Where to begin?

Ok, I've had this blog site up for a bit and it's remained blank.  My wife, my mother, my mother-in-law and my friends have been telling me for a year 'do a blog - do a blog'. I meant to, but always 'where to start?' and the longer you leave it - the worse that dilemma gets.

So...

Exactly what is a 'big manly garden' (or BMG)?  To be honest - I don't really know.  I call it that as a joke amongst friends. Mainly because people who know me wouldn't peg me as the kind who enjoys getting down in garden beds or my other fave hobby - baking.  Not many times over a pint will you hear someone say 'I'm going hardcore this weekend.... puff pastry from scratch....'  and so when my gardening comes up,  someone pipes up 'but it's a big... manly... garden'.

Maybe it's not so big at the moment, nor would I describe it as 'manly' - but it's not entirely orthodox either.  My garden is about combining ideas, innovations, and ways of thinking from various sources and trying to combine them into something that I can maximize what I get out of it, and overall improve the lifestyle of my family.  But before I get into any of that, I'll have to make some caveats and lay down some definitions:

You're going to hear words like 'organic' 'sustainable' 'renewable' a bit - and I feel they've been abused and downright misused over the last several years.  Even I get to the point where if I hear some of those said I just switch off. So lets clear this up: I'm not a hippy, I don't want to change the world or hug a tree - If I put forward an idea or use a system it's because it works (or I have reason to believe it works), and if it's good for the planet - sweet, happy by-product.

When I say 'sustainable' - I simply mean 'that which we can do again and again and again' - to sustain. None of the new definitions some 'movements' would have us think must be included..

When I say 'renewable' I mean just that. Something easily replaced.

I'm not going to suggest we can 'feed the world' or 'effect global change' - but on the other hand, I'm not going to tell you to crap in a bucket and try and grow basil in it either.  This is part of 'reasonable expectations' - hopefully though along the way we just might find a better way to get more out of our backyards, and more onto a plate.

So, what this blog about? It's about putting together systems and ideas and seeing what comes out - In my search to find a gardening method that works for me, I've found that a lot of people and communities are very set in their ways - they are fans of a method or system and it's 'the one way' and people aren't that willing to deviate from 'the plan'. Some get downright hostile, or rather than try or discuss - ridicule, dismiss, or marginalize.  So here I can discuss these ideas openly, and show people the success and failures as I try things.

So, that's the plan.  Coming up - some history.