James,
Thanks for your continued efforts in continuing to bring the right thinking to a troubled world.
I have one heads up and one question that you might be able to help with.
1. Heads up : For UK-based readers (and those who have access to UK IP address) you might like to point out to them a series currently running on BBC 2 : Victorian Farm
To quote from the BBC site:
“Historical observational documentary series following a team who live the life of Victorian farmers for a year. Wearing period clothes and using only the materials that would have been available in 1885, historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn are going back in time to relive the day-to-day life of the Victorian farmer.
Working for a full calendar year, Ruth, Alex and Peter are rediscovering a lost world of skills, crafts and knowledge assisted by an ever-dwindling band of experts who keep Victorian rural practices alive.”
Think the U- version of the Pioneer House series that showed in the US a couple of years back. The first episode focused on ploughing and sowing with draft animals, threshing, replastering the farmhouse , making cider and the trials of cooking on a coal fired range. The series is available via iPlayer on that site.
This series is useful inspiration to go out and trial grid-down skills. I believe the farm, in Shropshire, can also be visited.