Reasons

I realised my first post below sounds a bit flippant - really, I saw someone farming on TV and then jacked in my job to run off to the countryside?  Aren't I a bit old (31 if you must know) for that kind of whimsical behaviour?!

Obviously there's a bit more to it than that, so I thought I should explain more clearly my reasons for doing this, if only to reassure my mum. They are as follows:

1. To Gain Practical Skills

I want to learn to farm the land, and maybe some animals (the crazy-looking ones like alpacas, and the ones that produce stuff I eat like chickens for eggs and goats for milk/cheese), organically, to live sustainably and provide for myself directly rather than paying other people to do it while I faff about on a computer all day. Considering my total lack of experience or qualifications in this kind of thing, WWOOFing seems like a good way to convince people to teach me stuff for free, whilst having no overheads!

Oh, also, I am a VERY unpractical person.  Everything I've ever done is academic/creative and I feel annoyed that I'm so useless when it comes to stuff with my hands... this shall be rectified.

2. To reduce the role that money plays in my life

I read a book by Mark Boyle,  The Moneyless Manifesto.  He kind of comes across like a bit of a knob*, but if you only read one book this year, make it this one - seriously.  It's totally changed the way I look at the world, convinced me to stop being such a mindless consumer and try and escape ze filthy lucre as much as I can.

(More on this later maybe, as when I started thinking about it loads of ranty stuff came into my brain and there's no place for it in this list).

3. To improve my chances of actually living Buddhist-ly

This isn't me, but you knew that.

In all honesty, I cannot call myself a Buddhist.  I eat meat and fish, I sometimes drink (only on special occasions though, I swear! Oh yeah I swear as well but I don't think that's expressly prohibited in Buddhism), I hardly ever meditate even though I know it's massively helpful and I'm a beginner at yoga. If I'm a Buddhist then I'm a pretty crap one.

BUT, I am very interested in Buddhism and I'm trying quite hard to live more mindfully.  In fact, trying to live mindfully is probably the root of this whole business as it was through applying Buddhist 'awareness of the present moment'-type principles to my daily life that I realised just how bad my office job was for me and just how much I want to live a more ethical life.

Phew! That's a bit heavy, sorry.

If you're interested though, this is a good place to look: Free Buddhist Audio. Those guys know way more about it than me.

4. For Health

Spending 8 hours a day hunched over a computer screen grinding my teeth with stress vs. spending all day out in the fresh air and using my body to do actual tasks? No contest!

5. To Travel

I have itchy gypsy feet.

Itchy Gypsy Feet - Duncan Disorderly & The Scallywags - Demo!! by goodtimes music

6.  To Improve My Language Skills

I have started learning quite a few languages and never become fluent in any of 'em.  Welsh, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Swedish... started and stopped, started and stopped.  So I would like to get at least my French a bit more up to scratch - my sister lives there after all and my 10 year-old nephew speaks like a native; I am ashamed of my stupid British mono-lingualness.

7. To Discover Writing Material

I want to write.  I've gone off writing fiction, I'm much better at reading it, so non-fiction it is!  And to write non-fiction it very much helps if you're doing something more interesting than sitting in an office all day.  At least I hope it does...

8. Regain My Faith In Humanity

I am a jaded and cynical being.  I hope that by living and working with people who are doing Good Things I will, well, regain my faith in humanity. 

There we go, a nice list for me to look back on in a few months time when I'm covered in goat shit and snow and crying into a pail of milk, to remind me why I came up with this crazy plan in the first place!


* I mean, he's probably okay, but he spends the whole book going on about how if you're REALLY a good person you will eliminate money from your life ENTIRELY, but then when it comes to the 'feminine hygiene' section he's like - 'errrm, you can use a mooncup, but then you have to buy it with evil money and they only work effectively for some women.  Or you could make your own sanitary towels from hemp you grew yourself, but really who wants to do that? Ew! Or you can just go sit on the ground with no pants on for a few days every month, there we go.'  Thanks Mark! So, 50%ish of the population can't be truly moneyless unless they are prepared to be rather inconvenienced/scratchy and unrealistic every month.  (You probably have to read the book to realise how annoying this is). Also, there's a reference to women and shoes that I found rather offensive and I'm only mildly feminist.  But honestly apart from that it's amazing!