Why we must be bolshie

"The most vital scientific research has to be done by private individuals, scratching for funds, while, in effect, the powers-that-be spend our money on enterprises that are less than urgent or with very dubious benefits that indeed could be positively harmful. What exactly does our government think it is for? By what right does it collect taxes at all, if not for the common good? Fiddling expenses is small beer, the merest peccadillo, compared to the wholesale squandering of public resouces on enterprises that at best are useless and at least as often as not are seriously damaging."

Here Colin argues that people at large who give a damn could run the world's food supply far better than the powers-that-be. We must challenge central authority and move with all possible haste to take control. In short, it is time to be bolshie.

The City Kids Fight Back!

Becky Lynch got in touch with us asking if we knew of any land to rent for her pigs.
All she needs is 5 0r 10 acres to set up a farming enterprise for her community.

We invited her to write a piece describing the project.

Here it is!

If you are able to help please contact Becky at boxeybrown@yahoo.co.uk
If you want to know more about her work then check out her school farm website

Opening up the Land

In October last year Julian Rose invited local people interested in growing some of their own food -- by renting land on his estate -- to a meeting.

About 30 people turned up; and on March 1st the scheme is officially launched.

Here he describes why and how he decided to open up his land.

The Oxford Real Farming Conference

The website is now restored. Apologies -- there were some technical hitches.
We're editing the video recording of the conference and hope to have 'highlights' of the talks available soon on the website.
If you're interested to receive news of the next events, please join the mailing list. You'll find information about this on the conference website

Potatoes: Sustaining Staple or Gourmet Gem?

This article by Silvija Davidson came about through an exchange of emails between her and Suzanne Wynn, following our Oxford Real Farming Conference. They were discussing the issues that the conference raised for cooks. In particular as Suzanne puts it "[I was concerned] about meatless meals centred around our staple carbohydrates. It transpired that Silvija had a real passion for potatoes as a result of her Latvian heritage -- eating potatoes twice a day. So it seemed the obvious thing to ask her to put it all down in an article."

"As now is the time of year for chitting potatoes it is also very timely. There are a whole host of Potato Days around the country over the next few weeks, many of which include seed swops. This is an ideal way to discover heritage varieties."

Silvija is a Director of QED London


Details of Potato Days taking place across the country in early February can be found here.

The photo is of Shetland Black potatoes

In the Soup

Penny is a neighbour who we (Colin and I) got to know only recently. Freshly made bread started appearing in our local shop. There by 8.00am it was snapped up by mid-day. It was made, I discovered in a tiny kitchen across the road -- by Penny and her partner Dragan.

What they have done -- setting up a micro-bakery as a small business, others they say can copy. The 'how to' is all on their website.

Here Penny puts their bread enterprise in the wider context of how to feed 9bn.

If you're interested to know more about the Oxford Real Farming Conference, then please join our mailing list.

An Invitation to Join a Pioneering Community Food Project in Wales

Stephen Powell has spent the past nine years creating a forest farm near Abergavenny. He's holding a meeting at his farm on Saturday February 13 from 10.00am-4.00pm for anyone interested in becoming part of a forest farm community enterprise.

The image to the left is of the woodland at Llwyn Ffranc and the Skirrid, revered locally as a holy mountain and below are two Tamworth sows and a visiting boar in the woodland at Llwyn Ffranc.

You can find out more about the project. To contact Stephen please email him.