Welcome to this week’s round-up of interesting snippets from around the world of wholesome food.
We’re just a couple of days past the Autumn Equinox in the Northern hemisphere. The veg in my organic box are taking on a distinct autumnal hue, and thoughts are turning to harvest celebrations. At Butcher, Baker, there are instructions for baking an elaborate harvest sheaf that children could make with a lot of supervision. Lots of children now don’t know where food comes from, so harvest celebrations can be a good source of learning.
Poultry tasks right now
There are some useful reminders in this article from Smallholder magazine about tasks poultry-keepers should be catching up with now. The tips range from dealing now with excess cockerels and drakes to weather and vermin-proofing poultry housing and ordering in winter feed.
Nothing that’s rocket science, but some useful reminders.
What goat?
Goats are a common sight on many smallholdings, and goats milk is becoming increasingly popular in the market place. But what if you’re thinking of starting out and don’t have any experience with these indomitable creatures? Well the best thing is probably to find an experienced goat-keeper to advise you, but you may find this article by Richard Pemble provides a good starting point.
He talks through the seven main breeds of dairy goats found in Britain, details pros and cons, milk yields etc. (Having once been firmly butted by a British Alpine, I rather enjoyed his statement that it “…perhaps exhibits wider ranges of temperament that many of the other breeds mentioned”.)
Finding customers
It’s not always easy to find customers for your produce, although WFA certification helps. A lot of it is about making sure you’re easy to find.
The Little Purple Dot ethical directory is partnering with the Ecological Land Co-Operative to map sustainable smallholdings. They approached us to see if members would be interested in taking part in this project. This is what they say:
This mapping follows on from the Ecological Land Co-operative’s (ELC’s) publication Small is Successful which looked at the financial viability of smallholding in the UK. The mapping is being done to support the development of an evidence base on low-impact land-based livelihoods in order to support ELC’s work to provide affordable land for such livelihoods and to lobby for changes to planning policy.
If you’re interested, click here to submit your smallholding on the ELC section.
And a new venture “Not A Supermarket” is getting ready to launch next year. Here’s what they say:
We’re setting up a new service for people in the food supply chain to make it easier for them to discover each other, connect up, and trade.
If you want to register your interest, add your name to their mailing list here. (And look out for a bit more on this in our newsletter, coming to WFA members at the end of this week.)
Upcoming events in October
8 - 9 October in Chichester, Sussex, the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum are holding an Autumn Countryside Show. There are a number of competitions and events, and if you have children it would be a great chance for them to enter the best scarecrow competition! (I mean make a scarecrow to enter, not enter themselves. Although…) Read more here.
18 October, the Welsh Dairy Show takes place near Carmarthen. Details here.
22 - 23 October, Countryside Live takes place in Yorkshire. A glorious jumble of events ranging from have-a-go archery and tug of war to cattle and sheep and poultry rings. Plus countryside crafts. Again, sounds like a good one for the kids. Details here.
And finally…
We’ve been contacted by ITV Manchester in connection with a new series they’re making on traditional food and customs around the country. They want to feature traditional ham-curing and are looking for photographs or film footage showing the process. If you can help, please contact yasmin.hussain ‘at’ itv.com. Thanks.
Have a great week, everyone.