The chickens seem to have come through the cold-ish winter well, no doubt helped by a bit of extra protection in the chicken house. They've continued to lay well and contribute to the 'home production tally, here at the eco organic micro-holding (small smallholding) in the UK midlands, and are no doubt looking forward to running in the paddock, where they seem to enjoy themselves, as well as enjoying the mix of feeds they get each day. There's undoubtedly a lot of pleasure and satisfaction to be had in looking after animals well and giving them good lives.
The case-study feature here a couple of year's ago - 'Soddy's farm' - was a good example of such high levels of animal care, to which the various types of animals responded. Soddy himself, a giant 'retired from active service' boar pig and having free run of the farm was the self-appointed 'meet-er' and greet-er' of anyone who came into the farmyard, having though an uncanny knack of knowing if they were up to no good.
The strong accent on wealth and materialism in recent times has seemingly arisen from a 'wealth brings happiness' philosophy, as the writer John Lane expounds, but arguing that such a narrow view could be limited and that there's more than a few who might argue the reverse - that simple, maybe frugal even, living might offer life satisfactions. Money could well have it's own particular level of 'thrall', and it can't undoubtedly be too much fun living in a money economy not having enough of the stuff. Commercial practice can at times put undue strain on finances - an example of over-demanding 'on the make' commercial practice potentially hitting people in the pocket is then examined.
Leading the semi self-sufficient/reliant sort of lifestyle, as well as offering the scope for personal satisfactions, can also give a bit of insulation to 'economic dependancy' - ? Such to some extent is the lifestyle here at the micro-holding, though not to the level of finesse gained by a case-study couple who swopped modern fast-flow mainstream life for a simple rural lifestyle enterprise with a very light eco-footprint -----
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