1,000 new allotments available for cultivating fruits and vegetables
2009-02-26
Rome - The great recession seems to push His Majesty's subjects to reconsider the pleasure of the vegetable garden in the backyard. For this reason the National Trust, to face the waiting list of 100 thousand people, has decided to use the land of historic houses to give Britons the chance of cultivating fruits and vegetables on their own. The request for allotments - small plots of land for agriculture often also placed in the centre - has broken out in the last months. So the National Trust, that deals with the management of cultural heritage of the United Kingdom, decided to make available 1,000 new allotments, from uncultivated land that are part of its holdings. A reasonable number considering the National Trust is the biggest private ‘landowner' throughout Great Britain. All the allotments together will be able to produce 2.6 million clumps of lettuce or 50 thousand bags of potatoes a year.
"This is not just about saving money", said Fiona Reynolds, chief of the National Trust, "but also to derive satisfaction from gathering the 'fruits' of one's own work". A change, in habit of mind even before in saving, that has been sparked off, says Reynolds, and perhaps been speeded up, by the economic crisis affecting the UK. The National Trust's plan, she added, is made in a moment when people give the most value to "real" things - family, healthy food - compared to "material" desires.
And to promote the long term plan, the 'green revolution' - that seems so much a roots revival -the National Trust will put the land at citizens' disposal, but also its gardening experts. So that beginners, used to seeing carrots already packeged in the supermarket, will learn the necessary skills to become young farmers. "Our first goal - explained Reynolds - is to rent out land in exchange for a very low rent.
