Free-Range Living

Amazing quick change in the countryside hereabouts, (UK midlands) with it now stunningly clothed in green so soon after its barren mid-winter look. All the produce in the veg ground here at the organic eco micro-holding (small smallholding) has come on apace, after much of it had to be put in under covers, with the potatoes, onions and broad beans all doing well.

With questions being asked about tax avoidance practices by large firms and top managers getting healthy pay rises whilst pay restraint is in place, questions have been raised as to the un-levelness of the playing fields - one Uk paper  for instance starting a campaign. One world religious leader has suggested that lack of social awareness is a potential problen these days, with even so-called primitive societies having achieved balance between individual and social needs.

 One individualist, whilst seeming pretty anarchic in some ways, proved to be making quite a social contribution.

 

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Spring has rushed in changing the landscape here in the UK midlands from a 'bleak mid-winter' scene in mid-April to a vibrant green landscape three weeks later. It's been 'catch-up' time planting and sowing crops here on the organic eco micro-holding (small smallholding), along with sorting other micro-holding jobs such as storing next year's wood for the woodburner under cover for it to dry out well over the coming summer. It's the lean time for produce to eat - it's a good job the spring cabbage bed is shortly to come on-stream. 'Aspirational' times can foster a trend of 'more, more' which may suit some, and may not fit overwell with others.  One of the possible pitfalls could be presumably getting a strong 'more' focus, then 'missing' on potential current satisfactions -? The other area which might by default suffer from a strong focus on wealth and material gain,  could potentially be the personal development side,  the 'to be' side, as against the 'to have' side' - ?  Some have reconciled these differing aspects by adopting a 'simple living' philosophy, concentrating on a 'living to need' approach, as a couple of case-studies illustrate.

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Seasonal progress here on the organic eco micro-holding (small smallholding) in the UK midlands has been held up significantly due to the east-wind cold, frosty weather lasting throughout March and well into April - at mid-April it's still a pretty wintery landscape. The grass in the nearby fields looks pretty unhealthy - dark, brownish, yellowish - and the clover's been hard hit by both pigeons and frosts. The prolonged cold wintery weather has mean't sawing up more wood than usual for the woodburner, at the same time, though, fortunately avoiding the significant increases in heating costs that many have had to  pay. Many are apparently reverting to 'protective freerange' mode, reportedly looking to grow their own food and have their own fowl, for instance. There's been a heavy media focus on the passing of a former UK prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, with opinion as to her effect being pretty split, and with some discontent regarding the scale and cost of her funeral. Divisive to the end, it would seem, as in public life in the UK, with current contention between politicians and Church leaders. 'Small', non-public life, though, can offer calmer waters - ?

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Mid-March gone and the countryside hereabouts (UK midlands) could by its appearance still be in mid-winter. The woodpigeons are still on the fields of clover, the fruit blossom is struggling to get out, and very little as yet has been planted/ sown in the ground.

The 'freerange' activity of trying to get 'the big boys' to play fair still continues, with various 'big business' skirmishes over the past few weeks, and the pleasant re-discovery that dealing with people directly at a premises can still give a  pleasant  'human' experience.  Encouragement came from the perhaps unlikely source of the obituary of a Frenchman who'd written a well-known booklet extolling the need for individuals to 'counter the system'. 'Business-isation' methods seem to have proliferated in recent years, with governments. for instance, adopting them seemingly wholesale, although the limitations of some, for example, 'target culture', are beginning to be more identified these days.

The seasons change here on the eco micro-holding, with 'countryside combing' now giving way to planting and sowing, only to be hindered by the cold late 'unsprung spring'.

 

 

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After a day or two in early Feb with the sun shining, the seasonal 'growing urge' can strike, reminding of the 'elemental' side of life. Preparing the ground and putting on the compost and woodash here on the miniscule enterprise that is the eco micro-holding (small smallholding) is grist to the 'growing' mill.  Plenty of birds are around here - some resident, some hard weather visitors, although the flock of resident doves now seem to have found new lodgings. 

TV ads seem to proliferate these days - can so many be 'counter-productive' - ? Commercial news can sometimes seem to imply things should be 'ever upward', but realistically, sometimes it can be more of a case of 'damage limitation'.  Does the seemingly march of central and commercial power, though, carry within it longer-term problems for individual rights? There have already been reports of government intentions to offer people money to give up rights, for instance, and reports that there's a move within the UK governing party to 'sign off' from the European Human Rights Charter.

 

 

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It's the time of year for white and semi-white landscapes adjacent to the organic eco micro-holding (small smallholding) here in the UK midlands, it's almost 'shut-down' in the countryside here.

Modern cultural life, though, is a wee bit faster-paced, not many perhaps getting the restorative and reflective benefits of semi-hibernation. One older widower did reflect, and decided not to join the 'affluent' society, even though he could well afford it. One effect of a 'change, change' culture could be that hard-won knowledge and experience from the past gets to be 'downgraded', but maybe at times to detrimental effect     - ?

An unusual farming family 'ploughed their own ('freerange') furrow', again not following the 'norm' trend, but with great effect in terms of their own job/life satisfactions. Cultural fashions change, though - a year or two back not so many were after wood as a fuel and allotments laid empty. Now there's waiting lists and the woodstove fires are burning, with self-sustaining activity more in vogue, maybe helping 'connectivity' with natural patterns - ?

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The colder December weather here on the eco micro-holding (small smallholding) in the UK midlands has brought on the winter bird feeding, and apparently, according to the news,  the slightly startling news that there's been quite an increase in the number of people in the UK who have to choose between 'eat or heat'. Various solutions have been proffered, but maybe the problem could just lie in having only a few  large powerful suppliers - ?

British dairy farmers have also been facing 'large-scale' power, protesting at the below viability milk prices they've been getting. One concern in the UK rural sector is that the current exodus of small-scale independent dairy producers will inexorably then lead to the establishment of very large industrial-scale indoor milk production units, to the detriment of the smaller independent producers unloved by large-scale operators, and possibly to independence within society itself, and of course to the ability of animals to lead 'natural behaviour' lives.

The emphasis on 'large' and the seemingly growing number of large, powerful commercial organisations, and governments seemingly keen on having 'high-control' roles in society could have threat implications to the power-bereft microcosm that is the individual, even though eminent writers have over the years warned against the limitations on 'giantism', and supported the notion that individuals are the source of 'quality values'. The individual may well need to seek to counter some of the modern cultural effects, the use , for instance of, solar generated electric being a possible way of limiting if not negating continuing rising costs.

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Maintenance and renovation work are the order of the day right now here on the eco organic micro-holding (small smallholding) in the UK  midlands, both of which can give their own brands of satisfaction. Clearing end of season produce and plants such as apples and runner beans away, often onto the compost heap, is another current 'labour of love' - no such thing as 'waste' in a biologically-based 'permaculture' (self-sustaining soil fertility) system.

With 'size nearly meaning everything' these days, does it mean smaller operations and entities (eg. such as individuals), get by default 'shorter shrift' - could hard-won individual human rights even be under a level of threat, with the government here in the UK apparently planning to offer employees inducements to part with some rights, and some larger firms being  charged with aggressive mis-selling to people - ?

A level of individual independence is still likely to be of importance to some - freerangers? -and people can make their own decisions and take their own actions, as a 'freeranger' case-study illustrates.

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Scientists now say the arctic ice cap is melting even faster than previously predicted, although there seems to have built up a growing band of global warming deniers, who presumably for their own reasons are not keen to take on board the results of the boffins' research.

The season here (UK MIdlands) on the organic eco micro-holding (small smallholding) has been pretty late due probably to lack of summer sun. Even the swallows were late away on their epic 6000 mile migration, and many of the usual micro-holding crops have been late maturing, which seems to tie in with farmers' experience this year.

Reflecting on man's relationship with nature, it seems evident many individuals have strong connections with it, which presumably come from an internal source, maybe connected to David Attenborough (well-known UK naturalist) 's assertion that all animal life is related having common single-cell ancestors. Maybe this could help explain the aversion some people feel to 'exploitive' systems of animal keeping over-geared to man's needs at the expense of animals' natural needs and behaviours, the observation of which can then give a 'reflective glow'.

 

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Already now in mid-Sept, anticipation of the up-coming autumn and winter seasons is rife. Current eco micro-holding (small smallholding) tasks continue unabated : picking runner beans, collecting apples, digging potatoes, drying and storing onions, for instance. Seasonal differences seem to act as a base for being able to lead a 'vive la differance' sort of life, with other changes and 'freerange fightback' measures within the year adding to the effect.

One of the casualties of the modern-type mass 'consumer culture' may be that with such an accent on money, non-monetary values can get less of a look in, as a recent book entitled 'Dare to Care' implies, and it can at times seem that 'social' has become the 'no-no' word. Money, and preoccupation with it, may have inhibited wider 'life exploration', maybe then prompting 'freerangers' to take a 'non-mass' route - ?

 

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