Small IS beautiful.

We often hear people saying they would love to be selfsufficientish or grow their own veg and fruit, normally they then go on to say if only they had the land to do it.
 Well you don't need much land to feed a family with veg and fruit all year round, all that is needed is will power and a bit of graft.

We have friends living about seven miles away, they have less than a third of an acre, from this they produce all they need plus plenty to store one way or another, rabbits are reared for the table, chickens for eggs and broilers for the table.
There is a barn with a smallish yard attached, this is being prepared in readiness for the arrival of the piglets due to arrive next week.
I know that people find it hard to believe that all this has been created in two years,

from a front garden overgrown by trees and a back yard that was for want of a better word, a rubbish dump, old tins, plastic, metal, old cloths, everything you can imagine was just thrown there, the soil was virtually non existent, what little soil that  was there was sieved, a pains taking job. Soil was created by composting, farmers manure and gleanings from the turf bog.

 Raised beds were created with old scaffolding boards.

 The polytunnel is one of the best we have seen, not made by a company but by our friends, it cost them just four hundred euros, less than half of what they would have paid for a commercially made one, and far stronger than most.

They don't just grow the usual things, Oca is one crop that they are growing this year, a good crop for the winter and Butternut squash, again a wonderful veg for storing.
Every thing is kept immaculate, where veg is not grown,

                                               flowers and herbs abound.
Nothing is wasted, including neighbours off cuts of wood and spare paving stones, even old freezers get a second life as winter storage for veg.
It is always a pleasure to visit  these friends and exchange ideas, we are on the same wave length. All this has been done on a shoe string budget by people who are well past the first flush of youth and despite a back problem still seem to abound with energy.
It's a shame that more people seem to lack the will to create a real garden of Eden, and remain happy to moan about food prices when the answer is so simple. Even without land allotments can be had, or a great scheme started in the UK called land Share.
                                       Where there's a will there's a way.