Man vows to give up money for a year

[TonyGosling]

Man vows to live without money for a year - Exclusive
By Damien Fletcher 5/12/2008

His home is a tiny caravan in a muddy field, his toilet is a hole in the ground and he forages for food in skips.

But 29-year-old Mark Boyle isn't a hapless victim of the credit crunch - he has chosen to live this way after turning his back on money for a year.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2008/12/05/man-vows-to-live-withou t-money-for-a-year-exclusive-115875-20947266/

"The film Gandhi blew my mind, man," he explains. "My life went in a whole new direction.

"I realised that the only truly sustainable way is to give up cash and reconnect with nature, so I gave away all my possessions to start a new life."

That meant ditching his job running a successful organic food firm and spending his last £350 on kitting out a caravan for his new cashless existence.

He added solar panels to power a computer, so he can run his website www.justfortheloveofit.org, and a wood-burning stove. The caravan itself he got free on the freecycle.org website.

In return for three days a week working at Radford Mill Farm, near Bath, he gets to berth his caravan there.

He's also got a one-acre plot to grow broccoli, carrots, parsley and kale.

His typical day starts with filling his larder - by crawling on his hands and knees into a nettle patch.

"We're surrounded by fresh nettles in Britain yet people buy nettle tea from China in supermarkets," says Mark, who also searches skips outside wholesale food stores.

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"It's amazing what you can find if you search around. The other day I found a couple of cases of wine. Another day it's 10 pizzas or loads of fresh fruit."

After foraging, economics graduate Mark has a solar-powered shower. It sounds hi-tech, but in fact it's a black rubber bag full of water, tied to a tree with string. "It does get a bit cold in the winter," he admits.

After a day on the farm or tending his plot, he makes a veggie stew on his Rocket Stove made "using two catering olive oil tins and a pipe I found on a tip". Mark says his lifestyle "proves that sustainable living is not just for wealthy, upper-class people. If I can do it this cheaply, anyone can."

However, it does mean giving up a few creature comforts.

"I dig a new compost toilet every fortnight," he says. "It's a six-foot hole in the ground. You do your business then shovel some mud over the top."

No wonder he hasn't managed to persuade his student girlfriend Clare Morley, 26, to join him on his cash-free quest.

Not that Mark regrets his decision. He insists: "It's time to consider a more realistic lifestyle, a happier world without money."

And so far, things are going far better than the last time he tried to get by without cash.

Mark once attempted to cycle to India, relying on the kindness of strangers for food and lodgings. He got as far as Calais.

He says: "I didn't have good enough French to tell them about what I was doing."


see also
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Mark-Boyle-From-Bristol-To-Be come-Freeconomist-As-He-Plans-To-Live-Without-Money-For-A-Year/Article  /200811415164753?lpos=UK_News_News_Your_Way_Region_4&lid=NewsYourWay_ ARTICLE_15164753_Mark_Boyle_From_Bristol_To_Become_Freeconomist__As_He _Plans_To_Live_Without_Money_For_A_Year__

[Chris Walsh]

What a guy. I could do that, but I might have to give up more than I'd like to.

I wonder if he's aware of fractional reserve banking, the controlled economic collapse and the NWO...

If he was maybe he'd do it for a lifetime, never mind a year!

[Disco_Destroyer]

This is aguy I'd like to meet!!
Also I believe there is enough of us in the know, only if we'd ratchet up that level of trust needed