Free-Range Living

Stunning spring -----

Crikey, what a growing year - in these parts, (Midlands, UK), the growth of vegetation in April through May has been quite startling, leaving the countryside hereabouts looking stunning, in spite of the lack of rain in April. Rain did come, probably just in time to save the day, and for the last three to four weeks, ground moisture levels have been good. Rain may not exactly suit sun-worshippers, but my, it does give a 'green and pleasant land' effect, which certainly uplifts at least some spirits. The East and South-East of the UK, though, are still very desperate for rain, having had very little for three months, whereas the North and North-West has had more than enough - hard to believe there could be such a difference within such a small country.

The eco-holding produce is looking equally stunning and full of promise. The broad beans shot up and flowered prolifically and have now had their top growths pinched out. For once, there's a cracking few rows of fine looking peas, which always look great, climbing up their sticks. For a year or two peas did miserably, until it dawned that sowing them in a tilth made only by a dutch hoe, probably wasn't giving their deep roots much chance, and forking their ground deeper now seems to have done the trick. The spuds too are looking good, and more 'normal' than last year when after the long cold winter and late spring, the tops over-grew like most round here and the potato yield was moderate- better luck and prospects hopefully this year. Even though this last winter was severely cold, it was earlier and left us with quite an early spring this time. The spring greens plants bolted up and have been the veg staple in this dearth time of year. The cross cut left in their cut stems then brings re-growth so that they then supply greens in the winter- handy plants indeed.

The woodstore's chock-a-block(!) with four tonnes of logs, drying very nicely in these now warm days of early June to give good dry fuel for next winter.  Good to see, and to know next winter's fuel is in store, with no nasty price hikes to hit over next winter - all 'bought and paid for', as they say. Last winter was the first with the new wood/multi-fuel stove, (previously an open fire), and having ordered four tonnes of wood then, which just squeezed into the logstore, right down literally to the last log, amazingly that's virtually exactly what the stove used over the winter. The wood gets delivered onto the driveway - it takes a bit then to barrow it into the store, generally doing it around eight barrowfulls a day over several days, which stops the job from getting too boring- variety being definitely one of the spices of life here on the eco micro-holding. The wood/logstore's in the epic 'micro-holding logistics operation centre', which being a re-cycled concrete garage, has the handy feature of one end wall opening up (i.e. the former garage door) to give easy access.

Rising energy --------

Future energy price predictions look a bit hectic - presumably it stands to reason that any finite resources are likely to end up in shorter supply, and again presumably exacerbated quite a bit by what seems to be rampant increase in world consumer demand and hence production. 'Growth'  looks good no doubt in the shorter-term, it's when you look a bit further ahead the downside of it can rear its head. Trying to lead reasonably independent 'freerange' lives here, the policy's not to be too tied in to particular energy sources, using wood as the main source, and also some bottled gas and some electricity. Wood can be stored, so it's possible to build up a bit of 'insulation' against future energy price rises.

Fortunately there hasn't been a rise in wood price here this year, which helps, and so the woodpile survives as a buffer against any future price rises.  A solar energy survey's also just been done  and now's the time to decide whether to divert some savings away from current pretty low interest returns into a solar energy installation, making use of the guaranteed returns over the next twenty-five years; there's a few springing up in these parts. The solar-created electricity available for domestic use, for which there's still the 43p per killowatthour guaranteed payment, isn't necessarily ideal in that it comes mainly in the daytime and obviously mostly in summertime- there's no facility for instance to short-term store summer daytime electric production for use, say, in the evening. To some extent the limitations can be 'managed' - washing clothes in the daytime, heating water in the daytime and so on, helped of course if you're around in the day, and the overall return on initial capital investment appears to be around 8% at current prices, which would seem more likely to increase over time rather than go down. It could also help in the ol'  'freerange living' independence stakes phsychologically, along with the other good feeling of just being that bit less 'vulnerable', with price rises seeming to lurk round every corner, these days.

A 'poor life' -----?

With everything looking good and all planted up, now is a gentler, calmer time, with more opportunity to take pleasure in and from the lush surroundings.

  ' A poor life this, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare' 

Can't remember where the quote comes from, but the sentiment's spot on. Just walking down the fields just down the lane here with Pipster collie-dog is an absolute pleasure, with a stunning countryside panorama layed out ahead, and being some way off any major roads, a gentle, quiet peace, augmented only by birdsong. Some years ago, and in the course of farm advisory duty, with a somewhat taciturn, weatherbeaten old Dorset farmer, in an out-of-the-way, forgotten field in distant West Dorset, it was a similar picture - a gloriously sunny day highlighting the bright emerald green grass, showing off his beautiful cream and light brown Ayrshire cattle to perfection. Never a man of many words, he seemed to be lost in his own world, gazing at the gorgeous scene.  At length, he did speak, slowly and quietly:

'Tek yer time, boy. Mek the most of it',  was all he said.

Easier said than done no doubt for many,  in today's busy pace of life, but still maybe, for some at least, not too bad advice ?