'Goosey, goosey ---- '
Geese seemingly everywhere these last few weeks in October at the organic eco micro-holding in the UK midlands - well, maybe not quite everywhere, but as they've been feeding in the large corn stubble field just over the hedge from the cottage, and as they can be quite noisy, 'honking and cackling', as it were, it does at times seem as if they're surrounding the place. Having a crafty ganders at them through the hedge, gave the impression that there were several hundreds of them feeding, mainly Canada geese but with a few odd sorts thrown in. They seemed to be in about four separate flocks, each with their on-guard sentries posted on the lookout for danger - quite a thrill to have them so adjacent. They do seem to fly in smaller squadrons though - unusually, there was even a flight of just one the other day.
The geese are grazers, eating the weed grass and sprouted corn on the stubbles - can't be that appetising though, cold wet early morning herbage - not quite as good as a bowl of, say, hot porridge with a slick of syrup ---- Still, each to their own, and they do seem to 'survive and thrive'. There is a small resident flock hereabouts, of maybe 60 - 70, so these larger flocks would seem to be mainly migrant birds, from Sandinavia/Iceland according to the bird book. The last migrant flock to take up residence on this piece of land was about three years ago, with two - three hundred lapwings having arrived probably from Russia, and thrilling by performing formation flying high up in the sky, apparently a comparatively rare event.
'Thumb rules ---- '
Autumn seasonal work has been well under way, with the main hedges now trimmed and a good two-man sawing session filling up the woodstore. Plenty of leaves still on the trees now at the end of October, a lot of them not really having changed too much yet in colour - still quite green in fact. The alium leaf miner attack on the leeks has too come very late - hopefully that may mean that most of them will still be ok, and that the earlier nettle juice applications they had helped to stave off a major attack. As there's a considerable amount of vegetation here for a relatively small area (half an acre, .2 ha), there's also always quite a bit of lopping and trimming of it to do at the backend, some of which does result in a supply of 'small' wood for the fires. Three bikes, the electric bike and the small electric rotary mower were getting in the way a bit in the 'logs-istics' centre, so some of the recently arrived pallets, with more side planks then added, were used to build a 'bike shed' against the leylandii hedge - some spare tin and plastic sheets used to roof it - and all at zero on-cost, satisfyingly appealing to the freerange frugal instincts ------
Plenty still to do, such as digging in grass/weeds as green manure, scything nettles down in the orchard in the paddock, and trimming the paddock hedges. Runner beans were still available till the end of October from a couple of tripods of them, covered in clear plastic sheets as temperatures were that much cooler, and lasted to pick for nearly four months, about normal for here (the record was one week short of five months). They've lasted longer than most in these parts, partly being sown in two batches, but also probably getting more watering than some, according to numerous local reports of beans suddenly going past it. Growing over two metres high, they are plants that take a lot of moisture from a small area of ground, and as a 'rule of thumb', it's probably wise to give them about twice the amount of water as is at first planned. The tomatoes in the top greenhouse lasted to mid November, and have been quite a reasonable crop.
'Corporate culture clashes ----- '
The on-going battle with firms seemingly practising the contemporary 'on the make', 'screw as much as possible out of the customer' commercial model (where did the good old 'treat the customer well, give them a good deal, and they'll be back for more' style disappear to ?) continues. The latest mini 'commercial fracas' came in trying to change over insurance from one car to another, with the quote for the 'new' car coming in at virtually double that of the existing one, and apparently no option from these insurance brokers of finding a more cost effective quote. One phone call to alternative brokers found in the phone book resulted in a quote at half the cost i.e the same rate that had been levied before. No option was left other than to cancel the week-long old policy, but then at a cost of losing 40% of the premium charged - a dear job for one week's insurance. No doubt when the other car's insurance comes due , there won't be too much motivation in using this firm again, so for the lack of a bit of 'customer care', they'll then have lost the business from both cars.
It's increasingly become policy here to deal with firms which do exhibit some 'customer care', (and therefore respect for the individual), which again was the reason for a change of phone and broadband supplier, away from the large conglomerate supplier who's charges mysteriously seemed to creep up month by month, to a smaller supplier with a known reputation for good customer service, and offering a good service at a reasonable and fixed price. True to form, the existing large supplier sent an e-mail designed to scare a person into staying with them. The e-mail was also (deliberately-?) scanty on hard facts, so they had to be contacted by phone, and guess what - yes - the hard sell. Patience started to run a bit thin when the guy on the other end of the phone took no notice on being told three times that the decision to switch suppliers had already been made (not too much respect for the customer there then?), although there was a silence when told for a fourth time , together with the comment that this sort of customer disrespect and hassle only confirmed the leaving decision. One of the difficult points for the firm's operative to get seemed to be the fact that to him no one in their right mind could/would refuse the (slightly) lower cost deal he was now offering - a good example of the way the money factor can 'narrow' focus and lead to a very limited one-dimensional take - ?
'Faith restoration ------ '
Fortunately, the hereabouts local rural community's always there to restore a bit of faith in human nature. The rotary mower which sycthes down the grass in the small paddock every two/three weeks was showing one or two signs of 'age and infirmity'. As having 'back-up' appeals here, it seemed like a good idea to sort a new mower, to leave then the older one as 'reserve capacity'. A mower was spotted in one of the big DIY chain stores in a local town, but minus both oil filler and petrol caps - they'd been nicked whilst it was on display. The upside was that it had been reduced to nearly half price, and there was a hint of an inkling where replacement caps might be found, so the purchase was made, and on getting back to the cottage, it was down the road to see good ol' big 'T,' who true to form, came up with the necessary at no extra cost - T acts as the local scrap depot and generally has a few mowers hanging around. Another 'good neighbour' used his mech. knowledge and skill to free a rotavator engine, again at zero on-cost - they're good folk in this neck of the woods, mostly, just one or two who don't 'connect', and most take pleasure and pride in being good neighbours. Oh, and there was a free servicable small trailer too from T, just needs a bit of titivating and doing up. It's a bit like the comic Ken Dodd's drum - 'yer canna beat it ------- '
'Un-faith rules ---- ?'
With modern commercial culture involving seemingly trying to screw the maximum out of people (not to mention the reported 'dodgy dealings' here in the UK financial ector, where unlike Iceland - apparently there there are 29 financiers in jail out of a population of just 330,000 - there doesn't seem to have been too much in the way of retribution ), and employing 'big is best' attitudes which appears to have lead to bullying behaviours, with the lone un-power unit that is the individual on the receiving end (latest paper reports, for instance, reveal sick and dying people have had benefits cut and have been made to work), it's perhaps not too surprising that 'trust and faith' in the system has reportedly declined sharply.
It's commonly perceived here in the UK that the ruling elite and 'top people' have 'filled their boots' and done rather over-well in recent years, with so-called 'ordinary folk' not faring too well, the result of a perceived unfair society, a state the new UK prime minister has publicly recognised, as have voters seemingly in the UK and the USA recently. The free market has seemingly morphed into the 'free-for-all' market, increasingly dominated by large powerful 'oligopolistic'(few powerful suppliers) organisations, as the essential characteristic of a free market i.e. that of many buyers and sellers, does not seem to have been maintained, for the purpose of avoiding large, powerful predatory firms ('power corrupts') over-powerfully dominating the market place (eg.s ( in UK) energy suppliers, banks, food suppliers et al).
If people experience unfairness and inequality, it's probably not unreasonable to suggest that their motivation, willingness and responsibility levels can then be negatively affected, so in the longer-term such a non 'inclusive' society may not run 'on all cylinders', as it were. And what of individuals themselves? Does the modern type of 'power and money' society mean that it's all up for the powerless entity that is the individual, which is the way things seem to have gone - ? Of course it's not the most conducive or pleasant experience to feel part of the 'disenfranchised', low importance sector of society (there are societies - Denmark for instance - wherein trust and 'inclusiveness' are actually valued - Denmark officially recently identified as the happiest world society).
The human spirit being what it is, means that it's probably true that individuals don't necessarily 'give up the ghost', but rather try to find ways of surviving within the perceived 'oppressive' system (eg.s zero hours contracts, non-recognition of employee organisations), then use their positive energies elsewhere wth families, with their own interests and pursuits, with their own chosen activities. Part of the problem would seem to lie in the perception that 'big is best', particularly relevant maybe in a 'largist' culture, therefore 'non-big', small, is unimportant. In one important area, though, this may not be the case - in fact, even the reverse maybe .
'Quantity v. quality ----'
Such a modern focus on 'big' could be said to put emphasis on 'quantity' to the then detriment of 'quality', resulting in an 'imbalance' situation. Examples of lower quality could be for instance, the way money and money gaining has tended to become an over-riding priority ('quantity'), resulting in the diminishing of deeper and longer-term human values, such as trust and loyalty ('quality'). Robert Pirsig, in his renowned 'Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance' work, argued that the repositary for 'quality' lies in individuals rather than organisations , hence individuals become of increased importance as the 'guardians of quality'. There is too, the line of thought that 'higher' type of experiences, such as spiritual feeling, transcendant awareness and the like, can only be accessed via individual questing and work at self-awareness, leading to expanded 'universal' awareness (then potentially leading to 'sane' people and 'sane' societies' - ?)
In pre-organisation days this was apparently recognised with individuals encouraged to self-quest, then, the argument goes, along came organisational 'big' power, then demoting individual power to a secondary role. Salvation, for instance, was gained by following the organisation's (eg. religious order) teaching and diktats, rather than any path of the individual's self-search. Could this situation then be a basic faultline in today's situation - ? Can, for instance, a 'real' society be engineered by control mechanisms (ranging, say, from use of authority to socal conditioning), or does it emanate from people who gain a Maslow-type of 'fuller development' experience, then finding their own sense of sociability and social responsibility - ? (ref.: Abraham Maslow's 'self-actualisation' people development process).
'Harmony rules ---- '
The 'individual path' route is the one which strikes a chord and 'reverberates internally' here, and the micro-holding semi self-sufficient style of life is in at least part to help bolster the independent spirit in the modern face of considerable organisational and media power, then better able to practise the noble art of 'freerange -living'---- . Maybe with all the practice, one day perfection may be reached - ? In the meantime, it's back out in the now cold winter air to dig more of the self-set green manure in, to saw up more wood (it's cold here now early November and a cold first half of winter is predicted), and to finish the maintenance work of hedging and lopping. Then, inside for an earned warm sit in front of the woodstove - yer canna beat it -----
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