John Seymour (author)

John Seymour ( born June 12, 1914 in London, † 14 September 2004 in County Wexford, Ireland ) was a British farmer and author. He is a pioneer of modern self-sufficiency Through his books and courses.

Education and Career

John Seymour was born on 12 June 1914 in England and spent his childhood there. He went through several changes of school and finally came to a boarding school in Switzerland. Later he began in college to study agricultural science. But he soon realized that he wanted to work directly in nature, and so he moved to work on different farms with 20 years to Africa to work as a farmer and to travel. Among other things, he also worked in a copper mine and as a veterinarian in the bush. During World War II he served in North Africa and Asia.

After the war John Seymour initially returned to England. After a reportage contract for the BBC in India, he went back to Africa. After the birth of his second child, he moved with his family in 1957 in an old remote farm and began to live exclusively from their own products. After a few years, the Seymours moved to Wales on the farm Fachongle Isaf. There, John Seymour wrote his books, which were very successful, especially in the 70s. In 1981 the farm was the couple too large, they left him and their children moved to Ireland, where he wrote more books. To date, there also the self-catering courses. His books have been translated into several languages ​​and experience repeated editions.

The self-catering

In the 1970s he became The Big Book of life on the land and self-sufficiency from the garden great fame through his books. Propagated by his ideal of a sustainable life spoke to a particularly tired of civilization readership in the industrialized countries.

In his books John Seymour described in more understandable to laymen shape how both a small site or a large yard so operates that a possible closed and healthy natural cycle is created. He represented in his books the standpoint of recycling and sustainability as a way of life with waiver of monocultures or over-production of certain foodstuffs. Seymour advocated cultural exchange and cooperation within the neighborhood for a stable system in harmony with nature.

This theme also dominates the novel written by him The larks sing so beautifully. The UK is paralyzed by a general strike. The following winter any infrastructure collapses. Remains of military and agricultural industry are trying to enforce and fail, the local society promotes formed artisan farmers whose armed majority do not allow any dictatorship. Because the protagonists speak Suffolk dialect in some chapters of the novel as for British readers was incomprehensible not published in the original. Translation by Irene Holicki to have been problematic.

Works

  • We move out into the country, 1979, ISBN 3-431-02188-3
  • Far from the Garden of Eden. The history of the soil. Cultivation destruction rescue, zus with Herbert Girardet, 1985, ISBN 3-8105-1810-7
  • Forgotten budget techniques. 2nd edition. Stuttgart: Urania Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-332-01058-1.
  • Forgotten Arts. Special edition. Images from ancient days. 5th edition. Stuttgart: Urania Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-332-00707-6.
  • The great book of life in the countryside ISBN 3-332-01060-3
  • The new book about life in the country. Urania Verlag, January 2004, completely revised. and ext. A ISBN 3-332-01474-9
  • Self-sufficiency from the garden ISBN 3-332-01059- X
  • The larks sing so beautifully ISBN 3-453-30813-1
  • Peaceful country. Green living. ( Ravenburger leisure paperbacks, Volume 76), Ravensburg: Otto Maier 1980, ISBN 3-473-43076-5
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