The good life tv comedy programme could this be done today

westcoastscot

Hi,
I love the programme, and did actually live a very similar life for 15 years until I had to move to the mainland. I had a small income from making fishing creels, and bartered/favoured stuff for other things. I did a small volunteer job in return for a cottage/small amount of land. It was a wonderful way to live, and i'm working towards an urban (smaller) version of my old life here on the mainland.

Tom and Barbara's life wouldnt have worked in reality - you couldnt keep that amount of stock on such a small amount of land healthily, imo, unless you had them on concrete and brought in all their needs (horrid thought!)

WCS

Money_maker

I remember the Good Life from first time around (as a child!). Although it did seem idyllic, as a family that used to grow their own and keep hens - it didn't seem that out of the ordinary to me! Still remember my dad using chicken blood to fertilise the tomatoes, having at least 2 henhouses (dad used to slaughter and eat them too), dog, rabbits, tortoise etc.

I still keep hens, only grow organically (thank you Geoff Hamilton) and have equally had my copy of self sufficiency by John Seymour for many years (originally borrowed from a library and loathe to give back, so had to get my own copy).

We couldn't cope without money to buy food. I don't have enough time to make clothes. I lack skills/time to be very artistic with home decor. I don't cook everything from scratch. But as a family we are not terribly materialistic and each of us can appreciate nature both in our garden and surrounding countryside. We can still delight in picking fruits straight from the bush, digging our own veggies, eating that egg that was laid the same day and enjoying the evening birdsong.

The good life? Think we already have it.

mismax

Thanks Zarazara, I know that herbs and salads are a great place to start and that is what gave me the bug a couple of years ago. As I said in my first post we now do grow pretty much all our own fruit and veg barr a bit of supplementing in the winter.

My problem now is that despite on the surface, having all the advantages I know others can only dream of(no mortgage, land, family beside us to help, no council tax etc etc), we can't manage to be any more self sufficient than veg.

The lack of self sufficiency in other areas means I still have to work full time and OH part time meaning that we don't get any further forward with being self sufficient and it's a vicious circle!

Well done on getting up and running with the veg so quickly. It's lots of fun but hard work!:T

rhiwfield

Mismax,

In the foreword to Seymour's book, I think it states that not many would be able to approach Seymour's level of self sufficiency, nor should everyone try to be self sufficient in everything.

But with fast internet connection, its fully possible to run a business from home, so that you are not an employee but you stand or fall by your own actions. In that scenario, being off grid for water and electricity and growing most of your own food means you dont need to earn the same amount to have a good quality of life.

In our village one man is a planning consultant operating from home, another runs a dog grooming service. Whichever route you take, you will need not just attempted self sufficiency but another source of income.

cootambear

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

with the comments i the thread has had... i think i am right in saying.... its proved the thread theory.... men only watched it for FK and hte women fantastised about the simpler' down to earth good life..

the flaws i noticed was geraldine the goat, would no way have stayed in her pen..... we had a goat for a few months to clear the waste ground by the side of our house ( where our chickens are now) and they if the could would be over a fence in no time...

and the main one was the piglet in the homemade incubator.... now come on anyone could see that wasnt a real pig... in fact it wasnt even a good made one.... but maybe that was part of the programme being funny..


same as the range they put in.... one minute it was being cleaned, and the next Tom had 'plummed' it in and lite the fire and was boiling the kettle....

I personally think this programmed hasnt dated...... well excpet the clothes and the cars etc.. the concept of the programme if they re-wrote a programme like this, i think it would still be popular, but in saying that it would depend on the actors they used.... as there was a bit of chemistry going on between F and R


edit .......we have neighbours, and we have 6 cockerels......but we are classed as semi-rural

Does the misanthrophy ever end?

Primrose

The Good Life is definitely an aspiration, rather than a reality, even for those who have deliberately chosen to go this route. I think the important dream to hang onto is that we can all have a very tiny slice of the Good Life if we choose to. This may only be growing a few of our own vegs, making or mending some of our own clothes and equipment, preserving our own home grown food, making our own wine or beer, recycling whatever we can, etc. All these are skills which used to exist a couple of centuries ago before technology overtook us. The important thing is to preserve these skills and pass them on to the next generation and to learn how to take pleasure in the more simple things of life. Having the knowledge on how to enhance our life in these simple ways is just as important as doing the whole thing because it means that more people can be connected into a way of life where simple values are cherished.

cootambear

Primrose wrote: »

The Good Life is definitely an aspiration, rather than a reality, even for those who have deliberately chosen to go this route. I think the important dream to hang onto is that we can all have a very tiny slice of the Good Life if we choose to. This may only be growing a few of our own vegs, making or mending some of our own clothes and equipment, preserving our own home grown food, making our own wine or beer, recycling whatever we can, etc. All these are skills which used to exist a couple of centuries ago before technology overtook us. The important thing is to preserve these skills and pass them on to the next generation and to learn how to take pleasure in the more simple things of life. Having the knowledge on how to enhance our life in these simple ways is just as important as doing the whole thing because it means that more people can be connected into a way of life where simple values are cherished.

I agree with all of this except the bold. Can I presume you are a woman? Would you like to go back to washing clothes in a bucket or the river, rather than the washing machine?

lostinrates

westcoastscot wrote: »

Tom and Barbara's life wouldnt have worked in reality - you couldnt keep that amount of stock on such a small amount of land healthily, imo, unless you had them on concrete and brought in all their needs (horrid thought!)

WCS

hehe. My farmer friends are always shocked when I talk about my ideal stocking densities (I actually studied this for a while...). One of the things won't do is have ''A'' goat, so no single Geraldine for us If we get a herd animal we get a small group: keeping group animals in socialisation doesn't sit well with me. we might get something this year, with the ultimate destination of the freezer, but half a dozen or so sits better.

On the plus side, with the new EU proposal of not being able to buy/sell eggs in the dozen I might keep the same round number ticket price but for two fewer eggs....my route to fortunes

tomterm8

Erm, I can't believe we have a thread about whether you could make 'the goodlife' work... of course not!

Now, you CAN do things to become more self sufficient. If you have an allotment, you can grow 60% of your food needs... a couple of chooks... you can make your own soap, but you won't be able to make the fat that you need to make the soap... you can weave your own clothes, but its much cheaper to go to ASDA...

I think a sensible plan is to reduce your living costs as much as possible... to do as much for yourself as possible... and add to that a business like window cleaning, ironing shirts, accountancy, web design or any number of other jobs... where you can earn money but be your own boss and control your own life. Not so much 'self sufficiency' but minimalist living.

westcoastscot

Hi lostinrates - we did keep one goat (plus every 3 - 4 years a kid/kids) - they are very sociable animals, very much like an outdoor dog in temperament, but agree for other animals - we had a small flock of sheep (12 plus lambs seasonally), small flock of geese (3), ducks/chooks and it worked very well. We were lucky in that Hazel was free-ranging and just pottered around with us - she couldn't get at the veggie plots - she used to keep me company in the kitchen through the open kitchen window - the ultimate garbage disposal!!!!!
Good luck to all those heading in this direction - its a wonderful life
WCS