Hello Lifesteaders!
I just have a quick post today. I found this earlier while browsing around. I think this is a great idea to help get people going. It is very simple and easy to understand. It will also help you simplify your life and help you focus on the things you enjoy doing. I hope you can all take the Simple Living Pledge with me!
http://blog.kanelstrand.com/p/take-simple-living-pledge.html
Friday, March 1, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
[Comm/Sprt]City On The Hill
Hello Lifesteaders!
Last year we went to a Casting Crowns concert. At that concert, they played this song and showed this video. I really liked the video and spent the next month or so looking for it, but I couldn't find it. I decided to look for the video again today. What is the first result, the video! I hope you all enjoy it!
Now let's talk about it. A community, in this case the city on the hill, is made strong by the diversity of the people. Everyone has a talent, skill, knowledge, or something useful to contribute. When they all work together, you end up with a bright, growing, and happy community. The poets inspire the warriors, the rich help the poor, the youth bring the energy, and the elders bring knowledge.
What this song is talking about is how each group thought their ideas and ways were best and everyone else was foolish. They became self-centered and it tore the community apart. Everyone left the great city on the hill because they didn't want to be with the people who were different from them. What they didn't realize was that it was their diversity that made the city great. They all had something different to contribute that helped grow the community.
This is still true today, and has been true through much of history. People become selfish and don't want to be around people who are different. They don't want to put the effort in to work with others and grow a healthy community. If everyone could use their skills to help build a community, you would end up with something amazing.
I also think there is a deeper spiritual meaning to this video. I would also assume this is what they were going for seeing that they are a Christian band, and they show it at the end. The city on the hill is an analogy for Jesus or God in general. The people are all different groups of Christians. They are saying we need to leave our opinions, ideas, and differences behind and focus on what is truly important, Jesus.
You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. - Matthew 5:14
Last year we went to a Casting Crowns concert. At that concert, they played this song and showed this video. I really liked the video and spent the next month or so looking for it, but I couldn't find it. I decided to look for the video again today. What is the first result, the video! I hope you all enjoy it!
Now let's talk about it. A community, in this case the city on the hill, is made strong by the diversity of the people. Everyone has a talent, skill, knowledge, or something useful to contribute. When they all work together, you end up with a bright, growing, and happy community. The poets inspire the warriors, the rich help the poor, the youth bring the energy, and the elders bring knowledge.
What this song is talking about is how each group thought their ideas and ways were best and everyone else was foolish. They became self-centered and it tore the community apart. Everyone left the great city on the hill because they didn't want to be with the people who were different from them. What they didn't realize was that it was their diversity that made the city great. They all had something different to contribute that helped grow the community.
This is still true today, and has been true through much of history. People become selfish and don't want to be around people who are different. They don't want to put the effort in to work with others and grow a healthy community. If everyone could use their skills to help build a community, you would end up with something amazing.
I also think there is a deeper spiritual meaning to this video. I would also assume this is what they were going for seeing that they are a Christian band, and they show it at the end. The city on the hill is an analogy for Jesus or God in general. The people are all different groups of Christians. They are saying we need to leave our opinions, ideas, and differences behind and focus on what is truly important, Jesus.
You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. - Matthew 5:14
Monday, February 25, 2013
Welcome To Lifesteading!
Hello everyone and welcome to Lifesteading!
Lifesteading is a concept that I am beginning to develop. It borrows the ideas and skills from a wide range of areas to form this way of life. There are five main “physical” areas to this concept. They are Homesteading, Permaculture, Cooking, Survival, and Community. These five areas all have skills and concepts that we feel everyone should have in their lives. They will not only grow you as a person but also help grow communities as a whole. There are also spiritual and emotional parts to Lifesteading that will be included; I am not categorizing them because they are too complex to group into specific areas. I will now explain the basics of the five physical areas.
Homesteading can be simply defined as “living off the land”. It is more complex than that but it is the basic idea of Homesteading. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Homestead as follows: “The home and adjoining land occupied by a family.” I would consider homesteading as a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. This to us means, being able to provide food, energy, and shelter using the land and resources around you.
Permaculture is a complex subject. It concept was originally “Permanent Agriculture”, but as the concept has grown it have move more towards “Permanent Culture”. The name itself does a good job at explaining what it is, although it can be a very deep and complex subject when you get into it. The Merriam-Webster defines permaculture as “an agricultural system or method that seeks to integrate human activity with natural surroundings so as to create highly efficient self-sustaining ecosystems.” The core tenets of permaculture are: Take care of the earth, Take care of the people, Share the surplus. Permaculture uses the patterns of nature and these three tenets to make a system that allows us to grow with the earth and not against it.
Cooking can be a very simple or very complex subject depending on how you look at it. We will be keeping things simple here but we will not leave out any of the important details. The focus of the our cooking will be fun and easy recipes using natural ingredients and alternative cooking methods. We will be using campfires, Dutch ovens, and many other tools and techniques to cook our food. Most of the recipes will use cheap and simple ingredients that almost everyone should have access too.
Survival is a broad subject that will be covering many areas. The main area we will be covering is wilderness survival. This will include things like; how to build shelters, make a fire, and find food and water in the wilderness. These techniques can also be used when camping and hiking, not just in survival situations. We will also be talking about other survival subject like, how to survive a hurricane or blizzard, simple defense techniques, and first aid.
Community is what binds people together. A single person can accomplish a lot on their own, but as part of a working community, the possibilities are endless. In today’s society, most people keep to themselves and close friends and family. There is a great lack of community in today’s world. People don’t want to share, they don’t want to reach out to other people, they just want people to leave them alone. I know this isn’t true for everyone, but the amount of people like this is growing. We want to change that.
Now that we have the basic concepts down let me tell you a little bit about us. Our names are Ben and Amy. We have been together for almost 5 years and recently got engaged this New Years. We made this blog to show you the ideas we have come up with and learned about. We will also be showing you how we are integrating these ideas and concepts into our lives. We will also be taking you along with us on our adventures from time to time. We are no experts but I hope that we will all learn and grow into a great and loving community. From now on, if you wish to join us, you are all our fellow Lifesteaders!
Lifesteading is a concept that I am beginning to develop. It borrows the ideas and skills from a wide range of areas to form this way of life. There are five main “physical” areas to this concept. They are Homesteading, Permaculture, Cooking, Survival, and Community. These five areas all have skills and concepts that we feel everyone should have in their lives. They will not only grow you as a person but also help grow communities as a whole. There are also spiritual and emotional parts to Lifesteading that will be included; I am not categorizing them because they are too complex to group into specific areas. I will now explain the basics of the five physical areas.
Homesteading can be simply defined as “living off the land”. It is more complex than that but it is the basic idea of Homesteading. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Homestead as follows: “The home and adjoining land occupied by a family.” I would consider homesteading as a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. This to us means, being able to provide food, energy, and shelter using the land and resources around you.
Permaculture is a complex subject. It concept was originally “Permanent Agriculture”, but as the concept has grown it have move more towards “Permanent Culture”. The name itself does a good job at explaining what it is, although it can be a very deep and complex subject when you get into it. The Merriam-Webster defines permaculture as “an agricultural system or method that seeks to integrate human activity with natural surroundings so as to create highly efficient self-sustaining ecosystems.” The core tenets of permaculture are: Take care of the earth, Take care of the people, Share the surplus. Permaculture uses the patterns of nature and these three tenets to make a system that allows us to grow with the earth and not against it.
Cooking can be a very simple or very complex subject depending on how you look at it. We will be keeping things simple here but we will not leave out any of the important details. The focus of the our cooking will be fun and easy recipes using natural ingredients and alternative cooking methods. We will be using campfires, Dutch ovens, and many other tools and techniques to cook our food. Most of the recipes will use cheap and simple ingredients that almost everyone should have access too.
Survival is a broad subject that will be covering many areas. The main area we will be covering is wilderness survival. This will include things like; how to build shelters, make a fire, and find food and water in the wilderness. These techniques can also be used when camping and hiking, not just in survival situations. We will also be talking about other survival subject like, how to survive a hurricane or blizzard, simple defense techniques, and first aid.
Community is what binds people together. A single person can accomplish a lot on their own, but as part of a working community, the possibilities are endless. In today’s society, most people keep to themselves and close friends and family. There is a great lack of community in today’s world. People don’t want to share, they don’t want to reach out to other people, they just want people to leave them alone. I know this isn’t true for everyone, but the amount of people like this is growing. We want to change that.
Now that we have the basic concepts down let me tell you a little bit about us. Our names are Ben and Amy. We have been together for almost 5 years and recently got engaged this New Years. We made this blog to show you the ideas we have come up with and learned about. We will also be showing you how we are integrating these ideas and concepts into our lives. We will also be taking you along with us on our adventures from time to time. We are no experts but I hope that we will all learn and grow into a great and loving community. From now on, if you wish to join us, you are all our fellow Lifesteaders!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)