Going stress free

2010-08-21T15:32:00.003+01:00

Well - It's been a very long time since we've been on here. Mainly because there just hasn't been anything to report. We've been desperately trying to pull things together so we can begin the lifestyle we want - and suddenly in the last few weeks it's all been falling into place.

So I am delighted to be able to tell you that as of 1st September we will be renting 4 acres of land (although we already have access to it now). We picked up 14 rescued battery chickens this morning and put them into their new home. It's horrific seeing the state some of them are in - but satisfying knowing that we will give them a great new start.

In fact - only 2 hours after putting them into their new home we had our very 1st egg!

We've also got a tractor! It's a compact Ford tractor in very good condition. It's already stored up at the farm so there's loads of plans to use it.

Anthony finishes work next week (redundancy) so launches his new business officially after that (property maintenance / handyman). The idea is that the business will give us some initial income which will go back into the farm for now, and the recycled wood business will be in the background for now while we get established.

On the farm we're planning to get a couple of pigs and a couple of goats to start with, along with the chickens, and grow a ton of veg / fruit. Eventually we'd like to add in more chickens that we breed ourselves for meat (rather than these battery ones which are just for the eggs), geese and bees.

And although we're not living up at the farm, it's only 3 miles away so easy to get to each day.

So finally - things are coming into place. All we need now is for me to find a way out of the day job while still being able to cover living expenses and we'll be sorted! :-)

2010-02-08T07:58:00.003Z

We're not too good at updating this, are we?! Never mind. We've been busy though - Anthony's just finished his prototype for a new product, and I'm busy designing him a proper website. (I'll let you know when I've finished so you can have a look and comment if you like.)

He's decided to diversify from just wood products (although the wood stuff is definitely still ongoing). The principle behind everything he makes though, is that it's all recycled from what others have discarded as waste.

So here is the prototype chiminea that he's done this weekend.

The gas bottle on the left is to show what the chiminea was a few days ago! It's really good - it kicks out so much heat it's going to be fabulous for those long, late, spring & summer evenings in the garden.

I'll let you know when the website is finished.

2010-01-12T09:25:00.003Z

Happy new year everyone. We're on a real mission to get our lives how we want them this year. We wanted to share our almost perfect evening last night with you as it really felt like an achievement to us - it's exactly what we're trying to do.

(This picture looks a lot brighter than it actually was - that's the camera flash at work there!) We spent the evening cooking over the open fire, by candlelight. It was great. No electricity (apart from the things like fridge freezer etc) - just candlelight. Heat and cooking source was from the wood which was all free - discarded pallets that someone didn't want. Anthony made the stand in the fireplace from some old chair legs, a few bits of box section he had in the garage left over from another bigger job, and an old cooling rack welded onto the top. Entertainment for the evening was provided by a combination of cooking the vegetable casserole in the pot on the fire, watching and playing with the dog and cat, and chatting over a glass of home-made apple wine (made from windfalls).

Sadly the veg weren't all home-grown but we're getting there!

It really was what we're aiming for in life - getting back to basics. It was so satisfying doing everything like that. We both got a real sense of achievement from the evening. Cooking was an event that we both shared. Not using electric was also great - it really shows if you need to it's actually quite easy to live frugally but still eat well and be happy. In fact happier.

Here's to even more of the same. (I'm wondering whether wind-up laptops exist...!)

Us x

Box pics

2009-12-08T14:16:00.003Z

OK - this is a quick low-tech version of a photo of this larger box (taken hastily on living room floor!). It isn't quite finished - there's no lining yet and a catch is optional if wanted.

2009-12-05T11:24:00.002Z

Well - I've joined the Transition Helston group this morning at the farmers' market. Met a few interesting people, and will hopefully get quite involved. I've no idea yet specifically what I'll be doing, but apparently there's lots of things going on so hopefully I'll find some things that excite me. They have 2 sub-groups at the moment - food and energy. I can see me on the food group and Anthony on the energy one.

We've planned our growing for next year as well. There's some work to do before we can start - clearing out and reinforcing an old kennel shed & run to convert it into a chicken run instead, digging out and fencing in the veg area, building a polytunnel etc etc. All good fun though - we're hoping to be really ready to start doing things in february sometime, so we've got til then to do the preparation work.

Christmas preparations are underway - while walking the dog I'm taking note of the nice evergreen sources to make my wreath and garlands. I'm really looking forward to it this year.

Sonia

A progress update

2009-11-27T07:17:00.003Z

I've just sat and read through what's on here so far - and it's all about the negative things we're trying to escape, and very little about the positive things we're actually doing. There are a couple of things I can't post about yet - but I thought I'd put an update on what we're getting on with.

I think it's safe to say that we've been in a planning phase since we moved in September. And suddenly, it feels like some of those plans are coming to fruition. With fingers and toes crossed, and the wind in the right direction, there is a real possibility we are on the edge of a fairly significant change in our lifestyle to become the way we want it. It's small steps for now - but that's probably the best way.

So - the bits I can tell you about for now. We absolutely love this cottage. Long term we want our own land so we can be proper smallholders - but apart from the land this place is just perfect. If the landlord lets us we'd like to stay here until we can actually do the full land thing (maybe 2 or 3 years). However we do know someone only 3 miles away who has land. That land was a smallholding until personal circumstances changed for the owners, and is currently pretty much unused. However we are now planning a bit of a co-operative operation. The owner would love to restart doing things on a small scale but is unable to cope with it on her own. So we're going to do it together! We're off up there on Sunday to have a day of of planning - where the veg patch will be, what we're going to grow, do we need a polytunnel, how do we get the chicken run set up etc etc. It's really exciting.

Plus our dog gets on really well with hers (all 4 of them!) and they can run round together in the fields and use up some of that endless energy - a definite bonus!

I've discovered that helston is a newly set up Transition Town. I'm hoping to get involved with that as well, once certain other things have fallen into place. In my ideal world I'll be quite a key member but we'll wait and see about that - I'll tell you more when I can. Positive vibes for Monday afternoon would be good though... ;-) If that idea doesn't come off I'll certainly get involved in some way anyway.

That's enough waffle for now - but I thought I should post and let people know that the dream continues even though we're not online as often now. Our ultimate goals haven't changed - and we're definitely moving forwards right now.

Sonia x

Here's Blue

2009-11-19T12:40:00.002Z

Just for you Kath!!

His left eye is a normal brown colour - his right is a piercing blue colour. He had his 2nd jabs today so in a week we can get out and about with him properly - and run off some of that energy!! (phew!)

We're here!

2009-11-13T12:52:00.002Z

I can't believe it's 3 months since we last put anything on here! Still - a lot has happened in that time. We have moved into the lovely cottage mentioned below. It's gorgeous. We're in a place that feels really 'real' - the cottage is amazing and the village we're in is so friendly. We already feel like we're part of a community here - everyone is so friendly. Life is significantly better already.

Since we moved obviously we've been caught up in the process of the move itself, and the settling in etc - but we've done a few other things as well. We've acquired ourselves a lovely new dog - Blue - who is an 11 week old border collie - very bouncy but with an amazing temprament as well. I'll get some pics up here soon.

We've planted a few things in pots - broad beans and spinach for starters - and are hoping to get more done when the weather improves.

Sonia x

2009-08-18T18:38:00.003+01:00

Here are a couple of pics of the new house. The front is straight onto a road, but it's a tiny crescent in a small village so really not an issue.

The living room has a real fire, and spot the beams. It's small but got such a nice feel to it - it feels cosy not cramped. The people who viewed it after us probably weren't too happy we signed the paperwork then and there!

Another step

2009-08-18T12:22:00.003+01:00

Another big step achieved today - we've found the place we're going to live in next (pending the necessary paperwork of course). It is only a stepping stone - no significant acreage at this stage! - but it's lovely and in the right place. It's a little old stone cottage in a tiny village just outside Helston. The landlord is happy with pets being there, it's got a proper fire, it's got a woodshed and it's also got a garage that will become Anthony's workshop. A pub in the village would make it 10/10 but we'll settle for 9/10 for now!

The worms are doing OK - I don't think we're overfeeding them but it's a little hard to tell at times - worms aren't great communicators really.

Everything else is just sort of on hold at the moment - we're in complete limbo but we've got an end in sight now so we're doing OK. There's plenty to organise - I've got a load of furniture to get rid of before we move!

Sonia.

Mini update

2009-08-09T16:43:00.002+01:00

We don't seem to be very efficient at updating this! Never mind. Just a quick general update.

The worms are settling in nicely - apparently we need to make sure we don't overfeed them for the first 3 months or so, so we're being quite careful. They seem particularly fond of tea bags though - which is definitely useful!

I've finally got round to sorting out some techy stuff and putting a link up to let you see some of Anthony's work (on the right hand side of this page). I should say at the moment it's not complete - there's loads more! Also any queries or problems with the site just leave a comment here or email me. Feedback is always welcome!

We're waiting to confirm dates for the house sale at the moment - once we know that then it's all systems go to find somewhere else! We have spotted one place that's coming up to rent soon - although not sure yet whether it'll be soon enough. Hopefully usefully it's with the same agent as is doing the house sale - I'm going to call them tomorrow and see what they say. We'll keep you posted.

Sonia.

The journey begins

2009-07-31T09:28:00.002+01:00

We've accepted an offer on the house! I'm not going to bore you with the details of it - but basically for us this is the start of the new way of life. Escaping this suburban box is the first step of many in breaking free from where we are at the moment. We'll just go and rent somewhere for 6 months for now to give us some breathing (and saving) space - while we work out how to get our 5 acres!!

We're also doing some business planning on the wood work stuff that Anthony is churning out at a great rate! If nothing else we need to start selling stuff just to clear some space! If anyone is interested in any of it just pop a note on here of the sort of thing you want and I can start putting more pictures up. Chopping boards, clocks, candle and tea light holders, boxes, trugs etc etc are all currently in stock and available!

Sonia

Worms!

2009-07-15T07:07:00.004+01:00

The worms have arrived! We followed all the instructions and put them into their new home last night. They seem to be settling in nicely already - when I checked this morning they were tucking into their food already.

This is their new house - The Wormery.

The worms are in the left hand compartment here - for those unfamiliar with worms and wormeries - the idea is that you fill up one compartment first, then start on the next. By the time you've filled the third one the first should be nice useable compost! There are holes between each section so the worms can move through them to find the food, and holes in the bottom to let the air in (which is why the newspaper on the bottom - we don't want the worms falling out!).

Sonia

2009-07-02T18:57:00.004+01:00

This stand for the cleaver goes really well with the butchers block. We picked up the cleaver at Royal Cornwall Show last month - it's a really old Sheffield Steel one, with hand turned wooden handle. It was pretty rough in condition when we bought it but it's cleaned up beautifully and has a lovely weight and feel to it. Anthony made the stand from an old pallet.

This is my bread bin. It's a great size and really sturdy. My home-made bread stays fresh for ages in this.

And this is my trug. There are more of these already made but this is my one - I refuse to let this one go! It's already been used to carry bread rolls to a BBQ on the beach, and to take a picnic onto the moors. I love it. Again it's all made out of recycled bits of scrap wood and like the others treated with olive oil (but I'll let Anthony tell you more about the process side of this!).

When it's got worms in, I'll show you my birthday wormery as well. :-)

Sonia

A few new bits

2009-07-02T14:48:00.004+01:00

I thought I'd share the amazing butchers block I was made not that long ago. It's the perfect height for working on, and is really solid. I love it. I can't wait til I've got a whole kitchen made up of useful solid things like this. (Excuse the cat's bed underneath it! He loves hiding under there!)

More pics of stuff Anthony's made will follow soon - once I get round to connecting the camera to the PC!

Sonia

A word (or several!) of explanation

2009-06-22T08:59:00.003+01:00

I want to add a little something about what we're doing and why. I know it doesn't sound realistic - but why not? We know that stresses still happen in life no matter how hard you try, but when it's for your own benefit it's not about someone external imposing that stress on you. That's the difference. And yes the regular 'job' income needs to stay for now - we know that - but the grand plan is to get away from that completely. This isn't going to be an overnight project. This is a lifestyle shift. This is about saying 'we don't want to be part of that system any more'. And it can be done. It'll involve a lot of hard work and energy. And at the start it'll involve that hard work at the same time as holding down a full time job. We're not under any illusions that this will be an easy thing to do. But it's something we are determined to make happen.

However there are lots of ways round the system if you think creatively. Things don't need to be bought - they can be made. Wind turbines etc can easily be made from scrap stuff if you know what you're doing. That's kind of the point. If you take the time to do it all for yourself, then actually you don't NEED to spend money on things. We know we need cash to start off - but once we've done that initial capital expenditure then actually running costs become self-sustaining.

The whole picture is more complex than we've posted here. We know that, and that's deliberate. This blog isn't to set out our life plan - it's to try and diarise some of the steps we take and show people it can be done. We're not eco-warriors. We're more 'trying to get back to what life should be about' - living off and with the land. Nothing more or less. Doing things for ourselves. Not being part of the system that says we need the latest gadget or label. Good honest hard bloody work for our own benefit rather than someone else's.

Watch this space. We WILL get there.

Sonia

An Honest Days Work For An Honest Wage, What Is The Value Of Money!?

2009-06-18T13:00:00.002+01:00

Hi,

I write this as I am a little P*ssed off so please bear with my ramblings, there is a point to this!

I recieved news today that my job will now basically be less enjoyable and for the pleasure of this I will also have to take a paycut. I realise there is a credit crunch happening but I work as a contractor to the Royal Navy doing an important job that culminates in saving peoples lives, both servive and civillian. The forces are not run as a business (yet) so they are fairly uneffected by the credit crunch, so why am I being forced to take a paycut you may ask??? The reason is this.....I work for a civillian contractor and they are always looking for ways to save money to keep the fat cats and the share holders happy and wealthy, at the workers (my) expence. I know for a fact that the company I work for gets paid £50 an hour to employ me and what do I get....£10 before tax. I think they have lost their way as far as fairness is concerned, but that seems to be a sign of the times. The richer get richer and the poorer get poorer. What happened to treating workers fairly? Surely a good workforce is a happy workforce!? I dont want to sound like a communist (but some of their values are making sence to me now) but this state has turned into a comsumer driven rip off and we are the ones that are paying for it. All I want is a fair wage for an honest days work, I am not interested in being exploited. After all what is the management/shareholders/fat cats/hangers on worth if the basic job at the bottom line is not done?? We are carrying too many people and the structure of modern business is too top heavy. We are told what is happening and if you fight back then you are labeled as a trouble maker and your card is marked by your employers. I am not a trouble maker, I am just an average person with a sence of what is fair and what is not. Simple. The more time that I spend lining other peoples pockets makes me realise that I am being taken as a mug and it is time to escape from it, if others are happy being treated like this then they are welcome to it. Time to move on and do something where I get a sence of satisfaction and a fair wage at the end of the day. Im not out to make a fast buck and that seems to put me in the minority so if you are reading this and do not see my point of view then thats fine, im happy to be a rebel and to persue my dreams safe in the knowlege that what I do is for ME, not to benefit some shareholder sitting on a beach somewhere at my expence!

Rant over.................!

Anthony.

Sunday 14th June - More projects and randomness!

2009-06-17T16:06:00.003+01:00

I write this as Im sat next to a nice warm fire in the Chiminea, enjoying a well earned glass of wine. Next door but one are having a BBQ on their big, shiney, americanesque GAS "BBQ". I sit here enjoying the warmnth and beauty of a real fire wondering why people bother having a gas bbq!? Surely its just an outside grill?? Why not just run an extension lead out and use the george foremen!!
Anyway enough of that. Had another productive day, a trip to B&Q yesterday inspired me to make a storage box (not sure what to use it for yet though!) I will make a few of these so that they will stack on top of each other and help solve the usual problem of storage. These will be made out of "scrap" wood and will be alot cheaper and alot more attractive than the overpriced B&Q version. The total cost for making the one I have already made was 28 nails and a cup full of olive oil (for preserving the wood) and the cost of approx 10 minutes of electricity.

Yesterday saw the design and completion of another little project I have been meaning to do for a while, a waste paper fuel block maker/fruit press. I was inspired to start making paper fuel blocks after almost running out of wood scraps to burn on the Chinimea, I was burning old reciepts and waste paper and remembered that my grandad used to make these little paper mache blocks to burn on his truburn. The idea is simple, simply soak waste paper and cardboard in water untill its mushy then with the aid of a press squash them into blocks and allow to dry. A good idea of how to use waste paper and provide heat for free! I am also going to experiment with putting waste sawdust into them and see how this works. Just another example of turning "waste" into something you can use!

The press will also double up as a fruit press for wine making! I will post updates on how the wine is coming along and some recipies soon. (Forgot to mension earlier on in my intro that Alcohol is number 5 on the most important things!)

Anthony.

A comment from Sonia

2009-06-14T11:35:00.002+01:00

Hi! I just wanted to add to Anthony's comments below with my own perspective and background on all this.

I am utterly frustrated by the consumerist society we live in and that is imposed on us. I think Orwell wasn't so much a ficiton writer as a prophet. We are controlled, monitored, and dictated to by people in control who want us to conform. We've gone so far away from what's "real" in life - living in harmony with nature and what really matters - that we've lost the plot. I've had enough of that and I want to change the way I live to reflect that.

As I sit here in my 3 bedroomed house on an estate in a nice area, I reflect on what brought me here and the person I'd become. Underneath everything I've always been an anti-establishment hippy. For a number of reasons I was sucked into the consumerist way of life for a while - but now I know I wasn't happy then, and I'm very relieved to be getting out of it. I would point out that right now having made these changes in my life to get away from the consumerism I was sucked into, I am less stressed than I have ever been in my 35 years of life. I'm also a lot happier.

Another thing I've learned over the last 2 years is that if you want something enough you can always achieve it. It might not be easy, it might not be straightforward or quick - but if you want it enough and are prepared to put the effort in you can achieve ANYTHING.

I have every intention that we will achieve our dream and one day will be typing this from our self-sufficient farm.

An introduction from Anthony

2009-06-14T09:54:00.001+01:00

First a bit about me and a chance for me to explain my reasons and motivation for choosing to change my outlook on life and to persue an entirely possible better quality of life.

My name is Anthony. I'm 30 years old and currently live at St Ives in beautiful Cornwall. Up until a few years ago I was your average young bloke, enjoying the usual things associated with being young and enjoying life (drinking, socialising, fast cars etc etc.). Through a series of events and a longing to own my own residence (and unable to afford a house) I bought a 32' motor cruiser boat to love on. It seemed like a good idea at the time! For numerous reasons it turned out to be not an ideal solution and I soon ended up depressed and pennyless. Rock bottom had sneaked up on me and life had become miserable and meaningless. I was constantly worried about money, my car at the time (Subaru Impreza) was horrendously expensive to run, payments on the boat and storage costs were spiralling out of control (when I bought the boat there were going to be two of us paying for it but for certain reasons this didn't happen). So I was sat there in the dark (couldn't afford electricity) wondering what had gone wrong.

I soon realised that I had been chasing an unachievable way of life, and started thinking about what was important in life and how to achieve that without ending up miserable and pennyless! It was a dark time in my life but I don't regret it as it taught me valuable lessons about what really matters. Most of these lessons were learnt the hard way - but that's life!

The conclusions I came to were that the most important things in life are the simple ones, and they are all achievable with a lot less money and stress than you would think! I realised that the important and essential things to me were:

Family & friends
Shelter
Warmth
Food

At the time I realised all this I was sat in the dark and hungry because I couldn't afford to pay for electricity to power my lights or my electric cooker. It dawned on me that the answer to this was simple! I bought some candles to provide light, and as I stared at the beautiful flames I wondered why I ever bought flourescent strip lights! Cooking was the next priority. I took a step back and looked at waht was available to me. I was in a boatyard with a ready supply of free scrap wood. A BBQ was fashioned out of an old steel bucket and hey presto I was enjoying beatifully cooked food! The heat and light was all free - which gave me a massive sense of achievement and also helped me financially.

Basically I learnt that most things we do can be achieved with little financial outlay, which means you are spending less, which frees up cash for more enjoyable things. If a lot of your overheads can be reduced or even removed then do you need as much money to survive? And if not will you be able to reduce your working hours?!

We as a race are very wasteful. If we can reuse things that we normally would have to buy, then this will also reduce your dependency on money. For example if you enjoy gardening why pay for bags of compost when your kitchen waste can produce better quality compost for free! If you have a woodburner, then scrap wood (often got for free in the form of old pallets from local businesses) can provide free heat. If you have a back boiler fitted to your woodburner then it will also supply hot water. Waste paper and cardboard can be made into fuel blocks to burn if wood becomes scarce.

Basically it all comes down to taking a step back and looking at what you need and look at what you waste. If you can turn your waste into what you need then you are half way there!

I am also in a good position to save money because I do a lot of things for myself and make a lot of things that others would have to buy. Two amazing skills that will help you to make your own things are carpentry and welding. If you master these skills then you will be able to make most things from wood or metal. I was lucky enough to be taught these skills by my dad (Ray) who learnt them from his dad (Ted) - so it's a family tradition. However if you are interested in learning these skills then most colleges do evening clases. I assure you that it will reap great rewards!

To sum up - basically a better quality of life is achiveable if you want it. A few sacrifices will have to be made - if you can't do without your 84" plasma TV, electric tin opener and all of the other 'necessities' that we clutter our houses with then this blog probably isn't for you. You will have to be adaptable and determined to make it work, but you wil be surprised at what you can achieve.

KEEP THE FAITH!