Escaping the system

I'd really love to escape the system but I often feel my hands are tied. 

I don't need the latest gadgets or regular holidays or a new car, that much is true.  But I do value having the resources - and let's face it these are very often financial - to access the things I believe will be helpful or genuinely improve our lives in sme way.

E.g. I find gardening really therapeutic.  I'm sure I could go forage for a few bits and pieces or it might be possible, especially if I were a younger or healthier person (I'm getting further and further away from being that!), to live in a caravan, camper van or small hut somewhere, alongside nature, join a commune or even do a bit of a "Good Life" makeover on our situation.  In gardening groups, every so often someone will comment on how cheap gardening is, usually on the basis that you just need to buy a few packets of seeds and off you go. 

But really, land ownership is instantly a problem, either acquiring it or gaining access rights when someone else has already acquired it.  Even when I watch Gardeners' World (which I know probably isn't the best programme as it's too mainstream) there often seems to be a lot of classism, inequality and privilege lurking not so far in the background.  So Charles is praised for all his "work" at Highgrove, Heseltine proudly shows the audience around his ample garden and Monty himself can do an awful lot of self sufficient stuff at Longmeadow while most of us have to make do with our "shortmeadow" version, if we have access at all. 

The presenters often tell us that we can go to big gardens or estates for ideas to use on a smaller scale (for our window box, presumably?) but it's really not as easy as that.  The best, most exiting self sufficiency projects need space.  And, although I loved the Good Life and would want to emulate that in whatever ways I can, I'd need more information on how to acquire that property with a sizeable garden in the first place.  It seems to me that Tom first of all had to toe the line and take a conventional job for them to get into that position.  And likewise I'd need some serious money to buy my first smallholding.  

Another example:  I'd also like to be able to help my family (some of them are really struggling).  But even when it comes to basic mental health care and indeed an autism diagnosis, if that is felt to be helpful, the NHS waits are often far too long.  I really appreciate the NHS and will use that first.  It also aligns with my principles and going privately sticks in my throat.  But when my family are suffering, I do the best I can.  And I was really glad to be able to afford a private assessment for one family member.  Time, in this case, was of the essence.  My principles went down the drain and what we needed was money.

It's all wrong, utterly wrong, I know.  The game is rigged.  But sadly I've found that when I opt out things get worse for me and mine.  Low income = fewer choices = reduced happiness.  :( 

I tend not to chase happiness per se.  And I'm not an adman's dream.  I think I recognise the con and yet I'm still bound by it in many ways.  All I'm left with is my voting rights (Bye bye Heseltine and your ilk!) and a bit of protesting/activism (joined Republic and a few other groups that align with my beliefs) plus a few local acts of defiance - I have my seed bombs ready for appropriate areas plus do a bit of phantom planting when I can (fruit trees usually).  

The latest iphone, concert tickets or clothes might as well not exist for me.  But one day I might save enough to buy a field and create a community orchard.  :)             

What a thoughtful and interesting reply. I really get what you are saying about gardening. I spend a few years watching The Good Life and dreaming of living that way. However, at the time me and my wife were living in my parents house, unable to afford to even rent a flat of our own so the idea of your own house and garden that you could do all that with seemed a distant dream. I was able to grow a few potatotes and carrots in my parents garden however.

I think it is a very good point you make that Tom had to tow the line for a long time to get into a position to do what he did. I dont think the self sufficent life is something you can go out and live at 18 and less you are extremely fortunate in your background or life circumstances. 

We have now been blessed enough to have a council house and a small garden so I am hoping next year I can do a bit more.

I agree with you about not being able to opt out completely. For instance I dont want to have home internet or sky TV but since me and my wife both work from home and couldnt do our jobs without the internet it is unavoidable and, as a sports writer, it would be pretty difficult for me to write about sports if I didnt have sky TV to watch them. 

I have managed to make small steps like getting rid of my smartphone contract and things like taht. Im doing it a bit at a time and certainly feeling a lot freer.

I think the most important thing though isnt necessarily a complete change of life but instead a change of mindset. Once you mentally step outside the system and realise that none of the things you are being told matter actually matter and that you dont need all the stuff society tells you you need you can feel freer in your mind and change your life even if you cannot completely change your way of life if that makes sense 

I like your idea of a community orchard, that sounds lovely and I hope you achieve your dream someday 

My tiny pear tree has done rather well this year (although I've had to prop it up to stop it toppling under the unexpectedly heavy crop).  So I'm going to phantom plant a couple more, which I'm doing, in my mind's eye, in remembrance of people I've loved and lost.  I'm hoping that someone will do the same for me when it's my turn to "shuffle off".  :) 

Oh, I love the idea of getting free plants and would definitely be up for a plant swap.  "London Pride is a flower that's free" but lots of others propagate or divide easily too. 

When I was a kid and got taken to the park, I used to collect any crushed pieces of geranium and take them home to root.  There were always lots of pieces to collect, ball games being what they are, and I usually ended up with too many.  I remember the year of the special orange variagated geraniums but unfortunately nobody outside the family seemed to share my interest.  It was very cheap though.

There was another year when my dad brought home a load of seeds, unfortunately and naively having used up quite a chunk of his already meagre wages to buy them as he felt too ashamed to back out of the purchase once they told him the price.  My mother was furious as we were really struggling, but our back garden was full of colour that summer.  And we all remember the old bath tin that had been in our garden for years because that year it came to life with more conrflowers than I've eve seen concentrated in such a small space.   

When I say expensive, though, it's really about the land.  When I was growing up my windowsill wasn't big enough and now my garden isn't, although I'm starting to grow vertically too, to maximise the use of space. 

Guerilla gardening and phantom planting are fun though.  And I want our bath tin back too.  I suspect a neighbour pinched it because he was a bit of a magpie and handyman and my parents, once they became elderly, didn't use it anymore.  I still feel attached to it.  I'll maybe ask him about it (nice bloke but the sort who takes "rubbish" from others' yards and gardens, like a Borrower).    

Oh, I love the idea of getting free plants and would definitely be up for a plant swap.  "London Pride is a flower that's free" but lots of others propagate or divide easily too. 

When I was a kid and got taken to the park, I used to collect any crushed pieces of geranium and take them home to root.  There were always lots of pieces to collect, ball games being what they are, and I usually ended up with too many.  I remember the year of the special orange variagated geraniums but unfortunately nobody outside the family seemed to share my interest.  It was very cheap though.

There was another year when my dad brought home a load of seeds, unfortunately and naively having used up quite a chunk of his already meagre wages to buy them as he felt too ashamed to back out of the purchase once they told him the price.  My mother was furious as we were really struggling, but our back garden was full of colour that summer.  And we all remember the old bath tin that had been in our garden for years because that year it came to life with more conrflowers than I've eve seen concentrated in such a small space.   

When I say expensive, though, it's really about the land.  When I was growing up my windowsill wasn't big enough and now my garden isn't, although I'm starting to grow vertically too, to maximise the use of space. 

Guerilla gardening and phantom planting are fun though.  And I want our bath tin back too.  I suspect a neighbour pinched it because he was a bit of a magpie and handyman and my parents, once they became elderly, didn't use it anymore.  I still feel attached to it.  I'll maybe ask him about it (nice bloke but the sort who takes "rubbish" from others' yards and gardens, like a Borrower).