Self-Reliance Project - Reservoir Bucket Planters

         As a part of my project to promote self-reliance I am building and distributing what I call Reservoir Bucket Planters, or RBPs. (These are also known as SWPs, or Self Watering Planters, as well as simply Bucket Planters.) This is because growing a successful garden requires us to take initiative; as we tend to our plants' needs we increase in responsibility. My hope is that the positive results of our gardens and this increase in responsibility will also help us to be more self-reliant. If we can get more people to increase in responsibility and self-reliance we can also all increase prosperity. This is because not only will individuals and families be better prepared to provide for themselves, but also businesses will do better because of thier growth in personal industry. But, this will only help ease the recession a little bit; you see, the problem is that the federal and state governments and unions have so many regulations and taxes imposed on so many businesses that they are severely restricted as to how well they can do. This means less in earnings, less in salaries, more in prices, less in wallets, and less food on the table. What I ultimately want to do is convince people that we don't need so many interferences from the governments, etc., because we can take care of ourselves. I don't mean to imply that there should be no restrictions or bounds, as I think that law and order are essential to a harmoniously working civilization, but rather I believe that those laws should be to preserve freedom, or to let everyone to do their own things in a way that is non-oppressive to others. I believe that an individual is better equipped to preside over his own needs and industry than anyone else--- whether that be at home, school, or work. Therefore, we need to get rid of those grasping government regulations that oppress individuals' freedom and agency.
          The bottom line is that freedom is good. As Joshua says in Joshua 24:15: "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." God delights in liberty; there is evidence of this all throughout His holy scriptures. I believe that this is because as we learn to use our liberty wisely, we are better able to serve the Lord. This is why I want to do this Self-Reliance project.

          So, what exactly am I doing? I am selling bucket planters for $10 each. No assembly is required. They are made up of buckets, so they are fairly compact. The volume for the reservoirs is about a gallon. I live around the Campbell area, which is in the South Bay in California. If you are interested in purchasing one please contact me at sgspare@gmail.com, or call me at 408-267-7924.

And here is my last thought, which applies to my project because it relates to taking initiative and making the correct changes to turn our country and economy around: (the bolded words were bolded by me)

"So the bad news is that family breakdown is causing a host of societal and economic ills. But the good news is that, like any cause and effect, those ills can be reversed if what is causing them is changed. Inequities are resolved by living correct principles and values. Brothers and sisters, the most important cause of our lifetime is our families. If we will devote ourselves to this cause, we will improve every other aspect of our lives and will become, as a people and as a church, an example and a beacon for all the peoples of the earth"

—Elder M. Russell Ballard, "That the Lost May Be Found", General Conference, Apr. 2012
Topics: Family

Self-Reliance Project- Teaching To Fish

TEACHING TO FISH

National poverty is one of our most pressing concerns; even when we are not thinking of it, we face its evidence daily in the supermarkets, our bread drawers, our wallets, the number of jobless and homeless people, the foreclosure signs, and the rising gas prices, just to name a few. What is the cause of this poverty? What can we do to stop it? The answer to the first question is that those of us who live in the U.S.A. have become too dependent on outside sources to supply us with what we need, and the worst of these is the government. This problem has been caused by, and perpetuates, irresponsibility: we have always been afraid of the possibility that in life we will fail, and we think that there should be some way to guarantee that none of us will face this devastation. Seeing the government as a sort of all powerful entity, we enlist its help in constructing a safety net for all people. What we don't see is the problem that, as George Washington himself said, “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force.” (George Washington.) It cannot give before it takes; its only arm is its authority over people. Therefore, in order for the government to provide for the unfortunate it must first demand resources from whatever it deems to be the fortunate, whether they like it or not. This means that if the government wants to set up a welfare service for those too poor to pay for it, that payment will rest on whoever the government deems “not poor.” Added taxes such as these increase the risk of many individuals and families falling into the “poor” sector. This would increase the amount that the “not poor” pay, which would increase the number that fall into poverty, and so on and so forth. There are a number of problems that arise from government dependence, the first being a turn away from God and Christ as people put more faith in the government to save them;¹ the second is a loss of faith in the individual's abilities. The third is a rise in government interference and a drop in nationwide prosperity, or a rise in poverty. The key to fixing this problem is to get us to become more reliant on our own hands. We need to realize that we don't need government enforced welfare programs; rather, we should realize that what many people need the most is the opportunity to act on their own agency. This will make it possible for families and individuals to make sure that they have what they need. It will increase their ability to help others. It will increase nationwide prosperity. I have designed a project to help people be more self-reliant; it is based on the principle found in this common proverb: “give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.” The end goal of this self-reliance project is to eliminate poverty by helping men, women, and even children, to become better agents to themselves, by turning them to Christ, and by convincing them to end our government dependency.

ENABLE

The first stage of my project aims to encourage my community to believe in their abilities, and thus become responsible for their own well-being, by enabling them to rely on their agency. Enabling them is important because unless they have a reason to believe that they can be independent they will never wish to be so. I will do this by building and distributing reservoir planters. The purpose of this is to spark an increase in personal industry in order to help pick up our local economy. Personal industry will be the foundation for this pickup because people will put their effort into being more efficient, they will begin to provide better for themselves, and they will also begin to make more profit in business. I relate this step of enabling in my project to equipping a man with a fishing rod, speaking of the parable of the man who was taught to fish, because the planters enable people to grow their own food when they normally couldn't.² The ease of growing vegetables with these planters may be an effective way of showing people that it is possible for them to be more self-sufficient. Enabling people to grow food for their tables will open their eyes to the possibility of becoming more self-sufficient, and will therefore encourage independence.

EXPAND

The second stage of my project is to expand my project to increase the number of people who are empowered, and thus decrease government dependency. I plan to do this by making the blueprints for the planters available via the internet, and inviting all who are willing to join me in this project. I will be posting an invitation and description of it online. As more and more people are touched by this project the fire of independence will spread, so it is important for this self-reliance project to be open to as many as are willing. This part is crucial because not only will it increase the number of people who are enabled, but it will also prove to those who are watching that each person can make a difference. The blueprints will be so that people can build their own planters and grow their own food; this will increase the number of people that I help become more self-sufficient. Getting people to serve one another is also key to solving government dependency as they will realize that the power is in us to help others, and this is the reason for the description of the self-reliance project and the invitation. As they build and distribute the planters they will see how effective they can be at relieving suffering, and how quickly their knowledge of a bad situation can be applied. This will lay the foundation for more learning later on, which will help them to choose agency over government enforced welfare, and thus choose self-reliance and true charity. As more people begin to believe in their ability more people will rely on it, and in this way this stage of expansion will help ease dependency.

EDIFY

The next stage is to edify; providing a history of our nation's origins to ultimately give a knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ will help increase independence because it will give people some of the tools they need in order to optimize their use of agency. This will, in turn, enable this country to prosper. Mainly what I want to teach them about is Jesus Christ: He is our creator; He created us in His image, and blessed us with the potential to become like Him (Pearl of Great Price. Moses 1:6). Because of this we were sent down here to earth to learn how to use our agency wisely; after the resurrection, if we have been faithful in keeping His commandments, we may return to the presence of the Father and continue our eternal progression to become like Him (Doctrine and Covenants 93:20). Because we all make mistakes, none of us are perfect enough to regain His presence, and so God has provided for us the Atonement for our sins, which was made through the sacrifice of His perfect son, Jesus Christ . This is the most important thing for any individual to understand, for because of Christ's atonement we have hope that after this life we can have eternal happiness, and that we can eternally progress. This helps us understand that not only must we rely on ourselves, but we must also rely on God. He can and will increase our ability and understanding in order to help us to become a more perfect person. We can see evidence of this through history: because He delights so much in liberty He raised up the United States of America to be a nation that protects agency. We see God's hand in how He caused the pilgrims to arrive safely in America, bringing with them the values and principles of liberty He had planted in the hearts of their fathers long ago with creation of the Magna Carta, with the valiant example of William Wallace, and many others. Because of the examples of their ancestors they established lands of law in America; this later lead to the American revolution where the men fighting for freedom beat the British at impossible odds. This led to the creation of the Constitution of the United States, based upon many of the principles of liberty they had derived from the Magna Carta, which made it possible for God to establish His kingdom once more upon the earth. (Brent DeGraff. 2007. Page 187) Thus we see that in each step of the way our country was crafted by the hand of our Heavenly Father to preserve man's right to choose, and ultimately enable him to rely on his own hands. This knowledge is important for me to pass on to others because just as God has blessed the U.S.A. in the past He will bless and protect it again if we now preserve the agency He has given us. The more people that know of the divine history of this country, and of the essential role of Jesus Christ in our lives the more people will begin to rely on their own agency and on God. As more people decide to use their agency to live righteously I believe that we will be inviting God to prosper us individually, and also as a nation. This is why I think that by educating people of Jesus Christ, and using the history of the United States to do so, I will be helping this country to rise out of its economic depression.

REELING IT IN

I bear testimony that I know Christ lives, and that our Heavenly Father loves us; He has prepared a way for us to return to Him. He is real. I have felt these things with my own heart. I know that His principles are true, and that among these is liberty³: Christ was the great liberator of all men, for because of His ressurection death's bands have been broken, and because of His Atonement all men can be freed from the chains of hell.⁴ The result of partaking of Christ's gifts is that we become like God, better able to act for ourselves.⁵ It allows us to not be bound down by fear, sins, death, and oppression. If we allow every man the opportunity to act in life according to his own agency God will bless them and keep them according to their good works. As I have explained in this paper, by enabling, reaching out to, and edifying people to become more self-reliant, my project can in a meaningful way aide the U.S.A. in coming out of this economic recession.

Notes

1. See Jeremiah 17:5, 2 Nephi 4:34, 2 Nephi 28:31

2. Because they are made out of buckets, the planters are small enough to fit inside most living spaces, which would make it convenient for those with little space; they require little attendance because they use a reservoir with a wicking system to automatically water plants, so it would be appealing to those who have little time for a regular garden.

3. See Jeremiah 34:17, Doctrine and Covenants 58: 26-28
4. See Isaiah53:3-5, Doctrine and Covenants 138:4, Doctrine and Covenants 138:31, Alma 5:7-10, Alma 5:48
5. See Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 3:22

References

DeGraff, 2007. Our Old World Beginnings. Print.
Isaiah, circa 600_B.C.. Holy Bible KJV. Print.

Jeremiah, circa 600_B.C.. Holy Bible KJV. Print.

Moses, n.d.. Pearl of Great Price. Print.

Moses, n.d.. Holy Bible KJV. Print.

Nephi, 588-545_B.C.. The Book of Mormon.

Smith, 1833. Doctrine and Covenants. Print.
F. Smith, 1918. Doctrine and Covenants. Print.