Free-Range Living

'Pester, Pester ----- '

 'Icy blast -----'

  Here at the organic eco micro-holding in the UK midlands just after Xmas there's been quite a bit of cold, wintry weather, with frosts and fog giving a mid-winter look to things hereabouts. Although small in area, the holding's considerable amount of vegetation seems to support quite a few birds, all waiting for the bread to be put out on the feeding stations these cold frosty mornings, besides the stuff in the bird feeders opposite the kitchen window and down in the paddock. The first icy blast of the winter a few weeks ago seemed to knock the 'wild bunch' hens a bit, down now to three as one succumbed, and egg production faltered, but they seem to have now recovered their act - got more used to the cold probably - and are laying pretty well again. Still up to their old Houdini-style tricks, regularly escaping their pen to then find their way to the paddock - thankfully the fences there are now sound, so Reynard's predations have been foiled - it wasn't great to lose most of the mini flock to a fox a year or two ago.

Longer-term fuel supplies ------

The new incoming manager of the farm just at the end of the lane kindly gave the ok to raid the farm's waste wood pile, so with the help of a small handtruck, quite a bit of buckshee wood has been safely gathered in over the period of a few days, now residing in a pile under a strong plastic cover, ready and waiting to supply part of next year's wood supply. Some of it though was sawn up to augment the current wood supply to ensure sawn logs till the end of winter, which gave the opportunity to try a new electric chainsaw bought pretty cheaply from a local discount food outlet, and which proved to be more than up to the task, and for a few extra bucks, coming with a useful spare new chain - always good to have back-up, enhancing that satisfying 'self-reliant' feeling. The existing electric chainsaw hadn't been operating too well, with the chain jumping off a bit too regularly but closer examination revealed several teeth missing from the chain which could explain things. It recently then being equipped with a new chain means now having two operational chainsaws both in fine fettle, so things are looking good in that department.

'Pest-erers  ---- '

The good growing conditions late on in the season this year - plenty of sun and appropriate rains - had the effect of 'elongating' the season, so the alium leaf miner attack on the leeks came later, October instead of Aug/Sept, for awhile it seemed that the little blighter pests had gone elsewhere - no such luck though. So what was looking to be a fine bed of leeks now looks in a bit of a sorry state, with well over half the plants no longer 'fine and upstanding', the fly having sucked the goodness out of them. This has happened to the maincrop onions for the last two/three years, and then they've revived, with the help of nettle juice applications, and gone on to make a half decent crop. Whether or not these leeks will revive is a moot point, it's hardly prime growing time in mid-winter - still, fingers and everything crossed. At least there's about a third of them currently usable, to have as delicious, fresh boiled or steamed veg, and to use with home-grown potatoes to make  potato and leek broth - just the job for  winter appetites. The winter greens - this year mainly purple sprouting - are looking ok/good, and some of it has already produced some purple shoots, so with luck and a prevailing wind, the crop should come to fruition in stages over the next 2/3 months, which would just suit fine and dandy.

'Blitzing tactics ----- '

One of the perils of highly commercialised modern life seems to be buying over the internet or contacting by e-mail, only then to be besieged by endless e-mails - presumably these companies must operate on the basis that people capitulate given a certain high amount of 'e' onslaught - ? Maybe, though, they don't think through the potential effects of such tactics, which would mean having to both respect the space of their potential customers, and to make an effort to better understand them - ? Judging from the amount of adverse comments people make generally about such 'e' blitz tactics, there must be the distinct possibility that there is a counter-productive effect - i.e. such tactics switch some off buying rather than on -? Some outfits send them interminably - they don't seem to take the 'no sale' hint, and making it awkward to 'unsubscribe', then definitely get to the 'pester' level. There's pressure to get high sales for sure, but trying to 'force' them by hard selling tactics might still have a rebound effect in the longer run ------ ( and then there's the need to put on offers, give special deals and so forth to try to drum up lost trade ----- 'shutting stable door after horse has bolted' syndrome - ?)

'Eco worriers ----- '

Talking of 'mainstreams' as in the piece last month, it seems that eco issues and people are going to be even less regarded, and even more relegated to the 'backwater' station, given the changes happening within the world, and in the face of considerable scientific work and opinion. The new current scenario seems, incredulously, to be that it's ok to think what you want, to create a personal reality, as it were, regardless whether it pretty obviously flys in the face of actual reality, ( and even to the point of creating 'false news'), and so people such as academics including scientists investigating actual reality, are conveniently bye-passed, and therefore diminished. This could be quite an astonishing turn of events to more than a few, worryingly so considering the level of power being exercised within this scenario ------- Presumably it's this level of power that's instrumental in allowing 'self-reality' people to think like this and to take this line - ? No-one though, however powerful or however unpowerful, presumably has automatic rights to 'rightness'-? One line of thinking suggests that moving away from actual reality could be a dangerous move , with a 'distortion' effect that could then impact negatively on key areas such as for instance, decision making and longer-term resource husbandry.

'Husband - ing ---- '

The feeling here is 'to go with the feeling', and that is that it's probably not a bad idea to rein back on over-consumption and to eke out and care for scarce resources prudently, a sentiment that probably applies to both the 'macro' world and to the 'micro' worlds. Here at this particular micro world, attempts to make effective use of scarce resources are made by balancing the budget each month, including allowing to put a bit aside for a rainy day, by rationing out the fuel so it lasts out the season, to eke out the home grown produce so it lasts until the new crops come along next spring, and last but by no means least, to look after long-term the basic resource, soil, just as many farmers practice (UK farmer saying : 'Live as if you'll die tomorrow, farm as if you'll live for ever'). Growing via the (organic) biological system on the same patch of land for now well over three decades seems to have got the ground into a healthy state - previous soil problems such as root fly, white onion rot and club root have all faded away, and crops these days look healthy and abundant. Doing a bit of resource husbandry does give some positive returns , not least in the area of longer-term security, plus of course a bit of personal satisfaction via playing the responsible longer-term 'husbanding' role . And of course, talking of husbanding 'scarce resources', trying too to take good care of the micro-holder via a bit of mid-winter semi-hibernation rest, and without whom the micro world doesn't function ------ .