Suburban Food Growing

When I was growing up in England in the Sixties, my mother and Father used to have a vegetable garden with a whole host of produce.

Potatoes, green beans, peas, raspberries, apple and pear trees, carrots, cabbages, rhubarb and so on. Most neighbors had at least a few fruit trees, even if they didn't bother growing their own vegetables.

I think this was partially a hangover from the second world war and the rationing that prevailed in England during the late forties and early fifties.

In fact growing your own vegetables in the cities was a major part of the UK's food supply strategy during the second world war (and also used in the US from memory).

I remember the vegetable growing gradually petered out during the late sixties and when we moved house in the early Seventies was never re-established.

Growing your own food has started to become more common again. I think the main reasons people are:

1. Concerned about modern farming and food processing practices and want the assurance of knowing what actually went into their food.

2. Concerned about the security and cost of food supplies in the future.

Keeping chickens at home is part of this trend and is often mentioned as part of permaculture practices.

Chickens are tireless workers, entertaining to watch and do excellent work in fertilizing the garden and removing pests from it and they produce eggs on top of all that - what a great deal!