Surviving and Thriving on the Land: How to Use Your Spare Time and Energy to Run a Successful Smallholding: How to Use Your Time and Energy to Run a Successful Smallholding - Softcover

Laughton, Rebecca

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1900322285 ISBN 13: 9781900322287

Verlag: Green Books, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

It's a dream come true when you finally get a piece of land or join an eco-community and start to plan your sustainable land-based enterprise. But all too often the dream is spoiled by lack of money, stress, exhaustion, and poor time management, and your work and future plans can dissolve into discord, illness, and poverty. Smallholdings provide food, home, fuel, and employment for those who run them and local, seasonal, often organic and ethical food and timber for an expanding market.

Surviving and Thriving on the Land looks at ways in which projects can be designed that care for the people involved in them as well as the earth that they are trying to protect. If land-based ecological projects are to offer a realistic solution to the problems we face in the twenty-first century, it is imperative that they be sustainable in terms of human energy. This book offers a framework, backed up by real-life examples, of issues to consider when setting up a new project or for overcoming human-energy-based problems in existing projects.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Rebecca Laughton lived for four years at Tinker?s Bubble, an ecological community in Somerset where the residents manage 40 acres of land without the use of fossil fuels. Whilst researching her book, she travelled around France and the UK visitingother land-based projects and found that the subject of human energy use within ecological projects had not really been addressed. Rebecca studied Geography at Newcastle University and has an MSc in Sustainable Agriculture from Wye College, University of London.

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Surviving and Thriving on the Land

How to Use Your Time and Energy to Run a Successful Smallholding

By Rebecca Laughton

Green Books Ltd

Copyright © 2008 Rebecca Laughton
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-900322-28-7

Contents

Introduction, 
1. The Human Energy Equation, 
2. Energy Use Through the Ages, 
3. The Role of the Modern Smallholder, 
4. Land-based Livelihoods and Low-impact Lifestyles, 
5. Energy-efficient Design, 
6. Wise Choice of Tools, 
7. Domestic Energy, 
8. Livelihood Strategies, 
9. Living and Working Together, 
10. Together or Alone?, 
11. The Seven Ages of Men and Women, 
12. Siestas and Fiestas: Balancing work, rest and celebration, 
13. Surviving or Thriving?, 
Appendix 1: Interview questions, 
Appendix 2: Resources, 
References, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

The Human Energy Equation

A new generation of small-scale, land-based initiatives is establishing itself throughout the United Kingdom. These include smallholdings, organic farms, land-based communities, forestry initiatives, permaculture projects and community-supported agriculture schemes. The people starting these initiatives are usually driven by a desire to address some of the pressing environmental problems of the twenty-first century, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and soil erosion. Often those wishing to work on the land see their domestic arrangements as part of an integrated endeavour to minimise their personal environmental impact. Alongside organic farming or forestry, they choose to build energy-efficient homes from local or recycled materials; harvest rainwater from their roofs; generate electricity using wind generators, solar panels or hydroelectric turbines and use firewood for cooking and heating their homes. Some smallholders wish to meet the growing demand for food which has been produced locally to high environmental standards. Others are motivated by the belief that their quality of life will improve if their own basic needs are met directly by living and working on the land. Their food will be fresher and taste better, their water cleaner, their environment more pleasant, they will be able to work from home and spend more time with their families, and they will have the freedom to choose how to use their time.

The price of bucolic bliss

Such an idyllic rural existence is entirely achievable, but it comes at a price – hard work. To generate a livelihood from the land in modern Britain, whilst minimising your environmental impact, is demanding. Firstly, for the aspiring self-sufficient or commercial smallholder, finding an affordable property is a challenge. Buying a bare land holding, let alone a house with enough land to grow your own vegetables and keep a few chickens, is an expensive business, unless you have large reserves of capital or a well-paid job. Secondly, despite the recent increase in demand for local and organic food, it is still hard for farmers to charge prices that realistically value their time as well as covering the cost of production. The establishment of a successful agricultural enterprise requires skill and efficiency, imaginative marketing skills and the willingness to work extremely long hours for very low pay. Thirdly, government bureaucracy and manifold regulations – including DEFRA paperwork, organic certification, planning laws and environmental health legislation – result in time-consuming and sometimes expensive extra work. Without some forethought and care, the rural idyll can turn into a slog through a never-ending list of chore

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Green Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1900322285
• ISBN 13: 9781900322287
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 328
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
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