PRESS RELEASE: FAMILY WHO WENT 6 MONTHS WITHOUT SPENDING A DOLLAR & GREW THEIR FOOD IN THE BACKYARD HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT UPCOMING FOOD PRICE INCREASES & POSSIBLE SHORTAGES

Every calorie of food grown in Australia takes 10 calories of fossil fuel to produce. The looming oil crisis puts us at risk of food shortages, with economist Steve Keen predicting the possibility of famine. Who knows what will happen in these volatile times, but one thing’s for sure, it’s not worth gambling our lives on waiting for it to happen. September will be crunch time for Australia. We can build resilience in the suburbs – but we have to start now.
Heading into winter is a great time to look at our backyards and contemplate swapping out grass for garden.
How much can you grow? How fast can you grow it? And what do you need to start?

Linda Cockburn is the author of the bestseller, Living The Good Life, How One Family Changed Their World from Their Own Backyard – Hardie Grant. Which featured on Today, Tonight 3 times. Over 6 months the family grew their food and an alternative to toilet paper, swapped out the car for bikes, ate snails and went without chocolate. By the end they were healthier, happier and gratifyingly slimmer. The book was re-released with updates last year.

Cockburn has written for ABC Organic Gardener Magazine for 25 years and founded the Huon Producers’ Network in 2013, Seed Freaks, the heirloom online seed company in 2015 and published The Quiet Revolution: Debt Free & Working Less, How Our Species Survives in 2024.

Alone might be the reality TV survival story we watch, but Together, in suburbia is the real survival story. We all need to be talking about food resilience and how to build it in the suburbs. It’s not time to panic, it’s time to prepare.

Cockburn is available for interview Saturday – Tuesday every week.