Concern over pesticides, and his own research on DDT and other 'risks', prompted Simon Spencer and his wife Carol to move to Wales to buy a smallholding and become self-sufficient. Abandoning an academic career he sought a new life close to nature and following organic principles as far as possible.
The book describes the practicalities of most forms of livestock from poultry to cows, growing vegetables and fruit and producing most of one's own food. It is full of well tested advice on building, firewood and numerous useful practical skills. It is partly autobiographical with the author relating how he balanced this lifestyle with careers in computing and later, the conservation of butterflies.
The book is very critical of modern agriculture and food production and despairs of politicians' attempts to tackle both the climate emergency and the biodiversity emergency.
Wildlife-friendly farming is at the heart of the smallholding and there are detailed descriptions of what has been lost from the countryside around them over 45 years.
