Gardening used to be taught in schools in the UK. I know some schools are teaching it again or have garden clubs, which is a good thing, but would be better as part of the general teaching. Sadly, with smaller gardens and the idea of the garden as leisure space, not too many people do garden any more.
from about 4m2 including vertical we manage to eat something home grown most days this summer,not staples but tasty stuff to add interest to dinner
i recon i could feed 4 from a standard allotment,it would be mostly veg based but with some fishing ,roadkill etc it would give a sustainable all year diet.
I stayed on one of these several times in the 90's on the outskirts of a small town in the former East Germany. There was a tiny, basic cottage on about an acre of land. Every inch of the land was used for crops and chickens, all the family from great grandparents to toddlers worked on it at the weekend and they would have a family meal and some drinks there afterwards. We didn't know the proper name for them and called them allotments as there were several rows of them belonging to families in the town. Great memories.
Sounds interesting Gai. I think we used to have something like that in this country. Just down the road from us there are some plots that were given to NCOs after WWI for them to have small holdings. Each is about 1/2 acre I think. They have all had bigger houses put on them, but I remember them with railway carriages and similar structures to give a basic house.
Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
Posted: Sun Jul 19, 15 11:03 am Post subject:
There used to be a lot of Council owned farms that where used as a means for young landless farmers to get into the industry.
But like council allotments the vast majority have/are been/being sold for development.
All very short sighted. The allotments in our village have been built on, but more are planned in a new development I think, so that is one good thing about it. Gardens are also smaller, and most people don't do anything with them except sit in them.
Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2507 Location: New Jersey, USA
12. Russian vegetable farmers know a thing or two about having fun. These are scenes from their annual Cucumber Day. Did we mention that pickles are seen as an excellent accompaniment to vodka?
All very short sighted. The allotments in our village have been built on, but more are planned in a new development I think, so that is one good thing about it. ...................
You can't just do that !
You might as well take away a man's child and say "Oh it's all right, we might get you another one in a while" !
an allotmenter has put years probably decades of nurture into the soil - plots are not homogenous.
"........... farmers .............. ate them with vodka. Women made rude jokes and sang traditional cucumber-related songs........."
You'd never get Police permission for it over here Jam Lady !
Shan
Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 9075 Location: South Wales
Posted: Tue Jul 21, 15 8:02 am Post subject:
I don't think it is the police that is the problem.... more like the amount of Nimbys that seem to populate Britain.
gregotyn
Joined: 24 Jun 2010 Posts: 2201 Location: Llanfyllin area
Posted: Tue Jul 21, 15 2:35 pm Post subject:
So as you create more allotments to replace the old ones you built on, so you take more farmland from production. Why don't we just concrete the lot and produce like the Chinese do, a second 100,000 cow unit on concrete planned there, with the feed imported from Russia in a bilateral venture.
If we concreted over the countryside there would be nowhere for the townspeople to play and look at the pretty views. Some people think we should keep the countryside for that anyway and not ruin it by doing things like farming and forestry which block the roads and paths and make things untidy and smelly. Of course we can import all our food cant we?
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