Hello Kate ,Carl and all,
I grew up on the outskirts of London , but being right next to Northolt Airport, there were plenty of fields and a few farms. So grew up in a fairly green environment. I used to watch Out of Town with the lovely old Jack Hargreaves, and he used to show all things that were disappearing in and around the country ,old crafts etc. That was my grounding some 40 years ago now. Since then I did the usual town life things , but I always wanted something different. My late parents moved the family to Wales 30 years ago now , and that was the start of what I am doing now really. I kept all sorts of stuff ,but life led me down a different road for a while again and it wasn't till after I had a huge car smash in 1983 (dec 23rd actually) in which I broke just about every bone that could be broke (skull,cheek bones,jaw, neck,collar bones sternum ,ribs ,Spine ,arms, legs, hips, and a few more besides !!!) I had huge problems not just with my body but also with my head . That all made me look at life in a different way , I had to as I couldn't do lots of things I did before. Well life moves on and nowdays I can do most things I want just not all at once and different to how I would have done them years ago. The global warming thing also plays a big part in what I do . I try not to impact on the world anymore than need be. That is where the recycling bit comes in and using renewable sources ie willow, hemp , linseed etc. As it happens using stuff you grow yourself and stuff that you can get for free ie scrap cars and aluminium etc. means you don't need to have lots of money to go and buy what ever it is you want ie., if I want a willow basket I use some willow I have grown on my land ...free basket and another craft learned, well two really ...growing and harvesting willow and basket making. The foundry came about because I wanted to make a seed drill , I have a set of plans for Jethro Tulls original drill , but I always got stuck on the metalwork side of things. So looked on the net and found a site about casting scrap aluminium .using a couple of coffee cans and a hair dryer with some bbq charcoal . Did that and then found a great site about how to make a lathe and other metal working machines from scrap ali.....I also had the stuff to set up a forge for general metalwork so that has opened all sorts of other doors. I don't have to find the money to pay other people to do it for me. It is the world of Jack of All Trades,master of None, but it matters not a jot really. I just poodle along these days doing what I want when I want ,if I hit another thing I can't do then I just learn how to do it, and away I go again .When I got my land , the track needed lots of holes filling , even the 4x4 had troubles going over it ! Well , I had no money ,as normal, but plenty of gravel and stones from the river and tons of stones from the fields, so I just put stones etc in a couple of buckets and just kept on tipping them on the track and getting more till the track was done. Just a few each day , it soon adds up . This sort of life is very different from the norm , these days , but I have what I need , mostly anyway, and what I can't afford I do without . Dog feeding time ....will bore you silly again soon ....cheers Russ