Financing My Urban Escape

Okay, so in the process of concluding that I want a greater quality of life than I can create in urban America … and then deciding that I can best create such a life on a small farm (8 or more acres) … I’ve learned a great deal even before leaving Oakland, California.

But perhaps the greatest thing I’ve learned is how to make my fantasy a reality. In other words, how to finance the move. Life in the country requires a lower amount of money to live on. The reason why all that beautiful property is so cheap is there is a lack of jobs out thar. Hence, I decided to learn to become a truck driver.

I drove a cab in San Francisco back in the late 80’s for a few years to finance my return to college, but I never dreamed I’d ever yearn to drive an 18 wheeler. But it’s such a great choice because not only can I drive through various parts of the country and get a feel about potential areas where advertised cheap property is located, but I can live anywhere and be a trucker. (Not to mention that truckers can potentially earn up to $200, 000 a year!)

FREE Truck Driving School
This journey is teaching me faith … and more… the power of following your dreams. I actually found a FREE truck driving school. When I graduate, I won’t have any contracts nor will I owe anyone any money. More, the school is located in San Francisco’s City College Bay View Campus off Evans Street. It was started by Tania Alexander and her father, Rev. Alexander of True Hope Baptist Church in the Hunter’s Point area. Class is located in the Evan’s Street Campus of San Francisco City College. (The program is so new that I see it isn’t even listed on the SFCC Webstite .) The program is sponsored in partnership with Goodwill Industries and here’s a link to press releases about the program:

Goodwill Truck Driving Academy

Bayview True Hope Truck Driving Academy

Phone Number: 415-550-4421

NOTE: If you look at the picture above, you can see me standing in the backgrown just between Rita’s eyes (the person in the simulator’s driver’s seat) and the screen.) Da kid ain’t playin’ … I’m going to have my Class A in about two weeks. Um … perhaps you folks should decide to stay off the streets for the next two months … )

14 Steps To Begin Your Black Farm Dream

Dreams of moving to the country continue as I walk constantly into the reality of making it happen. Only a few more steps before I enter truck school. It’s a free program sponsored by a church in Hunter’s Point, Goodwill Industries, and San Francisco City College. Attending an independent truck school rather than a truck company’s school means I won’t be under a $5,000 contract when I leave. It also means I will most likely earn more money starting off.

Why truck driving? I dunno … I like to drive and it’s a long way from listening to crack addicts tell me lies all day. Homes and land are cheap in rural America … but it’s that way because there often is a lack of jobs. This means I’ll have to:

1. Take a few Horticulture and/or Permaculture courses
2. Take a welding class (FREE too at several locations here in urban America)
3. Make sure I’m getting enough exercise so that I’ll be fit when I get there
4. Research the appropriate farm equipment, farming practices, local truck actions, and other means of paying less than full price for much of what I’ll need
5. Read up on rural life … like a book I ran across the other day that illustrates why country neighbors really are better than city neighbors … because they need you more … but … research will still have to be done …
6. Visit http://www.city-data.com and gather as many candid remarks about the towns, states and cities I’m curious about
7. Visit http://www.unitedcountry.com and check out the tip of the iceberg of what’s available (I’ve noticed they’ve stopped posting the really cheap places … hey … Real Estate Agents want to make money too… they also have a huge book that comes out twice a year that’s far better … only $9.00 a year for a subscription.)
8. I also like to open http://www.wikipedia.com and pull up the demographics of an area … won’t paint the whole picture … but it can fill in a few blanks
9. And if you visit the http://realestate.msn.com ’s Real Estate link, you’ll see where you can request hard copy books for areas you’re curious about. These books are found in free sidewalk newspaper bins all over the U.S. … but if you request one online, Real Estate agents from those areas will send you emails, listings, and letters inviting you to build a relationship with them
   [Click on http://realestate.msn.com ... and check out the second one down that has a house and two barns with acreage and timber for $160,000]
10. Start dreaming into all the things you’d do if you only had land … and a bit of time to pursue them. Then start searching the web for examples of what those projects look for other people. You’ll really be surprised if you let yourself go
11. If you’re single, start posting your ad on dating sites for country and farm people
12. Remember … there are fears about a looming global recession in 2012 … so people with small farms WITH WATER under or on it will do better than those sisters and brothers still complaining in the hoods … did I mention the fears around a global water shortage starting in 2015?
13. But above all … I have to remember that it really isn’t all about me. That if God gives folks gifts and talents, He wants them to funnel them into our bringing something to the table … assisting with the greater good …
14. Look around for friends and family to bring along. Asian and Mexican immigrants are showing us some excellent examples of how to create successful social models that create both economic success and individual / group safety. It’s FAR better to bring some trusted comrades to watch your back as you build your fences … and more importantly … your bridges … in the new rural community you select

But if it’s one thing that all that non-profit, social service trench work taught me … when I want to save someone… I’m usually projecting onto someone else a part of ME that needs “saving.” Hence … pause, SAVE MYSELF FIRST, then do some … wise … charity work.

Green Movement Can Help Blacks

I rode the 38 Geary out to the San Francisco Ft. Miley Veteran’s Hospital this morning. A group of pre-teens were headed to school. Several of the boys were black … the scene they put on wasn’t nothing nice.

 I always write that if it ain’t broke ~ don’t fix it. We all know this buggy ain’t just broke, the wheels done come off and the bottom done dropped out. Time to re-boot the system and get back to baseline. That’s why I always assert that getting out of Urban America and rejecting its values are key to our survival, our healing, and our future economic growth.

Land has always been the major path to wealth in this country. The fact that so few blacks currently own land is a corner stone to our problem. Forget racism. Forget what the white man done done or might do. Look at what we’re currently doing to ourselves….

• Our rate of divorce far exceeds our rate of marriage.
• The Civil Rights Movement was won on moral grounds … and that’s exactly where we’re losing it.
• HIV/AIDS continues to be the Number One killer of black men 16 - 25 and the senior citizens are now following suit. That looks like deep despair around love to me. When so many are desperately jumping for lust instead having the faith and character to create love … well folks … don’t look good. You cannot point a finger in any direction of the African American Community and not see, hear, or feel pain … yet we want to keep doing the same things and believing in the same fantasies?

First black men were demoralized, then black youth. Next they got to women and now they’ve hit mothers. Ain’t nothing left. Grandmothers are struggling to raise their children’s children. We make up the vast majority of Foster Children numbers even in places where we are a fraction of the population. Are many of these systemic problems? Yes. But that has little or nothing to do with our responsibility to grow through them.

“Every problem is an opportunity in work clothes.” ~Henry J. Kaiser (I love that one…)

This is why the Green Movement holds out great promise to blacks. At present, whites and others have been holding down the fort at Ecology Centers all across America. Middle class despair and “Liberal” blindness abounds. But give them credit … they have and are doing their work and they are holding out the door for us. That means there is already tons of information available on Permaculture (a system of planting, housing, and living the incorporates everything in a  person’s environment.

The Green Movement touches every aspect of a person’s life and in the future, this will be of even greater importance. Global warming and the very, very real threat of a future WORLD economic “downturn” means that those who live on land with a watershed beneath it will feel no pain and in fact be in a great economic position.  [NOTE: It's forecasted that the shortage of fresh water alone will cause a world crisis by as soon as 2015. Read Guardian Report ]

 Canadians fear Avian Flu could help ignite economic crisis. I don’t know about you, but when white people keep warning each other about something, after a while, it’s time to look up.

The list of reasons why it makes sense for us to move out of urban America, create some sweat equity, rebuild our family structure, and prepare of any one of the many future threats that loom is large.  Just the fact that it’s black men’s  responsibility to create families AND make them safe should ignite some desire to look into moving onto 5 or more acres in rural America. You don’t even have to farm it!

1. You can lease some or all of it out to others who want to farm (and there will most certainly be many)
2. You can put some cabins or trailers on it and become a “Home Developer.”
3. You can adopt some of those many black children currently in Foster Care and orphanages and discover the spiritual truth that it really isn’t all about you … but more, it’s about what do you bring to the table!

Here … just glance at some of the post I quickly pulled up about a LIKELY, world economic disaster:

 Australia on: “The Future Collapse Of The World’s Economy”

Mainstream, respected European economist Stefan Karlsson on: The Future of The World Economy” (read the last two paragraphs)

 The World Conservative Union on Why It’s Not Business As Usual … or bust: (Meaning OPPORTUNITY FOR US!!

And last, here’s a “funny” one that raises your eyebrows: Samizdatdata.net

Lawyer’s Website Helps Blacks With Ideas

Came across this site dated 2005. I haven’t researched it much (give a hollar if you find out more info on it) but the website states that it helps black entrepreneurs start businesses. Patent and trademark attorney Darcell Walker post information about the processes for protecting ideas, using patents, copyrights, trademarks along with trade secrets issues.

Check the brother out and see if he has any information you can use. One thing I agree strongly with is his assertion that ingenuity and creativity abound within the hearts and minds of African Americans. I’ve posted a new article on the window we are currently looking at concerning monetary incentives for new farmers that the Department of Agriculture has recently initiated. [SEE: Black Solutions ]

Baby Boomers are getting old. The age of the average black farmer is 60. Only 1% of the American population even farms. I don’t know what that sounds like to you, but to me that sounds like a “window of opportunity” for a whole lot of quick thinking brothers and sisters to climb into. Check out the link$.

Racism or Engineering Your Life?

Recently I’ve been receiving comments about racism. This blog really isn’t about racism. It’s about walking away from the addictive pull of contiual reaction to racism. I say “addiction” because anything that traumatizes the psyches of MOST human beings, the mind repeats looking for resolution.

I write at a black audience right now because:

• I am black
• Black people as a culture are on fire
• White, Asian, and Mexican/Hispanic youth who feel disenfranchised look to what has become a bastardization of blackness to take their cues on “reacting” to feeling outside of mainstream or dis-empowered.

Are they making horrible choices? Yes! Do you have to? No.

Rather than continuing to be silly by looking at “Da White Man” and pointing fingers to justify our lives and our bad behavior, at the ripe old age of 53, I’ve concluded that it’s a FAR better choice to simply engineer a good life for myself. That means:

1. It doesn’t matter how much anyone else has … the issue is–
2. What do YOU bring to the table?
3. Taking stock (and responsibility) for everything that has happened in my life. Discarding the crazy-making people I’ve allowed to enter it, and owning everything else. Only through such a process can I get on the other side of “being a victim” and move into being a mature “full grown man.”

I yearn for the day we stop reacting to “racism.” It’s become a such a cop-out. YES, racism is alive and well … but if I find myself in a field that I cannot win in … WHY keep failing around, crying about how unfair it all is, instead of picking up my ball and building a field wherein I can win? We don’t have to be against anybody. In fact, the object is to increasingly love as many people as you can… because when you can’t love yourself… that’s when you find yourself hating others (projecting your self hate outwards) and being jealous of what others have. Thank God no one is giving me nothing. I was born with a keen mind … keen enough to see opportunity instead of self destruction when it is ripe. Get some land my brothers and sisters. If you can’t afford to in the city, move out of it and build up your cheap little home, and with the equity you build, you can later buy a dream place anywhere on the planet.

Luke 6:42 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out that is in your own eye, then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” (The Beatitudes)

(By that time… after removing drugs, alcohol, helplessness, criminality, and sex as a mood altering, demoralizing experience, whatever is in his eye probably won’t matter.)

Supporting Small Agriculture & The Beginning Farmer

Okay …. so the posts have been slower of late. It’s amazing how fast change can start coming at you once you make a decision.

One of those decisions will be to move this and “Black Solutions” onto a paid site of another name. (The link will be posted here.) Until then, may I offer you this information on making the dream of owning a small “hobby farm” one step closer?

So far we’ve talked about the availability of small … very inexpensive farms in the Midwest and southern states. I’m talking about as low as $40,000 in some cases. True … many such “deals” are located in a “no man’s land” for people of color (e.g. the Ozarks Mountains…) but that still leaves tons of leads in a variety of states for those who want to pursue their dreams.

We’ve also touched on some of the reasons for blacks to move out of Urban America … especially if they have children. Reasons like increasing wealth through land ownership, along with the fact that Thug Amerika is most likely going to get worst before things get better … and you DO want to keep that CD player in your car, don’t you?

So now, thanks to a kind soul who left a comment, here is a very valuable link for anyone dreaming of escaping Urban Madness for rural life:

Farming & Business Skills Assessment Sheet

Exploring the Small Farm Dream from the New England Small Farm Institute

Small Farm Library & Online Catalogue along with a host of other information

Join Black Farms Forum

I really appreciate some of the comments being posted. I encourage anyone who desires a closer link with Black Farms to join [click link->] Yahoo Black Farms Forum .

Alternative Housing Reaps Big Reward$$

There are so many ways of moving back to the land. For young, middle age, or even retirees, alternative building is certainly a valuable choice to look into. For instance, say a person is tried of life in the inner city, yearns for the freedom of country life, but feels insecure about posting a down payment on a small farm. (I don’t know why such a person would … there are so MANY affordable places to chose from and so many finance options that almost anyone could … but let’s hypothetically look at it from this perspective.)

I personally dream of buying an older, small home with detached garage, outbuildings that once served as workshops or storage buildings, and of course, an old barn with old treasures still remaining inside to be used as restored art treasures.

But there are several other ideas floating around my head that involve generating income as well as community. But how would I keep my cost down and build other cottages?

www.naturalvillages.org/ provides answers. One of the Cob Houses posted on the site was built for almost nothing but salvaged materials, that include mud and straw, and rocks. After all the work was done (in less than 2 months time), it was appraised for over a quarter of a million dollars.

“Our little cob is one item away from a certificate of occupancy and has been appraised twice by major banks: one for $250,000.00 and one for $275,000.00. Not bad for 6l0 sq. ft. of mud.” (View pics.)

You don’t have to move alone.
I love the idea, but in this time of alienation, there is a huge value in joining in communal living. www.ic.org is a site chocked full of Intentional Communities located in every corner of the world.