Kayleigh Jenkins: Being an adult isn’t always fun. Yes we’re old enough to drink, old enough to drive (of course never at the same time!) and don’t get told what time to go to bed, but there are also bills to pay and jobs to do. Yet, at Primary school I loved any chance to act like a grown up. This is why, although my primary school days are long gone, I could identify with the excitement of the children at Poplar Primary school when they got to plan, set up and work at their own school farmers’ market.
01 November 2011 |
5 Comments | Recommended by 2
Kayleigh Jenkins: As someone who, admittedly, could tell you much more about fashion than farming, I turned up at the Soil Association's recent CSA conference knowing next to nothing about community supported agriculture schemes. Of course, In the week and a half I’d spent at my job here I’d read and heard about the schemes and had managed to piece together an idea (albeit, a very basic one) of what CSA’s were. But I had no real clue of where they were, who was involved and how they worked.
20 October 2011 |
1 Comments | Recommended by 1
Soil Association Scotland: Helen Jukes writes about her experience of the Italian Breadmaking course at Bread Matters...
30 September 2011 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 0
Helen Browning: One of the key pillars of our refreshed strategy is ‘Good Food for All’. By this we mean that we are committed to ensure that organic, seasonal, healthy food is accessible to everyone.
28 September 2011 |
7 Comments | Recommended by 0
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 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 4
Helen Carey: Things are hotting up with the three markets now less than a month away. This afternoon I will be at Jubilee School to do the market preparation session with the Year 5 classes. We will be joined later by Baker Ben from E5 Bakehouse who is going to have a bread stall at their market and also come into school to bake bread with a group of pupils. He is going to check out the ovens today...
22 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 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 1
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 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 2
Francesca Price: With the wind whipping down our valley, it’s been a good few days for gathering fruit. The apples in the local orchards are falling off the trees quicker than the villagers can pick them up. Luckily there was an apple press on hand this weekend to convert the excess into juice and early season Somerset cider (which I am told will be ready for Xmas - hooray!)
17 September 2011 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 1
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 |
6 Comments | Recommended by 0
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 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 0
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
Ed Dowding: Organic food shoots itself in the foot with its elitist principles, say a recent article in Farmers’ Weekly. Organic isn’t yet what one might call ‘mainstream’, so they may have a point. For too many of us, being organic comes at too high a cost: at the till, in labour costs, paperwork, effort, and time. It takes a great deal to meet the commendably high organic standards. Is there a way this burden could be reduced whilst preserving the core principles?
13 September 2011 |
4 Comments | Recommended by 3
Rupert Emerson: Like any assessment, going through organic certification can be stressful. But we have been lucky so far. Our inspector, Pete Douglas, has been great, looking and listening with interest at our project. He is thorough but subtle about it.
12 September 2011 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 1
Francesca Price: I was a bit of late starter on the organic thing - for most of my life I managed to consume an appalling selection of fats, chemicals and toxins without giving it much of a second thought. And then I had kids and in that time honoured tradition, my world was changed forever. After diligently breastfeeding them all for the required time the thought of putting anything but the purest of fruit and vegetables into their little bodies filled me with horror. So overnight I became an organic missionary. Everything had to be organic. I even took a bag of organic fruit and vegetables to Ireland on holiday - just in case their food didn’t come up to scratch. (It wasn’t the best way to win over my new in-laws!)
09 September 2011 |
1 Comments | Recommended by 3
Helen Carey: Hi there. Helen Carey here. I am working on a great project in London called Farm Academy, which is all about connecting pupils to where their food comes from via residential visits to organic farms and the setting up and running of schools farmers markets and is now working with five schools.
06 September 2011 |
1 Comments | Recommended by 7
Helen Browning: Happy Organic September! Today sees the start of a busy month here at Soil HQ. We’re putting lots of energy into making sure that the world of organic and all that it encompasses gets the recognition it deserves - across supermarket shelves, on our plates and in our bathroom cabinets and wardrobes.
01 September 2011 |
1 Comments | Recommended by 4