Do you pay for food or just steal it from shops/allotments/fields? That's a completely fatuous argument.
Indian giver?
- Thread starter spandit
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Do you pay for food or just steal it from shops/allotments/fields? That's a completely fatuous argument.
Well it does have a monetary value, the tree surgeon has training, time and consumables. But yes the friend intimated it was a gift for taking it away, and you bought a trailer to do so. Personally I'd be prepared to walk away as you said there was wood elsewhere, he then has to dispose of a load of wood?
Before we gather a lynch mob and burn down my friend's house, he did ask me:
"By the way, did you want to financially contribute towards the wood?" so not exactly demanding money
"By the way, did you want to financially contribute towards the wood?" so not exactly demanding money
Well, it would cut down on the need for firewood - but its a bit extreme!
As you observe - he's asked politely. That was why I observed the price difference to me between processed seasoned firewood and green cordwood - it does have a value, but most of the cost is in time and effort rather than the wood itself.
is it? and i buy my food from the shops see i would happily go out and hunt for my own food. But wait i have to pay to do that aswell seeing as bow hunting and spear fishing is illegal in the uk. Rifle license, rifle, ammunition, gun club membership. hunting license. fishing rod, tackle, bait, fishing license, rod license, ect. so all in all its cheaper to get it from the shop.
its all made to generate money.
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sure i get that, but all im saying is laws have made it have a value, if it wasn't for the laws that are in place, whats to stop me going up to the wood (that is a five minute walk from me) and collecting fire wood, or hell even taking an axe and cutting down a tree to take home and cut up for wood.
sorry its been along time since i've done any hunting (used to go out with my grandad) maybe that was something he gave the land owner, ill admit im not sure on that point.
in the sea no, you can spear fish all you want (sorta) but you can't fresh water spear fish. an im kinda parshall to the trout
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Exactly - so you can Spear fish in Britain, quite legally, in tidal waters.
As regards fresh water , the rivers and streams are private property.
As regards
Nothing - provided that you own the wood. If you don't own the wood, that's theft. Someone else planted that tree, grew it on, likely protected it from disease and ring barking - its theirs. If you want to do the same, buy some land and plant some trees - that's what I did.
ok i agree to the whole private property and stealing bit, i don't have a problem with paying in that sense. but what about public woodland oh wait its illegal to hunt, with very good reason, for safety i know. but what if safety isn't a concern. and public wood land collecting fire wood nope technically that's illegal, fishing on public waterways, wait no thats illegal unless i pay for a rod license, because even on private property i still can't spear fish. now hunt with a bow.
im not saying that i want to go cut down a tree or own my own wood land or such, the point im making is that the way society now runs we don't have a choice you HAVE to live "this way" and you "have" to pay for things that really are free commodities that humanity has used for hundreds of thousands of years
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Public woodland is a stupid idea I agree - the purpose of the Forestry Commission was to grow timber for industrial and military purposes. Its now become a solution looking for a problem - I can't rationalise tax funded amenity woodland when we can't afford life saving medicines
If i owned the wood 5 minutes up the road from you, and caught you helping yourself to firewood or worse still cutting down a tree with your axe, i am afraid you and i would have a bit of a fall out!!
Ivan...
Bloody good point.
and i dont want to seem to be coming off as a stick up my **** here. i understand the reasons behind things. i just have a problem with the fact that i don't have a choice how i want to live my life, i have to live by their rules no matter what. i "have" to have a house/flat/campervan/address, I "have" to have a job, I "have" to pay for this and that.
put it this way say i wanted to just leave off civilisation all together. and live as a hunter gather. it's illegal to do so. how many laws would I be breaking if i went off into the highlands or dartmoor or some other large semi wild area and lived off the land.
hahaha, public land mate woodland trust and i dont do that, though i do camp up there and have fires, but i used fallen wood. and have a good rapore(sp?) with the caretaker
Sorry Pal, must have misread that! OOh! The Woodland Trust, don't get me started! And as for The Forestry Commission, oh dear the council in the woods, how landowners give them their woodland management scheme's is beyond me.
I think i will keep quiet!
Regards.
Ivan...
You could go live in another country off grid? But I guarantee unless you've got a great skill set you'll have to trade/barter with someone at some point or you'll be dead! As we have since time immemorial. Living totally "off-grid" is hippy pipedreams I'm afraid to say.
(devils advocate) but i don't want to go somewhere else i want to live in my homeland
Don't get me wrong i know i'd need amazing skill set. (thats what im hoping to eventually have. but even if i did have that skill set it would still be illegal to do so.
and as for trading again depends on your skill set. if you lived in the right area and had the right skills you could go without.
im not saying i want to live "off the grid" just that if i did or someone else did, and they did have the knowledge and skill set to do so it would still be illegal, and its illegal for the simle reason that because if you lived that way they couldn't make any money off you.
Its also illegal for the reason that its impossible. Go and try it on less than an acre. That has to produce your food, water, fuel, trade goods, salt, spices, animals, animal fodder, sewage drainage, clothing, leather, iron ore etc. Oh and if you use all that acre you cannot have schools, hospitals etc. - because they, and their staff, would need to use part of your land to exist!
There are too many people on this island for even rudimentary self sufficiency to be viable. If you want to do it, you do really need to move to a place with a lower population density.
There are too many people on this island for even rudimentary self sufficiency to be viable. If you want to do it, you do really need to move to a place with a lower population density.
Technically you would be allowed to give it a go on Dartmoor, but, you probably wouldn't last a fortnight in the summer, let alone eek out an existence, possibly if you lived on the fringes and were accepted by the funny old locals, eg, bartering doing work in exchange for food/goods, it is achievable, but i have lived here all my life and don't think i stand a chance.
Ivan..
I sort of tried it once, and lasted 9 days!!
Ivan..
I sort of tried it once, and lasted 9 days!!
There are reasons we're not hunter gatherers any more. Agriculture made it possible to eat regularly without having to go out and find every meal in the wild. That made larger populations sustainable and that made hunter gathering unsustainable.
If someone didn't own the forests, and it's not a recent thing, people would just cut them all down - look at what's happening in the Amazon basin, for example.
This forum exists for people who are sentimental about a lifestyle that they've never properly experienced. Living in the woods for a bit is fun, being forced to do it, skillset or not, is less so
If someone didn't own the forests, and it's not a recent thing, people would just cut them all down - look at what's happening in the Amazon basin, for example.
This forum exists for people who are sentimental about a lifestyle that they've never properly experienced. Living in the woods for a bit is fun, being forced to do it, skillset or not, is less so
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