by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Obviously, of primary interest was ideas for sustainable living from gardening for growing food to feed a family, solar heating and lighting, sustainable buildings, to rainwater harvesting and much, much more. A fair number of interesting things were found, especially with regards to sustainability and sustainable living.
In other places ideas could be taken away from some of the designs which could be turned into something sustainable, such as some of the solid furniture on display which, while made from sustainable forest wood – from Canada though – could easily be made, looking exactly the same, from reclaimed timber from the building industry and from salvage.
The homes in the GRANDVillage were definitely most interesting, especially the log house by a small British company from Suffolk, using only local sourced timer. In the GRANDGardens the great interest of mine lay with the three-square-meter garden to feed a family, which was designed and set up by Dairmuid Gavin. If it can be done on such a small plot then how much more could be done in a bigger garden or even on an allotment?
Growing our own food, as far as possible, in whatever space available, is definitely going to be a must if we – one – want to reduce “food miles” and – two – want to be able to avoid shortages and high prices for ourselves and Dairmuid Gavin with the 3sqm garden shows what can be done. Other methods too are possible that were not shown on the show and the reader should keep visiting our pages, as well as those of our related publications, such as Home & Garden Review, Allotment Garden Review, The Homesteader, etc. where the subject of self-sufficiency gardening will again and again be tackled, down from the field and allotments to the patio, roof and balcony. Raising ones own food, or at least part of it, is possible basically everywhere.
Having seen a number of interesting products on the show I do hope that, at some stage, I shall be able to obtain a couple of them for review and be able to bring the readers of the Green (Living) Review my findings on them.
The show is still open until Sunday, May 11, so there is still time to visit and see for yourself.
www.granddesignslive.com
Ticket hotline: 0871 230 5577
© M Smith (Veshengro), May 2008
