At last we have salad, spinach and spring onions – not much to fill the hungry gap but a very welcome splash of green to liven up the last of the leeks and potatoes.
The cold spring really shows up the difference between the old and new grass, with last year’s reseed much more productive than the older fields. Next year we’ll have to put in some arable silage and undersow it with new grass and clover.
For now the grass is only just keeping ahead of the cows and calves and we’ve opened the gate into the woods so the young stock can find some grazing under the trees. We’re still hoping that like in 2006 a cold dry spring will flip into a barbecue summer.
Disappointing news this week for the Whitmuir Initiative, the charity working with the farm to provide education on sustainable food and farming. We were turned down for a grant towards our sustainable food production centre. Because we are in a rural area, the funders reckoned people would produce more greenhouse emissions getting here than they would save.
It’s difficult working out the numbers. Some people already cycle here, while most people would combine a trip to the shop or café with a couple of hours weeding in the community veg patch or learning how to make better compost.
The main savings don’t come from people growing their own vegetables rather than buying them, but from eating more local seasonal organic vegetables, choosing organic milk, eating grass-fed organic meat and using all the cuts, wasting less food, and making compost. We are still hoping to start the project this year if we can find a ‘veg doctor’ to teach new growers and composters.
Cutting down emissions from transport is a real challenge in this area. The cost of cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will be met initially from BP’s £2 million per hour profit, but we will all end up paying for it at the pump.
Soaring petrol prices have made us all think about how to get more done with each car trip, and the local energy reduction project Village Green is offering to help people cut down on fuel by planning and sharing journeys better. Meanwhile we are saving up our waste oil from the kitchen to make biodiesel.
The shift to electric cars will change the way we think about travel. Before long the power companies will supply the cars just like Orange throws in the cost of the phone, and we will be offered a range of tariffs per mile depending on how much we drive. Photovoltaic panels on car roofs will generate enough power for 10% of our annual mileage. In rural areas, community managed charging stations using local renewables will swap batteries for people on longer trips.
And maybe the forecourt shops will sell local seasonal produce rather than all that stuff we end up eating in the car…
