Small Revolutions: Voluntary Simplicity in Devon

Voluntary Simplicity Reconsidered

My ideas about voluntary simplicity have evolved in the past year.

Over a year ago, I think it was largely couched in terms of "Freedom from..." Freedom from stress, being in an unhappy job, chronic back pain, not being where I wanted to be, being in a built up busy city. It was largely hinged upon negatives

Now the picture is different. Voluntary simplicity for me has a changed meaning and is about all this:

• The most efficient means of being happy in any given situation. 80/20 thinking - taking the least effort to produce the greatest personal happiness.
• Regulating desire - by deliberately wanting less and questioning consumerism as a culture I've found myself more easily satisfied with less. I have to work less hard to be happy.
• Being mindful - meditation and studying buddhism has taught me (intellectually at least) that there is only one place that exists. And that's here and now. So I don't bank all my hopes on a future that may never arrive. I try my best as often as I can to be present, here and now, experiencing this. Although I'm only at the beginning of discovering this, I have found that somehow I have more 'moments', like this famous quote:

“If I had my life to live over, I’d try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I’d be sillier than I have been on this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would be less hygienic. I would take more chances. I would take more trips. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets. I would burn more gasoline. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.

 

You see, I’m one of those people who lives sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments and if I had my life to live over, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead each day. I’ve been one of those people who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a rain coat and a parachute. If I had my life to live over, I’d go places and do things and travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over I would start barefoot earlier in the spring & stay that way later in the fall. I would play hooky more. I wouldn’t make such good grades, except by accident. I’d ride more merry-go-rounds. I’d pick more daisies.”

-Nadine Starr

I can't say that I've made all the best decisions, or that life is perfect or anything like that. I'm not always happy and far from being permanently serene and zen about life. But somehow, and it's not even to do with where I am, there's been a big change.

Fundamentally, I think it's simply that I have learnt how to be more here and now. The moments have always been happening but I've just been too embroiled in my thoughts and delving into the mud of past memories and the spectres of futures to come, that I never really paid enough attention to here.

And rather than living frugally, or downshifting, or working on the land (all of which I am doing) it's this particular thing, this training, that has given a different surface, texture, quality to my experience of life.

It's crazy, really. Because all I do is sit in front of my light box with a cup of tea and try to follow my breath. And my mind runs off like a puppy. I acknowledge that, then come back.

That's all I do.

But for me, now, it's become the basis of a simplicity that I had never imagined.

I've spent so much of my life zoning out when I've been unhappy, or getting drunk, or going to sleep as an escape, or reading books, or immersing myself in dreams about what I want to happen in the future, or putting shovelfuls of hope into dreams and schemes. I was numbing out, avoiding.

But now I am learning to be here. And it's remarkable.

Sometimes when I get here, it's all so ordinary yet all completely transformed and miraculous.

In 2008, I plan to be 'here' more often.

It's the only place to be.

Broken Buddha

At Big Buddha on Koh Samui, there are a number of smaller buddhas with gold leaf peeling off and blank, silvery eyes. They were a potent symbol of two things the buddha taught - that we suffer because we are attached to things that are impermanent. It seemed poignant that these buddhas themselves were also showing their impermanence.

So I did a painting of one from a photo I took, which is going to my bessie, as a birthday gift, but I was proud of it so I wanted to show it off here:

Jacob Sheep Rug

It's taken me well over a year but the rug is now finally finished and I am quite proud of it. The donor was Horace, a Jacob / Icelandic cross. Jacob sheep are marvellous because their wool is naturally multi-coloured so you get a wonderful natural range of tone and colour.

The rug was woven on a peg loom with 25 pegs strung with natural jute (from a DIY store). Inspiration came from a Permaculture magazine article  which explained how to make it. He was inspired by Ben Law (he of the Woodland House on Grand Designs and the Woodland Way Permaculture book).

Dad helped me make the peg loom last year, you just need to find someone who's handy with a hammer and drill.

If you fancy trying this at home, the best way is to hunt down a fleece on Ebay. The original article is here if you want to make your own Jacob Sheep Rug.

It's been a satisfying and fascinating piece of self-reliance. But it also goes to show that voluntary simplicity isn't necessarily simple - it's been a bit of a project. But I've enjoyed acquiring the skills and learning how to do it.

This winter our feet will be nice and warm as we sit on the sofa.

Here are some pictures of the finished creation (click on them for a larger image):

Microwaved

Because using a microwave is more efficient than using an oven of a hob, we've finally decided to invest in one for reheating food. It  feels weird (just two dials and a button to open the door) so it should last us for many years to come.

Earning my first acre

It's astounding how instrumental this blog has been in changes in my life.

What starts out as mere thoughts online attracts armfuls of encouragement from complete (but familiar spirited) strangers.

And somehow my life changes with those thoughts.

Which is why I want to write about this.

I want to own an acre. Of land that I can work on, that I can plant things for the future.

Like a walnut tree, some sweet chestnuts, a couple of filberts, some apples. I want to plant self-seeding perennials that can flourish and grow and we can pick and eat. I want to plant some willow for baskets, and maybe a hazel or two and grow my own yurt frame.

To let rabbits and blackberries grow wild too.

I want to be able to go there for a weekend and have a camp fire and sit up late watching the stars.

A year ago or more when I started this blog it seemed like a too far off dream to consider. A little too castles in the air.

It's different now.

We don't have much money and we're saving 20% or our income for other things already, but now it's important to also start saving for that acre.

Living a simple life already, there's not too much we can pare down on without feeling flinty and deprived.

So it will have to come from other sources.

Broadly speaking land is about £5000 an acre. Given fees plus some margin and leeway, I need to raise £7500.

Where will the money come from?

Ethical Web Design. One of the big things I can do in my spare time now is web design. Although I've done web online marketing for big companies (can you believe I've sold £3million of books?) I've never really done small sites for small business. But that's one thing I can do now. Designing simple, ethical, effective and functional sites for small business as well as marketing them. The site is under construction at Small Revolutions and I am starting to pull together a portfolio to show my work.

Appropriate affiliations. I've also decided to to add ethical links to this site where appropriate. Like to books that I read anyway and recommend. It's a tricky one, and I know there's a fine line between what's fine and what's peddling.

Selling stuff. I've got books and bits and pieces I can sell as well as it being possible for me to make some crafty things or do some paintings. All I need is some imagination and a bit of courage.

Measuring the goal:

Using one of these thermometers (I will find an appropriate place to put it later) I will record on the blog where I am at with the saving and earning.

It's still the simple life!

Sometimes you need to get money to make certain things happen, and that's what this project is about. In fact, getting a piece of land will really change my whole practise of simplicity, because it will enable us to do and grow so much.

So there you have it.

Maybe it's crazy, but I'm confident that separate to my main job it's going to be possible.

I am now on my way to earning my first acre of land.

Woohoo! Ginger Beer Plant!!

This week I've received a wonderful present through the post from Mel at beansprouts - a genuine ginger beer plant.

It's settled in nicely, and is living in an old golden syrup jar.

What I've read about the culture is really amazing. It's really a symbiotic mixture of organisms such as Saccharomyces florentinus and Lactobacillus hilgardii. They form globules of jelly, looking a bit like candied ginger or something but a lot softer.

So within a week or so I should be ready to start brewing my own ginger beer.

One thing left, I have to give it (them?) a name. What about Simba, as in symbiant?
 

Freeconomy: Next Generation Freecycle?

Freecycle is more than just a recycling place.

For me, it shows just how good people can be.

And I think we all to a greater or lesser degree, need our faith  restored in human nature sometimes.

Moreover, I actually think it's a stepping stone - to a culture where we do more to help out each other as we can and where our time allows.

Mel introduced me to Freeconomy Community a few weeks ago, and though there are only a few people in the local area who are members as yet, I've seen the general membership rise massively in the last few weeks.

To quote their own website, it's like this:

Freeconomy is about sharing the skills you've learnt throughout your life and learning those you haven't. It's about helping others and providing an opportunity for others to help you. Freeconomy allows people to make the transition from a money based communityless society to more of a community based moneyless society, and to share the land they don't need or can't use to facilitate a local food community. In essence, freeconomy is about making dinner for a friend who was yesterday a stranger...

High ideals for sure, but then we've already started doing that through Freecycle already, haven't we?

I think I am subscribing more and more to a cascade theory of change. Change happens like a waterfall, and so ideas and initatives are needed at all levels to make a big change possible in society.

It's the little things that always lead to big things - the very subject of my blog. It's about creating small revolutions, not big ones.

Freecycle is a small revolution that has snowballed in the last couple of years to become a very very important movement. Maybe the freeconomy is the next step down the waterfall?   

Don't Dig This / Magic Dust

Aargh... out of practise at blogging!

Tomorrow I am going to a day course run by Charles Dowding. He's a strong advocate of the no-dig system.

I am beginning to see a pattern emerge.

The Good Gardener's Association is actually conducting experiments and research which show that by not digging, and looking after the micro-ecology of the soil (mycorrhiza, earthworms etc.) you can radically increase mineral and trace nutrient content of the food you grow.

Plus, there's emerging evidence that plain old volcanic rock dust is more like magic dust for depleted soils. Now, I'm not one to grip onto an anecdotal claim for dear life, so I've done some research and lots of different sources concur.

From weedy vegetables to monstrous specimens the SEER centre has been funded to the tune of £100,000 to prove their case with rigorous scientific research.

Tomorrow I will get to see what rock dust does firsthand and ask an experienced grower what difference it really makes.

Wouldn't it be marvellous if we were on the verge of a second agricultural revolution?

If you want to read about it yourself, I've got a whole load of rock dust bookmarks on Delicious