The Most Important of Gifts - Thursday 05/05/11

Yesterday I made some new friends. Zhenia, Xavier, Cai, Abbey and Mark, who stayed with Simon and Jasmine during their time at Lammas. A fact finding mission I believe, but each with their own curiosity.
From what I could gleen, Mark was most interested in how Lammas came into being and observe it in action as, like many others who visit, he wishes to found another intentional community. The difference with Mark however is, I believe he will actually do it. You can tell who is a do'er and who is a wishy washy dreamer.. (like me?)
Xavier has visited before at various stages of development and is an avid admirer of Simon's buildings and philosophies. I see great similarities between these two men. Both are very connected to the design and graphics industry, both are admirers and see beauty in their environment. This is betrayed by a shared love of photography. I feel it is this that drives such men to work with, and endeavour to conserve nature and the world around them. Both men are also wonderful to talk to, unassuming and genuine. I appear to reside in a distillery for rare and precious human qualities!
I think Cai and Abbey had a very broad and general interest in the whole project. To say they were just in it for the ride I feel would be inaccurate.
Zhenia, it transpires hails from Stroud! He told me he was employed in the research and development of vertical axis wind turbines, so I guess his was an environmental interest. Will hopefully see him again and catch up with him when we return to Stroud.

All this I learned through working and relaxing with these guys over two days. Mark was easy to connect with, this was down to both his open and friendly personality, as well as my having read his book The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living. This gave us common ground and enabled us to talk at length whilst digging pits for fence posts. His companions were equally as open and likeable and I hope to work with them all again in the future.

The morning of their departure, they brought and left us with the most important of gifts. No, not a copy of Marks book (although it is an important read) but rain. Much needed and strangely missed. Some would say Wales isn't Wales without it!

So thanks guys!

Thank you for your stories.
Thank you for your labour.
Thank you for bringing life back to the soil.
And thank you for restoring a countries identity.

Simon's Recently Completed Solar Water Heater.

M Jones

Sharing The Wealth- Tuesday 03/05/11

04:49 : Up and out to walk the rifle.
07:15 : Back for a coffee.
07:30 : Scythed the orchard.
08:25 : Coffee.
09:10 - 11:15 : During my coffee I learnt how to range find using my mil-dot scope. Set about measuring my shooting range. Happy to find the formula and my calculations worked and were accurate.
The theory is this:

You take a measurement of your target. This was 3". This needs to be converted to yards, so divide that by 36". Divide 1000 by how many mil-dots the sight picture spans/covers. For me, the circle sat snugly on the first mil-dot. So one. Divide the factor of magnification by 10, and tag that on the end of the equation and my sum looks like this.

(3"/36")*(1000/1)*.4 = 33.3 yards.

By measuring, not pacing 25 yards, I revealed why my range finding was so bad. I hadn't previously realised how big a yard was. Roughly 90cm. This also meant that I'd vastly underestimated the effective killing distance of the rifle.
40/50 yards is a fair old way and makes for a lot less stalking.

13:30 - 18:00 : Went a-fishing. Caught a medium brown trout. Gave that to Nick as a trade for the pellets he gifted to me. Later I caught a small Rainbow Trout. Had he had not been such a greedy beggar and swallowed the whole hook I would've been able to throw him back. The damage done meant it was kinder to end his life with a sharp tap on the head. A shiver down to the tail and he was gone. He became a gift for Simon and Jasmine who are expecting a visit from Mark Boyle (author of The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living) later today. Thought the trout would be a nice touch... plus I'm very much aware it is not my millpond so it's only right to share the wealth. If anything it's labour saving, as by giving everyone a fish. I don't have to re-describe ours was!

19:00 : Walked the rifle. Absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. Was fine by me. I was pooped and nature had already provided more than enough food for my family.

21:00 : Bed

Small Rainbow Trout.

Medium Brown Trout.

M Jones

Just For The Love Of It - Wednesday 02/02/11

Insomnia struck last night. When I could take it no longer, I set out into the pitch black night, mist swirling in the light of the head torch. The spinning invisible drops of water caressing my cheeks as I walked to the barn.
Overloaded my brain with information. Read up on the Freeman movement, Common Law and the Magna Carta, joined justfortheloveofit.org (Mark Boyle's Freeconomist website), bought a share in Lammas and analysed the rules governing an Industrial and Provident Society. By 02:00 I had had enough.
We look after Nick's dog Teasel whilst he's volunteering, and this morning he brought along his copy of his 'Sovereign Declaration'. This is the first step to becoming a 'Freeman On The Land' as I understand it (and also completely different to the freeconomy movement!). All his learning has come from research on the internet, but also from a book titled Standing Under Freedom: A Foundation for Personal Empowerment. This book intrigues me greatly and I'm itching to exchange The Moneyless Man for it.
The late night really sapped my energy but thankfully the weather has been wet and windy. This not only signals winters demise, but just as importantly gives me a day off of sorts. Still moved large piles of wood and pushed a Volvo around but did less than usual.

M Jones