[lachlanandmarcus]

What about this, Rusty? How beautiful is this!!! Spider silk cape!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9674000/9674949.stm

[deepinthewoods]

and an excellent way of getting round planning regs, 'its going to be a spider farm...'

[RUSTYME]

Web page won't load up sadly , only using an old nokia lol .
They have now genetically modified silkworms with spider genes , making very strong silk ! Or was it very strong silk jeans ?

[Sandy]

Rustyme, you are soooo much like my brother I wish he would read your posts...I admire you sooooo much and would love to live like you but we do need some £ sadly!!!! My uncle lived off the land and his wits, I am in contact with his daughter who was "rescued" and brought up by an aunt, but I always admired him, gorwind stuff, making his own lobster pots (he as by the sea in N Wales) growing his own food and  a hem!! taking livestock but leading them to the edge of the cliff and being there to rescue them!!!! In towns it would be stealing and it is in the country but to me it was living by his wits. I keep meaning to say, you can earn money from you writing on the internet, not too sure how but my daughter earns a lot in austraiia from her writing and I for one value stuff you say as its from the heart!!!!! love it!!

[RUSTYME]

Cheers Sandy , nice to hear from you , glad you still pop on now and then .
I always speak as i find , say what i feel , crap hits the fan because of it to sometimes lol .
Hope all is well with you x

[Sandy]

Same here..no hidden things with me and we live a simple life too...funny how much we actualy do not need to be happy, just love food, warmth, someone to cuddle and the dogs Oh and some internet to connect people when and if you want!!

[RUSTYME]

Only a few weeks time now i will be sowing the hemp , linseed and cotton seeds . The hemp and flax  grows ok here , but will have to see how the cotton does at 900' above sea level .
If it grows ok , i could get up to 4 oz per bush  . Easy to work out from there how many bushes = a shirt , pr of trousers etc.
No great hardship if it fails though , as the flax will do the same job , just that cotton doesn't need retting , just pick and spin really.
The hemp and flax both need retting , but i have the river for that .
  I may also cure/tan a few cow hides , if i can get the right size tubs   . Footware as well as horse gear , is almost out of my reach now .    But if i tan my own leather both will be almost free , i can get hides for £5 each , and there is a lot of leather in a hide.

[Bionic]

Rusty you seem to be able to turn you hand to almost anything.  I am very envious.
Sally

[Sandy]

I can visulise it now Russ, you comming out of the clearing in leather and fur with your horse and dogs and beard!!!!!  Hard work but it will keep you saine!

[RUSTYME]

Jack of all trades , master of none  , been doing this sort of thing for 30 odd years Sally.
 When we first came to Wales , i built a small stone house in the woods (300 acres +) , just a 10'x10' room really ,the stone came from the river  , and the reed for the thatch , was nearby . I dug a veggie plot and lived in my little house for a few months , totally self sufficient .
My clothes , boots , belt , were all made by me , from home grown hemp , flax and leather and sheep skins , i had cured and tanned myself .
So you are picturing me in the past  Sandy !, been there done that lol .

[RUSTYME]

The thing with stepping off the merry go round or system , is for me Sandy , an attemp to live an alternative  , a simpler way of life .
Grow my own food , make my own clothes , tools etc etc , and to be free of all the corruption , and control that the system needs .
This is very difficult as the  system is 'everything' , and almost impossible to avoid . But to a great extent i have almost reached an acceptable distance from it .
The need for " loadsa money " was one of the main things that had to go . The more you earn , the more you need .
I have cut the ' need ' to the quick . This doesn't mean absolutely no money at all , but just enough for the bits and bobs that i can't grow or make .
 Stepping back on the merry go round for money is all to easy , but it takes me straight back to the more you earn the more you want .
So if i need a tenner i sell either my time/labour or something i have made . But whatever it is , it is real world actions not virtual world . It is very hard to explain  , and i do see the irony of me saying this on the internet !
But i see the system as totally corrupt and   like the Titanic , sinking fast . I just want tn be as far away from the ship/system as possible , so it doesn't suck me under when it goes down ! , which it is very close to doing now !
Does that make sense ? lol .

[Sandy]

Me and hubby had a similar conversation, the more you own the more pressure and stress and need to own more, well to have the latest and better. I would be happy in a little shack with the dogs and my husband of course..but to run a car and to visit my daughters who will be in Austrailia next year, we need to earn still.....selling or swapping your skills is ideal, we do not have many skills but we could.  I realised manyyears ago just how governments and religion, brian wash people...You should write for the net, not sure about the income but I know my daughter gets paid a bit for writing stuff about science and products etc!!

[deepinthewoods]

talking about the titanic, did you know that the cruise ship that foundered recently did so exactly 99yrs and 9months to the day that the titanic went down.

[knightquest]

What about this, Rusty? How beautiful is this!!! Spider silk cape!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9674000/9674949.stm

Jesus H Christ, did you see the size of those spiders 

Nice cape though 

Keep going Russ. This story is really interesting and I wish you all the luck in the world with what you are doing.

Ian

[Sylvia]

And please, please keep a diary so that you can write a book on your experiences. If not for profit then for the sake of future generations who may well have need of your knowledge