Our Uncertain Future

Climate Change (Image: Tumisu/Pixabay)

(Image: Tumisu/Pixabay)

Welcome to my personal blog covering my adventures in and opinions on homesteading/smallholding, self-sufficiency, climate change and related issues.

Trevor Larkum, January 2020

58 Practical Homesteading Skills and Ideas You Can Learn Today

Whether you’re already on a homestead or dreaming of being a homesteader, homesteading skills are invaluable – and lots of fun! They give you a real sense of accomplishment, you save money, and you’re becoming more self-reliant in the process. Jump right in with the homesteading skills on this list. I’ve mainly included practical homesteading

How Much Should You Plant To Provide A Year’s Worth of Food

Homesteading was once a way of life; gardening wasn’t a hobby, it was how you fed yourself and your family throughout the year. Your survival rested on your ability to grow crops, save seeds and preserve the harvest. The choices you made regarding which crops you grew and how many of them you planted

Design a Permaculture Garden: The 12 Principles To Follow

[I'm learning about Permaculture as I embrace the good life - I found this to be a very good summary. Trevor] Gardening will never go out of fashion. Anyone with a green thumb and a penchant for growing nutritious food will attest to that. However, conventional ways of farming can fall to the wayside when

24 Ways the Virus May Change Your Next Home

[I found this article really interesting. Naturally I expected it to highlight the importance of growing your own food, plus pantries and freezers, but I thought the other ideas were also well considered. Trevor] Lockdown lessons shaping the future of housing As we find ourselves locked down amid coronavirus, there’s more demand on our

Of Raised Beds and Planters – Part 3

The best bit about growing vegetables, of course, is the harvesting and eating. Having set up our raised bed, planter and mini greenhouse by May, we didn't have long to wait for the first results. In June we picked our first cucumbers from the mini greenhouse. Our first cucumbers (Image: T. Larkum) In

2020 – WHEN THE GREAT DISRUPTION BEGAN

[This article caught my eye as it has parallels with my own views, see here. Trevor] It was always going to come to this. Whether it was a pandemic triggering a shutdown, a climate emergency bursting the carbon bubble, a populist backlash against inequality, wars over water or countless other possible triggers, this moment

The Self Sufficiency Surge

[Some very encouraging developments! And about time...] In the days leading up to the restrictions (and ever since), there has been a sheer frenzy of interest in fruit and vegetable growing as people seek to turn over their back gardens, patios, windowsills (and indeed any available space) to home food production. The seed companies

Of Raised Beds and Planters – Part 2

A few weeks after constructing the raised bed and planter, in April, I prepared them for planting. For the planter it was a case of lining it, to help protect the wood a little from moisture, and then adding a layer of old cardboard to provide some water retention. Raised planter with cardboard (Image:

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