Free-Range Living

FRMay25blog (Occasional blog)

 'Alternative Lifestyle'  ---------to the Freerange Rescue - ?

On the one hand there's those that are wealthy - there's now a weekly magazine now promoting and extolling 'opulent living' - and on the other hand there's the rest of us, not doing quite as well as the wealthy brigade, and often in recent times struggling with the rising cost of living, from all directions it can sometimes feel --- society then not necessarily over great for us , who've recently been 'kindly' christened 'normos'. It strikes that the former style(s) of 'alternative living', often with economic, frugal even, self-reliant living modes, might need to become more 'on stream' to help in the 'hour of need' -? Those for instance who've already gone 'off grid' for their energy requirements must be feeling somewhat safer in these 'cost turbulent' times ------- Apparently here in the UK energy prices are amongst the highest in the world ----  Thankfully here at the eco organic micro-holding (small smallholding) in the UK midlands, there's a degree of 'energy insulation', enabled by the solar panels, the (small) air source heat pump, and the 'for free' woodpile reserves on the place.

'On the make' commercial practice -------

One recently read artiicle maintained that much of mainstream life has been 'homogenised', with 'mass' thinking lead by governments and large commercial organisations via advertising, generally with axes to grind, and no doubt aided by the sheer weight of modern media, in it multifarious forms ---- Following this line of argument and adding in the considerable strains to 'normal life' that have occurred in recent times, it occurs as above that some of the forms of 'alternative lifestyles' which were prevalent in the UK say. in the 1970's, could 'protectively' and profitably (for individuals) make a comeback - ? They could be relevant too, in helping counter a trend some commentators have pointed too, that of the rights and 'natural power' of the individual being threatened and diminished by the sheer number of large, powerful concerns that have to be dealt with nowadays, complete it often seems with individuals in their predatory sights,  'on the make' 'screw the customer for as much as you can' commercial practice seeming to be the more or less 'normal practice' for quite a few concerns these days --- 

One local aquaintance acquired deaf aids from a national supplier at what seemed to be quite a cost, but not in the league of another acquaintance who acquired the same equipment from the same supplier but paid over three times the fee - 'on the make' commercial practice alive and well - beware freerangers ----- 

 The often self-responsible self-supporting and reliant alternative lifestyles could not only help with rising costs and 'individual vulnerability' in a 'largist' world, but also bolster internal individual strength and independence ---- 

Micro practice ------

The phrase 'alternative lifestyle' seems a bit like a 'blast from the past' here in the UK, associated somewhat with 'living outside general society'. These days with escalating living costs, there could be quite an argument for 'going alternative', such as self-sufficient living, or similar to here on the micro-holding,  a 'cunning mix' of partial self-sufficiency and conventional lifestyle. The micro-holding is not off-grid, but the electric bill is reduced by both the solar panel home production of electricity, and the relatively small low-cost air source air pump,economic in itself but also often keeping the day two living rooms heated for free in winter with the help of 'free' electric from the solar panels (they seem to work via light rather than heat).

Then there's the home produced organic produce from the veg growing area -generally a year's supply of onions, half a year of potatoes, and fresh veg always available throughout the year --- All in all, along with the relatively low-cost energy, around a third contribution to living costs, and of course, plus the satisfaction and pleasure in the lifestyle - a sizable garden or a garden plus allotment (small piece of land to rent) could contribute similar ---- 

Home production, '25 style ------  

Here at the micro-holding  it's been a bit of a mixed spring - plenty of sun but also plenty of nightime cold air, and not too much in the way of rain. The early potatoes went in the ground in late February, under bubble wrap plastic, which normally, for over forty years now, produces early potatoes, well, early --- Not this year, though, as half of the bed didn't appear - ? Can only really have been duff seed, so not the best result. You win some--- The other half have produced a reasonable crop of nice tasting potatoes.

Other crops have done well - strawberries produced a good crop, whilst the raspberry crop has been exceptional, still being picked now in early July after already a month of production.  Winter-sown broad beans have produced a good crop, most now stored away in the freezer to augment the winter veg. supply - the bees love 'em in flower. The top greenhouse tomato crop is at the pre-ripe green stage - with too the outdoors tomato plants looking healthy and vigorous and lettuces and spring onions having been in plentiful supply for use in these last warm/hot weeks, as well as the spring cabbage greens, ready for cutting, with also of course the onion plants, after a slow-ish start, now flourishing. All in all, not too bad a season so far and with plenty of  sun still in the forecast . The soil here is a gorgeous easy-to-work black loam, it's only drawback being that it doesn't hold moisture well so in these sunny warm/hot times, the irrigator has to be used quite a bit, but thankfully no water meter on site -----

'Treading lightly ----- '

Another aspect to the hopefully 'light eco footprint' here has been the delivery a couple of weeks back of the bought part of next year's wood supply for the woodstove, now barrowed into the wood store in the 'logs-istics' centre, a second-hand concrete garage, there to dry further through the summer. This edifice is the nerve-centre to the place, also storing smokeless fuel, handyman tools, lengths of wood, bags of twine, nails, screws, strimmers, chainsaws, the 'small' wood bunker (for the woodstove again), hedgecutters, oil, paraffin, rodent bait, tapes, ropes, grass seed, veg. seeds, scythes, and the like, you name it, it's in there, even a chair for aged microholders use ---- A small tool arrived here a few weeks ago which has proved to be pretty useful -a small hand-held battery-operated chainsaw, just the job for sawing up 'small' wood, sticks and the like, also tres useful for jobs such as pruning or lopping. It was bought off the internet at just £22 with no delivery cost - a solid small tool that works well, with batteries and a charger, so how it's produced and then sold for that little amount, Lord only knows ---

The soil working equipment - hoes, spades, rakes, garden forks, trowels, and the like are elsewhere, all in an open-fronted shelter down by the veg growing area. The main woodpile will be added to with wood sawn from the various woodpiles on the place through the summer, as will 'small' wood to the smallwood bunker (to aid log burning). There's still a couple of sizable stored woodpiles about the place -all potentially helping of course to offset the 100% plus energy cost rises - as before, the Uk energy prices now apparently amongst the highest anywhere.

Economic energy ------ 

Other aspects of the low footprint lifestyle have been on song - the air-source heat pump did its tenth season last winter admirably, and again without any maintenance or repair bills. It's relatively small and only cost £1400 twelve years ago (as against some of the modern many thousand pounds quotes bandied about these days, presumably for a lot bigger installations). Small it may be but it can still heat the day living area of the cottage -two rooms total 50 plus square metres - to good effect, often even in winter for free, with the solar panels covering its relatively low electric use of 500 watts (to then give out 2k plus) - a useful contributor to the 'low footprint' strategy. The solar panels, of West German origin, are operating still soundly after around a dozen years of operation, and again helping to keep energy costs down generally, plus earning income from a government environmental scheme, and as well as providing free water heating via the hot water tank, courtesy of the gizzmo in the system that transfers 'spare' electricity produced by the panels, direct to the hot water tank, a case of being behind the times paying (modern boilers not storing store hot water).

Self-sufficency - a revival - ?

Back in the 70's here in the UK there was a bit of a surge of interest in the alternative lifestyle of self-sufficiency, quite a few giving it a go, but not too many sticking it out - it can be quite a tough and physical lifestyle. It's attractions of self-responsibly, being captain of own ship (on the 'sea of life ---'), working with and in nature, living a low money-based life, are considerable, but of course the reality can throw up difficulties -given that such a lifestyle generally involved growing home produced food -  what happens for instance in a poor growing season? It also tended to be an 'all of nothing' application, sometimes 'money deficient',  whereas today more variations on the theme may well be more evident. Here at the 'eco micro-holding' it's a mixed system involving partial self-sufficiency, still giving a useful feeling of self-responsibility and good job satisfaction in retirement years, besides helping significantly contributing to living viably on a fixed income, avoiding the 'evermore' trail --- 

As before, the semi self-sufficency holding here produces quite a lot of homegrown food - half the year's supply of potatoes for instance, and a full year's supply of onions (suitably stronger too than the shop-bought variety), and there's always fresh veg to pick. One of the 'star' crops for instance is the runner bean crop, not grown here in the traditional manner of one long row of beans, but rather in smaller batches planted out over, say the three months of April to June, then giving beans to pick over four-five months rather than having a glut of them over one short period.

Spiritual resurgence --- ?

One recent report in a broadsheet paper here in the UK indicated that there was both a resurgence in personal spirituality amongst the younger generation Z sector (18 - 28 yrs) and a lowered interest in 'extra career effort', which may mean that there's another form of 'alternative' (i.e. to mainstream) living for some at least, that of being on a spiritual rather than 'mainly material' track. Whilst in such  materially-orientated times, in which 'things spiritual' can appear to have often been relegated, such a departure from strongly materially-focused living can seem to be somewhat different - even maybe a bit 'way out' to some. A recent survey in the UK resulted though in a large majority - over 80% - of people reporting that spiritual matters were important to them, which may come as something of a surprise to some. As above there seems to be a resurgence of interest in spitituality amongst the young, who it's been reported can feel 'let down' by the older generations, possibily then supporting what seems to be an increasing view that the 'baby may have been thrown out with the bathwater' as regards the existence of spirituality, and that authentic spirituality is an individually experienced event------

  The experience of personal 'spiritual awakening' is reported extensively on the net and there are now services available to help the individual negotiate the tricky waters of 'awakening', where the individual can fairly suddenly feel quite differently about life, with for instance previous priorities now no longer relevant or so high up on the list. Some spiritual sources can amplify such differences as the piece below, taken from a personal spirituality manual type of book, can illustrate :

' (Today's world ) --- is a sick world. There are an increasing number of diseases created by the stresses and strains of the inharmonious conditions under which many live. So-called civilisation has divorced man from nature which provides some of his energy. Then the human energy, the soul, is depleted ---------- (When the battery is working) ----then the person experiences health, which is harmony between body, mind and spirit. ------- Health is wholeness ----'

Not sentiments maybe too commonly come across, and no doubt quite a few might not necessarily agree with such sentiments, but, hey, could still be food for thought - ?

The spiritual mentor continues : ------

'The greed of ---- (modern life) must be replaced by love, because love is an expression of the spirit. Love has many aspects : compassion, service, friendship, cooperation.'

Again, somewhat differing from the 'zeitgeist' of the times - ? There's certainly more social media material -on 'Youtube', for instance, on a 'heart before money' theme, and no doubt many individuals are 'spiritual' as the earlier quote can indicate: it seems that it's 'cultural mainstreams' and their drivers who might need to 'get the message' -----  ? Has the current common 'free market ' modus operandi , panning out as heavy focus on self-gain, limited then other life dimensions such as, say, human values, and being heavily materialistically focused, devalued non materialistical areas such as the spiritual aspects -------- ? 

'Living the alternative dream ----in reality -------'

 Living the semi self-sufficient organic micro-holding eco-style lifestyle does feel at times pretty different to 'norm' mainstream living, and for those opting for the more opulent styles of life, would not likely be suitable to sustain them due to the relatively low cash economy of the place. Fortunately for those that are involved in  'alternative' 'low materialistic' style  of living, goodies such as feelings of independence, living and working in and with nature, a peace  and calm working environment , good feelings of self-responsibility and self-sustaining, and last but not least, plenty of tasty and healthy produce to enjoy, can outweigh more modern delights, which anyway may not make too loud a siren call, certainly in these parts ----