Penny-pinching Gardener gets by on Only $120 a Year
The following is from a Sept. 1986 newspaper article. Very interesting and I don't think this story is told anywhere else. If anyone can find this or more info please post it.
There is not very much from a google search about Bill Hatke but there are a couple sites which I will give one at the end of this article. And here is one out of many stories, books etc. that helped inspire me in the 1980's to become a good survivalist who can live on little money, build a survival retreat and Live differently than most do. The article which I typed out >
Headline: Penny Pincher Gets By on Only $120 a Year
"Bill Hatke sure knows how to stretch a buck: the incredible 41 year old Kansas man lives on $120 a Year and $98 of that goes for property taxes!
But Hatke's no bum. He has two master's degrees in analytic philosophy and clinical psychology. And a Ph.D in sociology.
Despite his education, he earns his tiny income by gardening with hand tools on his 50 by 150 foot lot and four other lots owned by friends. He gives these friends part of his produce and sells the rest to individuals and restaurants in the city of Lawrence, Kansas where he lives.
Last year Hatke brought in $350. After paying his $98 property taxes he put $150 in savings for emergencies - loaned or gave $80 to friends - and spent the rest, a mere $22 on himself.
"It seems a fantastically small amount to survive on for a whole year but he owns his house, has no bills and grows everything he eats," says Margene Swarts, Lawrence's Housing and Environmental Inspector.
Explains Hatke, "I decided to drop out of the rat race and live my life free from the needs of money and other material possessions. I have no electricity, phone, running water, TV, stereo or other money gobbling habits. And I'm the happiest guy in the world for it."
Hatke was studying at the University of Kansas and living in a modern gadget-filled condo when he decided he wanted a simpler life.
"I remembered how I felt as a kid, letting the earth in our garden run through my fingers and I decided to become a gardener."
After graduation Hatke took his first step toward his dream by taking two jobs to earn enough cash to buy his small $7,000 four room wooden house. Then he quit his jobs and began gardening.
"The first thing to go was the phone," he said, "I figured if I needed to speak to somebody, I could go see them. And for out of town family or friends the U.S. mail works just fine.
Next to go was natural gas. I bought an old wood stove for $10 and started using it for heat and cooking. Mother Nature helped me get rid of running water during a deadly cold spell in the winter of 1982 - 83 when my pipes froze and burst.
I built a system to collect rainwater and run it into a makeshift cistern in an unfinished basement alcove beneath my bathroom. And now, when I need water, I simply haul it up in a five-gallon plastic bucket."
In 1985, Hatke made his hardest cutback - electricity. "I liked to watch reruns of 'All in the Family', M*A*S*H and 'Barney Miller' but I felt I was dependent on an outside authority. So I had to cut it off."
Hatke gave away his TV and radio, bought some candles and a battery powered transistor radio - then he began charging the batteries at a friend's house in return for vegetables.
"In the spring, summer and fall I'm in my gardens. In the winter, I read books friends give me, keep a daily journal etc.
For entertainment, I play cards and Scrabble two nights a week. And I go to the movies once a year to keep up with trends."
To maintain his life-style in 1986, Hatke stuck to his budget: property tax, $98; vegetable seeds, $3; handsaw blade, $5; 10 chickens, $5; chicken feed, $3; one movie ticket, $4; transistor radio batteries, $2.
"This year my budget will be smaller because I learned to sharpen my saw blade so I won't have to buy a new one," Hatke says.
Adds local author Kelly Kindscher, who studied Hatke's life-style for a book she plans to write: "He doesn't want to climb the big corporate ladder or be a big success in the rat race. So Bill Hatke is one of the most educated and independent gardeners in the world. He's astonishing!"
There were some photos in the newpaper article which here are the captions >
Back to Basics: Bill Hatke, who doesn't have electricity, reads by the light of an oil lamp and cooks on a woodstove.
Green thumb: Bill proudly shows off samples from his garden.
3rd caption: Bill grimaces as he takes a break while working in his vegetable garden.
I wonder If there are many or any others today who try to live on little money. Probably very very few especially who own their own property who do. Property taxes are much more today. Although mine as I have said before are now $208 a year on my mtn land. And I know of no one who lives on less money than I do, unless they are homeless.
And here is one link that tells a little more with even a pic of Bill Hatke > http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...26tbs%3Disch:1
Any other links to his life and life-style will be welcome as well as any comments.
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Originally Posted by Rick
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