The Radstock Mayor writes:

Some years ago I was involved in preliminary discussions with Chinese scientists about constructing a couple of Eden Project-like centres. The purpose was not to provide a representation of plants from different biomes but to trace the art of plant cultivation and animal husbandry throughout the history of China. In so doing it was hoped that householders would be encouraged to grow their own food, thereby becoming self-sufficient and considerably more eclectic in their choice of food.

What has become of this project I know not. I lent my Chinese contact, 'Permaculture: a Designer's Manual,' by Bill Mollison, an Australian bio-geographer who coined the term. It was this book that was returned to me.

The moral of this is that there is something to learn from permaculture. With all the down-time with which we are confronted, why couldn't we try it out ourselves? Instead of concreting over our gardens to appease the god Motor, we could be planting trees and bushes for edible fruit, and patches below with nutritious brassicas, spinach and onions. Hens and ducks are important components of this holistic approach. The idea is that carbon is recycled and the garden becomes a site for all-year-round foraging.

Apart from the usual bachelor frankfurters my fridge holds tree seeds that I have been stratifying: unusual things like the Saskatoon berry and the Nanking cherry. One derives so much pleasure from this holistic approach that the doom and gloom of Covid are soon forgotten and the future can be entertained with eager expectation.