Several times in the past two weeks, I’ve mentioned Faribault Woolen Mill Co. Having spent half of my growing up years in Minnesota, I had friends from summer camp who lived in Faribault and whose parents and friends worked there. The mill is a bit of a state landmark.

According to their website, “Since 1865, there has been a woolen mill in Faribault Minnesota. Five generations of skilled craftsmen have elevated the weaver’s art and been responsible for many of the industry’s most important contributions.”

Minnesota Monthly interviewed the current owner. “ ‘At one point, Faribault Woolen Mills was producing half the wool blankets in the United States,’ Paul Mooty tells me. Probably true, considering that besides the popular consumer goods, the mill produced blankets for all branches of the military, hotel bedding, and airlines.”

Faribault Woolen Mill Co. Foot Soldier Blanket

I love wool. Whether a particular blend is certified “organic” by the FDA or not, all wool is organic. It’s easily replenished and industry practices are constantly improving both in the treatment of animals and in their environmental impact.

As militaries the world over know, and the great historical world explorer’s knew, wool is sturdy. It’s naturally water repellent. It’s naturally anti-microbial. And it retains its insulating properties even when wet. With innovative manufacturing and material selection, it doesn’t even have to be scratchy. When compared to synthetics that are largely made from petrochemicals, it’s hard not to love wool.

And it’s hard to not be in love with a company that is committed to sustaining the livelihood of a small town in the heart of America. Having been open for over 140 years, the mill closed in 2009. But cousins Chuck and Paul Mooty, recognized the potential and bought the company. In September of 2011, they proudly re-opened the mill.

Reading about them also re-opened my memories of those great blankets. Now, most Marines are “gear junkies”. We love to collect all manner of things relating to our service. I am no exception. My home office boasts a virtual museum of surplus ammunition crates and cans, flags, shell casings and other memorabilia from my Grandfather’s and my service (he served in WWII, and I served in Iraq).

But one thing that has been missing from the collection of a man who is both a Marine and a self-modeled survivalist is the iconic military wool blanket.

To my consternation, most of the current online offerings are imported and/or made with acrylic blends and pressed reconstituted fabrics. The real ones from Faribault Mills are worth every penny of their price tag, but it’s a price I simply couldn’t afford at the time. Just two days ago, I posted a link to Twitter showcasing Faribault Woolen Mill Co’s “Foot Soldier” Blanket as an item I would heartily accept as a Father’s Day Gift.

Today, then, was a day from hell at work. Afterward, I needed to de-stress. One of my hobbies is browsing the many military surplus stores in our area. So, I ventured forth into the dusty, musty aisles to see what I might find. I thought, “I might even grab an old blanket.”

There at the first stop, I found myself guided by an unseen hand toward those classic green blankets. Of course, there were the featured “Camping Blankets”, imported, with a loose weave. Bright orange stickers priced them at $30.00. Then on the next shelf were the “Government Issue” blankets. These were good used blankets of a thick and heavy weave. They were in various states of wrapping, unwrapping, fading and fraying. These were priced at $38.00. Now that’s a pretty decent price. So I started digging for the best one.

Then, nearly hidden at the bottom, one stood out. The package was still completely sealed and it was oddly priced at $29.99. Sometimes surplus stores are weird. But maybe this one was different. I surreptitiously opened the edge of the plastic wrapping (all the others were open, what could it hurt?). The wool was thicker. But softer, too. The edge stitching was neat and straight, not ragged.

“No freakin’ way!” I thought.

I tore open the edge of the package a little more, just so I could fit my fingers into the open side of the corner folds to assuage my incredulity and confirm my suspicions:

“Jackpot!” I had found a new, in the package, un-issued, government surplus military blanket handcrafted by the good workers in Faribault, Minnesota. Incredible! As you can imagine, I made haste to the cash register. It was an unbelievable stroke of good fortune. Except that I don’t believe in fortune. I don’t believe in luck.

Scoff if you will, but after the day I’d had, I choose to believe this was God’s way of saying, “Things may sometimes go very badly for you in life. There will be tough days to come, just like today. Maybe worse. The world is a cold, harsh mistress. But, as a loving Father, I will always be there to warm you. No matter how badly things may go, I am there if you look for me. And when you find me, like you’ve found this blanket, I will cover you in my lovingkindness.”

For the rest of my life, every time I use this blanket I will remember there are still good people. There are still good things.

And I’m blessed to be wrapped in goodness.

Living Free,
-SB

For updates on the rebirth of this great American company, follow Faribault Woolen Mill Co on Twitter @FaribaultMill

“‎An “easy” life is not necessarily always a good life. A hard life is not always bad. Hard work is satisfying, dirt can be soul-cleansing, and in whose company our time is spent is the real factor by which the value of our minutes and hours should be measured.”
-SB, Admin/Editor of SustainingLiberty.com

Regrettably, after nearly two weeks of staycation, I must leave the urban homestead and head back to the daily grind. How did I spend my time? Come back tomorrow to find out. I promise, it will be worth it!

If visiting your favorite blog or political website to see a notice like the one above sounds like a nightmare to you,
do some research on SOPA.

Maybe I don’t need to rehash what hundreds of thousands of other bloggers and websites have already said. But I can’t sit idly by and say nothing at all about this proposed act of utter tyranny. If you are one of the few people using the internet who still doesn’t know what this is all about, may I refer you to the all-knowing interwebz clearing-house of knowledge, Wikipedia. They explain it quite well.

To take action and tell Congress you oppose this act of tyranny, please sign the petition on Google.

For more information on how SOPA would be implemented visit AmericanCensorship.org

Living Free,

-SB

In this post, we feature guest-blogger and our assistant Admin, Angie Bare. She’s a military wife and the mother of three boys, staking out her claim on an urban homestead in the Pacific Northwest. She spends most of her free time behind a camera.

I wouldn’t have called myself a gardener. It’s not something I was ever passionate about before. But a few years ago, I got curious. Could I grow things? Could I make my own food? How hard could it be, right? After all, people have been doing it for thousands of years, throughout all of human history. I could do it too.

I picked a patch of yard, and started my preparations. I cleared a small area, about three feet by eight feet along a fence. Added some gardening soil, found heirloom seeds, and planted. Cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, carrots, broccoli and corn.

And then I waited. If you’ve ever grown something, you know how exciting it is when you see those first sprouts pushing up out of the ground. I spent far more time outside than usual, watching my little plants. Is that another leaf bud? I think they grew a whole inch overnight! Soon I had cucumber plants running riot up the fence, gorgeous yellow flowers peeking out from behind tomato leaves, and stubby little corn plants becoming recognizable with their long leaves.

And then, the unthinkable happened. A hailstorm. We’ve all read about it, we all know that farmers are slaves to nature…that no matter how well you plant and prepare, no matter how good your land is or accomplished your farming skills, nature can destroy your crops.

That day in June, I finally understood a little of what that must feel like, to those who spend their lives farming. These little plants in my backyard were by no means our only source of food, or income. But I had come to love them and care about them. I had sweated over my tiny little plot of ground.

And so I ran out into the terrible hail, and tried to cover my plants, to save what I could, which was nothing. I ran back inside. Then I stood in my doorway, and called my husband at work to lament what was happening. I’ll admit it. I cried as I watched those tiny leaves being shredded.

When the hail finally stopped, I trudged outside to survey the damage.

I found shattered stems, and leaves torn apart. The cucumber plants had been pulled from their place on the fence, and partially flattened.
Lettuce Corn

To make matters worse, the water escaping my roof had gone straight down the length of my garden, washing plants, seeds and soil away.

Hail Pouring Out the Downspout…

Washing away my Little Garden…

Leaving Me With Only This

I was certain that my garden was over. Dead, finished, kaput. How could these delicate plants survive such a beating? They didn’t have an untouched leaf amongst them. Over the next few days, I did what I could, propping things up here and there, but mostly I waited. I had no experience in this, I didn’t know what to do, or if there was anything I could do! I watched some leaves wither and brown, and waited for the rest to follow suit…

And then one morning, I noticed that some of my plants were actually starting to perk up. Was this possible? Was my garden actually going to survive?

I did my best not to hold my breath. Over the next days and weeks, I watched as each plant sprang back into vibrant life. The resilience of these tiny delicate growths amazed me! They had seemed so fragile, and yet they grew strong and started to produce.

Soon, we had fresh vegetables for our table every night. And what vegetables! They were brighter, and more delicious than anything we’d ever bought at a store. It didn’t take long before our garden was outstripping our ability to eat what it gave!

I started giving cucumbers and tomatoes away to neighbors, friends and family.

My little garden had survived a huge trial, and would continue to produce a bumper crop for the rest of the summer.

I learned a lot that summer, and I enjoyed my time more than many summers in recent memory. I learned how incredibly satisfying and empowering it is to produce my own food. Nothing tastes better or is appreciated more than something that you’ve had to work for. There is a wonderful quiet satisfaction in plucking a lovely red tomato from a plant that you’ve watched grow and change from a tiny seedling to a full grown plant.

I learned the pleasant ache in my muscles that comes from spending days digging and planting, weeding and watering. I truly invested in something, and was rewarded with such a return!

So often, we don’t think about our food. We eat because we must to keep our bodies running. We enjoy what we eat, but most of the time we eat something that was prepared by someone else, grown by yet another person, and very often not even placed on our plate by us. We have no contact with or investment in our food until it’s on our fork, and heading to our mouths. And sometimes, this is ok. But sometimes, it would be good for us to think about our food. Where does it come from? How was it prepared? There is so much history there, and we never know it.

Spring is coming soon, and I am looking forward to planting this year’s garden. It won’t be large, but it will be mine. It will help provide for my family, and it will provide me with daily satisfaction and work that is really, truly useful. I encourage you to give it a try, too. Plant a garden!

If you’ve never done it, start small. If you have no space, buy a few large pots, and a tomato plant or two. Even in the tiniest of apartments, you can grow herbs on your window sill. Make the time to try something new with your food, bake bread, make your own noodles, or try a recipe completely from scratch. You won’t regret it.

You may wind up with a few withered seedlings, or some lumpy bread, but you’ll find satisfaction in having done something for yourself.

It may take a few tries, but when you get it right you’ll find renewed confidence in yourself and what you can do. You’ll be taking that first step towards living a life that is more Independent, Resilient, and Sustainable!

With hands happily covered in dirt,

-AB
Assistant Admin, SustainingLiberty.com
Follow @baresilver

Some resources for gardening:

Ten Steps To Beginning a Garden

Tips For a Kitchen Herb Garden

If you’re in a small apartment check out the DIY instructions from Window Farms!

Look for or start a Community Garden in your area…an added bonus is advice and tips from more experienced gardeners!

As someone who has begun hand-washing all of my laundry, I found this article from Mother Earth News to be extraordinarily helpful. I don’t normally keep these ingredients around, but if I’m going to persist with my wash-tubbing, I suppose I’ll need to start. If you’re interested in trying it out, too, here’s what you’ll need:

And either                   or

Then scent it with your choice of these:

Mix all of the ingredients together with a wire whisk and you should have detergent for about four people for a year. No weekly trips to the big box stores or funding toxic factories. Now THAT’s sustaining liberty.

Living Free,

-SB
Follow @SustainLiberty

Boxes of Space ©Angela Bare, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

This is key when formulating any sort of philosophy, whether for our personal life, our business, our community or our nation. So what is Sustaining Liberty all about?

In previous posts, I’ve discussed how Independence, Sustainability and Resilience are the pillars of freedom. And those are built on Personal Responsibility, Stewardship of our Resources, and Hard Work & Study. But as we expand our outlook from ourselves into social interactions, what does the Life of Liberty look like?

Rugged Individuals, Committed Families, and Cooperative Communities are the social expression of sustaining liberty. They are the basis for the out-living of the ideas we’ve established. Our ideas shape our view of self, but ultimately how we live that out practically in our relationships with others is what defines the quality of our life. In the next week, look for more discussion on these three themes.

Living Free,
-SB
Follow @SustainLiberty

Fireworks over Liberty Memorial. © Angela Bare, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

But as you can see, we could use some more facebook “likes” to get our message out. If you aren’t already following us on facebook, just click the icon on the header and then Like us (then suggest us to 10 friends!) You can also click the other icon on the header to subscribe to our RSS feed. That way you won’t miss out on any of our awesome posts. You can also follow us on twitter @SustainLiberty. Keep fighting the good fight!

Living Free,
-SB
Follow @SustainLiberty

 
This post has nothing to do with sustainability, nutrition, or preparing for disasters. But in a way it is most certainly about resilience and how we hold up under incredible pressure. It in every way has to do with accepting individual responsibility for how we behave even under the worst circumstances. Exhibit 1- These guys:

CAUTION: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES.
MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AUDIENCES

What these Marines did was completely unprofessional and falls far below the standards expected of Marines. However, I would ask if it’s really all that unexpected that we would train a group of young men to go and kill an enemy who is trying to kill them and then find they do something inhumane?

Is urinating on a corpse less despicable than staring someone in the face and shooting them, or forcing a knife between their ribs and twisting it as they bleed and writhe just inches away? Because while the former is not something Marines are trained for, the latter is.

What these Marines did was wrong. But I would imagine all the naysayers who feign indignance and those who find this so “shocking” have never gone hand-to-hand with someone who was trying to kill them, nor have they ever stared down their weapon’s sights, and made the decision to kill someone or experienced the feelings afterward.

Granted, there are thousands of others who have not desecrated their enemies’ corpses. As elite warriors, Marines live by a different code. This behavior does not meet our standards. But the sensationalizing of this is ridiculous. This sort of thing (and far worse) has happened in many battles fought by the US military in our history. The only difference is now there’s always some idiot recording it and some disaffected reporter willing to take the scoop. With this generation there’s also the guarantee of an even more ignorant and sensate mass of the public who feed on this kind of “outrage”.

To those who say that this only creates more enemies, I disagree. The Taliban and the people of Afghanistan have never been and certainly will never be enamored of the United States. They don’t like us, they don’t want us there. They never have. They never will. End of story. The British, the Soviets, and now the Americans have all come to the same fate and for the same reason. The people of Afghanistan are not interested in changing their way of life to suit outsiders, no matter how large their armies or the length of their campaign.

It is outrageous to us when the people of Iraq drag the burnt bodies of contractors through the streets of Fallujah, because Americans believe that we are there to help them, so why would they do such a thing to us? And it is appalling to some that these Marines would behave this way for the same reason. “Aren’t we there to be the good guys and to help the people of Afghanistan?” Of course.

But these corpses belonged not to mere villagers . They were the enemy who were trying to kill our guys. Our guys killed them first. Then they had to pee. And the Taliban had just tried to kill them. So they peed on them. This is war. It’s nasty and gritty and there’s gore and blood. Urine and dead bodies are just another part of the equation. They are part of the equation the United States Government and the politicians and the media and the war-profiteers don’t want you to see. If you’ve never even been in the general vicinity of a war, then don’t judge.

My biggest concern over this incident is really about how it will affect the public’s view of the Marine Corps at large. Since our inception in 1775, we’ve been fighting against the Army Brass and their buddies in Washington to define our unique mission and justify our continued existence. We do very well at this when there are big battles to fight, such as Iwo Jima, Inchon, Khe Sahn and Fallujah.

We do less well at behaving in polite society. We have to live on both sides of the fence. This is where the Marines in question ultimately failed. They went out into the mud and the blood and the piss and the screams and the exploding IEDs and snapping bullets, but when the shooting stopped, they didn’t instantaneously become the charming boy scouts in dress blues giving Christmas presents to poor kids. They failed to uphold the image of the recruiting commercials and betrayed the mystique of our Corps. Rather than twirling their rifle in their starched white pants, they used their weapons for what they were designed. Then they took a leak. On the guys who just tried to kill them. I imagine it was quite cathartic.

Certainly they will be punished, and rightfully so. They will lose rank, possibly be discharged punitively or even confined for years. But no one will ever question the legitimacy of a foreign policy that sends young men afar with no clear mission or even expectation of victory, to fight an undefined enemy for 11 years, asks them to kill their fellow human beings, and then expects them to put on halos and be saints when the cameras are rolling.

How many red-blooded Americans had the sticker on their vehicle that shows a mischievous Calvin peeing on bin Laden? But when a team of our crack warriors gets a chance to do just that- to piss on the Taliban, we excoriate them in the press and castigate them within the command. The surprising thing then isn’t that they did what they did. The surprising thing is that most Marines don’t. This speaks remarkably well of the high caliber of young men and women who make up the vast majority of those serving in our Corps.

When the Taliban and the Mujahideen do despicable things, it’s a Dog Bites Man headline. It’s quite mundane. We should be a bit proud then that when Marines do something like this it becomes “Man Bites Dog”! It’s sensational because it’s unexpected. And it’s only unexpected because the American public knows so little about the psychology of killing and combat and the experience of war. This is a good thing. But their naivety clouds their judgment.

None of this is to say that there is any justification for these Marines’ lack of professionalism and their betrayal of the Corps’ image and values. It’s not what Marines are trained to do. But maybe it desensationalizes it, which is something the press will never do. Semper Fi.

Living Free,
-SB
Follow @SustainLiberty

To read more about the human mind and the things that happen to it in combat, check out these excellent books:

Please look for us on technorati! Good things to come.

P2X5TS77BRV7

Sir/Ma’am:

I am writing to express my concern regarding the proposed construction of a Walmart store in Tacoma. Just 18 months ago, my family and I moved to this area from a cookie-cutter Midwestern suburb littered with big-box stores, skyrocketing unemployment and severe traffic congestion. We moved to this area in large part because when my employer offered the option, I saw a chance to raise my family in a unique community that still valued small business, local artisans and sustainable business practices.

This proposed action threatens not only my dream for my family and my children’s upbringing, but it threatens an entire community’s identity. If the intent of Tacoma’s city leaders is to create another generic metroplex of anonymous consumerism that siphons money from its low-paid citizens to a globalist conglomerate, then Walmart is exactly the way to do it.

If Tacoma’s city leaders believe that being mundane, cheap and superficial are more important than being unique, valuable and heritage-rich, then approving the construction of a Walmart in Tacoma is just perfect.

On the other hand, most of the citizens of Tacoma believe that their small businesses are more important than going with the economic flow foisted upon them by big business.

Most citizens of Tacoma would rather that their hard-earned dollars stay in the community to create jobs for their friends and neighbors, rather than exporting dollars to China, which produces the overwhelming majority of the products sold in Walmart. We want to keep profits local, rather than sending them to executives out of state who are already multi-billionaires. While the Walmart execs will, of course, make promises of jobs creation and wages for Tacoma workers, they aren’t good jobs. The pay and benefits are substandard. The working conditions are abysmal (I know! I worked for this company for almost two years when I was in college).

Not only are the wages at Walmart substandard and the jobs dead-end, but in communities where Walmarts are built, wages at other businesses have been documented to decline. A 2011 UC Berkeley literature review found that the -entry of Walmart into a county reduces both average and aggregate earnings of retail workers and reduces the share of retail workers with health coverage on the job. (http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/bigbox_livingwage_policies11.pdf)

So the promise of job creation is hollow. Not only are the jobs created by Walmart no real gain for Tacoma, but the overall impact on community unemployment levels results in a net loss. A 2007 study found that, for every 1 job created at a Wal-Mart, 1.4 jobs were lost, causing retail earnings at the county level to decline by 1.3% (http://www.newrules.org/neumarkstudy.pdf)

If Walmart comes in, other businesses will leave. Nobody wants to try to compete with their selling power. Their low prices might seem like a bargain in the short-term. But the costs in what it does to a community over the long run are immeasurably harmful. The businesses that will leave will be the businesses that define the heart and soul of Tacoma. They are the core of Tacoma’s unique identity that draw tourists, small business investors, and artists. As a point of reference, a 2009 study on the West Side of Chicago found that the probability of going out of business was significantly higher for local businesses close to the Wal-Mart location. (http://www.luc.edu/curl/pdfs/Projects/WalMartReport2009122.doc)

For those die-hard local business owners that do remain and try to hold their ground against the behemoth job-exporting, income-siphoning, soul-of-a-community stealing, architectural blight of a box, the outlook is as bleak. An Iowa State University study found that the introduction of a Walmart supercenter into a Mississippi county reduced sales at other grocery stores in the county by 10%-19%, sales at building material stores by 8%-15% and at other miscellaneous retail stores by 2%-13% over the next 5 years. (http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/stone/mssupercenterstudy.pdf)

Look around the country. Take a close look at the effect on other communities that have allowed Walmart to set up shop. Is that really the future you want for Tacoma? Do you want your name listed in the history books as one of the city leaders who permitted the infestation of cheap-products and low-wages that disemboweled the local economy and stripped it of its unique culture and economic heritage?

I strongly urge you to take a firm position against the proposed Walmart and take all necessary measures to prevent their plans to destroy Tacoma’s economy for their own enrichment. Nothing they promise is better than what we have now. We don’t have to wonder what will happen if a Walmart is built in Tacoma. We can look at thousands of other communities to see. We just have to make the right choice to be sure they aren’t allowed to perpetrate their profiteering in Tacoma. Not now. Not ever.

Most respectfully,

-SB
Editor/Admin, SustainingLiberty.com
Independence. Sustainability. Resilience
Follow @SustainLiberty

For more info, please visit: Tacoma United Against Walmart Also on facebook.