Seriously, as an April Fool’s Day joke, you couldn’t make this up. The National Trust (NT) a great British institution, doesn’t seem to have got the message from President Obama who has just told G20 ‘this is no time for half measures’.  The Trust, which looks after significant buildings and bits of the environment wants many more people to be able to grow their own fruit and vegetables. To this end, it is ‘donating’ 1,000 plots of its own land.  1,000 plots.  Right.

I am secretary for an allotment site of over 300 plots. The waiting list for people wanting to have a plot on our site is about four years long, even with us dividing standard plots in two so that everybody gets smaller plots faster. 1,000 plots is derisory – it’s a bloody insult. And while the Trust say that it wants to have all 1,000 ready in three years, the only guarantee is that 40 plots will become available over the next 36 months. So let’s work this out: 40 over three years is 14 a year, so at that rate, the NT would be providing its 1,000 plots by 2085 … wow, let’s not hope we can trim our carbon footprint by much on this basis.

Growing your own is a great idea

The general idea is fantastic, 1,000 plots could provide the British population with 2.6 million lettuces per year or 50,000 sacks of potatoes, as well as reducing food miles, improving land use, and giving individuals healthful exercise in the fresh air.

The Trust may not have many plots, but it has big plans.  It’s set up a website called eat seasonably which will provide ‘veg doctors’ drawn from the 390,000 members of either the Royal Horticultural Society and or Garden Organic. These ‘experts’ will give advice to the plot holders.  For this first year, that suggests 39 experts per NT plot – nobody should be short of advice then, even if they’re a bit short of places to put it into action.

And for folk unable to obtain proper allotments (ie most of the population) those experts will be able to help you turn window sills, terraces or urns into vegetable patches. Urns. Sounds like we’re expected to invade the local funeral director’s office and fill his memorial pots with sunflower seeds. I say again, it’s not an April Fool’s Day joke, even if it seems like it.  Such a good idea, such a very paltry way of putting it onto practice.

[Digging a Victory Garden. Creative Commons photo by Tavis Ford]

Last Thursday, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack began turning a stretch of pavement at the Department of Agriculture into a garden. They dedicated the land on the 200th anniversary of the USDA founder’s birth: Abraham Lincoln. Not only are they working on a garden at USDA headquarters, but Vilsack announced plans to start community gardens at all USDA offices across the globe! Is this the Obama administration’s answer to petitions from Eat the View and the WHO Farm on Change.org?

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GreenTalk Radio host Sean Daily talks with Jules Dervaes of Path to Freedom. Path to Freedom  is a grassroots, family operated, viable urban homesteading project established to promote a simpler and more fulfilling lifestyle and reduce one family’s “footprint” on the earth’s dwindling resources.It was established in 2001 in Pasadena, California by Jules Dervaes.

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[Creative Commons photo by Linda N.]

Why Chickens?
Chickens are pretty low-maintenance. Once you have your coop set up, you just have to make sure they’re fed, watered, and get to run around outside. Most people who raise their own chickens do so for the eggs, not the meat. Instead of buying eggs from a factory farm or from hundreds of miles away, urban chicken owners benefit from a cheap, local, reliable source of protein. Chicken poop is also a great fertilizer for your garden!

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The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram reports that the Falmouth Town Council expects to vote next month on a zoning change that would allow backyard poultry-keeping in neighborhoods throughout town. Currently, only four parts of Falmouth have the OK to raise chickens in residential areas.

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Well, the way the economy’s going lately, it seems like it’s time to return to that can-do spirit. One man in central Florida has beaten many of us to the punch.

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So when a book came out touting itself as “the Bible” of green living, I was a little put off. But when I read more about The Self-Sufficientish Bible, I noticed that this one was different. By adding “ish,” the authors are making the statement that self-sufficiency is not something easily accomplished with a few simple rules.

Andy and Dave, Britain’s green twins, advocate a fun and positive approach to environmentalism, and understand that the thought of adjusting every aspect of our lives is overwhelming and possibly offputting. Hence self-sufficientish. If you don’t have the space or time to be totally self-reliant, but crave creative ideas for recycling, growing organic vegetables and establishing an environmentally friendly home office, this is the book for you.

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