A self-sufficient meal

Putting a self-sufficient meal on the table has been a rite of passage for Hugh & Fiona Osborne. It's one of those things that, as smallholders, seemed deceptively simple but has been a journey of a quarter of a century (and it's not over yet)!

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CAN ANYONE MAKE A TRULY SELF-SUFFICIENT MEAL?

In the 1970s a scriptwriter called Terry Nation (the man who invented the Daleks) pitched a new drama to the BBC called “Survivors”. Those of us of a certain age remember it as a haunting dystopian series about a virus that escapes from a laboratory in China (!) and spreads across the globe wiping out most of humanity. After the initial episodes, its focus was how those who remain struggle to survive. His pitch for the show was simple. He pointed to a wooden coffee table and said “Could you make that? From scratch?”.

The producers assured him that, although crude, they were sure they could make a table. Nation looked at them and said “You could? From first principles? Do you know how to make a saw? Can you find and refine the necessary iron ore?”

His point of course is that the modern world is one of specialisms and even a seemingly simple task involves tools and materials that most of us have no idea how to make. Indeed, it would be very hard to make a table these days without international cooperation.

Over the years we have come to realise that, for us, outright self-sufficiency is probably a destination that we may never reach, but we are thoroughly enjoying the journey.

THE JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES