Book Review: Greenfoods for Rabbits and Cavies by FR Bell FRHS, with additional chapters by Allan Trigg. Published by Fur & Feather for Coney Publications.

FR Bell’s book Greenfoods for Rabbits and Cavies, first published in 1955 has long been held as a classic reference for fanciers wishing to cultivate or harvest their own greenfoods.

With environmental issues such as food miles, the effects of pesticides, and benefits of organic practices becoming more topical and better understood; prices associated with our hobby ever increasing; and buzz-words such as sustainability and low impact living taking a significant role on the political agenda, there has never been a better time for the themes expounded in this tome to be revisited and updated for the 21st century. And who better to undertake such a task than Chelmsford’s King of the Cycle Clips and life-long cavy fancier – Allan Trigg.

Much of the early part of the book remains in pretty much its original form. Cultivating greenfoods and root crops offers guidance on the growing of all manner of vegetables, from the standard fare of carrots, cabbages, mangolds and kale, to such things as kohl rabi, chicory, lucerne and sunflowers. With notes on sowing, timings, depths, spacings, etc. as well as the subsequent benefits for stock.

Useful wild plants provides clear descriptions of a whole range of wild plants that might be enjoyed by rabbits and cavies, together with some of their medicinal properties. I was particularly pleased to find reference to the feeding of ground elder when young and tender; not least as my garden seemingly plays host to the National Collection of this plant. This is followed by an important chapter describing those ‘dangerous’ plants that would have a less than positive effect on your stock...

Allan has provided the final two additional chapters. In the first, he puts his years of experience cultivating allotments into words, and describes how those with small or non-existent gardens might grow their own vegetables. Advice is given on how the allotment might be used for the mutual benefit of both man and beast, with notes on timings for seed sowing and the cultivation of weeds – Allan’s allotment being easily recognisable by the neat rows of dandelions!

The final chapter is particularly poignant in this day and age, when the environmental implications of filling holes in the ground with waste are better understood, and fanciers are finding the disposal of hutch cleanings ever more problematic. Allan describes how the concepts of recycling and reducing waste by composting can not only significantly reduce the amount of waste we need to dispose of, but can also lead to positive gains through its onward use in the garden, and in particular the vegetable patch.

Fur & Feather has repackaged the title using a simple layout and palette of contemporary fonts, which coupled with a multitude of good, clear photographs, provides a very attractive and easily read book. A must for all rabbit and cavy fanciers.

I’m off to plant my Jerusalem artichokes...          Simon Neesam

You can purchase this book here.