Jack Hargreaves (1911 - 1994) was an author & broadcaster,
who made short television information films on country crafts, skills and past times.
Well this website is about growing your own food and being self sufficient so really should there should be such information on people maybe like John Seymour and new self sufficiency people such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal?
Jack Hargreaves is a man of my youth who showed us through various television programme's on how to make things and how crafts and jobs were carried out in the traditional ways. In other words he showed us how to go about our lives in the old ways which were efficient, ecological and sustainable without the need for modern materials and methods which will and are becoming too expensive to continue using.
Besides this Jack was born of an age where most of the modern unsustainable methods of living were replacing the sustainable traditional ways which we only realise now and also need to return back to, otherwise some ways and skills will be lost forever.
Being English you may think he and his films are of little relevance, but you are wrong. A lot of these films show methods of living which are totally adaptable to any similar country and also skills and crafts which were most likely used and can be used in Ireland in exactly the same way. Some of the links to Jack's films are quite recent and these films are no more than 25 years old, but show skills which were hundreds if not thousands of years old which are just as relevant today to anybody interested in self sufficiency or who wants to produce their food and live there lives in a sustainable way.
You will see that in some films there is no expense needed and all materials and methods just require your own time and anything you may have grown or obtained yourself from your own holding. Just as it was always done before the "throw away society" became normal life.
When you think that the move away from producing your own food to the supermarket was also part of the move away from traditional crafts and past times. Then re-learning these traditional skills crafts is also part of producing your own food. It probably is the only way to get out of the mess we have got ourselves in, but at least we will have the benefit of some labour saving devices and modern technology if so needed to assist us in putting back to use these traditional skills. The move away from these traditional skills is really only quite recent, in some cases just a few generations and now the demand to re-learn them is growing with the move back to producing our own food.
All around Ireland and the UK there are people now giving training courses in how to learn these old almost forgotten important crafts and skills. Here through Jack Hargreaves and his short films, you can see and learn for yourself how these crafts and skills were originally done.
So these are the reasons for showing links to some of Jack's old short films from various programme's he made through the 1970's and 1980's. Some may not be the greatest of quality but still watchable and easy to understand as Jack had a great smooth way of telling and explaining his stories. Of course people have made similar modern films loaded to youtube, but with Jack's films you get the "olde" way, as it was always done, basic without modern tools.
These films and information on Jack have been allowed and with the kind assistance of Jack's stepson Simon Baddeley.
"Old Cider Making"
Right to get you started, here is a film by Jack on making Cider. This cider will be "rough cider" or a "scrumpy" type cider and this film shows how it was done in a farm outbuilding with the most basic of equipment. This way as you will see is the traditional way of how cider was made every year by country folk. You will be able to make this drink exactly the same with no expensive equipment. The film is of fair quality. (14.5 Minutes)
"Onion Stringing"
In this film Jack shows how to string your onions which is a great way of storing them and it was the traditional way. Stringing onions was and still is a way of storing them and hanging them from the roof/ceiling to keep pests off them allowing them to dry. (5.5 Minutes)
"Ferreting - Catching Rabbits For Food"
Here Jack shows you how to catch rabbits efficiently and humanely for the pot. Rabbits were and still are considered a pest in the countryside and can reach epidemic populations very quickly (breed like rabbits) and then they cause extensive damage. So they have to be controlled and this is the most efficient way of controlling them and getting quality healthy meat for the pot at the same time. Rabbits are not nice cute fluffy things, they are a serious pest which can destroy valuable and important food crops, so this culling is an essential part of country life. (12.5 Minutes)
"Black Bream Sea Fishing Using Richard Hill's Exploding Bait Box"
This great idea for catching bottom feeding fish when sea fishing. In this film Jack is fishing for Black Bream, but this fantastic little invention is probably used to catch all kinds of bottom feeding fish. It is a video but there are a collection of still photographs at the beginning. It is a great way of baiting the bottom of the sea to attract all kinds of bottom feeders so that your fishing trips are productive. (11.5 Minutes)
"Butchering A Pig The Old Traditional Way"
Don't worry there is no killing of the pig, but in this film a master butcher takes a pig and cuts it up for the portions in the traditional way of half for curing and half for pork. This film is only from the early to mid 1980's but you can see how tastes have changed with the amount of fat on the meat. Also you will also notice that pork meat is red and not white like the stuff in the plastic tray you get in a supermarket. Anyway the film is average quality and very informative. (23.5 Minutes)
"Coppicing & Making Sheep Hurdles & Other Various Country Sticks"
Jack talks about old country ways and one of them which is now in huge demand is coppicing. Coppicing is a way of growing the raw materials which are usually Ash, Willow and Hazel and then using them to make everyday items. In this video he shows how to make "sheep hurdles" which people use for all kinds of things today and are very much in demand. Completely ecological, environment friendly and a very important craft to learn which allows your fencing needs to become home grown and on-site saving you lots of cash usually spent at farmers stores. (24 Minutes)
"How To Shoot Pigeons For Crop Protection & Food"
Jack describes shows how to decoy and shoot pigeons for the pot and also to protect your crops. Pay attention as to how to place your decoys and how to set "shot" pigeons as decoys. Woodpigeons are an excellent form of low fat healthy meat to supplement your diet. There is no shortage of woodpigeons which cause an awful lot of crop damage but it should be noted that in Ireland woodpigeons are protected unless attacking your crops. (14 Minutes)
"Goats"
A short film on goats which must be around 30 years old. In this film Jack explains the reasons why people kept goats and why, (at the time of the films making) that they are being kept once again for their meat and milk. Today of course goats are kept on a large commercial scale for the same products, but with this little film at least you can understand some of their recent history. (4.5 Minutes)
"Pottery - Making Flower Pots"
Here is a little interesting film I think for anybody who is in to pottery. A short film on how to make stoneware or terracotta type flower pots with a difference and it appears our Jack was actually the inventor/designer of this type of hanging/wall flowerpot. Pottery is a fine self sufficiency craft to learn where you can make many of your own impliments and also make goods for sale to earn much needed cash flow. (14.5 Minutes)
"Bantams"
A short film for all you poultry keepers. A little dated now maybe but still quite interesting on the breeding of Bantams and how you may acquire different coloured fowl. (9.00 Minutes)
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