Free-Range Living

'Dented democracy ----- ?'

'Cold at last -----'

The latter half of February hereabouts in the UK heartlands at the eco organic micro-holding (small smallholding) has been more like it - bright still cold days and frosts at night, a stark contrast to the gloom and wet of earlier on, and good weather in which to do a few jobs. Talking of which, now at the end of February all the wood ash and the two layers of two-year-old compost has gone on half the veg growing ground - good job jobbed, giving that particular 'renew and replenish' feeling of satisfaction. The recent frosts will hopefully too sort out some of the pests - a year or two ago after a continually mild winter, the place was plagued with slugs and snails, all intent on decimating the young growing veg plants, not the best news. The home-saved broad bean seen has been 'shovelled in' under glass, the resulting plants - fingers crossed - to be planted out in 3 - 4 weeks time, along with some early pea seed. Celery, onion, lettuce and tomato plants are up, currently residing under a makeshift plastic tent in the conservatory, although the tomato plants have had to be brought into the warmer living room at nights with these frosts about.

'Tough birds ---- '

With quite a lot of vegetation on site, the bird population seems to be quite healthy, these tiny creatures surviving  out in the cold weather without the benefit of central heating - quite amazing really ? There are two feeding stations here for them, one up in front of the kitchen window to get good views of them, the other down in the small paddock, 70 -80 metres away from the cottage, where for some reason peanuts are consumed avidly, unlike at the feeding station closer to the cottage - ? Through the winter bread is also put out at various spots around the cottage for the birds -it's a good feeling giving them support. Now that pigeons seem to be tamer, they can be a bit of a problem raiding the feed stations - they're surprisingly big birds close up, but hey, they've got to make a living too - ? Tough trees, too, meeting and surviving all that winter throws at them. According to one recent TV programme, the tree, being the remarkable organism it is, taking in CO2 and emitting oxygen, contributes via the Amazon forest alone, a fifth of the earth's oxygen supply, making the forest worth considerably more standing than obliterated. And yet, it still gets chopped down and eaten away ---- ? Hopefully a longer-term measure of 'sustainable sense' might yet prevail ---- ?

The line of trees up the lane hereabouts have a feeling of permanence, longevity and security - a sort of 'anchoring' effect in a changing, seemingly violent world --- Some of the old rural cottage dwellings that are left (a lot have been 'mansion-ised') also give that same sense of 'timelessness', again maybe useful to counter effects of a volatile world - ?

'Would that ---- '

 ---- there was more wood in the woodstore, which has been emptying at quite a rate -touch and go whether there'll be enough to last out - have to probably get the electric chainsaw in action - at least there's quite a bit of wood 'in store' in the various woodpiles. The smaller wood to burn with the heavier stuff, has been sawn with the small sawbench circular saw once a week, again quite a satisfying winter chore -oops, 'labour of love' ---- Thankfully the solar electric production has come back on stream with the sunnier weather, with the device that diverts any 'spare' solar electricity to the hot water tank, doing its bit to give lots of free hot water - can't be bad ---- can have the monthly bath, whether it's needed or not ---- Now's the time to consider possible projects for this year. The conservatory roof's leaking so probably will have to be re-done. Then there's the temporary front extension to the 'logs-istics' centre which could do with sorting, plus whether to put a polytunnel down in the small paddock - enough to keep out of mischief --- mostly, anyway.

'Freerange threat ---- ?'

The idea that if people are 'internally strong', independently-minded and self-responsible entities ('freerangers' - ?), society will then benefit and be 'rounded and balanced', doesn't seem to cut an awful lot of ice in current 'power and control' type cultures. The papers here in the UK have carried quite a few letters recently, for instance, pointing to the seeming and potential erosions of civil liberties and individual rights, and one or two prominent people (such as authors) have warned about 'sleepwalking into less democratic, more autocratic waters', not the best news relating to the small-scale, independent-based art of 'freeranging' - ? Maybe Aldous Huxley ('Brave New World') and George Orwell's ( '1984') warnings about the over concentration of power, could be yet apt --- ? The modern type of 'control culture' certainly does not appear to lend itself to democratic processes and too much respect for people, with apparently many in the workplace subject to procedures such as anytime body searches, discouragements to be ill, zero hours contracts, ever-tightening work targets, changes in contracts - all of which can give quite a good impression of a punitive, 'hit' type culture - ?

'Bad medicine --- ? '

 Junior doctors in the UK feel that they are being treated 'unprofessionally' (they've just had a new contract imposed on them), currently taking industrial action and with many reportedly thinking of leaving and working overseas, which would further deplete the already dwindling supply of doctors in the National Health Service. Conspiracy theorists suggest that such moves (i.e. by government) are being made to 'problem up' the service and discredit it, to be then able more easily to privatise it -? Has to be a point of view, considering the 'rampant privatisation' gone on in the UK, which some would say has such strong idealogical roots that could blur any possible vision beyond it. Self-motivation and self-responsibility were always in the past characteristics of the 'professional' classes, but seemingly no more in the current 'power and control' times - ? Maybe this is part of the doctors' unease and unhappiness - and rightly so, perhaps more than a few might say - ?

'Jelly beans ----- '

 Such strong factors as used to be in play, such as peoples' internal motivation, don't seem to feature too much these days - again not maybe the best news for would-be self-reponsible types such as 'freerangers'  - ? The 'control power culture' approach seems suited to the exercise of power and to meeting the needs of those who wish to use it, but the strong possibility then is that the populace end up to some extent 'subjugated' - again not maybe the best condition in which individual motivation and 'real democracy' can thrive - ? And again if peoples' inner motivation is not brought into play (by, say, strong use of behaviour conditioning moves such as financial incentives, which used to be called 'jumping for the jellybeans'), then any sustainable, longer-term type of motivation-sourced productivity is byepassed - ? The motivation theorists, for instance, considered the 'productivity boost' effects of financial incentivisation to be short-term, and as then increased incentivisation had to occur to get further productivity responses, resulting in built-in longer-term rising cost implications - not a scenario, maybe, a million miles away from today's reality - ?

'Welly greens ---- '

Ah well, such maybe the current position, and there may still be a need to do the analysis, to gain understanding and to be able to accept any current 'less than perfect' scenarios if things are to progress productively - ? Here in the micro-world that is the reality of the eco organic micro-holding, the analysis today is that productive outside work has to be put on hold due to cold and wet weather conditions - green welly weather - it's not much use sowing and planting stuff into cold wet ground anyway. So it's to writing these few words on the computer in the dry and warm supplied by the air-source heat pump, at economic cost. Then, it'll be time to liberate the newly-arrived 'eco' transport (electric bike) from its packaging - it'll be interesting to assess it as it's come as an 'end-of-line' model at half price. It may be 'yesterday's model', but - if it does the job - ? Do/ Don't watch this space ----