Colm O'Regan: We need to normalise growing a bit of food ourselves

For such a supposedly agricultural country, we have a weird relationship with the idea of ordinary people growing food for their own table

Our food growing is sustainable in the environmental sense but obviously not in the commercial sense. But we don’t care

What is it with robins? You only see them one at a time. Each with a sector to mind. Like one of Chris Judge’s Lonely Beasts. There’s one in Drombeg Stone Circle car park that I presume eats worms and wannabe druids’ crumbs. But I’ve never seen robins in groups. Maybe they’ll come together at the Battle of the End of the World. Darkening the sky as they carry the fairies to the fray.

The one watching me now watches me eat standing at the redcurrant bushes HORSING into the berries. Picking stuff and eating it makes anything tastier. Even bits of twigs have gone into my gob. For a few minutes, my unfit frame and soft hands are those of a lean and lithe hunter-gatherer, grabbing a snack from nature’s bounty before bending down and sifting antelope dung to see if a hunt is worth the calories.