The radio is talking about economic growth/lack of it/regulators/lack of them…
They are all lacking the essential connection, which to my mind is the actual land where they live!
All the time there’s talk about international investors, while fields grow high with rushes and Irish children leave school with little or no understanding of how to make a good life possible, here, in their homeland.
There was a time when anyone who could, grew fruit in this area to supply Lairds Jam Factory in Drumshanbo.
Well, the factory closed and the fruit growing stopped!
There are few people who grow fruit in this area now, yet I harvested over 150lbs of Blackcurrants with ease this year and the Apple trees I planted are bent double with the weight of beautiful Apples…all organically grown!
We should be turning off the radios and televisions and asking ourselves some serious questions, because the only investments worth growing are not to be found on the Economic Markets…after all, you can’t eat talk!
Using a re-cycled water bottle, for the past eight years, contains my homegrown version of washing powder…mild soap bars, cut into chunks and all shook up in this bottle with some spring water added.
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Total cost: In the region of 10 cents per wash cycle.
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Total Damage to the Earth: Minimal compared to the average Washing Machine Powder or Liquid!
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Usability: Really easy!
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Does it work: The real work is done by the tumbling action of the washing machine…didn’t you know? The soap just softens the water and helps the washing action.
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How much money can you save per year? : Work this one out for yourself.
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Message: Stop being brainwashed by advertising from the big chemical companies. YOU DON’T NEED THEM!
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P.S. My clothes are clean!!!
Blackberries are really ripe for harvesting at the moment!Mixed with some of my apples, these will make a fine Blackberry and Apple Jelly.
So far, the pillowcase method of straining the juice has served me well, washing the pillowcase and ironing it to sterilise.
However, there are few people to be found harvesting berries for free, though many to be seen in the supermarkets buying jam filled with chemicals!
Elderberries are just beginning to ripen, so the harvest will continue well into September!Permaculture is about living on less while at the same time continually running a surplus, because there appears to be a surplus of everything except paper money!
Sharing the surplus with family and friends is a happy thing to do.The philosophy of sharing makes one feel extremely wealthy and begin to question the value system that exists in society around us.
Permaculture can and does change lives.I believe it is the way forward, especially looking at the present state of the Irish economy.
There is a saying here in Ireland, more relevant today than ever it was before, “People appear to have lost the run of themselves”…how sad, how true!But then, before the Economists, bankers, government and people lost the run of themselves, there was a quiet generosity of spirit that embraced the country.
An open door…this is what Ireland used to be about…I wonder how many doors are freely open today?Ivan Illich, social thinker, has written many books criticising present day society and its failure…privileged people can escape the need to be consumers and be ‘doers’, instead, whereas the under-privileged seek satisfaction in consumerism, all that is packaged and pushed their way.
The way forward lies in nurturing confidence in people to enable them to take more control of their lives…knowledge is power and empowering people to move away from big institutions and useless economic models is enabling empowerment for everyone!
As John Seymour once wrote…”To allow ourselves to be dependent on some vast Thing created by the Merchants of Greed is madness.It is time to cut out what we do not need so we can live more simply and happily.
Good food, comfortable clothes, serviceable housing and true culture – those are the things that matter.
The only way this can happen is by ordinary people, us, boycotting the huge multinational corporations that are destroying our Earth – and create a new Age – an Age of Healing in place of the current Age of Plunder.”
Reblogged this on Bealtaine Cottage and commented:
…create a new Age – an Age of Healing in place of the current Age of Plunder.
There R only 2 things we can bequeath 2 new generations: fertile soil & clean water… Economic ‘growth’ is an illusion without these foundations.
Love reading your posts, it seems that money and the means of producing it are the root cause of the worlds problems. In the end money has no REAL value, just that ascribed to it by fools. To have produce to barter and share produces real tangible benefit for all.
My son, knowing how I love study and the Irish got me this book: How The Irish Saved Civilization, The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe by Thomas Cahill. I just finished it and loved the information. I love your posts and thank you for your voice. At this time I am still hauling gray water to my plants and trees so you may not here so much from me. At 65 it is a little struggle yet the plants and I are making it.
The struggle of hauling water to plants is a valiant and rewarding one…for Nature never did betray the heart that loved her. It is also brilliant cardiovascular exercise and will aid your life too, for at 65 you have reached an age of wisdom but not old age…that starts at 85!
Bless you X
Colx
Well said. I’ve felt this way for years.
Ruth from At Home on the Road
How sad it is that we have allowed the bean counters and the spin doctors to convince us to follow their wierd ways. How wonderful that we are waking from the spin. I see cottages like this one: http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/deffier-drumshanbo-co-leitrim/1466801
and wonder if it’s not time to return to the birthplace of my great-grandfather.
There is no greater time of spin than during a national election! To hear the politicians one might think only they can save us from world gone quite mad.
For such an old house it has been dreadfully modernised at some point, but there are lots of properties on the market and prices are all negotiable!
There are many good aspects to living here and I would say without hesitation that Ireland has got to be one of the best countries in the western world. It remains under-populated and with many good, kind people.
Ireland also shone as a beacon during the Dark Ages in Europe and was the last vestige of learning as the barbarian hordes rampaged across the western world at that time…so there is much to recommend it!
Colx
Reblogged this on Eremophila’s Musings and commented:
It’s not just in Ireland that the Merchants of Greed exist…in Australia also….it’s a global illness in fact….but it need not be. Individual action can make a difference.
You are right!
We take action to let all others see their is a better way!
Colx
Great post! It seems so obvious what is needed, yet still politicians talk of growth…as if there were no limits…the idea that technology will solve all problems when it is precisely technology which has caused most of them. Thank you for expressing what more and more of us are seeing.
On another note, my husband and I will be in Ireland in November and we would love to see Bealtine Cottage. Would it be possible to visit? It will probably be Nov 20 that we would be near you. Would love to talk to you and see in person what I have been enjoying so much in your photos and videos.
Thanks again for being such an inspiration. Patti
I never turn away anyone genuinely connected to, and inspired by, Mother Earth…welcome to Bealtaine Cottage! Nov 20th is fine.
Log this number in your phone…0863345639
Colx
Really lovely post 🙂