Helen Browning: It’s been good to be on the farm for the weekend, to re-establish my equilibrium after a hectic week. As well as interviewing for our new Director of Communications (lots of brilliant candidates, more news shortly), holding a well received staff conference (so much progress reported), hosting policy makers at the farm and supporters at Highgrove, launching Organic September, and all the usual busyness of the Bristol office, we have had the additional complication of the Stanford University report, and its reporting in the media.
10 September 2012 |
7 Comments | Recommended by 7
Kathie Auton: September is here and we might feel justified this year in finally giving up on the summer and embracing the new (school) year. Unlike the chilly, dark and bleak new year in January, the September new year is a more fruitful affair. Both in the sense of a new beginning for children starting school or moving up a year and in the sense that the new season's Bramleys are here, Victoria plums are putting in an appearance and, whilst the Discoveries may be all but over, we have months of apply joy to look forward to. So for me, we should light the fireworks and make the resolutions in September not January, but perhaps that’s just the teacher in me.
07 September 2012 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 1
Soil Association Scotland: Helen Jukes writes about her experience of the Italian Breadmaking course at Bread Matters...
30 September 2011 |
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Soil Association Scotland: The newly established wine merchants Quel Vin in Glasgow have been busy with organic wine tastings every weekend this September, resulting in a lot of happy customers leaving with organic goodies.
23 September 2011 |
2 Comments | Recommended by 1
Nik Darlington: Research published in 2003 by a team of Swedish ecologists demonstrated a signifcant increase in the richness and abundance of butterfly species on organically farmed land and its (non-organic) surroundings. Further analysis in 2005 found that wild flora and fauna are on average 50 per cent more abundant where there is organic farming.
23 September 2011 |
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Denise Bonner: Heading up the team of consultants at NYR Organic, the home selling channel of Neal’s Yard Remedies, I know I can make a difference to how people feel about and get access to natural, organic products. This is the perfect way of spreading our organic message, it’s working and I love playing my part in this exciting movement.
22 September 2011 |
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Rupert Emerson: For Sarah and myself at Orchard Farmhouse, conversion to organic is not just about form filling. It is about lifestyle. Take permaculture for example. We set aside a piece of a field for the local community to do some growing, now we have a new friend, John Hillman, a fascinating chap who knows everyone, having been hair stylist to the stars, who is teaching us permaculture. We are forming a group – if you live in North Dorset do get in touch so you can join in. We are at the design stage which is the most fun. Contact us on orchardfarmhouse@yahoo.co.uk or follow us on Facebook.
19 September 2011 |
5 Comments | Recommended by 1
Helen Carey: This week (Wednesday to be precise) saw a five week count down to the first schools farmers market. I spent the day with with 40 year 5 children from Sebright Primary School in Hackney who have been assigned the job of 'market planners' for their first market – due to take place on 20th October. In fact work is already well under way with each year group set to have their own stall.
18 September 2011 |
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Elisabeth Winkler: I don’t eat much meat but when I do, I want to know the animal led a decent life. High animal welfare standards is one of the reasons I choose organic. Last week, rainy Tuesday: I visit Sheepdrove Organic Farm for Organic September. At the farm gate, signposts announce a GMO-free zone. The 2,000 acre farm is a patchwork of small fields on the Berkshire Downs, how farms used to look before monoculture took over.
17 September 2011 |
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Elevine Lillebuen: There are so many great initiatives in this world, and to me one of them is The Soil Association. Promoting planet-friendly farming and through campaigns and their strict standards, certification and branding are guiding us as consumers to find our way in the jungle of products out there. They are an invaluable source for protecting sustainable food production in the future. All in all they are working to keep the soil on which we grow what we eat healthy, so that we can eat well now and also have fresh lovely food when my friends and I get old (sometime far far way in the future)!
16 September 2011 |
5 Comments | Recommended by 1
Soil Association Scotland: Soil Association Scotland are blogging about everything Organic September in Scotland. Here's whats happening so far...
16 September 2011 |
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Nik Darlington: The well-heeled woman in front of me at the checkout assembled her basket of goods in precise formation. A soldiery of foodstuffs: the hardwearing infantry of bottles and boxes in advance, the rear brought up by more powerful but more vulnerable cheeses and tropical fruits.
14 September 2011 |
2 Comments | Recommended by 1