I know it goes without saying, but this year you should be growing your own food. Hey, if you've got the time you should be growing food for others. If you haven't got any space, ask someone who does. You might just get what you need. Grow staples like potatoes, edible leaves, onions mushrooms and carrots. Grow carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and minerals.

You'll be surprised how easily plants grow outdoors. Trust that it can happen, mother Earth needs very little help to provide sustenance. If you are wary about certain plants, grow them indoors. Grow medicinal herbs, and learn to keep your community healthy.

There are many other things you can do. Refine clayish soil and make crockery (in many places in the UK you can use clay right out the ground. It's an untapped resource), do up unwanted clothes into things you want to wear, learn glass-blowing or woodturning. Offer your services as a repairman, or make ovens and CD racks from waste metal. Build generators from bikes and alternators, or turbines from guttering. Pick wild fruits, and make jams and chutneys. Distribute your services for free, if you can, to other helpful people (if you can).

Whatever you do will have a two-fold purpose; not only will you be enriching your local social structure, but you will be presenting an alternative culture that many people do not get to see.