going feral
- Thread starter wildmanuk
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Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
Ooooh, that's interesting...
Oooo, is that interesting?
Not as if you haven't been invited a dozen times over, plenty of other folk have hauled themselves out their allotments and paid a visit.
Scotts pad is quite plush, it has walls.
Oooo, is that interesting?
Not as if you haven't been invited a dozen times over, plenty of other folk have hauled themselves out their allotments and paid a visit.
Scotts pad is quite plush, it has walls.
Aye, fair enough...
All i can sy is good luck and I wish I had the balls to do what your doing. Sadly with a wife and a baby on the way I am stopped in my tracks
Quite a few years ago now i decided to "drop out", fed up of working 60-70 hours a week and seemingly always going backwards instead of forwards, so i headed north. I lived for 3 years about two miles south of John O' groats. Catching crabs, lobsters and rabbits. I hardly ever visited a butcher as i had my own ducks, geese, goats, ferrets, dogs and pigs. It wasn't new to me i'd already spent a year up that way at Hillhead East Mey, living with Brian Plummer and his wife, learning about lurchers, terriers and rabbiting. I would admire the chap if he does have a go at living off the land but having lived up that way myself i'd say it was a romantic idea and none too practical.
The Highland and Island development Board used to pay out alot of subsidies to the locals to try and combat the falling population, for example they would be payed for every head of stock they kept as well as any necessary repairs to fences and buildings. They also used to subsidise new house builds up to 90%, so a 60 grand house would only cost a local 6 grand. One consequence of this is that alot of the locals simply built new houses rather than refurbish older properties and so there are quite a few properties to rent in Caithness, and alot of these come with peat cutting rights. this maybe the way to go. I'm lucky i never experienced any really bad weather in all the time i was up there, snow wise, but it rains alot and it's heavy. Of course when the rain stops the midges come out and i for one wouldn't like to spend time under a tarp being eaten alive by those. Once you have found your little place to rent, you can just use it as a base but you willl definitely need somewhere. It would be a sort of halfway house, a stepping stone if you like but you would need it. the beach could be within a short walk and all that that provides and with a small plot of land and a raeburn (both for cooking and heating) you could become quite self sufficient but as regards totally living off the land it would be very difficult for many of the aforementioned reasons.
The Highland and Island development Board used to pay out alot of subsidies to the locals to try and combat the falling population, for example they would be payed for every head of stock they kept as well as any necessary repairs to fences and buildings. They also used to subsidise new house builds up to 90%, so a 60 grand house would only cost a local 6 grand. One consequence of this is that alot of the locals simply built new houses rather than refurbish older properties and so there are quite a few properties to rent in Caithness, and alot of these come with peat cutting rights. this maybe the way to go. I'm lucky i never experienced any really bad weather in all the time i was up there, snow wise, but it rains alot and it's heavy. Of course when the rain stops the midges come out and i for one wouldn't like to spend time under a tarp being eaten alive by those. Once you have found your little place to rent, you can just use it as a base but you willl definitely need somewhere. It would be a sort of halfway house, a stepping stone if you like but you would need it. the beach could be within a short walk and all that that provides and with a small plot of land and a raeburn (both for cooking and heating) you could become quite self sufficient but as regards totally living off the land it would be very difficult for many of the aforementioned reasons.
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Interesting stuff - Out of interest at what point did you decide to come back to civilisation and why?
And soon to be right in the middle of one of life's greatest adventures and most rewarding of challenges
...throwing pebbles into millponds, and watching the ripples disturb the calm facade...
I think there should be an unwritten rule...less than 10 posts and the concept of living free...smile nicely and reply to the post directly under it
Anyway, I'm off to start a commune, if any of you would like to join me...
I think there should be an unwritten rule...less than 10 posts and the concept of living free...smile nicely and reply to the post directly under it
Anyway, I'm off to start a commune, if any of you would like to join me...
Good point, well presented...I'm off to continue digging in cow sh**.
The rural dream is so glamorous!
The rural dream is so glamorous!
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I suppose my idea is not "free living" or a way of getting away from society, maybe the opposite, creating a community. This is going to sound completely "cultish" or strange, but its just an idea.
For a few years now, I had the idea of actually creating a village. About 20 or so people with different useful trades join up and put a significant amount of money together. Jointly, they buy a very large amount of land.
To be in the village you have to apply and go through an interview stage infront of a council. Only those with neccesary skills such as farming, building, etc will be aloud.
They each build they're own house and if they wanted one of the builder members to do some work on the house, they could trade there own skills in return to the builder, such as electrical or whatever there trade is.
It is a really hard idea to describe, but it basically means building a community and home on what everyone is good at.
Once all the houses are built everyone will put in just a few hours a week towards cutting wood, farming livestock, farming vegetables, etc. Meanwhile everyone will still keep there everyday job and the village will just be a way of living cheaply and getting all the essential needs to live for free.
For a few years now, I had the idea of actually creating a village. About 20 or so people with different useful trades join up and put a significant amount of money together. Jointly, they buy a very large amount of land.
To be in the village you have to apply and go through an interview stage infront of a council. Only those with neccesary skills such as farming, building, etc will be aloud.
They each build they're own house and if they wanted one of the builder members to do some work on the house, they could trade there own skills in return to the builder, such as electrical or whatever there trade is.
It is a really hard idea to describe, but it basically means building a community and home on what everyone is good at.
Once all the houses are built everyone will put in just a few hours a week towards cutting wood, farming livestock, farming vegetables, etc. Meanwhile everyone will still keep there everyday job and the village will just be a way of living cheaply and getting all the essential needs to live for free.
Wasn't this how they sold us into the E.U. ? promised us the earth but it ended up costing us the earth !
Craig........
I know a number of families and communities around Europe who have done something similar, albeit without the interview stage or skill requirements for new members that you mention. They have lead very full and apparantly enjoyable lives, but very hard lives.
Additionally all of them have some means of generating income from the world outside, be that from pottery, wool products, wine or whatever. To seperate yourself completly from the world around you is really quite impossible these days, moving to the edge is easier (but not much easier).
He mentions the 'trading' of skills, so no, not particularly Marxist.
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