But what do you really want out of "ish"

[seasidegirl]

Good question. Made me think.

My lifestyle doesn't come even close to self sufficiency but just touches it sometimes in some ways. I've always tried to reduce waste and remember it only really hit me when I first had children and learned about disposable nappies and effects on the environment. I love growing and home cooking although we can't survive on this.

Most of my motivations are in this blog post
http://wendusworld.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... nions.html

[demi]

ish for me isnt not about saving the world as for every one of us who does as much as they can, there are a thousand who undo all what has been done. but about saving MY little bit of the world and saying to the corporations who are trying to make us dumbed down serfs NO i will not bow down. there is a better way.

well said Paul, i agree

i second that

[yvette]

I really like this question. It seems that what we are all trying to do is to find a way to live that feels right for each of us, a way to live with integrity and some sense of inner peace.
I have to confess that anger and fear are part of my reason for wanting a bit of ish. I am angry about how the planet is being treated, and how people are treated, to generate huge profits for a tiny minority of people. I also fear for the future - the challenges we and our children may face as our natural resources dwindle - and I'm afraid to face that with so few of the skills I might need. I have learned so much here, but have so much still to learn.

[Sky]

It saves me money and gives me a great sense of satisfaction.

[bonniethomas06]

Good post Seaside Girl, I agree with the sentiment in the blog.

I think my underlying reasons for growing things is a survival instinct - I like to think that if the economy went mad I would be able to survive, albeit hungrily! I suppose growing things for me is innate - I feel compelled to do it almost physically.

I also wanted to make my life simple - I was convinced that by taking it back to the bare minimum, spending time on doing things like growing food, chopping firewood and rearing animals, I would discover some sort of inner peace. I am sorry to say it but this isn't the case...it was for the first year or two, but as time went on, the things I took pleasure in started ot become chores and I have begun to resent it a little bit. I miss 'participating' in things like art and culture and what people with disposable income and more time are doing.

Think the key here is balance - facing up to the fact that although it might get bad, I will probably not have to survive a financial apocalypse, so could probably afford to grow expensive things that I like eating, and not spend every single weekend from Feb to July in the garden, stressing about the things I haven't gotten done.

One thing I have to be honest about is that (although it is nice, obviously) I am not doing any of it for eco reasons. As others have said above, for every plastic meat tray I don't use, there are probably fourty thousand of them being used, so it is not even like I can begin to negate the things that other, more thoughtless people are doing to the environment. I just don't think there are enough of us 'ishy types to make a difference. I am defeated, I am afraid. The earth and the human race is doomed.

But, if I can go to the grave knowing that out of principle, I didn't contribute to the problems, and know I lived with a reasonable degree of integrity, I suppose that is all that I can hope for.

[demi]

i agree with bonniethomas in that it is a survival instinct driving me to ish. my husband and i dont have to worry about job cuts or resession as we can produce all our own sustainable food for next to nothing, so at least we'll never go hungry.
we are lucky in that we dont have a morgage to pay and we own some properties which we let out which covers the bills. and we are untamitly aiming to be off grid as much possible to reduce our bills and live as independant of the state as possible.
also i feel happy that im not contributing to messing up the plannet and, in fact, on our little piece of paradise we are actually helping the enviroment by having diversity instead of monoculture.

[oldjerry]

Bonnies post made me think,When we worked the small holding we both did 70 to 80 hrs most weeks(more in summer)just to feed ourselves,sell some surplus(cheifly pigmeat and eggs) and including various crap temp P\T jobs to pay tax insurance etc to run the motor.etc.etc.I used to think that honest toil in your fields was what everyone should aspire to,and it IS good,but not so great when you have todo it everyday ad infinitum.
In fact work sucks.Hobbies,pastimes etc are great,when they become work well,you know what I'm getting at.Loads of people (probably the majority)have to work their nuts off just to keep a roof over their head,but I'm sure that a lot of people work harder than necessary were they to do an honest audit of what they really needed.
I guess the protestant work ethic has a lot to answer for,better take time out now and again to smell the roses I reckon.

[grahamhobbs]

Many good posts which I can really associate with. For me another thing is simply getting away from the stress and nonsense of today's world. Everything is aggro, it seems like everything is trying to trip you up, get some scam over you, charge you a bit more, confusion advertising and pricing, whether it is private utility companies or parking restrictions/fines - especially living in London these days - it just seems someone is out to get your money and give you hassle. Life was a lot simpler and respectful before privatisation. So doing ish things, takes you out of this world into your own and what could be nicer than being on the allotment, having tea with like minded neighbours and picking delicious vegetables.

[Susie]

One thing I have to be honest about is that (although it is nice, obviously) I am not doing any of it for eco reasons.

Bonnie, actually I'm not either. I can't stand deliberate waste and I feel better living in an eco-ish way but it's not my main motivation. I will be horribly shallow and say that I am ish (or, indeed, ish-ish) because it gives me a better quality of life. I have more fun, I get better stuff if I make it rather than buy it, and I don't worry about keeping up with the Joneses (because I've failed ) so I can spend time and money on things I care about rather than trying to get a new car or something. It's just better. And I love making my own stuff, I think I go a bit loopy if I'm not creating something.

I'm definitely not all that ish though (I try) so I don't know.

[Stonehead]

I used to think that honest toil in your fields was what everyone should aspire to,and it IS good,but not so great when you have todo it everyday ad infinitum.
In fact work sucks.Hobbies,pastimes etc are great,when they become work well,you know what I'm getting at.Loads of people (probably the majority)have to work their nuts off just to keep a roof over their head,but I'm sure that a lot of people work harder than necessary were they to do an honest audit of what they really needed.

Funnily enough, I was talking about exactly this with the OH earlier, although I arrived at the opposite conclusion. I work my butt off around the croft, doing a lot of hard physical labour day in and day out, but it doesn't feel like a job. It's great, even after years without a break.

Yesterday and today, I had to do a lot of writing, which was straightforward and non-strenuous even as a mental exercise, but it felt like a job. It was horrible. I even bolted from my desk at one point and went for a very fast four-mile walk in bitterly cold winds because I had to escape the 'job'.

Strange, but that's the way I am. It's nothing to do with the Protestant work ethic—it's just that I feel at my mental and physical best when flat out and working hard. Fortunately, that's most of the time.

[trinder]

What a great initial post. There have been so many things that have rung true for me. One liners by others that I felt I associated with.
But I needed to go back to the initial post to be able to focus. For me when a friend first pointed me at the web site I liked it ,but I spent most of my time in one area.
I haven't looked back at my profile to see where ( which section) I have posted in but I suspect as a (good drinker-(is that different to a bad drinker?) and generally quite a "careful spender" it was how to make some meal or drink without it being an artistic feat that you would want to admire rather than eat. It also had to be simple.
That fitted in with my personal mantra that marketing hype ( and education) is about making easy things seem so hard that we don't try.
MKg with his enviable knowledge on brewing that he has always enthusiastically shared. It 's like he takes pleasure in being able to help. AND THAT is it. being "ish" for me is about trying to help- not picking a fight - or telling someone something just to have a smartarse put down.
I fundamentally believe that we are part of the same tribe (all of us) and the continued benefit of sharing information is the root and the foundation of why I am in this community.

[demi]

there is no doubt that producing all ( or the majority of ) you own food is labour intensive. but the untamate difference for me is that i am doing this for myself because i want to and not for any employer because i have to. that fact that we work for ourselves, at our own pace, without any stressful comutes to work stuck in traffic jams and worrying about deadlines and meeting targets, makes all the difference. we can take breaks and days off whenever we like, we can share the workload between us, fit it in arround other things during the day, and more importantly we can take the kids to work and all pitch in together.
our lives revolve arround our family and working together for our family instead of some big money grabbing corperation.
im much happier doing somthing physical and pro-active that benifits me instead of having to work for someone else.

[Flo]

I've sat and thought about this one after asking the question. There are lots of things that I can do which are part of a self-sufficientish lifestyle because I have learned the skills over a lifetime. Some I do and some I don't.

Having lived Stonehead's lifestyle pretty closely as a child and moved out of it (due to parental pressure), it has depended on place as to how self sufficient life has been. I can cook, I can sew to a degree, I can grow to a degree. Off grid is not an option in social housing though heating and even cooking has been in the past and I would manage in the future if needs must.

I wouldn't fail if I had to be a lot more self sufficient but it would be a lot harder physically due to age. Would I enjoy it? Probably.

[merlin]

I moved to Bulgaria for much the same reason, at that time as is the the case of Macedonia, Bulgaria was a long way off being in the EU. It was a difficult path, not knowing the language, not knowing anybody in fact. I brought my place from a Bulgarian company that happend to have an ad in the paper. Now we help people to find somewhere and settle in, it's great, what a nice way to go on! I am from London, what did I know about goats, chickens, growing food and all that. Now I do everything from making the wine to making the cheese,in all honesty, if I dropped dead tomorow (and lived to talk about it), I would do it again, in a heartbeat. It was not really planned, but I just feel so lucky to have had the chance to have be in a position to know what I am eating and not having big brother breathing down my neck taxing my rear off. Nastrave

[Zech]

Good question, and interesting to read all the replies. This really made me think... there are so many reasons, but ultimately, I'm doing this because I enjoy it. I get a lot of pleasure from harvesting something, whether I've grown it or foraged, spending some time in the kitchen, and ending up with something delicious to eat or drink.