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I'd say going car camping is a good first step towards doing a conversion, because you can nail down what you actually need in terms of essentials and home comforts. The psychological barrier of just parking up and sleeping somewhere is very taxing also, and you might find it's too stressful to...

I have just been reading After the Ice which certainly has the answer to your question, but my memory is very poor. I know that in the historic record, the emergence of wheat or rice as demonstrated by either wheat grinding tools or ceramic boiling pots is seen as a significant marker for a...

Was talking to some American friends & they mentioned the concept of 'the landed poor', which we really don't and can't have here. ie people who basically have nothing and have no prospects but who can still get hold of a couple of acres of land, so if the worst happens they can live on it in a...

That's a great link, thanks > Peat soils accumulate at around 1mm every year so 1 metre of peat can take up to 1,000 years to form That's what I had in mind for assuming you couldn't replicate peat quickly

I fell in love with the 90s Toyota highace, they're attractive and feel spacious. Or a Bedford rascal. No practical way for me to get either, but they're petite in a way that's pleasing and look respectful in a parking lot.

Oh that's a good idea. I always kind of assumed it took Lifespans to produce peat, hence its rarity and the difficulty of restoring it and the damage done when removed. If it's a viable crop, then thats an excellent solution

That's so exciting. I'd love to see a badger

To me, this sounds quite unusual as a picture of historic rural life. Most labourers paid rent, and did not have access to a large amount of land to grow all their own food, and did not have free access to wood. In some parts of the country medieval laws banning ordinary people from taking...

I'm thinking particularly of Akenfield, an oral history from the 1970s capturing the lives of the last generation to live in that way in the 1920s; even though they had good memories, they pretty unanimously did not want to go back to living in that way - the particular issue was work...

Following on from the discussion of regenerative agriculture and farming, my area is post-industrial and I'm not sure id want to eat anything out of the soil here. But i could knock up some large crates and pots. What grows well without contact with the actual soil? I tried carrots once and...

For the past few years we've squared the cost issue by eating plant-based (I'm an aspiring vegan) but then what we save we put towards a sustainable meat (wild caught or a local farm; my husband is a carnivore). That works well for us and I think it's something we should be aiming at as a...

In Guernsey in the victorian era there was a January festival called something like The Big Plough, basically the community had one ploughing machine owned by one person and getting the fields done was an all hands on deck job, so on Day 1 absolutely everyone would go to Farm 1...do the work...

Bracken also has some cancer risk around September. A Scottish mountains or hiking body actually warns for it - they release spores. Otherwise the advice is to just not eat the tips, as is popular in Japan, as this is considered to be more dangerous. High bracken areas have higher incidences of...

It's a real difficulty yeah. If you ask a knitter or sewer you'll find as often as not the craft shops that exist have a really poor selection: mostly plastic, mostly small pieces for children's quilting. You do get the occasional posh wool shop in London, but a real haberdashery is nowhere to...

I will post pictures of my netted bags I've been making! It's a very fun craft and I'm most of the way through a hammock now. Also from jute twine.

Oh and related to discussions on homelessness, I also read the Salt Path by Raynor Wynn - a hiking memoir by a couple of advancing years who find themselves unexpectedly homeless and decide to do a coastal hike for something to do. It's good, frequently horrible, about people actually attempting...

I followed up someone's mention of the Book of the Bivvy here - a really fun read. He advises light, fast, uncomfy camping - he recommends against carrying a cooker and hot food or spare dry clothes, for example, instead designing adventures where these things can be done without. He...

That's interesting! I've been considering learning it but I've never liked the look, and I suspect the texture against your skin isn't as sleek either. I'm currently planning to knit some bedsocks, I found a wonderful pattern and I just need to clear my current projects stash (famous last...

Can't speak for OP but an additional factor is, the microplastics that end up in the human body come first and foremost from the things we are interacting with, like food packaging and clothing, and so if one was wary about it (we don't know to what extent plastics in the body are dangerous)...

No apologies! I have done close to zero leatherwork. I have a box pouch & was going to try and replicate the pattern but I have no idea what kind of leather to look for, so any advice is gratefully received.