1975: "Crank Peasant" JOHN SEYMOUR on SELF-SUFFICIENCY | Living on the Land | BBC Archive
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Author John Seymour, a self-professed “crank peasant”, has been self-sufficient since the mid-1950s. It wasn’t deliberate - he just bought a cow, and things snowballed. But he’s still seen as a trailblazer for the self-reliance movement.
With a bit of everything on his farm - crops, pigs, hens, ponies, a horse, a herd of cows and a batch of home-made beer - he reflects on the ups and downs of his simple, if demanding, life.
Clip taken from Living on the Land: Self-Sufficiency at Fachongle Isaf, originally broadcast on BBC One, Friday 5 September, 1975.
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His books are glorious. Helpful, but with a loving dose of romance and some fantastic illustrations.
Will check them out - thanks!
My mom gifted me her signed copy :)
Seems a good life to me.
Closest you can get to Utopia!
Wow the man lived another 29 yrs after this interview, died at age 90!
I was going to guess they lived long lives. Plenty of fresh air, beer, and exercise.
1975: "Crank Peasant" JOHN SEYMOUR on SELF-SUFFICIENCY | Living on the Land | BBC Archive 0816am 22.8.24 wow. cool. mr good and his wife arguing with his well to do neighbours. peasant farming? ummmmmmmmmm..... divested of the cruddy overlord and his desire to reintroduce serfdom?
I would love to live on that farm♥
Wonderful. Love that they broke into a gospel song over their beer 🍺!
My great grandparents were very self-sufficient!
I wish it was feasible to go back to that life.
Why isn't it feasible? Isn't Seymour proof of the extent to which it is possible?
@@patrickcleburneuczjsxpmp9558 perhaps it is, but it is costly to start where I live. Farm life is becoming a very unappealing prospect in my region, everyone wants to live in the city.
@@xanmontes8715 Yeah, but historically people have commonly had to move to more affordable areas (e.g. moving west across America) to be able to afford land, too, and I'd guess Seymour moved to the property in this video from another area for the same reason. That's especially true when, like you say, large percentages of the population have congregated around a limited number of large cities.
@@patrickcleburneuczjsxpmp9558 I suppose I could move into the farm house my great grandparents lived in but it is 250 years old and the winters are not kins.
In 2022 we packed up and moved to a rural place with low property taxes. 3 acres. We are making a go of it. It is a wonderful life!♥
The dog's smile at the end!
Dogs looks up to you, cat's looks down at you, and pig's treat you as equals.
Wonderful.
Amazing 😊
Amazing. BBC used to be a great source of quality.
used to be , past tense.Before they wore their loyalties or lack of so blatantly.
1975: "Crank Peasant" JOHN SEYMOUR on SELF-SUFFICIENCY | Living on the Land | BBC Archive 0820am 22.8.24 this dude wouldn't acknowledge your allergies, then?
Would trade places with this man any day.
He’s dead so probably not a fair trade
@@bid84 Witty.
That dog really hated that song
We can't all be peasant farmers (there is not enough land to go round) but we could all live a simpler life, grow some veg in our gardens, waste less, fly less, make do and mend, which I think was Seymour's message.
And there aren't enough resources for everyone to live the modern American/British life either. But for every youngish person in the US/UK/etc. that has had an experience of the lifestyle Seymour lived enough to spark a desire to live that lifestyle and has a philosophical commitment to back it up and isn't physically handicapped and isn't already a debt slave and isn't already married to someone unwilling to make the move with him, there is land for a small homestead for every such person.
@@patrickcleburneuczjsxpmp9558 I agree with you Patrick! There is land somewhere for the person who wants to live off it. I watched a video of a man who moved his entire large family of a wife and 9 children to Peru, South America! He bought land there and he and his sons built houses and tilled the soil and raised animals. it is amazing what the human spirit can accomplish!
@@celticfiddle7605 And if you're an American or a Brit and really want to live that lifestyle and aren't handicapped (physically or with debt or by old age...) you don't have to move to another country or continent. It's probably harder in the UK than the US, but plenty of people are continuing to follow a path more or less like Seymour's in the UK. For as few people as actually want to pursue that lifestyle, there's more than enough land for those people.
And if the whole world decided overnight that it wanted to feed itself through peasant farming then it would obviously be a much more challenging transition than just some people gradually making changes at the margins, but there's certainly enough land in the world. Peasant farming feeds more people per acre than conventional farming, largely because conventional farming carries so much waste with it (turning grain into fuel, feeding grain to animals better suited to eating grass, not being able to make use of spaces that are too small or awkward for big machinery, not making use of the same space for multiple uses...)
Is there any chance of getting Living on the Land where it features Len Ward?
1914-2004.
Born into a well-to-do family.
Says a mouth-beathing, burger-chomping see you enn tee.
@@heraldeventsandfilms5970 Why the aggression? Is it not possible you have mistaken his comment for something it isn't? I had read it as a compliment on pursuing a simple life when a much more luxurious life would have been available, rather than a class division.
@@anonanon7497think it was a nod to the comedy “the good life” 🤔 🤷♂️
So this documentary should have been called Sally Seymour on Self-sufficiency
It may well have been, if she had written the book. Making a to-do out of nothing...
"the awful boredom"? as evinced by on-line gamers who then end up "rioting" without any idea as to why....
The dog had the right idea. Nah mate not for me that beer or singing 😅
I like the idea. I think in 2023 in uk too much red tape
the wicker man was a documentary
Pooch is not a fan.
🐖
So this film should’ve been about the wife.
It says so, listen better! I reckon if she had written the book he would have been pleased, sounds more open minded and foresightful than men back then. Perhaps she was the obedient wife you imply or perhaps just happy and content. Basically the man is a talis(person) for a simpler life many people want. Very glad the short film clearly puts Sally at the heart, indirectly highlighting that even simplicity costs money to start.
Neither would have managed without eachother, such is the reality of the world and I'm sure they would have both said so. The modern, political, division between the two sexes is unhelpful, unnatural and only to the benefit of those at the top.
@@nickhendy4301 Do you know men from "back then" or why do you imply that they weren't "open minded" and what do you even mean "open minded"? Could it be that you have a negative opinion on men in general because they did bad things to you when you were little?
@@anonanon7497 Men and women are not equal and they do not need or complete each other per se. You're just telling that to yourself because it's the easiest way to cope with the world.
If you were actually opposed to the "division between the two sexes" you might want to tell that to the ones who actually started the divison.
@@anonanon7497 Men and women are not equal and don't necessary need each other. Stop spreading bs.