Archived News

13th July 2008

Hampton Court Flower Show was wet underfoot on Tuesday but the day was at least dry with some sunshine. I was stewarding on the Year of Food and Farming (YOFF) display which was designed by Gillian Van de Meer and was awarded a Silver Gilt medal.

The display was a perfectly potted version of how children have become involved in the YOFF with three contrasting sections combining to tell the story.  An area demonstrating how schools grow their own vegetables, the second section demonstrated a field growing oats, wheat, maize and triticale bounded by a hedgerow and wild flowers and the final section summarised the products of farming, a lovely old farm barrow laden with fruits, vegetables and herbs which was photographed almost continually by the public.

As the public stopped to look at the eye catching display I began by asking whether they had heard of the Year of Food and Farming, but only a handful said they had.  I went on to explain how some schools have a garden to grow vegetables whilst in cities children have been learning about food whilst growing vegetables in window boxes.

Over 660,000 primary school children have visited farms during the YOFF and this has been a fantastic  success in showing the children first hand, how their food is produced, where it actually comes from (so many really do think milk just comes from a supermarket)

I met some very interesting people during the day and it was a pleasure to tell the story behind the Year of Food and Farming and about the legacy which will be known as Think Food and Farming which I am sure will have some new initiatives but will continue to encourage children out into the countryside for farm visits.

On the farm the daily routine continues, checking cattle and bedding up and feeding those in barns.  The larger animals ready for slaughter are going in batches when they reach about 600 Kilos and another forty will be collected by the haulier on Tuesday and taken to Wales.  As this group will be part of a multiple pick-up, we had to apply for a licence from DEFRA which meant a vet had to come out last week to inspect the site from which the lorry will pick up our cattle.

Maisie is doing very well indeed and is very steady on her feet again, and as if to the point she was dancing about when I tried to take her photo just now.

The oats have suffered in recent heavy rains and much of the crop has gone down so it can’t be harvested. The remainder is interspersed with wild oats which cannot be managed by spraying or the crop of oats would also be killed, so this week we will go rogueing.  Taking out the rogue crop is a slow process with a line of people walking across the field, taking care not to trample the crop whilst pulling out the wild oats by hand.

We have some Amber Star point of lay hens which are becoming accustomed to their new home but haven’t yet ventured into the great outdoors.