"The Stone-Age didn't end because they ran out of rocks..."

Monday 21 June 2010

Hero Spotlight: H.F-W.

H.F-W, otherwise known as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is a true champion of sustainability. The celebrity chef, journalist, writer and 'real food' campaigner is perhaps best known for the TV series he presented on UK's Channel 4, River Cottage, which followed his efforts to become a, "self-reliant downshifted smallholder" who could feed himself, family and friends from food he produced himself or sourced locally.


Due to the development of intensive agriculture, food prices have become irreversibly intertwined with fuel prices. If the farmer has to spend more money to run his tractors, combine harvesters and other machinery, then he will inevitably charge more for the food that he produces to meet the increasing costs. This means that in a future where fuel costs are set to increase, food costs can only follow suit. There is no better time to start growing your own vegetables and even rearing your own meat.


H.F-W. shows us exactly how it is done and even better, how to cook amazing meals from your own produce. Some of the classics include rabbit haggis, veal stew and hemp dukka. I don't know exactly what that last one is, but it sounds... eh... delicious?

One of the best shows he did was part of his River Cottage Spring series (for people living outside of the UK, click here to view clips on YouTube) where he enlisted the help of six Bristol families to develop a smallholding in the middle of the city. He started by showing them how to grow their own crops (radishes, beans, lettuce etc.) and then went on to give them four pigs and a few rescued hens from a nearby chicken battery. It's easy to see the beneficial effect that this had on all the families involved, not just in terms of physical health, but mentally also.


For me, one of the most interesting things to come out of it was how he acquired the land in the first place. Apparently, an old law states that if a group of people get together and ask their local council for a patch of land to grow crops and/or raise animals then the council are obliged to meet their needs. I haven't found anything on the web to back this up, so I would be interested to find out more about it.


If anyone is thinking about starting this kind of project, either on their own property or as part of an allotment scheme, then you should definitely check out the River Cottage website for useful tips and other information. Help make your future a little more certain.

No comments:

Post a Comment