credit: Diliff
Check out these cool farmer ‘jumpers’ made from Guernsey sheeps wool. They do custom size and bespoke orders so make sure to send your measurements to your family with your measurements for the perfect christmas present!
credit: Indie Farmer
“Ecological and local food movements – and the farmers supporting them – are not trying to be elitist. They are trying to survive. In our current socioeconomic system, which ‘externalises’ the social and ecological costs of production, farmers tend to have two main choices – quality or quantity. They either produce for luxury niche markets (e.g. organic salad leaves, fancy preserves and veg boxes) or produce as much as possible through increasing their farm size (a strategy largely influenced by land area-based subsidies) and using industrial practices that destroy the soil, wildlife and water.”
“It is clear that the existing food and farming system is not serving the public interest. It is also clear that efforts to change our food system through existing socioeconomic models have not worked. The problem isn’t organic. It’s capitalism.”
We have recently discovered fourthland, a collaborative art and performance community in the UK which first emerged in 2008. It’s hard to do justice to fourthland and the work that they do in words. They create and explore objects, land, people and myths in interlinked creative and unconventional social and artistic ecosystems. The work that they do is concerned with feminine principles and alternative societies these principles permeate everything that they do.
The ONCA are looking for contributions for Remembrance Day for Lost Species 2017. Human created pollution, climate change and deforestation is causing unprecedented species loss. 40% of the wildlife on earth has disappeared in the last 40 years. Remembrance Day for Lost Species is a chance each year to learn and tell the stories of species driven extinct by human activities, and commit anew to what remains.
The theme of this years remembrance is extinction- and pollinators, a topic close to all of our hearts. Contributions will be shared on the ONCA website, and potentially in the gallery and they welcome all mediums including visual art, performance, creative writing, historical accounts and artefacts. They are also calling for artists, companies, schools and communities to hold memorial events on and around November 30th 2017. These could take the form of processions, “funerals” or participatory events marking the extinction of pollinator species and/or the ongoing threats which human activity poses to surviving pollinators.
If you have a proposal idea or wish to discuss your proposal at any time please contact persephone@onca.org.uk
To read more about Remembrance day click HERE
The Landworkers Alliance, is an organisation based in UK made up of farmers, growers and land workers working together to find solutions to the shared challenges they face, and raising awareness about the contributions that they make to their communities. In Our Hands, is their documentary, made to share their quiet revolution with the world. It is a beautiful and inspiring documentary which reminds us that we hold the seeds of a better food system and a sustainable environment in our hands.
To read more about the Landworkers Alliance and the work that they do click HERE
Screen Capture / FarmsNotFactories
FarmsNotFactories have just launched their new video series which aims to champion the #TurnYourNoseUp at pig factories campaign in the UK. The first installment of the 12 episode series features chef Damian Clisby and Harry Boglione, a young organic farmer who left London and returned to the land to raise his happy, healthy pigs. FarmsNotFactories aims to engage consumers as well as farmers and chefs in the revolt against cruel, unhealthy and dangerous factory farms, where pigs are regularly dosed with antibiotics to treat the diseases caused as a direct result of the cramped unsanitary conditions in which they are kept. This over reliance on antibiotics is a significant cause of the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria which poses significant health risks in the future to both people and animals. Organic farming where pigs are allowed to roam free and are cared for largely eliminates the need to medicate these intelligent and beautiful animals.
We should all be so lucky.
Ever wanted to explain Farm Hack to someone who’s not quite agriculturally literate, like, say your mother? We recommend: Farm Hack from farmrun on Vimeo for the purpose. But we also just recommend it for your watching pleasure. Some videos are too good to wither away in the recesses of the internet. They deserve to be watched regularly. My favorite is the next one down: something about the galvanizing nature of bagpipes just make the stakes feel considerably higher…
Farm Hack 2015 from Sylvie Planel on Vimeo.
Friends in the UK! LitFest – A Food and Drinks Literacy Festival is taking place this year on the weekend of 19-21st May 2017 in Ballymoe, Ireland.
The full program of events is now published so check it out and book the events that you’re interested in here…
Litfest is the only festival of its kind in Ireland and has created an important hub for food and drinks enthusiasts worldwide to meet and share ideas with each other.
Check out the list of fantastic participants who will be taking part at Litfest17. And buy tickets here!
Disillusioned by a cultural story of consumption and alienation, a newly married couple are called to action. Carrying with them their unborn child, they embark on a year-long journey around the UK, searching for the seeds of an alternative culture and with it hope for the future.
we the uncivilized: A Life Story resonates deeply with our sick and nagging sensation that our world of strip malls, fossil fuels, and convenience is not nourishing– in any sense of the word– to the people who live in it. The film is a “grassroots documentary project” that speaks to and with activists, artists, permaculturalists, and others seeking alternative ways of living with each other and within nature.
The film has just wrapped up a year-long tour, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have a chance to see it! Organize a screening in your own community. We’d LOVE to see this come to the US.
Seed Journey — a project from the artist group Future Farmers— is a seafaring voyage connected to a public art project. “Seed Journey moves people, ideas and seeds through time and space. This voyage—its crew and cargo—are agents that link the commons as they relate to local networks and a more global complex of seed savers and stewards of the land, air and water. A rotating crew of artists, anthropologists, biologists, bakers, activists, sailors and farmers join the journey and share their findings at host institutions along the route from small harbors to large ports from barns to museums (contemporary art, natrual history and maritime) to social centers.”
These are pretty cool programs subsidized by the british government. Participation is open to anyone willing to go to the UK.
It leaves us with one pertinent question. What if the USDA provided free jobs training for young farmers?
OgranicLea, a very awesome workers collective near London in the Lea Valley put out the following call for help on their blog:
“A coalition of growers is working with Haringey Council to explore taking on Wolves Lane, a 2 acre former plant nursery in north London. The goal is to turn the site into a centre/hub for community food enterprise and prevent the loss of the extensive rare urban glasshouse infrastructure.
The lead partner is Organiclea, an award winning and internationally renowned workers’ co-operative with over 15 years of experience doing similar work in a neighbouring London borough. They have a 12 acre site nearby and are currently supporting new groups of growers to take on sites under their farmstart program.
The aim is for an initiative that grows and distributes sustainably produced food to local residents and businesses; engages a wide range of people in learning and skills activities, and health and well-being benefits; establishes itself as a centre for promoting healthy eating; and offers space for community groups and social enterprises to run activities that benefit the community.
A presentation is being given to the council on 10th October and the pitch would be greatly enhanced if we could find seed funding of £20k. Given the tight turn around of this bid, we are seeking this from private donors and trusts; this money could be given as a gift or a ten year loan, if preferred.
Please contact Brian Kelly on 07816 930585 or brian@organiclea.org.uk if you want to find out more.”
A cool theater group called Feral Theatre produces rad-eco-theater pieces, and maybe they hit pretty close to home…
Ballymaloe Cookery School is looking for a new staff member to join our team in a varied, exciting role. The successful applicant will be expected to be flexible, willing to pitch in wherever necessary, though they will have defined duties.
We are looking for someone who ideally has attended our 12 Week Certificate Course or a number of our short courses and therefore has an understanding of how the school works, its ethos and its staff. However any applicant will be considered.
This is a varied role consisting of
We will be very interested in working with an applicant’s prior experience to put it to full benefit.
Some of the following criteria would be helpful.
Ballymaloe Cookery School is a world class brand, teaching students from around the globe how to cook and how to treat the food they eat and produce for others with respect.
We are continuing to strengthen our position as a innovative and leading cookery school but also continue to branch out into other areas making the Ballymaloe Cookery School a must visit destination for anyone interested in Food who is travelling to Ireland.
Most likely you will need to already have visa to work in the EU before applying.
Help can be given to find accommodation in the area for the successful applicant.
Please send CV / Resume with cover letter explaining why you would be interested in the position to Toby at toby@cookingisfun.ie or by return email.
We will try to respond to everyone who applies but may only be able to contact successful applicants.
Toby Allen
Ballymaloe Cookery School
the irresistible fleet of bicycles 