by Tony Orman
A welcome book on the need for food self-sufficiency and a practical book encouraging self-sufficiency
The cost of living is a major issues for families, individuals and it’s now a big political issue too.
Unfortunately, on-going urbanisation for New Zealanders combined with an obsession with fast foods has seen New Zealanders lose many of their traditional skills and independence in putting food on the table. Once almost everyone had a home vegetable patch ,but over recent years that has been eroded.
However, this new book may inspire people to turn to the land and soil and whether in town or country recapture the skills in vegetable gardening. Reportedly there is an upsurge in hunting with the intent of putting meat in the oven, a strong factor.
The book, sub-titled “A life growing and eating our own food”, is an excellent, practical guide about producing and utilising farm or home garden produce.
The Food Farm is basically a seasonal diary about growing your own food, such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, eggs, grains, dairy, honey, meat and wild food. It’s chocker with ideas about sowing, harvesting, foraging and preserving.
Reconnecting with the land
The couple advocate that small farms can completely feed and sustain people and results in a reconnection for people to the land for food. Angela Clifford leads ‘Eat NZ” movement which aims to reconnect people with the land and ocean via food. Nick Gill grew up on a South Australian family farm before embarking on a 30 year career in the wine industry across Australia. The couple have 16 acres in North Canterbury, near Amberley.
Colourfully produced by Bateman Books, The Food Farm is both inspirational and practical in its message. The book is packed with information on seasonally growing your own food; ideal for people contemplating rural living.
It’s very likely to inspire those living in suburbia to adopt the ideas or even head for the country. But then if you live in town, the ideas are invaluable. For example the section on strawberries gives growing tips and then gives a mouth-watering recipe for strawberry shortcake. Likewise other examples are a recipe for Berry Pavlova as a Christmas dessert, Upside-down Peach Cake and utilising food from the wild such as trout and saltwater resources such as paua and sea fish. There’s many more.
Highly recommended.
The Food Farm by Angela Clifford and Nick Gill, published by Bateman Books, Recommended Retail Price $55.