'Heart v. Head ----'
'Mid-winter greens ---- '
The sheep grazing the grass fields close by the organic eco micro-holding (small smallholding) here in the UK midlands went on their way before Xmas, approx five weeks or so ago, yet even in the depths of winter the grass has regrown to the point of virtually needing grazing again, and the countryside hereabouts has been oncommonly green for the time of year.
Buzzards seem to be everywhere - often in the big new grass field ('new seeds' in farming parlance) the other side of the lane and opposite the cottage, it's not unusual to see five or six of them sitting spaced out on the field, presumably pretty hungry. The birds at the micro-holding are getting regular feeding, with bird seed, fat balls and in the morning, broken-up bread. As there's quite a bit of vegetation on site, the thinking is that probably quite a few birds reside here, so supplementary feeding is in order to support them. One newer thrill has been to see a couple of tiny Goldcrests (the UK's smallest bird) flitting about, never before seen here. The flock of lapwings mentioned in the last piece seem now more intermittent and have been spotted at various other local sites - the thinking now is that with so many in the flock (over two hundred) they're probably more likely to be Russian winter migrants than indiginous residents, so local numbers may still be struggling with changes in farming patterns, pesticides and the like.
A Winter's tale ------
Those sheep didn't go too far -just a mile or so down the lane. Passing them in the motor the other day, they'd already chomped their new pasture well down, to be joined by what looked like hundreds of crows on the ground, presumably looking for grub there after the sheep had been through and disturbed it - a lot of hungry birds about this harder time of year no doubt. Later that day, walking in cold air through a wintry wood with Hipster Pipster, (Scots Border Collie mate), the wind got up accompanied by a sudden snow storm, the snow blowing horizontally through the bare, deserted trees. Just then, two deer suddenly came accross the path, not five metres on, one of them a rarer white hind, neither seeming to be too bothered by the presence of man and dog. A bit of a 'winter's tale', to be recounted on reaching the warm sanctuary of the woodstove-heated cottage's living room.
Rest awhile -----
Mid-winter seems to be a natural time for a bit of semi-hibernation, with a rest from physical activity, although the mainly pleasurable task of wood sawing continues apace, albeit at a fairly relaxed gait. Next to the chicken pen, where the 'gang of four' 'wild bunch' continue even in reduced daylight to lay an egg per bird per day, is the 'work' area containing the compost heaps, piles of rubble and so forth, and the burning area; burning's something that isn't banned in these rural parts. The 'wild bunch' have been escaping from their pen again, so currently the 'man v. chickens' score is man 1, chicks 2 - the little blighters.
Having a bonfire of waste paper, hedge clippings and sundry waste is a satisfying winter chore, and is making potash fertiliser for the veg growing area in the process. The only other micro-holding activity has been some gentle digging-in of green manure, in this case self-sown grass, and shaving weeds and green material off other areas to leave virgin, pristine soil ready for receiving compost and woodash later this month (half the area) and planting in the spring, the shavings contributing a surprising amount of material for the compost heap. The only sowings have been those of tomato, celery, lettuce and onion seeds to germinate hopefully in the warmth at the top of the living room's Welsh dresser.
Nature connect ------
A heart-warming event on a 'real heroes' Tv programme the other night - a family plus one or two others had been out on the ocean in a small boat whale spotting - maybe in Canada -? - when they came upon a sad site. It was quite a large humpback whale which appeared to be dead having become entangled in a large fishing net ( it ultimately proved to be 65m *3.5m). They watched it sadly for a few minutes, when - lo and behold - it's blow hole operated, it wasn't yet dead. They sprang quickly into action, the father stripping to underwear and diving in the water with a knife to try to free the whale. It proved to be quite an undertaking, not without some danger - at one point, for instance, the partly-freed whale was now towing their little boat along at some speed. Eventually they managed to completely free the humpback, which swam off to the resounding cheers of all on board, especially the children.
Then, though, something magical - the whale made a series of immense leaps out of the water right in front of their boat, seemingly saying 'look at me, i'm free - thanks guys!' Well, they have got bigger brains than humans after all, haven't they? Even just seeing this whale in joyous mode on TV was moving - it must have been pretty awesome for those guys there, and particularly as they'd been the whale's saviours. Reminds that 'we're all in it together' - ? And as David Attenborough (well-known British naturalist) once stated, 'we ( i.e. all animals incl. humans) are all related - we've all got common ancestors'.
Lifestyle enterprises ----- head -- or ---heart ?
In modern, materialistically-leaning times, entrepreneurialism seems to often translate into the 'mega money', 'pots of dosh' route, which may have been influenced by enthusiastic uptake of the economists' concept of 'profit maximisation', originally used in economic modelling, but maybe too simplistic and single-dimensioned for 'real life' - ? Another route is to aim for 'lifestyle within work activity' (as opposed to making pots of dosh to then create desired lifestyle), an approach which then tends to treat money as a 'means' rather than an 'end'. Another way to differentiate betwen the two basic and different approaches could be to suggest that the 'head' way could be to make money as the prime target, whereas if lifestyle is the main consideration, supported by money making as the means, then this route could be seen as more 'following the heart'.
In the rural sector, for instance, there's long been a dual approach dichotomy, but with the rural, farming lifesyle still firmly placed as 'a way of life', rather than a maximum profit making mechanism (one study of farm business objectives, found, for instance, that the profit maximising objective had the biggest conflict rating (i.e. with the other fifteen key objective areas identified)). Again within farming, there have been examples of people coming to business grief due to their strong passion ('heart') for the way of life overshadowing considerations ('head') needed for longer-term business sustainability.'
One sequence that can prove useful is that of : 'Heart > Head > Will', indicating that all three key areas are needed for successful on-going lifestyle enterprise 'survive and thrive'-ability, and indicating a useful sequencing of the key areas. 'The 'heart' focus establishes the lifestyle objective, the 'head' to work out how to achieve it, and then 'will' needed to maintain momentum, including coping with the inevitable setbacks 'on the journey'. A 'following the heart' approach could well have the further (considerable?) advantages of tapping into personal interest and therefore inner motivation - ?
(From the 'books' page of this website two relevant publications can be accessed: 'Freerange People : Lifestyle Enterprise Planning' ('E' book), 'Freerangin' on - Lifestyle Enterprising' (12 page piece))
An example of 'lifestyle enterprising' from the bygone farm advisory working days is that of 'Soddy's farm, below :
'Soddy's farm -----'
In the the west of England there's a country area not too far from Lyme Regis, where three counties - Dorset, Somerset and Devon - meet, and where you could believe a few years back, that time had stood still - a seemingly out-of-the-way world, one which seemed too to cater for individualistic lifestyles. One such was lived by the folks and animals at 'Soddy's farm' -not the real name of it but apt in the sense that Soddy was a big presence there. In fact very big, for Soddy was a giant pig, who wandered the farm and especially the farmyard quite freely and without restraint -it was quite an event to drive first time into the farmyard to be met amiably by a giant pig.
D and J farmed the little farm, and did it, according to the experts, all wrong, having too many different animals, plus a bit of corn. 'I know I should plaster the place with dairy cows as the advisors say, but to be honest I'd be bored to bits just behind a cow's tail, and J would probably leave me!' D, another amiable giant, would say (nb. one definition of 'expert' : 'ex' is a 'has-been', spurt's a 'drip under pressure' (!)). So they, with their three children, ran their little farm with all their different cherished animals, money was often tight and they certainly had to cut their cloth - no flash holdays or items - their transport was the farm's pick-up. Yet a happier crew you'd have to go quite a way to find, and there'd be no more solid an example of 'not chasing the dollar' than them.
Soddy himself was indicative of their approach. He'd come to the farm as a young boar for their thirty or so sows and had always been an aimiable, genial soul, letting the children ride on his back,for instance. The day came after a few years when he'd grown too big and heavy to serve the sows -he'd had a good life and his day was done -he was for the ,erm, chop. 'But then I suddenly found I had a revolt on my hands' said D. 'J and the kids joined forces to lobby for Soddy's reprieve, and although I fought a rearguard action, saying we couldn't afford to keep such a large, unproductive animal, I had no chance really - the opposition was formidable, and if I'm honest, I was secretly a bit relieved, because he was my mate too'. (next month's piece : might Soddy not be 'unproductive' after all - ?)
Although, the case study of 'Soddy's farm' may seem to some these pecuniary days to be a bit of an extreme example of 'following the heart', the point can be made that this family made it work and the farm was quite productive in its own way. Whilst it may, for instance, have not made premier division from the profit perspective ( D did though make it pay its way), from the perspectives of animal welfare, environmental care and longer-term resource care, it did make top ratings.
Seasonal stirrings -----
Now's the time here on the micro holding to follow the first spring stirrings of the heart and start preparing for the coming growing season. There's still some ground to clear of volunteer grass and weeds, shaving it all off with a heavy spade and onto the compost heap. Half the growing ground gets one covering of wood ash, which provides potash fertiliser, keeps the ground 'sweet' and seems over the years to have combated soil problems such as club root and onion white rot. After the woodash goes on, then the same area gets two coverings of well-made, fine two and a half year old compost, all delivered to it courtesy of shank's pony (i.e. on foot) and two buckets.
The broad bean seed gets shovelled in under an old windscreen around mid Feb, which should then give broad bean plants to plant out mid March to get a reasonably early crop to beat the black fly wee beastie, and to enable a crop of, say, leeks, to be grown after the beans. Broad beans are a good crop - the seed costs nothing - home saved, and there's no other 'on-costs', the plants themselves being legumes 'inject' fertiliser (nitrogen taken from the atmosphere) into the soil, the crop provides lots of material in the form of bean haulms and stalks for the compost heap, and last but certainly not least, there's plenty of tender tasty beans to use fresh or freeze, best picked young and tender and not too long before use ---- heart's desire.
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