Managing to lift the buckets of feed for the pigs or bales of hay for the horses is really important to me. There isn’t as much physicality to this work as there used to be, as there is always the temptation to use a vehicle to help carry things, as well as myself, over longer distances and to do the jobs that were once hard work and very manually intensive. Mostly using a wheelbarrow and muscle power is my method of choice. Certainly at the moment, pushing a wheelbarrow over muddy ground works the body fairly hard but gives good sense of achievement on reaching the other side and it is quiet and slow so I can hear the birdsong. 

 

This leads me on to think about the study of ‘the blue zones’ (parts of the world where the culture live, on average, significantly longer and healthier than in the rest of the world, so named simply because they were originally marked on a map with a blue pen!) has shown that one of the keys to healthy longevity is to exercise with a purpose. These blue zone cultures have high concentrations of centenarians with low rates of chronic disease and the study of them has shown that what they have in common is:

 

• physical activity within their normal lives – such as walking daily to the market or shops (or maybe pushing wheelbarrows!) 
• eating a local, whole food diet
• low stress levels
• good social connections – providing love, support, friendship, laughter, joy and purpose into old age. 

There is one lady interviewed from one of the blue zones that has really inspired me: she is 94 and still chops her own firewood. I would like to say that I can still do that in 50 years’ time! It will also encourage me to manage our woodland which will help to improve both flora and fauna within the woodland. Almost all our ash trees have ash dieback which is a fungal infection. Like any fungus, it thrives where there is poor airflow and the lack of woodland management over the past few decades has meant that all our woodland is overgrown and all the trees are unable to thrive and vulnerable to disease. So, with an incentive to chop firewood, I will continue to manage areas of woodland every winter with an aim to give more space and air to the trees left standing, as well as leaving both standing and fallen deadwood which is crucial habitat. 

 

Meanwhile, I will get out my axe and start chopping to work on my strength. It might also be quite cathartic and help to lower my stress levels too! Perhaps I need to invite some friends and family to come and join in to make it more fun and sociable. Then we can move all the logs with a wheelbarrow and finish off the day with a homemade soup made with our home grown, organic vegetables. Sounds idillic to me… now I just have to find some friends who feel the same way!