KW-18 Two weeks of Spring, video and hard work.
pigs in space
It is just before 6am, and the thrumming tree harvesters have been providing the bass notes to the forest soundscape for many months now. Overlaying it, chaffinch, blackbird and tits various have been shouting at each other, sharing their thoughts on everything from the intensity of the sunrise to their hopes for the coming day.
And then. It all stopped. I have been sitting here in complete silence for the last few minutes. The moment the mechanical beasts stopped, so did the avian chatter. Maybe they were just complaining about the noise? Understandable.
We are now firmly in the shortest of all the seasons - Spring. April is a crazy month of rain and sunshine, with temperatures seesawing wildly, but it feels very much as if spring has decided to abide by its traditional role of being the augury of summer. Only a very naive gardener would feel secure from frosts before the feast days of the ice saints1, but hopeful one might start to feel a little glimmer of confidence, enough to sow some beans and start planting things out in the garden.
I do hope so. I have such a crazy amount of work to do in the next two weeks.
The Drone - a story of discretionary spending.
I bought a drone.
If you are a paid subscriber to the Book of the Barracks, thank you. You are amazing, and without you, I would have abandoned this project many times over.
You may have also noticed there is a curious pricing structure. Most people who offer an annual or a monthly way of buying things make it cheaper to pay for a whole year than to divide it into 12 portions. I do not do this. In fact, I think there is definitely something off about it. In all things. I am not talking about this newsletter specifically now. Being “well off” means having more choices than people who need to be more careful with their budgeting. I have been well off in the past (though never anywhere close to rich) and believe me, that ability to chose is worth more than the money that enables it.
It also changes your perspectives somewhat.
When I set up the subscription model for this newsletter, I knew that I have friends and former work colleagues who are also well paid, some of whom would want to support this crazy project, and the crazy human doing it. To some well off people, 5 euros a month might feel like charity, but 250 a year feels like support. And so, I offered the equally crazy pricing structure that has endured until today.
Four friends took up the offer. I never expect them to re-sign-up year to year, but somehow they always do! The 45 people who most wonderfully support The Barracks are the foundation on which all of this is built. The annual subscribers allow the occasional splurge into what economists might call discretionary spending.
Which is a very long way of saying that one of the annual subscribers renewed again this last month, and I went out and discretionally bought a drone!
YouTube
I have been wanting to do a YouTube for years. I have been looking hard for someone to come and hold a camera for me, but never quite found the person. I had one for a couple of months, but she just took photos of my butt all day. Weird.
I quite like video editing, although I am not fast at it. I want to develop my visual storytelling skills, and in terms of publicising the message of what we do here, and maybe getting a few europounds from it as well in the future, it makes a lot of sense to do the Youtubes.
The problem has always been the setup. Actually acquiring the raw material to do the job with. Getting the camera out, the tripod, framing the shot. It’s not really how I work. I grab a tool and go do a thing which interests me in the moment. Now, with the drone, I can just drop it off in mid air somewhere, and it follows me around, buzzing pleasingly and recording in 4k. I have a plan. I am going to take the next two weeks figuring out if I can make it work.
And finally,
I will be giving an online talk for the wwoof people on Tuesday 29th.
This is the event link, and this take you straight to the is the registration page. It’s free, of course. I would love to see as many of you there as can make it. It would be awesome to have a great turnout, and share some thoughts with you. I’ll probably publish the slides at a later date, but being there for the real thing would be better, dontcha think?
So, I’d better go and put some final polish to that, and then for the rest of the week, I really do have my work cut out. So many things to plant, so much to mow. It’s going to be a seriously intense one. I don’t envy me at all. But, it will be worth it.
I hope you get some time to enjoy the fine weather in the coming week, and look forward to seeing some of you at the webinar. And until next time, be excellent to each other and accept my sincerest Pirate love and best wishes,
Your loving
Pirate Ben
xoxo
In England, these are the saints Martimus, Pancras (of the station) and Servatius. The Germans add two more to the end, with Boniface and Sophia being the final two and best known of the five. Even if the names of the saints have been forgotten by many or most, the "gestrengen Herren" strict gentlemen and especially "kalten Sophia" cold Sophie linger on in the popular consciousness. Last year, they visited most of northern Europe, this year, it looks like they will not. It always gives me pause when considering likely direction of our global climate how our understanding of the natural world through myths and legends may also be affected by it
I hope the tree-killers won't start up again!