why 'the closet hippy'

Like most people born into a working class family in the late 60's, the plan was to get a job, buy a house, have kids and live life as happily as possible. On consideration it was a pretty sheltered world view. It also never factored in how the world would change.

Nearly 51 years on I've been lucky enough to have a job for all my adult life, as has my better half. We've worked hard and been lucky enough to buy a house, albeit mortgaged etc etc.  But, and it's a big 'BUT', I personally sometimes question the blatant consumerism that goes along with it. I know we've been, and we are incredibly lucky to be in this position, so we're trying to contribute our tiny little bit back to helping the environment and finding a more natural way, growing our own food and using less.

When I read about the damage we do to the environment, it does concern me. Looking at the loss of not only pollinators, but the extinction of larger animal species as well, that worries me. Then when I see that 10 major corporations control the worlds food supply, that industrial agriculture is a major source of environmental damage. These companies modify seeds, spray chemicals and use antibiotics and hormones in our food supply, we surely have to question what we do. It comes as no surprise to me that these same companies are also heavily invested in pharmaceuticals, why?

 It weirdly makes me embrace my internal hippy.

It sounds bleak and I don't intend to be, I just think there has to be a better easier way. Individually we can all do a bit. There's a lot of people in the world, so every individual 'bit' adds up to a lot. Obviously not everyone is fortunate enough to be in this position, but those of us who are in a position to 'do a bit', should.

 We still watch repeats of the 'The Good Life' in our house. The exploits of Tom & Barbara are always amusing however many times you've seen them. It's a simplistic view, but has anybody that ever watched this not wanted to copy them!

For years, I've secretly been a hippy, wanting to copy Tom & Barbara but never really doing anything about it. Now we're having a go, because every plant, tree, bee, every extra bit of self sufficiency helps clear up the mess we're making. Plus, free organic food is a bonus.

At this point, I'm not claiming in any way that we're self sufficient, but we're having a go at it, slowly. We're working with roughly two thirds of an acre. We're trying to integrate an apiary, a small aquaponics system and planting a permaculture forest garden to create a natural eco system that will provided the majority of our food. Hopefully we can trade or sell any of the surplus to make up shortfalls in produce we can't provide ourselves.

If you have a small garden, instead of putting lawn on it or concreting it over, consider a mini wild eco system that provides you with some food and imagine how beneficial it would be for the planet if we all did a little bit.