To Africa Without a Map?

Could you find your way to a specific location in Africa without a map? A swallow could.
Swallows, buzzards, kestrels, robins, wrens and hens are all birds, are all brilliant.
Everyone who can should keep hens and not only love and enjoy and benefit immensely, healthwise, from perfect eggs but should respect and learn from them: how to live, how to make the most of each day and how not to worry.

And while I'm on the subject (of living) I think Ken Livingstone should be Chancellor following his recent comment that he would have waited for the banks to fail and then nationalised them for free.

Pictures Speak Louder Than Words

Dink 2nd's twins

VIVE LA DIFFERENCE

Two cows, sisters sometimes, living in the same field, eating the same grass and browsing the same tree leaves (though maybe, just maybe, nibbling different wildflowers and perhaps that's the secret_)can have, and frequently do have milk that tastes totally different.
For as long as I can remember we have labelled the jugs with the name of the cow and the date.[This can cause confusion, not to say consternation: friends, keen to help make butter etc sometimes come across a jug labelled Nov 3 in the middle of June.) But we have a famous family of Bonnets named after the months in which they were born:January Bonnet, July Bonnet, February Bonnet. Luckily, all our friends are quick learners.
And hens, of course...
Two almost identical eggs can look and taste entirely different, but then hens forage far and wide and we never really know where they've been nor what they've been eating...fortunately.

Don't Worry Worry 'till Worry Worry You

My self-imposed intention to write a weekly diary has gone by the board of late; there is so much to write about!

GM crops pose such a critical threat that I can no longer indulge the huge pleasure of writing only about all the creatures that creep and pad, bluster, float, flutter, scurry, bounce, dash, plod, jump, fly, climb, crawl, dig, wriggle or merely grow on this farm.

Let us be in no doubt: large companies with the expertise to produce genetically modified crops are not doing so altruistically. They have no wish to feed the world to prevent people starving. They wish to provide the crops to feed the world to make money. Also, in my humble and very concerned opinion, anyone with the skill and (probably) brilliance to succeed in genetically modifying plants is likely to be clever enough to wish to avoid ever actually eating any of the results of their labours.
Keats so wisely said that one cannot improve on perfection and with GM organisms, if one tries and releases them into the environment, they can never be recalled. So, if one day in the future, as has happened so many times with substances initially thought to be safe but later banned, having been found to cause birth defects and health problems, GM technology stands accused of endangering the health of the planet it will be too late to do anything about it.

Read the newest edition of The Ecologist and worry with me.

Catocala Nupta

or Redunderwing Moth_a sight worth staying up for. I never dreamt I would get excited about moths but I am. I often see the Poplar Hawk Moth but I hadn't seen this beauty before. My Moth and Butterfly book says it only flies in August and September. Does my mid October sighting mean it is being affected by global warming?
I'm fascinated to discover how many moths fly by day. We have the Chimney Sweep Moth, whose black form darts around our most gorgeous wild flower bank but I had assumed his daytime antics were rare.

The first time I saw Victoria Wood do a standup routine she said, as far as I remember:" I went to the police to report the theft of my car. I told them my collection of moths had been stolen with it."
Was it on the back seat?" they asked
"No, I said. It was stuck to the number plate."

Cows standing on their own two feet

All animals are individuals. Some cows are timid but the majority can stand on their owm two feet. And, just like us, some enjoy being kissed and cuddled or rather stroked, groomed, praised and appreciated and some like to be left alone.
Some of us shake hands, some always embrace, plus endless variations on the same theme of greeting and some of us like to wave, bow or otherwise acknowledge one another in a non-tactile way.
I remember at least 20 years ago, the oldest woman in Britain was interviewed and she talked about being invited to Downing Street for lunch when she was 110. Apparently the female Prime Minister greeted her at the door in person, arms outstretched, and the guest recalled saying: "Don't cuddle me, I'm Labour".
Many humans are not that direct but all cows are. They let us know where we stand and how much licence we can have. Some look at us four square, some, wonderfully with love. Some avoid eye contact or simply gaze elsewhere. Some gaze adoringly (!) only when they want something. Some look straight at us with a look that tells us to come no closer; even these independant spirits can soften if they need our help.
The best thing of all is their unfailing ability to character judge any visitors. We learn from them, gratefully.
They sleep in uncomfortable-looking positions sometimes_see photo.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

We have a friend who suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome often referred to as ME, a very debilitating and depressing illness; we are full of admiration for her as she is unfailingly cheerful and determined to get well. Earlier today she wrote to us and below I quote from two sentences:

"...the first time I went down with this was in the 1960s, just a few weeks after a holiday in S. Italy. DDT was being widely used, on Government orders, to eradicate the malarial mosquito, so I daresay the water supply etc. was contaminated.)

I believe there are c. one million ME sufferers in the USA and c. 100,000 in the UK. Perhaps one day food produced using pesticides and herbicides will be properly priced at the checkout, covering the cost of the damage it does to water supplies, soil, human health, etc. Then only the very rich will be able to afford it and everyone else will have to eat organic..."

Christmas Presents

It feels as if there will be a frost tonight; it's nearly 7.30pm. I must cover the marrow bed, runner beans,dahlias and a few other plants that look a bit vulnerable though the day will soon come when the fine fleece will not provide sufficient protection and blackened leaves will be abandoned to their winter decay.

I'm sure no one will believe me if I say I am NOT thinking about Christmas_merely writing about it!
But,cold weather makes me think about the cows' comfort in the months to come and I need to find a way to afford a new barn.
So, if anyone would like to buy 'The Calf's World' DVD I am offering two, inclusive of postage to mainland UK for £6 (rrp £10 each) This seems sensible as 2 can travel by post as cheaply as 1. Does anyone still buy stocking fillers? This film of our calves being themselves would please all people of all ages_or if it doesn't, let me know!

Saving the NHS singlehanded

This is going way beyond my self-imposed remit but on August 25th my Mother injured her leg, sustaining a deep wound in her shin; one could almost see the bone through the gashed muscle.
My Mother is small and frail and has never been well for the past 60 years and she has, by most standards, an extremely limited diet. But everything she can eat is totally organic.
The wonderful nurses who have come almost daily to dress her wound (following an initial call to NHS Direct at 9pm_courteously and effeciently dealt with)have all, independantly remarked (and there have been 9 of them plus 2 doctors)that the speed of recovery MUST be due to the quality of the food she eats.
So, there you have it NHS. Give all your patients (and staff) organic food and you're home and dry. It is what happens in Cuba and there, parents are actively encouraged to stay at the hospital to help nurse their own children to minimise the trauma of separation.
Oh, yes, and prisoners would benefit, with reoffending rates plummetting (visit Sweden) and young children and older children and adults..what is there to lose?
As the incompaable Guy Laliberte knows, it's everyone's birthright to have pure water (One Drop Foundation) so should it be established as equally vital for everyone to have pure food. And, a nice exra benefit would be the saving of the planet. Not bad hey?
Oh, and even politicians who started eating organic food in the houses of parliament in 1982 (for sure) I wonder whether they kept it up?
[I could upload before and after images of the wound but...]

It's autumn in the beech wood and composted beech leaves are wonderfully useful in the vegetable garden.
The cattle enjoy eating fallen leaves from ash and willow and cherry with a small amount of walnut, oak and other acquired tastes but I have not noticed them eat beech leaves.
The freedom to browse the hedgerows and reach up to a variety of trees as well as nibbling ancient grasses, herbs, flowers and what most people insist on calling weeds,enables them to maintain a healthy balance in their diet. It is not unusual for a cow to consume a few cubic yards of nettles when the need arises.
The sheep delicately chew bits of thistle when young and green and, surprisingly, they devour old, dried up specimens too.
The other day a hen was limping. I examined her leg and foot but could see nothing obvious so I very gently rubbed Dettol Cream into her foot. (Every bang, bash and knock we humans subject ourselves too has received this course of action for at least 50 years)The next day she was still limping so I repeated the treatment and one day later she was as good as new. [Though 'new' has rather lost its credentials these days as built-in obsolescence infects the production of almost every material possession. It seems impossible to buy a 'new' cooker, tumble dryer, shirt or pair of socks of comparable quality to those on offer in the past and mending, darning, fixing, welding, reupholstering etc old items if often well worthwhile.)
So perhaps my hen was as good as 'old'.