Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Hopefully I’ve convinced you to plant a fruit or nut tree or two in your yard. They can be tucked into a garden, only need pruning twice a year, and they give you pretty flowers, nice fall colors, and lots and lots of food.
We are at the mercy of our climate, which is as it should be. Nevertheless, we have ways to push our seasons a bit, and most take very little effort and are pretty cheap and easy to do.
Vegetable gardens in this country are largely seen as a “summer thing”, and I believe this is because the crops people associate with vegetable gardens are mainly summer growing.
The bottom line is this: anything you grow now is something you no longer have to buy or worry about finding in a food store. Things are not going to get better, no matter what the ads say.
Can I convince you how miraculously cool seeds are? They are a tiny packet of genetic information, for nothing more than some warmth, light (usually), and some water, will unfurl in time and produce a plant that will net you so much food in volume, that your return on investment would be astronomical.
Last year, when things really got dodgy and this year looked to be the start of things becoming terrible for the near future, I bit the bullet. I stayed home to raise the food we would eat.
We’re producing a series of films to capture the incredible enthusiasm of people across Bristol for good food. From growing at home to cooking from scratch, stopping food waste to supporting local producers, Bristolians are finding new ways to make our local food system stronger than ever.
Nook and cranny gardens optimize micro-climates — water catchment for perennial plants, rocks that retain warmth to extend the growing period, and trees providing fuel, food and shade.
A look at four books which take different approaches to creating resilient food growing models.
