About

The Prospering Peasant is about living well on what we have got! We moved to America from the West Midlands of England at the end of September 2010. We are a family of American and English mix, and have mixed ideas on how to be frugal, and how to live on the land. The author is Mr. Kelsey Bacon, American by birth, mixed up by nature. The many paths of life have allowed me to live in several American states, as well as in England. I have education, but consider myself a graduate of the University of Life. I have worked in retail sales with Franklin Covey, in deliveries, and in telecommunications. My passions lie in photography, and in writing.

The blog is an extension of my passions and my concerns.

I see things fairly simply. National Geographic has already reported that we are at, or near Peak Oil. That means the world has been depleted of fully half of its oil reserves. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is spending billions to diversify their economy by building staggering cities on the sand, and China and India are buying more new cars than the United States, and the numbers continue to rise. To me, this means one thing. The second half of the oil is going to go faster, and at a higher price than the first half, and as it continues to run out, the higher the prices will climb!

My great grandparents were the last ones born into an agrarian society. Depending on so many factors, there is no way to know what world my grandchildren will see. Technology will shape it, but so will how society adapts. It is very possible that the skills my great grandparents took for granted will be the same that my grandchildren will require to survive. Some skills need to be retained!

To be honest, this project was started pretty much at the basement level. I know nothing of survival and frugality. When I was a kid, I never could see why someone would do something like re-use a nail. Why put in something old when you are building something new? A mindset that the depression generation saw as nothing short of crazy! Now I am finding myself in a post depression situation, re-using nails and a lot more.

This site is a survival guide for those who are starting out as I have, in the basement of knowledge! It is not an Apocalyptic Survival Guide! It is a guide that is guided by a sense of pragmatism, that technology will pick up where oil leaves off, and solar, hydrogen, fusion, & wind power will supplant oil and coal and natural gas.

There are a million topics to cover, and so many that I could never even get into. I encourage you to take the first steps, and to learn to be self reliant. Do the little things that will make a difference. We can’t all make the migration from the city to the country, but finding a space to grow tomatoes on a balcony and recycling those plastic milk cartons to start them in is a piece of cake!

Again, take the first steps, make the difference by learning and doing, and gain the skills needed to help future generations preserve what was taken for granted in the past. You will provide them with the skills to survive whatever the result of the uncertain years to come.

Yours,

The Prospering Peasant
Mr. Kelsey J Bacon