Lynn Huggins-Cooper - Downshift To the Good Life: 52 Brilliant Ideas to Scale It Down and Live It Up

CAREFUL NOW

We hope weve provided you with some great ideas on how to make your life more relaxed, self-sufficient and healthy. We sympathise with the stress and frustration you feel in your current life and would love you to regain your joie de vivre. While we wish you every luck in your future endeavours we feel that its only right for us to point out that we cant be there to pick up the pieces if the neighbours dont like you turning your suburban garden into a miniature farm, your country idyll turns out to be a money pit or you and the chickens just dont get on. Its your life so get out there and take control of it.

Copyright The Infinite Ideas Company Limited, 2005

The right of Lynn Huggins-Cooper to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2005 by
The Infinite Ideas Company Limited
36 St Giles
Oxford
OX1 3LD
United Kingdom
www.infideas.com

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 1-904902-37-5

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Designed and typeset by Baseline Arts Ltd, Oxford

Printed by TJ International, Cornwall

Brilliant ideas

Live to work or work to live? Think carefully about your work/life balance or you may find yourself churning round the work treadmill so intensely that life passes you by completely.

Commuting has costs in terms of money, time, and the environment but perhaps most importantly in terms of personal stress. There are alternatives that offer benefits to you, and your employer.

Youve decided to downshift. Youre brimming with enthusiasm, but whos that in the corner with a face like thunder? Make sure the family shares your dreams before you go too far!

Frugal living is it Scrooge-like penny pinching or everyday money saving? Well, its up to you to decide how far you want to go.

Controlling your money gives you control of your life. It buys your freedom. Money under control gives you a breather and can release you from a job you hate.

New isnt always the best. And second-hand is not a paupers option, its a thrifty one. Be careful with your money and buy yourself more free time.

As we go through life, we all collect piles of crap that we drag along behind us like Jacob Marleys chains but the more we have, the more there is to keep clean and tidy. Declutter and free yourself!

No matter what you decide to do to downshift work smarter, garden farm or move to a smallholding putting a little extra money in your pocket doesnt hurt.

Is commuting getting you down? Do workplace politics leave you cold? Consider working from home and leave all that stress behind you.

Have you always fancied being your own boss and starting your own business? Think carefully about the pros and cons to save you from exchanging one sort of stressful life for another.

No time for that novel youve always wanted to write? Want to take time to look at the scenery and paint it? Downshifting gives you the chance to get your creative juices flowing.

Moving to the country is not going to turn you into a keen cook overnight but when you are faced with all of that fresh produce, bursting with vitamins and minerals, it really is time to become creative in the kitchen.

Downshifting is all about improving your quality of life. This includes being good to yourself and stepping off the stress treadmill.

Is it really possible to create a downshifted Utopia without moving to the country? The simple answer is yes. Its all a matter of scale.

The countryside has a culture all of its own, and life moves at a different pace. This can be wonderful if you adjust.

If you are wondering how to get started with downshifting, becoming self-sufficient or productive gardening, you need to do your research.

Many people who decide to downshift have kids. In fact, your kids may well be the reason you decide to downshift. Whats the downshifting experience like for them rural heaven or pastoral purgatory?

Allotments are of vital importance, giving many urban dwellers and those with tiny gardens an opportunity to become at least partially self-sufficient.

You have been growing vegetables and fruit for some time; you may even have some chickens. If you do decide to go the whole hog and buy a smallholding, what should you look for?

Once you become self-sufficient with food and other produce, you start to look closely at taking control of other areas of your life, including the education of your children.

So youve grown a bumper crop of fruit and vegetables. Youve made jam, pickles, chutney and wine. What else can you do to stop your crops going to waste? You can freeze them.

Animals and plants work with the rhythms of the year. We, as humans, are programmed to do the same.

You can make your life much easier if you have the right tools for the job. As a downshifter, you need to know youve got what it takes in your shed.

With adequate forethought, you will find you make fewer, potentially costly, mistakes, and that the plants you try to grow are suited to your site and soil.

Youve found your ideal vegetable garden except that its waist deep in nettles, docks and thistles. Take heart: with a little time and effort, you can beat them!

If you are trying to buy a smallholding, check out the soil before you purchase the property both the depth and type. Without good, hearty soil, your vegetables and fruit will never thrive.

No, this doesnt mean you have to spin your carrots or turn your turnips. It just means that you dont grow the same type of crop in the same place every year.

For many people, growing vegetables to feed their family is one of the main things they want to achieve when they downshift. There are many to choose from.

Fruit in jewel colours, ripened in the sun and brought straight to the table what more could you ask for? Fruit is the crowning glory of any smallholding.

Even a tiny garden or an apartment with a yard can be used to grow edible produce if you know what containers to use.

Canny downshifters dont eat just the fruits of their smallholding. They hunt all over for the bounties of nature the ancient ancestors of the cultivated plants we eat today.

Planning a garden is like making a seating plan for a dinner party you have to be careful about what you put together to make sure they get on.

Ruby red raspberry jelly, glowing blackberry jam, squash and red onion chutney, and peaches poached in brandy preserves are the jewels of the downshifters winter store cupboard.

Providing plants with shelter from harsh weather allows you to extend the season and grow more tender crops. Bring on the polytunnel!

Propagation is easy and the equipment you need is cheap and readily available. Go ahead, get new plants for free.