Why the SS life?

[happy place]

i have thought about this andat first i thought it was i the fact that i dont like people but then i'm a fireman (and have run in to burning stuff to rescue people so must like them really) . so i thought a bit more and decided i dont like crowds, rudeness etc and want some-where to hide. i have so many voices at times i need space so i can listen to them all and ignore the ones who0 are wrong .
sorry this has turned in to a bit of a head shrink session but aleast it has saved me the fees so thanks for listening and fpor careing.
love to all

[MuddyWitch]

Because we don't trust "THEM" to know better than us.

We know what food we like: "THEY" add yakky stuff.

We know what clothes we like: "THEY" tell us they're unfashionable (Good!!!)

We taught our kids to speak english, properly & politely: "THEY" tried to brainwash our eldest, so we took her out of school & never sent the youngest.

Consequently we bought a garden with a house in it! Try asking an estate agent for a small house with a big garden....

MW

[Wombat]

Back some time a go I used to be of a somewhat survivlaist bent, but have now swung over to the dark side to be more of a greenie. You do mostly the same stuff but for different reasons

We are setting up to be SSish in Suburbia (sounds like a movie title) So that we don't need as much cash and I can cut back on "work" or perhps I should say paid employment.

For us now, there is no other way to live!

Nev

[Shabba]

i have thought about this andat first i thought it was i the fact that i dont like people but then i'm a fireman (and have run in to burning stuff to rescue people so must like them really) . so i thought a bit more and decided i dont like crowds, rudeness etc and want some-where to hide. i have so many voices at times i need space so i can listen to them all and ignore the ones who0 are wrong .
sorry this has turned in to a bit of a head shrink session but aleast it has saved me the fees so thanks for listening and fpor careing.
love to all

I can really relate to this! I've found myself retreating from people because so many of them are so obnoxious and shallow these days. The whole self-sufficient lifestyle seems to me to be a return to a more caring and communal lifestyle. Although I'm generally a shy person who finds it hard to talk to strangers, when you've got such an amazing and varied interest in common as self-sufficiency, somehow it comes easy!

I also love the fact that even living in a city surrounded by concrete monstrosities, when you're pottering in your garden or foraging for wild food in local parks etc you can imagine yourself thousands of miles away in the middle of nowhere with only mother nature to keep you company. And what better friend is there?! That sounds a bit I know, but its from the heart!

The sense of independence is also a big part of it. I've always hated "going to work" in the traditional sense, and have never had a job that really inspires me, so the best way to avoid having to do that kind of work is to provide for yourself and your family as best as possible, thus reducing your need for filthy lucre!!!

[Bluemoon]

My daughter bought me a bread machine. I have to admit that I wasn't too impressed as I thought it was one of those 'use it twice and chuck it in a cupboard' appliances. But the taste of real bread took me and OH right back to our childhoods. Consequently we started to cook the meals we remembered from back then to accompany the bread. But there was something wrong, the meat and veg we used in these recipes was flavourless. I'd always grown a few veg, usually just salad stuff really. So we got an allotment and discovered that even the humble main-crop spud tastes 100% better when homegrown. Once you're growing your own and keeping a few chickens you slowly begin to realize that the politics behind our food's sale and production is rather unsavoury; everything from third world starvation to the globalized and somewhat sinister presence of McDonalds. Then you start to wonder why every clothing store in the country is only stocking clothes in violet or some other colour which you seriously hate/don't suit. You start to wonder why your new sofa is falling apart after 6 months. You start to wonder why half the programmes on T.V. are 'make-over' ones and you begin to realize that we are being led by the nose into wanting bigger, better, this year's model and you finally make the decision to stop playing the game. You start to notice how beautiful this planet truly is and how it's being destroyed by us with little apparent thought by the masses, so you begin to do everything you can to protect it. Finally you end up by chucking out all the unnecessary appliances in your home in a desperate attempt to conserve energy and the first to go is the bread machine because you can do it much better by hand.

[Rosendula]

.... you slowly begin to realize that the politics behind our food's sale and production is rather unsavoury; everything from third world starvation to the globalized and somewhat sinister presence of McDonalds. Then you start to wonder why every clothing store in the country is only stocking clothes in violet or some other colour which you seriously hate/don't suit. You start to wonder why your new sofa is falling apart after 6 months. You start to wonder why half the programmes on T.V. are 'make-over' ones and you begin to realize that we are being led by the nose into wanting bigger, better, this year's model and you finally make the decision to stop playing the game. You start to notice how beautiful this planet truly is and how it's being destroyed by us with little apparent thought by the masses, so you begin to do everything you can to protect it. Finally you end up by chucking out all the unnecessary appliances in your home in a desperate attempt to conserve energy and the first to go is the bread machine because you can do it much better by hand.

Blinkin' Flip, BlueMoon. That sounds like a direct quote from a conversation in our house I bet you stay up late putting the world to rights, too, don't you?

I'd always wanted to do things for myself, but I was brought up by parents who were an advertisers and manufacturers dream. My parents always had to have what everyone else had, etc., etc. So I came to SSIsh quite late (although at various points in my childhood I wanted to be a 'hermit' or own a market garden, so there was some leaning towards it.)

I was drifting gradually towards becoming SSIsh, having become interested in herbal remedies whilst writing an essay on witchcraft at uni in the late 90s. I then got a house with a garden in Jan 2002 and started growing only useful things, then came the compost bins, water butts, greenhouse, etc., etc. Then, I found that I had a little spare time and took on a half-size allotment in 2007. At the beginning of 2008, my OH had health problems which left him in a lot of pain after a full day's work, so we decided he had to go part-time. I had a choice of going out money-grubbing (a John Seymour term that I absolutely love) to make up the difference in our income, or reducing our outgoings. I opted for the latter and decided to increase my growing space (reduction in lawn size, moving fruit bushes and herbs about, etc., plus I was given an extension to my allotment). I then visited a Farmers' Market where I bought a mushroom, cherry tomato and pesto pastie. It was go-o-orgeous, and I decided to try to make my own. Then I tried other fillings and before I knew it I was making my own bread, biscuits, yoghurt and all sorts.

I have plans for scrubbing down my old bike and getting it fixed up, making a trailer to go on the back of the bike, plans for a solar powered cooling system to turn the shed into a big fridge (don't know if it will work or even if I'll ever get round to it, but it's sitting there, in my head, waiting), I have a soapnut seed that appears to be germinating, I'm going to start saving my own seeds (gradually moving over to heirlooms), and I'd really like to get over my clumsiness with with textiles and start sewing and knitting.

[Bluemoon]

Blinkin' Flip, BlueMoon. That sounds like a direct quote from a conversation in our house I bet you stay up late putting the world to rights, too, don't you?

Nah, we just stay up late listening in to this house we've bugged in Hull.

[JulieSherris]

Blinkin' Flip, BlueMoon. That sounds like a direct quote from a conversation in our house I bet you stay up late putting the world to rights, too, don't you?

Nah, we just stay up late listening in to this house we've bugged in Hull.

Bluemoon, is that the private podcast you send round to the Ishers club???

[Rosendula]

Blinkin' Flip, BlueMoon. That sounds like a direct quote from a conversation in our house I bet you stay up late putting the world to rights, too, don't you?

Nah, we just stay up late listening in to this house we've bugged in Hull.

Bluemoon, is that the private podcast you send round to the Ishers club???