cultivation

one of the answers to the problem of sustainable subsistence in our globally unstable climate seems to be the move from large-scale industrial agriculture to small-scale production on a local, or even individual, basis. garden agriculture yields many times more food energy per square metre than farms.¹ permaculture - the practice of modeling agricultural systems on the self-sustaining structure of natural ecosystems - can reduce the ecological footprint of food production indefinitely.

in order to explore the potential of permaculture subsistence and acquire relevant skills i visit and work with many smallholders and other vegetable growers. currently, i am living at radford mill organic farm in somerset, and dividing my time between work on the farm and work in my studio caravan. this is also a way of subsisting outwith the capitalist infrastructure, by living in a directly reciprocal arrangement within a communal framework.