We are in our late 60’s, early 70’s...we both spent our careers in the corporate world. As we retired, we have tried to simplify, grow a big garden, preserve our food. If we were younger, a nice homestead would be great. But that’s just too much. We teach gardening & food preservation, hoping to show the younger generations how to take care of themselves. Just doing our simple things, is still a lot of work, and it’s harder than it used to be. Congratulations on your job close to home!

The aging in place is a real challenge. Hubby is 67 and I'm 62. He works a part-time job about 5 minutes from home. And we both get SS. We maintain nearly 8 acres, with cattle, chickens and gardens. Most of the land is mowed, two acres is pasture and gets bush hogged. We have about 20 fruit trees, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, and elderberries. We are always working. Many younger people that "homestead" say they can't keep up with us. We just had a massive barn sale (AKA yard sale). Our best one of five in 20 years. Our summer project is adding a 10x10 addition onto our cabin on our property. And yes we will build it ourselves. If people want this lifestyle they have to be willing to put in the work. We may move a bit slower. But we're still working.

I’m totally with you, the older I get the more I’m trying to simplify things.

You've been consistantly pumping out the content ! Great stuff ! Thanks for your hard work and insight !

I praise the Lord that you got a job so close to home-that's Awesome!! I pray that all goes very well with the new job, and the Lord will protect you and your family!! You are a dying breed, Brother-we all appreciate you!!

Good move MR. Congrats and stay frosty. Things are only gonna go down hill from here in our country.

Congrats on your new job, great idea.

Excellent talk, Modern Thx

You are a calm voice in the storm MR, as such when you speak in these terms my ears prick-up! Thank you for sharing.

I am here in mid-michigan and I appreciate any of your videos that you share.

War drums beat harder in July. They MUST have a major war, the debt to GDP is already 135% The Pretendency is prosecuting their political opposition because they can't stand on their policy and track record. We ARE a banana Republic. 2 years of food is ideal. Covering comfor items too, like coffee and cocoa, etc. How much better would people have been during the Great Depression and WWII if they had 2 years of food storage? Great vid dude!

Oh, MR, I worked at a Corporate office for an airline ✈️ (Ground Operations) You just would NOT believe it ! Very very very scary 😨

Congratulations on your new path. You are wise to have observed that the 40 acre homestead is not always sustainable. My husband and I bought into the country living. We left the city and built our castle neglecting building a relationship with the community. My husband in his fifties was pulling wire for a remodel and he tore his rotator cuff. The recovery was long and in the process he lost heart for country living. We lacked family and community support while living in the country. We sold our country dream and returned to a place with family support. We are wiser now.

Best of luck in your new endeavor! I have a thought on those barges-- anyone remember a couple yrs ago in the Black Sea when a Russian aircraft flew over our state of the art destroyer, and left it dead in the water? Happened a couple other times if I remember correctly. Js

I spent 21 years as a loyal employee, and was let go over a minor disagreement with an egotistical/a$s kissing supervisor. Big businesses don't give a damn about their people anymore.That was four years ago, I currently work for a small shop owned by a guy and his sons, it's hard work, but it's much less stressful than that other place. Life goes on and you just gotta roll with the punches.

At 69 I'm one of those small farm folks totally over my head. Today we hired someone to take down the 2 trees closest to the house. Hurricane season is coming. One of the trees has already been topped by 2 storms. The last limb clean up took me 3 days. I do have some firewood out of the limbs and would love to get more out of that oak, but Eugene had open heart surgery in December and I can't crank the big chain saw any more. My little electric one still works. My garden is smaller, too. I am getting tomatoes and peppers. The carrots and beets are growing. I'm trying to pickle green plums. The storms blew too many off the trees. U-Pick will open soon and I'll be busy canning.

Congratulations on your new job, I drive a lil over a hour each way for wrk. It would take forever to walk home.

Yes, my feeling is the same on our situation and whats coming.

I agree with you. I'm handicapped and walk with the help of a cane. I can't take care of a big homestead. I don't even mow my own lawn, I pay a neighbor who has a lawn care business to mow it for me. Every time my wife does our grocery shopping, she buys a couple more canned goods ( SPAM, KEYSTONE Meats, etc.) for our emergency pantry. That's how we're prepping. You'd be surprised at how fast you can build up an emergency pantry just by doing that. Nice video, thanks for sharing it with us. JT

Very smart move, Modern Refugee!! I made the switch about a year ago to work completely from home. It's not only safer if something big really kicks off, but it's also cheaper (i.e. no transportation costs and no money to spend on "work clothes"). Money saved goes to preps and the peace of mind that no commuting back-and-forth to work brings is absolutely priceless. You're gonna love, sir. God bless!

I ran from the Yuppie world in the early 1980's and people thought that was crazy. You can't stick a girl.with a country heart in a cubicle, not to mention how my gut said this would go over the long haul. Lower income, but variety of skills was more.profitable.

There are perks to having a abundance of space when you’re very old and you can’t do anything anymore, people can help you and you could help them by giving them a place to stay and food. I’ve had relatives that lived to 102 and this is exactly what they did and it worked out perfectly. Now if they didn’t have the space they wouldn’t of had any help.

Good for you. So happy for you. Thank you for letting us know. 🙂

I'm 48 and farm. I'm trying to expand my comfort zone and do more. By teaching others to be a little more self sufficient. Going to let others help harvest honey and sweet corn and what ever else grows in the garden. I admit it a getting harder to provide for everyone else

Dang ModRef……you sound like me! Consolidating and Maintaining here Too. Corporate America don’t need me and I don’t need them, either! Luckily I turned 70 this year , so I get to take care of my dog, my bees and my truck. As always….Be Prepared! Rick

Oh smart idea on the job move. Seems many are doing something similar here with getting electric bikes

All the best in your new job! Great planning on your part!

MR, I spent today moving and consolidating my paltry preps. Aging in early 70's disabled without nearby family it makes it tougher. Also former Corporate employee. I have a gut feeling that economic situation, Great Depression 2.0, Governmental disruption and in truth SHYTF/WWIII is underway. We have only a few months to get ready for complete collapse. From the 👍. Best

Smart decision, MR. Adaptability 👍

Congratulations on the new job. Im retired early because of physical disabilities. I'm also trying to make things easier.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7, KJV

We live off grid. We are retired. I am 62 wife is 55. It is a lot of work but we are learning. We are trying to simplify things. We have egg chickens, 20 acres and planted 30 fruit trees. We will start a garden but time is just killing us. We have established great relationships with our neighbors. We have a bash Sunday afternoon with 20 of us total. We are all like minded and have different skill sets. I am a retired electrician. We have a diesel mechanic, carpenter, fire fighter, IT guy who is very technically savvy, helps us all out a bunch😂. An equipment operator, rancher, chef ( we all love him!). We all help each other out. You have to. I still have a root cellar to build and a small smokehouse. We are busy during the spring and summer as winters are tough. We are 3K feet and very remote.

Congratulations on your new job, MR! Keeping things fresh, among other reasons, is a good idea to keep us mentally nimble.

Congrats on the new Job. Work from home but do have to travel. It is not as great as everyone thinks. End up working more than when I was in the office since the office is only steps away. The best part though is exactly what y'all were talking about. Praying for the best on the new job. Moved from the city to the country and we are older but the extra work has been a blessing for us keeping us active. Ya have to be. Feeling better than I have in years. Have a blessed day.

Yeah I'm 52 and have heart and back issues. I can't homestead. I do have cucumber and tomato plants. And I'm trying my hand at growing potatoes for the first time. I just cant get in over my head.

Tea with Modern Refugee....sounds like a good tag line. My favorite part of the day is spent in the garden and getting ready to do extra food preservation this year. My YT channel is mostly food (growing, canning, ferment, pickle, dry, salt etc) I think it's time to make sure our food supplies are full. I strive for a years worth of food for me, my husband and our dog and we've been there for 5 or so years. Good on you for making the job move. Smart move.

Yeah I’m already getting too tired to deal with stuff lol I’m working on setting things up to cut down on outside work .

Success on your new job! 👍♥️ I get it MR…..it will be nice to come along with you

I work in south East Michigan and I see and awful lot of construction drilling two different tube's in the ground all over! I have no idea why but it's hard not to notice these days.

Great idea, my stepson works 2 jobs, one on-line the other at the local school because it is a 5 min walk

Good luck with your new endeavors! I agree, there is a lot to say about living a "minimalist" lifestyle.

Congratulations on the new job! Hope it all works out well. Glad to see you on so much lately!

Congratulations on the new job! Very smart to be closer to home. I bet that's a huge relief for your whole family as well.

I totally agree on getting older and consolidation, reducing work should be done now, I personally believe in automation to reduce work, I design my own systems to know exactly how to fix and maintain, I make sure maintenance is as easy as possible.

As someone who drives far for work I have felt the pressure to find a closer job. But having a hybrid work schedule is a big benefit.

Good topic, We have done much of the same. I never wanted to live east of the Mississippi, but out west when your in the country it's desolate. Being three hours away from anything introduced many more problems that I didn't expect. Out where we are now everything we need can be had within a 10 mile radious.

Yes, once you reach a certain age, you have to modify your expectations of your abilities. I'm already thinking about which somewhat local peppers to contact down the road, to unload some of my equipment and goods. I won't be bugging out with a handicapped spouse and disobedient little dog, and eventually won't have the energy to manually grind wheat.😄 A lot has changed since I started prepping in 2012. Blessings 💙

I like the way you are preparing. Doing some of that myself.

Congratulations on your new job! It's great that it's so close to where you live. believe that really thinking about the items that one needs to add and the items that one needs to consolidate is a good goal to have regardless of where one lives and regardless of one's age. We're looking at that too.

Great topics to talk about. I've been saying the same about buying a homestead. It is a lot of work, if you've never farmed or raised livestock it will be a large learning experience. Can't make a living and support the homestead by selling chicken eggs. Don't piss off the neighbors that have lived there all their life. I could go on and on. It takes money to live on. Everyone that's a transplant around us bought big and new everything, tractors,atv/utv,trucks and more. But cannot generate the income needed. And eventually its all gone. And back they go to a 9-5 job. Some succeed and some do well. But it takes time. Do you have that kind of time before SHTF? Its might be a safer decision to stay where you are and prepare for what may happen. You have connections, friends and know the area. Moving to BFE you lose that. Good luck to everyone in whatever decision they make.

Taking a coffee break while working in the backyard. Good talk!! Less can be more in a lot of cases.

Right there with you brother! At 56 I'm focusing on knowledge and physical fitness. It's not as sexy as the cool tactical stuff but its just as important.

Less is more. The difference between price and value. If you don’t know what this is about, you should. Great video!

Good talk, Modern Refugee. Been busy, also recovering from TIA event. Yes on sabotage. Good on the closer job. Good on skill set

Congratulations on the new job! And what you say about consolidating is very much what I’ve been slowly realizing for the last couple of years. I don’t have 40 years of hard work in me to build a great big homestead. I’m turning 55 next month so I might have 10-15 years of work left in me, and only if I pace myself and avoid injury. Lately I’ve been thinking about ways to do more with less effort, building on others’ ideas for what will work in my situation. There’s a lovely farm a few miles out of my town, bought a couple years ago by a hardworking Australian woman & her husband. They’re maybe 40 at most, raising school-aged kids and doing a ton of work to offer organic produce, meat chickens, beef, raw milk, etc in their onsite farm store (it’s only legal to sell raw milk in Oregon if it’s sold direct from the farm). I admire their accomplishments, and I do patronize their business as much as I can, but I wouldn’t have the energy or strength to duplicate it.

7:47 - this! Upkeep will be the grindstone of our resources as they become scarce so shake off anything not bolted down while you still can.

I see the benefit in what you are doing for sure. My husband, kids and I have a big house and if I could go back and build a smaller home, I would. The kids won’t be around for many more years so consolidating is very practical. We have been focusing on home repairs and making sure all the crucial things around the house are in good repair with quality products that will last. We have been pairing down on unnecessary items and focusing on building skills. This video definitely got me thinking. My work commute is long and it would be very hard for me to get home in a SHTF. I need to work on a plan for that scenario. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and good luck with the new job!

Hi MR. Know you're glad to be able to get back to work on your home stuff. None of the craziness is coincidental. S.K. yep. Lots of differences. Many will be in shock. Nice to get a job close to home. Yes. Many no longer care about much of anything... And it shows. Yes. I agree about less. Thanks again.

Your day sounded like my day. So excited to finally get to planting here in upper Michigan 😅 We did a Teepee for our pole beans this year. The kids should love it 😅 Thanks for another great video. Knowledge is power 💪💯😎

Congratulations on your new job! 😎👍

Good luck MR. At 65 and retired, it all makes good sense to me.

Congrats on the new job!

Good stuff. Congrats!

Smart move, congrats!

Congratulations on your new job! What a blessing to be working so close to home!! As me and my husband tell each other all the time, work smarter not harder. As we age, we know that we can't work and take care of everything like we use to. People need to plan and prepare accordingly, and it will make life much easier and happier. Stay safe!

Escalating. Yup very likely this summer it starts

I've worked in the city for the past 5 years. 45 min drive one way. Really thinking hard about quitting and finding a job closer to home for the same reasons you have pointed out.

Best of luck on your new venture!

Congratulations on your new job MR; I hope it all goes very well!

Good luck with your new job!

I firmly believe that our Country (Western Civilization for that matter) is going to experience a complete collapse and the Conflict and Civil Disorder is going to be complete chaos and a living nightmare for possibly several years. Have know idea what is going to come out on the other side. Could be what would be left after suffering an EMP strike... which would be nothing recognizable.

Interesting ideas. Most nations are in trouble with a population bomb. The rate of birth is too low, not enough children being born to replace what we are losing from the job market from death and retirement let alone growth. Which decreases both the tax base and the consumer base of the nations.

Yeh I had no idea about sk medical till talking to a Osu dude

Good for you on a new job brother 👍 i wish......

Good move , thanks for sharing YAH bless brother !

The three year timescale is reasonable. Could be this year. We have too many people consuming too much, producing too much waste. Has to crash at some point. Growing food is brilliant prepping. Modern tech is the problem 😂

Totally agree! Be well!

Love you flowered cup!

Smart move.

Actually a really good idea plus bein able to defend large gardens or livestock would be impossible for 1-2 people while also workin the farm during the day

Good luck 👍

I think we need to be careful ie more crime if hungry etc

Yes

You remind me of Beau of the fifth column

Just to let you know , I’m still watching , Still Thinkin’ , but I’m no longer going to comment on videos , Take Care !

Congrats MR on the new job. Onto the next season…