My grandfather would take me along and we'd go to the neighbour to fetch eggs. He had a plastic bucket that he put them in with some old newspapers scraps in the bottom. I heard that before the war they didn't even need money. He'd simply bring a bucket of milk, and he'd get a bucket of eggs in return. But it was of course a lot simpler to bring money. It was far cheaper than in the store too.
My grandfather knew what all the birds were singing. Every bit, plus their behaviour. He'd especially heed the magpie, because it's a smarter bird. If it warbled this way, it meant that the weather would stay warm. If they warbled in another way, it meant that it might become rainy. He said that the birds knew, because their lives depended on it.
Another more commonly known sign is dependent on where the magpie makes its nest. If it it's high in the tree, then it will most likely be a warm and sunny summer. But if it is tucked way down in the tree, the summer will be cold and wet. It makes sense. There's more protection from the elements further under the leaves, but it's also colder there. If I were a magpie, I'd want to make a warm and nice nest for the summer, but all that could be ruined if I didn't heed the weather.
One day, the grouse was seen perching atop the family house. When I told this to my grandmother, she went silent at first, and then she told me that it means someone will die in the family. This was of course terrifying news to me. But it also turned out to become true, because my grandfather also died that year. May he rest in peace.
I buy into a lot of the “bird” wisdom. Science is discovering dogs can smell disease.
Our modern world isn’t more complex, just more distracting with asinine theory chasing. It’s always been ridiculously complex in ways we can’t imagine, we’ve just started realizing it in detail.
Turns out animals with their “lesser” cognitive powers are tuned into the hidden complexity in ways we barely understand.
Yet we deem ourselves the more advanced species.
Humans will surely kill themselves off and the specifically evolved for their ecosystem “dumb” animals will remain.
How many people died in that town in your lifetime where no bird perched on a roof. How many birds perched on roofs that nobody noticed where nobody died.
"This valley is cut in the shape of my heart". I've known farmers like him, bachelors who are mild mannered and love their lives and the extended family that comes with living an entire life in one valley. He maybe goes to Sunday service for socialization and the local pub to watch the game, and as long as his sheep are healthy and the sky does what it promises (because he knows the day before always if it will rain), the peace he feels is the result of being in place, of not creating too much fuss, the satisfaction of seeing the stone walls he built in his 20s holding strong and knowing they'll be there long after to tell his story. He leaves behind him more of a legacy than many of us.
Im nowhere near the extreme of this guy but I cook a vegetable soup and eat it 4-6 days a week every week for dinner. I save the calories and good (edit: interesting) cooking for restaurants.
I mess around with the soup occasionally trying new flavoring or techniques but its the same damn soup and I like it. Its easy to make, keeps well, costs nothing relative to output, and leaves me time to think about other things other than food. Also its very healthy.
At this point its just a habit. Sunday or Monday evening is soup making time. Two hours nets me two weeks of food.
Sure, he's an extreme and very few want to emulate it because there's a mild element of delusion. But, he's found the thing so many of us work our entire lives for only to never find.
Part of life is letting happiness find you, part of life is finding happiness, and part of life is pushing away things to find happiness in what you have.
My great-grandfather was traveling to USA for work back in 1912. He came back after 6 years and settled in his village becoming its head. Almost everybody in my family knows this story and it's indeed fascinating, because at that time people rarely moved anywhere.
And now we are fascinated by a man living in the same place all his life. It's funny how the concept of norm changes in 100 years.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. -- T.S.Eliot
A man living in the same place all his life has no basis for comparison. I would be more convinced that your great-grandfather's village is something special since he experienced elsewhere yet still returned.
There is value in finding your place in life and being content with it. Yes, you might be able to change it, perhaps to conform to more traditional standards of 'success', but why bother if you're happy as you are?
If we humans optimize by happiness, then we should have nothing but envy for a life like Wilf Davies leads.
Trying to eat something different everyday is an American obsession that I'll never understand. It's just so stressful and inconvenient. I grew up in a small town where eating the same for dinner everyday was extremely common. Tea or coffee and bread. The only variable would be what you put in your bread. Some days it would be butter, some days it would jam. Some days it would be honey, some days it would be avocado.
I think eating the same thing every day is fine, though you need to make sure to have a balanced diet with good nutrition. The author mentioned his uncle who just ate bread, butter, and cheese for every meal, and I’m not sure how you can even survive off of that. Surely it’s lacking something important with no fruit or vegetables.
I’ve heard that humans had a long period of time after we became sedentary and started relying on agriculture that the average height decreased significantly, and it was only in recent centuries that it has gotten back to normal due to more varied nutrition. So even if you can technically survive on a very limited diet, it can still have negative effects.
Eating something different every day is not "an American obsession". Heck most people I know would want change and something different in their routine of food. I personally have 10-12 breakfast recipes that I cycle through and regularly try stuff I find online
My parents come from a place that is the polar opposite of America, and eating the same thing repeatedly would get you sent to a mental asylum, based on how my family life revolves around food.
The idea of not using an innumerable number of fruits, vegetables, meats, and spices available is crazy to me. We’re even excited to go back to the city try at various times of the year because different seasons bring different foods.
We need some amount of stressors in our lives to keep from feeling bored and stagnant. Exercise is literally an imposition of stress, but increases our well-being. Really a matter of picking your poison.
Farming might be samey, but if something is hard work it's also stressful.
As an irishman, i can so relate to the comment on the jam :)
"My uncle, a bachelor and farmer like me, had the same food for every meal. He had bread, butter, cheese and tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner (although he would bring out the jam for visitors)."
> Trying to eat something different everyday is an American obsession that I'll never understand. It's just so stressful and inconvenient.
It's not like we do this to because variety is intrinsically good and we have to force ourselves. It's more like we're addicted to variety; the more often you have the same meal the less appetizing it becomes.
An American obsession? I think that is a gross over-generalization. I am American, by birth, and am happy eating mostly the same thing day after day. My spouse is from Poland, and she is not satisfied by that approach to food. Not by a long shot.
I feel you. I eat the same thing for weeks or months at time until I get tired of it. Unfortunately it's not just an American thing though. I've experienced the same in Spain, Denmark, Sweden and to a lot lesser degree in Portugal...
I married into a traditional small town Indian family last year.
One of the biggest idealogical challenges I've faced is the duality of ambition. My family in law live similar to the farmer. Low entropy. I know where they will be every day every 15 minutes, what they will eat, with little exception.
It's such a stark contrast to my personal life, which has been characterized by the constant need to improve, challenge, and adapt. I don't know what I'll be doing 15 minutes from now let alone 2:00 - 2:15 a year from now.
I personally am not an absolutist, and so I don't think there's a particular lifestyle that is wrong or right, but it's an salient dichotomy and something that I've found challenging to reconcile in practice.
This is similar to Sven Yrvind's philosophy on eating at sea.
>I will eat twice a day, breakfast and lunch four hours later.
>...
>I say, “Cows only eat grass and wolfs only eat meat”
>Modern society is so boring and there is so much food that we have to be stimulated by spices and chefs and different foods to eat. At sea in a small boat its different. Life itself out there is so interesting that I do not need stimulants.
>My breakfast consists of one can of sardines, one slice of dense dark rye bread and muesli.
>...
>My lunch is the same as breakfast but no sardines.
> She has two carers who come in four times a day, and they are wonderful.
My dad arranged something similar for my mom in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. It is nearly impossible in the US, I don’t even know if you can still do it without being wealthy. It required long term care insurance prepaid for years, and it was still a nightmare of weekly paperwork to manage all the claims. The care for his sister, and treatment and recovery for multiple strokes - out of reach for many farmers around the world. This man is very lucky indeed.
Even small European communities have adult day programs for people with Alzheimer's etc. The idea of old folks homes is foreign in places where people aren't wealthy to begin with. Interesting how a market appears to extract wealth when it exists.
This is pretty common on the NHS. Also, as Wales is a devolved nation, we can plough more money into the NHS than happesn in England. Also less privatisation.
I've found a lot of freedom in similar decisions. Not sure I could take it to the same level, but even just having a small set of meals to eat every week makes shopping, cooking and planning around expiry dates so much easier. Clothes can be similarly hacked such that everything goes together and every combination is something you are comfortable wearing, leaving you never needing to consider what to wear. I've optimised these to the point that they take up nearly zero mental space and generate no stress. In my case, I use pre-prepared frozen meal delivery service, but I know some meal preppers who find similar freedom that way. Don't cook or order anything you won't eat at any arbitrary time, and you'll never be stuck with wasted food or indecision. And for clothes I found a small set that works for me and can be worn in any given situation (except formal, though that doesn't impact me in any way).
I see a lot of comments that seem to see all the things you miss out on in this situation. But in my mind, it frees up a lot of mental effort, time and stress. If I ever get bored I can go to a restaurant and eat something wild and it will be all the more exciting given I don't optimize for excitement or luxury in my everyday steady-state.
When Soylent came out I was super excited about this idea. Don't think about three meals a day that you normally fuss over, and instead have two predictable, quick meals and optimize to make the third one amazing. Soylent was OK, and DIY soylent offered some hope too. The third meal WAS always amazing, in a relative sense, and tasted better somehow than when I had the same thing before this diet. Unfortunately liquid diets are just not satisfying to me and so frozen meals won out.
I'd love to find other areas of my life that can be similarly optimized. I have hope for bill management services to take the annoyance out of juggling payments etc., and roboinvestors or similar automated financial services. Doing these things manually offers no excitement and no added value beyond the transitively provided service so I don't think they should take up my life.
The amount of time wasted across the whole human population on things like preparing meals, choosing outfits and managing everyday responsibilities must be huge and that is all time that could be spent doing other exciting or valuable things.
This guy is a saint. To have that kind of contentment and peace is the goal of most religions. Honestly I'd like to hear more of his life, would love to talk to him.
All the highly important software people (myself included) would do good to remember that farmers are literally keeping us alive while basically working 7 days a week - and in many cases barely getting by.
Working in tech it’s very hard not to get lost in rat race and always go for more money, more knowledge, more everything. I’m actively trying to avoid it, but it gets to me as well. And most of my friends think I’m weird that I don’t want to get one more promotion or why I don’t want to push myself outside of my comfort zone. I’m fine where I am.
I find that our childhood joys imprint and become adult obsessions for some. If you grow up in one place, like this man, you may crave to stay there. If you are taken to new places frequently, you condition to want that. Happiest moments on the beach? You crave beaches. Favorite foods for a kid become comfort foods in adults. I grew up in the delta of the Danube, rich with fruit trees and amazing tomatoes. Ended up settling in a place that has great orchards within driving distance as well (every other climate felt really uncomfortable). Be careful how you condition your kids :)
There's just something inherently satisfying about farming, growing your own food and taking care of land. Obviously it's hard work and difficult if you actually need to make a decent living out of it, but as a hobby it has been most refreshing for someone who spends his days staring at display.
I hope eventually I can raise my family in a farm-environment while working remotely, and get some extra income on top of that by growing stuff in small scale.
Many of us including myself are unable to fathom living a life like this, but I imagine this man will die in peace with a flock of sheep to his name, listening to the cuckoos.
And he will be just as happy (if not happier) as any of us reading this article.
[+] [-] kebman|4 years ago|reply
My grandfather would take me along and we'd go to the neighbour to fetch eggs. He had a plastic bucket that he put them in with some old newspapers scraps in the bottom. I heard that before the war they didn't even need money. He'd simply bring a bucket of milk, and he'd get a bucket of eggs in return. But it was of course a lot simpler to bring money. It was far cheaper than in the store too.
My grandfather knew what all the birds were singing. Every bit, plus their behaviour. He'd especially heed the magpie, because it's a smarter bird. If it warbled this way, it meant that the weather would stay warm. If they warbled in another way, it meant that it might become rainy. He said that the birds knew, because their lives depended on it.
Another more commonly known sign is dependent on where the magpie makes its nest. If it it's high in the tree, then it will most likely be a warm and sunny summer. But if it is tucked way down in the tree, the summer will be cold and wet. It makes sense. There's more protection from the elements further under the leaves, but it's also colder there. If I were a magpie, I'd want to make a warm and nice nest for the summer, but all that could be ruined if I didn't heed the weather.
One day, the grouse was seen perching atop the family house. When I told this to my grandmother, she went silent at first, and then she told me that it means someone will die in the family. This was of course terrifying news to me. But it also turned out to become true, because my grandfather also died that year. May he rest in peace.
[+] [-] thisCtx|4 years ago|reply
I buy into a lot of the “bird” wisdom. Science is discovering dogs can smell disease.
Our modern world isn’t more complex, just more distracting with asinine theory chasing. It’s always been ridiculously complex in ways we can’t imagine, we’ve just started realizing it in detail.
Turns out animals with their “lesser” cognitive powers are tuned into the hidden complexity in ways we barely understand.
Yet we deem ourselves the more advanced species.
Humans will surely kill themselves off and the specifically evolved for their ecosystem “dumb” animals will remain.
[+] [-] michaelmrose|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tailspin2019|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skzv|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jim-jim-jim|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danielrangel|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mcbishop|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] axaxs|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrits|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] telesilla|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] voidfunc|4 years ago|reply
I mess around with the soup occasionally trying new flavoring or techniques but its the same damn soup and I like it. Its easy to make, keeps well, costs nothing relative to output, and leaves me time to think about other things other than food. Also its very healthy.
At this point its just a habit. Sunday or Monday evening is soup making time. Two hours nets me two weeks of food.
[+] [-] irjustin|4 years ago|reply
Sure, he's an extreme and very few want to emulate it because there's a mild element of delusion. But, he's found the thing so many of us work our entire lives for only to never find.
Part of life is letting happiness find you, part of life is finding happiness, and part of life is pushing away things to find happiness in what you have.
I say, well done.
[+] [-] dinamic|4 years ago|reply
And now we are fascinated by a man living in the same place all his life. It's funny how the concept of norm changes in 100 years.
[+] [-] sateesh|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aeternum|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lostlogin|4 years ago|reply
And then most people spent a year at home. Strange times.
[+] [-] montenegrohugo|4 years ago|reply
If we humans optimize by happiness, then we should have nothing but envy for a life like Wilf Davies leads.
[+] [-] diehunde|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brokencode|4 years ago|reply
I’ve heard that humans had a long period of time after we became sedentary and started relying on agriculture that the average height decreased significantly, and it was only in recent centuries that it has gotten back to normal due to more varied nutrition. So even if you can technically survive on a very limited diet, it can still have negative effects.
[+] [-] aniforprez|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lotsofpulp|4 years ago|reply
The idea of not using an innumerable number of fruits, vegetables, meats, and spices available is crazy to me. We’re even excited to go back to the city try at various times of the year because different seasons bring different foods.
[+] [-] slothtrop|4 years ago|reply
So is tending to a farm.
We need some amount of stressors in our lives to keep from feeling bored and stagnant. Exercise is literally an imposition of stress, but increases our well-being. Really a matter of picking your poison.
Farming might be samey, but if something is hard work it's also stressful.
[+] [-] jamesblonde|4 years ago|reply
"My uncle, a bachelor and farmer like me, had the same food for every meal. He had bread, butter, cheese and tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner (although he would bring out the jam for visitors)."
[+] [-] jldugger|4 years ago|reply
It's not like we do this to because variety is intrinsically good and we have to force ourselves. It's more like we're addicted to variety; the more often you have the same meal the less appetizing it becomes.
[+] [-] jonnycomputer|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guerrilla|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wombatmobile|4 years ago|reply
Would it be less stressful and inconvenient if you could put the same thing in your bread every day?
Do you imagine that would make you more happy or less happy?
[+] [-] throwagrayson|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] and0rskr|4 years ago|reply
I married into a traditional small town Indian family last year.
One of the biggest idealogical challenges I've faced is the duality of ambition. My family in law live similar to the farmer. Low entropy. I know where they will be every day every 15 minutes, what they will eat, with little exception.
It's such a stark contrast to my personal life, which has been characterized by the constant need to improve, challenge, and adapt. I don't know what I'll be doing 15 minutes from now let alone 2:00 - 2:15 a year from now.
I personally am not an absolutist, and so I don't think there's a particular lifestyle that is wrong or right, but it's an salient dichotomy and something that I've found challenging to reconcile in practice.
[+] [-] oftenwrong|4 years ago|reply
>I will eat twice a day, breakfast and lunch four hours later.
>...
>I say, “Cows only eat grass and wolfs only eat meat”
>Modern society is so boring and there is so much food that we have to be stimulated by spices and chefs and different foods to eat. At sea in a small boat its different. Life itself out there is so interesting that I do not need stimulants.
>My breakfast consists of one can of sardines, one slice of dense dark rye bread and muesli.
>...
>My lunch is the same as breakfast but no sardines.
https://www.yrvind.com/provisioning/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Yrvind
[+] [-] flatline|4 years ago|reply
My dad arranged something similar for my mom in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. It is nearly impossible in the US, I don’t even know if you can still do it without being wealthy. It required long term care insurance prepaid for years, and it was still a nightmare of weekly paperwork to manage all the claims. The care for his sister, and treatment and recovery for multiple strokes - out of reach for many farmers around the world. This man is very lucky indeed.
[+] [-] worik|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] someelephant|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] forsakenkraken|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hycaria|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nessex|4 years ago|reply
I see a lot of comments that seem to see all the things you miss out on in this situation. But in my mind, it frees up a lot of mental effort, time and stress. If I ever get bored I can go to a restaurant and eat something wild and it will be all the more exciting given I don't optimize for excitement or luxury in my everyday steady-state.
When Soylent came out I was super excited about this idea. Don't think about three meals a day that you normally fuss over, and instead have two predictable, quick meals and optimize to make the third one amazing. Soylent was OK, and DIY soylent offered some hope too. The third meal WAS always amazing, in a relative sense, and tasted better somehow than when I had the same thing before this diet. Unfortunately liquid diets are just not satisfying to me and so frozen meals won out.
I'd love to find other areas of my life that can be similarly optimized. I have hope for bill management services to take the annoyance out of juggling payments etc., and roboinvestors or similar automated financial services. Doing these things manually offers no excitement and no added value beyond the transitively provided service so I don't think they should take up my life.
The amount of time wasted across the whole human population on things like preparing meals, choosing outfits and managing everyday responsibilities must be huge and that is all time that could be spent doing other exciting or valuable things.
[+] [-] auslegung|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] waihtis|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justapassenger|4 years ago|reply
Working in tech it’s very hard not to get lost in rat race and always go for more money, more knowledge, more everything. I’m actively trying to avoid it, but it gets to me as well. And most of my friends think I’m weird that I don’t want to get one more promotion or why I don’t want to push myself outside of my comfort zone. I’m fine where I am.
[+] [-] tyingq|4 years ago|reply
https://twitter.com/WilfDavies3/status/1244888108413394944
Edit: Yes, just a different Wilf Davies, but also from Wales.
[+] [-] dzink|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kewrkewm53|4 years ago|reply
I hope eventually I can raise my family in a farm-environment while working remotely, and get some extra income on top of that by growing stuff in small scale.
[+] [-] marmot777|4 years ago|reply
I’m surprised the guy in the article could go decades without eating any veggies but his diet has clearly worked for him.
The strokes could just be genetics and/or old age catching up.
[+] [-] lacker|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jhomedall|4 years ago|reply
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV9spqCzSkQ or https://joythebaker.com/2015/01/whole-roasted-onions/
Garlic can be roasted in similar manner.
[+] [-] exciteabletom|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asciimov|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spaetzleesser|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Magicstatic|4 years ago|reply
And he will be just as happy (if not happier) as any of us reading this article.