Then And Now!

[BodhisatvaJohn]

It is amazing how, many things, I and my fellow hippie alternative geeks, were into in the 70's, are now part of the mainstream! As far as I know, we coined the phrase 'Junk Food!' Of course we were seen as cranks back then!

I have books on my bookshelf, that would be worth something now too, Companion plants (on Bio-Dynamics), Back Yard Poultry Keeping, Food For Free, by Richard Mabey, as well as lots of books on organic gardening, including three by my gardening hero, Lawrence D Hills, (the founder of The Henry Doubleday Research Association - now Planet Organic).

I remember listening to Hawkwind sing 'We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago,' Which was about mans degradation of the planet, No one was interested in CO2 emissions or our over usage of scare resources, our use of plastics and so on, then.

Now I smile wryly, whenever I see people seeming to jump on the bandwagon, because it's all so fashionable. And NO I don't mean you good people who are on this lovely site, I mean those who jump from one trend to another. The Thing is, we know what was happening to the planet 40 years and more ago, Read Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, or Diet For A Small Planet. Things have been allowed to slide for all of those years and still those who rule us seem are unwilling or unable to end the carnage to the environment!!!!!!

[lancashire lass]

When I was studying, it was well known that gas and oil supplies would start to "run" out/become an issue in 20 years time ... interestingly that was 20 years ago. I never could understand why nothing was being done about it, if anything the price of gas and oil dropped and people jumped in and bought gas central heating because it was cheaper to run, not to mention gas-fired power stations We all seem to be getting in a pickle over it now but it was not just foreseen but part of the curriculum!

Even conservation of the world's equatorial forests was of great concern when I was in my teens ... now becoming a climatic change issue, not to mention the great loss of plants we still know nothing about and wildlife.

[Mallard]

Food For Free, one of the books that started me down the foraging, frugal path.
Brought up in the sort of farming community that ripped out hedgerows, and then wondered where their soil was going and used some of those now (almost) banned chemicals, Rachel Carson's book was also an eye opener. Lots of those birds now practically non-existent.
I saw Silent Spring in a charity shop the other day!

[BodhisatvaJohn]

Did you buy it Mallard? Good to know those books are still knocking about. Although the main thrust of Carson's book - DDT, has now been done away with. Thank goodness.

[p.penn]

Food for free - I did have it at one time but not sure where it is now! I never quite trusted it - I was sure I was going to poison myself with mushrooms!

[Sunny B]

I was inspired by John Seymour's "Self Sufficiency" and William Cobbet's "Rural Rides"

[Mallard]

Did you buy it Mallard? Good to know those books are still knocking about. Although the main thrust of Carson's book - DDT, has now been done away with. Thank goodness.

Afraid not, I picked it up, looked through it, and then the frugal side said, 'You've read it, and its not what you're looking for!'

Hence the sig!

[BodhisatvaJohn]

I used to know John and Sally Seymour. I lived on a community small holding in West Wales, in the 70's and they were neighbours. Last I heard, John was living in Ireland and had divorced Sally. I notice his book, has now been re issued!

[manda]

I love John Seymour's writings and I too have a well thumbed copy of his self sufficiency book, he was an amazing writer, but not just for his self sufficiency books.
He finally lived with his daughter and her family in Pembrokeshire, until he died in Sept 2004.
The John Seymour school for Self sufficiency still continues in Ireland run by Will and Angela Sutherland (who started the school with John Seymour). He apparently re-wrote it with Will and it was reissued after his death. They've also written a guide to self sufficiency for people who live in cities

[Stig]

I think John Seymour lived into his 90s, a good recommendation for the self sufficient way of life. As was Scott Nearing, author of The Good Life, who lived to be 100.

EF Schumacher's Small is Beautiful is the book that grabbed me most (maybe because I was studying economics at the time). Written before global warming was a threat (in fact I think he mentions new ice-ages!) it's just pure common sense. The way we treat the Earth's resources as inexhaustible and the drive to separate ourselves from the production of things, via globalisation & automation, are problems more relevant today than when the book was written nearly 40 years ago.