by Huw Richards and Sam Cooper
Sam Cooper goes by the name Chef Sam Black on Instagram and Substack, where he posts fantastic content – videos of fermentation recipes, food growing instruction, and notes on his personal philosophy. His soft voice, Welsh accent, and various bubbling mysterious ferments are an oasis of calm and positivity in the toxic social media sea. With this in mind, and with high expectations, I picked up the book he recently produced with his business partner, Permaculturist Huw Richards: The Self-Sufficiency Garden.
DK publishing means lots of color images and easy, intuitive layout. Simple gardening projects, complete with detailed diagrams; recipes for meals, ferments, cordials, and tinctures; sustainability best practices – The Self-Sufficiency Garden lays out a blueprint for not only a method of gardening and food preparation, but a way of life. A way of life that I personally find very appealing. Month-by-month garden layouts for growing all the food your family would need through a year (granted it’s specific to Wales, their temperate zone is similar enough to our own . . . minus the mild winters), curry spice blends from all home-grown ingredients, highly accessible instructions in how to preserve your produce, No-Kneed Focaccia . . . This is a book that lives on your kitchen table. At least, it does on mine . . .
