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When you're creative you make rather than buy. A friend is re-upholstering her settee and I know the result will look professional. My daughter has just made cushions to sit in some old dining chairs. Another friend who visits the shop regularly often says,'When I see something I really like, I tell myself, if I really want it I'll make it.' Know the feeling?
I've just finished reading Patrick Gale's new book,'A Place called Winter'. It's about some of those hardy souls that left Britain to break new ground (literally) in Canada. All their powers of ingenuity and creativity were put to the test as they built their own homes, grew crops and faced the challenge of cooking something edible with very few ingredients. You traded with your neighbours. People helped one another. You were a long way from a shop and when you did make the journey to the nearest town you bought the very basics needed for survival. You toiled all day in the field and collapsed exhausted into bed at night.
We've come a long way since then. And so much is done for us by other people.But I think many of us feel a pull to be more self-reliant. To grow food, to make things instead of buy them. To try to make our lives more simple and satisfying.
Politicians don't seem to understand that. To win my vote they would have to operate the KISS principal - Keep It Simple Stupid !! Your past achievements don't impress me and your fancy words don't either. Just lay out an achievable plan - not too idealistic - that we can all understand and believe is possible. And don't forget your pioneer roots.
I've just finished reading Patrick Gale's new book,'A Place called Winter'. It's about some of those hardy souls that left Britain to break new ground (literally) in Canada. All their powers of ingenuity and creativity were put to the test as they built their own homes, grew crops and faced the challenge of cooking something edible with very few ingredients. You traded with your neighbours. People helped one another. You were a long way from a shop and when you did make the journey to the nearest town you bought the very basics needed for survival. You toiled all day in the field and collapsed exhausted into bed at night.
We've come a long way since then. And so much is done for us by other people.But I think many of us feel a pull to be more self-reliant. To grow food, to make things instead of buy them. To try to make our lives more simple and satisfying.
Politicians don't seem to understand that. To win my vote they would have to operate the KISS principal - Keep It Simple Stupid !! Your past achievements don't impress me and your fancy words don't either. Just lay out an achievable plan - not too idealistic - that we can all understand and believe is possible. And don't forget your pioneer roots.
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