'More- ish-----'
Crikey, spring's shifted in with a vengeance - only three weeks ago at mid April, it was virtually a 'deepest winter' landscape hereabouts, whereas now spring has definitely sprung, everywhere now looking pristine green, grass recovered, bar the couple of fields that apparently had been sprayed, hedges and trees out too - a veritable treat for the eyes after what seems to have been a longish old spell of inclement weather - a boost to spirits. The swallows have been back in residence after arriving a little later than usual, and the wild birds seem to have survived well - abundant in the garden, small paddock and local hedgerows. Bring it on - let's have more. Slight pause here due to little Tillypops cat jumping up for a cuddle- since being hit by a car on the lane and suffering 'tail pull', she's had 'extra' love and attention - dogs and cat friends can be a good link to nature -?
Busy time in the organic eco micro-holding (small smallholding) here in the UK midlands, getting stuff in the ground, a lot of it having had to be planted due to the cold weather under covers in March/April. Seems to have paid off though, with the onion sets fair bolting up to 7-8 inches high now after the first week of May, and the first potatoes planted about 4-5 inches high. The bed of broad beans is too looking ok - the seeds were 'shovelled' in under an old windscreen late Feb, and being quite hardy, survived the cold and came up as plants about a month or so later, then to be planted out a bit later this year - mid April onwards. The idea behind this method is to avoid losing plants to frost in winter which can happen in a hard year when they are autumn/early winter planted, and yet to still get quite an early crop of beans as there's not too much else to pick then, and the ground can then be 'second cropped' for leeks or winter greens, for instance.
That most useful crop, spring cabbage, in that it comes to fruition around now, the 'leanest' time of year, is later than normal due to the cold March/April period, but should be available within days now. Last year, with it's sunny March, it was plentiful early on. Ah well, variety is the spice...and that's surely one of the joys and interests of growing, every season is different. The problem with the spring cabbage is that it can be 'hungry gap' feed for wood pigeons, especially with ever more of them living almost 'domestically', nesting, for instance in the holly trees between the small paddock and the veg growing ground - a protective tent out of odd bits of wire-netting solve the job, though.
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'More micro: Logs-istics------'
Next winter's wood in the form of logs arrived on the driveway in April, a welcome sight. They are covered with a plastic sheet and the job of wheelbarrowing them into the 'logistics' centre, a concrete ex garage with the useful feature of an unfolding wall, is done over a few days - it's a sort of 'fill in' easy job when there's quite a bit else to do, and as such it's quite a peaceful, steady activity. And after a few days - hey presto - a full logstore, a pleasing and reassuring sight. Not, though, quite strictly true this year, as it'll be only three parts full, as this coming year two-thirds plus of the wood will be bought, then to be augmented by approx a third to be sawn in the autumn from the woodpiles collected up over the last few years in anticipation of energy cost increases. Some might say wood is costly in terms of handling compared with other fuels, and it is handled a few times: being cut into logs, loaded onto trailers for delivery, unloaded into store, brought from store to the place of burning, and then put on the fire. Here, the unloading and stacking into store gives its own satisfaction, and the hands-on approach to fuel in the winter likewise, so - no problem, quite the reverse in fact.
'More than---'
More than before, more than others in general, more than others in particular - there are presumably quite a few ways to get into a 'more, more' sequence, and to be fair, it does seem to be one of the tenets of modern culture, in which the model citizen should be competitive, 'aspirationally' seeking to 'better' her/hiself, which can then often seem to translate into creating a wanting for more at the material level. Whilst this may particularly and 'naturally' suit, say, younger people, aiming to establish themselves, and of course the commercial business world, for which having everyone thirsting after more and more material goods represent then the promise of good profits, might not such an aspirational slant not always necessarily suit all - ? One senior UK politician, for instance, recently warned his colleagues that quite a few preferred more long-term values such as family and social values, which any individual competitive 'out-for-self' aspirational mass trend might well then conflict with.
'More-over-----'
Another 'more' effect might be to create a sort of single-minded obsession with 'aspirational gain' - a sort of treadmill effect potentially leading to a 'perpetual dissatisfaction' syndrome, which then could interfere with the person involved actually gaining enjoyment/satisfaction from the current level of life - ? A psychologist from the USA, Erich Fromm, noted quite a few years ago in his book 'The Sane Society' that although Americans had a high standard of material-level satisfaction, the same wasn't necessarily true of their psychcological/inner satisfaction levels. Many people of course work things out for themselves ('freerangers') and, for instance, a survey of American millionaires some years ago, showed they weren't necessarily slaves to money or materialism, driving , for instance, cars on average over five years old (there may have been heavier 'social conditioning' with stronger 'mass culture' influences in recent years to push people to go for and display wealth more - ??).
'Mores and ways-----'
In a western-style culture, money can be important, in that insufficient of it can create problems - put survival at risk, even. There's been a rise, for instance, in the UK of 'food banks' providing social assistance to people unable now to afford to pay for food, a development one food professor decried just recently in terms of it being a de-civilisation trend in a so-called civilised country. The question for the individual that is of a 'freerange' bent, working things out for themselves, might be as to whether getting on the 'more, more' treadmill might ultimately interfere with and limit life satisfaction and fulfillment - ? Such considerations then link in with a long-term on-going conundrum of the 'old' question whether over-pursuit of 'to have', conflicts with the notion of 'to be' - ? The well-reported sensation of 'is this it?' from people who've cracked the wealth game might presumably sort of support the idea that longer-term satisfaction and fulfillment might originate from the fuller development of the individual, as some psychologists such as Abraham Maslow have suggested in the past i.e the 'to be' mode. Pragmatically in a money-driven society the 'to have' side, though, maybe can't be ignored - maybe it's a case of then remembering that old saying 'money can be a bad master, but a good servant' and achieving an effective balance----?
'More or less-----?'
Economic use of resources or even 'frugalism' to use its rather more dramatic term, can presumably bring its own particular brand of satisfaction, in the sense that an economic resolution to a situation can also deliver a degree of achievement, thereby adding to any satisfaction harvest. The well-known scenario of 'getting a bargain', for instance, can probably illustrate this. Maybe wealthy people then have to forego such effects, thereby potentially reducing their overall 'life satisfaction' tariff - ? The wider angle of living economically/frugally could be the aspect then of 'treading lightly', respecting and nurturing the planet, Mother Earth (good term 'Mother' - ?), which again could give a further portion of personal satisfaction - ?
A family recently on UK TV lived in New Zealand, twenty eight miles from the nearest town or road. They lived simply mainly off the land and nearby sea, also creating paintings and art objects from jade found on the shore to sell on their infrequent trips to town to give themselves cash for other necessities, which didn't include fuel, which the sea delivered virtually to their door in the form of drift wood. A pretty cash 'unrich' lifestyle (and 'freerange'), but who needs cash when most of what's needed and wanted is already there - ?
Another TV programme featured a skilled woodsman living and working in a wood in the UK, making his own eco house out of wood from his wood and bought straw bales. He had to buy other items such as windows, stove etc - his total outlay was around £25k -not too much for a very comfortable, cosy, eco-sound and aesthetically-pleasing dwelling.
The sense of satisfaction that this house-builder experienced must have been something else - it was important to him, for instance, to use his own eco-friendly materials and to do the skilled work via his own hands. If the saying 'less can be more' has some truth in it, might it be apposite for modern 'affluenzic' times, the message being that the (narrow?) road of wealth-creation may have limitations in terms of providing ultimately satisfying lifestyles-----??
'Yer pays yer money and teks yer choice ----', presumably linking to that Buddhist quote shown on the TV programme the other night about the illustrious American scientist, Richard Feynman:
'Man has the key to the doorway to heaven, but it also fits the one to hell'
Some feel that living simply and in tune with nature is one way to find the 'right door'. One devotee stated it as follows:
'To be thankful and content with what I have-------to feel the peace and happiness of being able to share it with others-----to be living in accord with what I need rather than what I want'. (from Simple Living Guide, Janet Luhrs, Broadway books)
A different approach maybe, to, say, any current 'mass culture' more materialistically-based trend, but then isn't it the individual's right to find out for themselves what gives them satisfaction and fulfillment, what makes them happy - ?
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