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Futurefarms - Martin Ltd
St. Hilda’s, Martin, Fordingbridge, SP6 3LG
Registered in England no. 5120703

Newsletter-Summer 2010

TURN OF THE YEAR

Rosebay willow herb is flowering in wild places which signals the turn of the year – a good time to sit under a tree and reflect on the first half of 2010. Your Community Food Business continues to throw up surprises and advances and ever wonderful grub…….. and more people use it and we are always looking to reach more and more because the larger the number of members and users, the greater the advances we can make.

We have appointed a chicken/pig stockperson down at Drove End Field. Her name is Alison Allen from Tidpit. This position is the latest to be created by Futurefarms – a job opportunity directly created and funded straight from our housekeeping budget. We are delighted to welcome Alison to join the team of employed staff, that day-in, day-out,alongside the volunteers, put food on our tables.

Since the last Newsletter, we have introduced laying hens to the scheme with a variety called Columbian Blacktails who live in unrivalled splendour; flouncing in and out of one of our recently converted chicken houses, fully insulated etc but with clever plastic laying boxes fixed to the side. If you haven’t seen them – pay a visit to Drove End and watch the laying hens at work – eating a mixed diet of vegetation, insects, larvae and layers pellets with NO additives – all ending up with the fresh Martin egg for your breakfast.

FUTUREFARMS IN THE NEWS

Futurefarms is listed by the Times Newspaper in the top 300 local food outlets in Britain.

The Salisbury Journal returned to write another article about the group and they were pleased to note our advances since they visited in 2008.

John Cavel of the Guardian wrote a great and accurate article about Futurefarms in February 2010 (look at it online dated Wednesday 3^rd Feb 2010 in Society Guardian Section))

BBC Radio Solent – Georgina Windsor at Noon, Sunday 8^th August 2010. Live broadcast

PITCHFORK NOTES;

The first new potatoes were dug from Drove End Field on July 10^th – very good flavour (Lady Christl: variety) –some small but never-the-less, a crop. They were planted on 19^th of March – (no rain since Easter )!!

Onions look fab on two sites. Tidpit and Drove End. It will be interesting to compare yields from each soil type.

New mobile chicken food store has been built at Drove End. This allows us to buy chicken feed in bulk and on pallets. It is also a refuge for storm-bound veg personnel.

Other related organisations

Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB
The parish of Martin lies within this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Wessex Organic Movement
Promoting organic farming in Wessex

Shaftesbury Home Grown
Shaftesbury’s community farm

Springhead Trust
Centre for the Arts, Environment, and Personal Development

Soil Association
Community Supported Agriculture

Martin Parish website
News and information about the villages in the parish of Martin

Food, health, and the environment

Friends of the earth “real food” campaign
Including the health issues posed by genetic modification and pesticides

Soil Association
The benefits of organic farming and the dangers to health and to the environment from industrial farming

Local food: benefits and opportunities
Social, environmental, and economic arguments for relocalising our food supply (large file - right click and choose “save target as” if you have a slow link)

Animal welfare

Compassion in World Farming
Animal welfare issues in factory farming

Pig Business
Film documenting Tracey Worcester’s investigation into intensive pig farming and the damaging effect it is having on quality of food, the environment and the health and welfare of agricultural communities 

The Meatrix
Animation about meat farms

Further reading

The Great Food Gamble - John Humphrys; Hodder & Stoughton General;
The effects of factory farming on the nation’s health and environment.

The Worm forgives the Plough - John Stewart Collis; Penguin Books; 1988
An account of the author’s time working on British farms during WW2.

Silent Spring - Rachel Carson; Penguin Books; 2000
The destruction of the countryside through the indiscriminate use of pesticides.

The Killing of the Countryside - Graham Harvey; Vintage; 1998
An attack on modern British agricultural policy and practice

Home Farm - Michael Allaby and Colin Tudge; Macmillan; 1977
Complete food self-sufficiency

Home Farm Handbook - Peter Ford; Harper Collins; 2000
More food self-sufficiency

So Shall We Reap - Colin Tudge; Penguin Books; 2003
An overview of modern farming highlighting the need for change if we are to continue to feed people for the indefinite future.

Food: A History - Felipe Fernandez-Armesto; Macmillan; 2001
A history of food from the start of humanity to the industrialisation of the modern age.

The Living Land - Jules Pretty; Earthscan Publications Ltd; 1999
A presentation of the case for returning life to the countryside, restoring the rural economy and putting agriculture on a sustainable footing.

We Want Real Food - Graham Harvey; Constable and Robinson Ltd; 2006
How modern farming practices are affecting the nutritional value of our food

Not on the label - Felicity Lawrence; Penguin 2004
What really goes into the food on your plate

Let’s Cook it Right - Adelle Davis; Unwin Health 1979

Your Daily Food: Recipe for Survival - Doris Grant; Keats Publishing 1974

Food Politics - Marion Nestle; University of California Press 2002
How the food industry influences nutrition and health

The McDonaldization of Society - George Ritzer
An investigation into the changing character of contemporary social life

English Farming, Past and Present - Lord Ernle; first published 1912

The Disappearance of the Small Landowner - Arthur H Johnson; first published 1909

Hungry City - Carolyn Steel; Chatto & Windus; 2008
How food shapes our lives

The Carbon Fields - Graham Harvey; GrassRoots; 2008
How our countryside can save Britain

The Bad Food Guide - Derek Cooper; Routledge & K. Paul;. 1967

Captive State - George Monbiot; Pan books; 2001
The corporate takeover of Britain

Slow Food - Carlo Petrini; Columbia University Press; 2001
A volume for all those passionate about food and its impact on our culture

Feeding People is Easy - Colin Tudge; Pair Publishing; 2007
How “Enlightened Agriculture” can solve the world’s problems.

21st Century Smallholder - Paul Waddington; Eden Project Books 2006
How to go back to the land without leaving home

The Farming Ladder - George Henderson; Faber and Faber 1978
How to start a small farm from nothing

Bread Matters - Andrew Whitley; Fourth Estate Ltd
The state of modern bread and a definitive guide to baking your own