The Complete Book Of Self-Sufficiency

When I was nine years old, I was given a book called 'The Complete Book Of Self-sufficiency' by John Seymour. Loving anything and everything that had to do with farm animals, I leafed through the pages eagerly ... it was like a book of magic.  It had everything, animal husbandry, food from the wild, how to prepare soil for planting seed (this was the first time I had heard of using animals, like pigs, to do this sort of work), how to process cows and sheep, how to make hay, how to have a successful vegetable garden, and on and on it went.  It was this book that steered me toward a self-sufficient life and for so many years it was my reference guide to learning about life on the land.

I was so sad to hear John had passed away in September 2004, living to a wonderful age of ninety.  I had always hoped to meet him somehow, or hear him speak, but it seemed I would now never get that chance.

Then I found this link on a random search.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC_c87xJwvc

I'm not sure when this was filmed, but it was just so amazing to hear his voice and to hear him speak so passionately about issues that are even more urgent today as they were back then - a true visionary.