Heather Gorringe - Around the World in 80 Megabytes.

Defining farming

I'm home.

And reflecting on a very diverse trip (with many more details to come). I've been thinking about the decline in the number of farmers and our attitude to farming and farmers.

According to Wikipedia this is the definition of Agriculture.


Agriculture (from Agri Latin for ager ("a field"), and culture, from the Latin cultura "cultivation" in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil". A literal reading of the English word yields "tillage of the soil of a field".) is the production of food, feed, fiber and other goods by the systematic raising of domesticated plants and animals.

Note no mention of how large the farm has to be, or indeed the profitability. It turns out with the right attitude to our farms, our gardens, our yards or our window boxes we can all be farmers.

Now we're farming!

Did you know farmers are trendy in Boston?

Now this is Podchef on Podchef Island in his new French wellies delivered from Herefordshire..,
I'm not sure that Podchef is in fact trendy but it would appear that Bostonians would think so.

The clothes of choice in Boston are either a Red Soxs outfit......

OR.....

Brogues, cords, farmery shirt, tweed jacket and a cap!

Mind you those sophisticated chappies managed to look seriously cool, and I can tell you farming folk want to know how.

This one even has the wellies!

• Never iron your shirt - a crinkly look is cool.
• Wear old "vintage" cords (shouldn't be a problem)
• Roll your shirt sleeves up and if possible add your Grandpa's tweed waistcoat.

It looked cool - go Podchef go. This is before he got carried away and produced mutton chops - not made of sheep but to do with facial hair!

Farming, unspoken words and Handbrakes....

A neighbouring farmer came round for a cup of tea sometime ago now, and he was having trouble filling in yet another 40 page Defra form for something or other.

He said to me:

"What do they (the government) want of me? I look after my stock, I dont use any pesticides, I use a tiny bit of fertiliser, look after my hedges and keep the footpaths open. What else do they want? I feel like a criminal before I've even started! I dont know how to fill out this form without "them" suspecting that I am doing something wrong!"

I checked out the form and felt like a criminal myself once I'd read all the questions.

I was thinking about this and of course its about trust. As the connection between food and the farm disintegrated and the problems that occur like BSE, TB and Foot and Mouth continue to dominate the press there is mistrust on both sides. The government's reaction is to legislate and clamp down.

It reminds me of my schooldays when we all had to stay in at dinner break  - just one naughty child, and the whole school suffered! As farmers, the natural reaction is to shy away from it all, in despair.

The problem with this is that as we shy away and become quieter and quieter, more misunderstanding and confusion and mistrust builds up. Often the words we leave unsaid are more powerful than the words we actually speak.

And on that note the latest car I have rented in the USA has no handbrake.... no mention of a handbrake.... nothing.

I put the car into park mode and got a stone to go under the back wheel. I dont trust that car....

Turns out the "handbrake" was a pedal on the floor!!!!

Now how was I supposed to know that in the dark me dears? Does that mean its still a handbrake or is it now a footbrake? If its a footbrake - whats that other brake on the floor called. Nope a car without a handbrake and no mention of the problem.... I dont trust that one at all.

Lets talk eh? Keep everything as clear as possible, chat about the things we love about our farms, our community, our culture. And for that car manufacturer if you must put the handbrake on the floor would you please write a notice where the handbrake normally is to let me know!

PS: The picture is a puzzled camel, and I was puzzled to find a camel on an island near Podchef Island in Washington State. Almost as puzzled as finding the car's handbrake on the floor...More about Podchef and Podchef Island to come

I thought Carboot sale was confusing...

....and I couldn't see any trucks for sale!

What I'm missing at home tonight!

I love being a part of our community in Preston on Wye and really hate missing all the goings on. I have pretty much kept up with the gossip using email and skype, but have missed a "dooo" like no other this evening!

In fact as I write this the whole village will be looking at me without many clothes on!! For I am Miss February in our village's attempt to raise a load of money for Billy Bank - my brother's heart transplant effort!

Yes back in September the ladies of Preston on Wye got together and took our strides off - and vowed we would not do that for anyone else except Billy!

While I was on a tour in Silicon Valley I phoned into our local to listen in to all the fun, and have already got them to video the evening! Maybe I'll put it up on YOUTUBE!

Here's the full details, and yes I did choose February as it is the shortest month!
Billy's Girls
Forget 'Calendar Girls'... Billy's Girls have arrived with their Nude Charity Calendar to celebrate being able to spend A Year with Billy in 2008.

So, what's it all about?
Well, a group of local ladies from Preston on Wye - which includes some of the Wiggly Team - thought this would be just the job to raise some funds for the Billy Bank Fund. The fund was set-up by my brother Billy, after his recent heart transplant, to help raise awareness of the need for organ donation.

This is where you can help. Please support the fund - buy the calendar for just £8 you can make your own contribution to raising awareness and saving lives.

Our chosen theme - A Year with Billy - is a quirky light-hearted romp through the year, illustrated with 12 tasteful photos of the ladies 'au naturelle' going about their day to day lives.

About the Project
Everything had to be kept secret from Billy until the calendar was ready. So, the 'girls' got together one quiet Sunday in September, while Billy was away on holiday, for the photo shoot. Meanwhile, our long suffering husbands, boyfriends and brothers adjourned to the pub for a bit of liquid stress relief.

You would be amazed at how many people can pass by while you are standing naked in the middle of an open field! Our bodyguards - Mel and Aimee - had their work cut out for them, but our modesty was duly upheld.

Mark Eccleston and his wife Karen photographed ten of the scenes for us that day - discovering a whole new definition of 'wildlife photography' in the process! As you can see, by the end of the shoot we were all ready for a celebration with a few glasses of champagne. Now that the scary bit was behind us, all we had to do was sell lots of calendars and make loads of money for the fund!

The Ladies of Preston on Wye would like to thank...
Everyone involved with the project: Mary and Michael - our designers - for turning the idea into a reality; ABC Print for their work; all the photographers; and all the other sponsors, supporters and contributors. This calendar wouldn't have been possible without them but, most importantly, the generosity of all these people means that every penny of the money raised from its sale will go directly to the Heartlung Transplant Fund (charity 121138), Billy's nominated charity.

When we started the project, none of us had any idea what we were letting ourselves in for. But the look on Billy's face alone, when we presented him with his copy of the finished calendar, made it all worthwhile.

Please buy a copy of 'A Year with Billy' by going to our shop and searching on Billy and support the cause,
we think you'll enjoy it!

My visit to Eureka

Eureka is probably the "greenest" town I have visited on my Nuffield Scholarship so far. It has two Natural Food shops and you could probably buy just about any fruit and vegetable sourced locally - excepting bananas.

Anyway Amy has written two books of particular interest to me - a worm book and Flower Confidential a book which really gets to the heart of the flower industry and how mad it has become. Amy actually introduced the Wiggly Podcast to San Francisco and that is why we have ended up with so many Californian fans - thanks Amy.

Amy says that plants are now being grown to fit on supermarket shelves!!

Scott and Amy showing me around Natural Foods.

Nuffield and New Media

This was on last night...
NUFFIELD MIDLANDS REGION
RURAL INNOVATION BRIEFING AND RETURNING SCHOLARS’ SUPPER
THURSDAY, 11TH OCTOBER 2007, NEWPORT, SHROPSHIRE

and I was invited to give an update on how my scholarship is going. As I am in the US I sent an audio file, so hopefully the folks heard my report.

If you were there what did you think, and how did the evening go?

The best hotel I have staying in so far is Mendocino Hotel Mendocino

 

I'm really enjoying my couple of nights in The Mendocino Hotel
Its different to the usual motels, its got character. It seeps nostalgia.

Course its a bit fuller than usual tonight a lot of folks come to Mendocino for the nature - the ocean is big, the hikes, the trees etc. But tonight the tourists have had a bit TOO much nature - its blowing a storm and all the campers have headed inside for some home comforts.

Maybe for our farms we need some character, some nostalgia and home comforts, but maybe your audience doesn't want to be TOO close to nature...

Trouble for English Woman in Petrol Station!

A few miles back up the road (see how streetwise I am now I have been in the US for a couple of weeks - its actually a hundred miles or so back up the road!)
Anyway, as I said a few miles back up the road I pulled into a petrol station. There were several issues:

1. It didn't say on the petrol cap or anywhere around it whether the car tool diesel or petrol... I looked under the bonnet and decided it was petrol - hopefully. Also the diesel nossel looked "special" so I thought most probably Americans would be using gallons of petrol. Also I decided "gas" was another term for petrol. (There is no handbook in the car, - before you sigh too much.)
2. I couldn't get any of my credit cards to work in the machine - although it said "thank you very much please fuel", - and such like.
3. I think because of the above I couldn't get the fuel to pump into the car.
4. There was a queue before I arrived and once I had queued to get help, then reattempted this complicated procedure there was a bigger queue...
5. It was dusk.
6. I must have dropped one of my credit cards!!

But not to worry, - a BIG thank you to Avrey in Petaluma who tracked me down and rang Wiggly Wigglers at home to let me know he has my card safe and well and he is happy to meet me on the way back through to pick it up!! I have renewed faith in human nature and a warm feeling inside that I called the business something as unusual as Wiggly Wigglers!

Web 2.0 makes you transparent? Not for Google.

I figured if there was one company that was helping me in terms of "tools" that are easy to use - I'm thinking googlereader, the calendar as well as adwords it would be Google.

And so, - as I embarked on this adventure I thought it would be useful to talk and visit Google while I'm here. A few weeks ago we were chosen to be the "face of google" for their UK advertising campaign for Adwords in the UK. In fact we were quoted as a case study by Dan Cobley - marketing director of UK, Ireland and Benelux in the Marketer magazine.

I asked for an appointment through the proper channels in the UK but after many emails back and forth and the promise that it should be no problem at all, I've heard back this morning that its impossible. No one to talk to. Well, I'll be!!!!......

...and there's me, - a farmer from Herefordshire trying to promote transparency and explain that these "tools" help! and that Web 2.0 encourages communication!!!! Is this TRUE or not?

Can you help?

If you are a thought leader, or a enthusiast who has case studies of companies who walk the talk I would like to hear from you. If you work at Google fantastic or are based in Silicon Valley I can come to you Thursday or Friday this week. But if not of course we can skype!