TREE-change stories are common but few reflect on the philosophy that underpins the drive to swap city for country. Most just want an escape.
So did Woodford apparently but the detail in this book suggests he also wanted to live in line with mother nature and not stamp all over her.
- Real Dirt: How I Beat My Grid-Life Crisis, by James Woodford. Text Publishing, rrp $34.95
He begins with his childhood, moves on to forest protests and a Kimberley sojourn, becoming a reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald. After a broken marriage and encounters with grumpy editors he heads for a five-acre bush block with a caravan before marrying and building on 50ha near NSW's south coast.
He and wife Prue aim to live well and to grow their own food, recycle their waste and produce power.
Woodford describes how they and their children achieve this while learning from neighbours - and making enemies.
My favourite chapter describes how Prue trains infant daughter Mary to poo when holding her over a sink, saving years of nappy washing and lots of water.
The land grounds Woodford in a way a top job on a daily newspaper never could.
