Storms, rain, gales, snow have all been in evidence here at the eco micro-holding (small smallholding) in the UK's midlands region in the last few weeks, causing flooding problems for quite a few. It seems that quite a few houses have been built on flood plains which mightn't have helped, and people living close to rivers have of course been vulnerable.
The micro-holding itself has been relatively unscathed and the mini-flock of chickens seen to have coped quite well, and are thriving in their new regime. They've been out in the paddock and orchard in the afternoons for a few weeks now, one effect of which has to have been to reduce bought feed costs, with them doing a fair amount of grazing - the eggs are pretty tasty too.
In spite of the lousy February weather - it's apparently been the wettest February ever here in the UK - quite a bit seems to still have got done, although the woodash and compost, normally put out on the land in February, is still in store. After a problem-free run, they seem to have come along recently like buses, one after the other, and an 'improvement' programme will have to be order of the day for spring/early summer.
Cultures can certainly be different, offering citizens with varying degrees of scope, and varying levels of democratic power and say. Even within democracies the power of the individual via vote can be at times virtually non existent, which might well be an argument for the individual to take, as far as they can, their own ('freerange') reins up - ? Emphases too can change considerably within a democracy, with 'individual' and 'social' often being the two 'opposing' poles.
Here in the UK cultural changes may (or may not) involve moving from a strong individual emphasis to then embrace more social priorities, moves too to counter climate change, and , possibly, moves to make commercial firms more sociably accountable (especially in the 'gig' sector), a call that a group of top executives has been making. And getting back to existential matters, there's a need 'to get the hoe on the go --- '
