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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] An Experiment in Country Living by Peter Goodchild
  • Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:53:41 +0100


There is an important point to make here Paul. If we do get a general collapse as many of us expect we all may have to make it through all that to survive. Survival is a matter of having the mental resilience and that takes some practice.

I knew we would have to start from rock bottom without electricity or furniture but I had some experience with that.
As a biologist with a good bit of field experience and survival training I had gone through weeks of living in the wild. Small tent to sleep in and only the food one could find or trap for weeks on end. My wife is a treasure who can take anything life happens to throw and then some. And when we set out here I was in my prime, early 30's.
We ate some strange things the first few years but we never went hungry.

At one time I was thinking of even starting a school to prepare people for all that may come in the future but there was always to much to do and we now have a good bit of comfort around.

John


A lot of us probably wouldn't have made it through all that, yours truly included.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 8/30/2010 at 10:29 PM John D'hondt wrote:


An Experiment in Country Living
by Peter Goodchild 01 August 2010
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/668/1/

Interesting story Paul. Our own transition to land life was no doubt even
rougher. We had about two months to decide where we were going to jump to
having given up the job and sold our house in Belgium. We bought a farm in
Ireland of about 40 acres we thought. Then we found out we had to take the
full available 80 acres or lose our down payment and when we calculated we
might just have enough money the seller raised the price and stripped us
bare.
So we arrived here with three small children (between 1 and 4), a van load
of tools and about $400 cash with no way to another source of income.
Furniture was on it's way in a container on the high seas and took 7
months
to arrive. So for 7 months we had no table or bed.
First thing we did was start making hay with our scythe under normal rainy
autumn conditions and after a week or so we bought two goats. We have
never
stopped working since.
But we are still alive and well almost 25 years later. And the children
grew
up fast and strong and there are now a few grand children who seem to go
the
same way.
john


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