Getting on a bit.

[safronsue]

oh yes, i'm in on this revolution too. currently watching victorian farm series and practically taking notes at some points it's so interesting!

[Maykal]

oh yes, i'm in on this revolution too. currently watching victorian farm series and practically taking notes at some points it's so interesting!

From The Box perchance?

I just have to look out of my window when I'm at the house and see 'Victorian Farm' happening live; people scything their gardens, everything growing pretty much organically/bio, foraging in the woods, stills and presses for alcohol production, most things transported by horse and cart, ox working the fields, chickens wandering around the road, drying racks for peppers, herbs and sweetcorn, and so on.

The good thing is that there is normally someone you can ask who knows the old ways, although they are rapidly dying out here too (both the old ways, and the people who knew them), probably to be lost within a decade as the young leave for the cities.

Mike

[safronsue]

you got it mike, :)
horses and carts and oxen too? wow it really is like living in a different era but then then you have access to the web and hey presto, back again. that actually sounds amazing and something i would prefer to what we have here. here we are supposedly developed but its fast becoming unsustainable ...so what do we do with cars we can't afford fuel for or broken machines we can't fix? ho hum

[Maykal]

When I'm up at the house (in Transylvania) I don't even have net access. I'm at my flat in Bucharest at the moment. It really is lovely (Transylvania that is, Bucharest certainly isn't). I went there on my own for a week to get some work done at the end of October and found it really relaxing, even if we had unusually rainy weather. No net, no TV, no telephone (except my mobile, which is low-tech and not at all Smart). Just me, the cats, the birds (feather ones), a chatty neighbour with some good homebrew wine, a good book (ok, a kindle) and some peace and quiet.

I should get a copy of Vic Farm actually as it's a FLOTW. Can't remember if I've seen it or not, only the first episode I think.

[marshlander]

Must say my kitchen and pantry owe more to my grandmothers than my mother. The flower and vegetable garden like those of both sets of grandparents whereas my father never gardened.

I had to look up FLOTW Maykal and I'm none the wiser.haha

[marshlander]

It's just struck me that my grandparents WERE Victorians as born before 1901!

On the downside, not all methods of days gone by were eco or even safe. I remember one grandfather in particular had a splendid arsenal of poisons for every occasion!

[Maykal]

I think it is a misconception, you're right. I remember seeing that program about the high street through different ages, I've forgotten what it was called, in which they pointed out some of the horrible stuff they bulked the bread out with.

My grandparents were also Victorians, come to thing of it. My great-great grandfather was a grocer/grower and claimed to be the longest-serving greengrocer in England. My grandfather was a very keen gardener, horseman, and also worked as a butcher in the Cali Market in London, and my dad always kept a bountiful vegetable plot down the bottom of our garden when I was a kid. I'll be getting my own veg plot going in the coming year, so I'm hoping it's in my blood somewhere!

FLOTW - Free Leech Of The Week: There's a site where you can download shows from UK television, quite commonly used by expats who don't have access to BBC/ITV etc, and each week one show (usually a complete series) is free to download without having to upload (leech) anything back to the community. You don't actually get a free leech though