Free-Range Living

 'Bio-diverse bounty -----'

   At the end of October here at the eco organic micro-holding (small smallholding) in the UK midlands the weather turned a lot colder after a mild and sunny autumn, with good autumnal colours, reminding that winter's just around the corner --- and to get on and complete the  maintenance work usual for this time of year - mainly hedging and lopping. It's one of the aspects of having a lot of trees and greenery about, and it's always good to get it done, to get things 'ship shape and Bristol fashion', satisfying --- Added to the normal seasonal workload has been two extra jobs : building a covered front to the logs-istics centre, to give both more storage space and at the same time, more light into the existing space, and an extra lopping load of various locations but particularly of the sycamore trees behind the chicken pen. Both jobs went pretty well, with the logs-istics centre as well looking better than before, when it had a low-ish dark front to it, and providing an added unseen benefit - an undercover sheltered area for wood sawing - surprising how many things just seem to 'synchronistically work out' - ?

The sycamore lopping proved to be more of a job than first thought, and with a lot of cut-down branches to be dealt with - a one hour job actually then taking two hours of heavy-ish work with two at it, good ol' 'Big D' having been hired to do the chainsawing. Plenty of trimming of the fallen branches to do over the winter months - nice steady work, with the bonus being a fair bit of burning wood. Sycamore does tend to grow skywards, so it's good to see the area now in trim - the hot summer benefit though was that they kept the chicken pen in full shade.

 The runner beans have lasted well, picking for four months and just now towards mid November coming to an end, as are the tomatoes. It helps that a later row of runner beans was sown which crop the second half of September and pretty much all of October. Potatoes will last till mid November - not quite the six months that is planned, and the onion crop has been poor this year - they'll only last six months instead of the usual twelve months - ah, well, can't win 'em all ----. On the plus side, there's lots of beetroot in the bed still to pick and the calabrese crop is still going strong after cropping for around four months - again successional planting has helped. The apples from the orchard have come off quite well, considering the drought summer that was, and now the tree are maturing - they're about three metres plus high now - and are producing more, it's time to maybe investigate the purchase of small juicing equipment  - it would be quite neat to have home-grown apple juice, and presumably in frozen form it's a useful way of preserving the crop for use later on - ?

The internet is an excellent procurement tool. particularly for country livers 'in the sticks' miles from anywhere. Some exotic craft threads recently arrived here for instance, only three days after ordering and at a tiny postal charge -  not a remote chance of such access here without the net.

 'Bio-diversity a natural condition - ?'

 In 'olden' times maybe bio-diversity was more actively recognised - ? :

 'All birds, even those of the same species, are not alike, and it is the same with animals and with human beings. The reason Watananka (' Great Spirit') does not make two birds or animals or human beings exactly alike is because each is placed here to be an independent individuality, and to rely upon itself'.

 (Native American Indian Sioux Chief)

Something of a dichotomy seems to be occurring in modern life, in that, on the one hand, with life becoming so 'specialist' these days, there are a whole host of different trades, occupations, professions : business people, medics, shopkeepers, academics, carers, criminals, plumbers, law enforcers, politicians, factory operatives, educators, builders, eurocrats, sportspeople, farmers/growers - to name but a few. And on the other hand, there seems to be a 'retrenching' tribal type of trend embracing the non bio-diverse sentiment of 'if you're not with us, you're against us'. Maybe this isn't too surprising with the strong focus there's been on 'self interest/gain' , and  'hyped up' competitiveness in modern times ( how many TV programmes for instance, now contain the competitive element - ?), all of which can presumably mitigate against people having 'wider views and interests' (i.e. 'beyond themselves') and leaving then less room for 'social' and 'sociability' - ?

  Some might argue that the current 'world culture' mores and tenets are too narrowly drawn and that therefore there's going to be limitations and difficulties, and that maybe 'man' has 'to get over' her/himself and address the 'bigger' things in life, if the world is to prosper in the longer-term, and taking a wider, longer-term view would be a good start - ?  (this is not to argue that 'self-interest' in itself is 'wrong' - rather that a key balance between individuals' and society's/wider world's needs and goals could be 'out of kilter', leaning too much to self/individual interest, too little to society needs - psychologists suggests that personal/individual needs and social needs are both important need areas for people ---- ).

 ' Man creates ----- and heaven or hell is the result ---- '     (Richard Feynman, renowned US scientist)

'Re-focusing ---- ?'

It seems then that a re-focusing of priorities could be in order, with a more bio-diverse view of life needing to be taken and more of an overview 'let's live together - live and let live' approach needed -? Such a competitive, strongly self-orientated culture could seem to have been a result of an enthusiastic take-up of 'free market' principles by the business community, and followed by quite a few if not most other sectors of society. The free market notion that 'the market decides', no human intervention needed, could, though, be limited in that its base seems to have been an economics-generated 'perfect market' model, in which the key requirement is that there needs to be 'many buyers and sellers' in the market place, so that no one, or no group can then manipulate and distort the 'pure' supply and demand market forces.

Plainly in practice, this has not been the case, there has been no mechanism to ensure the maintenance of the 'many buyers and sellers' condition, and large 'predator' firms have then flourished and used their extensive power to manipulte matters in their own favour (eg. witness the reported tax avoidance programmes of some large firms, oligopolistic power plays by large UK energy compamies, collusion between food retailers and so forth --- ). There do seem to be some significant areas of problems these days. Just now here in the UK on the TV news there was a feature on a worrying increasing trend of mental diificulties amongst young people 'due to the pressures of modern society', pointing again to the need for a wider, more embracing and 'inclusive' approach to modern society - ?

 Would that the great 'Invictus' spirit as seen recently on TV with the Invictus games, could be harnessed for on-going everday life, which would probably mean, though, that self-interest would have to be at lower levels, and community spirit higher ( is anyway 'generosity of spirit' a natural, 'higher' human component - ?) People who've experienced the 'enhanced' well-being of being part of a successful community, team or whatever grouping, will know of its beneficial effects such as 'being part of something bigger', and experiencing enhanced achievment and security. The communal spirit was apparently strong in wartimes such as the first and second World Wars - maybe 'hardship' and 'fearful' conditions tend to  'bring out the best' - ?

 (The Invictus games were founded by its champion (Prince Harry of the UK) to encourage and support those service personnel physically and/or mentally scarred by active service)

'Limited diversities ----- ?'

In the short-term, the 'world is as it is', and some individuals may well find that it doesn't particularly fulfill their needs particularly well, as in maybe the case of personal spirituality, which has recently been reported to be important to a significant majority of individuals, and yet 'mass culture' appears to have increasingly travelled the 'secular' road, becoming then less 'bio-diverse' rather than more. People are often ruled by autocratic forces, then being denied fuller personal freedom, then potentially negatively affecting their scope to have individual meaningful and fulfilling lives - ? Even in so-called democracies, often the ruling political parties have actually been voted into power by a minority of the population, with also often a pretty limited range of political philosophies for the individual to vote for, in a way then tending to emasculate any 'democratic' power for the individual - or, as in the case of the EC, there's reportedly non-elected non-democratic eurocrats wielding power over considerable populations.

The individual, then, is virtually powerless (unless significantly mega rich enough to lobby and influence politicians), so what can she/ he do? Not too much maybe in the way of 'changing the system', but quite a lot in terms of leading their own independently-defined bio-diverse life geared to meeting their own needs (including, as the psychologists aver, social needs) , as many people undoubtedly do ---- ( of course some will be hamstrung to some degree or other by the demands and/or limitations of the situation they find themselves in).  

 'Diversifiers ---- '

 In a power-geared world 'mini' lifestyles lead by individuals, particularly if they're non high profile, don't seem to get too much regard, support or encouragement - maybe the 'winner culture' mainstreamers see such people as 'losers' - ? Yet at the individual level, and bearing in mind the argument that 'higher' levels of conciousness and awareness can only be accessed at the individual level, lifestyle can be a mainspring of life itself. Take, for instance, 'A', living a relatavily tough self-sufficient, self-reliant life in the Alaskan wilderness, hundreds of miles away from any urban centre, growing his own food in a big glasshouse that he himself constructed, sourcing his meat supply by hunting, utilising natural resources such as wood fron nearby trees, and dogs for transportation (he comes over as having a strong and caring relationship with his dogs, and they come over as being very keen to 'work' for him). He must be one of the most inventive and creative humans on the planet and has an unbelievable range of skills, acquired over the thirty-odd years he's lead this lifestyle, which he says has been very rewarding for him, and that he's glad he listened to his heart when a young man and followed his own path ---- ( could the Heart  >>  Head  >>  Will sequence still be of relevance - ?)

Another  reclusive soul lives in a 'mud hut' in a wood in west Wales (UK), again following her natural instincts to be near to and a part of nature - to 'feed her soul', and who can say definitively that such a lifestyle is not ok - ? Just because some lifestyles are out of the norm, out of the mainstream, does not automatically devalidate/devalue them, even if a mainstream mindset might be inclined to do so - ? Actual life is bio-diverse, no matter what judgement  might be made - ?

'Meaning in life ----- '

One of the modern limitations maybe for instance, that life, if lead 'mainstream', doesn't then contain enough meaning for some - many? , it's not providing meaningful content that reaches the parts that an over simplistic and superficial life cannot - ? The lifestyle here on the organic micro-holding, miniscule although it is, is actually ok in terms of meaningful content and providing occupation with good meaning content. This may contrast with modern trends  - quite a lot of new houses for instance are being currently added to the small local market town, but all with small outside areas, 'hankerchief' size gardens, which along with 'press button life' within the house itself, and sundry labour-saving devices, means that there's probably not an awful lot concerning the home and its grounds to occupy people, hence maybe the trend for outings and 'diversions from 'ordinary life' - people need to occupy their time, and mainstream culture reflects this with an emphasisi on 'big', 'flash' living as a model for 'successful life' - ? (one or two of the UK's broadsheet have taken to calling modern times 'the Age of Distraction' ). This contrasts, say, with 'A' in Alaska who occupies his time being creatively involved in a lifestyle geared to meeting his life needs. 'Small living' can provide meaningul and fulfilling lifestyles ---- and undoubtedly does so for quite a few ---

 Again, the micro-holding lifestyle here, which is partly self-sufficient, provides meaningful activities to support the living process : growing food, keeping animals (hens) to provide food, collecting and processing fuel (wood), running an 'active' heat system ( wood burner), and maintaining the site (hedging, lopping, building, repairing). The micro-holding in effect is a 'life support' unit and the activities involved help to raise consciousness of base life needs and patterns, besides giving good scope for personal satisfaction. The added bonus is that much of the activity is carried out out of doors, so affords good opportunity to relate to, to experience and to enjoy, nature, which can seem so beneficial for the spirit. Seasonal changes are directly experienced and enjoyed, following an old dictum that's important (and meaningful) here, that 'variety is a spice of life'.

Maybe slick, 'convenience' modern livers are 'missing a trick' and so are having to seek meaning 'externally', whereas  travelling more the 'internal' route can be pretty effective - maybe even more effective - ? (an advantage of the small 'life support' lifestyle is that it doesn't need too many resources - a 'micro-holding life support' lifestyle could be run for instance, via just a garden and an allotment (small area of land rented cheaply for growing produce)).

 'Soporific supermarkets ---- ?'

   Talking to someone in a pub about the active self-reliant/semi self-reliant lifestyle, the response was the pretty common bland comment 'easier to pop down to the supermarket and get it off the shelf, mate'  What?!

And miss out on the pleasure and satisfaction of caring for the plants, and then harvesting the self-grown, non air-miles tastier produce, the experience of meeting the twin imposters 'success and failure', the physical exercise of doing the self-reliant stuff, the pleasure of sharing plants and produce with good neighbours, the feeling 'independent spirit', the enjoyable anticipation at the start of the season, the comforting feeling of 'fuel and food security', making one's own contribution to 'aid for the environment' ----- and more ---- .

Maybe not too surprising then, that 'meaning' could be missing for some ---- ? The 'aid for the environment' factor could be very meaningful, as again on today's news, scientists are now saying it's 'the last chance saloon' time to realistically have a chance to take action to avoid irrevesible damage to the environment ----

Ah well, time to add yet a bit more meaning to life and go out to the woodstore in the 'logs-istics' centre to get a basket of wood, plus some sticks, plus some 'small' wood pieces, bring it all inside, get the woodstove going and then sit cosily by it, reading the paper to see how the rest of the world is gettin' on -----