I think its $14 a pay period for unlimited rides but without the express bus and biking to work most days at my suburban office with acres of free parking, not such a good a deal. Worth a try, and I would certainly do it if there was value in the proposition but between biking and driving, hardly a great deal!
The whole bus situation is endlessly frustrating though, since the express bus disappeared. The local bus just doesn’t correspond well with my schedule after you figure in the transfer. And it’s so slow and crowded. I get that there is free parking where I work, but I don’t love driving with traffic – it’s not just the cost of the fuel but also the pain of fighting traffic and cops. Honestly, I can’t wait until mid-February when there is enough daylight to ride my bike both ways to work again.
Making the leap … someday
Moving to my dream state is often a big challenge and a leap into the unknown, one that is fairly far off – I’m committed to New York – saving and investing, working hard in New York while I still have family locally.
But eventually I want to move. I want more freedom to own the guns I want, have fires, burn trash and not have to deal with silliness like plastic bag bans or whatever else the legislature dreams up in the coming years like banning trapping as happened in California. I like my big truck and I want my off grid cabin to be in a place with as much freedom as possible.
But the truth is it’s such a big jump into the unknown. Rural communities are more homogenized than ever before due to centrally produced television stations and social media but moving to a new town with no friends, no job, no place to stay is a big jump into the unknown. Honestly when I do it I will be a lot more financially stable but still its a big leap.
That said, careful planning can help to make the leap smaller. Places like West Virginia and rural Pennsylvania I know fairly well, especially in areas where I regularly camp. They’re a smaller leap. With the internet I can also research local opinions about an area and what folks are saying about it – along with state and local laws enforced or otherwise. I can take a trip out to other states, interview for jobs, and ultimately when I settle there rent for a year before committing to buy land and home as my off-grid property.
When I move I can make it a priority to be socially engaged, join civic organizations and volunteer to make new friends. Join my colleagues out at the bar and when I have my off grid property invite them out there for a bonfire and beers or allow them to hunt the land. Friendship is more important than having that perfect deer in the freezer. I’d probably stay away from politics as I don’t want to alienate potential code enforcement people I need to work with to make my off grid property a reality.
Honestly, I do like the break to something new. Too much of my identity is still tied up with my hometown and my jobs in Albany. While I do good work, when you’ve been around as long as I have there is still a lot of baggage around that’s hard to escape. There are memories and institutions I really would like to put away for good.
Voting and being politically active is not an excuse for personal failures 🗳 🙄👨🏼💼👩🏿💼
I often feel like people are using politics as a way to avoid personal responsibility and not address problems in their own lives and own communities. While I’m sure whoever occupies the White House or the State Capitol or City Hall has some minor bearing on your life, the truth is what you choose to do, the people you choose to associate with and the community you choose to live in has as much larger bearing on your life.
Do vote. It’s a low cost activity that doesn’t take much time. Early voting and absentee voting makes it even easier. In the autumn, spend a Saturday afternoon knocking doors and maybe a weeknight or two making calls. Attend public meetings and protests, be heard. It does make a difference to scream at and put pressure on the politicians, as few do.
But remember, the buck ultimately stops at you, and your life is only as good as you make it.
Valcour Island Campsite Coordinates and Maps
Valcour Island is a 968-acre island in Lake Champlain in Clinton County, NY. The island is mostly in the Town of Peru and partly in the Town of Plattsburgh, southeast of the City of Plattsburgh. It is within the boundaries of the Adirondack Park. On October 11, 1776, a naval engagement known as the Battle of Valcour Island between British and United States naval forces under Benedict Arnold was fought in the strait adjacent to the island. Valcour was the site of several farms and summer homes (and one short-lived utopian community, the Dawn Valcour Society) from the nineteenth century until the 1970s, when New York State completed its purchase of the island. The island is now within the Adirondack Park, and is managed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as the “Valcour Island Primitive Area“.
| Campsite | Latitude | Longitude |
| Campsite 1 | 44.612046881793 | -73.42286639561 |
| Campsite 2 | 44.615222332331 | -73.423275059535 |
| Campsite 3 | 44.6253469112994 | -73.4281564842123 |
| Campsite 4 | 44.6173858889161 | -73.4252711688757 |
| Campsite 5 | 44.6177506875454 | -73.4247159815721 |
| Campsite 6 | 44.6356309436663 | -73.4176270547275 |
| Campsite 7 | 44.6361822556452 | -73.4162718794829 |
| Campsite 8 | 44.6357410636748 | -73.4156981847151 |
| Campsite 9 | 44.635776223568 | -73.414744449708 |
| Campsite 10 | 44.6340432204798 | -73.411717194633 |
| Campsite 11 | 44.6339079469408 | -73.4119822301329 |
| Campsite 12 | 44.6332129588725 | -73.4120886545713 |
| Campsite 13 | 44.6252304809332 | -73.4060010457772 |
| Campsite 14 | 44.6250339125795 | -73.4054067272836 |
| Campsite 15 | 44.6193516413756 | -73.4079994284824 |
| Campsite 16 | 44.619865406031 | -73.4083543141594 |
| Campsite 17 | 44.6183002950397 | -73.4093395585105 |
| Campsite 18 | 44.6114734031153 | -73.409943357957 |
| Campsite 19 | 44.6213442634347 | -73.4052848744629 |
| Campsite 20 | 44.6212210367482 | -73.4056926555458 |
| Campsite 21 | 44.632697323584 | -73.4235976390277 |
| Campsite 22 | 44.6325578049828 | -73.424838344847 |
| Campsite 23 | 44.6253571111095 | -73.4281594618369 |
| Campsite 25 | 44.6210306272869 | -73.4308219163776 |
| Campsite 26 | 44.6211390582903 | -73.428074914075 |
More information on the DEC’s Lake Champlain Island Complex webpage.
Rednecks and the Noble Eco Savage 👨🏻🌾
I often think of rednecks as noble savages. They work hard, don’t have a lot of money so they repair, reuse and maximize life out of whatever they can get second hand. Junk roofing, parts from old cars and motors, they use to repair what they have rather than throwing away.
The farm animals they raise produce food for their families and others. It is a life based on reality one where the piglet comes onto the farm, fed grain, fertilizes the land, has a 22 bullet put through its brain, scalded, quartered, frozen or cooked. Where food scraps are recycled into pig feed where the manure makes the farm field and garden grow.
The redneck homestead with the trash burning barrel goes to the dump like once a year, because most of their trash goes up into smoke and is disposed on site – if the ash and unburnt debris isn’t buried in the farm trash pit. Valuable recyclables – namely metals – get saved for scrap and are sold for money and actually used as industrial feedstock.
Many more remote, rural redneck homesteads are now off grid in part because the high cost of running electric lines up in the mountains. It turns out that solar technology is pretty damn good at supplementing generator power and that solar panels are fairly cheap especially when somebody does their own wiring and builds their own stands.
It’s a life so much more sustainable then the eco conscious suburbanite living in the city. Grid tied solar and your Prisus might reduce your carbon footprint or cleaning and recycling plastic bottles might keep them out of the landfill but it’s nothing like the homestead that keeps old machinery running rather than discarding, that produces and slaughters meat on site compared to buying on styrofoam.