Stuart Farr recently visited in north-east NY State, with a UK dairy farmer friend of his. It is a fascinating farm best described by the farming wife, Kristin Kimball, in her book "The Dirty Life" (prior to getting her hand dirty, Kristin was a professional writer in NYC).
On Stuart's visit, Kristin was away. Mark, her husband, was very gracious and they spent a lot of time with him as he explained what they were doing and are planning to do with the farm.
You can Google other items, but this gives you a sense: http://www.newenglandvfc.org/pdf_proceedings/2009/EssexGHPM.pdf
Monday, 17 October 2011
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Announcement
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE THIS BLOG TO COMMUNICATE WITH OUR READERS, PLEASE WRITE TO INFO AT IANWALTHEW.COM
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SELF-RECOMMEND YOUR OWN BLOG OR THAT OF SOMEONE ELSE, PLEASE READ THE PREVIOUS POST.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Please note that I am currently unable to receive any emails at debbie@southyeofarmwest.co.uk – I am trying to sort the problem, but in the meantime could you please use farm@southyeofarmwest.co.uk to reach me or to resend anything that you may have had no response to in the last few days. If it’s urgent, do feel free to ring - number below.
Many thanks and I’m very sorry about this – I’m hoping my ISP will sort it out soon.
Debbie
Debbie Kingsley
South Yeo Farm West
Northlew, Okehampton, Devon EX20 3PS
T: 01837 810569
http://www.debbiekingsley.co.uk
http://www.southyeofarmwest.co.uk
Courses: for information about our next Introduction to Smallholding, Intermediate Smallholding, Cattle for Beginners, Build Your Own Website, and Living with Livestock training days click here: http://www.smallholdertraining.co.uk
Follow us on twitter @southyeofarm
Saturday, 9 July 2011
How to Recommend Your Own Blog
PLEASE: IF YOU WISH TO RECOMMEND YOUR OWN BLOG THERE ARE SOME SIMPLE REQUESTS ON MY PART FOR YOU TO FULFILL BEFORE I WILL EVEN LOOK AT YOUR BLOG:
1. Please send me the name of your blog AND its URL.
2. Provide a brief description of your own farm and blog, such as when you started it and why, and what sort of farming you're involved in and what do you post about.
3. Provide a list of the main livestock, crops and/or fibres you are farming. (N.B. This is NOT a donkey or horse blog.)
4. Provide your location, by nearest town, state/region and country.
5. Provide the size of your farm in acres and/or hectares.
6. Now for the really important bit: along with recommending your own blog (which is no shoe-in that I will like it or add it to the blogroll here) please provide YOUR recommendations for between one and five of your favourite farm blogs which you would like to recommend yourself AND which are not already listed.
If you don't recommend at least one other farm blog, other than your own, giving me their exact names, URLs, the location of the farm and a few sentences on why you are recommending them, then I won't feature your self-recommended farm blog, however good your own one might be.
(There are special prize points for those who recommend blogs that are not in their own country, not because I don't want more of them, but because I am also trying to connect farmers in different countries, not just finding the best farm blogs in the world.)
Apologies for being so prescriptive but good bloggers recommending even better ones is very much the ethos of this blog. Furthermore, by following the above guidelines, I can feature as many new blogs as possible in the very limited time I have available to me to keep this blog going.
Many thanks,
Ian
Food borne Diseases
With European food consumers reeling from a current total number of 46 deaths, and many more ill, hundreds seriously, from a single source of food, it's perhaps worth noting that in the U.S.A. alone, the CDC "estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases."
However what has been especially troubling from the recent European outbreak is that so many deaths have come from what appears to be a single source: most likely infected bean sprout seeds imported from Eygpt and used on an organic farm in Northern Germany.
To put that single-event-European-death toll in perspective, of the "10 Worst Food Contamination Outbreaks” in the U.S.A. alone, the highest death toll from a single event was generally one to two people. (With the exception of the Jalisco Cheese, Listeria outbreak of 1985 which claimed 48 lives.)
That said, the risks of even falling seriously ill from food poisoning fade into insignificance when compared with deaths from road or gun accidents, even homicide.
Many organic farmers speak a great deal about food security, but frankly it seems to me that the main benefits of locally produced, organic food are taste, the reduction of the environmental footprint of agriculture and last but not least, animal welfare.
Monday, 27 June 2011
Where have I been?
The reason is, I've been finishing a novel, and now that summer has started I won't be posting again until... winter.
Yes, winter 2011, because the long days and the summer are just too beautiful to be in front of a computer.
However, in the meantime, I'd like to mention a few farm blogs that have caught my eye, which you will find below:
Dean Lundeen is a farmer in Illinois, USA, involved in a world hunger project.
The Farming First coalition has launched a six-part online infographic called “The Story of Agriculture and the Green Economy”, which uses data from leading research organisations to tell the story of agriculture’s potential contribution to building a global green economy.
There is growing consensus that a green economy is central to continued global prosperity, in other words, pursuing growth while helping to create sustainable livelihoods, reduce poverty and safeguard the environment.
In 2009, G8 leaders made bold pledges to increase food security aid to $22bn by 2012. At this year’s meeting, the G8 should promote policy coherence on food security and price volatility issues in order to support the poorest without disrupting the market or discouraging farmers from receiving adequate prices. Funding should be coordinated, transparent and farmer-centred.
Each section of the infographic contains statistics and explanations around topics relevant to the green economy, demonstrating, for instance, the central role of farmers as stewards of our natural resources, actors involved in building a more sustainable supply chain, how investment in women farmers may bring greater rewards and existing solutions to making the sector more sustainable while increasing yields, such as conservation agriculture and drip irrigation.
All of the images have been designed so that they can be Tweeted and embedded on external websites and blogs so that others can share the data and participate in the discussions on the green economy.
Chiara Dowell, concerned about GMOs
Dan Grifen is
trying to earn some publicity for the Nature Conservancy’s mission to plant 1 billion trees.
http://homegrowngoodness.blogspot.com/
Bill Drake recommends the above blog, and he also recommends his page on his own website about Farmers Markets : http://www.cultivatorshandbook.com/cultivators/Farmers_Market.html
http://faithartfarming.blogspot.com
Debbie Young is an artist and a new farmer In Ellensbury, WA, USA. She's integrating the topics of faith, art and farming on her site
PLEASE: IF YOU WISH TO RECOMMEND YOUR OWN BLOG THERE ARE SOME SIMPLE REQUESTS ON MY PART.
1. Send me the name of your blog and it's URL.
2. Provide a brief explanation about your blog, such as when you started it and why, and what sort of things you post about.
3. Please provide a complete list of what you are farming. (N.B. This is NOT a donkey or horse blog.)
4. Provide your exact location and how many acres/hectares you have.
5. Now for the really important bit: alongside recommending your own blog (which is no gaurentee that I will like it) please provide YOUR recommendations for the 5 BEST FARM BLOGS WHICH ARE NOT ALREADY LISTED on Farm Blogs from Around the World. Special points for those who recommend blogs that are not in the USA, not because I don't want more, but because I am trying to connect farmers in different countries.
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