@mulberrybush
Diana Smith. Interested in better conversations. Co-ordinator for Rethink Food. Working with farmers, councils and community towards Staffordshire good food movement. Looking at the future of food, health, local economy, stronger communities.
Just coming out of the end of about 4 months of fruit harvest. Stock room full of jams and chutneys for farmers markets. Freezers full of apples prepared for apple cakes and pies.
watching some of these sessions I am often completely fascinated by watching the expressions of the people flanking Trump. What can they possibly be thinking.
well put! I guess that governing is always a good deal more difficult than people ever expect. I keep thinking that we need much better ways to have mature deliberation to find realistic solutions to difficult problems.
what do we think about this?
What kind of politics do we really want when all existing models have failed? youtu.be/mMLLrdFj9mI?... Socialism, social democracy, capitalism, neoliberalism, or a politics of care? What do we really want?
As you indicate - co-operation is the key to a lot of this, and it is a long journey back to helping people see that co-operation can work and is the way forward, after so many years of seeing individual success as the goal.
A lot of this resonated for me. In many ways it fits with the projects on food production, sustainability, community development, health, and care systems that have been my priorities for the last 50 years. I remain a Labour party member as this always seemed to be the closest (but imperfect) fit.
Currently the apples are starting to fall, the plums are nearly ready, there are figs, and pears will soon be ready too. So no rest for the next few weeks! We are perfectly capable of growing a lot of our own fruit, so why are we still importing so much? Might interest @philmoorhouse.bsky.social
The market gardeners in my area have all now ceased trading, so supplies are coming from a variety of different sources, including a local walled garden, where I pick as a volunteer, the local huge strawberry producers who often have too much fruit, friends fruit surplus and my own garden.
One reason why I have been quiet for a while is the pressure of dealing with the fruit harvest. The weather has given heavy crops of everything - all at once, and as I have reduced the number of freezers I run this has meant some pretty heavy production runs to get preserves made for the next year.
@philmoorhouse.bsky.social rightly points out that one of the key problems is that we are not growing enough of our own fruit and veg. He hints that there needs to be ways to stimulate more production. I am trying to find ways to tackle this in my own county. It is not easy! Any hints Phil?
Very useful piece from @philmoorhouse.bsky.social on food price inflation in UK. A good summary of the challenges our food system is facing, and the political risks that come from people daily experience of the cost of good food. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TD5...
could do with a clear week to catch up on things that need doing in the garden, but this seems unlikely as I have a lot on for the next couple of weeks and the apples are starting to fall. There are going to be thousands of them this year.
The water butts are filling up - so I have taken the opportunity to top up the pond. That made it possible to skim off a whole bucket full of duckweed which I have discovered the worms in my wormery really like a lot.
and the 10 major aims they want to adopt on the national food strategy www.gov.uk/government/p...
two announcements from the government today on our food systems. www.gov.uk/government/n...
I never expected the first place to find out about plans to build more #foodstorage would come through #thearchers. Here are my thoughts about this! I think it is crucial if we want more locally produced food. www.linkedin.com/pulse/storag...
Last few weeks have been a bit too full on. Too many meetings, a nice break for a family visit, but far too much soft fruit all getting ripe at once. Ended up picking a lot at Sugnall Hall walled gardens which is run by volunteers. So much fruit there.
probably a good sign if he has the energy to fight! Rio was pretty miserable with the heat on Monday - so much more relaxed today!
One of the points Anna Taylor raised was that it is something of a miracle that the good food movement emerged - with little or no government support. My memory is that the failure of government to adopt the national food strategy plan galvanized many of us into action!
Well worth listening to. I sometimes doubt that people see public procurement, if done well, can be a game changer. Have just ordered Prof Morgan's book because he is asking the question "how can the right public policy assist local initiatives.
Quick Bites webinar invite
⏲️ Time is running out to sign up to tomorrow's webinar featuring Prof Kevin Morgan of @cugeogplan.bsky.social and our Executive Director Anna Taylor!
They'll discuss how we can improve food security and the unrealised powers of public procurement.
Sign up for free: bit.ly/3HFuO7I
Cleared out a couple of my freezers to make space - that meant making a couple of hundred jars of jam, including clearing up all of last years blackcurrants. It was blackcurrants I picked today - so they should carry me through another year.
Spent another few hours today out at an old walled garden - a beautiful place - picking a small portion of the massive amount of soft fruit they have available. There is so much - and a lot will be wasted because not enough people will bother to pick. Place is run by retired volunteers.
It may be that if we want to create the means for nature to recover we have to begin with creating the right conditions for insects and invertebrates to survive
The large numbers of moths seemed to be mainly around the wildest part of the garden where I have a very well established clump of loganberries, and some redcurrants. There are also nettles. Not sure where the moths will have laid their eggs.
This is what I have been thinking Jenny. I seem to have more or less accidentally created a "food forest" in the garden over the years. There is a lot of ground cover and trees and bushes, and I am sure that the revamped pond is really attracting all kinds of wild things. Wondering if we get bats!
It is pretty amazing the difference it has made bringing my garden pond back to life. The newts and frogs are now doing well. There are huge numbers of different birds, when I look down the garden in the evening the air is full of flying insects, and tonight I noticed clouds of moths.
A few of the books that I have been using to try to narrow down thousands of recipes to 8 or 9 for the food demonstration. www.linkedin.com/posts/diana-...
