Self-Sufficiency in Style
five years on
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Self-Sufficiency in Style five years on
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It is now late January 2003 and just about five years since we bought Hangman's Cottage with the idea of living a self-sufficient life. How have we got on? Did the dream work out? What are the successes and failures? |
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The good news is that it has worked beyond our wildest dreams.
Their have been some frustrations, but few disasters except possibly the dreadful experience of swine fever. |
Our pig was killed by order of the government to cover-up massive fraud by veterinary officials. The fraud led, in turn, to the 2001 Foot and Mouth epidemic in which, 10 Million mostly healthy animals were slaughtered |
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The barn main beam being replaced with oak from France. |
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cost more than we anticipated to get up and running, but we might well
have expected that.
The building work took longer to complete and the permission longer to get, but we were lucky, we had a good builder who has remained a firm friend. The results on the house were well worthwhile. It is now a small comfortable house, easy to maintain, cool in summer and warm in winter. It is very nice to live in. |
| We already knew about sheep, so the four
orphaned lambs we bought at a tenner a time are now stately matrons and
part of the family. The lamb-meat produced is a winner.
The cow also bought for ten pounds has been another success. Fine beef, or rather ruby veal, and all the dairy produce we need. The chickens, again a familiar task, give no problems. The pig? Well we lost her to the government cull, although she was perfectly healthy. We will have much more to say about this bizarre matter on another occasion. They all needed fences and accommodation - a great deal of work - and a continuing responsibly each day. |
Milk Department. |
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Fruit cages were essential. |
The garden, inside and outside the walls, has taken more time than we
expected, but is just starting to come into full production.
Although quite experienced gardeners, we underestimated the predations of pests and have had to spend much more time and money on controlling these. The results, however, are starting to show. Our own produce really does taste better. |
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The kitchen is a winner. We eat better than at any time in our lives. Mrs P works hard, but the results are well worthwhile. Virtually everything we eat we produce ourselves. We rarely eat out, not from lack of money, more from lack of inclination. Normally we entertain our friends to dinner here, by choice, not from lack of invitation. We can't go out so easily during the evening because of the animals. |
The "serious" end of the kitchen. |
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A weekly pleasure to visit the little market town in the valley. |
Do we get bored and miss the bright lights?
No. We "did it all" when we were younger. Very occasionally one or the other will get restless and we will take a trip into the city - usually Norwich, and each week we take a trip to our nearest little market town. Mrs P then takes in a little light shopping - and the writer retreats to the pub with the newspaper. We have three children. The nearest two we will see usually once a week, the other ninety minutes drive away a bit less often. Most of our eight grandchildren will stay for a few days during the summer - very definitely one at a time. We have television, sometimes music - and the writer, of course, writes. |
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As many of the regular readers will have guessed, the writer is a little
disabled, not enough to stop him getting to the pub, but enough to reduce
his physical stamina. Exercise is a prerequisite of health - and jobs
taken slowly still get done. A nap after lunch works wonders.
Fortunately, Mrs P prefers the animals to gardening so the division of labour works quite well, except that she does more than her fair share. The burden on her is a bit worrying at times, but it does keep her slim - and fit enough to cope with the writer. We know that one day, the work will be too much. There is time to worry about that when it happens. |
Err, no not that bad. |
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So, all in all, our self-sufficiency has been a resounding success.
Financially, it costs more than we thought, but also saves more. Its rewards are many and drawbacks few. We count ourselves very lucky. You can learn from our mistakes in Boobs and Blunders |
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It all seems, however, a dying life-style. There are dark clouds on the
horizon.
Above all self-sufficiency is about freedom - freedom of choice with honesty and integrity, within the Law. Alas, it is clear that government is no longer prepared to allow that degree of individuality. Mindless regulations and substandard and crooked officials lurk behind every hedgerow. Licence for this, permission for that, payment for something else. The dark forces of oppression are on every side. Freedoms that our forefathers took for granted are under pressure. The very spirit that built the lands of the English-speaking peoples is denied and denigrated. Harvest Festival and Thanksgiving, Pilgrim Fathers and Magna Carta become meaningless trivia to be celebrated at the supermarket and shopping mall. Without the man with a few chickens and a pig in the yard, we are lesser people, all of us - even those that only dream. So it is a sad conclusion about which we will tell you more on another day. For now - we make hay whilst the sun shines.... and, of course, fight back with all the energy we can muster against some very evil and unpleasant men and women. We could always become an Outlaw |
Storm clouds gather. |
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You can now read more about exactly what has been going on in England on Stop the World
US, Canadian, Irish, Australian and NZ readers, of which there are many, may be tempted to believe that is a purely British scandal. It isn't. The tentacles stretch across the world. Canadian homesteaders will recognise some of the names very well. Australians and New Zealanders will find out that they have been badly misinformed by their governments on animal disease spreading into their hemisphere. North Dakotans will find that not only has their State Chief Veterinarian got his science wrong, but even if he was right, he would still be wrong. As for the Irish - well, as always, they have known all the time, but decided to say nothing. Some very familiar Irishmen are part of this story. The British authorities have not just got it wrong, but in their frantic attempts to cover-up their blunders, they have misled half the world. Your half. |
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dark forces gather at the appropriately named Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner. |
