Mr. Peasant On The Trade Off Problem

From How to be Happy an old catalog, 1901.

There are no solutions only trade-offs.

THOMAS SOWELL

We have heard a variation on this theme many times. The theme is that every solution breeds new problems. When making decisions, we are forced to weigh the costs and benefits of those decisions. No perfect solution exists or can exist. That is the nature of existence.

We hit the trade off problem whenever we go shopping. For instance, you can buy a toolbox in either blue or red, but you can't have it both ways. Every positive decision comes with a negative. Choosing one thing means not choosing the other thing. This doesn't seem like such a big deal in this example, but it is a big deal in many other examples. Should you buy metric wrenches or standard wrenches? I have learned that you need both.

There is a magic solution to the trade off problem, but it is a false solution. This is the solution known as "one size fits all." With the wrench example, you could buy an adjustable wrench and learn to live with stripped bolts and nuts. There's a reason adjustable wrenches never took over.

Mr. Peasant's practical solution to the trade off problem is "one size fits most." I have learned that every solution has its limits. I personally went through this journey when trying to decide between a 4 wheel drive pickup versus a 2 wheel drive pickup. The 4WD has more utility because you can go off-road and drive in the snow. For me, these situations are exceedingly rare. The rest of the time is spent paying more for gas on the 4WD and the all terrain tires that never leave 2WD. I had to choose between utility and fuel economy, and I chose fuel economy. Over the last decade, that has turned out to be a genius decision.

I went with the vehicle that covers 80% of what I need in a truck. That's close enough. If I need something more robust, I will have to seek out alternative solutions such as renting a truck. This flies completely in the face of the larger culture that wants as many options and features as exist. This would be the smartphone with a thousand apps or subscribing to more streaming services that can possibly be watched because there aren't enough hours in a day or a lifetime.

Goldilocks or The Three Bears, 1911. Jessie Willcox Smith 

Why do people go to such excess? I think it goes back to that old maxim that says that it is better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. The problem with that maxim is that it never accounts for the cost of having a lot of things that you don't need. One of those costs is the rent on a storage unit for all that unused stuff that you might need.

I find myself living in agreement with the wisdom of Yvon Chouinard who said, "The more you know, the less you need." This is hippie wisdom that people in the homesteading and prepping communities would be wise to learn. What we think we need will always be larger than what we actually need. This is because we don't know anything.

In my experience, I find those 80% solutions to be the best. What happens when those solutions aren't sufficient? This happens. I have learned to follow the strategy of the Marine Corps known as "adapt and overcome." That covers the 20%. I also refer to these strategies as the "white trash option." The result is that my method is a quilt work of improvisation and intentionality. I keep the intentionality at 80% and the improvisation at 20%. That is a nice ratio.

Another issue that comes up is choosing "tactical" gear and options. This is opposed to "practical." What is the difference between tactical and practical? I would say the difference is about $200 because this is how much you will pay more for a Goruck tactical backpack as opposed to the JanSport practical backpack. At the end of the day, a backpack is a compartment with two straps. Those tactical backpacks have those cool looking MOLLE straps, but I have rarely seen anyone actually use the things. Generally, you want to carry your gear inside the bag instead of outside of the bag because this is practical. But I digress. . .

Something is called tactical because it is designed for a narrow purpose or activity. Something practical is designed for general purpose activities. I have learned over the years to aim for the practical while eschewing the tactical. That is a way to achieve "one size fits most." Tactical is "one size fits one."

You can get away with using a tactical backpack to carry books to class the same way you can commute to work in a Jeep Wrangler. Why would you? This hit me decades ago trying to work in a pair of jungle combat boots when I just needed a basic and more comfortable pair of work boots. Those jungle boots looked bad ass, but they were crippling on a concrete floor for twelve hours a day.

Woman and child buying shoes. Drouin, Victoria 1944

I remember in high school in the 1980s that the local National Guard unit had Army Jeeps. They also had a basic Chevy pickup truck they painted camouflage. That pickup truck was their preferred vehicle for doing anything. It even lasted into the Humvee era because it was so practical.

Tactical isn't just limited to military type stuff. Hippies get into the act with their mountain bikes and gravel bikes when they would find more use in a beach cruiser bike. The same applies to trail specific shoes that are basically sneakers with some traction on the sole. The term the hippies use isn't "tactical" but "technical." It is the same animal. Your wallet gets lighter without any benefit over the practical option.

The bottom line is that marketers and businesses seek to undermine your confidence in the practical option of one size fits most. Because you know little, you need more stuff. A better investment of your purchasing dollar is to spend more time and money reading in an effort to know more. When you know more, you need less stuff. This knowledge boosts your confidence and allows you, Gentle Reader, to tune out the frequent pitches for your hard earned dollars.

Thank you for reading!

What Happened then stories. 1918. Ruth Dyer 

Mr. Peasant On The Low Hanging Fruit Of Frugality

Boy Scouts pick fruit for jam. Cambridgeshire, England 1944

Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Frugality is a tough sell. Nobody wants it. They prefer to keep blowing money without a second thought on the matter until circumstances force the issue. The truth is that people want to do better, but they don't want to do better today. The needed change will not come a moment sooner than too late. Then, desperation takes over which leads to very poor decision making. With money, the desperation leads the desperate turn to the usurers who are quite happy to exploit this desperation. A better way is to turn to this handy guide that generates savings immediately.

When people think about frugality and saving money, they have visions of refinancing mortgages and loans, clipping coupons, and hiring some sort of financial advisor. If that financial advisor is worth a damn, he will share the tips in this post than I am giving to you for FREE. None of these tips are sophisticated but are just plain common sense. The problem is that they all involve some form of deprivation and doing without. Frugality is more about having fortitude than brains. Here is the low hanging fruit of frugality.

1. Give up cigarettes.

Vices are expensive, and cigarettes are a very expensive vice. In my state, the average price for a pack of smokes is $8.50. Assuming you smoke a pack a day, that amounts to $255 per month. The price is even higher in other states. New York State is the most expensive at $14.55 per pack which amounts to $436.50 per month. People can argue and bicker over this "injustice," but assuming you are in the right, it is still going to cost you a lot of money. Many people could solve their money woes just by giving up this one vice. Just cutting back on the smokes will generate hefty savings. I won't get into the savings on healthcare expenses. That is in the realm of high hanging fruit.

A girl drinking wine and a boy smoking a cigar, 1893 Albert Roosenboom

2. Give up booze.

After tobacco, alcohol is the next most expensive vice for many people. On a unit price, a can of Budweiser beer will cost a little over a dollar in my state. Wine and spirits are obviously more expensive than beer. The real expense is a drunk driving conviction and the need for a liver transplant, but that also gets into the high hanging fruit. On a single serving basis, one beer is not so expensive. But who drinks one beer? People like to get hammered, and this costs money. I don't know of anyone who gave up the booze who was not better off for it.

3. Give up gambling.

A single ticket for the lotto is not so bad, but many people are addicted to those scratch off lottery tickets. You don't need to go to Vegas or Atlantic City to become a gambling addict. Your local convenience store is now a casino. I have heard of people blowing their entire paychecks on these scratch off tickets.

4. Give up Starbucks.

I don't consider coffee to be a vice, but Starbucks has made coffee cost as much as a vice with a single venti serving of java costing as much as a pack of smokes. There are people who drink Starbucks daily, so their caffeine habit becomes as expensive as any nicotine habit. Fortunately, the answer is to get cheaper coffee at Dunkin', McDonald's, or the Waffle House. Brewing your own at home is even better. I would recommend investing in a good travel mug or a Stanley thermos for taking hot coffee with you on the go. Personally, I think Starbucks is a scam. Anyone who goes there on a daily basis is an idiot.

Elderly couple eating at their home on Lamont Street N.W. Washington DC, 1942

5. Give up fast food, convenience store meals, and microwave meals.

Paying for food you didn't make yourself is a massive expense. You're paying someone to make it for you, but it isn't cheap. Buy your ingredients and make your own food even if it is just a sandwich. People will claim they don't have the time for this, but this is utter horse crap. It takes me less time to make my own sandwich than to watch someone else make it for me at Subway and then pay them for the convenience. Microwave meals are essentially fast food that you make at home.

6. Give up soda pop.

Soda pop is sugar water, but a can of the stuff will cost you a dollar now. You can probably save a bit more by getting a generic store brand in the 2 liter bottle. Mrs. Peasant does this with her once a week purchase of diet soda. She only buys one per week for a treat with her Chef Boyardee Pizza on Sunday.

At this point, the Gentle Reader is howling in indignation and despair because Mr. Peasant is removing all of the joy and pleasure from life. My defense is that I think you can have the same level of joy and pleasure but at a fraction of the price.

I don't drink soda pop except on the rarest of occasions. I prefer to drink tap water. I put a splash of cranberry juice or muscadine juice in it for health benefits, but I stick to water and coffee. I don't do booze or soda pop. I don't feel deprived at all, and there is something to be said for being properly hydrated.

7. Give up cable, satellite, and streaming subscriptions.

I don't expect people to give up entertainment, but I do expect people to stop paying so much for it. I cut the cord on cable a long time ago, and I stopped paying for Netflix when they were still delivering the DVDs by snail mail. I recommend watching over the air television on an antenna while you can still get it for free. I also recommend watching free streaming services like Tubi and Pluto and the free content on YouTube. I don't watch very much visual content, so my entertainment comes from reading used books and listening to the radio on my 20-year-old Sony Walkman. (Sports fans will be happy to know that they can cancel the football package and listen to all their favorite games on the radio for FREE.)

8. Adjust your thermostat.

This is a Mrs. Peasant tip. She sets the thermostat at 78 degrees in the summer, and 58 degrees in the winter. If this sounds extreme, this is where the electric company recommends you set your thermostat. You can set it higher or lower if you're not going to be home during the day because of your job and whatnot. I am used to the summer setting because I am a lizard and prefer to be acclimated to warm weather. In the winter, I break out my house hoodie that I wear exclusively around the home. It is almost 20 years old now and still does the job.

Couple in a Train Compartment, 1895. Ricardo López Cabrera

9. Give up expensive travel and entertainment.

There is a certain type of person who cannot enjoy life at home. They have to go out on the town each weekend and spend two weeks of vacation each year on an exotic cruise or relaxing at a resort. I don't know how anyone can relax if they are living paycheck to paycheck and can't make ends meet. When Mrs. Peasant needs to get out of the house, she goes to the thrift store or to the garden center. In the past, we have been to parks, libraries, museums, the zoo, and kitschy roadside attractions. They have all been fun and done on the cheap. Otherwise, our life is a staycation. Home is a sweet place to be.

10. Give up that flagship smartphone.

The Peasants use durable flip phones that last longer than the cellphone networks. These phones are not cheap but don't cost anything close to the $1000 plus flagship smartphones that people buy every two years. Sometimes, they drop the smartphone and break the screen. This is why they pay insurance on these things like you would with an automobile. This is crazy.

Charles of France, Duke of Berry. 1701- 1725. Nicolas de Largillière

11. Give up fashion.

I gave up fashion in high school and wear work clothes and boots until they disintegrate. Fashion by its nature is short term and expensive. The expectation is that you will change your entire wardrobe twice a year in spring and fall. I don't even change my wardrobe twice a decade. I recommend establishing a uniform for yourself like Steve Jobs did and wearing that gear for as long as it lasts. The interesting thing you will note is that no one is paying attention to what you are wearing. You have to wonder why you are dressing to impress people who don't care except for their own clothes that they are wearing.

Conclusion

As I said, frugality is a tough sell. These tips are falling on deaf ears, and I am OK with that. Just stop whining at how hard your life is and how you are up against it. The reality is that your lifestyle is a choice, and choices come with consequences. I find the consequences of frugality to be easier to bear than the consequences of being a spendthrift. If you are a spendthrift, do us a favor and suck on it as hard as you can. Your misery is free comedy and entertainment for the rest of us who know better. (Listen to The Ramsey Show for some of that free entertainment.)

I don't feel sorry for the grasshoppers in life. No one is up against it. The thing that the person earning $40K a year has in common with someone earning $240K a year is they both have no savings and live paycheck to paycheck. Where does it all go? Most of it goes to the things I just wrote about. I think the average person can save at least $1000 a month just with the low hanging fruit. That amounts to $12K per year.

The high hanging fruit of frugality involves living in a modest home and buying used vehicles while eschewing high price toys like a motorcycle or a boat. The irony is that many people could afford the payments on these large purchases just by going for the low hanging fruit of frugality. Personally, I recommend going for all of the fruit of frugality. The low hanging fruit is for those folks already in trouble and need to generate savings today. This is when they hear the repo man coming down the street to take back their stuff. But that is a topic for another post.

Thank you for reading!

Mr. Peasant On The Good Old Days

Gibson family in living room of house he (conveyor belt operator) built. Chattanooga, TN,1974 

A conservative is a libertarian who has been mugged.

JOHN STOSSEL

I have been watching John Stossel since the 1980s. I have always liked him especially when I was a libertarian. I am not a libertarian now. I got mugged by reality. I am now a born again conservative. I drifted from conservatism at the same time I drifted away from religion. I came back to religion as a Roman Catholic convert, and I came back to conservatism as a paleoconservative which could be described as a "reality based libertarian." I lost things in my apostasy, but those things were replaced with better things in my repentance.

The problem with libertarians is that they pay no attention to the social and cultural side of the ledger. For them, it is all about free markets even if it leads to things like fentanyl and child pornography. A libertarian can be described as a common sense free conservative. That lack of common sense is what makes folks like me appreciate John Stossel's viewpoints while feeling that he is overlooking colossal things in the process. This is especially true in this Stossel video:

Bigger Homes, Better Cars, Longer Lives: The Truth About Today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KJTWmRrneo

Ecconomists set up models that seem like pure genius in their analysis, yet they smell like so much bullshit. In the case of this video, Stossel makes the claim that we have better lives today because we have bigger and better stuff even if we can't afford that stuff. He makes the claim that we couldn't afford the stuff we had in the eighties or before that. The good old days were not so good. Our dissatisfaction has kept pace with our "prosperity."

I debated where I should publish this post as I like to keep economic and political topics to my personal blog while keeping my posts about voluntary poverty and intentional living for this blog. Ultimately, this is a Peasants post because it addresses the dissatisfaction so many people feel in our prosperous economy.

Here are some recent headlines I pulled from DDG:

I’m 53, Make $500,000 a Year and Live Paycheck to Paycheck. I Want to Retire At 65, But We Only Have $200,000 Saved.

Earn more, save less? How lifestyle creep is quietly destroying your wealth; experts on how to break free

Living Paycheck to Paycheck? You're Not Alone—67% of People Are in 2025

8 Ways To Escape Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck — Without Sacrificing Your Lifestyle

I make $55,000 — but after rent, student loans and a bit of savings, I'm stuck living paycheck to paycheck

I'm a single boomer living paycheck to paycheck. I've been too busy living in the moment to plan for retirement.

27-year-old first-grade teacher lived paycheck to paycheck due to impulsive spending: ‘It became so stressful’

11 Signs You’re Actually Upper Middle Class Even If You Feel Like You’re Struggling All The Time

Those headlines tell the story. The reason people struggle today can be blamed on monetary inflation, out of control government spending, student loan debt, and crazy medical bills. What doesn't get blamed is the lifestyle inflation these people have embraced with each increase of the paycheck and swipe of the credit card. They buy new cars instead of used cars. They eat out instead of eating at home. They pay for Starbucks instead of Maxwell House. They pay for streaming subscriptions they don't have time to actually watch. They buy toys on credit. They upgrade to bigger and bigger McMansions and take out home equity loans to upgrade them even further.

Maxwell House Coffee ad, 1950

What makes all inflation happen is the expansion of credit which comes from the expansion of the money supply. Today, credit card debt stands at $1 trillion. When money is cheap, everything becomes more expensive.

I agree with Stossel that the good old days really weren't so good. When I was a kid in the 1980s, I saw the same lifestyle inflation and living paycheck to paycheck I see today. I knew kids in high school who drove brand new Mustangs and Camaros that they bought with co-signed loans from their parents. Things have always been ridiculous, and I think they will remain this way.

We remember the good old days because of the intangible and immaterial factors that Stossel and his Cato Institute economist do not address in their analysis. The USA is spiritually and culturally bankrupt. We can argue that the movies are better today because of better special effects, but no one wants to watch them because the stories and acting are so awful. The same can be said for the music that is now sonically flawless and utterly unlistenable. Libertarians cannot address this issue at all. The only people who can do this are conservatives.

Gaining the world can never compensate for the loss of our souls. What causes dissatisfaction comes down to happiness. Material prosperity should make us happy. It doesn't. Only the few figure this out.

I figured this out when I was a teenager in the 1980s. I don't know why I got it when others didn't. Clearly, reading the Bible put this into my head. The effect of it was to make me eschew lifestyle inflation which I have done to the present day. I don't care to buy or own much because I know those things don't make you happy.

Sunlight and Shadow. Winslow Homer 1873

As a thought experiment, I like to compare my present life at 50+ to my life at 15. When I was 15, my relaxing activities were reading books, listening to music on the radio or cassette deck, and watching movies and TV shows on cable or videocassettes I got from the rental store. Today, I still read books, listen to music on the radio and the CD player, and watch movies and TV shows on the DVD player or on free streaming. The only fundamental difference between today and yesteryear was that we cancelled cable in favor of the internet. My pleasures remain fundamentally the same except they are more plentiful and cost less today than they did in 1985.

What I have not done is buy expensive toys, new cars, a bass boat, a beach house, and a whole bunch of things I have never cared to own. I have always lived a life that was materially superior to royalty from a century ago. What royalty had was status. I have never had status, and I have never cared about status. This is why people would rather be a king shivering in a castle than a blue collar guy with central heat and air.

There has never been a better time in history to be a nobody than in the USA today. The problem is that everybody wants to be a somebody. If they can't be a somebody, they will settle for more expensive pleasures as a consolation prize. When these things fail to satisfy, they double and triple down on the errors as they run up their credit cards and spend themselves into foreclosure and bankruptcy.

The solution to the problem of lifestyle inflation is to learn contentment. When you are content, you find that you have more than enough for your needs. How do you find this contentment? You won't find it reading an Ayn Rand novel. You find this contentment in religion. God is the only satisfaction for the empty heart. Once you put God on the throne of your heart, everything else in life finds its proper place and becomes more enjoyable.

How America Lives, Ed and Amaline. The Ladies' Home Journal, 1948.  

Once upon a time, I told Mrs. Peasant that I would give her a materially better life than the one she had, but that no one would envy her. I kept that promise, and no one envies us. Her great gift was her ability to enjoy the non-material satisfaction that life brings when you know the Lord. Her capacity for this enjoyment is greater than my own.

The Noble Peasants don't care what is happening with the Jones family. We don't envy them, and we certainly don't compete with them. They think us to be poor, and we are happy that they think this way. It saves us from spending on things to impress them when we don't even like them.

I watch the Jones family struggle with their expenses and lament their inability to escape living paycheck to paycheck. I think it is a sad way to live, but they are not interested in the solution. I have never met anyone interested in the solution. If they were interested, this blog would be more popular than it is now.

I have learned to just be grateful to God. I am grateful for Him supplying our material needs, but I am even more grateful for Him teaching us how to live with contentment in our peasant lifestyle. More money never solves the problem because the lack of money is not the problem. The problem is bankruptcy of the soul. We call them the good old days because people used to know the things that have been forgotten.

Thank you for reading!

Moonlight, Winslow Homer. 1874

In Praise Of Old Pickup Trucks

Pick-up truck above Calumet River Wall, 1973

City boys got pickup lines. Country boys got pickup trucks.

UNKNOWN

When boys are boys, they like to play with toys, When boys become men, they still play with toys except the toys make more noise. This sounds like a bad nursery rhyme except this fairy tale is true and tragic. Men who never grew up buy toys to drive around. Men who did grow up give up those toys and drive old pickup trucks.

A Toyota pick up truck, Sonoma, California. 2025 

A sports car is a toy. Men buy these to impress women and each other. Other men choose a Jeep which is an expensive toy they like to take off-road and flip over in remote places. Other men with Jeeps will come to his aid and assist in rescuing the Jeep. This will be a bonding experience for them. It sounds ridiculous to me.

Soap Box Derby, Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC, July 30, 1940

Other men will buy pickup trucks except these shiny new trucks cost a fortune, are way too big, and drink up a lot of gas and diesel. I call these trucks "redneck limousines." Men buy these toys to pull their other toys--boats, RVs, ATV trailers, etc,

A real man is a working man. He drives an old pickup truck. It can be a compact truck like an old Toyota, or it can be a full size truck like a square body Chevy from the 70s and 80s. The main thing is that the truck is not a toy or a redneck limousine. It is the vehicle of a working man who needs to get work done. It isn't driven to impress or to play. It isn't a toy. It is a tool. Tools are what divide the men from the boys.

The working man is not a boy. He does not drive a toy. I am sad to say that the boys outnumber the men these days.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:11 DOUAY-RHEIMS

Thank you for reading!

Julius Dilbeck, retired miner in his pick-up truck. Clairfield, TN 1970

Mr. Peasant On Garden Speed

Emile Claus - The Old Gardener 1885

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, 

everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. 

Gardening is an instrument of grace.

MAY SARTON

I don't move fast anymore. I am a traumatic brain injury survivor which has diminished my energy to levels seen only in centenarians. I have tested my work limit, and it is 1 hour and 40 minutes. I don't go to that level because it will cost me a couple of days trying to recover. I have learned to keep it at one hour per day. This allows me to do another hour the next day. I have learned from the brain injury websites and forums to always remain under your threshold. The brain grows and recovers from repetition like practicing scales on the piano not like lifting weights at the gym.

For some reason, we have an internal taskmaster driving us to be more productive. I have had this taskmaster my whole life, and I would obsess on getting things done. Speed and quantity are what mattered most. I don't see anything wrong with this because productivity is the seed bed for prosperity. The problems come when you are no longer as productive as you were in your prime. Everyone slows down. Slowing down is not the same as stopping.

Hermann Kern, Old Man Shelling Peas 1880

Garden speed is the speed old people have as they putter in their plots. The work is never finished, but things get done at a leisurely pace. There is no clock to punch. The nature of gardening forces this leisurely pace of labor. If you are someone used to city and corporate life, this downshifting of the gears is a difficult adjustment.

What happens when you apply city speed to the garden? You rapidly become exhausted and end up accomplishing very little. This is true if you are able bodied and not suffering from old age and injury. Ultimately, gardening is a cooperative effort between God, you, and Mother Nature. Your part of the partnership is to put together the conditions for garden success. The rest is waiting to see what comes out of the ground.

The biggest fruit that the garden produces is patience. A lot of time passes between the sowing of the seed and the harvest. It isn't a factory turning out X number of widgets each hour. Garden speed forces you to calm down and live with the seasons. Do a little bit each day, and you end up with something good.

Thank you for reading.

An older man with two children and a dog, sitting in a garden. 1890 Canada 

Mr. Peasant On White Trash Gardening

The Gardener. Johannes Hubertus Cuypers, 1858

The plants love these beds just as much as beds with borders. Why make cedar raised beds or square foot garden beds with pressure treated lumber when you can just dig mounded beds like these? It’s so easy – and I find these easy raised beds are better when it comes to weeding as well. There’s no wood for the weeds to work themselves in around.

If you’re looking to try something new in your spring gardening and haven’t built this style of mounded bed before, I encourage you to give it a try. This is about the easiest garden you can make and it’s free. I don’t see the need to spend money on borders anymore. I just make neat mound gardens and plant them up. The vegetables make them beautiful.

DAVID THE GOOD

Once upon a time, I gave my brother a visit. On this visit, I took a look at his microwave safe dishes. They were actually the plastic bowls from store bought microwave meals like Lean Cuisine. He would take the bowls and wash them out and reuse them. I was impressed with the ingenuity and frugality of this "white trash option."

I also use white trash options in my life. Mrs. Peasant uses my empty peanut butter jars as containers for other things like instant mashed potatoes and grits. With the lasagna garden method, we use cardboard from Amazon boxes and brown paper grocery bags from town as the weed suppressant layer. The Peasants are all about deriving treasure from trash.

David the Good has a similar mindset on these things. For instance, he eschews raised beds for gardening and prefers borderless grocery row gardens. This method is much cheaper than buying raised beds from Vego. Wanting to save some money, I put down two lasagna garden beds straight on the ground. The results for us were lackluster. Weeds and grass quickly took over these ground beds. We got a couple of watermelons, but the whole thing looked horrible and chaotic. It was an educational experiment, but I have resolved to stick with those raised beds from Vego even if they cost a fortune.

Mrs. Peasant needed some trellis options for her tomatoes and cucumbers. The white trash option for trellising was to take sticks and make teepees with the ends lashed together. These worked fine until the winds kicked up and blew the homemade structures to pieces. I had to go out every time after a storm and reconstruct those teepees. It was aggravating.

They have a saying on CB radio. "Stop crying and start buying." This is what they say to each other when their rigs are giving less than the desired results. Similarly, we were crying until we started buying tomato cages. I don't play with the sticks anymore. Those cages have done awesome for us, and we have resolved to always buy them and use them. They are expensive because they are worth it.

I appreciate David the Good's tips and whatnot, but I need my gardening to be easy. I don't have a surplus of time and energy. I consider the money spent on proper tools and structures to be good investments. We believe in the motto of "buy once, cry once." White trash gardening is a cheap way to go, but you still end up paying for it in frustration, aggravation, and wasted energy.

Thank you for reading!

Briton Riviere - The Old Gardener, 1863

In Praise Of Georgia Giant Work Boots

Good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

TERRY PRATCHETT

It took me 30 years before I ever bought myself a decent pair of work boots. Before that time, I remember my old man yelling at me for wearing "tennis shoes" for work. The old man always referred to sneakers as tennis shoes. So, I got a pair of cheap work boots from Walmart. I think they were the Texas Steer brand, but I can't swear to that. I just knew they were yellow and cheap. They weren't very durable, but they were better than sneakers. Virtually every working man I know can tell you a story about their starter boots. My starter boots weren't great, but they were good enough for digging ditches and working in the garage.

When I moved to Florida, I worked at a parcel service loading trailers. They demanded that all the workers wear a pair of work boots because they shipped high dollar sneakers. Some dishonest package handlers would find a pair of expensive Air Jordans in a box, put them on their feet, and wear them out the front gate. Nobody stole work boots. Consequently, we had to wear work boots.

The boots I wore for that job were a pair of Timberlands I bought from the mall. These were not work boots but fashion boots. Needless to say, they were comfortable but disintegrated after a few months. I would tape them back together with hockey tape. Other co-workers had similar issues, and we formed the Tape Boot Club. We would see how long we could last before buying a new pair of boots. The only non-member of our club was the guy who had a pair of Red Wing boots. Those boots lasted for the entire five years I knew the guy. They looked rough at the end, but they didn't need to be taped together.

Red Wing boots are very expensive but are probably worth it. I wouldn't know because I have never owned a pair. When I moved back home to South Carolina, I needed a good pair of boots, and I found a pair at the Quality Farm and Supply store in my town. That store has since vanished, but they sold me my first pair of Georgia Giant work boots. 25 years later, I am on my third pair.

I don't think Georgia Giant boots are the greatest boot ever made. I just don't feel like spending a thousand bucks trying to find the holy grail of work boots. I needed a pair of black work boots to fit the dress code of my job, and I bought some expensive Wolverine boots. Those things crippled me. They were very uncomfortable, and I performed surgery on them to try and remedy the problem. I should have just returned them for a refund. That was significant money wasted. I found it easier to do a dye job on my Georgia Giant boots.

Georgia Giants are cheap, comfortable, and durable. For me, any pair of boots under $200 is cheap. Red Wings and Thorogoods are not under $200. They might be awesome, but my experience with the Wolverines taught me to never deviate from what you already know and love. As for Caterpillars, I am curious about them, and they are cheap boots. But why should I change?

Footwear is highly individual, so my work boots may not be for you much like the Wolverines were not for me. I just know that Georgia Giants work for me. Thank you for reading!

https://georgiaboot.com/collections/giant

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How to Extend the Life of Your Work Boots

https://noblepeasants.blogspot.com/2018/06/how-to-extend-life-of-your-work-boots.html

Mr. Peasant's Quick And Dirty Guide To Radio Prepping

President's Fireside Chat, 1930s Aimee Schweig

I talk about weird stuff. What I do only works at night, only on the radio.

ART BELL

The Peasants miss Art Bell. He was the pioneer in paranormal talk radio. Art confessed to being bored with politics, so he went after topics that he found interesting. Combine that with a radio in a dark room late at night, and you have a source for cheap but thrilling entertainment. They still play old Art Bell episodes on the radio. The man had a gift. He also had a love for radio being a ham radio operator.

I love radio as well. Radio is my top choice for information and entertainment. Some years ago, Mrs. Peasant tasked me with researching the use of radios for prepping. I had all these visions of complicated ham radios, walkie talkies, scanners, and expensive shortwave radios. When I was done with my research, I concluded that these were the only radios you need for prepping:

1. An AM/FM/WX radio

2. A CB radio

That's it. I can give all the details why I settled on just these two radios, but I did all of that research to spare you having to read all of that. Just buy these two radios if you don't already own them and move on with your prepping.

Charlie Lingar and his son listen to their battery radio. 1945, Four Mile, Bell County, Kentucky

The AM/FM/WX radio should have a ferrite rod antenna built in. Sony has been good with this as well as C.Crane and Sangean. You want quality AM reception, and you want to listen at night when you can get many more stations than you will ever hear on the shortwave bands. You also want the weather band because weather info is the top priority for any prepper. This one radio will keep you informed. I use my radio daily just for ordinary times.

The CB radio is for communicating with friends, neighbors, and family in the event that the phones go down. This happens. There are millions of CB radios out there. and you can still buy them at truck stops and Walmart and Amazon. You don't need a license, and they are stone simple to operate. There are better radios except very few own them or possess the licenses to operate them. You don't need them. Most of your communication needs will be trying to locate a gas station that still has the pumps working. The truckers that still have CB radios in their rigs are good for that sort of information.

Anyone who tells you that you need more equipment than this is trying to sell you equipment. Buying this stuff may boost your confidence, but it really just drains your wallet. Save your money by keeping it simple.

Thank you for reading!

Radio on the Great Northern Railway 1925

Mr. Peasant On The Franciscan Spirit Of Voluntary Poverty

Francis of Assisi, 1590. Annibale Carracci 

My dear and beloved Brother, the treasure of blessed poverty is so very precious and divine that we are not worthy to possess it in our vile bodies. For poverty is that heavenly virtue by which all earthy and transitory things are trodden under foot, and by which every obstacle is removed from the soul so that it may freely enter into union with the eternal Lord God. It is also the virtue which makes the soul, while still here on earth, converse with the angels in Heaven. It is she who accompanied Christ on the Cross, was buried with Christ in the Tomb, and with Christ was raised and ascended into Heaven, for even in this life she gives to souls who love her the ability to fly to Heaven, and she alone guards the armor of true humility and charity.

SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

I do not know the number of Franciscan religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church. Though they all agree on the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the differences are in the particulars. How poor should one be? Can you own books or a second pair of sandals?

I care more about the spirit of poverty than any hard definition of what that should look like. For me, voluntary poverty means dispensing with unnecessary things and worldly vanities. It means holding my possessions with a loose grasp. It means knowing the truth that money doesn't buy happiness.

I was already on the journey towards minimalism and simple living before my conversion to Catholicism. After my conversion, I embraced the Franciscan mindset. This may be because of Mother Angelica and Padre Pio. I am very attracted to the humility and simplicity of the Franciscan orders. This is the tau cross I wear daily:

The cross reminds me to be humble, modest, and non-materialistic in my life. Before I buy anything, I ask myself if it is necessary. This practice means I buy very little. I use the acronym FCST (forecast) to clarify what I think is necessary:

F-Food

C-Clothing

S-Shelter

T-Transportation

Beyond these four things, I need very little. Then, I distinguish between present needs and future needs. I save for future needs. If you live this way, you will find yourself deprived of nothing needful while saving a lot of money in the process. It also allows you to be generous and charitable to the truly needy.

For everyone else in the world, they live in pursuit of the 2 P's--Pleasures and Possessions. They believe in error that these things bring happiness. Consequently, they spend to the limit. They can't save money because it makes their hands itch. Unspent money represents an opportunity cost where they left happiness on the table. Their greatest fear is that someone else will spend that money and gain the happiness that rightfully belongs to them. The result is that these people have neither money for their needs nor happiness.

Voluntary poverty helps you escape this sick and self-destructive mindset. You hold material things in their proper place. People who know me laugh at my peculiar habits, and I laugh, too. I remember sending a picture to my friends, but they couldn't stop laughing at my flip phone that was caught in the reflection of the rear view mirror on the passenger side of the car. I don't need a smartphone, so I don't own one. They "need" these smartphones that virtually no one needed before 2007. The irony is that most people have no clue that I still use a flip phone.

Most "needs" come from some need for compliance with the herd. Voluntary poverty liberates me from these false needs. I have never kept up with the Joneses, and the Jones family has never envied the Peasants. They look at us with a mix of disbelief and horror. Because we are not spendy, they imagine us as miserable people.

Ludovico Carracci: The Vision of Saint Francis of Assisi. 1583

True happiness comes from knowing God and living by His commandments. I think of Saint Francis as a supremely happy man. When I meet Franciscans, they strike me as happy people. Look to the examples of Mother Angelica and Padre Pio. Those were happy folks.

I see the worldly folks as supremely unhappy. This is especially true when they can't pay their bills. In pursuing their wants, they cannot even meet their needs. God has provided, and they have squandered.

I tell Mrs. Peasant that my gift from God has not been a material thing but my indifference to material things. There will always be a material dimension and considerations for life in this world, but it should never come at the expense of the spiritual dimension and considerations. One day, I will be deprived of everything I own when I go to my particular judgment. I pray that I am rich in the spiritual sense when that day comes.

Thank you for reading! Saint Francis, pray for us. 

Anton van Dyck - Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, 1627.

Mr. Peasant On Blue Collar Versus Redneck

Georges de La Tour. St. Joseph, the Carpenter. 1642.

Before we use any power tools, let's take a moment to talk about shop safety. Be sure to read, understand, and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools. Knowing how to use your power tools properly will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury. And remember this: there is no more important safety rule than to wear these — safety glasses.

NORM ABRAM

The Gentle Reader may remember the master carpenter Norm Abram from his work on This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop. The words above are Abram's most famous quotation. Beyond that, he didn't say much. Yet, the man is a hero to a generation of men who grew up watching his shows on PBS. Norm Abram was the epitome of the blue collar man with his quiet dignity and devotion to his trade. He is a man worth emulating.

The blue collar man gets confused with that other working class fellow known as the redneck. The stereotype of the redneck is well known. He is white, Southern with an accent, ill mannered, poorly groomed, chews tobacco, drinks cheap beer, and spends his weekends getting drunk, fighting, and getting locked up. Jeff Foxworthy can give you more humorous traits concerning the redneck.

The key difference between a blue collar man and the redneck is volume. The blue collar man is quiet and lets his work do the talking. The redneck is loud and shows his ass. Everything else is commentary.

Unfortunately, misidentification between the blue collar man and the redneck is common much like the confusion between the benign bull snake and the venomous rattlesnake. A man who works for a living is not automatically a redneck even if he drives a pickup truck and listens to country music. Do not make this mistake.

Paul Chocarne-Moreau. The Cunning Thief, 1931.

The redneck is a feral creature. He is angry at the world that holds him in disdain. Wounded pride creates an insularity in the redneck and a willingness to throw insults and punches at the slightest provocation. The redneck loves to be loud which is why he plays his music at 11, has a loud and lifted pickup truck, and wears a Confederate flag emblem on his hat or T-shirt. There is nothing quiet or dignified about a redneck. His aim is obnoxiousness.

No one thinks Norm Abram is a redneck even though he wears work boots and probably drives a pickup truck. It helps to be from New England, but I know Southerners who are virtually the same as Norm. They even wear plaid and safety glasses.

It is important for working class men to exemplify that quiet dignity you see in someone like Saint Joseph. Like Norm Abrams, Joseph didn't say much. He let his work do the talking.

The working class comprises the bulk of the world's population, and they deserve a certain honor for quietly toiling each day to make the world a tolerable place in which to live. No one should ever feel ashamed in working for their living. They should feel peace and tranquility in their status and labor because they are honest people.

Remember, rednecks are loud. Blue collar men are quiet. Thank you for reading!

Mr. Peasant On Homesteading Versus Backyard Gardening

An Old Man's Garden, Mary Dignam. Painted before 1938

Sow the seeds of victory! Plant and raise your own vegetables.

VICTORY GARDEN POSTER

One of the things you learn from watching YouTube videos is that there are many make believe preppers and homesteaders on that platform. The biggest myth they perpetuate is that they make a living by homesteading when the reality is that they make a living from YouTube earnings. Now that YouTube is cutting back on those earnings, I expect to see these fakers start to vanish.

Prior to 2018, I was drinking the Kool-Aid along with everyone else. I dreamed of owning my own homestead with a minimum of 12 acres of land, but I would take 40 acres if I could get it. Those were mighty big ambitions, but I was chomping at the bit to get after it. Then, I had the accident that damaged my brain, took my eyesight, and took my energy. I got back my eyesight, but I never got back my energy. God took a baseball bat to my homesteading ambitions. I am actually grateful for that. People need a dose of humility, and that includes myself.

Victory Gardens for Family and Country, Frequent watering of the Victory Garden is Necessary. 1943

Mrs. Peasant pointed out to me long before my accident that injury, illness, and old age were the Achilles heel of the modern homestead. What do you do when you get sick? What do you do when you get cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, or MS? What do you do when you are old and tired? Being a man, I put these considerations completely out of my mind. My attitude then was to go big or go home.

Post-accident, I learned the virtues of the humble backyard garden. You don't need 12 acres of land for this or a tractor. There are videos on YouTube of people in their 80s and 90s working their small plots. Those old people have more energy than me. Mrs. Peasant is the primary gardener in our household. That's OK because the backyard garden expands and contracts relative to needs and resources. I am very happy that we chose this modest path. We went small.

A Citizen Working on Sunday Morning in his Victory Garden. Oswego, NY 1943

I won't say that homesteading is stupid. What I will say is that I don't think homesteaders think it out fully. The reality is that a homestead takes a large investment of time, money, and energy. I have tried to wrap my brain around the economics of homesteading, and I don't get it. For instance, I don't understand how raising chickens saves money on your grocery bill when you have to buy feed for those hens. The same goes for goats, sheep, hogs, and cattle. You basically have to buy groceries to feed to your groceries.

I do not eat meat, dairy, and eggs. Consequently, I don't need to raise animals for me to eat. The backyard garden is for the organic vegetables that cost a fortune in the grocery store. The non-organic vegetables are not as tasty or nutritious as the produce from our garden. Combined with the exercise that we get, the backyard garden has been a winner for us.

I know people who supplement their gardens with meat from hunting and fishing. I can understand the economics of that. These people will kill some deer that will provide a year's worth of meat. They fish the rest of the time. Except for equipment and a hunting/fishing license, this is free food. Plus, hunting and fishing are fun. I think this makes more sense than having livestock you have to feed on a daily basis. I am not into hunting and fishing because of my plant based diet, but I appreciate those who do hunt and fish.

Citizen Working on Sunday morning in his Victory Garden Oswego, NY 1943

I don't think you need a homestead to feed yourself and your family. Unfortunately, this does not provide enough content for the YouTube audience. I also don't buy into the self-sufficiency myth. If you have to buy feed and fuel for a homestead, you are not self-sufficient. I also think it is a good idea to hang onto that day job even if your YouTube earnings are large. YouTube has proven itself to be an unreliable source of income.

I would urge the Gentle Reader to consider being just a backyard gardener. I think you will find it a better and more economical fit for you and your family. I suggest taking advice and tips from the long tradition of victory gardens from the old days when people supplemented their rations with what they grew and canned at home. These people didn't have 12 acres to plant. Yet, they had a surplus of vegetables from their modest plots. If they could do it, you can do it, too.

Thank you for reading!

Dig for Victory, Peter Fraser between 1939-46

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Taking care of chickens?

http://bethunecatholic.blogspot.com/2025/06/taking-care-of-chickens.html