Your Outside Space

‘When we are at home in the garden, tending and nurturing all its plants, animals and minerals, living with them through all the seasons and days, then healing comes upon us like a gift and makes us whole.’ 

~ Christopher Bamford. 

In 1854 Henry David Thoreau published his book Walden, or a Live in the Woods. Thoreau, a Unitarian and transcendentalist, spent two years two months and two days living alone in the woods near Concord in Massachusetts in a self-made wooden house, foraging for and growing his own food. The book has been influential, both as a pioneer work of self-sufficiency, but also as a work of literature. Critics of Thoreau will always point out that his experience was not quite as ‘back-to-earth’ as might be believed, Concord was no too far away from ‘civilization’ and he did ‘send home the washing’ to his mother each week, and he had a steady stream of literary and philosophical visitors, but criticisms aside it is a wonderfully documented experiment. Thoreau did simplify his life and did use the experience to shape a philosophy of self-sufficiency which helps those of us attempting the same thing today.

Few of us have the means to do as Thoreau did and go out into the woods and ‘do our own thing’, but any of us with some land can have a pretty good attempt at a degree of self-sufficiency. Growing food is not just a process of producing food to avoid having to buy it, growing your own food is a way of connecting yourself with the land and with the seasons, it is as much a spiritual thing as a practical exercise and the  fulfilment of harvest is a rich one even if your crop is small. Even those without land can share in this bounty (Simple Gathering)

"I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation. It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green" 

~ Henry David Thoreau 

How to Grow Food 

Growing food changed humans from nomadic hunter gatherers into agriculturalists, so you could argue that it was the very beginning of what we call civilization. As you start on the process of growing your own food you may think that the deciding factor in success is how much land you have, this is very far from the truth. Geography, climate, weather, sunlight, soil, water and luck all exert a powerful influence on what you can grow on your land, and how effectively you grow your food. My old house stood on one acre of land which is about 130metres above sea level on the border between Wales and England, on moving here from the Thames Valley my first growing year was an education in what I could no longer grow and it took me a couple of years to realize that, early first frost, and late last frost, combined with a wet and windy climate and a vast rabbit population, would dictate many of my crop choices. It will be the same for you, wherever you grow your food you must take into account the constraints offered by nature; gardening books and television gardening advice can give you the rough direction, but you need to travel the roads and byways of your land yourself. Whatever land you are blessed with, it will give you food and that food will be good, give it time. Since moving to Sweden the new challenges involved with growing food in a shorter growing season have been many.

Of course it could be that your land is greater than a garden, you may have a smallholding or even a farm. Again success is not won easily and having the land is only the first hurdle in feeding yourself and your family. 

What to Grow

The answer to this is simple, it just may take some time to uncover the answer. Firstly, look at your area and see what others are growing successfully. If your neighbour can grow asparagus well then it should be a crop that you can consider, if you can walk for miles before coming across a decent soft fruit crop, then perhaps it is just not the area. This should not stop you trying to grow what you want, but it should be considered.  

Your local climate may be difficult, late frosts, early frosts, dry summers wet summers, slugs, deer, rabbits! Climate change is adding to the unpredictability of the whole process of growing food. This is one good reason for growing a wide range of crops, whatever the weather some things will succeed, and other things fail, monoculture is never the right path to self-sufficiency. 

If you have limited land you may want to consider not growing crops because they are available to you at low cost elsewhere. If you live a potato growing area; I would be foolish to give over great areas of your vegetable plot to grow potatoes if the farmer down the road will sell them to me at minimal cost. Likewise, if you have the taste for an expensive crop, like asparagus or globe artichokes, then growing them in your plot might save you more money over the years than growing crops that can usually be obtained cheaply like carrots or swede. 

Keep careful notes, nothing is more fun than using an ‘appointment diary’ to keep a record of what you sow, you can also smile to yourself that you have no appointments to keep! In this way you can keep a record of your successes and failures over the years and eventually have a good selection of reliable varieties that do well for you, this will help prevent you from being seduced by the descriptions offered in seed catalogues that are, at best highly ‘imaginative’. Whatever you grow determine to try two of three new things each year, in this way you're growing will never lack interest nor will you miss out on exciting new crops. 

“The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only ten percent of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter.” 

― Bill Mollison 

Vegetables 

Obviously the first thing that you will want to consider is growing vegetables, these are not the only crops that you will want to grow so don’t use all of your land up for them without some careful thought first. Summer vegetables are fine, but don’t fall into the trap of growing more than you can eat, preserve, or freeze. Give over a good proportion of your growing area to those crops that produce a harvest at other times of the year particularly winter and early spring. Unless you live in a very cold area you should be able to find varieties of sprouts, kale, cabbage, and leek that will ensure your plot is productive throughout the year. Digging and the correct use of manure and lime are important for your crops, so plan your year as well as your space carefully. Seed catalogues will frequently tell you that a new variety is better than all its predecessors, however, this is rarely true and, as far as I know only time will tell. 

Trees with edible fruit and nuts

Apples, pears, plums, damsons, cherries, hazelnuts and walnuts are all worth growing if you have the space. In addition to the food they may provide you with sticks for growing peas and beans and perhaps some firewood. Trees can also provide you with useful windbreaks which have a very important role in your growing area. While all of these trees take a few years to become productive the investment is worth it, an apple tree can repay you its original cost in its first two years of apple production. If you do not have fruit trees growing near you then you will have to plant more than one of each species to provide a pollination partner. If you live in an area where spring can come late, then choose late flowering varieties where possible. 

Soft Fruit 

One of the best things to grow in any garden is soft fruit like raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, red-currants, gooseberries, blueberries, wine berries, etc. Not only are they much less time consuming than vegetables, but they can be easily reserved, in a number of ways so overproduction is rarely a problem. Again the cost of the plants is soon covered by fruit production and careful planning will provide you with years of cropping. The different species of plant listed above all, have some special growing requirements so do your research well before planting. In almost every garden you will need to protect your crop from birds, I like to keep mine under netting and then, when I have harvested all I need I remove the net and let the wild birds move in for a feast! 

Herbs 

You can grow herbs in any sized garden and it proves to be very profitable indeed, not only do you have fresh herbs to cook with when you want them, but you can also grow some to treat minor ailments With a few notable exceptions (like bay for instance) dried herbs are very disappointing, so preserve them by freezing or making herb pesto’s which can be then be used in cooking throughout the year. Some herbs are perennial and need a sheltered spot in the garden, but others can be grown annually very easily. When I first moved to my current house I carefully planned an herb garden, but now I have planted herbs all over the place, in vegetable plots, containers and flower beds, you can find clumps of chives, sage and various mints in all kinds of corners. Plant some of your favourite herbs close to the house in pots so that you can pop out and harvest them while cooking (and find them in the dark). Pots can be moved into a polytunnel or conservatory in the winter to prolong the growing season and protect them from frosts. You should certainly consider chives, mint, sage, thyme, oregano/marjoram, parsley, rosemary, winter and summer savoury and, if you have the space and your winters are no too harsh, bay. 

Decorative Plants 

However large or small your growing area is, please don’t forget to grow flowers, shrubs and trees which are beautiful, but not necessarily edible. Flowers will do much to encourage valuable pollinators to your garden so please choose those that have open structures which allow for nectar and pollen to be taken. Flowers can make your garden more beautiful and can also provide you with cut flowers for the house and dried flowers for the winter months. Some flowers are very useful to grow in your vegetable plot because they either smell so strongly they put pests off the scent of your crops, or they act as a breeding ground for friendly predators, or they act as a decoy for predators. Pot marigolds and nasturtiums are very useful and, self-sown, germinating nasturtium seeds is a very good indicator that the soil is warm enough to sow many vegetables.  

Shrubs, bushes and trees all have a use in providing hedging, windbreaks, hiding the unsightly and protecting your privacy. Most importantly a garden which finds room for beauty, as well as food production, will be a wonderful environment for you and your family to work and relax in. 

Protected Growing 

For most of us the biggest problem we have in growing food is the shortness of the growing season. This can be extended by a number of means, for instance starting seedling off on a windowsill indoors will have your plants off to a rapid start when the weather is warm enough for them to go outside. If you are lucky enough to have a conservatory, or greenhouse attached to your home, you can take full advantage of lighter and warmer conditions than outdoors environment for much of the year.  

Polythene is a cheap, easily recycled, and very useful material for making protected areas outside, either on its own over metal hoops, or shaped into a polytunnel. Polytunnels are not as effective as conventional greenhouses, but are very useful for protecting crops. The night time temperature in my tunnel is never less than four degrees above the outside temperature, so in spring and autumn you can extend the growing season by up to four weeks, and in summer you can raise crops, like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers which may not grow well outside in your area. 

Take care to choose your tunnel and its position carefully and be aware that in some areas they require planning permission, so please check with your local authority before you get building.  Every few years you will need to change the polythene on your tunnel so be sure to recycle the old cover and fit in with your obligation to recycle wherever possible. 

Organic or Not? 

Obviously a simple grower will want to use the soil in a way that does not contaminate it for future generations, and will want to protect animals that have as much right to the land as you do. On the other hand, if you do nothing all your crops will be lost and your work in vain. The answer is to select a form of growing that has minimum impact on the environment. For most of us organic gardening is the way, but before we fully accept the concept we might like to consider a few points. Firstly ‘the organic movement’ has had a tendency to go back in time to the agricultural methods of a time before World War II. If you read books on growing written before that time you will find it quite common to kill weeds with concentrated sulphuric acid and to spray fruit with terrible substances like arsenate of lead, because something used to be done doesn’t mean the environmental impact was not significant, it was just unmeasured. I have also seen organic gardeners widely accept volcanic ash as a fertilizer because it is ‘natural’ whereas in fact, it contains dangerous levels of selenium compounds, very toxic substances. Err on the side of caution before using a product just because it is labelled as ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ both words are widely used in advertising and seldom have much meaning.  The ‘real way’ of organic gardening is to use any way you can come up with without resorting to harmful chemicals. 

In my garden I apply the following rules to help conserve the environment and get a reasonable crop; 

• If crops seem to be doing fine then don’t use any pesticide on them at all! 
• If you have leaves attacked by insect pests like then try spraying with water to remove them, or a solution of soft-soap applied regularly. If you are driven to use something more powerful use a spray that is biodegradable and non-toxic to humans like pyrethrums of a suspension of rape oil in water. 
• Net, cover and protect your crops as effectively as you can. 
• Make a scarecrow, but be careful they can give you a terrible shock if you look up from your work to see them standing above you! 
• If slugs are a problem, then try trapping them in beer traps, or collecting them at night. You may have some success with biological controls like nematodes, but these can prove very expensive with a large area to treat. If you have to use other manufactured remedies ensure that you use well tested, biologically friendly, products and use them very sparingly. A pet duck, if you can tolerate the mess, will eat itself silly on slugs and happily spend the day finding them. 
• Encourage wildlife to your garden that feed on pests; hedgehogs, frogs and toads get looked after very well in my garden, it’s the least I can do! 
• Ginger cats are excellent at getting your garden free of rabbits, rats and mice; in my experience they are better than any other shade of cat at doing this. 
• Homemade compost is the best way to feed your plants. 
• Growing plants can benefit from regular spaying with a seaweed solution. 
• Proprietary organic fertilizers are, in my opinion, very useful on occasions and I do use them to boost growth on plants that will not succeed otherwise. 
• Weeds are kept under control by hand weeding and hoeing. Clearing grassland to convert into food growing areas is very difficult without the one-off use of a biodegradable weed killer, but success can be had if you cover the area with black polythene for about six months prior to digging. Perhaps the best approach to weeds is to find those that are good to eat, and those that chickens like to eat and tolerate them to some extent. Other weeds of the perennial kind need to be dug out. It is wrong to expect a weed free garden, but it is bad gardening to let the weeds take over. 
• The golden rule is that whatever substances you use on your garden, don’t use them more often than necessary, and store them safely. If you can avoid using them altogether, then that is the simple way. 

The Large Plot 

If your plot is large the best way to manage it is by conventional growing using crop rotation. For instance divide you plot into four and use them as 1 Potatoes, 2 Brassica (cabbage family), 3 green leafy vegetable and beans, 4 roots. Every year you chance the order of plots that no crop grows in the same place for four years. You will need to also find space for fruit trees, soft fruit, and herbs, but these generally don’t get included in the rotation. You might also like to consider a polytunnel. Large plots do require a lot of work, especially if your locality has unpredictable weather and you find yourself with late frosts and summer droughts.  Larger plots do not allow the kind of micro-management that smaller plots allow so you have to space crops very generously to allow for hoeing, smaller plots allow for more hand weeding. If a large space is available to you, but your time or energy is limited, consider fencing a smaller area off for food production and leaving some of you

The Medium Sized Plot

For any medium sized plot of land the best and simplest way to use it is a traditional kitchen garden. Vegetable plots are positioned with some suitable paving, or gravel, paths to separate them. Crop rotation should be used and flowers and fruit bushes incorporated into the general design. Intensive cultivation is much more manageable than on a larger plot so plants can be spaced a little closer and crops can be raised by sequential cropping; as soon as one crop is harvested the next crop goes in (autumn/winter crops like leeks are quickly followed by summer cabbages, or sprouts followed by potatoes). If your soil is poor, or you are unable to dig easily, then you should consider the use of raised beds, these are expensive to set up, but are very effective ways of maximizing your food production. 

The Small Plot 

To my mind any realistic ideas of crop rotation are inappropriate for a small area, though you should still avoid growing things in exactly the same place as last year. A better way is to start a potager style garden. Here vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers are grown together in a way that both produces good crops and looks beautiful. This does mean that your garden does not need to have separate flower beds, the flowers are simply mixed in with the vegetables. Even large gardens can gainfully introduce a potager style for the area close to the hose with large scale vegetable production in the main plots. 

A potager needs to be looked after well and the gardener needs a lot of time on hands and knees, but such a beautiful result is possible in the first year. You can make your potager very ornate and geometric if you want, but keep in mind that it’s a simple life you want! 

A Wok Garden 

If the space for you to grow vegetables is very small consider starting a ‘wok garden’. Simply grow very small numbers of vegetable plants by successional sowings. Every evening, in the summer months just visit your garden and collect the small amounts of vegetables ready for eating; this might be just a few pea pods, half a handful of green beans, a pepper, spring onions, some spinach leaves and a few radishes, whatever is just right to eat. Back in the kitchen chop the vegetables and cook them, with rice or noodles in a wok. You simply don’t need large harvests to do this and you can carry on cropping all season. Salads can also be grown this way, everyday just take what is ready to crop and eat it. If you live alone, or as a couple, this method of gardening and eating will provide you with really fresh food for a good part of the year, in winter months you can grow many vegetables indoors in pots. It may not be self-sufficient, but it is a way of growing and eating your own food. 

Stocking your Plot 

You can buy seeds for your garden or you can buy young plants, but both of these are increasingly expensive. If you are in a community of growers then the sharing of plants can work wonderfully well, you simply sow a tray of cabbage, transplant as many as you need to your neighbour. Don’t ask for or expect, anything back in return, but after a while a community of ‘plant passers’ will be established. Saving your own seed it an excellent way of saving money, just leave a plant or two go to seed, collect and dry them for sowing next year. You can save seeds from most plants, but be warned, you will not get what you expect by saving the seeds of F1 plants, and even if your plants are not F1 you can expect the occasional surprise. Beans, peas, sweet peas, all members of the onion family and beetroot are especially easy to collect seeds from. I leave parsnips to seed themselves in the garden and look for self-sown plants the next year. 

As an experienced grower, you will find that it gets easier to spot self-sown plants in your garden. To the inexperienced eye, these are weeds, but once you can recognize them simply transplant them to a more convenient spot, you will be surprised how effective the collection of these free plants can be. 

Compost 

Whatever the size of your garden you will need to make a compost heap. Ideally, your compost will be a wonderful and nutritious supplement to your soil, but in reality it will vary in composition and quality. This is not a terrible problem, whatever the quality of your compost as long as it is well decomposed and fibrous it will be of use to you in the garden. Uses weeds, animal manure, grass-clippings and biodegradable waste from your kitchen, try to layer the heap carefully and don’t include large items without chopping them first. In summer your heap will be useable quite quickly, but in cold weather it may take some months. If you are unhappy with the quality of your finished product then layer it with fresh material in a new heap. You can add wood ashes, but not ashes from coal fires, if you add too much of one thing, then mixing the heap up will help material to decompose. You may need to cover your compost heap in very wet weather. 

(C) Ray Lovegrove 2016 2022

Books that Influence my Simple Life

As nobody has ever asked me, and possibly will never ask me, to select a list of books that have a deep influence on my daily life, I have decided to do just that! Well, I can't wait for ever, and I really do want to talk about these things. When I say ‘Influence on my daily life’ I mean just that ´, I'm always reaching for these books, have them heavily bookmarked. It's no coincidence that each of these books, however obliquely, relate to simple living, that’s what my life has been about for the last twenty years! I've limited myself to five books in this post, but that doesn't mean I won't be back!


Beyond The Rat Race – Arthur Gish

To start with, a book by Art Gish, that gives clear advice on how to introduce radical simplicity into your life. Gish was no lifestyle guru, but a dedicated man who lived a life of radical simplicity himself. It was published in 1973 which only goes to prove that he well ahead of his time, in his thinking, and his actions.

I don't think it has ever been published here in Europe, (various editions available in North America), but you can buy used copies, or a PDF, on the internet. Read it if you can but be warned it is life changing!

A Room of One's Own - Virginia Woolf

 

This book has been with me since adolescence and even if I'm not reading it, something from it is never far from my thoughts.

Virginia Woolf hasn't so much written a book for you to read, but let you spend some time within her thought process. The book is often said to be about feminism, which it is, but it is also a glimpse into a time of vast change at every social level and why such change was very necessary. The book still makes me angry in several places. Virginia was influenced by the likes of her predecessors William Morris and John Ruskin, but also by the writing, and presumably the conversations that she had, with her Quaker aunt Caroline Stephens. If you have never read any Virginia Woolf, this is the best place to start. The book is out of copyright, so you can find free copies in various formats on the internet. Don't be afraid :^)

It's true to say that a lifetime of exposure to this book has made me think differently about many things, but Virginia and Leonard Woolf have had an even bigger influence on my ideas about gardening and interior decoration. Just feast your eyes on the third picture which is of Virginia's bedroom at her home Monk's House. To see more of her home and garden follow the link below.

Virginia Woolf's Home


Essential Guide to Radical Self-reliant Gardening – Will Bonsall

This is not in the line of your average gardening book, it is the considered account of an experienced, and truly radical grower! If you garden under 'nice' conditions, then this book is not required reading, but if like me you struggle with winters that are too cold, soil that is too stony, soil that is too acidic, and summers that are too dry, etc., then give this book a try. It is written with insight, understanding of the problems and setbacks involved, wisdom and much humour.

 

Will does his growing in Maine, so his conditions are not dissimilar to those here in southern Sweden. He is vegan, so works without animal produced composting material, something many of us have to do. He grows to produce organic food on a level, and range, which is truly impressive.

Some may find his 'growing food to survive Armageddon style' a little hard to take, but it might make a good read for anyone nowadays! This book has been my constant companion since moving to live in a Nordic Forest but would be of use to anyone serious about growing food in a way that complements the natural environment.

 
Published in the States, but seemingly available in Europe without problems.

Thoreau’s Country – Edited by David R. Foster


Thoreau, yes, but not the 'Walden' that you may have been expecting. This book, the fourth in the list of books influencing my everyday life, is edited items from Thoreau's journal, together with some background writing from David R. Foster. Foster, an ecologist, repeated Thoreau's experiment of living in the woods in 1977 and has provided both insight to Thoreau's work and an impression of how the landscape has changed over the century.

The book is perfect for picking up, reading a sentence or two, and then mulling it over while you get on with some ‘Waldenesque’ task for yourself. At your bedside, when you are too tired from much Thoreau like exertion to read very much, this is just what you need to dip into before sleep takes control

The book is an American publication, and you might have to order it as an import if you live elsewhere. If of course you haven't read 'Walden' itself, or want to reread it, then that book is out of copyright and freely available.


The New Complete guide to Self-Sufficiency – John Seymour


For my fifth book that influences my daily life, the one that started me on looking for a different lifestyle in the first place is John Seymour's wonderful book (which unfortunately is published under many slightly different titles). Basically, he wrote a book on self-sufficiency, which then became the 'new' guide to self-sufficiency, and eventually had words like 'complete' and then 'new complete' added to increase the confusion. The later editions of the book have writings from his other books added to it, so if you buy it get the latest edition you can find, but second-hand copies of older editions are also about.

           


Seymour was what in the U.K. people would call a 'cantankerous old know-it-all'; much of the book seems not to have been "written" at all, rather spun off verbally and jotted down by some family member or disciple. It is full of the kind of advice that publishers like to publish a disclaimer about, such as shooting bullfinches, or defecating directly into your compost heap!

Given all this, no book is more inspiring, encouraging or helpful, no aspect of self-sufficiency is not covered, and you could use it as your guide to a whole new way of life. Even if you live in circumstances which make this kind of life nothing more than a daydream, then reading it would make you a better-informed daydreamer.

I am currently using my third edition of the book, and I could honestly pick it up now and devote an hour or two just to the joy of losing myself in the pages. Originally a U.K. publication, but editions available in many languages around the world.

(C) Ray Lovegrove 2022

Radically Change How you Live

 

Basic Changes you can Start Today

• Think carefully about where you live and decide if it meets your needs
• De-clutter your house fully to start with then maintain a low clutter tolerance into the future. Give unwanted items to charity
• Recycle any materials that you cannot give away and make recycling part of your everyday routine
• Reuse items and materials in creative ways (save money
• Reduce the amount of noise in your home by turning of music, radio and television only when you need to use them
• Make no background noise the rule in your home
• Assess the available space outside your house and consider how it is used
• Insulate your house as well as you can (save money)
• Keep yourself warm rather than heating every room in the house (save money)
• Buy a scrubbing brush and use it
• Always investigate second-hand furniture before looking at buying new (save money)
• Learn to clean not as a chore, but as an important job of work you do for home and family

Some Changes you might like to consider for the Future

• Change your living room from a place where family members watch television to a place where a variety of activities can take place
• Use wood flooring and furniture as you come to replace your current items 
• Refresh your house by painting walls and using simple fabrics
• Consider changing the function of rooms
• Dig up your lawn and grow vegetables instead (save money)
• Consider the viability of electricity generation for your home using wind or solar power (save money)
• Consider learning basic carpentry, plumbing or needlework skills (save money)
• Consider becoming a one car family (save money)
• Consider sharing car journeys to work (save money)
• Consider using public transport to get to work (save money)

Some big radical changes you may want to move towards

• Sell up and move to the country
• Give up your car (save money)
• If you have the resources, land and skills then build your own house (save money - perhaps)

How do I learn new skills?

Ask neighbours, friends, family. In particular elderly people may have lots of skills they are willing to pass on to anyone interested. In your area you may find evening or weekend courses you can attend. YouTube can provide easy free access to experts! 

(C) Ray Lovegrove 2022

See Also;

Reject Technology?

A Simple Place

What you Own

Changes at Home 

Radically Change how you Dress

Simple Ideas

The simple answer is from the past, before much modern technology had been developed. It is wrong to look too fondly on things that we imagine came from some kind of ‘golden age’ because such an age never occurred. The distant past had a number of advocates of the simple life, Socrates, Jesus, Buddha, and others, but it is the not-too-distant past that this blog will draw most heavily upon. In the last fifty to one hundred years, we have seen probably the most dramatic changes to everyday life that have ever been witnessed, so we are not far removed from a way of living that seems strange to us now, but almost within our grasp. Like ‘the day before yesterday’ those times have gone, but if we work at it, we can capture the essence of them and select those things which have been lost which should have been cherished and nurtured.  

We gather most of our impressions of how things were done in the past from books, films, paintings and photographs, but these can give artificially simplistic ideas about what the past was like. We may be able to see a reconstruction of an 1850s kitchen, but we can never be aware of the levels of light, the smells, the noise etc. … we are left with a fairly ‘rosy’ impression of what it would have been like. Life has always been very hard for the vast majority of people on the planet; what seems to us to be a nice or even a fashionable little pastime, like making bread or growing potatoes, was just another part of the great drudgery of living and ‘making ends meet’.  We do not want to return to simple drudgery to live however; we want to live simply, but happily.  We want our simplicity to be a joy, not a burden; to achieve this we need to use technology carefully. We need to look at technical advancements and, whilst never accepting them merely because they exist, we need to evaluate them carefully to see whether they can help us live the way we aim to live; that is what technology is for!  

Various movements and individuals have tried to develop a simple approach to life developed from spiritual/philosophical ideals.  Among them are many Buddhist groups, and those following the monastic lifestyle in the Celtic, Catholic and Orthodox Christian traditions. In more modern times various religious groups such as the Mennonites and Amish, the Quakers and the Shakers have all developed a simple approach to life from which all of us can learn. More recently still, secular ideas of minimalism have made an impact on the lives of many. Tolstoy, Thoreau, Gandhi, and others have written of simplicity and those writings have influenced countless numbers of individuals, and persuaded many to change their lives, some a little, others vastly.  

‘Minimalism’ isn't the same as ‘simple living’, though some overlap of ideas is common. It may be a minimalist that sits at a table in a white room eating an apple, but it’s the simple life that gets you outside growing those apples, harvesting those apples, cooking those apples. A simple kitchen will have lots of tools for doing the job, the kind of thing that a minimalist wouldn't want. I'm not against minimalism in any way, and we could all look at minimising things in our lives, but this blog is about radical simple living, and that’s very different! 

  

One often-overlooked source of ‘modern’ simplicity comes from Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid. Reid was a key member of the Scottish Enlightenment and a founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, which argued that the feelings and actions of humans were governed by basic principles of common sense. This may have been a strong influence on Samuel Smiles, another Scot, who wrote several Victorian best sellers including Self Help (1859), which provided the English-speaking world with hundreds of easy-to-remember quotes on self-improvement. One can sum up Smiles’ philosophy as “keep clean, and work hard”. It is surprising how often Smiles is quoted (usually unaccredited) in self-sufficiency books and websites. Much of the ‘homespun’ advice to families up to the middle of the twentieth century comes from Smiles. I have also found Smiles quoted in a political setting where his words are used to promote that kind of ‘rugged individualism’ which usually boils down to the idea that we all need to look after ourselves and the state should not be involved. I don’t think that was what Smiles was saying at all, but feel free to disagree with me on that! 

 “The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.”  

“A place for everything and everything in its place.” 

“The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning, whereas the experience gained from actual life is of the nature of wisdom.”  

-Samuel Smiles 

Common sense still has to be at the heart of our simple life.  We need to do things because they are the common sense way to achieve our goals. Cooking, housekeeping, growing food and bringing up children all require a ‘common sense’ approach, otherwise they are not simple at all.  

‘Victorian’ homes were traditional places where people from all classes tried to display as many material possessions as possible. Wallpaper, curtains, potted plants, pianos, vases, plates, framed pictures and other artefacts filled drawing-rooms and front parlours. To our eyes these look like rooms full of clutter, a mishmash of styles and functions. William Morris (1834 –96) and others led a movement towards a more simple way of furnishing homes, using well-designed craftsman-made items.  This became known as the ‘Arts and Crafts Movement’. To be honest, it still looks a bit cluttered at times to our modern eyes, but the move towards less items of better quality was an important one and one we should aim to learn from.  

Morris very openly drew on medieval ideas to develop his style and that led him to the use of traditional materials and craftsmanship, sometimes producing a monastic feel to his work. He did come up with a famous maxim for all those who seek a simple, yet beautiful space to live.  

also need to note that Morris was concerned for the wellbeing of the craftsmen who made the objects and materials he used, and in this we see the start of some kind of realization that the goods that we use need to be ethically sourced. 

 “If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it:  Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” ~ William Morris 

Homesteading  

Homesteading is a familiar lifestyle for many in North America.  Use of the term in the United States dates back to the Homestead Act (1862) and hit its heyday in the period between the end of the American Civil War and the start of the Twentieth century. Perhaps most of us get our concept of homesteading from the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ and its companion books, written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This view of a homesteading family as seen through the eyes of Laura as a girl, has had a potent effect on many who read it as children. In my experience any conversation with a self-sufficient homesteader gets back to the influence of these books very quickly.  I have heard all kinds of theories about the alleged ghost writing, or at least the heavy editing, of these books (by her daughter), but nothing distracts from their charm.   

It is a little known fact that many African-American families were given plots of land to start up homesteading after the Civil War in an initiative developed by Abraham Lincoln himself.  Homesteading is still an important way of life for many in America and it is interesting to note how strongly those who adopt it believe they are the inheritors of that pioneer spirit which drove their great grandparents ever farther westwards.  

Homesteading has its followers among those on the liberal left who see it as an expression of political disobedience and a way of avoiding corporate interference, whilst those homesteaders on the right regard it as a stand against ‘big government’ and see it as the last refuge of individualism in modern America. Perhaps it is just that most homesteaders see it as a way of life which allows them to develop strong family and community ties and lets them become self-sufficient, free to make their own decisions.   

In Western Europe the homesteading movement has never gained momentum, with most self-sufficient growers and farmers calling themselves ‘small holders’ and less likely to see their choice of occupation as being a political or philosophical statement.  

Counter Culture  

Hippies are not normally considered as the inspiration for a simple lifestyle, but they did have a profound effect on western society. Starting famously in 1967, “the summer of love” in San Francisco, they developed the spirit that was to lead many to live an alternative lifestyle. So many alternative lifestyles were developed, that by the 1970s, a whole range of “counter cultures” were on offer. Most significant of these to our cause were the “green movement” (not yet to become a political force) and the related movement towards self-sufficiency. This was helped by some influential books of the time; “Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World” by Helen and Scott Nearing (1970) in the US and “Farming for Self-Sufficiency - Independence on a Five Acre Farm” by John Seymour (1973) in the UK, followed by his “The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency” (1976). A great deal of attention was also given to the publication of “Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as If People Mattered” (1973) a collection of essays by British economist E. F. Schumacher.  These books changed many peoples’ lives by convincing them that they do have the ability to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on modern industrial and agricultural techniques. These movements may have started without the development of the ‘Hippy Movement’, but the general sprit of the age led to new ideas about how to live taking root more quickly than might have been thought possible.  

What ideas support Simple Living today ? 

• Just three things are important; 
• The desire to live more simply and avoid a life that is more complicated than necessary  
• The need to care for and cherish the environment   
• The belief that simplicity is a gateway to greater understanding of the true values of life and/or a more spiritual approach to life. 

Throughout this blog I will work on the assumption that simple living, environmentally ‘green’ living and ethical living are all so connected that one cannot truly be doing one without having given some attention to the other two! To me, these ideas are encapsulated by the American Quaker John Woolman, a man who thought hard about the consequences of his everyday actions and took steps to live in a way that was compatible with his beliefs.  

“The produce of the earth is a gift from our gracious creator to the inhabitants, and to impoverish the earth to support outward greatness appears to be an injury to the succeeding age.” 

~ John Woolman 

(C) Ray Lovegrove 2015 2022

Radical Simplicity?

Simple living changes people. Simple living changes how you see the environment, your neighbours, and yourself. Radical simple living changes how you view the society you live in, it makes you question the values by which we run our lives and the way governments behave. It may even convince you that deep fundamental change is necessary, not only in your life, but in the lives of everyone on the planet, the other life forms on the planet, and the way our management of the planet needs to be questioned. Make no mistake simple living is much more of a force for change than you may think! Even vegetable gardening! 

“In our society, growing food ourselves has become the most radical of acts. It is truly the only effective protest, one that can—and will—overturn the corporate powers that be. By the process of directly working in harmony with nature, we do the one thing most essential to change the world we change ourselves.”    

  ~ Jules Dervaes 

Why Live Simply?  

The reasons for adopting a simple lifestyle are often only perceptible to those who do so. Ask any practitioner and you will get a range of answers varying from those who see it as a way of ‘opting out’ of the system to those who see it as a spiritual path which helps them to add an additional dimension to their lives. As for myself as a Quaker, I see a simple lifestyle as a way of focusing my attention on important things whilst clearing away the physical and mental clutter that goes with life in a post-industrial society. Those ‘more important things’ include my family, and a kind of three-pronged communion with God, my community and myself. For you it might be very different, but while our reasons for travelling the road to simplicity may differ, our direction is the same ~ the desire to live a more simple, more satisfying, more rewarding life. In this ‘new life’ we accept the need to be more self-sufficient, less dependent on the consumer-led society around us and more satisfied with what we have. We do not expect a simpler lifestyle to give us more money, more material possessions, more power over the lives of others or even more time, but we do expect that the quality of our lives, and the lives of those we come into contact with, to be touched by the beauty and grace-like calm of simplicity.  

In hard times, like the ones we are living through right now, a simpler lifestyle might prove the way to spend less money, make ends meet, to become less dependent on a system which seems to let us down. I see nothing wrong with this as a motive at all, greater simplicity can help you to live through economic challenges, it has done this for centuries. It's better to face hard times with a plan, and with a purpose, rather than have changes forced upon you, or to try and hang on to that lifestyle that you can no longer afford. 

“Try to live simply. A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of strength. Do not be persuaded into buying what you do not need or cannot afford. Do you keep yourself informed about the effects your style of living is having on the global economy and the environment? ” 

Advices and Queries: Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain 1994 

My grandfather Sidney Albert lived simply. He lived in a small house in the country, grew his own vegetables, kept a few chickens and all his food was cooked at home in the kitchen. His house had no electricity or gas; it was kept warm by a wood burning stove and lit by oil lamps and candles.  I was very young when he died, but I do remember him wearing a collarless shirt, black worsted trousers, braces (that’s suspenders in North America) and a waistcoat (a vest in North America). He never ever went out without a hat and only went out when he had something important to do. Each day he tended his garden, ate his home-cooked supper, read by his oil lamp and finally went to bed. My sister and I were always fascinated by his outside lavatory which consisted of a very small shed over a deep hole over which was a shelf, with a large hole in it on which you sat!  

Before you leap to conclusions about my grandfather let me clear up a few points; he was not Amish, neither was he Quaker (although I am, but please don’t let that worry you), he was not a member of some austere socialist ‘back to the land’ movement, nor a hermit like transcendental philosopher. In fact, he was a retired stonemason who voted Conservative and read the Daily Telegraph. Those ‘important’ outings I mentioned were usually to the village store or, more rarely, to the local Anglican Church. This was not too long ago either, the early 1960s, before the small group of cottages in which his home was situated was connected to mains water or the electricity grid. And geographically he was not, as you will have guessed by now, in rural Ohio; rather he lived in Berkshire in the UK. A noisy motorway now runs not far away from where his simple and tranquil retirement took place.  

The big difference between simplicity now, and simplicity then, is that in his day, rural living was simple! He didn’t choose a simple life, he just accepted it. Today, complexity of life is the ‘norm’ which we are all expected to accept, and a simple life is a choice that we make and an aspiration that we work towards. Living simply today is voluntary - it is also an act of nonconformity and may even be seen as a radical act of passive resistance – it’s really up to you!  

"The attraction of simplicity is mysterious because it draws us in a completely opposite direction from where most of the world seems to be going: away from conspicuous display, accumulation, egoism, and public visibility — toward a life more silent, humble, and transparent than anything known to the extroverted culture of consumerism." 

~ Mark A. Burch 

 

(C) Ray Lovegrove 2015, 2022