We are in the process of moving to a low-impact, organic smallholding in the south Midlands, where we'll be working with the couple who run it. The farm is in the process of changing from focusing on livestock to fruit and vegetables and we'll be contributing our skills and labour.
There is also talk of starting a small perennials nursery, so I've decided to dig up a good bit of my garden and transport it to the farm, leaving enough for the local wildlife to play with, of course. Some 300+ plants have come out so far and, between us, we have more seeds than you can shake a stick at, so it'll start us off.
I'll be keeping a journal, though the fact that the farm is currently off-grid means that the computers can't be used so often. Once another wind turbine goes up, and we get our own solar gear, it will be easier. ( Miranda's garden journal ).
I'm fairly obsessed with plants and gardening and enjoy talking about anything gardening related, though my thing for the last five years or so has been growing hardy perennials. What a pleasant obsession it is, though. It got a lot stronger when I started on the RHS General Certificate in 2003. That was the best course I have ever done and I enjoyed every minute of it and didn't want it to end.
Barry Commoner's Four Laws of Ecology
1. Everything is Connected to Everything Else. There is only one biosphere for all living things and what affects one, affects all.
2. Everything Must Go Somewhere. The idea that waste products can be made to disappear is an illusion.
3. Nature Knows Best. People have tried to fashion technology to improve upon nature, but such change in a natural system is "likely to be detrimental to that system".
4. There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. In the natural world, for every gain there is a cost, and all debts are eventually paid; both sides of the equation must balance.
From Kurt Vonnegut's 'Fates Worse Than Death'
The sort of leaders we need now are not those who promise ultimate victory of Nature through perseverance in living as we do right now, but those who with the encourage and intelligence to present to the world what appear to be Nature’s stern but reasonable surrender terms:
1. Reduce and stablise your population.
2. Stop poisoning the air, water and the topsoil.
3. Stop preparing for war and start dealing with your real problems.
4. Teach your kids, and yourselves, too, while you’re at it, now to inhabit a small planet without helping to kill it.
5. Stop thinking that science can fix anything if you give it a trillion dollars.
6. Stop thinking that your grandchildren will be okay, no matter how wasteful and destructive you may be, since they can go to a nice new planet on a spaceship. That is really mean and stupid.
7. And so on, or else.