In permaculture terms the economy sometimes feels like a segregated monoculture planted with terminator seeds, sprayed with patented pesticides on venture capital backed farms designed to maximise profits in an unsustainable market place full of thieves and cheats. No wonder people prefer to potter in their gardens and allotments - and try to forget the craziness of corporate capitalism!

But no matter how much we try to ignore the corporate machine it ploughs on regardless and at various points in all of our lives we are forced to interact with the unsustainable, greed-based economy whether we like it or not. We all need to travel, buy energy, we like presents and holidays and now we are buying more and more of these goods and services online, from people we do not know.

An exciting food project called Grown in Totnes has started trading in this South Devon market town, selling processed grains, peas and flours to local shops, bakers and colleges.

It all started with the publication of the Crop Gaps Report, which identified gaps in the area’s local food provision of vegetable protein, grains and oils.

Members of the Transition Town Totnes Food Group went on a mission to supply grains and legumes - beans and peas - all grown, processed and sold within 30 miles of Totnes. They carried out a survey of potential customers using a questionnaire, studied the data in the report, and listed the skills and resources they would need and could access in the town.