Stewards of Terra Mater update - March 27
It has been a while since I wrote an update for the team. Spring work, helping people, running training classes and preparing for the Warrior Heart Retreat in a few weeks is drawing my attention away from the team. I will work hard to be more diligent as I want to support the development and encouragement of the team.
Latest Chart
I am excited to see two more Stewards getting close to graduating to become minnows. It has been three months and I think that it shows wonderful progress to accomplish being a minnow in such a short period of time.
Some observations
I noticed that a number of the stewards have slowed down on their blogging and are also allowing their steem power to sit at 100% for extended periods of time. I know I've been guilty of this too and I'm working hard to make sure I keep upvoting. When we let our steem power sit at 100% we are not contributing to help other people. We are wasting our opportunity to give steem from the reward pool. It is a waste of delegated steem as well. Gifting is what makes this platform work. When we stop giving, it has a huge impact on other people and their own moral and enthusiasm.
I encourage us all, Stewards and Steemians alike, to keep giving and giving and giving! This is tough as it seems that morale and enthusiasm is tied directly to the price of steem. When it goes up, everyone is all excited, but when it drops that excitement wains. The price of steem is going to go up and down. That is life. How we govern ourselves through the ebbs and flows of life determines how much we enjoy the ride. If you are not going to upvote on a regular basis, please let me know and I will find somebody who will.
Some changes
In the coming days I'm going to decrease the delegation to some of the stewards while ensuring that you still remain above the 500 SP so that you can keep your voting bar. I want to thank @earthmother for her offer to give some of the steem back. I also know that others are busy moving and getting into spring activities. Since they won't be on as much, I will make sure the steem is used appropriately and when winter returns, we will re-adjust once again. I appreciate the support and encouragement that I get from the Stewards a great deal. I'll be making the shift in the coming days.
I also have a group of ladies who will be blogging under a single account and when they get going I will be inviting them to the Stewards of Terra Mater. So big changes are in the works.
A tip about price of steem
If we are constantly evaluating the 'value' of steem by comparing it to the US dollar then we are completely missing the point. The value of steem is not tied to the relationship of the US dollar. The price of steem is tied to the value of the content that we provide for the steem blockchain. The only reason people care about the US dollar is because we still have dependencies that require US dollars. But when we remove those dependencies, the price of the US dollar disappears and we are left with a monetary token that we can use to trade among one another.
If we took the price of the US dollar out of the equation, we are left with the realization that we are still earning tokens, no matter what the price. I just held a workshop that only accepted Steem/SBD. All people had to do was comment on my post and I would upvote them to help them pay for the course. Where on this planet can you gather the currency you need by having people give you tokens from the commons? It is like asking to be paid with apples growing on the boulevard. You just have to go out and pick them. But when it comes to fiat currency, you need jobs or a loan to acquire the funds to pay for things. Loose any of them and you are hooped.
Here, all it requires is gifts, participation, capacity to build healthy relationships and if you want to make lots; hard work will do. If we look past the old paradigm we will see a platform that anybody can get plugged into, no matter their caste, skill, language or any other characteristic. Price does not matter. Steem keeps plugging along. I'll admit that my morale also dropped. But I will work through it and continue.
For us, we have been covering our bills for months, even when steem is below $2US. We can do that because we live off grid and need very little money. Our dependency is VERY low and that is what people should be focusing on. Rather than working hard to generate thousands upon thousands of fiat dollars, work to be as independent as possible. That way, should anything happen, your needs are always covered. You will then find that the price of the US dollar matters not!
Stewards of Terra Mater
Current members:
@earthmother
@skycae
@carey-page
@harvardhomestead
@realtreebivvy
@salmanbukhari54
@mistermercury
@borrowedearth
Honourary members:
@cheneats
@yagoub
Please feel free to visit any of these individuals as they explore life, living off the grid or are well on their way to getting off 'the grid'. May Creator bless you all with peace, freedom, prosperity, joy and love.
Click here for more information on how to join The Virtue Circle
Click here to join us on Discord.
OK. I'm the dope here. I recently started checking our steemd.com and found I had the 100% Steem power. Had no idea if that was good or bad. But was told to upvote more. So my 100% upvote is .07 cents. But you can only do the 100% 10 times in a 24 hours period. So then I say to myself, "Ok I'll upvote at .02 and do it on every comment I read, and on every post I visit, plus the 100% vote. So I must be doing something wrong or... What? I want to be a good Boy Scout and am not trying to horde or anything like that. Should I be delegating some Steem? I even held my Ass Kissing contest and gave away 6 SBD. Not enough? I look at the chart you've provided above and I'm the low man on the token pole. What?
Other than that good to hear from you and appreciate your efforts.Many blessings.
First off, please be kind to yourself. :)
Your the low man on the totem pole because you are one of the newest stewards. Most of the others have a huge head start. So don't worry about them. As long as your account is growing, that is what matters most.
I'm glad you are asking the questions. I hope this helps. If steemd shows that your vote power is 100%, then it is time to do some voting. Your assessment is correct. It actually works out to 12, 100% upvotes per day or a fraction of that. Anything more than that is not sustainable as your steem power cannot recharge fast enough. However, if you're going to be away for a few days, then vote even more so that it continues to charge while you are gone.
The 6DBD contest sounds wonderful. More than enough. Just make sure your posts generate the steem or SBD for the give away. That way it does not 'cost' you to run the contests.
Delegating steem has no bearing on your steem power. You are just getting started, so you are not in a position to delegate that much anyway. I would hold onto it and focus on building up your account and then you can explore paying it forward.
Does this help you? I'm glad to hear from you and grateful that you had the courage to ask those questions. I hope it helps you and others who are struggling with the same issues. Peace to you my dear brother!
Ok. Thanks. I appreciate the help. I do feel obligated to share the Steem you delegated but I'll do it by upvoting as much as I can, of course to deserving comments and posts. Blessings. May your garden this year be bounteous and prolific!
By upvoting you are most definitely sharing the steem delegated to you. At low levels this is the best way to share.
Wooohoooo!!! More stewards coming!!
I have to say thank you from the bottom of my heart!!
Spring is calling, and so much to be done! You are so right that every year being off grid gets a little easier. I tell people that I am no longer trying to survive, I am actually living off grid now. :)
I truly hope that people get the amazing start that I did on steemit. You have walked with me every step of the way. Supportive and created a great community. It is my goal to help others on their steem journey in a positive way. I am still learning steem, and am planning to be here for the long haul. Now that i am not having to use my phone 100% of the time, it should be so much easier!! ;)
So many amazing people, so many supportive communities! I am excited to see the changes! I can almost see the minnows from here!!!
Ahh yes, I am so close to graduating yet so far! I am planning on increasing my delegations to others soon and continue auto-curation because of my inactivity.
I am staying a little active, but with spring chores here and tons of events and adventures, Steemit is less of a priority! All my steem power is still going to good use however, I can't stand to have it sit at 100%, so auto curation is a blessing!
Thank you as always @wwf for supporting us all and spreading the joy and giving spirit <3 I am stoked for a busy season of warmth and anticipate a lot of Steemit activity come fall! <3 <3 <3
This platform is wonderful because it provides an equal opportunity to both Authors and Commentators to earn the SBD & Steem. I am really happy to see that STMs are doing some really wonderful things to give back to the community in the form of Upvotes and appreciation.
Beauty of this platform is to give back, so lets give back to the community guys ;)
I am really thankful to the wonderful human being Rob aka @wwf who guided us how to live a peaceful life by contributing effectively in the society :)
Thanks for the update! Thanks for your kindness and support.
I know I am struggling very hard to find the time to keep active on Steemit while also building this homestead. Spring is a busy busy time here, I am sure it shows in my stats. I would love tips or ideas on how to save time if anyone has them.
Our plans here are blooming, folks are moving on property, and visiting to volunteer, its becoming everything I hoped it would be...just faster!
The spring rains have come, so in theory I should have time to catch up. I have been snapping lots of pics and writing bits and pieces... Its time to bring them all together.
Hugs
While we still have two feet of snow on the ground and it is still snowing, we are working hard on our spring preparations as well. I'll be taking lots of pictures too. I'm not sure how to keep up both. I've decided that the spring work has priority and I'll fit in Steem when I can. Even a hello is better than hearing nothing. <3 So glad to hear that things are moving along for you. Wonderful! I look forward to seeing the posts!
Congrats on the continued success with your delegates!
GREAT to see people still trudging forward; even with the decrease of steem prices. That's DEDICATION!
I was telling my husband last week about you living off grid, your monthly expenses and he was impressed. He asked me, "how do they do it?" All I said was it's what they want, it's the life they have chosen and they work hard at it.
I must admit it was hard work ... to establish the infrastructure. Now that it is maturing, there is less work and much more time to play, help others and enjoy life! No more working 30 years to pay the mortgage. Slave debt is what that is. Nobody should EVER have to be burned by that shit. The old mans game is coming down and it is time to see our relationship from a whole new paradigm. Land is free, given to us by Creator. We are the land. Ownership of land enslaves us all.
Life is free. We owe nobody. But it does require work for us to provide for our needs. That is how we do it! <3 Thank you my friend. I appreciate your support and encouragement. Peace to you.
Thanks for the reminder. I know of a very successful blogger on Steemit @lukestokes who will on occasion change the algorithm so he cannot see the value of his posts. He says he is trying to keep himself focused on the quality of his posts and his up-voting for the sake of the community.
It is a temptation eh! I'm working hard not to care about the payouts. Just focus on the content. Spring distracts me as well, so that does not help. I may have to focus on spring and view Steem as a distraction to focus on when it is raining or dark. lol
For us winter is coming, but we still have a growing season, so it's year round. I've started using auto voters as I find less time for Steemit, but they aren't perfect and sometimes miss votes. I never really thought about it as a gift economy, even though that should have been obvious...
Sorry @wwf - guilty as charged for not paying it forward this last week or so - iv'e been away for a few days - lots to try and read through and catch up - will start posting and replying again tomorrow.
Thanks for your good ideas...@wwf.... I am really happy to see that steemit are doing some really wonderful things to give back to the community in the form of Upvotes and appreciation.