Henry David Thoreau

"'That government is best which governs not at all;' and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have."^[4]
-Thoreau

Thoreau's writings influenced many public figures. Political leaders and reformers like Mahatma Gandhi, President John F. Kennedy, civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, and Russian author Leo Tolstoy all spoke of being strongly affected by Thoreau's work, particularly Civil Disobedience. ( I just cut and pasted the above, they said it better than I could, however, I do not approve of JFK. He was a lying rat)




 In a nut shell, I think,an operative lesson that would serve us well in our times of repressive government is Zero cooperation to encroaching control by government.


Of course the pivotal point of the encroachment of personal rights of freedom, these days, to not participate is to be in violation of law.  For example not paying for health insurance is soon to be a punishable offense.


Here is his Wikipedia page.

Sage brush

Sage brush

I have several types of sage at my compound, I mean ranch. I have been wanting to remove the bulk of it because it is so thick,and grazing grass has to compete with it. Increasing the livestock carrying capacity is the primary reason. Also sage gives the place a dry desert feel so removal is in part for cosmetic reasons. I made a scraper several years ago and used it to clear a small area in front of my shop, perhaps only two or three acres, It was very successful in removing the sage brush and grass grew in nicely the next year. The scraper was made out of I beam that I welded in a square box shape, and I used a chain to pull it with a pick-up. The scraper also worked well to smooth out the driveway. The front I beam would knock down the high spots and dirt would accumulate in the box and fill in the pot holes as it would slide over the low surface. The sage here is very stout some have stumps larger than 8 inches most are smaller but the large ones are remembered well after plowing through the field and the box would jerk to a halt and I would slam against the wheel from the sudden loss of momentum. Sadly the box scraper-smoothie could only take so much abuse till the metal sheared in half where the chain mounted. I switched to pulling it from the other end to get by till the project was completed. It didn't work as well and soon broke again since it wasn't as strong having been broken previously. My welder was broken at the time so I wasn't able to repair the scraper. Its a Lincoln diesel generator welder and the starter had gone out because we were using it for our house-hold power during the first year here.  we had a generator for the house but that broke and the welder was filling in for it. Is it just me or is there a pattern of things breaking.

Anyways, I have since repaired the welder and I have built a new and improved smoothy scraper this time I built it with reinforcements and a steel rail road track was added for weight and scraping. Its welded across the mid section and a blade from a loader bucket was welded to the front for scraping its also very heavy. 
The entire assembly weighs in around 2k so its tough to get moving but it crashes through most obstical when it gets up to a cruising speed. This scraper was built durring the last fence project, to run along the planed fence lines. Because it easier and nicer to fence a smooth surface than a rugged one. Large sage needs to be removed because its tought to string a straight wire through brush. A strong fence needs to be straight. Sage brush is actualy a type evergreen tree.

I was at an auction a while back and an old plow was sold in the last group of items so I picked it up for 150. It works well to remove the sage by plowing through it several times from different angles and directions.

I've been using a ford f250 4x4 to pull the plow and box scraper. I had traded for the truck a couple years back and originally used it to haul water. The problem is, it has a gas engine 460 and the fuel millage isn't great so I use my diesel Dodge for water runs and leave the Ford on the ranch for running about and fencing. Now its a tractor too. Speaking of tractors I tried using a guys tractor and it was getting stuck every time I went out in the pasture, The Ford gets stuck some times too, but a pick-up is easier to get out than a tractor. Now I have all wheels chained, It hasn't gotten stuck yet.

I broke the bumper off today pulling the plow. I started to build a bumper out of scrap steel I had around here but I ran out of oxygen for the torch so I will have to resume after I get the bottle refilled.

Here are some before and after pic of a turn out pasture I plowed the day before. Most of the sage in the pic is plowed and up-rooted when It dries up and breaks down it will look nicer. I left some of the greasewood sage because it is more treelike than the gray sage (I'll pretend its a real tree). It also stays dark green like that year round. The ones in this pic are over 6 ft tall, So its a nice little tree. I have several hundred acres to go, I'll keep you posted.

Fencing

Well I Completed the fencing along the rail road. I moved the cows to the new pasture on Monday. I have been working on fencing the back side of the property, bordering BLM land. I use a GPS to locate boundary lines then I drive in a stake with a flag taped to it. Here is a skull I found during my boundary search.

Here is the homested From one of the rear boundary lines.

Subsidize me

Subsidize me

The illusion of a subsidy is a helping hand to a person or industry that needs it. Generosity is fine as long as its genuine. A subsidy by design is for control.

Farming and ranching is so burdened with government intervention that it is not a viable operation without government money, Behind every successful farm is a subsidy. For example you can't buy a farm for the current market price and run it at full capacity and make enough from your crops to make the payment. It doesn't matter weather its crops or livestock or a combination of both. The numbers don't work. Its not that farming has failed but government price fixing has tightened the a grip, giving them total control over the farming industry.

On the other end of the spectrum an industry with no government subsidy is the repair industry. I was a heavy duty mechanic for many years. I have on several occasions opened a shop and made money the first few months of operation. Basically you lease a building and hang up a sign, its more involved but the idea is no government intervention and the market adjusts itself. It has to, otherwise there would be no trucks to haul food to the stores or fuel to the gas station.

The government doesn't pay shops NOT to work on trucks, They do pay farmers not to farm, programs like CRP and several other similar programs do just this. Every industry is like a chain, if one link is disturbed it will affect the entire chain.

An appalling example of farm subsidies is during the great depression. The farms were being subsidized not to grow crops, Thereby decreasing supply, since demand stayed the same, it caused prices for crops to raise. The stated reason for subsidized farming was to allow them to remain in operation making enough money to afford the payments. For the man working in the city (if he was lucky enough to have a job) the taxes deducted from his pay were spent to insure his food prices were high. Artificially inflated beyond what a natural market would bear. Since food is a necessity he had little choice but to survive as best he could.

The key to successful farming or ranching without the controlling hand of uncle control freak is to own your ground outright, and creative income tax (no income tax is better, Wink-nudge) angles.

Barter

Barter

I'm a big fan of trading for goods. One needs to proceed with caution before agreeing to anything; also I think a person should always follow through with a commitment. If the other party brakes their part first, all bets are off. That being said, barter is a great tool for self progress.

Sometimes large companies will be glad to barter, if you find the right person to talk to. I have a rail-way that runs through my property. It needs to be fenced off, Montana law says they have to fence me out, Also they have to pay market price for any livestock they hit. They're a union outfit, so rapid response is not gonna happen. Its been two years in the works to do the fencing.

When I first moved here I built and repaired one mile of fencing (this was before I knew they were required to do it. Ignorance is expensive ( I may be able to collect for this its in the air right now). They contracted out for another section a mile long, but they get fined by there union for contracting outside their work force. Here is where the barter comes in.

I offered to build their mile of fence, with their materials in exchange for materials for another mile of fence. So they give me two miles of materials (costs is around 8000.00) I build a mile of fence and keep the materials for the other pastures I need to fence off. So basically I get payed 4k to do a 4 day job! They dont get fined this way, and I get what I need. WIN WIN!

A change of pace, or rather content.

A change of pace, or rather content.

During the course of the ranch work, my mind drifts to other subjects. The work is labors and I can preform the functions as though I'm programed. When digging a hole or stringing fence wire it goes faster if I let my mind wander.

Anyways the thought I had was, to change the content of the blog. I'm going PRO. Obama!!!
Just kidding! Seriously though, I'm a survivalist I have been since I was a kid, I got in on the tail end of the cold war. That's the war Reagan won. Rather than survivalisum for the topic of my discussion or even plitics, the subject I could cover with a greater good, is ranching.

I noticed on other blogs people are miffed by retreat living, and supporting themselves after moving to a retreat. Here is the answer: dont move to a retreat. Move to a ranch.

I have been living on my place for 6 years now and for the last 4 years I have been able to scrape by with ranch earnings. I dont have to commute and the live stock is better company than coworkers.

A long time gone

A long time gone

Well I made it back to the ranch in my beloved Montana. Its been a full-time job if not two jobs getting things going here. I've been gone a year and several problems have developed in my absence, mostly rodent and weather related. No theft or vandalism has occurred. 

I'm still pissed I wasn't able to correct the problems I went to California to resolve in the first place. That state is controlled by ignorance and socialist treachery. Its scary to think trends from the west-coast tend to migrate to the inner states, Same with the East-coast, good states get pinched in the middle. Total control  by Liberal Socialist free-loaders is in all of our futures. If were lucky a total collapse will choke out the lazy slugs that NEED the government to survive. God knows they're running out of surfs to extrapolate social wealth from, this surf is tired.

On a side note I have been thinking: The problem with or countries direction is forged to curve in a socialistic direction because the socialists are the aggressors, us individuals are constantly defending our position being asked to compromise our rights. They claim its for the greater good, of course we know better. The point is their agenda is always to take from us, our agenda is we just want to be left alone to enjoy freedom or the fruits of our labor and dedication to labor. Sometimes I think the conservative mind set in this tug-a-war, is to give in, thinking they will then leave us alone. But a little is never enough, they are always back for more. They're like stray cats. Now health care, they want it so WE all must participate in their socialist utopia. I dont want to participate. I just want to be left alone. I dont want to support their health care and their addiction to anti-depressant medication. And all the ailments they will leach off government supplied "free" to them services.

Us conservatives wishing to restore our birth right to freedom, must take an aggressive approach in this situation, we need to put the socialists on the defensive. And take back whats ours.