You may have noticed (I hope you have anyway!) that today marks the first birthday of FWiSpace. To celebrate we've revamped the logo with a candle and are offering £100 for the best post or photograph submitted in the next seven days. I hope you all put yourself in the running by joining in the fun.
It may seem a bit strange to some people to be celebrating the birthday of something like a website. But as someone who has been heavily involved over the past year, I do think that it is an occasion worth marking. We've come an awful long way in the past 12 months - 2262 additonal people have signed up to the site and more than 26,000 posts and 5500 pictures have been posted.
Over periods such as the foot-and-mouth outbreak of last year, FWiSpace proved invaluable for swapping advice, feeding back the latest news and sharing concerns. But there have also been plenty of laughs over the past 12 months - with our regular caption competition proving a particular favourite.
There are a number of improvements to FWiSpace that I would like to bring to you all over the coming months. Things don't stand still and neither will this site. Things don't always go to plan 
and I sometimes get told that the alternatives are 'better'. My response is that FWiSpace is vastly superior to what it replaced and is growing every day. We're now on the right track and that is surely cause for a celebration!
When I decided to mark this date I e-mailed some of our 'regulars' and asked if they would mind explaining why they enjoyed using the site. I had some fanatastic comments back (most of which you can read in today's issue of Farmers Weekly and all I will put up on the site later today). But there was one message, by AllyR, that stood out for me:
“The forum's attractive format is quick and easy to use. It is a very enjoyable experience to take part in, whether debating or just chatting with all the other forum members,- home or abroad. From fun to serious debate, it is all there. I even enjoy the threads where some of our antagonists come in to vent their fury at us - "whinging, subsidy greedy farmers". It is never long before they are put right on the matter and usually exit their thread wiser and more friendly to us than they came in. My wife and I were able to meet Mr and Mrs "Kansasfarmer", when they came over to UK last July, and welcome them to our farm in Scotland. It was a most enjoyable and memorable couple of days and came as a direct result of our joining FWiSpace; surely the best bonus of all that forum membership can bring.”
Thank you AllyR. I couldn't put it any better myself.
I couldn't resist this picture of baby Harvey and his Dad which has been sent in by his Mum, Sarah Stern.
"Please find attached a picture of our newborn baby born 6 weeks early on the 16th of May. This is a picture of Harvey and his daddy reading the Farmers Weekly from his cot on the special care baby unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital. We think he may possibly be the youngest reader as he was only a few days old when this picture was taken. I was wondering if there was any chance that you could put this into your magazine. It would make my husband's day after the difficult time that we have had recently with Harvey being in hospital following his birth."
I'll hopefully be able to squeeze it into the mag next week. But until then best wishes to all three of you!
I must congratulate my colleagues here at FW, for being brave (or stupid) enough to get on their bikes at 6am yesterday morning to cycle 55 miles from London to Brighton. The group of 13 has raised a total of £3500 for the British Heart Foundation - and the figure is still climbing.
I was unable to join them due to a family party (that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!)
More pictures and information here.
Matthew Naylor isn't the only one with fancy photoshoots. I've been here in Lincs for the past couple of days helping out at the Cereals Event and I'm pleased to say that it gave the opportunity to meet some FWiSpace 'names' (they are like celebrities, but more interesting).
So here it is - and not a squatter in sight, if Matthew is reading - a really cheesy picture of me (I'm the one in the middle should there be any doubt!) Matty S (left) and Sam Harrison (r). Perhaps this should be a caption competition...
Here is an attempt to give you an insight into what happens at FW during the day:
I suspect a few of you have looked at this post and wondered what is going on. Well, so have I - but here is what you are meant to see.
I sometimes get asked for a quick lesson in how to put a photo in a blog post. Feel free to keep doing that - but you will probably find the best answer here.
And here is a picture to prove that I can do it:
I went to a christening over the weekend and was introduced to the baby's great grandmother who is still doing the farm's bookkeeping at the grand old age of 89.
I won't name her (as when we suggested writing an article on her she told me a very firm 'no'! ). But I wondered can anyone beat this?
I've said before elsewhere I think that blogging is finally catching on in the world of farming. Well - now I have the proof. The NFU has just started a blog area on its website which it is referring to as its farmyard bloggers.
They aren't using a blogging platform - but you can leave comments. And what is more - they are running a blogroll of other farmer bloggers. Of course this prompted and email from me and as a result they have kindly included a link to everyone's blogs here.
I know that the US-style date settings on posts and photos have been pretty annoying (except for Kansasfarmer!)
But I'm pleased to say that we've have at long last managed to change the settings so if you come in as a guest then you will find the UK version. If you are already a member - or if you sign up - you need to choose how to display the date in edit profile. Here are some instructions if you need help.
I worked in Melton Mowbray for three years in an office just metres away from Dickinson and Morris' Ye Olde Porke Pie Shoppe. So I'm delighted by the news that the area has won their battle to get protected status for their pork pies.
It was a travesty that people were ever allowed to sell those nasty pink, bounce-them-on-the floor-and-they-won't-even-crack pies as a Melton Mowbray pork pie. Anyone who has eaten the genuine article knows that the meat in a real MM pie is grey, the pastry hand-raised and the jelly is genuinely tasty. There is just no comparison.
When I was interviewed for my job in Melton I recall having to attend a buffet lunch with all the other candidates invited back for second interview. I seem to remember there were three or four of us and, of course, there was some pork pie on the table. Obviously, I ate some - if there's food around I eat it. None of the other candidates touched it. I'm still convinced that my decision to eat a bit of said pork pie, and comment on how good it was, is what got me the job.
Farmers are always complaining (well the ones I know are!) about mobile phones being too small and delicate for their needs. So how about this one:
Apparently despite being 3ft high it is a fully functioning mobile.
This bloke may have too much time on his hands.
We promised a couple of weeks ago that we'd try and help you promote your blogs. After a bit of fiddling I've managed to come up with this handy little thing that will sit at the bottom of every email I send (and that is too many! 
)
It scrolls through every headline of the latest blog posts on FWiSpace and hopefully this will encourage a few others to take a peek! You can add it to your own emails if you like (press the grab link and follow the instructions).
↑ Grab this Headline Animator
I've been browsing some websites to check out if there is anything happening in the farming world that we might have missed and have just come across an interesting piece about a mobile cattle crush that can be hired by farmers in the Penwith area of Cornwall so they can gather their cattle while grazing on heathland. It looks like a good idea and involves a number of key local organisations.
But the headline writer has come up with a headline that makes it seem rather sinister:
Mobile cattle crusher for heathland farmers
Those poor animals....
Those Kiwi's are taking us on at our own game. They have heard british pig farmers' version of Stand by your Ham and have come up with Stand by Your Lamb.
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2008/03/18/109855/new-zealand-comes-up-with-stand-by-your-lamb.html
As promised yesterday we had a meeting today to discuss ways we can help you with your blogs. There's some stuff we can do and other bits that you will need to do (but we can guide you through it).
There are already a few bits and pieces which have gone up as a result but there is more to follow. Please shout if it isn't making sense to you and we'll do our best to explain.
There's a help note and an introductory hello from Adam (our resident blog guru who has volunteered to share his experiences).
More Posts
Next page »