December photos

The farm still looks beautiful although a little stark. Here are some pics.

Food safety e-books

I have been very busy writing some e-books on food safety and quality to support people working in the food industry. If you would like to find out more about the e-books then follow the link and preview the contents at the e-books storefront.

Morris Dancing

You can't have a village fete without morris dancing - fantastic rural tradition!

Sensory Garden

Last Friday I visited the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust for a meeting about my Nuffield Scholarship. I was captivated by the pioneering work of the trust. I was also fascinated by their sensory garden and how much it could engage people. I have included some photographs so you can see what it was like. The benches all had different animal footprints.

June photos

Here is a picture post from the farm - everything is growing and spring has moved into summer.

The wheat is growing!


Special sunset - the sun caught the clouds beautifully

The trees have all filled out now and are majestic.

Open Farm Sunday

We had a great morning with a farm walk for the parish. We had about twenty-five people who came and walked around some of the fields on the farm looking at the wheat, potatoes and the oil seed rape. Thank you to everyone who helped with the refreshments and the cakes and the ploughman's lunch.


What did we talk about - many of the common themes, food security, farm subsidies, biofuel vs food, environmental management, food production, water footprint - a really excellent morning.

Vegetables/salad growing

The salad and vegetables in the raised beds are growing fast. We have been busy eating spinach, leafy salad, spring onions, radishes for a few weeks. My carrots haven't appeared yet but the new batch of spring onions are gaining momentum. This week I have planted the brussels sprouts and runner beans. Check the photos

Belated birthday celebration

This blog had reached its first year of activity on the 12th April. Where has a year gone? I have enjoyed writing a journal about the seasons on the farm. There is much more to write about in the summer than the winter and the scenery and habitats will change almost daily now. Another year is upon us and I will try to highlight all the areas that are different this year.

Will food shortages change consumer views on GM?

I have been to several conferences and meetings this week where there has been a discussion on genetically modified foods. With the current food shortages and rising food prices there has been a focus on whether we in Europe in order to improve yields and efficiency should grow GM crops.

Whenever I try to have a balanced discussion on GM foods, I find it almost impossible and because I am a food scientist people often ask me questions such as:

What is GM food?

How do we know if we have eaten it, or meat from an animal that has eaten it?

Should food be labelled so that we can make a choice if we want to eat it?

Who benefits most from the GM revolution?

What information should we trust? Who should we trust?

The GM debate is as much about fear, dread and trust i.e. perception as it is about science and risk probably more so. Recent US research has concluded that in the US that only 52% of Americans realised that genetically modified foods are sold in grocery stores and only 26% believed that they have ever eaten genetically modified foods. The site WebMD has published a very interesting article on this research and generally on GM foods from a US perspective which seeks to answer some of these questions.

Marion Nestle, a leading US nutritionist and writer has a very informative blog. She writes about a range of food issues including GM.

Tolstoy once said that "True science investigates and brings to human perception such truths and such knowledge as the people of a given time and society consider most important." I believe he is right.

First published in The Human Imprint

March continues like a lion

The weather has been pretty wild for our farm walks this Easter weekend. We have had to wrap up warm! and definitely not for elegance.

The recent rain has added to the water in the "Mormon" pond (see photo). It was in early March 1840 that the converts were baptised - must have been pretty cold if it was anything like the weather that we are currently experiencing!

Morris and Maggie the pest controllers also took a well-earned Easter break (see photo). They seem to like the chair by the computer the most for a quick power nap!

Buffer to prevent soil loss

After I posted the picture of the run-off from a farm, here is another picture showing a tree planted buffer zone. This area will stop the soil from being washed away and provide a "buffer" to improve water quality. The trees and grass are also absorbing carbon dioxide as they grow (technical term is sequestering) so it is a way of tackling climate change too.

Beetling about

I visited a farm where they have established a beetle bank to improve the biodiversity in the fields. LEAF supply information boards that can provide walkers with information on the features that they see. Watch out for the boards on your travels!

Spring primroses

Well we have primroses in abundance on the farm - took this picture between the showers!

Soil washing away

I took this picture of a field drain at the weekend during the heavy rainfall. It shows the amount of run-off from the fields. The soil that is also being washed off is bad news for the farmer because we need the soil in the field to grow good quality crops. It is also bad news for the water companies if the soil fills up the reservoirs further downstream with silt!

The wheat is growing

The wheat that was planted in the autumn is growing in the fields. With some warmth and spring sunshine it will be well on track!

Spring is finally coming

This week the hedges are starting to thicken up and spring finally feels like it is coming. We had a lovely walk after mothers day lunch and enjoyed the natural renewal of the farm as we look forward to another year. The gales had had their impact in the wood with the upper limbs of some trees torn off and others uprooted. Another storm is due this week. Hopefully it won't do too much damage.

Spring blossom

Rather a strange sight - blossom but no leaves? I have tulips in flower; daffodils in abundance and it is the end of February!

Litter everywhere

We went for a walk up our lane and were appalled by the amount of litter that people had thrown from their cars into the ditch and grass verge in the space of 300 yards. This included used disposable nappies, black bags of rubbish, electrical cables, and fast food packaging. The nearest fast food restaurant is twelve miles away! Litter is becoming an issue everywhere in Herefordshire as people just throw their rubbish out of their car windows. In such a beautiful county it is so sad that people pay it so little respect and don't take their rubbish home with them!

March folklore

Well, as I write this post March is certainly coming in like a lion! The wind is gusting around the house and whirling in the chimney. This got me thinking about old sayings about March. These are my favourites:

"When March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb; when March comes in like a lamb it goes out like a lion!"

"A dry March and a wet May fills the barn with hay!" or "So many mists in March, so many frosts in May".

"March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers!" and last but not least

"As mad as a March Hare"

The lambs are here!

Well the lambs are here! The children and I stopped to take this photo last week of the ewes and lambs in one of our neighbours fields. Herefordshire is a beautiful county with rolling hills and it is fantastic to see the lambs gambling in the fields. Sheep farmers are facing a touch time with all the restrictions due to bluetongue and the foot and mouth outbreak last year - but some farmers have lived in hope of better times and begun the cycle again!