Village Squire, 1978-06, Page 50P.S.
BY KEITH ROULSTON
The "back to the land" movement that
grew out of the 1960's revolt of the younger
generation refuses to die.
Many felt the movement would go the
way of flowers in the hair and the rock
festivals like Woodstock but all evidence is
that the movement has just changed.
While most of the members of the revolt of
the 1960's have gone on to live pretty
materialistic, urban life, a few have
continued to dream of a return to the land.
Their dream, of course is a little different
than it was in the sixties. Back then it was
communes and other trappings of the
movement 'that became evident on the
abandoned farms and bushlots the flower
children took up. Local residents shivered
when the "long haired hippie creeps"
moved in down the road.
Today, like their counterparts who have
gone on to jobs with IBM and townhouses
in suburbia, the back-to-the-earthers have
gone middle-class. Oh you may still see
beards and moustaches but they're neat
now and beards and moustaches aren't so
startling anymore anyway.
Today's back -to -the -lander is apt to be
well educated and articulate, a person who
isn't out to blow up the establishment with
bombs, or hold sit down demonstrations,
but doesn't want to go on in the 1970's
urban mold either.
If you want proof that the movement is
still strong, just take a look at the success
of periodicals like Harrowsmith and
Natural Life started from nothing in the
past two years but now with swelling
circulations that make this publisher at
least, green with envy. They are the
success story of the 70's in the media,
particularly Harrowsmith, which started
from nothing two years, ago and last month
on its second anniversary, ran 116
colourful, glossy pages packed with
advertising. It has a circulation of 83,000
paid customers but runs a total pf 107,000
copies because the demand is so high for
past issues of the magazine. It is issued six
times a year on a yearly subscription of
$6.00...That sob you hear in the
background is your publisher breaking into
tears at comparisons.
A large portion of these people make
compromises. They buy a piece of property
in the country but they continue to live and
earn their living in the city. They make
weekly pilgrimages just like the well-est-
ablished cottage ,migration patterns on
summer weekends,. but abandon the
country to the wind and snow in winter.
They dream about the day they'll give up
city life for good but many never will take
the final plunge.
Many others, however, have already
decided they want out of the urban rat race
and have moved to the country either
PG. 48. VILLAGE SQUIRE/JUNE 1978.
hoping to get a job in a nearby town or to
make a living of some sort off their land.
The latter is, of course, more than
improbable since generations of exper-
ienced farmers have been proving that it
can't be done. Still hope spring eternal.
I know quite a few people who've made
the move. A good many of them are
creative people who find inspiration in the
countryside not to mention lower living
costs. If you're going to be a starving
artist, you might. as well starve in the
country where at least you can breath fresh
air and break the monotony of Kraft
dinners with a few fresh fruits and
vegetables. It's no longer cheap to live, in
the country what with farmland going at
$1000 an acre and severed properties as
scarce as wild strawberries in January. Still
cheap is a comparitive term and compared
to paying $300 for a one -bedroom
apartment, living in the country is still
cheap.
I guess I could be called part of the
back -to -the -earth generation though in
•spirit at least I never really left. Some
people grow up in the country and can't
wait to get out. I found the country
something that. gets in your bloodstream
and you can't shake it, even in the teeming
masses of the big city. I knew from the day
I moved into the city that I'd be moving out
as soon as I could. Later, I found even
small towns too unnatural formy needs.
So we moved out to a few acres with a
fine old, if unpolished looking, home. I
know there's nothing rational about
non -farmers living in the country. I know
it's foolish economically for me to keep a
couple of dozen hens out back and to plant
a big garden that takes more time than I
have to give.
Of course I'm not very economically
rational. If I had been I'd have been a
lawyer, doctor or even teacher, not a
writer. I'd at least have gotten a job with
some big newspaper or television station,
not started a magazine in a small town.
What most of the new settlers have in
common, though, is a rebellion against the
materialism of life in a major urban centre.
They want an alternative to having to earn
$15,000 or $20,000 a year just to keep up
with the Jones down the street or across
the hall in the apartment building. Some of
them, of course, are real phonies, taking
the 'same kind of urban materialism with
them to the country. Some are so idealistic ,
they're in for a shock and will be back in
the city in a couple of years, dissillusioned.
But for the most part. I think it's a very
healthy movement and I'm glad it's still
going strong, even if it does drive up the
cost of real estate for those of us who
already live in the countryside.
A,
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