I'm Rich and I'm Poor

"If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor; if according to people's opinions, you will never be rich.

~ Seneca Quotes from Letters from a Stoic

I am poor. If we’re talking money, I am absolutely, most definitely poor. Way way way below the poverty line. Technically. But I’ve always been good at being poor, and I although it’s bragging, I’m proud to say that I find ways to donate a pretty good sum of dough to good causes every year, through fundraising concerts and selling stuff I make and whatnot. I have a really good life. I’m never hungry. I’m never bored. I never go without. I supposed if I wanted a big-screen TV right now, I’d be going without, but I’ve never wanted a big-screen TV. I actually think that term might be out of date – is it?  Ok ok, I actually go without warm, running water, and that’s a pain in the butt, but we have a big pot and a woodstove and most of the time we are happy with that, until one of us is in a rush and throws a fit. Luckily we have friends in civilization.

Sometimes I feel rich. When friends come over and we feed them woodstove pizza, I feel rich. When our garden is in full bloom, I feel rich. When it’s January and the garden is brown, but we are still eating its bounty, I feel rich. When I make a gift that would cost $200 to buy, I feel rich. Seedy Saturday on Denman Island last weekend made me feel rich. We traded our Pac-Choi and Buckwheat and Dill seeds for many other kinds of seeds, and this fall we will have several new vegetables to eat. When I finish a website that I am building for a friend with a nut and fruit tree nursery, we will have new fruit and nut trees. (Bartering is so cool. Bartering makes me feel rich.)

What up with money? Aside from having to pay property taxes, because our government fines us just for being alive, I think it may be possible to get along just fine without it. For all of us to live rich, prosperous, happy lives, without money – that would be something. I’m hoping to get there at some point.

When the tomatoes I canned sideways on a Coleman camping stove, in old glass-lid-jars, successfully preserved until mid-January, I felt rich. And very lucky. 

Wood Stove Pizza = Wood Fired Pizza.

 

I believe this was a November Watermelon.