Free-Range Living

 

'Higher planes---- '

The eco micro-holding here in the UK midlands is under the America flight path from Europe and the UK, although it's not being used too much now in these 'shut-down' times. One animal -is it the Griffen vulture? - flies even higher than these high-flying planes, well higher than the world's highest mountain, Everest, which seems pretty remarkable - wonder what it's doing right up at 37000 ft - ?

Back down to earth ---

To strange times indeed, with most everywhere shut down and the local downtown virtually a ghost town, and no sign of a let-up anytime soon. One guy on TV questioned whether it was all a 'cunning plan' to get rid of 'oldies' ---- ??

 

 

It's seemed a long-ish winter here at the eco micro-holding in the UK midlands - not particularly cold but very wet, particularly in early and late winter, then with a pretty cool March. The sun finally appeared the third week of March,for three/four days, like a release from winter's grip. Sowing and planting suddenly swung into action, probably a couple of weeks or so later than the norm, with now towards the end of March early/second early potatoes, broad bean plants, broad been seed, calabrese plants, lettuce plants and onion sets all in the ground. Amazing too how many wild flowers have sprung up within the last few sunny days, as if they've just been waiting patiently for a bit of warmth ----

 

  

 

The cottage and its surrounds were looking a bit 'beat up' towards the end of winter, so some action on green mould on walls and then garage and house painting, has bucked the place up a bit, along with spirits - good to see 'regeneration' and 'improvement' --- Not too much wood left in the woodstore but it should see the season out - the days have been bright but still with a frost at night so woodstove heat still very much needed, particularly in the evenings. Early to mid March saw some pretty hefty gales, one of which tore a quite big limb off the old appletree next to the veg. growing area which then mean't that a fair amount of sawing - the new rechargeable chainsaw proved to be handy - had to take place along with clearing a lot of 'trash' to the burning area, now completely full up. The upside was that a fair amount of burning wood was salvaged, now sitting under tin sheets with other wood, all of which will come in useful next year to add to the bought burning wood supply which (hopefully) should arrive on the driveway come April/May (or Jn/Jly - ?) time.

 

 

'National reclusing --- '

The world crisis that is the coronavirus pandemic has impacted here at the micro-holding in that the recommendation is that households should now be 'self-isolating' for at least three months, not that there's much to go out to, everywhere apart from food shops, banks, pharmacies and petrol stations is closed. There's still quite a bit of stuff to do at here both in terms of the growing ground and also maintenance tasks such as the house painting. Not sure what the self-isolating folk of all the new houses downtown, with their tiny gardens, do to pass the time, probably screens account for a fair proportion - ? Maybe - and hopefully - after this emergency, there could be an increased awareness that man can't just go on his own merry way, which seems to have been a bit of a trend in recent times, that nature and 'the universe' are pretty powerful forces that need to be respected, something the eastern mystic Kunihiro Yamate supported:

' it's only in harmony and unity with nature and natural universal forces that man can find peace and security'

There's a reasonably strong body of opinion that such 'harmony and unity' is accessed at the individual level, therefore rendering the individual level quite a bit more important than, say, 'big is best' cultures might rate - ?

'For a change --- '

It's probably quite likely that quite a few individuals could themselves have such 'natural' respect levels, the job seems to be getting the mainstream driving cultures to embrace it and act on it - ? 'Rome wasn't built in a day', it's true, and 'times they are a-changin'', but with the current ecological state of planet Earth in mind, a bit of a 'hurry up' could be in order - ? Maybe some of these 'billionaires'  (£1000 million pounds?! - hard to get the head round?) could get a bit 'social' and contribute towards 'earth regeneration' moves - ? Change, though, can take time and maybe it'll take 'new outlooked' younger generations coming through to 'get to fuller grips' with the problems of the planet - ? Just have to hope that there's time to do it - it is looking just a little iffy ----- Maybe this latest pandemic might help to concentrate minds -?

'Society exists ---- '

The British prime minister today in the papers affirms that 'social' is ok - 'societies do exist' - which at first glance could seem to be a bit of a truism - he probably though had in mind a previous PM who had stated 'there's no such thing as society', trying no doubt to steer things more towards a 'self-gain' culture, but which for some -  many? - experienced folk, had seemed to have gone 'against the grain' ---- Good to see, then, the general appreciation for the front-line staff in the form of public applauding and one of the better longer-term effects of this national/world emergency could well then be a strengthening of the 'we're all in it together' awareness, then bringing effective and needed better balances between individual and society priorities ---- The crisis certainly seems to have brought (paradoxically---) people together more, with for instance lots of community help groups forming to particularly help the vulnerable and the elderly --- good stuff. 

'The best things in life ---'

Living recently in strongly materialistical times, the accent has tended to be on 'having' - wealth, property, power, position, status - all the features of the competitive 'out for self' culture - and less on 'being and becoming', even though there is quite a movement in this respect, judging by the amount of material on the internet. Not everyone though, apparently, is totally taken with the modern materialstic culture - more than a few may find it 'dimensionally limiting' - ?

 'The best things in life -------- aren't things --- '   (Art Buchwald, American humorist)

Kunihiro Yamate in the book of the challenging title (The Way of No-Mind)('beyond mind' rather then 'out of mind') argues that man's 'narrow' pursuit of ever more material gain is essentially a doomed attempt at assuaging existential insecurity - real security, he argues, lies in the 'being/becoming' route, where the individual develops her/his self to then access the 'expanded awareness' level, and as some might say, 'to arrive home'. All this may sound a little 'far out' to some, but there are high profile supporters, including maybe the most 'expanded awareness' person, Buddha himself, offering real 'freeranger advice :

' Work out your own salvation, don't rely on others. If you find no-one to support you on your journey, walk alone --- '

Useful affirmation of individual rights from a true 'freeranger' - ? And from Thomas Moore, a modern author of 'A religion of One's Own' (book):

'Your first task is to find a place where your soul is at home'

People who have experienced the 'whole and healed', 'one-ness' experience too tend to attest to having found their 'real, true selves', to experience 'full validation'----- The 'coming to terms with real self' journey is part of a 'being/becoming' development route for the individual - maybe becoming 'mired in materialism' is in fact then 'proceeding up a dead-end', taking a 'wrong road' - ?  ('It's no use running if on the wrong road' (German-origined saying)). Too little material provisions though is undoubtedly a 'real' problem----

'Higher minded --- '

'May the wind be behind you --- and your God be with you ---but not too soon --- '  So says an Irish saying. In logical, rational and scientific times, areas that are 'non concrete', such as, say, inner feelings,'soul' matters and the like can be a bit tricky, which is maybe why they've received less focus, and particularly so as they appear to be experienced at the ('micro small') individual level, ( tending though to be overshadowed by the 'big is best' culture), and which though 'micro small', may still prove to be pivotal in mankind's story - ?

'Once more, down to earth -- --'

Now yesterday's cold north wind has died down, it's time to get out there and get a few more potatoes in the ground, and do the 'connection with nature' thing - with the ground, the birds, the plants, the sun --- oh, and yes, the aching back -----