Recommended by a friend who knows me well, I've been getting episodes of BBC's The Good Neighbors from Netflix and watching it with my daughter. We're both enjoying it tremendously. I believe this show aired in the 70's. It's about a normal couple living in a suburb. The husband turns 40, and realizes that his life is dull and meaningless. After pondering this, he decides to quit his job, and take the plunge into living self-sufficiently, right in their surburban neighborhood! They plow up their front and back lawns, put in plants, get a goat, chickens and pigs, etc. It's awesome!

If you rent it, I'll warn you that the first couple of episodes are a bit slow, and it's often hard to understand all that is being said with the strong British accents, but keep going and you'll get hooked on the characters and will wonder if they'll make it.

I know it's just a comedy, but it's making my daughter and I want to try such a venture as well. Of course we can't at the moment. There are too many obstacles, such as we'd not have the support of the entire family, our city only allows you to have 10 hens (no roosters), and no livestock, etc. But my husband and I are already on the way to building up our forest garden; our goal being to grow as much of our own produce as we can, eventually. Instead of trying to do it all at once, like in the TV show, we're taking it slowly, buying plants as we're able to spend the extra money, spending time building the beds as we are able.

But I've already made a deal with a friend that whenever she can, she'll bring me a dozen eggs from her hens, and in return I'll gather a bag of produce from my garden to give her. Right now she's getting plenty of fresh organic lettuces, and I'm getting fresh organic farm eggs once a week!