Grow your own

MY MOTHER is a feisty septuagenarian. As mother of nine children, of whom I am the eldest, she has a decidedly pragmatic outlook on life.

She comes from a generation who ‘got up and got on with it’, so she has little patience with people moaning about everyday challenges.

Recently, she was irritated by the endless complaints about the price of food. “Why don’t people stop whingeing and go back to being self-sufficient - grow a few vegetables, plant an apple tree, keep a few hens.” How right she is, yet several times recently I’ve been reminded that the old-fashioned attitude of ‘the neighbours will reckon we can’t afford to buy it’ still prevails. Isn’t it about time to let that one go and to rediscover the joys of planting a seed and watching it grow?