Community growing is a two handed endeavour, on the one hand you need to know how to care for your brassicas, and on the other you need to nurture the community. John Pickles has both skillsets in spades.

In this episode we talk about managing a community allotment, and an exciting new project funded by Friends of the Earth, which will see community led rewilding in several neighbourhoods, including two in Hull.

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The term 'Intensive farming' brings to mind unsustainable and un-natural practices - although to the fair all, forms of farming are actually un-natural if you think about it.But intensive can also mean a highly controlled growing system, that uses resources as efficiently as possible to maximise harvests. Like all farming methods, the sustainability and environmental impact of intensive farming will depends on how it is done, as well as the specifics of the particular farming system.

Aquaponics is a self balancing system that is almost impossible to do badly, and in this episode we find out just how well it can be done.

Henry Dimbleby, in his excellent book 'Ravenous', suggests that we need a the whole range of farming in order to secure our national food supplies; from regenerative farming and rewilding at one end , to highly intensive farming at the other.

What Dave and Lucie are creating sits at both ends of this spectrum; with design principles reminiscent of the "Small is Beautiful" ethos of E F Schumacher (and even permaculture), and they are doing this working on one of the most cutting edge farming methods out there.

I for one can't wait for my first taste of traditional New Forest caviar.

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I'm sure we all have memories of school dinners - if you ever get the chance to visit a school in adulthood, two odours that will drag you straight back to childhood, floor polish and the dining hall. Some of us are old enough to remember school lunches before the food and nutritinal standards were repealed, and some of you may have attended at the height of the turkey twizzler craze.

These days, apparently, school food standards are back. But with around 40% of primary schools, and over 80% of secondary schools run as academies, who is checking up. Actually the answer is effectively no-one.

But the quality of the food is only one aspect of lunch. The time pupils are given to relax, socialise and importantly eat, has shrunk significantly recently - sometimes as low as 30 minutes. Quite apart from the loss of lunchtime clubs and activities, this turns the dining hall into a refuelling station.

In this episode students from several local schools tell us about their school lunches and lunchtimes, followed by in interview with someone who has been schooled in both France and the UK.

If you are unaware of the current state of school dinners, be prepared to have your ears opened.

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