Free-Range Living

'Neat and Tidy----'

'Un-tidy----?'

This time of year - early Sept. - here at the eco organic micro-holding (small smallholding) in the UK midlands, the compost heap is beginning to reach sizeable proportions, with anything that's green and 'waste' going onto it, such as potato and veg peelings, finished veg growth such as bean stalks and haulms, the odd lot of grass clippings when the grass has got a bit too prolific, hedge clippings and weed vegetation including occasional nettles. The veg growing area often isn't a shining example of neatness, in that weeding tends to be done periodically rather than regularly, which then gives more material for the compost heap, needed when it's a 'permaculture self-sufficent in nutrients' system, and for which the guiding principle is 'bung it on'.

 According though to one recent TV gardening programme, this really won't do - apparently a 'holding pen' is needed for fresh material, which is then beaten into bits before joining the compost pile proper, and then needing to be mixed with an equal amount of dry material, although what this was and where it came from, was a touch unclear. Then all the compost material was then to be turned and mixed, possibly several times. Seemed quite a kerfuffle, contrasting with the simple 'bung it on' method used here, and yet every year for quite awhile ( thirty odd years) , compost has been produced, and seems to have done the biz, growing wise. It possibly takes longer to make - this year's pile of green waste material will get used as made compost in the 2015 growing season for instance. Continuity is solved by having three compost heaps (with only rudimentary supports), and the human energy input into making it is thankfully  obviously quite a bit lower than the TV recommended process - there seems to be enough to do without making any more work.

'Tidy-ing----'

Hedge-cutting and spar lopping are a couple of jobs coming up, which will tidy the place up somewhat -it is looking a little ragged with all the considerable summer growth there's been this year. It's been a good growing year after its late start - it was still looking like and as cold as, mid-winter here in mid April. The jobs list include quite a few that hopefully will have a bit of a tidying effect: a wooden 'box' cover to make for the gas cylinders, a door to make for the new rustic porch, a bit of house painting at the back of the cottage and replacing some of the conservatory's wood to make it sound. So along with the normal autumn maintenance jobs of hedge cutting, clearing out the run-offs to the septic tanks, digging up the potatoes, clearing vine growth from getting into the roof and clearing the veg ground, there'll be plenty to go at. C'est la vie du micro-holding, n'est-ce-pas? Not too earth shattering, maybe, but still giving earthy and earthly satisfactions.

Another spot of current tidying relates to the winter veg brassica plants which have been invaded with caterpillars, which often happens, although in the damp squib of last year's summer there were virtually none, and to maintain organic, they have to be removed 'digitally', which makes it sound a bit high tech, whereas it's about as low tech as can be. If caterpillar genocide wasn't practiced, there'd simply be no crop - as it is they still do a fair bit of damage, but if helped by de-caterpillarisation, the plants then recover. From a nature point of view, of course, lots of caterpillars mean lots of butterflies, which after last year's fiasco is good to see, and some plants are sacrificed - this year broccoli plants - to the caterpillars on the basis of supporting nature as well as benefitting from it. Most of the wee beasties are easy to spot, being the black and yellow offspring of one of the cabbage white butterflies, but then there's the sneaky green ones -not sure who they belong to -but far more tricky to spot. No good either just clearing them once or twice - it has to be a daily slaughter for awhile.

'Neat info----'

 One of the fascinations of growing things must surely be trying new things and learning new stuff, with the latest 'lesson' coming from a later pea crop, sown in mid-June, and proving to be completely free of pea-moth grubs, which seemed to hit the earlier sown peas quite hard this year. Useful to know, also, because a pea crop could then be what's called a 'catch' crop - one sown after another, say early potatoes, making double use as it were of the ground. Peas are an attractive crop to grow, pleasing to the eye and producing good organic tasty produce suitable to both fresh use and to freezing for winter use, whilst at the same time 'fixing' plant nutrients (eg. nitrogen) into the soil from the atmosphere. The stick supports for the pea plants are the tops of a sycamore hedge here which is 'topped' over winter, and when the pea crop has finished they've become brittle, then very suitable as kindling for lighting the two daily fires here in the winter (i.e. woodstove, and front room evening open fire). For a year or two peas seem to struggle to grow here but now seem to go ok - maybe the deeper cultivation of the soil for them did the trick - ?

Another recent activity has been collecting nature's bounty - plums, apples and damsons from the micro-holding and this year's bountiful blackberries to make jelly/jam and wine, from a common land area a couple of miles or so from here with lots of trees which acts as an unofficial nature reserve and has the advantage of being relatively private - perhaps not too many know of it. With food prices now predicted to treble over the next couple of decades, allied to probable stiffish increases in energy prices, the 'grow/collect your own' for so-called 'ordinary folks' under financial pressure, may be becoming more meaningful - ?

'Neat work -----'

'-----if you can get it'. A reasonably local biggish garden centre required a visit as it was selling off end of season seed packets for around 25% of normal prices, which has then hopefully made quite a dent in next year's seed costs, as well as providing some different and some more exotic lines. Whilst there, a flyer for a solar energy firm was casually collected, to be then perused more closely on returning to the ranch. Good job -apparently anyone could apply for the FREE solar pack from this firm giving them a) the info of how much solar energy income they'd receive, b) 2 free mugs and 2 free pens and c)a DVD showing a solar installation - and all this apparently according to the blurb, was worth £89(!) - crikey, must be big mugs - nearly as big as anyone might be for swallowing the 'favour' they seem to want to get people to see it as. Be neat, though, just now and again, to be (respectfully) treated as an 'un-mug'---??

'Tidy sums------'

It's perhaps not too hard to spend quite a bit of money these days, especially with the degree of pressurised selling via copious adverts on TV or pesky hard selling invasive 'cold' phone calls to the home. As the latter often seem to come at either meal times or selected viewing times, they can be disruptive - maybe collectively they could be counter-productive  - ? The reported pressure to make high short-term profits presumably must have had  quite an effect, converting then to pressure to make high sales figures. Psychologically, though, isn't the 'normal' reaction to force/pressure, 'resistance', so although the short-term pressure might result in sales, buyers might 'strike back' in the longer-term by choosing to go elsewhere, resulting in problems for 'repeat' sales ( with then the 'vicious circle' effect, having then to apply even more pressure/incentives to get sales) - ??

 There's a good example of the alternative approach hereabouts, involving a double glazing window firm, an area of business traditionally associated with pressurising sales practices, such as '50% off' sales campaigns, doing the potential customer a favour by 'preferential' treatment such as phoning the boss whilst in the selling interview to get the 'extra' 10% discount. Presumably such firms work on the presumption of relatively low levels of customer 'nouse' - ? The glazing firm in these parts though, has the reverse problem - that of trying to satisfy all its potential queued-up customers. This firm appears to benefit considerably from the pressuriation tactics of its larger rivals, gaining from customers reaction to pressurisation. It also has zero marketing costs, all its business coming either from word-of-mouth recommendations or repeat business, due to its good reputation locally.

 How it got the reputation is not exactly hard to see - it has consistently given good value for money, great service, and 'real', respectful treatment of customers. Of course such a reputation took some time to build up, but as the people involved were not in too much of a hurry to make their fortunes, they were able to practice what they believed and grow 'organically' to the moderate size the business is today. Must be quite a stress-free, pleasant sort of a business life, reaping ample rewards not only financially but also in terms of wider satisfactions - neat, eh ?

'Neat-ish----'

One of the strategies which can be employed to try to cope with an invasive, demanding commercially-orintated culture could be via cultivating an eastern, maybe Buddhist, type of approach, keeping needs to lower than excessive levels, and then seeking to meet them in as 'economic' way as possible, which although unlikely to bring any 'spender of the month' award, may help somewhat with peace of mind. Anyone who's experienced lean times may know and understand the pleasure to be had in 'NSM' ('not spending money'), and of course saving money could well add to personal security.

 Even a two-pronged' attack could be used, spending having been identified by some as a palliative for an unfulfilling life. Remebering then the principles of freewill and individual rights, anyone can then undertake their own ('freerange') enquiry into why their lives may be unfullfilling, and what might fulfill them more. Socrates, it was, who stated 'Know thyself' as a route to human contentment, whilst someone else who's name escapes was of the opinion that 'a life unexamined, is a life not worth living', all of which could fit in with the 'feerange-type' of notion some have to there being a sort of on-going evolution of man towards a state of  'perfect knowing'.

Ah well, the recently finished so-called 'penny-less' porch built from materials gathered at no little/cost here on the micro-holding has satisfied the 'not spending dosh' syndrome for a bit. Now where else can the reins be drawn in----or could it be time to splash out ??