Laurie & Dan are growing 80% of their own food on an impressively abundant 3-acre off-grid homestead in the South of England. They grow vegetables and flowers in permaculture gardens, they grow tree fruit, berries and herbs in a food forest, and they grow winter crops in three polytunnels.
source.image: Exploring Alternatives
They also cultivate mushrooms by inoculating logs and forage for chestnuts in the woodland on their property. They use a variety of growing methods including no dig beds, back to eden wood chip mulching, no chemicals or sprays, they plant heirloom seeds, and they make their own compost. Their land is off-grid so they collect rainwater, and they also pump well-water using electricity from solar panels.
To preserve their massive harvests, Dan and Laurie store root vegetables, tubers, pumpkins and squash in a frost-free shed, they process tomatoes into sauces, they make jams and chutneys, they freeze a lot of their extra produce, they dry herbs, and they also make medicinal tinctures.
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To supplement the food they grow, they do buy organic grains like oats, rice and flour, and things like oil and chocolate. In addition to growing tons of food, the couple is also trying to be self-sufficient with their firewood by planting and harvesting fast-growing trees like eucalyptus.
