All About Magazine - Issue 11

5 / 60

Independent living...
by Mike Robin at
‘Crops for dough, flowers for show’ - and here on
the organic eco micro-holding (small smallholding),
the flowers are simply sumptious this year, bringing
smiles all round.
Running the semi-self-sufficient lifestyle here is
not only about sustaining life but also exercising
a degree of self-reliance and resilience. Life can be
very convenient in modern times, and influenced
considerably by large concerns – just a few
supermarkets reportedly sell 95% of food in the UK.
Modern house systems tend to be ‘push-button’ and
of course the ubiquitous motor is everready for easy
transportation.
The supermarkets have power in the marketplace,
along with at times a ‘big firm-itis’ approach, and can
use it to their advantage, and to the disadvantage of
the rest of us (some supermarkets were prosecuted
awhile ago for collusion in price fixing).
It may then help to retain as an individual some
degree of ‘self-reliance’ to help counter any undue
‘large’ effect, becoming to some extent ‘free-range’?
(and in the‘growing your own’case here, to put a dent
into those large supermarket profits!) Sometimes the
old chestnut comes up – ‘not worth the effort to
grow your own, easier to pop to the shops’. What?
And miss out on the anticipation of planning the
crops, the successes (and failures) of each season,
the seasonality effect of homegrown produce, the
exercise and peaceful activity involved, the company
(in the case of allotment growing) of like-minds, and,
last but not least, the exquistite taste and texture of
eating freshly-picked produce. Not likely!
ALL ABOUT MAGAZINE | FEATURE 5