I have been reviewing largely American self-reliance and survivalist books, which mostly presuppose some sort of disaster scenario. But, most Australian books in the back to the land and alternative living scene, are more concerned with getting out of the rat race and getting some good old-fashioned country living back in lungs that have been inundated with city pollution, both physio-chemical, and spiritual.
Go Country, (Hyland, 1994), by Edward Mundie, will probably not be sitting on the shelves in the new books, at least in that edition, but you may pick it up second hand or obtain a read via inter-library loans. Published in Australia, there is a deposit copy in Melbourne, and one in the National Library in Canberra, so it is around.
For people who have had enough of city life, and can get a piece of rural property, this is still a highly relevant book. Unlike the American texts, concerned with primitive living making fire, and fighting against wild dogs and bears, this book assumes that life will go on as normal. And it starts by telling you what to look for in a rural property; soil quality, water availability, rainfall, whether there is ultra-extreme bushfire danger, dams, electricity … these are things to consider.
Obviously, the state of the dwelling and maintenance of sheds, fences and weed control are all issues. Thus, one trap would be to buy an otherwise nice place in the hills with lots of pretty olive trees, only to discover that the local council has psychopaths on it who require olive tree removal. And, for all you know there may be across the hill the neighbour from hell who has a psychopathological hatred of olive trees, and will keep dobbing you in. As well, I know of friends who have a seeming respectable neighbour, but one who is really crazy that thinks that my friend is a squatter, because crazy man’s distant relative once owned the property about 100 years ago. So, to drive him off the land, he comes down at night and puts rusty nails on the dirt road. True story, so it pays to check out the neighbours as far as possible. And, I believe that neighbours are best, as far as possible away from you. Forget about communist community, that is a myth for university students.
If the property is a goer, then one needs plenty of tools, both hand tools and mechanical ones. Tractors and things like rotary hoes are expensive, especially if one needs heavy duty ones. It may not be possible to get this all at once. But depending on the ground to clear and cultivate, it may be possible to do much with hand tools. So, do what you can with limited budgets. Mundie has nice discussions of use of tools such as chainsaws. One needs to get this new, because second hand ones usually let you down. The cheap one’s to, are not worth getting, spend some serious dollars and get something like a Stihl:
The same principle applies to brush cutters, which are even more prone to break down. My friend mentioned above gets one season out of one of the cheaper made in China cutters, then it is taken back to the hardware shop, to be replaced before the warranty expires. This cycle has been going on for a couple of years now. He would have been better off getting something heavy duty, a Stihl again for quality.
https://www.stihl.com.au/STIHL-Products/0200/Grass-Trimmers-Brushcutters.aspx
While Go Country has the expected material on growing vegetables and crops, and livestock, what is nice about the book is the extra detail added showing that Mundie has been there and done it, and not merely replicated book smarts. For example, for people who have a stream perhaps a hydraulic ram pump could be used to pump water, a pump which costs nothing to run, uses only gravity, and never stops, provided the stream keeps running. He does not explain in detail how to build one, but once you have the idea the details can be got from the internet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_ram
For those who cannot afford a tractor, which is most of us, Mundie suggests going old school and having a working horse, like a Clydesdale, something with grunt. But while one horse is good for pulling loads, to serious plough land, a two-horse team is needed. That is getting towards serious horsemanship, and may also be too much at first for the newbie, trying to master everything.
Overall, another enjoyable read, something quite helpful for people starting out on a rural property.